The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 35

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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’s Weapon Duplicator Episode 35
Chapter 10: The Empress’s Eye (1)
General Hospital near Constel.
Siabel and Elodi waited anxiously for the results of Frondier’s examination.
This was the same hospital where Siabel had been admitted before.
This time, the roles were reversed.
──They had decided that Siabel killed Serf.
In any case, it was the truth.
When Siabel made this decision, she had argued,
“But we know the truth, don’t we? Without Frondier, I couldn’t have done anything. Frondier saved the child, saved us. That deserves to be recognized by people!”
Her words were logically sound.
But Elodi shook her head.
“Even if everyone knows Frondier did the right thing, there’s no guarantee his image will improve.”
“Why……?”
“……Image is just like that.”
Would Frondier become a hero who saved a child, or a murderer who killed someone?
Elodi couldn’t say for certain which way the scales would tip.
But she judged that the latter was more likely.
The reason was Serf’s reputation.
‘Serf had good standing within the empire before this incident. Moreover, Indus, the organization Serf belonged to, held high ground among the common people. In contrast, Frondier not only lacks any standing but has an image so tarnished already, and on top of that, he’s a noble of all things…….’
Taken to extremes, people might suspect that Frondier killed Serf and covered it up.
That’s why they gave the credit to Siabel instead.
Siabel had enough good reputation in Constel, and moreover, she was a commoner, not a noble.
And if Elodi’s testimony was added on top of that, there would be no loose threads in the story.
‘Frondier’s work getting buried is honestly a bit frustrating.’
Frondier.
She’d have to extract proper compensation from this.
While Elodi was thinking such thoughts,
Creak——
The hospital room door they’d been waiting by opened, and the doctor emerged.
“D—Doctor! How is it? How’s his condition?”
Siabel hurried toward the doctor and asked urgently.
Seeing those worried eyes, Elodi smiled softly to herself.
‘You’re lucky, Frondier.’
The doctor smiled reassuringly at Siabel.
“His body is fine. The wound on his ribs healed well, and he actually didn’t lose as much blood as we initially thought.”
Both of them felt relieved at the doctor’s explanation.
But then the doctor seemed to think about something for a moment before looking at them.
“Might I ask—what is your relationship to the patient?”
“Yes? Ah, we’re friends.”
“Is there no guardian who’s come?”
The two nodded at the doctor’s question.
Actually, Elodi had made contact. With Atjie, Frondier’s older brother.
After arriving at the hospital, she had deliberated about whom in Frondier’s family to notify.
His father Amper, his brother Atjie, and his mother Malia, who was also Constel’s health officer.
The reason Elodi ultimately called Atjie was simple.
She didn’t know Malia’s number, and Amper was too intimidating.
Atjie was intimidating too, but at least she had spoken with him before.
As Elodi explained the situation, Atjie fell silent as if thinking.
—I’m leaving it to you.
That’s what he said.
“Excuse me?!”
Elodi responded reflexively,
—If our family shows up, there’s a risk the rumors will spread unnecessarily. That wouldn’t be good for Frondier either.
He replied with the same composed tone.
When she thought about it, he was right. All of Frondier’s family members were far too well-known.
The doctor stroked his chin as if troubled.
“Hmm, I see. There’s something I need to tell the guardian.”
“Is Frondier in danger?”
“No, nothing like that. But there is something I need to tell you.”
“Then tell me what happened. I’ll make sure it gets to the right people.”
Elodi spoke, and Siabel nodded earnestly beside her.
“……Ah, I see. That’s fine, then. This way, please.”
The three of them moved into the doctor’s examination room.
Siabel and Elodi sat in their chairs tense with worry. Despite his reassurances, the doctor’s expression was decidedly grave.
The doctor spoke again.
“Please, don’t worry. Your patient is fine. However, I do want to advise you on something.”
“Advise us on what?”
Elodi asked, and the doctor nodded before producing two photographs.
