The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 141

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

The Weapon Duplicator of the Academy — Chapter 141
Section 43: Volunteer Work (2)
Elody and Aten followed behind Saiber. At a distance further back, Jane trailed after them as well.
Unlike Malia, Jane had no idea what exactly had happened on the aerial railway. Therefore, she believed there was no way Frontdier, who had been involved in the operation, could have come to Cropol.
But that thought was swiftly contradicted.
“Ah.”
Saiber spoke first in an excited voice, pointing at something with his finger.
“There he is.”
The Coastal Area. A sandy beach where many students and citizens were already enjoying their leisure.
Frontdier was walking there, strolling aimlessly back and forth.
“…Really, he is here.”
A simple uniform, a hat to shield against the sunlight, and a whistle hanging around his neck.
He was unmistakably dressed as a lifeguard.
Aten looked at Jane.
“Was volunteer work supposed to be lifeguard duty?”
“Huh? Oh, well, I guess so.”
Jane answered awkwardly.
She didn’t know much about it either.
‘So he’s actually doing volunteer work.’
She had thought it was just a pretext for the Indus Suppression Operation.
Did that mean Frontdier had carried out the operation alongside Osprit and then immediately returned to Cropol to work as a lifeguard?
…Wasn’t that overextending himself?
“No, I’m not sure yet.”
Elody snorted softly.
Everyone here knew one more possibility. Because they had witnessed Quinie’s mask pack.
That Frontdier might be a fake wearing a mask.
‘Well, I followed Saiber and actually found Frontdier, so the likelihood of it being fake is slim.’
Still, it was worth confirming.
Just as Elody rolled up her sleeves and slowly approached Frontdier.
“…Oh.”
Elody saw a few women in swimsuits approaching Frontdier.
Fragments of conversation drifted over—questions like where he was from, whether he was a student since he looked young, or if he was working part-time.
As she drew closer, she could make out their words more clearly.
“Oh, I know who you are! You’re a Constellation Academy student!”
“Really?”
“Of course! You heard that Constellation Academy came on a field trip to Cropol today, right? You’re the face we’ve seen the most on Wiz View!”
The women who had approached Frontdier were chattering excitedly amongst themselves, their energy building.
Elody’s gaze naturally turned toward Frontdier.
Frontdier remained drowsy-faced. He seemed neither to hear nor not hear what the women were saying to him. And yet she felt—
‘Wait, why do I think of that as a relief?’
Elody brushed the thought away as soon as it surfaced.
“You certainly are popular, Frontdier.”
Aten, standing behind, remarked.
The truth was, Frontdier’s lack of popularity within Constellation Academy stemmed largely from his reputation. His image was that of an incompetent, lazy man who relied entirely on his family’s power and acted arrogantly—a spoiled, foolish character.
Strip away that image entirely, and Frontdier was, by all outward appearances, beyond reproach.
Elody remembered how all eyes had turned to Frontdier when he dressed formally at her estate.
And whether it was the effect of training or something else, Frontdier’s body had already become solidly muscular—at least fit enough that the title of warrior didn’t seem misplaced.
“Hmph.”
Then someone laughed, as if amused. It was Saiber.
Saiber flipped her hair back and, passing Elody, walked toward Frontdier. By that moment, Saiber had already completed some kind of “shift.”
If seductiveness and coquetry had parameters, Saiber moved forward with all of them maxed out.
It was simpler and more natural than breathing. Merely watching that gait made Elody’s face flush for some reason.
“Frontdier~!”
Saiber called out to him with a wave. The faces of the women around Frontdier filled with tension and surprise.
“Ah, Saiber.”
Frontdier’s acceptance of her greeting was the deciding blow. Saiber confirmed that Frontdier had spoken her name, and her smile took on an even more seductive edge.
“Frontdier, was volunteer work supposed to be lifeguard duty?”
“Well, yeah. Before we left, I heard about lifeguard procedures and such. So even though I left a bit late, I finished my preparations while the Constellation Academy instructor and I went through the orientation.”
Saiber listened to Frontdier’s explanation with a warm laugh. In truth, the content didn’t matter much to her. The moment he finished speaking, she shifted her gaze to the women around them.
“Hello. I’m Saiber Forte. Frontdier, who are these people?”
Saiber greeted them with exaggerated warmth and courtesy, then asked Frontdier for an introduction.
Ah—Frontdier glanced at the women around him. They were people he’d only just met, so it would be difficult to introduce them even if he wanted to. Of course, Saiber knew that and was asking anyway.
“Um, are these your girlfriends?”
One of the flustered women asked Saiber. Saiber smiled with playful mischief.
“Yes. We’re friends. We both attend Constellation Academy together.”
As she spoke, Saiber edged subtly closer to Frontdier. They’d asked if she was his girlfriend, and answering “We’re friends” was cunning beyond measure—yet it was a tactic that worked surprisingly well.
The point was that Frontdier would find it difficult to deny it outright.
“Just friends, nothing more.”
But Frontdier was different, as always.
He denied it flatly and placed a hand on Saiber’s head.
Saiber’s expression went slack. She’d finally switched up her approach after so long, and this was the response she got.
No, wait—what did he mean, “not a friend”? Wasn’t it hard enough to be friends with him in the first place—
“She’s my girlfriend.”
The next words out of Frontdier’s mouth left Saiber completely frozen. Aten and Elody, watching from a distance, had their eyes wide and mouths agape.
“Oh, well… that makes sense. You two do look good together.”
“Um, then we should get going.”
“Let’s head over there. I could use a break.”
“Y-yes, let’s.”
The women made their excuses and drifted away in a daze.
Frontdier spoke to Saiber, who still stood frozen.
“Thanks, Saiber.”
“…Huh?”
“Getting those women to leave would’ve been difficult. You really are something—brilliant performance.”
A performance, right.
That’s when Saiber understood. Frontdier had played along with her act to chase them away.
Ah, thank goodness. Some of the ice melted from Saiber’s demeanor.
It was true that she harbored feelings for Frontdier, but suddenly becoming his girlfriend felt too abrupt, entirely unprepared for.
There was a twinge of disappointment, but relief dominated her heart for now.
“I’ve been exhausted lately anyway. You really saved me.”
Frontdier spoke with a sigh threading through his voice.
Of course, the face Saiber saw from Frontdier always looked drowsy, making it hard to tell the difference.

