The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 72

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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 72
Chapter 22: Final Exam (1)
The Final Exam was drawing near.
Frontdier breezed through the written portion.
This time, Aten had plenty of time to prepare as well and studied on her own, so Frontdier had nothing to worry about.
Unless he’d somehow misspelled his own name, he’d be getting close to a perfect score.
And then came the long-awaited day of the Practical Exam.
At Constellation Academy, all students take the written exam on the same day regardless of year, but the practical exams are held on different days by grade level.
First-years go first, and third-years go last.
Because of this, many upperclassmen had gathered in the stands to watch the first-years take their practical exams.
But today, those upperclassmen had their attention drawn to a rare sight before they could even look at the first-years.
“……What’s special about today?”
“It’s the first-year practical exam, obviously.”
“Yeah, but look at that.”
One student pointed to where many nobles had taken their seats.
Anfer, the patriarch of Roach, Orte, the patriarch of Lisa, and even his son Rebet beside him.
And approaching them was none other than Lidway Pon Urphe.
They exchanged greetings with one another.
“Good to see you again in a place like this. Anfer, Orte.”
“Thank you for coming such a long way.”
Orte greeted him in an ordinary manner, while Anfer, true to form, said nothing.
Rebet bowed his head respectfully to Lidway.
“It is an honor to see you, Patriarch of Urphe.”
“Ah, it’s been a while—you’ve grown more dependable.”
Lidway gave Rebet’s shoulder a light pat as he bowed.
Lidway Pon Urphe—the patriarch who guards the northwest—had come to watch Constellation’s practical exam.
“This is quite rare. For the Patriarch of Urphe to attend an occasion like this.”
“Mm. I hear that young Quinie was scouted for this practical exam?”
“Quinie……. Ah, you mean Quinie de Viet. Yes, that’s correct.”
Quinie is a student at Constellation, but she’s also the daughter of a famous patriarch. It was natural that Rebet would know of her.
Lidway looked at the viewing screen. There, Quinie’s figure was just coming into view.
Along with Frontdier and Aten.
“……That’s quite a formidable lineup.”
“Yes. Having the princess alongside her would be quite burdensome, even for Quinie, I’d imagine.”
“Ah, well. Though the princess is there too, of course.”
Lidway trailed off ambiguously.
There too, he said. Rebet thought to himself. Surely the Patriarch of Urphe wasn’t paying more attention to Frontdier than to the princess? That couldn’t be right.
Lidway glanced briefly at Quinie. She seemed to be conferring with Frontdier.
‘Hmm. Has she overcome her trauma? Or is she working through it?’
Most of the reason Lidway had come to watch Constellation’s practical exam today was because of Quinie.
The mission today was, he’d heard, a simulation of a Rescue Mission, and yet Quinie was participating in such a task.
Was this finally the moment she would rise above her own wounds? Or perhaps—
……His gaze drifted to that languid-faced man listening to Quinie speak.
‘So he’s ended up on a team with that impudent fellow.’
Lidway put those thoughts aside and asked Rebet a question.
“I find it odd myself, but your being here seems rather strange too. What brought you to attend?”
“Oh, well! To watch my dear sister Elodi, of course!”
“Heh. Then why didn’t you come to watch the midterm?”
Lidway chuckled and checked the screen.
He already knew Elodi’s face well from the last Mistilltane Council meeting.
That child, whom they called the jewel of Patriarch Orte—what sort of team would she be assigned to, he wondered.
“What in the world is that?”
He’d just caught sight of a team far more absurd than Quinie’s.
* * *
“I take back my earlier statement. The top team is not us.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Indeed.”
Quinie and Aten nodded in firm agreement with my words.
This is strange…….
I have no idea what butterfly effect could have caused this.
An unbeatable team combination had formed on their side.
“Elodi paired with Aster of all people.”
I muttered the words like a complaint.
On top of that, the recruited senior was Theo, a third-year who’d served as student council president until last year.
In the game, he’d been an all-rounder with exceptional skill and perfect balance—he’d likely be the same here.
