The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 164

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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 Weapon Duplicator of the Academy – Episode 164
Chapter 54: Hidden Ability
Before leaving the residence, I first knocked on the adjacent room’s door.
“Selena, are you ready?”
“Yes. I’ll be out shortly.”
Her voice came immediately, and footsteps—barely audible—approached as the door opened.
“This journey will be easier than Taeibun. Still, don’t let your guard down. We’re heading to the Barrier.”
“Of course. I understand.”
I glanced briefly at Selena’s attire. It was an improvement from when we first met, yet compared to the casual dress of ordinary people, her outfit still exposed rather more than was conventional. Her figure remained plainly visible.
Noticing my gaze, Selena spoke as though ashamed.
“I apologize. This is the most modest garment I possess. However, it is perfectly suited for acting as a bodyguard. It allows ample storage for tools while imposing no restriction on movement. Truly.”
As she spoke, Selena avoided my eyes, her face flushed with what seemed like embarrassment.
When we first met, she’d worn something even more revealing and carried herself without shame—quite the progress indeed.
“It’s fine.”
“…Pardon?”
“If that’s the outfit that lets you fulfill your duties, then it’s acceptable. So long as you don’t harbor unnecessary intentions as you did before.”
“Y-yes…”
Even as Selena answered, her eyes rolled with visible uncertainty.
Well, it’s reasonable—I’d even used language bordering on death threats back then, so a change in my response would naturally confuse her.
“My criticism wasn’t about your clothing itself. Do you remember? I didn’t speak to your outfit; I pointed out that you failed to distinguish appropriate places and attempted to change clothes in front of me. My telling you to ‘get out of there’ came from that same reason.”
“…That’s correct.”
I deliberately substituted “there” for Mangot. The residence had ears, after all.
Of course, every servant in the Roach Residence maintains absolute non-interference in their master’s affairs. What they ought not hear, they haven’t heard; what they ought not see, they haven’t seen. That was the servants’ code, and within this noble house, they upheld it with perfect rigor.
But one took precautions nonetheless, just to be safe.
“Why do you think that is?”
“…Because my conduct was displeasing. I acted shamefully and needlessly exposed myself before you, Frontdier, in a way unbefitting my station.”
Selena answered with an expression that seemed downcast.
Truthfully, I’d never given it much thought before, but she’d understood it that way.
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“The reason I rebuked you was that your behavior back then was evidence you looked down on me while at Mangot.”
“…!”
I’m not asexual, and seeing Selena’s deliberately provocative clothing and gestures, I couldn’t claim to feel nothing whatsoever.
But I’m not so degraded as to be brought low by so little. Mangot, however, must have believed that much would suffice—that “Frontdier de Roach” was degraded enough for it to work. That I was already that far gone.
The Frontdier whose body and spirit were broken before my arrival might have fallen for it, but I wasn’t that person.
“Seeing your body and clothing did not cause me displeasure. You needn’t be so hesitant about it. Abandon thoughts of how unbefitting it was, how needless it all was—such things are meaningless.”
“Y-yes…”
Selena lowered her head, obscuring her face as she nodded. I judged she’d understood sufficiently and turned to walk ahead. From now on, I would need to think carefully about Yeran Hess—
“…?”
But even after walking some distance, I sensed no movement from behind. When I turned back to look at Selena, her face had flushed even deeper than before, and her eyes were filled with confusion.
What was this? Had she not understood my words? Had they been so difficult?
“Why aren’t you following? Move.”
“Th-that is…”
“…?”
“Your outfit at the time, I mean, well, how to put this……”
Rarely did Selena stammer so badly, seeming to search for words. Her eyes trembled as she looked at me, and by the time she finally spoke, her face had gone from red to something approaching crimson.
“D-did it… have any effect?”
“……”
“N-not that I’m trying to do something like that again! B-but you must understand, don’t you? What my intentions were then. So, it was, that is, I was simply curious……”
Without meaning to, I felt my expression cool. Watching Selena offer such earnest clarifications.
