The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 73

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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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The Academy’s Weapon Replicator Episode 73
Chapter 22: Final Practical Exam (2)
Aten and Quinie drew closer to each other while keeping watch over the Golems crawling up from all sides.
[Heheheh, you’ve fallen right into my trap, haven’t you? Though I suppose there was no way to avoid it!]
Binkis seemed to be in quite a good mood.
It was much like a child playing with an expensive robot for the first time. And in truth, not so different.
Quinie, her back pressed against Aten’s, called out to Frontdier.
“Frontdier! Is this the Golem you fought before?”
“It looks somewhat different. This is probably an improved version. I can see ones carrying weapons other than spears too.”
Neither of them had faced a Golem before, but at a glance, this didn’t look easy.
From what she’d heard, Quinie had incorporated Artzie’s techniques into the Golem, and if that were true, they were in for a serious opponent.
[Heheheh, you see, this Artzie Mark Two has not only Artzie’s signature technique, but also focuses on the fundamental principles of the spear art that he uses,]
Crack!
But then.
A sharp sound cut through the tension the two of them felt.
A sword was lodged in the head of the Golem that had been carrying Edwin in front of Frontdier.
The blade was unadorned and plain, yet somehow conveyed an ancient, archaic quality.
‘That sword is…!’
Quinie’s eyes went wide.
She knew the identity of that blade. It was the sword that had drawn the gaze of every noble in attendance at that gathering where all the great families assembled.
‘It’s Gram!’
How did Frontdier have Gram?
She hadn’t gotten a clear look at him drawing it, occupied as she was with the surrounding Golems, but there was no doubt—Gram was now embedded in the Golem’s head.
‘The patriarch of the Roach Family gave Gram to Frontdier?’
According to the information Quinie possessed, Frontdier was a cast-off child of the Roach Family.
She’d heard that Lord Anferre devoted all his efforts solely for Artzie’s sake.
That was actually false information, and he was paying attention to Frontdier as well?
With a sharp motion, Frontdier dragged the sword he’d driven into the Golem at an angle. The blade, forced out with violence, left the Golem’s face so mangled it was unrecognizable.
[Hey! Frontdier! What are you doing,]
Before Binkis could even finish speaking, Frontdier’s blade completely severed the Golem’s neck.
And with steady care, Frontdier caught Edwin as he toppled slowly from above.
“You could just land yourself, sir.”
“You’re a hostage though.”
Was this earnestness another manifestation of his character? Frontdier smiled wryly and handed Edwin off to Quinie.
“First, the hostage’s safety. Aten and Quinie—please fall back with the hostage.”
“What about you?”
“After rescuing lives, I need to handle the Monsters.”
Quinie looked at Frontdier with suspicion at those words.
“…You alone?”
“Yes. That’s best.”
[Hey! Who said you could just go!?]
At that moment, one of the nearby Golems spoke in Binkis’s voice again. It seemed that when one Golem was destroyed, his consciousness transferred to another.
With a liquid drip, the ‘Gram’ Frontdier had been holding melted into liquid and flowed away. Frontdier made no effort to hide it. Quinie stared blankly at the sight.
She’d seen that liquid before. It was the substance behind the fake Mistilteinn. What had they called it—a non-Newtonian metal?
“I am not a match for all of you instructors.”
Frontdier had grown considerably, but compared to Constellation Academy’s teachers, he was still outmatched.
However, when it came to Binkis.
If Binkis primarily used summoning and Golem transmutation, Frontdier could stand against him.
He knew the attack patterns of nearly every Monster.
“If I play it right, I could become Binkis’s natural predator. So please, go.”
“…Fine.”
Quinie hadn’t completely dispelled her doubts, but she and Aten moved forward with Edwin.
Of course, if this were real combat, she would never leave Frontdier behind, but their opponent was a teacher.
Surely he wouldn’t kill Frontdier?
[I said, who gave permission to leave!?]
Two Golems blocked their path.
Quinie drew her fan. If Frontdier drew most of the Golems’ attention, she could force her way through with her own strength.
“Menosorpo.”
But that proved unnecessary.
After Frontdier uttered something, two spears materialized from empty air before Aten and Quinie.
Crack, snap—each blade pierced straight through the Golem’s head and heart.
With that, both golems crumbled as though they were nothing at all.
“……What, what is, this—”
“That’s all.”
Frontdier’s voice was gentle but absolute.
Quinie and Aten, startled though they were, nodded and ran off with Edwin in tow.
[Frontdier, has he gotten cocky? He was like a dormouse during class. Where did the ‘human sloth’ go?]
Cocky, certainly.
He was different from the Frontdier of before.
Weaving—the source of every offensive method. Black Heaven—the wellspring that materialized matter. And Menosorpo on top of that.
Unlike before, Frontdier made no attempt to hide what he was showing.
……What significance did this revelation hold for ‘Frontdier de Roach’?
There was nothing to think about.
It went beyond mere failure to upgrade his specs—it meant falling out of the race itself.
The world’s chances of survival converged toward zero, and the only result would be humanity’s pitiable slaughter at the hands of monsters.
Which meant that in this practical exam, there was no room to aim for ‘adequate results.’
And so.
“Forgive me.”
Frontdier manifested four short swords around himself.
Four blades suspended in all directions, spinning like tops. One look was enough to know—anything that touched them wouldn’t end cleanly. Not even if it were Binkis’s prized Golems.
He would shift, just slightly, the perception of ‘Frontdier’ that Constellation Academy held.
