The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 21

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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 21
Chapter 6: The Golem (2)
Why I, who possessed only two Daggers, came to have a third.
It was because the second Dagger that Appje knocked away with the Deflection Technique was a fake made of Weaving.
A weapon made of Weaving cannot interfere with reality.
In other words, I could hold both a Weaving weapon and a real weapon in one hand. A Weaving weapon passes through matter, after all.
What Appje knocked away with the Deflection Technique was the Dagger I had woven.
When they made contact, my Weaving manifested into reality, but Appje’s Deflection Technique sent it flying—yet the real Dagger remained in my hand.
That Dagger, I hurled toward his head.
‘That was close…….’
I spoke as though unfazed, but cold sweat poured down my face.
I’d thrown the Dagger the moment Appje had set his stance, but I’d nearly been too late.
Honestly, that final Diagonal Slash—I couldn’t see it at all.
“……How did you manage that?”
“Manage what?”
I played innocent. There was no way I could explain Weaving.
Yet Appje, whom I’d expected to be displeased, nodded as though he understood.
“True enough. One challenges me precisely because one has hidden trump cards. It would be ungracious to ask you to reveal them.”
Appje looked at me after speaking.
His gaze had somehow grown gentler than before the fight.
……Appje de Roach.
As stern with others as he was, he was stern with himself.
“I have lost, Frontier. I shall teach you Combat Arts.”
And so.
Through a maneuver close to gambling, I had managed to secure a path forward for my combat training.
……That’s good, isn’t it?
* * *
The next day, Edwin was walking through the Constel Grounds when he heard faint murmuring.
-Isn’t that the guy?
-Yeah. Pretty sure it is.
He’d been hearing whispers for some time now, but hadn’t realized they were directed at him.
-Didn’t a first-year save him from dying?
-Yeah. Second son of the Roach Family.
“……!”
Edwin turned his head toward the source of the voice. The students who’d been murmuring walked past as though they hadn’t noticed.
But the ridicule directed at him continued after that.
‘Damn it.’
Edwin hadn’t done anything more shameful than the other students. He had simply been singled out.
Edwin, son of Fallen Nobility, had no place to stand among either the Commoners or the nobility.
For Commoners who harbored resentment toward the nobility, he was the easiest target.
‘……If I activated the Golem here.’
What would happen.
A masterpiece created by Professor Binkis through years of research.
Few students could adequately respond to it.
It would surely become a field of blood and carnage.
The students nearby would leave not even a trace, and even those who ran—their backs, one by one,
“Hey.”
“Ah!”
Edwin gave a violent start.
When he turned, Elin was looking at him.
“What are you standing around for?”
“Oh, nothing.”
At Elin’s voice, Edwin barely came back to himself.
‘What was I thinking.’
What madness.
Lately, it had been difficult to control his anger.
Was it because he’d obtained the Golem, a formidable weapon?
No—if he traced it back to its origin, hadn’t it started when he met Frontier?
……Was he so consumed by inferiority, Edwin.
“You’re heading to eat, right? Let’s go together.”
“Ah, yes.”
Edwin followed behind Elin.
The Evans Family—commoners by birth, yet renowned to the heavens because of Aster, her younger brother. Beherti, once noble, now fallen to ruin through failed ventures and lack of talent.
In this way, Elin and Edwin’s relationship was both close and distant.
They had known each other since their first year.
Regardless of the existence of Aster, Elin’s younger brother, Edwin was one of the few people who could open his heart.
“……Ah, indeed.”
As they walked, Elin’s eyes darkened.
She had heard whispers of mockery directed at Edwin.
“So that’s why you were standing like that earlier.”
“……Well, yes.”
Edwin admitted it frankly.
“Ignore them. Fools pour all their strength into foolish behavior. They need somewhere to spill their rage.”
“I need somewhere to spill mine too, you know.”
“……Edwin.”
Elin looked at him. A cold, settled gaze shot through him.
A clear warning in her eyes.
“Well, well. A fallen noble lord.”
A smug voice struck Edwin’s ear—terribly bad timing.
