The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 140

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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 Replicator — Episode 140
Chapter 43: Community Service
Kian fell through the air like a stone, her weight bearing down hard. Chasing her accelerating descent proved far from easy.
As the distance closed, I studied her face. Her eyes were shut tight. She looked ready to accept death.
I shouted toward the falling girl.
“Hey! Open your eyes!”
“……!”
At the sound of my voice, Kian’s eyes snapped open. She found me, and her mouth fell slack.
“What—what are you doing?! What’s your game?!”
Kian spoke in confusion. Well, it probably didn’t look good—the one who’d pushed her suddenly reaching out a hand.
But did that matter now?
“Reach! Do you want to die?!”
“……!”
Kian worked her lips as if indignant, then extended her hand.
There was still distance between us, but I wasn’t worried. I’d prepared properly this time.
Weaving
Grade — Common
Rope
Following Artzie’s advice, I’d stored the rope properly in my arsenal.
I seized the rope’s end and threw it. The length was enough to reach her. Once I confirmed Kian had gripped it, I stopped mid-air.
I pulled the rope, drawing her upward. Then, slowly, I descended toward the ground beside her.
“……What are you thinking, exactly?”
Kian fixed me with a look of deep displeasure.
I disregarded it and asked,
“Can you use Portal?”
“What?”
“I saw Kraken use Portal to escape. Can all of you use it?”
Kian blinked, seemed to consider, then answered,
“We can. But it requires an incantation.”
“Good. Once we reach the ground, use Portal to get away.”
At my words, Kian’s eyes narrowed.
“What exactly are you scheming?”
“Look down.”
Without resistance, Kian lowered her gaze—oddly obedient, perhaps because I’d saved her life.
“Skyler and Thomson are already restrained. Escape is impossible for them.”
“……!”
Below, Isamaya and Pascal had each secured the pair. With Restraint Devices fastened, they couldn’t Portal away either.
“Now you’re the only Indus member left.”
“……Kraken is still out there.”
Right. I’d almost forgotten.
“Either way, if you’re captured, Indus collapses entirely. The subordinates who follow orders from the leadership are likely to lose control and rampage without direction.”
“So why are you worried about that? You’re my enemy.”
As we spoke, the ground drew near. At this height, Kian could probably land safely even if I let her fall—she had her threads, after all. In fact, this would be a decent moment to attack. But she didn’t.
Not because she was cunning enough to devise such a strategy. More than that, Kian was simply too young. Not merely young in appearance like Pascal, but genuinely a child in years—a girl barely into her teens.
Which meant the seed of doubt already planted in her young mind could only grow.
“The Empire needs to change. Like you said.”
I offered measured support for her dream. As expected, the suspicion faded from her eyes, replaced by a flicker of interest as she studied me.
I put on a suitably grave expression and met her gaze.
“But the same applies to Indus.”
“……What?”
“You saw it yourself—Heldre abandoned you and ran.”
“You made him do that. And besides, Heldre is more important to me.”
“Is that what ‘Equality’ means?”
“…….”
Among the Indus leadership’s ranks, only Kian genuinely believed in the motto they’d adopted: Equality.
“Time’s running short.”
I’d deliberately chosen a landing spot on the far side of a deserted cliff.
If I delayed much longer, one of the instructors would surely spot me intentionally releasing Kian.
Of course, it was intentional—but no one would believe the explanation.
“…….”
Kian watched me silently for a moment, then took a few steps back. Behind her, a Portal opened.
That Portal would only open directly above ground, and only perpendicular to it like that. If Kian fell while opening a Portal, there was no way to reduce the damage.
Kian stared at me quietly, then pursed her lips.
“You’ll regret this.”
“You’re the one who should regret it.”
It sounded like an argument, but I meant every word.
Knowing that, Kian pressed her lips together again and vanished through the Portal.
The Portal closed, and silence fell over a place that had been filled with combat and killing intent.
“Phew.”
I lifted my head and looked at the sky.
The sky was simply clear and brilliant.
It was, in every sense, a perfect day for a school trip.