“Come along.”
“Ah, yes……”
I confirmed that Selena was walking toward me, shoulders drooping, then turned forward again.
Glancing back, I saw her walking with a dejected air. Yet even so, there was a visible attempt to conceal her figure, as though her clothes felt strange on her.
Whatever this change of heart was, despite her more modest attire now compared to before, Selena seemed embarrassed by it. Perhaps something had shifted during her time at Constellation? Maybe integrating into daily life had made her reconsider her own appearance.
‘This is troublesome.’
The fact that Selena had suddenly become self-conscious about her clothing was neither good nor bad in itself, but if that concern prevented her from moving properly, that was a problem. After all, how she appeared to others reflected on my choice of bodyguard. She needed to do her job.
“Selena.”
“Y-yes?”
“Once this journey ends, we’re going shopping for clothes.”
“Yes… yes?!”
“I’ll have you wear something more comfortable to move in, something better—without such excessive exposure. Then you won’t need to worry about anything unnecessary.”
“Ah, no, I couldn’t. As your bodyguard, that would be…”
Selena began to protest, then stopped short, her expression shifting as if something had occurred to her.
With her head lowered, she murmured something so quietly it was barely audible.
“…Very well…”
Her voice was so small I half wondered if an ant had learned to speak. I must have ears like a hawk to catch that.

* * *
The car was already waiting when we stepped outside the residence.
Angen was in conversation with the driver about something. Whatever it was, they were keeping their voices low enough that I couldn’t hear—clearly a matter of discretion.
After hearing what Angen had to say, the driver’s eyes twitched briefly before he glanced at me. Without speaking, his expression posed a silent question: “Is that really true?”
Was he telling him I’d be accompanying them to Yeran Hess? If that were all, there’d be no need to speak in hushed tones.
I showed nothing, keeping my curiosity to myself as I approached them at an unhurried pace.
Angen acknowledged me and spoke.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
His words permitted neither objection nor elaboration. I nodded and took my seat in the back.
Selena, naturally, came with me.
“…”
“…”
As might be expected, there was no conversation inside the car as we departed.
Angen was taciturn by nature and had nothing to say to me; Selena, too, understood the time and atmosphere well enough to hold her tongue.
I’d never thought about it before, but I found the silence was not uncomfortable. Perhaps—or perhaps it wasn’t discomfort at all, but familiarity. Frontdier had always known silences like this with his father; they were the natural inheritance of our life together.
Yet.
“Frontdier.”
Surprisingly, Angen spoke to me first.
“Yes.”
“I heard about your Final Examination ranking. Ninth place?”
“Yes, sir.”
Surprisingly, it was about Constellation Academy.
Angen had initiated conversation about my school life on his own.
It was such a fatherly thing to say that it actually made the hair on my neck stand up.
I’d placed ninth overall in the Second Semester rankings. Both written and practical exams—I’d calibrated my performance carefully. Had I truly given everything, I might well have taken first.
But once I’d cleared Angen’s quest, my standing at Constellation Academy ceased to matter greatly.
“Was that result earned with your full strength?”
As if seeing through my intention, Angen asked.
This was not a question to deliberate over. I answered immediately upon hearing it.
“No, sir.”
“Good. Had you claimed it was your absolute best, I would have been deeply disappointed.”
Angen continued.
“I did not oversee this examination, but I witnessed you fighting during the First Semester finals.”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Based on what I saw then, ninth place is far too low. If that was the limit of what you could achieve, I would have cause to lament both my eyes and my memory.”
I couldn’t tell if he was praising me or reproaching me.
“My apologies. In the next examination, I will surely—”
“Frontdier.”
Angen cut me off.
From his seat up front, I couldn’t see his expression. He kept his eyes fixed forward on the road as he spoke to me.
“You could hide it better.”
“Sir?”
I asked without thinking. But no clarification followed.
As silence fell over the car once more, I found myself thinking.
‘What was that just now?’
Hide it better?
He’d spoken as if he wanted me to conceal my strength.