“First, given the deep wound to the side, we took an X-ray. The treatment went well, as I mentioned. Fortunately, the blade didn’t touch bone or vital organs, so there shouldn’t be any lasting effects. The scarring should be minimal.”
At the doctor’s explanation, Elodi and Siabel’s tension eased slightly.
The doctor withdrew the next photograph.
“And this next one shows a Mana Distribution scan.”
“A Mana Distribution scan?”
“Yes. It shows the Mana distribution in the subject. We can see remaining Mana levels, where the Mana is concentrated, and so forth.”
At that, Elodi and Siabel looked at the photograph.
At the same moment, both tilted their heads in confusion.
“I… I’m not sure I understand. I don’t see any Mana.”
The photograph they were looking at showed only a stark white silhouette of a human figure.
So this was Frondier — but how were they supposed to see the Mana distribution?
“You’re reading it correctly.”
“Pardon?”
“Your patient collapsed from Mana Depletion. When he arrived at the hospital, he had no Mana left whatsoever.”
The two of them gasped, eyes widening.
So that’s why the photograph showed only a silhouette.
Completely empty.
“Of course, fainting from Mana Depletion is not uncommon. You two have likely experienced it yourselves — when Mana runs low, a person experiences extreme exhaustion. Moreover, your patient had exerted himself severely before the Mana Depletion occurred, and he’d also suffered significant blood loss.”
The two nodded.
They were students at Constel, after all, so they naturally understood what Mana deprivation felt like.
The act of collapsing from Mana Depletion itself was entirely believable.
“Now, this is the next photograph.”
The doctor produced a fresh photograph.
Another Mana Distribution scan.
But this one was clearly different.
“……Wait. There’s a blue glow in places. Quite a bit of it.”
“Yes. That’s his Mana. This was taken one hour later.”
Siabel let out a small sound of amazement.
Could someone really recover Mana this quickly, even after complete Depletion?
‘This fast?’
But unlike Siabel, Elodi — a pure mage —
found the speed unsettling.
So Elodi asked carefully.
“……Is it… is it really possible to recover Mana this quickly after Depletion?”
The doctor adjusted his glasses.
“That’s precisely what I needed to discuss with you.”
“What is it?”
“As you’ve noticed, your patient’s Mana recovery rate from Depletion is unusually fast.”
Siabel, listening, blinked.
“Is that a problem?”
Elodi had wanted to ask the same thing.
While the speed did seem strange, she wasn’t sure it was necessarily harmful.
The doctor said quietly:
“Not a problem exactly… It’s as though his body has become accustomed to it. To Mana Depletion.”
At those words, both their faces went cold.
Now they understood. Why the doctor had wanted to speak with his guardians.
“I can’t speak to what your patient has been doing, but Mana Depletion is not a typical occurrence. He may have been thrust into intensely violent combat — or situations comparable to it — repeatedly. Does anything come to mind?”
The two shook their heads.
But their expressions were blank, bewildered.
Mana Depletion doesn’t happen by accident.
Of course, inducing Mana Depletion doesn’t place any particular strain on the body.
But using magic or a skill meant, ultimately, being in a combat situation.
Depleting Mana meant giving everything in that fight.
So being accustomed to Mana Depletion meant, in other words, repeating brutal battles with regularity.
“……Teacher.”
Elodi opened her mouth.
“If he’s accustomed to Mana Depletion, how many times must he have gone through it?”
“Well, let’s see. At this recovery rate……”
The Doctor adjusted his glasses and studied the image again.
“──It seems to exceed a hundred times.”
Elodi’s eyes trembled.
She felt an emotion welling up in her body that she couldn’t name.
‘I didn’t know? I didn’t know that?’
Siabel was one thing.
But Elodi had been watching Frondier for a very long time.
These days she found the pet name she’d once called him so embarrassing she hardly wanted to speak it aloud.
If Mana Depletion had exceeded a hundred times, unless he was depleting Mana every single day, it must have started before he came to Constel.
