The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 57

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Weapon Duplicator of the Academy Episode 57
Chapter 16: The Assault (2)
On an evening that came a touch late, the Lishaé Residence glowed with an uncommon brightness.
The gentle strains of music and the laughter of guests mingled agreeably, spilling out beyond the manor walls.
“……Sigh.”
Elodi exhaled a quiet breath that no one was meant to hear.
The Lishaé Family held these gatherings—High Society events—with some regularity.
By family prestige, the Roach Family might do the same, but their patriarch was known for his austerity.
Elodi adjusted the ruffles tucked fastidiously all the way to her collar.
This was a dress she wore often enough, yet it never quite felt natural.
“Have I gained weight…….”
She had meant for no one to overhear, but the men seemed to sense it, drifting over to add their remarks.
“Impossible. You are as beautiful today as ever, Elodi.”
“Indeed. Even if you had gained a little weight, it would not mar Elodi’s beauty in the—”
Were they really calling this flattery?
Elodi pulled her lips into a smile.
……In truth, dealing with such men was bearable enough.
What must it be like for them to feel obliged to offer shameful compliments to a girl of merely seventeen?
Even if they harbored genuine affection for Elodi, in a place like this they had no choice but to repeat the same hackneyed, prescribed lines.
Elodi was the finest jewel the Lishaé Family had produced.
To reach out to her with true feeling was to invite scrutiny from every other house in the capital.
For this reason, everyone around Elodi maintained a carefully measured distance.
And ironically, the men here understood that offering such hollow praise was the safest way to maintain that distance.
──Which was why, each time such a gathering occurred, Elodi felt a crushing loneliness.
The women were consumed by jealousy and spite, or else sank into inferiority, groveling at a posture Elodi never asked for.
The men kept themselves neither close nor distant, watching for the eyes of others.
Gossip, flattery, empty pretense—none of it truly wounded her.
She did not take injury from such things.
It was simply the fact itself—that no one ever spoke to her with sincerity—that was relentlessly driven home.
And so she felt endlessly lonely, endlessly bored.
‘……Will he not come this time either?’
Elodi swept the room with her eyes, feigning attention to the men’s words.
She was looking for Frontdier.
In a gathering like this, he was the only person who held any promise of giving her breathing room.
She had friends at Constellation Academy who came from noble houses, but it was not easy for them to attend a gathering hosted by the Lishaé Family, and even when they did, they were occupied with socializing with the other families’ heirs.
But Frontdier had never once shown his face at such an event.
His particular laziness and inertia were one reason; the second was that the Roach Family simply did not press him on matters of High Society.
‘……No, that’s not right. I shouldn’t call it laziness. I know better than that.’
Elodi corrected her thinking.
Until now she had assumed it was mere laziness, but the recent Mana Depletion incident had opened another possibility.
Perhaps Frontdier was not lazy at all, but rather working himself to exhaustion behind the scenes.
……Though it was still only speculation.
In any case, the chances of Frontdier appearing tonight were slim.
His image at Constellation Academy had begun to shift lately, but that was entirely separate from the world of High Society.
Besides, Frontdier and her brother got on terribly.
That alone made the probability of his visiting the Lishaé Residence approach zero.
And yet.
Creak—
“……Huh.”
A sound escaped Elodi’s throat.
A man had slipped quietly through the manor door, and every eye in the room turned toward him—Elodi’s included.
An elegant black suit of impeccable tailoring. Hair, sleek and refined, dark as obsidian.
Those eyes, which always seemed half-closed in drowsiness, transformed into something mysterious and compelling when dressed for the occasion.
Frontdier approached the patriarch of the Lishaé Family with a formal bow.
“Ah, Frontdier. How delighted I am that you’ve come. I do hope we’ll see more of you.”
“Do we not see each other frequently at my home?”
“Ha, that’s not what I meant. I should like to introduce you properly to everyone gathered here.”
Patriarch Ortel de Lishaé greeted Frontdier with genuine warmth.
Though the warmth was less for Frontdier himself than for the political influence he represented.
