The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 54

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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 54
Chapter 15: Fishing (3)
I checked my watch in front of the Constellation building.
Noon. She’d be arriving soon.
I’d arranged to meet Aten.
The excuse was straightforward enough: since we’d decided to work together going forward, we needed to discuss our roles in combat and coordinate our strategy.
When Aten had asked me,
“What should I wear?”
I’d told her to choose whatever she liked.
I’d called Aten because today was the Midterm Retake Exam day.
The retake itself didn’t concern me, but I needed to capitalize on the event that would unfold during this period.
Today was finally when I could reap the benefits of writing those summaries in the Library to keep Aten from failing.
After waiting a moment, I spotted her approaching in the distance.
“Aten, over here—”
I trailed off as she drew closer.
Aten was walking toward me in a white blouse and jeans.
Seeing her in anything other than the uniform was strange enough to catch my attention.
She’d always seemed the very picture of cool, distant elegance, but today she looked more lively, more radiant than usual.
“Hello.”
“…Oh, hello.”
Aten greeted me with her customary formality.
Her expression was no different from any other day.
“…Well? How do I look? This style is new for me.”
“You’ve never worn it before? That surprises me.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“It looks natural on you. I wouldn’t have guessed it was something new.”
What I’d initially thought was a departure from her usual image was probably just my own preconception—though it seemed Aten herself had felt the same way.
“…I see. So why did you call me out today?”
Aten asked, her expression noticeably brighter.
“As I mentioned before, if we’re going to work together, we’ll be a Party, which means we need to define our roles in combat. There’s other things to discuss too.”
It wasn’t a lie.
Just an incomplete truth.
There were multiple reasons I’d come here today.
One of them was to improve the relationship between Aten and Aster.
If my instincts were right, I’d likely run into Aster today.
I wanted things to get better between them.
Though according to Philly, if their future together was doomed to collapse, I couldn’t very well throw them together.
But keeping them at odds with each other felt wrong too.
The same held true even if Aten was my party member rather than Aster’s.
But I knew better than to voice that aloud.
“Ah, so that’s why we’re heading to the Training Room.”
Aten nodded to herself, satisfied with the explanation.
…Come to think of it, we were indeed heading in that direction.
The plausible excuse had formed so naturally that I found myself nodding along.
As we rounded the corner of the building,
“Huh? Frontdier.”
“Oh, hey, Aster.”
Aster appeared before us.
The moment Aten spotted him, her guard shot up instinctively.
“…Frontdier.”
“What?”
“You didn’t deliberately engineer this meeting between Aster and me, did you?”
“Of course not.”
Aten’s instincts were sharp as ever.
But I couldn’t prove anything, and from her perspective, the accusation made no sense.
How could I have known Aster would emerge from that corner?
That was her reasoning. The truth, however, was that I did know.
I’d known I would encounter Aster here.
Without definitive proof, though.
A Sudden Quest would manifest today in this exact spot—manifesting precisely as suddenly as its name implied.
A Sudden Quest that only triggers when Aster is present.
From the player’s perspective, since Aster is the protagonist, they’d naturally come here to resolve this Sudden Quest.
But as I mentioned before, the real Aster—not a player—could show up anywhere.
I’d only read that Aster frequented the Training Room daily, which meant the odds of encountering this Sudden Quest were quite high.
There was still a chance we’d miss each other.
Lucky we didn’t.
I glanced at my Smartwatch.
It was almost time.
“We meet again, Aten.”
“…Please don’t use that form of address.”
I watched their exchange in silence.
Then my Smartwatch chimed, and I checked the screen.
[A Sudden Quest has been generated.]
[Sudden Quest: Rohwald’s Escape]
– Rohwald, sick of the Midterm Retake Exam, attempts to flee.
– Objective: Stop Rohwald.
– Success: Reputation increase within Constellation Academy
– Failure: Slight increase in possibility of Rohwald’s expulsion from Constellation Academy.
Exactly as expected.
Identical to what I’d received as a player.
The same quest I’d gotten when I was Aster Evans.
“Frontdier, did you come to the Training Room to—”
The moment Aster said that,
Crash!