It must have been long ago.
Had Frondier been enduring Mana Depletion since then?
‘What have I been looking at all this time……!’
The emotion welling up finally reached the crown of her head.
It was an emotion she’d desperately wanted not to understand.
But she couldn’t help but know it. It was anger. Anger at herself.
“Hey, Elodi! Elodi!”
“……Huh?”
When Siabel called her name, Elodi barely snapped back to her senses.
The temperature in the room had risen considerably.
Her Divine Power had nearly activated.
“I—I’m so sorry!”
Elodi quickly apologized to the Doctor.
The Doctor seemed startled but laughed it off with a haha.
In truth, Divine Power without killing intent caused no harm when unleashed.
In Elodi’s case, it was merely things like warmth or cold or a breeze.
But depending on the person, it could still be seen as a threat.
The Doctor spoke to calm them both down.
“As I mentioned, there are no particular abnormalities in the patient’s body right now. However, I must strongly advise against overexertion. If the patient truly has been repeating dangerous situations repeatedly.”
“……I understand.”
Both of them answered glumly, then left the examination room.
“…….”
“…….”
After hearing the Doctor’s explanation, the two sat side by side in the waiting area, their spirits thoroughly dampened.
After a long silence, Elodi spoke carefully.
“……That, you know.”
“……Yeah.”
“Frondier, everyone says he just sleeps through class. And he tries to skip outdoor lessons.”
“……Yeah.”
“Could that possibly…….”
Elodi’s thought.
It was the same thought Siabel held.
Maybe Frondier wasn’t lazy at all. Maybe he simply had no choice.
Fighting to the point of Mana Depletion, recovering, fighting again, repeating endlessly.
There was no way normal school life was possible with a body like that.
Siabel lifted her head and murmured like a sigh.
“When we went to the Dungeon together, Frondier seemed skilled with traps.”
Siabel recalled the moment when she and Frondier had been left alone together.
At that time, she’d held an unfavorable impression of him and couldn’t judge correctly, but Frondier had continually protected her.
He’d disarmed many traps, and even when he fell into one, he shielded her.
Perhaps he hadn’t learned trap knowledge.
Perhaps he’d simply lived through them.
Human sloth, Frondier.
The laziest, most incompetent man at Constel.
One side of that truth tasted far too cold and bitter for them both.
* * *
“Hum-hum-hum~ Hum-hum~”
Ainen walked down the street with a sprightly step.
The library clerk enjoyed reading even on her days off, but today marked a rare venture outside.
A hummed melody slipped unbidden from her lips.
“That Frondier fellow. Turns out he’s actually useful.”
Ainen pulled out her Sage Phone to check the message that had arrived.
The contents read:
[Congratulations! You have answered all questions correctly for ‘Essential Trivia for Adventurers’!]
[We present you with a Terst Department Store Gift Card!]
Remarkably, she had solved every problem from the library and won the gift card.
Of course, much of the credit belonged to Frondier, who had helped her with the final question.
Maybe she’d buy him a meal sometime.
“Hee-hee-hee.”
Ainen laughed like a carefree child.
No matter how illustrious Constel’s reputation, the library didn’t pay its clerks lavishly.
She, who devoured books voraciously, never had enough money, and between rent and living expenses on her modest salary, every coin pinched.
In Constel they found it awkward to call her “single,” so she’d taken to saying she was a “housewife” instead.
A housewife living alone was still a housewife, after all.
“First I’ll buy some clothes~ then I can’t miss out on cosmetics~ oh, should I get new shoes too?”
She murmured to herself, even adding melody to her words as she walked.
It was a moment that proved she was far from young.
……And Ainen did not know.
That there was a man watching her.
“……Yes, the target has arrived.”
A man hidden among the crowd of pedestrians, speaking in hushed tones.
He confirmed that Ainen entered the department store before speaking again.
“Ainen Flot has entered the department store, Your Majesty.”

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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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