‘Could he possibly know the reason?’
Naturally, I’d never once brought this matter up to Angen.
There were complex reasons why I didn’t reveal my full abilities at Constellation Academy, but among them, the only thing Angen might reasonably have detected was—
‘…A god.’
When I first manifested Weaving into reality, the trigger activated, and a god descended before my eyes—Thanatos.
Just as Thanatos had tried to kill me the moment we met, perhaps the same had happened to Angen.
‘Could a god have interfered with Father as well?’
The moment that thought reached me,
“……Frontdier?”
Selena beside me studied my face.
I felt my expression harden in an instant.
Angen is not my real father. Just as Malia is not my real mother.
So whether Angen receives interference from a god or not has nothing to do with me. If anything, if it hinders me, then he’s merely an obstacle.
Yet, just as I had caught the scent of a mother from Malia,
in the anxious tone that colored Angen’s words now, I found myself wondering,
‘……Who could it be?’
Of course, all of this might be excessive speculation. What Angen said could have meant nothing at all.
But if it were true,
then what god would dare seek out Angen?
I found myself genuinely curious about that face.

* * *
Yeran Hess was not in as dire a situation as Taeibun.
The Roach Knights handled most of Yeran Hess’s defense, and since they had thus far repelled every Monster incursion, the local people moved with vitality.
That Angen had permitted me to come to Yeran Hess was likely because he predicted I would be safe within the Barrier.
I deployed Analysis on the Barrier, visible even from a distance.
‘It’s holding up fine.’
Of course, compared to Taeibun after I had restored it, the Barrier of Yeran Hess was aged and cracked, but it was sturdy enough to need no Restoration.
That this Barrier remained in such enduring majesty was thanks to Angen’s power, and
“Roach Knights! Present arms!”
the knights arrayed themselves with knife-sharp precision at the command.
Their formation struck me as precise as interlocking gears.
The Roach Knights—the current continent’s unofficial supreme force.
For reference, there are also the officially recognized Imperial Knights, and the Shroud Knights, to which the knight Sanders whom I met in Taeibun belongs—quite famous in their own right. Some rank Shroud as first.
But from the perspective of one who knows the truth, Shroud has long since faded. When a knight order that seized glory by hunting Monsters on the frontier is transferred to the center, most show a trajectory similar to Shroud’s.
They become dulled by sudden peace and safety, forgetting their original strength.
But Angen’s stubborn insistence on remaining on the frontier, combined with systematic training and charisma, keeps the Roach Knights sharp—they retain the spirit and capability they possessed during the Monster Wars.
“It is an honor to meet you, Patriarch.”
Silbain Serdo, the commander of the knights, bowed his head before Angen.
Angen nodded, then pointed to me.
“Silbain, this is my son.”
“……You’ve grown younger than I remember, sir. Your face has filled out too.”
“Not Artzie. This is my second son, Frontdier.”
At Angen’s words, Silbain studied me briefly—the look of someone realizing the Patriarch had a second son.
Silbain was a character the player encounters quite late—meaning Aster Evans would only reach Yeran Hess toward the very end, when he’d already graduated and was on the verge of becoming a Professional to broaden his horizons.
In that future timeline, Silbain was a man who had lost his left eye and an arm. Yet his gaze still burned with undaunted spirit.
Now, all his limbs and eyes remain intact. Being able to see Silbain like this filled me with a quiet satisfaction.
“Use him however you see fit.”
“You mean the Patriarch’s son, sir?”
“He came of his own will.”
Angen glanced at me as he spoke.
“How you use him is up to you. Teach him what you like, send him on errands, assign him menial tasks—work him as you please. If he becomes a hindrance, send him home from here. Verify how useful he can be without resorting to any of his hidden tricks.”
Angen emphasized the words “hidden tricks”—a message meant for me. He was telling me to face this with nothing but my bare strength, no strange abilities like what I’d displayed during the First Semester’s Final Examination.
I laughed silently to myself.
Angen truly knew what I wanted better than anyone.

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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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