* * *
At the same moment, inside the Train.
After passing through the aerial railway, the teachers exhaled sighs of relief inwardly.
Released from full alert status, the teachers took turns moving through the interior of the car.
Malia de Roach, after being relieved, sat in a chair and monitored the situation through Sensory Sharing.
And,
“……Done.”
Her fist clenched tight.
They had dealt a crippling blow to the enemy’s leadership and their leader.
Likely far exceeding what the Constellation Academy had anticipated.
‘I was worried when he suddenly acted on his own like that.’
Malia had seen Frontdier’s exploits clearly through Sensory Sharing. Chancellor Osprit’s perspective had been front-row.
Watching Frontdier’s strength grow day by day—or rather, if “growth” was even the right word for it—Malia felt joy and pride overflow within her.
But only for a moment; after checking the situation, Malia sent a text to all the teachers.
[Two members of Indus leadership restrained. Leader in retreat. Will report if further developments occur.]
The teachers, who had been keeping careful watch for Indus, all checked the message. And they relaxed. A sense of ease spread through the Train.
─That shift in atmosphere.
Elody noticed it.
‘……Like air leaking from a balloon.’
Elody, originally gifted at sensing Mana, caught the loosening air within the Train.
When the Train had first departed and tension had deepened in the teachers’ expressions, Elody had already predicted that something had happened.
That tension had swollen like a giant balloon thrust inside the Train. It had been so taut that she wondered if it would burst at any moment.
But the balloon hadn’t burst; instead, its opening had released, letting the air escape back out.
In other words, the feared incident hadn’t occurred, and everything had been resolved well. That’s what she could assume.
“……Teacher.”
Elody called out to a nearby teacher as a test.
“Hmm? What is it?”
……Even just listening, the voice was completely different. Much more relaxed and composed, the teacher approached Elody.
“How much longer until we arrive?”
“To arrival? Well, about an hour?”
“Thank you.”
Elody ended the conversation with the teacher and looked at Aster.
By chance, Aster was also looking at Elody with a meaningful gaze.
In Aster’s case, rather than the tension in the Train, his attention had been caught by what Lunia had shown him on her phone when they’d boarded the bus.
‘Frontdier’s information is being exposed excessively in Cropol.’
Without going to Cropol directly, it was hard to know for sure, but likely most of Cropol’s citizens knew Frontdier’s face by now.
And the frequency of the teachers checking texts simultaneously had increased, and just moments ago, some civilian had been warned by a teacher, gotten up, and been dragged somewhere.
And most of all, Elody was looking at him now.
Their thoughts were nearly identical.
‘An incident the students don’t know about has occurred at the Constellation Academy, and Frontdier is involved in it.’
It was still only suspicion. Without concrete evidence, it was closer to conjecture.
The method of confirmation was simple.
Arrive in Cropol, and find Frontdier.
If they didn’t see him there…….
‘He went somewhere dangerous again without saying a word?’
Elody’s eyes blazed with fire.
Of course, it wasn’t the effect of Divine Power—it was merely figurative.

* * *
The students arrived in Cropol, were escorted to their accommodation, and unpacked their belongings.
Each class heard the guidance notes from their teachers, then erupted in cheers when free time was announced.
Since the main purpose of the Cropol school trip was to let students rest, nearly all of it was unscheduled time.
As long as they didn’t venture beyond a certain radius, the teachers left the students largely to their own devices. All they had to do was show up for dinner and regroup.
—So helping a friend with community service certainly counted as one of the more wholesome ways to spend that free time.
With this reasoning, Elody set out to find Jane, the homeroom teacher of Class 5,
only to discover that someone had already arrived there ahead of her.
“So where is he? Frontdier.”
“Ah, well, you see—”
It was Aten. Aten’s transparent eyes fixed directly on Jane.
Jane looked away from that gaze. Aten’s expression gave nothing away, which made it all the more difficult for Jane.
“You said you were coming to Cropol to do community service. But he hasn’t been seen since we arrived.”
“Ah, Frontdier, well—he’s being punished for bad behavior back at Constellation Academy. This community service is part of that punishment, you see—”
“But surely you could tell me where he is.”
Aten leaned closer, and Jane backed away just as much.
‘She planned this from the start.’
Jane could sense Aten’s overwhelming force. Come to think of it, she’d been docile on the bus and train, but clearly her intention had been to do this once they reached Cropol.
“Ah, well, that is— Oh! Elody!”
Just then Jane spotted Elody in the distance. A savior had arrived!
“Elody! Back me up here! Frontdier’s currently doing community service as part of his punishment!”
At Jane’s cry, Elody approached.
Elody smiled softly and spoke to Jane.
“I’m curious too about where he is. Frontdier—I mean, he’s my friend, so I wanted to help with the community service.”
The savior had turned out to be reinforcements for the enemy.
Jane broke into a cold sweat and forced a smile.
“…Why don’t you both just go down to the coast and have fun?”
“We will. After we meet Frontdier.”
“Yes, after we help Frontdier.”
Neither of them was taking the hint.
Just then, a humming drifted from somewhere in the distance. Hm, hm-hm~—at that familiar tone, Jane turned her head once more.
She thought this might finally be a true savior, but it turned out to be Saiber instead. That unique gait of hers, as if she were dancing to a rhythm with a light bounce in her step.
‘That’s the melody I kept hearing!’
Jane regretted turning her head at all.
“Ah, Saiber! Over here!”
Just then Elody called out to her.
“Hmm?”
Saiber answered in her peculiar way.
“What’s the matter?”
“We’re looking for Frontdier. Aren’t you curious where he is?”
Elody knew well that Saiber had taken a liking to Frontdier. They’d been through the Cottage incident together, so there was no way she could miss it.
At Elody’s words, Saiber’s eyes brightened and she nodded.
“Yeah, I’m curious! That’s where I’m headed!”
“Really… Wait? What did you say?”
When Elody asked her to repeat, Saiber spoke again.
“I’m heading there. To Frontdier.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Excuse me?”
This time Jane couldn’t help but make a sound. Aten’s head whipped around to look at Jane, and Jane whipped her head away to play innocent.
Elody asked.
“Do you know where Frontdier is?”
“No, I don’t.”
Saiber answered matter-of-factly.
The statement seemed contradictory. But Saiber’s next words made perfect sense of it.
“I just have a feeling I’ll meet him if I go in that direction.”
And Saiber pointed with her finger toward a certain direction along the coastline.
Elody and Aten exchanged glances.
If it were anyone else, they’d dismiss this as nonsense. But the one speaking was Saiber, after all.
“I’ll come with you.”
“So will I.”
Elody and Aten didn’t need long to decide.

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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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