The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 155

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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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Academy Weapon Replicator Episode 155
Chapter 51: Return
Esther still asked, her tone thick with suspicion.
“…If you’re strong enough to kill everyone here, why not break free directly?”
If I could, I’d have done it long ago.
‘I’ve probably recovered some Mana while sleeping.’
Even if not much time had passed since I fell asleep, my Mana recovery is faster than most. I’ve depleted it too many times.
But my hands are completely bound, so I’d need to use Weaving to cut through the threads.
In other words, I’d have to activate Menosorfpo.
‘If I do that, I might just draw more suspicion.’
If Esther doesn’t free me and leaves, then I’ll try.
I should practice making Menosorfpo much smaller too.
“More than anything, how do you trust me enough to turn your back?”
Esther asked. She met me for the first time today, and we know nothing about each other. It must seem strange that I trust her.
But to me, it was the most natural thing in the world.
Esther isn’t just good-aligned—she’s faithful beyond measure.
A servant of the goddess Justitia, a righteous agent who chases criminals to punish their sins. In an old comic, she’d be the type to naturally fill the protagonist’s role.
“I told you. I brought you into this. That’s because I trust you.”
“You won’t say why. You’re asking how that trust came to be.”
“You’re the warden of Obsidian. That’s enough.”
Even at my words, Esther’s face showed she remained unconvinced, but soon she sighed and approached me.
From the surrounding circumstances, even setting aside whether I killed all of them, she would certainly understand that I’m an enemy of Indus.
Esther moved behind me. I heard a small metallic sound. Though I couldn’t see it, she must have drawn a blade.
Scritch-scritch—I heard Esther scraping at the webbing. As she freed my arms, I spoke.
“Come to think of it, about what happened here—”
“You mean how you killed all of Indus?”
So now that’s exactly what she thinks.
“Yeah, that. Could you keep it quiet if possible?”
“Keep it quiet? You want me to make it seem like you didn’t do it?”
Esther questioned back. I nodded.
But Esther spoke firmly.
“I refuse. I don’t tell pointless lies.”
“It’s meaningful, though.”
From Constellation’s perspective, I’m currently kidnapped by Renzo. As a hostage for the passengers on the train.
And I—bound as I am—killed all of Indus and even Heldrey inside Heldrey’s Grand Residence? Nonsense.
Better that it be left as if nothing happened than that baseless suspicion expose Mangot’s tail.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I have no intention of lying.”
“I’m not asking you to lie. But you don’t know exactly what happened in this situation either, do you?”
“…That’s shameless.”
Esther’s face darkened. From her perspective, it must look like I’ve handled everything and am now pretending ignorance.
But in fact, at least inside the mansion, I did nothing. I was simply bound to this chair.
I spoke.
“Claiming that I did it—that’s also a ‘lie,’ isn’t it?”
“A lie? You clearly—”
“I answered. I said ‘who knows.’ I never once said I did it.”
From Esther’s expression and words, she more than half believes I did all of this.
Once such a conviction has taken root, now is the time to dodge. From here on, it’s actually easier work.
I did nothing—I simply state the truth, and Esther won’t believe it.
I spoke again.
“You don’t have to say that Obsidian handled everything. But stop speculating that I did. Me, bound to this chair, killed all of them and Heldrey too? You didn’t see it directly. Keep that ‘false fact’ to yourself. If you simply say nothing, the world will know what the truth is.”
The misunderstanding Esther now has of me could be useful depending on the situation. For now, that’s enough.
And Esther herself will understand. That I won’t carelessly claim I did it. I never answered that way, and just as she herself said—Esther doesn’t lie.
If Esther makes no unnecessary claims, ordinary people will naturally assume Obsidian apprehended Indus. My existence will fade into shadow, as will the existence of Mangot, tangled up with me.
“…What are you after, really? What meaning is there in hiding credit like that?”
“It’s not that I’m hiding it.”
I smiled as I spoke.
“I simply have no interest in such things.”
At my answer, Esther’s eyes seemed to widen slightly.

* * *
My return took longer than I expected.
First, we had to secure the perpetrators. After receiving Esther’s message, Obsidian operatives arrived at a run and bound the unconscious Kian, Thomson, and Skyler with restraint artifacts.
Restraining Skyler proved somewhat difficult. Since he was originally a spirit form, binding the armor on the outside served no purpose whatsoever.
