The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 133

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Academy’s Weapon Duplicator Episode 133
Chapter 41: School Excursion (5)
Malia picked up her Sage Phone and checked the screen. A text arrived, exactly as the teachers had arranged beforehand.
The message was straightforward, though the phrasing varied slightly.
[Operation commencing.]
It was the signal to begin.
While the response team tracked the leadership of Indus, the observation team would search for any Indus members who might be somewhere aboard the Train.
If Indus truly intended to use the Business Card, there was one thing they absolutely had to confirm.
Where was Frontdier?
The Business Card could issue only one command: kill Frontdier. So it made perfect sense that they would try to locate him—the key to everything.
And for Indus to know Frontdier’s exact location, one of their members would have to be aboard this Train.
The Train didn’t carry only Constellation Academy students. Naturally there were ordinary passengers too, and Indus would be hiding among them.
Until today, Malia and the other teachers had shared consistent information with some of the students.
‘Frontdier is boarding a different car due to volunteer work.’
They hadn’t actively broadcast this to every student—only those in Frontdier’s Class Five and a handful who had asked about him knew.
But when information spread among a select few students, they shared it with one another, and rumors multiplied. Naturally, the original story became distorted and exaggerated.
These inflated rumors transformed into “gossip,” losing all credibility. Low-credibility information breeds confusion.
From Indus’s perspective, Frontdier might truly be in another car, but it could also be false rumor and he might be in this one. Ultimately, Indus would have no choice but to divide their forces.
The “gossip” tactic that Gregory had once used against Constellation—now Constellation wielded it themselves.
But the truth was, Frontdier was never aboard the Train in the first place.
While Indus racked their brains trying to figure out which car he was in, they would never find him.
Making it seem as if one of two choices was correct, concealing the third, hidden truth.
And moreover,
“Wow, what’s this? So cool!”
In one section of the Train, several female students chattered excitedly, each holding a few Mask Packs in their hands.
“Can we really use these? They look expensive.”
“It’s fine. I got them from an upperclasswoman I know. But if you do anything weird while wearing them, you’ll be arrested on the spot, so be careful.”
“Ha ha ha, we wouldn’t do that.”
One of the female students distributed Mask Packs to her friends, introducing them almost like toys.
The owner of the Mask Packs was, of course, Quinie.
This wasn’t Quinie’s intention—it was Frontdier who had asked her to do it.
“How do I look? How do I look?”
“Wow! It’s identical! Perfect match!”
The female students pressed the Mask Packs onto their faces and became different people, giggling as they looked at one another. Since Quinie had distributed them as “toys” from the start, it was only natural.
Of course, none of them had any intention of becoming Frontdier, nor did they know what his face actually looked like.
But the moment Indus witnesses students wearing Mask Packs, a different suspicion would inevitably bloom.
If his whereabouts in which car remained unclear, verification by appearance alone might be impossible.
Then, inevitably, Indus’s members would have to take some drastic measures to confirm Frontdier’s identity.
“You there, miss.”
“Y-yes?”
“I noticed you trying to use Sensing on our students—where did you learn that?”
“I, um, no, I—”
“Would you come with me for a moment?”
Teacher Jane was smiling, but behind that smile lay something far more sinister.
The woman swallowed hard at Jane’s gaze and obediently followed her guidance.
Catching them held no great significance. Most wouldn’t be central members of Indus, and they likely possessed no genuine information about the organization.
This was merely a display—an assertion that Frontdier was definitely aboard the Train.
The more eagerly Constellation’s teachers responded, the more they focused on finding Indus, the more convinced Indus would become that Frontdier was somewhere on this Train.
‘Well then.’
Jane checked her phone.
The text she’d been waiting for—though not hoping for—had arrived.
[The Rector has made contact with Indus.]
A message from Malia. Jane’s expression turned cold. The woman following behind her grew even more frightened.
‘Regardless of how formidable Indus might be—’
Could they bring down Rector Ospriet?
Ospriet was the pillar of Constellation Academy, its apex, the pride of every single teacher.
‘Show them what you’re made of, Rector.’
Or just kill them. Cockroaches like that.