The sound of shattering glass erupted above our heads.
Weaving
Workshop Arsenal 3, Design
Grade – Common
Iron Shield
I wove a shield and swung it toward the cascading glass.
Hmm, shielding glass shards with a shield—somehow that felt nostalgic.
Clang-clang-clang!
As I cleared the glass with the shield, a boisterous voice echoed down from above.
“Hahahaha! Teacher! I’ve got to get out of here!”
“Rohwald! Get back down here this instant!”
“No way! I’m done with this!”
The three of us looked up.
From the third floor of the Constellation building, likely where the Midterm Retake Exam was being held,
a man was dangling halfway out of a window.
A thoroughly shattered window, naturally.
“—Ah, that idiot.”
Aster placed a hand to his forehead.
Of course Aster would know who Rohwald was. They were in the same class.
Rohwald Lieff.
If Frontdier was the lowest incompetent in Constellation Academy,
then Rohwald was the highest problem child.
In a sense, he was both the most transparent and most one-dimensional character in the academy.
Hot-blooded, reckless, headstrong—a execution and drive assembled from equal parts courage and foolhardiness.
Everything resembling those traits seemed to be crammed into one character: Rohwald Lieff.
Yet if one were to find any dimension to Rohwald,
it would be this: in combat, he was a genius who surpassed even Aster.
Whoosh!
Without hesitation, Rohwald hurled himself from the fourth-floor window.
We couldn’t see it from here, but screams echoed from inside the Classroom.
Anyone would’ve thought they were watching someone die.
Boom!
And Rohwald crashed down right in front of the three of us.
No aura, no magic.
Just a straight drop from the fourth floor, landing on his feet with his bare body.
Nothing more.
That brutally simple and dangerously reckless course of action—Rohwald’s body made it possible.
“……Tch, this hurts more than I thought.”
That said, there’s no shortage of pain.
“……Rohwald.”
Aster, unable to bear it any longer, opened his mouth.
Aten beside him simply wore an expression of utter disbelief.
Rohwald raised his head at the sound of his name.
He caught sight of Aster and grinned with genuine delight.
“Oh, Aster. What brings you here?”
“That’s what I should ask. What are you doing?”
At Aster’s words, Rohwald bashfully scratched his head.
“Well, ha ha. I failed the exam and have to retake it, but it’s so tedious that I’m making my escape.”
With that, Rohwald flashed a cheerful, refreshing smile.
His face shone so brightly that one could almost forget he was committing something close to a crime.
“Rohwald, the Princess is watching.”
“Ugh.”
Rohwald confirmed Aten at my side.
One of the reasons I brought Aten along.
So I could easily stop Rohwald’s escape.
By this point in the game, the player normally grows quite close to Aten.
Since both Aster and Aten are diligent types who frequent the Training Room together, this becomes a good catalyst for triggering this event.
Naturally, this Sudden Quest has nothing to do with Frontdier.
It’s the event where Rohwald and Aster establish their relationship.
Handled well, they become rivals; handled poorly, they become enemies—for a Sudden Quest, it’s fairly perilous.
But with Aten present, I can navigate this event without trouble.
Rohwald and Aster’s relationship could easily turn hostile otherwise, and her presence reduces that risk.
“……Tch, I see. Even for someone like me, appearing shameless before Her Highness would be,”
With that resigned sigh, Rohwald
“──occasionally acceptable!!”
and lunged at me.
……What?
Weaving
Arsenal 17-B
Grade – Common
Wooden Staff
I grabbed the Weaving from the arsenal on impulse and swung it.
It was the longest-reach staff among my melee weapons.
And then,
Crack!
Clean hit.
A perfectly accurate blow to Rohwald’s temple.
Thump.
Rohwald collapsed.
[Sudden Quest Complete]
– You have successfully stopped Rohwald.
And the oblivious quest notification rang out.
Yes, I understand I stopped him.
‘This wasn’t supposed to happen like this.’
Sure enough, both Aster and Aten stared at me with wide eyes.
Normally, with Aten present, Rohwald would obey without fuss and abandon his escape—I have no idea why it played out like this.
‘Is it because of me?’