Even if not his true strength, enough that they’d think him at his full power.
“That nickname was starting to wear on me, anyway.”
* * *
While Frontdier sent Aten and Quinie away and faced Binkis alone,
Aster’s situation was unfolding in a very different atmosphere.
‘……Where is the Victim Role?’
Aster was observing the location where Teacher Jane stood, keeping it hidden from view.
Thanks to Elody, he’d discovered the position of the Teacher—the Monster Role—but the student in the Victim Role was nowhere to be seen.
Jane stood still, her relaxed face surveying the surroundings.
‘I have to attack.’
Aster made his decision.
If this were a real situation.
Aster had found the monster, and the monster hadn’t yet become aware of Aster.
The right move was to encircle it and eliminate it in one go.
Even if the victim somewhere became a hostage as a result, at this distance Aster would be faster.
Elody and Theo were positioned at different locations to encircle Jane. Aster had already been designated to lead the charge.
‘Fine. I’ll abandon stealth—it’ll get too flashy anyway.’
Divine Power Opening
Sovereignty of Light and Justice
Baldur
The moment Aster opened his Divine Power, he charged.
Wreathed in white radiance, Aster’s dash evoked the image of a charging lion.
But then.
“Stop, Aster.”
That voice hadn’t come from Jane. It came from Aster’s right.
Of course, Aster wasn’t the sort to stop for mere words. Yet he glanced sideways, wanting at least to confirm who’d spoken.
And then Aster stopped.
“……What is this?”
Aster asked, genuinely at a loss.
Standing before his eyes was Artzie.
A mission that would be difficult enough with just Jane alone—and now Artzie too.
Moreover, Artzie held Theo in her arms.
Theo, who’d been on Aster’s team, had become a hostage in a single instant.
“Why the surprise?”
Artzie spoke with an indifferent gaze.
“There’s simply one more monster now.”
Aster heard Artzie’s words
and truly thought they were nonsense.
* * *
“So it was calculated from the beginning?”
“Exactly. The teachers already know precisely where each team is positioned.”
The question came from Eden Hamelot. Ellin answered it.
Ever since Eden brought Ellin on as an intern, the two had developed something like a mentor-student relationship, moving through the academy in tandem.
“That’s why the teachers are deliberately stationed close to each team. The monster role is designed to be the most difficult opponent that particular team could face. In other words, right now each group of students is confronting their own imaginary natural predator.”
“So that’s why the alarms go off simultaneously. It keeps the first-year teams naturally spread apart from one another.”
“Right. Of course, since the practical exam is competitive, the first-years won’t suddenly form alliances. But their thinking would be: solve the closest alarm first, then move on to the next. That’s what they’d assume.”
“……Yet reality is, they can’t complete even a single mission.”
After hearing Ellin’s explanation, Eden marveled at the scheme even as he shook his head at Constellation’s vicious nature.
They’ve rigged it so that teams solving more alarms earn higher scores, yet they present the students with tasks that are genuinely impossible to complete.
In other words, this practical exam is designed so the students are bound to fail.
The real purpose is to teach them what ‘failure’ means.
“How did you figure all this out?”
“Because I lived through it. Last year.”
“So you also failed the mission you were given in the practical exam?”
“No one succeeded. It was designed to be impossible from the start.”
Ellin spoke with perfect calm as she said this, and Eden pressed further.
“Doesn’t it frustrate you? The teachers deceived the students, forced them into defeat.”
“But because of it, I grew stronger.”
Indeed. Was this the true measure of Ellin Evans’s character?
Ellin credits Constellation with making her stronger, but the greatest force that shaped her was almost certainly herself.
Yet something nagged at Eden. He pressed the question.
“Then the upper-year students scouted into the first-year teams—they also know about this, don’t they?”
“Yes. Both the scouted upper-years and those playing the hostage role know. Only the first-years, the ones about to taste defeat, are kept in the dark.”
“……That’s cruel.”
“Even so, the upper-years will do their best to help the first-years. As you said, many of them harbor resentment from their own experience, and for them, ‘scouting’ is just another word for ‘revenge.'”
Though they’re forbidden from revealing that the mission itself is rigged for the first-years to fail.
Within that constraint, the upper-years can help however they wish.
“So Artzie joining Aster’s team with Jane—that’s for the same reason, then.”
“Yes. Jane alone could probably manage it. But those two have a way of triggering unexpected developments, so they added another pair of hands to be safe.”
That’s why Artzie and Jane made one unit.
At this point, the concept of difficulty had become meaningless. Eden spoke with a wry laugh.
“It sounds simple, but the person they added looks far too powerful.”
“The goal is to give the students despair.”
True to that, Aster’s team’s situation on the monitor looked grim.
Theo had been caught off guard by Artzie and taken hostage, and with a hostage in play, Elody’s combat effectiveness was halved.
Even for Aster, taking on both Artzie and Jane alone wouldn’t be easy. And Artzie had the hostage as insurance besides.
“In other words, to guarantee Aster experiences absolute failure, they deemed this level of force necessary.”
“True enough. Though it does mean Constellation’s teachers overlooked something.”
“Overlooked?”
“There’s one first-year among them still hiding their real strength.”
“……Ah.”
Both turned their attention to the monitor.
The screen focus had narrowed to the confrontation between Aster and Artzie.
But there—somewhere not yet shown on this screen.
Something unforeseen by the teachers awaits. An ‘anomaly’ deeper than the bonds between Aster and Elody.

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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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