The man himself was unremarkable, but the Roach Family that stood behind him was anything but.
If Frontdier cultivated good relations with other families here, Ortel could at least gain some advantage from it.
Indeed, there were already nobles whispering as they caught sight of Frontdier.
Most of them were seeing him in person for the first time.
Frontdier possessed at least the outward appearance of a true aristocrat, and young ladies spoke in hushed, flushed tones that drew notice.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Of course. Look around freely.”
With that, Frontdier bowed with the same courtesy as when he’d arrived,
then turned and walked straight toward Elodi.
“…!”
Elodi was startled, though she couldn’t quite say why.
It was the same Frontdier she saw all the time at Constellation Academy.
More than that, she’d met him again during the October incident, making his face all the more familiar.
When Frontdier stepped before her, Elodi’s lips moved uncertainly.
She couldn’t decide whether to treat him as a friend or extend aristocratic courtesy.
Just as Frontdier opened his mouth to speak, the music changed.
People paired off and stepped out, taking each other’s hands and moving in rhythm.
It was time for the dance.
Seeing this, Frontdier smiled with an awkward grace.
“Then, shall we dance? Miss.”
He asked as though the thought had just occurred to him.
Caught off guard by his gentle tone, Elodi found herself nodding before she could think of a reply.
Frontdier led Elodi’s hand into the stream of dancers.
Frontdier was neither particularly skilled at dancing nor unskilled.
To put it kindly, he was steady; to be frank, there was a risk his partner might grow bored.
But Elodi, for various reasons, had no room to be bored. Her eyes darted here and there as she opened her mouth.
“This feels strange.”
“What does?”
“You and me, here, like this, you know, doing this?”
It was nearly empty of content, but Frontdier nodded as if he understood completely.
“My collar’s bothering me.”
Frontdier said this while adjusting his collar with one hand.
To touch one’s own clothing while dancing was improper, to say the least.
But watching Frontdier perform a similar gesture, Elodi found herself laughing despite herself.
“So? Why did you come here anyway? It doesn’t suit you. Did you suddenly develop an interest in high society?”
Elodi asked, her tension easing somewhat.
“Hardly. I came to see you.”
Frontdier answered plainly.
So plainly that the words seemed to invite misunderstanding.
Elodi fixed him with a narrow-eyed stare.
“Could you be more specific?”
“I came to ask for your help. You’re the only person I trust.”
Once again, words that invited misinterpretation—though better than before.
And for Elodi, this version was actually easier to hear.
“What kind of help…—wait!”
Frontdier pulled Elodi closer.
To onlookers, it was simply a natural movement of the dance, but Elodi, caught unaware, gasped aloud.
“What—what is it? Suddenly?”
“Constellation Academy is going to be attacked.”
“…!”
Frontdier whispered into Elodi’s ear.
All the information he had gathered—
what Ales had confessed, the Disciplinary Committee, the teachers’ anticipated countermeasures, and more.
As Elodi listened at first, her expression wavered somewhat, but gradually it became perfectly composed.
She had realized that her face must not betray what she was hearing.
Once she’d heard everything, Elodi asked:
“So, why are you telling me this?”
“When the attack begins, stop the monsters as spectacularly as you can. Make it so the students and teachers immediately understand that something is happening.”
“When it begins? But didn’t you say the teachers are still trying to figure out when that will be?”
“I know.”
Frontdier stated it cleanly, without hesitation.
There was no emphasis in his words.
Not even an inflection meant to convince her of their truth, which oddly enough lent them credibility.
“If you know when it happens, you could just tell the teachers.”
“They won’t believe me. There’s no proof. No way to demonstrate it.”
“You have no evidence, no way to prove it — and you think I’ll believe you?”
“You don’t need to believe me.”
“……What are you talking about?”
Frontdier moved his body away from her again.
This too was a natural part of the dance.
“I believe you, so it’s all right.”
“……Where on earth are you picking up these odd notions?”
Frontdier merely smiled at Elodi’s sarcasm.
“When the time comes, you’ll understand it wasn’t odd at all.”