Whatever impulse Frontdier’s presence stirred in Rohwald, he clearly got some strange idea.
The plan went slightly awry, but we stopped him, so it’s resolved.
……It should be.
* * *
We brought Rohwald to the Infirmary.
I exchanged an awkward greeting with Malia de Roach and laid Rohwald down, when a teacher came to the Infirmary shortly after.
The moment the teacher saw my face, he immediately frowned.
It was Ales.
Ales, famous at Constellation Academy for taking the commoners’ side.
So to him, Frontdier would be precisely the type he hated most.
“……You did well, Aster. And you too, Aten.”
Ales turned his gaze to me, offering thanks to Aster and Aten.
“Sir, it was Frontdier who stopped Rohwald.”
Aten’s displeasure showed plainly on her face.
“……I see.”
He seemed genuinely taken aback that I would side with him—Ales’s expression betrayed as much.
Then.
“────Hnnngh!”
Rohwald came to.
Even waking up, he had to make noise about it.
We stopped talking and looked at him.
According to Malia, it was only a mild concussion, so I’d expected him to wake soon enough.
Rohwald blinked groggily around the room, then his eyes found me.
“…….”
“……?”
Then came silence.
His expression flashed hot at the sight of me, then shifted to confusion, then something like deep deliberation—his eyes rolling as he worked through some thought.
He asked me shortly after.
“You’re not Frontdier, are you?”
So he did know who I was.
“Yes. Frontdier de Roach.”
“……I’m Rohwald Rieff.”
And he extended his hand for a handshake.
What kind of conversation was this.
In any case, we clasped hands.
Rohwald smiled with that familiar provocation.
“I’ll repay this humiliation next time.”
“Fair. I’ll have something new ready for you then.”
To my taunt, Rohwald let out a low laugh, but his smile never wavered.
Rohwald liked strong people, whatever else he was.
From his perspective, being knocked unconscious by my strike seemed only to have raised his regard for me.
Though it was pure chance.
“Rohwald, why did you suddenly threaten Frontdier?”
“Ah, well—I heard rumors that Frontdier was keeping close company with the Imperial Princess.”
……Keeping close company?
We have been acting together lately, true enough, but the phrasing left a sour taste.
“I thought if I caught some weakness of hers—”
“…….”
“—and threw a punch at this fool while fleeing, perhaps the Imperial Princess might look favorably upon me.”
At Rohwald’s brazen declaration, Aster let out a sigh before asking.
“……So she’d look favorably on you while overlooking your escape attempt?”
“Exactly! Two birds with one stone—a perfectly rational judgment, I’d say! Ha ha ha!”
……Rational, perhaps. But remarkably foolish.
“Rohwald.”
Ales called him by name.
His gaze was sharp and cutting.
“Breaking windows, attempting to flee—I cannot overlook this, not this time.”
“Ah. My apologies, sir.”
“I will be contacting your parents.”
At those words, all the color drained from Rohwald’s face.
“P-Please, anything but that!”
“This recklessness you’ve displayed throughout the academy—use this opportunity to reflect upon it.”
With that, Ales turned to leave.
I thought he was simply going, but he glanced back at me briefly.
“……Frontdier, Constellation will provide proper compensation. Well done.”
He left the Infirmary without so much as a smile on his face to match the words.
I watched his retreating form for a moment.
“I need to use the restroom for a moment.”
I sat up.
I pressed gently down on Aten’s shoulder as she started to rise.
“I’m just going to the restroom—where do you think you’re going? Use this chance to get better acquainted with those two.”
With Aster, specifically.
Aten’s expression darkened visibly, but she settled back into her seat.
Following me to the bathroom was absurd even by her own measure.
Besides, the Training Room was in the opposite direction anyway.
The more time Aten spent with Aster, the more she’d see his true character for herself.
If they kept meeting like this, eventually the magic Philly had placed on her would unravel.
—And in the meantime, there was something far more pressing I needed to accomplish today at Constellation.
I slipped a note to Malia de Roach, who sat waiting in the Infirmary.
The message was brief.
‘Beginning now.’
Today was the day.
I was going to root out the rat hiding within Constellation.

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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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