* * *
Between two cliffs where the Aerial Railway passed.
Standing in midair, Ospriet faced a girl.
“……Wow, you’re really floating, grandfather.”
The girl spoke in wonder, and Ospriet smiled kindly in return.
“Aren’t you doing the same, miss?”
“……I’m a bit different.”
“Honest, aren’t you.”
Ospriet examined the space beneath the girl’s feet. Though hard to see with the naked eye, a thin thread-like filament was supporting her.
“What brings you here, miss?”
When Ospriet asked, the girl looked down beneath her. There, the Aerial Railway ran below.
“I came to blow up the Train.”
“Ho, the Train, you say?”
“Yeah.”
“Many people will die.”
“That’s right.”
The girl nodded. Her eyes were guileless.
“Constellation’s students are too strong. Especially the first-years. I have to wipe them all out here.”
“Strength is a good thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. If they were on our side, it would be. But they’re not.”
It was a truly simple binary.
Yet Ospriet found himself oddly convinced. All of the world’s factions likely quarreled in just this sort of uncomplicated dichotomy, simply layering various justifications on top of it.
And by that same dichotomy, Ospriet belonged to “their” side, which made opposition to the girl more than sufficient. Refreshingly clear logic, truly.
Ospriet spoke.
“But you won’t be able to blow up the Train, will you?”
“I will.”
“Indus’s image would be ruined. For a ‘revolution’ to succeed, one must know when to show restraint.”
At Ospriet’s lecturing tone, the girl’s eyes flickered. It was brief, but Ospriet did not miss it.
No doubt about it. Indus still hasn’t realized that the word “revolution” might be exposed.
Ospriet himself hadn’t thought of it in such precise terms until Frontdier explained it to him.
……Perhaps this could become a means to sow suspicion within Indus.
“I don’t care. I’m doing it anyway.”
“That can’t be. Your revolution knows no ‘restraint.’ When you gaze at ‘heights too great,’ your feet stumble. When that happens, what becomes of the ‘nation’s state’?”
Ospriet deliberately emphasized certain words. It was a most subtle display. He did not speak exactly what he meant, yet it was enough to plant ‘thoughts’ in the girl’s mind.
“…….”
The girl showed no outward reaction. She simply disregarded Ospriet’s words entirely. Admirable composure for one so young.
“So what are you doing here, grandfather?”
“Catching cockroaches.”
“……Wait.”
The girl’s eyes dimmed. Killing intent bloomed evenly from head to toe.
“Is that about us?”
“Hehehehe. Why do you ask, miss?”
Ospriet received the girl’s killing intent while maintaining an easy smile.
“Are you perhaps a cockroach, miss?”
“……We are not cockroaches.”
“You keep saying ‘we,’ but you stand alone right now, don’t you?”
The moment Ospriet said this, he felt a peculiar sensation.
What at first seemed like barely perceptible threads of Mana began multiplying endlessly, creeping upward from beneath his feet.
“Hm.”
Ospriet swept his gaze around. From the girl’s surroundings, countless threads had sprouted, and something was approaching from beyond them.
Spiders crawling up the threads from the cliff’s edge. They were far smaller than ordinary insects, as fine as the threads themselves.
“We are not cockroaches.”
The girl said.
“Quite right, quite right. Not a word out of place.”
Ospriet nodded as if in agreement.
“You are ‘we,’ and you are ‘not cockroaches.’ Precisely as you say. I apologize. As one grows old, even simple words become prone to reading between the lines. Do forgive me.”
Ospriet raised one hand. His thumb, held horizontally, touched his own chest. From that point, Mana erupted in a torrent.
“But miss, either way, you need pest control.”
“It’s not us who need to be exterminated—it’s people like you-!”
Boom!
The girl’s words caught in her throat. Her mouth wouldn’t obey her thoughts. She reached for her face—or tried to. Her fingers swept through empty air.
Half of her head flew away. Only then did the Girl realize that half her field of vision had gone dark.
‘What was that? Magic? What hit me? I didn’t even see it coming.’
The Girl collapsed onto her knees, barely managing to catch herself on a strand of thread that had been rigged beforehand. But then—
Rip!
This time the hand that caught her was torn away. Her body lurched. She could sense the attack coming, yet couldn’t evade it, couldn’t block it. The Girl watched her own hand scatter through the air. It was unmistakably the work of magic.
Her hair fell in streams. Then each strand split countless times, scattering along the threads in all directions. They were all spiders.
“Miss, next time I’d appreciate it if you came in person. That way we could have a genuine conversation.”
As the Girl fragmented into countless spiders, she fixed her last remaining eye on Ospriet.
She had come to discern how strong Ospriet was, to uncover the nature of that strength. But she’d learned almost nothing.
Her final eye, too, became a spider and scattered away.

* * *
Thomson, a member of Indus, watched the scene unfold from a distance.
He manipulated a component installed in his Prosthetic Arm, pulling a ring with his finger. Metal clicked and whirred as a Telescope suddenly telescoped out beside the Prosthetic Arm. Thomson raised it to his eye.
“……Mad old fool.”
The Indus members, seeing Ospriet waiting on the Aerial Railway, became certain: Constellation had caught wind of our Indus moving into position!
To understand Ospriet’s strength, member Kian had sent his Dummy against him. Thomson had meant to observe how Ospriet fought, but—
“Hell if I can tell.”
Even from this distance, Thomson couldn’t discern what Ospriet had done. Kian, who’d faced it directly, probably hadn’t understood anything at all.
Just then his phone rang. Thomson raised it to his ear.
“Yeah, looked like he couldn’t twitch a single finger before it all fell apart.”
-So what’s his deal? That old man.
“Beats me.”
Thomson answered without hesitation. There was a brief silence on the other end of the line.
-That figures. Thomson’s useless anyway. I made the wrong call bringing you in.
“Look at you, throwing jabs. Didn’t know you had it in you.”
-Never mind that. There’s something more important.
“What?”
Something more important than figuring out what Ospriet’s power actually is?
Thomson frowned, but his expression hardened as soon as he heard Kian’s next words.
-Ospriet knows about the Revolution.
“…….”
Thomson’s lips pressed shut. His playful demeanor vanished.
“The word just happened to slip out, right? Just coincidence?”
-No. He knew we wouldn’t blow up the Train, and that it was for the Revolution. It wasn’t chance.
Thomson’s eyes went cold. Kian’s eyes, wherever he was on the other end of that call, were probably the same.
“……Then that thing we joked about last time, that stupid talk we threw around—”
-Yeah. It looks like it was real.
Their thoughts aligned. Kian spoke, as if to confirm it.
-There’s a Traitor inside Indus.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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