The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 189

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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 189
Chapter 61: Newcomers
After the graduation ceremony ended, in that brief stretch before spring returned.
Constellation Academy observed Spring Break as well. For most Constellation students, who devoted even their holidays to training and study, this short break was the closest thing they got to genuine rest.
Frontdier, too, had decided to enjoy some leisure during this period. He spent time reviewing and applying what he’d learned with the Roach Knights under Artzie’s guidance, but otherwise it was a rare opportunity to simply unwind.
——Though just because Frontdier rested,
that didn’t mean everyone else could.
“Ugh, where is everybody……”
The Student Council office at Constellation Academy.
Theo, the outgoing Student Council president, let out a sigh as he held a sheaf of papers. The documents in his hands listed the personal information of several students.
“I told you to pick a successor in advance.”
“Did I choose not to pick one because I didn’t want to?”
Theo shot back at Byzant, the treasurer who was offering his commentary from the side. After a moment’s thought, Theo turned to him and spoke.
“You want to take it? Student Council president.”
“Have you lost your mind? We’re the same year, you and I.”
“And?”
“And what’s ‘and’? I’m graduating too!”
Theo’s eyes widened at Byzant’s words.
“You’re…… graduating……?”
“Oh ho, so you want to redecorate the Student Council office, is that it?”
As Byzant actually began drawing up his Mana, Theo laughed and waved his hand—but his eyes soon clouded with worry and resignation.
“……Look, I’m definitely the ‘former’ Student Council president, right?”
“Right.”
“So the president’s position is vacant?”
“Right. You never appointed a successor, and the Student Council election at Constellation kept getting postponed until it was eventually canceled altogether.”
Constellation had been incredibly busy this year.
The Golem theft incident, rooting out the traitor hidden within the academy, defending against attacks, and then there was Indus on top of it all.
Because of that, the Student Council election kept getting pushed back. Elections required extensive campaigning and voting procedures, which took considerable time.
There had been a brief window before Winter Break, but Constellation held no events once the end of the Second Semester approached.
Before long the election was canceled, and now they were asking Theo to simply appoint a successor himself.
“……I didn’t want to say this, but.”
“What?”
“The Student Council at Constellation is really unpopular.”
At that complaint, Byzant’s gaze shifted. It moved away from Theo’s face, which was now completely hidden from view, toward the window where distant mountains could be seen. Huh, there were mountains yesterday too—why are they here today? How mysterious,
“Hey! Don’t ignore me!”
“What do you want me to do? Most students who come to Constellation are aiming to become Professionals! Even during holidays they’re absorbed in their own training—how could they possibly care how the school operates?”
Byzant had a point. The Student Council at Constellation was genuinely unpopular. The fact that no one seemed to mind even with the president’s position vacant for this long was the clearest proof.
In reality, most students still believed Theo was the Student Council president. He was still doing the work, after all.
“And you—if you were done with the presidency, you could just stop coming here. Why hold onto it until graduation?”
“What am I supposed to do when the teacher asks? They keep saying a replacement will come soon, just give it a little more time—what choice do I have?”
“Except that ‘little more time’ turned into graduation.”
The Student Council being unpopular essentially meant there weren’t enough people in it. You couldn’t force unwilling students to join.
Of course there were first-years and second-years in the Council, but none of them wanted to be president. After watching Theo shoulder everything alone, they’d gotten cold feet.
“When you appoint a successor, don’t make them work like you do. That’s cruel.”
“So what you’re saying is, I’ve been doing something cruel to myself this whole time?”
“Exactly. Apologize to yourself.”
There wasn’t a shred of sympathy in Byzant’s words. Theo sighed.
Either way, a successor had to be chosen. Until now, even as the former president, Theo had remained at Constellation, so the Council maintained its continuity. But now Theo was graduating. The point of physical impossibility had arrived.
“……Is it really just that one person?”
“Doesn’t seem like they’d do it.”
“Do you even know who I’m talking about?”
“Well, you’re choosing from the second-years. So it’s already decided.”
Hearing Byzant’s words, Theo thought he had a point.
Ellin Evans.
The candidate Theo was currently considering for his successor.
“But would Ellin even accept if asked? She’s not even a member of the Council.”
“But right now, nobody in the Council wants to be president. I’m continuing what I’ve been doing, so my workload is heavy—but if a new president takes over, the burden will lighten. Ellin has a wide network of connections and is surprisingly thorough, so I think she’d do well.”