“I heard Elodi and Aster were quite close. Wasn’t there a decent chance they’d end up on the same team?”
“……I suppose so.”
I found it difficult to explain, so I simply conceded.
In truth, Elodi and Aster were fairly close. Even in the game they were. Both were remarkably well-adjusted, without any rough edges, and they were classmates after all.
Yet Elodi had never once formed a team with Aster—not under any circumstances.
Not after becoming a professional later on, and not even in these temporary party arrangements. She simply never did.
The players of Aethius had no reason to exclude Elodi, who possessed tremendous talent, skill, and what was called “a beauty that could topple kingdoms.”
So everyone tried in every conceivable way to recruit her. I’d done the same.
And in the game, none of those attempts had succeeded. Even though Elodi hadn’t done anything particularly objectionable. She was a flower on a cliff that even the protagonist Aster couldn’t reach.
Because of this, many players believed that “recruiting Elodi is the key to clearing this game.”
But the result was simply a failed game.
So Aster usually ended up on a team with Lunia Frissel, who was closer to the heroine role, while Elodi often teamed with the hot-headed Robald or Sybel.
Even if Aster and Lunia formed a team, it would be sufficiently powerful, but Elodi instead? Despair clouded my vision.
“So what do we do? Looks like first place is out of reach.”
“For now, let’s focus on the mission. If we move according to the roles we assigned at the start, we shouldn’t score poorly.”
Though I said this, our team was quite strong as well. The combination of Quinie and Aten guaranteed stability in both offense and defense. It’s just that Aster’s side was unreasonable.
But to change Anfer’s mind, I desperately wanted to take first place. Though even if we did, there was no guarantee it would help.
Without thinking, my hand went to the Necktie.
“Why do you keep touching that Necktie?”
“Oh, I just changed it recently, so it still feels a bit strange.”
“Is that so? Hmm. It looks good on you.”
Quinie examined my Necktie for a moment before speaking.
So good.
So good that I found myself touching it without thinking.
* * *
Aster and Elodi remained calm. There was no reason not to be.
“So the mission is, when an Alarm sounds somewhere in the Field, we rush there and handle it, right?”
“At the location where the Alarm sounds, there should be a teacher playing the Monster Role and an upperclassman playing the Victim Role.”
As they spoke, the two grasped an overview of this Final Exam. The content was certainly a condensed version of a professional mission.
The Field too, unlike the previous midterm, had taken on the appearance of an urban landscape.
Frames in the shape of all kinds of buildings filled the entire Field, and everywhere you looked, the surroundings were hemmed in by structures.
“But if it works like this, wouldn’t all teams head toward wherever the Alarm sounds? How do they rank us then? First come, first served?”
“I guess we’ll just have to see—”
That was when it happened.
Wee-ooo-wee! A piercing sound that anyone would recognize as an Alarm blared across the entire Field. That much we’d expected.
Wee-ooo-wee—
Wee-ooo-wee—
Wee-ooo! Wee-ooo-wee—
Wee-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-wee──!
“So loud……!”
The Alarms came from all directions. At the scattershot noise, Aster’s eyes narrowed.
Before even worrying about being first to arrive, there wasn’t just one Alarm to begin with.
Among these countless sounds, which one was closest……?
Wind Magic 3 Forms
Levitation, Speed, Telescope
Sentry
While Aster concentrated on the noise, Elodi manifested magic and lifted herself high into the air.
In one motion, Elodi rose thirty meters from the ground and looked around.
An Alarm sounding meant an incident had occurred. Visually, there shouldn’t be no signs of change.
Moreover, Elodi could use the Telescope function to see distant places with perfect clarity.
“──Found it.”
Elodi spotted a teacher in the middle distance. It was Jane. She couldn’t see the upperclassman playing the Victim Role, but in this Field, any teacher was an opponent.
Elodi descended back to the ground.
She pointed in the direction where she’d spotted Jane, and Aster pointed there at the same moment.