Fortunately, there existed a Demon-type Restraint Artifact specifically for that purpose, which allowed us to contain Skyler. During my time as a player, I’d focused mostly on annihilating monsters, so witnessing monster restraint up close was a first. Unlike humans who wore handcuffs, monsters were sealed inside enormous spherical glass marbles.
Normally the artifact took the form of a small ring, barely larger than a finger ring, but when activated for restraint, it formed a barrier of mana that expanded its volume.
It seemed remarkably convenient and useful, though difficult to employ in actual combat. Deploying the barrier took time, and crafting even a single such artifact required considerable resources and expense. One would think it was forged from mythril itself.
Naturally, my eyes catalogued that artifact into my Workshop. Of course, when my mana ran out, the restraint would break—a half-measure—but unlike the physical version, it cost nothing to use and could prove useful for binding someone temporarily without spending resources.
──And then.
“How strange. I almost feel homesick looking at this scenery.”
I rode in a car headed for Constellation Academy.
I’d interfered with Indus on the aerial railway, taken on lifeguard work in Cropol, met Renzo on the way back, and visited Heldrey’s Grand Residence.
It hadn’t been a long stretch of time, yet I’d experienced enough of everything to make the drive toward Constellation Academy feel strangely nostalgic.
An Obsidian employee handled the driving. Esther seemed to still be overseeing the scene. Considerable time had passed, so Mangot’s mana should have dissipated, but I couldn’t quite let my guard down yet.
“Student, consider yourself fortunate. If the director hadn’t been there, something terrible would have happened.”
The driver spoke to me.
I smiled and replied.
“Yes, truly—it was divine providence. This must be the mercy of Justitia.”
“Ha. The director would’ve liked to hear that.”
Obsidian personnel understood nearly everything that had occurred inside the mansion as Esther’s doing.
Of course, Esther herself hadn’t said as much, but given what happened at the time, it was the only plausible explanation they could conjure.
Thus a curious architecture of misunderstanding had crystallized around that incident.
Esther believing it was my recklessness, Obsidian believing Esther had handled everything, and the general public—when this event became public—believing Obsidian had captured Indus.
Yet none of them held truth. As long as those three walls of understanding remained intact, no one would ever suspect Mangot’s involvement.
“We’ve arrived.”
“Thank you.”
After some time had passed, the car came to a stop.
I offered the employee a respectful farewell and then looked upward before Constellation Academy’s gates.
I’d come to Constellation rather than to the Roach Residence because I needed to inform Jane and the other teachers of my status.
Jane, who believed Renzo had abducted me. Yet even so, she wouldn’t have spread that news far and wide. Likely only a handful of teachers knew. Blabbing it around would only cause confusion.
Perhaps they were organizing a team to retrieve me again. Osprit would certainly be among them.
So I needed to hurry back to Constellation to let everyone know I was safe.
And rather than heading straight for the Staff Office, I changed course toward the Principal’s Office. I didn’t want to entangle teachers who might not be fully informed in my situation.
But when I arrived, the Principal’s Office was empty. My knock drew no response, and I sensed no presence within.
‘Ah, surely not…’
A thought struck me, and I turned toward the Conference Room instead.
The same place where we’d held meetings with the teachers before to plan the capture of Indus.
From some distance away, I could already hear voices from inside the Conference Room.
“If we dispatch a small elite force first…….”
“If we move hastily and get discovered, it will only put the student in greater danger…….”
The voices inside exchanged cautious words. It sounded like discussion of some covert operation.
The subject, no doubt, was me.
Knock, knock.
I rapped lightly on the Conference Room door. No one came out. It wasn’t that they were ignoring me—rather, their focus on the discussion was so intense that my knock likely went unheard.
Hmm.
There was nothing for it.
Creak.
I slowly opened the door. Inside, I saw teachers gathered around a massive table. They continued their discussion without paying attention to my entrance.
Likely many people had been coming and going from this Conference Room. They would have needed to bring various materials for the operation. It had been the same during my last meeting here.
Watching all these people concentrate their full effort on planning an operation to save me was a strange feeling.
“Ah, well, I’ve returned.”
I spoke with a light, deliberate cough. The teachers glanced at me, started to continue their conversation, then oddly changed their expressions and looked at me again.