At Theo’s words, Byzant paused in thought.
Ellin Evans. The most promising figure among the second-years.
Ellin had been famous at Constellation even before her brother Aster arrived. Not because of her brother, but through her own merit alone.
Ellin possessed an almost innate genius for swordplay, having already reached a state where blade and body moved as one. Her magical reserves were meager, but she compensated entirely through sheer skill.
She did suffer from sleepwalking, though it rarely disrupted her daily life; no one had ever been harmed or injured because of it, so perhaps it wasn’t genuine sleepwalking at all. She herself insisted otherwise, of course.
The real problem was that Ellin’s skill came with an equally staggering workload. She was already scheduled for a Professional Internship, and she was swamped during this break as well. As for the Student Council—she likely didn’t even know it existed.
“Still, I should ask her first.”
“True enough, I suppose.”
Knock, knock.
Someone rapped on the Student Council office door. Theo and Byzant exchanged glances. It was still Spring Break; students rarely came to Constellation Academy during the holidays, and faculty even less so. If a student did show up, they almost never had business with the Student Council.
“Yes, come in.”
Theo responded in his usual manner.
The office door swung open, and the person who entered was—
“…Huh?”
Ellin Evans, of all people.
Theo felt a flutter of alarm. Had she overheard them from outside? No, they hadn’t been talking that loudly. Then again, with Ellin’s acute senses… anything was possible.
“Hello, I’m Ellin Evans.”
Ellin bowed respectfully toward Theo. He accepted the greeting awkwardly.
“Of course—I’m Theo de Vilancreaux. What brings the Student Council the pleasure of your visit?”
Theo observed the slight flutter in Ellin’s eyes as he spoke. He’d crossed paths with her before, but she was invariably asleep on those occasions. This was the first time he’d seen her eyes so alert and clear.
“Well…”
The slow parting of her lips felt equally unfamiliar to him.
“I want to become Student Council President. How do I go about it?”

* * *
When a new year dawned, some departed and others arrived.
This was not unique to Constellation Academy.
The Empire faced a problem that had to be resolved before winter’s end.
The Zodiac.
With Heldrey’s death, a vacant seat had opened in the Zodiac—the twelve positions that had to be maintained absolutely. A new person would necessarily be brought in to fill the void.
The Empire first considered Angen de Roach. The Iron Wall of the North, commander of the Roach Knights, the man who most embodied the name One Against Ten Thousand.
But Angen had no intention of joining the Zodiac. He had already refused the Empire’s requests to come to the capital multiple times. For someone who despised the Empire, the Zodiac was a laughable proposition.
The Empire sent him six invitations regarding the Zodiac. He replied to the first with a single word: refusal. All subsequent invitations were ignored.
Thus the Empire was forced to look elsewhere. Even that proved difficult.
Those worthy of consideration for the Zodiac already understood Angen’s abilities well enough; anyone could predict he would refuse the Empire’s call, even with eyes closed.
Could they themselves match Angen’s strength? The Zodiac candidates could not answer that question easily.
So considerable time passed before a new Zodiac member appeared after Heldrey’s death.
It was the span from Heldrey’s death through Constellation Academy’s winter break, through Frontdier’s journey to the north of Yleranthes to obtain the Fragment, and his return—a long, anxious interval.
The Empire worried they might lose the entire year. The Zodiac’s strength was certainly important, but from a state perspective, its symbolic value mattered more.
Citizens could only feel secure if the Zodiac remained stable and its members were people whom the Empire’s population could genuinely accept.
As winter was drawing to a close,
at last a man rose, heavy with burden.
“Watch the house for me. I’ll be back before you know it.”
The man adjusted his shoulders several times, unaccustomed to the Robe he wore after so long.
Another man watching him in silence—Hector Dutoit—exhaled sharply.
The White Lion Hector: the man Frontdier had met at the Barrier in Taeibun. He bore the Dutoit name, but was in truth Ridwei’s son.
Hector fixed him with a cold stare.
“You come back after all this time and expect me to hear this.”
“It might take longer than I thought, so I’m leaving you in charge.”
“Why should I guard your house? You show up out of nowhere, acting as if nothing ever happened—”
“Nothing did happen.”
Ridwei cut him off.
His tone remained unchanged, but the dimness in his gaze made Hector falter.
“So what stands between us? Whatever it was, it’s nothing now.”
“…Don’t think you can brush past me like that.”