Edwin turned his gaze with the full force of his anger. A familiar face was there.
Gary Klatt. Representative of the Commoner Circle.
“Gary. Don’t start. Just go.”
Elin stepped forward first, addressing Gary. Normally she would have left it alone.
Edwin would have handled the situation himself. But today, something was different about him.
“……Gary. Are your people whispering because of you? What did you say about the Commoner Circle?”
“Commoner Circle? Call it Aktuber. And what do you mean ‘because of me’? It’s because of you. You did something pathetic. Idiot.”
Gary continued to provoke Edwin.
But Edwin turned that angry face away and closed his eyes.
Gary’s eye twitched at the sight.
That was always what Edwin did when he was composing his rage.
Tsk. Gary clicked his tongue.
That poor noble had to be given credit for one thing—patience.
“Gary.”
But today,
today alone, Edwin and Gary shared the same intention.
“When do you want to die?”
* * *
A few days later.
Edwin arrived at the designated time and place.
The Golem was at his side. He had no intention of using it, but he didn’t know how the other side would come.
And his prediction proved correct.
“Huh? Look at this.”
Gary spoke in a jeering voice.
The designated place held more than just Gary. Five or six students—likely commoners—were waiting for him.
“Bringing some strange thing along, are we?”
“If you brought something strange, then so did your crowd.”
Edwin looked at the surrounding students and let out a quiet laugh.
Gary shrugged.
“These friends are spectators. It’d be too boring with just the two of us fighting. Someone’s got to watch, right?”
Gary’s face was full of contempt.
When Edwin had chosen the location, he had hoped no one would see.
That’s why he’d designated an open field where ordinary people would never come.
Which is precisely why Gary had deliberately gathered spectators. He didn’t doubt his victory for a moment.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’
He hadn’t chosen such a place out of fear of defeat. He had simply hoped for no watching eyes.
Edwin drew his sword. Needless to say, it was a real blade.
Gary drew his sword as well.
“Beg for your life now and I might show mercy.”
“…….”
Gary had never killed anyone before.
I have no such resolve.
Yet Swordsmanship is an art that can reveal the gap between two fighters without taking a life.
One proper lesson, and he’ll learn his place.
In an instant, both moved.
Gary’s blade descended vertically first; Edwin deflected it diagonally, and in the same motion his point lunged for Gary’s throat.
“Ugh!”
Gary arched his body hard to dodge.
Edwin’s movements were clean, as though he’d known Gary’s opening strike beforehand.
In fact, he had predicted it. The more practiced a move, the easier it reads.
Gary handled a blade well enough, but he hadn’t trained under a family’s instruction as Edwin had.
A few metallic rings, the whistle of wind—and it was clear that Gary was being driven back.
Edwin’s relentless assault gave Gary no opening for a counterattack.
His offense had become his defense.
“Damn it!”
Gary wrenched his blade free with force.
Clang! Edwin’s shoulders opened, his chest exposed.
‘An opening!’
The thought flashed through Gary’s mind, but his thrust came faster still.
‘Now.’
But the opening he’d created was no opening at all.
Edwin had read Gary’s desperate strike and deliberately exposed himself, turning his back to slip the lunge before spinning a full rotation.
At the end of that spin, Gary’s neck would be within reach. Of course, he meant to stop before contact.
Except—
“Hgh!”
Edwin cleanly evaded Gary’s thrust, but something struck him and he lost his balance.
‘That’s Wind Gathering magic…!’
There was no way Gary could cast during combat.
Edwin glanced around. Among the watching students, he spotted several with hands extended toward him, murmuring something.
‘Ah.’
He’d suspected as much, but the realization still soured his mood.
Edwin retreated, struggling to regain his footing.
But hemmed in by the students’ interference, he had no way to deflect Gary’s attacks.
Thud.
In the end, Edwin fell, and a blade came to his throat.
“…Damn.”
Gary spat the curse even as he stood victorious.
“Bastard. What the hell gave you the nerve to come here alone? Was I that amusing to you? You piece of shit.”