“……How did you know?”
When I asked Aster, he answered as though it were obvious.
“I heard it.”
……Is this person a monster?
Elodi was thinking about Aster the way others thought about her.
* * *
The moment the alarm sounded, I ran.
I already knew where the nearest alarm was in this area. But if I moved too early, it would look suspicious, so I simply waited until the alarm went off.
Still, when I arrived, the scene before me was slightly different from what I remembered.
“……Pfft.”
At the sight of it, Quinie couldn’t help but laugh.
“Hey, you—what are you doing here? Heheheh.”
“……Is it really so funny?”
The man before us asked with a wry expression, while Quinie continued to giggle.
……Long time no see. Edwin.
Edwin von Beherath was playing the Victim Role.
“After being shuffled around everywhere because of the Golem Incident, this is what my last assignment turned out to be.”
“What? You were doing volunteer work?”
“Well, something like that. The type is similar, but the intensity is a bit different.”
More than “a bit” different, I imagined. He must have gone through absolute hell.
Still, there were no casualties, and since Vinkis had smoothed over the matter of the stolen Golem, things didn’t get worse than this.
That’s when Edwin noticed me.
“Hello, Frontdier.”
“Hello.”
“How have you been? Are you stronger than when I last saw you?”
“Well, yes. So-so.”
At my words, Edwin laughed.
“That’s a relief.”
His face was clear and cloudless.
Quinie spoke up.
“So where is the teacher playing the Monster Role?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that. I’m only a victim, after all. The scenario is that I panicked in fear.”
“Is that a rule that applies only to you?”
“No. All the Victims in this Field are forbidden from disclosing any information related to the Final Exam, and we cannot act independently.”
That’s rather troublesome.
Quinie frowned slightly and looked around.
There must be a teacher hiding somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t possibly find them.
Quinie’s Mana Detection is quite advanced. The fact that even she can’t sense them means it’s a teacher with considerable skill in mana control.
“……Now that I think about it, wasn’t Artzie here?”
Even Quinie didn’t have reliable information about Artzie. It wasn’t that information was scarce—rather, there was too much contradictory and absurd information to determine what was true.
“Frontdier. Could the hidden teacher be Artzie?”
“……I don’t think so.”
“Really? How do you know?”
“Rather than being certain that it’s not Artzie, I would say I’ve identified who the Monster Role’s teacher is in this area.”
“Really?”
Quinie asked again, and Frontdier nodded. But his expression didn’t look good.
Whoever it was, the teacher didn’t seem welcome to him.
“Well then, shall we proceed with the Rescue Mission? Nothing will start if we just stay here.”
“Will you be all right?”
“Yes, I suppose.”
This time too, Frontdier gave an affirmative answer, but his expression contradicted it entirely.
As though accompanied by a sigh, Frontdier walked slowly toward Edwin and extended his hand.
Edwin looked quietly at the offered hand.
“Are you really sure about this? Frontdier.”
“I’m not.”
“……Yeah, I figured. Especially for you.”
Edwin gave a bitter smile. He grasped the hand Frontdier had offered.
In that instant,
with a deafening crash—Bang! Crash!—
walls and floors shattered in all directions, revealing massive forms.
From the ground where Edwin stood, something enormous burst forth, lifting Edwin overhead as it crawled up toward the surface.
Massive chunks of rock and dust cascaded down, and what emerged was a Golem.
At the sight of its all-too-familiar form, Frontdier’s eyes grew cold.
From the Golem’s mouth came a cheerful voice that didn’t suit it at all.
[Hello! I’m Teacher Vinkis!]
Yes, of course.
Frontdier surveyed his surroundings. Golems identical to the one carrying Edwin emerged from all sides.
Quinie hadn’t detected them because they were in standby mode.
A stationary Golem gave off no mana signature whatsoever.
[Based on records from the last incident and Edwin’s testimony, I’ve collected data and improved the Golems! Artzie Mark 2!]
“Artzie Mark 2……”
Did you happen to ask his permission for this?

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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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