“Hector. You once told me you’d carve your name across the entire continent.”
Hector closed his mouth, though displeasure radiated from every line of his body. His resolve hadn’t changed, but he’d made that declaration to Ridwei when he was still a child.
“If your ambition hasn’t wavered, then following me now would serve you well. The name Urpara—you cannot hide it, no matter how you try. This domain, this manor, your bloodline, and myself. Use everything you can.”
Ridwei finished his preparations and took up a small bag, moving toward the manor’s exit.
At the threshold, he spoke again.
“Whether you forgive me or not, however you judge what happened then—I don’t care in the slightest. But the fact that you’re my son doesn’t change. I told you to watch the house, so it’s yours for now. The manor’s servants, the knights temporarily reassigned, the domain—all of it is yours.”
“…What does that matter.”
“Nothing, really. Just remember it well.”
Ridwei’s expression grew a shade melancholy. He spoke quietly.
“As I said before, I won’t be able to come here for a while.”

* * *
The Empire welcomed its newest Zodiac member.
Ridwei von Urpha.
A practical mage who had distinguished himself brilliantly in the war against monsters. True, among the Zodiac there was Osprit, the Constellation Academy’s headmaster, who came closest to being a Grand Mage, but many mages preferred Ridwei to Osprit.
Osprit devoted himself to educating students and rarely participated in actual combat, and his school of magic was far too difficult for most to grasp.
Ridwei, by contrast, wielded nearly all the spells that anyone knew well, without showing favoritism—and above all, they were dazzling to watch.
When lightning streamed from his staff and carved across the earth in a single stroke, anyone who witnessed it could not help but marvel at the sight.
Though Ridwei himself insisted that he didn’t particularly care for spectacle.
……A new year dawned, and while Ridwei was settling into his place among the Zodiac.
The Constellation Academy, naturally, greeted that new year as well.
The Opening Ceremony. The first day back to school in the new year.
After the third-year students departed, new freshmen would arrive, as they always did.
Like their predecessors from the previous year, the newcomers set out for school filled with great anticipation for the new environment and the name Constellation Academy itself.
Of course, they too exchanged talk about the big news of the new Zodiac member’s arrival, but what truly captured their attention at that moment was something else.
“Hey, you guys know, right? We have Aster Evans as a senior here!”
“The genius with Baldur’s Divine Power—he’s been super famous since last year!”
“He and Ellin Evans are siblings, aren’t they? How on earth can siblings both be so extraordinary?”
Freshmen always harbored great admiration for their seniors. While there was admiration for Professionals, admiration for seniors was more tangible and immediate.
“And then there’s Senior Elody with the name ‘Ines,’ and the princess Aten!”
“So many famous people enrolled last year! If only I could meet even one of them!”
Their conversation drifted from one name to another. In the midst of this, one student spoke up with a somewhat cautious expression.
“But, um, did you guys hear about that thing?”
“What thing?”
“Last year there was a senior who was even more famous than those people we just mentioned. Though it wasn’t for a good reason.”
At that soft-spoken comment, the listening students laughed in recognition.
“Oh yeah, I remember. Front, Frontdier? He was super famous. Wasn’t he always sleeping?”
“The guy who’d fall asleep face-down during class, skip outdoor activities, and didn’t join any clubs!”
“So his nickname was ‘Human Sloth,’ right? I mean, even so, that was a bit much.”
They said it was a bit much, but they still giggled to each other with amusement in their voices.
Yet the male student who had first spoken with that cautious expression didn’t lighten up.
“Actually, that senior… he’s apparently changed. His behavior around campus changed, and so did his reputation. So if you treat him based on old information, it could go really badly.”
“Badly?”
“If you casually mock that senior or treat him lightly, word gets around and you get marked somehow within the Academy.”
“What? Just because one senior doesn’t like you?”
Another girl responded with a scornful tone, but the boy grew even more tense.
“No, it’s not that senior marking you. Those famous seniors we were just talking about—all of them. If you’re careless with that Frontdier senior or speak badly of him, they won’t say anything directly, but afterward they’ll ignore you completely and act like you don’t exist. And if they do that to someone in their own year, what do you think happens to first-years like us?”
“Whoa, seriously? So things really did change a lot?”
“Yeah. And apparently that ‘Human Sloth’ nickname changed too.”
“Changed? To what?”
“To ‘Sloth.'”
A girl who had been listening quietly squinted one eye.
“Sloth……? You don’t mean that Sloth?”

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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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