“…You named your commoner’s gathering ‘Aktuber’ yourself, and took the role of its leader.”
Edwin looked at Gary.
Even in victory, looking down at him, Edwin saw Gary’s face flushed with shame.
“I thought you had at least that much pride, you cripple.”
“…You’ll be buried in Constel as the fool who picked a fight and lost to a commoner. It’ll suit a member of the Fallen Nobility perfectly.”
“Do whatever you want.”
Edwin bowed his head.
His body was ailing; it had made his tongue rougher.
He’s no better, but what does it matter.
“Damn…”
Gary’s rage hadn’t cooled; he spat another curse, then his eyes fell on the blade Edwin was holding.
“Hey. Drop that sword. I’m selling it.”
“Don’t touch the blade.”
Edwin’s eyes narrowed to a dangerous glare.
Good. Gary turned his attention to the onlookers.
“Hey. Take that sword from him.”
The surrounding students moved slowly closer.
Edwin tried to rise, but froze when Gary pressed the point of his blade toward his throat.
“Stay still. Unless you want to bleed.”
Only then did Gary’s expression soften into a smile, as though his frustration had finally eased.
‘–Ah.’
Nauseating. Utterly nauseating.
What am I doing? Why am I accepting this? Do I really have to stay down like this?
He had tried, in his own way, to fight fairly. Even when that hadn’t happened, he’d still accepted the defeat.
But to have his sword stolen?
One day, without warning, Beherti had fallen.
……He’d done nothing wrong.
The commoners’ backlash against the nobility.
……It had nothing to do with him.
-Tear it all down. Bastards.
When Edwin’s thoughts reached that point.
A wet crack echoed above his head.
“……Huh?”
What filled Edwin’s vision was the Golem’s cold arm, gripping Gary’s lower jaw as it hoisted him skyward.
Gary’s face was crushed and twisted like crumpled paper from the chin down.
‘The, the jawbone…….’
It shattered. Under the crushing force of the Golem’s grip alone.
“Guh…… Ugh, krgh.”
No coherent sound came from Gary’s mouth.
Dangling limp within the Golem’s grip, tears streamed down his face.
“What, what is that thing!”
“Run!”
The students turned and fled the moment they saw the Golem move.
Edwin reached out without thinking.
‘No, if I leave now.’
This Golem will be exposed.
To Professor Binkis too.
He’d barely thought it—
—when the Golem dropped Gary and leaped.
In a single bound, it caught up with the fleeing students.
Thud, crack—the sound of one-sided violence.
When the moment passed, every student in the area lay sprawled, slumped, or crammed into something.
And the Golem stood still, as though nothing had happened. As though it had merely carried out orders.
‘Could it be…….’
They weren’t actually dead, were they?
At least it hadn’t used the lance.
That might suggest it hadn’t killed anyone, but Edwin had no confidence in that assessment.
His hands trembled. The tremor spread through his whole body. Even getting to his feet felt impossible.
The sky—no, the ground—tilted. Everything seemed to flip end-over-end, and his vision went black.
“Come, Golem. Over here.”
The Golem moved to his side at once.
He needed to hide this—all of it.
Even if these students woke and told someone else, without the Golem itself as evidence, their story would lose weight.
In a situation like this, the fact that they were part of a single organization called Aktuber was a blessing. It meant people might believe they’d fabricated the story as a group.
If things went that way, the incident would at worst fall under the category of Accidental Homicide.
……Assuming they were all still alive.
But if the Golem was discovered, everything changed.
Taking the Golem’s ownership from him, picking a fight with Gary, and using violence on the Aktuber members.
By any accounting, what he’d done was premeditated crime.
‘Let’s go to Professor Binkis’s Research Laboratory.’
The route from here to the laboratory was what?
……Impossible.
They’d have to pass through several facilities the students frequented, and the odds of avoiding all eyes were slim.
‘I have to hide until nightfall.’
Somewhere else.
Anywhere—somewhere these students wouldn’t find him even if they woke.
“……Let’s go.”

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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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