* * *
The morning sky hung heavy and grey.
Rain didn’t seem imminent, yet clouds stretched across the heavens as if they would never lift.
……Clouds that bring no rain hang darker still.
Musing on this unexpected thought, I finished preparing to leave.
Ordinarily, it would have been time to head toward Constellation Academy.
But today, my feet turned in a different direction.
Then—
“Where are you going?”
Malia de Roach caught me.
She stood at the summit of the hillside path ahead of me, as if she had been waiting.
“This path doesn’t lead to the Academy. Are you skipping?”
“……Then Mother is doing the same, isn’t she?”
“Heh, true enough.”
Malia laughed.
It was a laugh without guile.
“How did you know I’d come this way?”
“A mother knows all things.”
“Will you stop me?”
“Why would I stop you?”
Malia brushed her long hair back with one hand.
A familiar scent emanated from her as she walked toward me slowly.
“So it’s beginning? The monsters’ assault.”
“……Yes.”
“And you mean to prevent it?”
“Stopping the attack itself is the other students’ responsibility.”
I am not here to prevent the assault.
I am here to eliminate its cause.
Swoosh—
Malia’s hand touched my cheek.
“The old you would have used this as an excuse to run away.”
Yes, now I knew. The identity of that familiar scent.
“But your eyes are different now.”
It was Mother’s scent.
Though utterly unlike the scent she carried before coming here.
And yet.
“Go, then. But—”
Her hand slipped from my cheek to cover my right eye.
Averil Family Bloodline Skill
Sensory Sharing
Light radiated from her hand as it covered my right eye.
But I felt nothing in particular.
Still, I understood its meaning.
Before her marriage to Ampere, Malia de Roach lived under the name Malia Averil.
And the Averil Family possessed a Bloodline Skill passed down through generations.
Just as Phili, a descendant of Bala, could use Precognition.
Malia’s Sensory Sharing allowed her to share one of the five senses with another person.
This time, my vision was shared with her.
Malia could see the same sights that I saw through my eyes.
“Let me borrow your eyes. So I can reach you whenever I need to.”
Malia spoke with maternal tenderness in her expression.
I felt embarrassed and replied.
“Please don’t come to me—protect Constellation Academy instead.”
“Of course. As long as you come back to me unharmed.”
That will be difficult, I suspect.
I blinked for a moment before answering.
“I’ll do my best.”
Vroom—
Just then, the sound of an engine came from the distance.
A luxury sedan pulled up in front of us, and the rear window rolled down.
“Are you ready?”
It was Phili.
Phili waved her hand toward Malia, who stood before me.
She didn’t seem at all surprised to find Malia there.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Go well.”
I bowed my head to Malia and turned away.
The sedan pulled away immediately after I got in.
“So where should I take you?”
“Three kilometers west of the Imperial Palace. Drop me there.”
“Is that where my daughter is?”
“No. I’ll walk from there. Send the car back to the Imperial Palace.”
“Can’t we drive all the way there?”
“We’ll have to go into the forest. The car won’t be able to get through.”
That’s one reason for sending the car back to the Palace.
The real reason, though, is the risk that Elisia might spot the vehicle and flee.
If that happened, she’d run to the Imperial Palace and try to frame Phili instead.
I had to avoid such a troublesome scenario.
“Hmm.”
Phili nodded, seeming satisfied with the explanation.
“I still can’t believe it. That one of my two daughters is the culprit.”
Phili spoke with a sigh.
Phili still didn’t know that Elisia was the perpetrator.
“…May I ask you something, Phili?”
“What is it?”
“Can you truly treat your own daughter as an enemy?”
I already knew how Phili would answer this question.
So from an information-gathering standpoint, it was meaningless.
But it was something I had to say.
I had to ask this question—for Phili’s own sake.
“Of course. If she is my enemy, then daughter or not, I will eliminate her.”
…That’s right.
This answer was correct.
It was her true heart speaking.
──But of this much I am certain.
Phili’s resolve is still fragile.
She will soon discover that it is not so simple.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————