* * *
I’m exhausted.
I’ve lost count of how many times in recent days I’ve thought, “Just this one more thing, then I’ll rest.” Fatigue has reached its peak.
But this is something only I know. I checked in a mirror—no matter how tired or drowsy Frontdier becomes, my face doesn’t change.
Because my face has always looked tired and drowsy.
“Phew.”
I slumped down.
After my shift as a lifeguard ended, I returned to my quarters and sank into the chair in my private room.
It was a private room with far better facilities than what Constellation Academy students had. It was likely a reward for participating in the operation.
Yet even here, I still cannot rest.
Because there was more ‘compensation’ I had to receive beyond this private room.
‘The quest reward hasn’t arrived.’
[Main Quest: Indus Suppression Operation]
• Description: The Indus plan has been exposed. Stop the plan and subdue the Indus members.
• Objective: Subdue Indus members and leaders.
• Reward: Tiered compensation based on the number subdued.
• Failure may result in entering an Anarchic State.
The “Indus Suppression Operation” quest.
The Constellation operation had ended, yet the quest remained incomplete.
I’d thought we’d stopped Indus and cleared it without any casualties.
In other words, it hadn’t truly ended.
Caw—
Just then, I heard the cry of a raven from outside the window.
I checked outside. The raven circled once through the air, then alighted before my window.
[Found him.]
The raven opened its beak to me. It was Gregory, as expected.
After Gregory had caught Armel—the Indus member hiding within Constellation—he’d remained by my side.
He followed my orders and continued to dutifully play the role of a raven I’d Tamed, even within Constellation.
When I asked why, he said,
[Prison is nothing but tedious and dreary. I find it far more entertaining to watch over you from your side. It seems like trouble breaks out wherever you go, after all.]
Hearing him say this, I’m not sure whether to be pleased or troubled.
In any case, I entrusted Kraken’s search to Gregory.
Kraken lost one of his lives to my arrow. I haven’t witnessed it myself, but I trust the performance of Criselacatos.
Two lives remain. Kraken will surely expend one of them before the Revolution. Originally, he’d planned to use both extra lives entirely for the Revolution, but that scheme collapsed because of me.
So the problem boiled down to which of the two intended uses for those lives Kraken would choose.
Since there was no way to discern that, I told Gregory about both locations and ordered him to discover which way Kraken was heading.
One of the two anticipated locations is the sea of Rur.
Kraken would break free from human boundaries, cut through the monsters beyond, plunge into the waters of Rur’s sea, gain Poseidon’s recognition, and acquire the divine artifact Trident.
Kraken is originally a creature of the sea, and precisely for that reason, he is the one with the highest possibility of acquiring the Trident, which currently lies deep beneath the ocean’s surface.
If Kraken could acquire the Trident, from a player’s perspective, that would be game over at that very moment—and by my current standards, it would be utterly hopeless.
The Trident carries a Protagonist Divine Grade ranking, just like Mjölnir. Moreover, my weapon is merely a replica. I’ve yet to discover any difference from the original, but genuine artifacts of legend or divine grade might be another matter entirely.
Above all, Kraken’s own combat power exceeds mine, so I must assess the chance of victory as slim.
Still, acquiring the Trident is something Kraken might succeed at perhaps once in tens of thousands of attempts, even with all three lives intact.
I’ve never actually encountered it myself during gameplay, only heard about it from other players.
Some treated it as an urban legend, but given the abundance of eyewitness accounts, such a route clearly did exist. Of course, those accounts were saturated with player frustration.
But Kraken has now lost one life in an utterly unexpected way. He likely won’t commit the foolish act of attempting to obtain the Trident.
So probably.
[Kraken went to Lenzo.]
“……I see.”
I nodded at Gregory’s words.
Currently, Lenzo is imprisoned in the prison Obsidian.
Obsidian is a place from which no one, regardless of who they are, can escape of their own power, nor can anyone break in from outside.
Yet Kraken alone.
Without resorting to either of those two methods, he can extract Lenzo from Obsidian.
‘Good. The dice have rolled favorably up to this point.’
I have already deviated significantly from the game’s ordinary progression. To obtain a more optimal outcome.
Unexpected things certainly arose in that process, and I found myself in precarious situations because of them.
Yet in the end, I read the game’s greater currents and proceed to counter them.
What has changed because of me, what has not. Watching carefully between those two.
‘Kraken, I’ll let you obtain Lenzo.’
If I truly exhausted all my strength, I might even have been able to prevent that.
But there’s no real need to.
Lenzo is not a man anyone can handle.
If things go as I think, right now Kraken is opening the very door that will allow him to completely suppress Indus himself.
……And when that happens, that will be when the long, bitter grievance with Indus finally ends.
My rest comes after that.
Just this—just this one more thing, and then I’ll rest.

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