Nearly all of them performed similar movements.
“……Frontdier?”
That heavy, somewhat cold voice—Osprit, seated in the back-center, widened his eyes at the sight of me. It was the most shocked expression I’d ever seen from him.
At that murmur, all the teachers’ gazes—those who hadn’t yet seen me—snapped toward me. Among them was Jane. I was grateful not to need further explanation.
I spoke.
“Yes, Frontdier de Roach. I have just returned,”
“Frontdier!!”
Someone cried out my name and rushed toward me. She threw her arms around me and buried her face in my shoulder.
It was Malia.
“Frontdier! Thank goodness, Frontdier……!”
A trembling voice thick with emotion. I felt something like déjà vu wash over me.
The light in her eyes, the tone of her voice from before—when she’d seen me off as I headed toward Elicia’s tower—all of it came rushing back.
Malia de Roach smelled like a mother. It was cowardly of me, really. She wasn’t my real mother.
……But even so.
I closed my eyes quietly and let out a breath-laden reply.
It felt as though I’d finally finished something long and endless.
“I’m back home. Mother.”

* * *
The teachers at Constellation Academy made a fuss when they learned I’d survived Renzo.
Though only a handful of them knew the details, the fact remained that their impression of me had shifted.
A few had tried to ask me exactly how I’d escaped Renzo’s grasp, but each time Jane and Malia de Roach had cut them off.
“What kind of questions do you ask a student who’s barely just come back alive!” The bloodlust in their voices sent the teachers backing away. For me, it was convenient.
At the Residence, things were much the same. They didn’t know I’d participated in any operation or been kidnapped in the first place. Even when I ran into Angen, everything was just as before. A reassuringly peaceful state of affairs.
For my purposes, that was fortunate. I couldn’t afford unnecessary interference going forward.
In my room at the Roach Residence, I conducted the verification I’d long been waiting to perform.
“First, Renzo’s spear and shield.”
Ares’s weapons that Renzo had carried—Enkespalos and Linotoros. The names of a spear and shield, respectively.
I’d deposited both divine artifacts into my Arsenal the moment Renzo had drawn them, but they proved utterly useless.
Why?
[???]
•Grade: ???
•Description: ???
Detailed Abilities >
– ???
– ???
Both the spear and shield displayed only question marks. At first, I’d thought it was a system error.
‘Ares hid them.’
Ares must have heard Hephaestus mention me, and he’d taken appropriate measures accordingly.
Even so, to hide not just an item’s description but even its name—was that only possible because they were his own possessions? In any case, since it was merely hidden information, Weaving remained viable.
The performance was intact. He’d likely hidden the information because those two items possessed another property I didn’t know about.
What I could gather was only this: both items showed two lines in their detailed abilities section.
The spear’s Infinite Attempt and the shield’s ability to block everything from the front—but those weren’t all. Each weapon harbored one additional ability.
Was that hidden ability what Ares wanted to conceal?
“Well then, I’ll look into it later.”
A god had deliberately hidden it. There was no way for me to uncover it in my current state.
Besides, the main thing to verify today wasn’t these two items.
I opened my Smartwatch.
[Main Quest ‘Indus Purge Operation’ Complete.]
[Main Quest: Indus Purge Operation]
•Description: Indus’s plan has been exposed. Thwart the plan and neutralize Indus members.
•Objective: Neutralize all Indus members and leadership.
•Reward: Distributed in proportion to those neutralized.
•If Failed: Risk of entering Anarchic State.
[Confirm Rewards]
– You have not entered an Anarchic State.
– All Named Characters survived.
– Neutralized: Heldrey, Kraken, Kian, Thomson, Skyler. All Indus leadership successfully neutralized.
[Highest Grade Reward has been assigned. Rewards are provided according to grade, calibrated to your current character.]
Following the previous Main Quest, this was my second Highest Grade Reward.
With anticipation, I checked the next entry.
But then.
[Error Detected.]
[Contribution Points confirmed for Heldrey’s death.]
[Alignment Shift to Good possibility presented for Named Character Renzo.]
[Recalculating rewards.]
[Calculation complete.]
[Transcendent Grade Reward will be distributed.]
“……Huh?”
I read through it for a while before my brow furrowed. A word appeared that I’d never encountered in all my time playing Game Aethius.
“What is a Transcendent Grade Reward?”

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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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