The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 79

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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 Weapon Duplicator of the Academy — Chapter 79
Episode 24: Taebyeon (1)
For several days, an odd silence had settled over the Roarh family manor.
Because Ampere had been in such a foul mood lately, all the servants had simply chosen to maintain their silence without being told.
Word had spread far and wide—most people knew by now that I was heading to Taebyeon.
Whenever a maid passed me, that sad expression on her face left a peculiar feeling in my chest.
And yet my training with Artzie continued without pause. If anything, it intensified. I wasn’t going on a pleasure trip—in everyone else’s eyes, I was walking toward my death. No amount of training could be enough.
For what it’s worth, my sparring with Artzie had begun to look like actual sparring by now. Whether that meant my skill had improved or I’d simply grown accustomed to him, I couldn’t say.
“Frontdier.”
During one exchange, Artzie lowered his spear and spoke.
“You asked me to demonstrate the Disarming Strike before.”
Oh.
I looked at him, curious what would come next.
“Learning by doing is faster than watching a demonstration.”
“You’ll teach me?”
“Your body seems ready now. And in Taebyeon, no amount of preparation will be sufficient anyway.”
A fair point.
Artzie extended the tip of his spear gently toward me.
“But I suspect you’ve already tried the Disarming Strike yourself.”
Artzie spoke as if he already knew what I’d done.
Since I actually had tried it, I couldn’t really argue.
“How did it go? Did you succeed?”
“Half successful.”
“Half?”
“I made my opponent drop his weapon, but I dropped mine as well.”
I had attempted the Disarming Strike on Renzo.
I’d actually made him drop his greatsword, but when I executed the technique, my body screamed in pain and I dropped my weapon too.
At my words, something flashed across Artzie’s eyes. What was it? Had I said something odd?
“Show me now, then. The Disarming Strike.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
I extended my Small Sword to meet the tip of the spear he offered. For the record, this blade was the real thing—crafted by Neil Zack himself.
And the moment I unfolded the Disarming Strike as I had before,
Artzie’s spear flew upward, and I still held my Small Sword firmly in hand.
“…Huh?”
It worked. Cleanly.
Artzie looked at me as if this was obvious.
“You said before that you dropped your weapon too. Was that from the pain?”
“Yes. That’s why I thought it would fail this time as well.”
“The pain was because your body wasn’t ready yet. If you disarmed your opponent, then the technique itself succeeded. And your body now is different from how it was then.”
Your body is ready, Artzie had said.
He had predicted my success from the beginning.
In other words,
“You can use the Disarming Strike now. Crudely, perhaps, but you can.”
Of course Artzie had to add that one irritating qualifier.
* * *
And then came the day of the Break Ceremony.
Surprisingly, quite a few people came to see me off to Taebyeon.
Teachers like Jane and Binkis offered me a word or two as they passed.
Some of it was because Elodi had spread the word throughout Constellation Academy, but the attention didn’t sit poorly with me.
Only the way they all seemed to bid farewell to a man approaching his end got under my skin somehow.
“Frontdier.”
After Jane’s brief remarks had concluded, Aster appeared in the classroom.
Aster shook his head as if in amazement, or perhaps in exasperation.
“You’re incredible. And reckless. Going somewhere like that?”
“Who knows. If I don’t come back, you win by default.”
At my words, Aster looked away. As if acknowledging it might actually be true.
Though I’d only been joking.
“Where are you going for the break?”
What were Aster’s plans for the holidays.
Aster is the protagonist, so players can freely set his plans.
Of course, if efficiency mattered, his options would narrow to a few cases, but the current Aster has no reason to worry about such things—nor could he afford to.
Aster answered.
“I want to learn swordplay from my sister.”
“……From Ellin? Wasn’t she supposed to join as a Professional Internship?”
When I heard it from Ellin, she said she’d become an intern under Eden.
Aster replied as if it were nothing special.
“Yeah. So I’m going there too.”
I gaped.
A Professional Internship isn’t a position handed out easily. To begin with, it’s a precious opportunity granted only to those third-years whose abilities and grades have been properly proven.
And now Ellin, a second-year, wasn’t enough—a first-year Aster as well.
“I think Eden doesn’t seem to worry about those kinds of things.”
“……I suppose that’s true, but—”
“What? You know something about Eden?”
“No, it’s just the kind of image I get from the rumors I’ve heard.”
I deflected awkwardly, but of course I knew. Eden’s nature.
Eden was the number-one professional at this moment and had held that position for a very long time.
Yet for someone like that, his impression was remarkably ordinary. When he wasn’t fighting, his aura was that of a common person.
His character was unassuming, plain, and optimistic—he seemed to have claimed everything modest and simple.
But when that modesty reached its extreme, it made one realize it wasn’t quite normal either.
An unassumingness that could settle in the imperial palace; a plainness that wouldn’t mind sleeping rough; an optimism that would wear a peaceful face even if the world ended tomorrow.
Eden had transcended mere clarity of mind—his mental state resembled the deep-sea current. No matter how fierce the waves raged above the surface, he himself remained as calm as the abyss below.
But this time, that almost abnormal ‘serenity’ proved helpful.
Aster in this world was so righteous and boyish, just like a true protagonist. With Eden and Ellin, Aster would grow along the best possible path.
“But Frontdier.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you fight with Elodi?”
“Why?”
“Whenever you’re mentioned, your expression turns fierce.”
I could neither deny nor confirm that.
Since I’d told Elodi I was going to Taebyeon, I hadn’t seen her once.
Ordinarily, since Elodi sought me out, not meeting her was natural if I didn’t go looking—but seeing no sign of her at all was strange.
I wondered if Elodi had fallen ill and stopped coming to Constellation Academy. Her absence had grown that pronounced.
But hearing Aster speak this way, the conclusion was clear.
Elodi was avoiding me.
“Hmm, we didn’t fight. To be honest, Elodi never liked me much to begin with.”
“Huh……?”
Aster’s head tilted with suspicion.
His face said, *What nonsense is that?*
* * *
—No, I’m going to Taebyeon.
Frontdier had said so with a peaceful face.
That languid expression held not the slightest flicker of change, so for a moment Elodi wondered if ‘Taebyeon’ was some renowned resort.
Taebyeon, of all places.
Walking deliberately into a hellscape that existed in reality.
“What are you thinking?”
Elodi was now atop a building at Constellation Academy.
It was here, just a short time ago, that she had annihilated that massive horde during the Monster Attack.
That had been at Frontdier’s request. She’d fought trying to understand him better, and now understood him even less.
Elodi’s mind slowly traced Frontdier’s movements after the Monster Attack.
Fireworks……, final exams……, coordinated battle with Aster……,
……Mancroft.
Mancroft—that ominous resonance wouldn’t leave her mind.
The conversation she’d overheard in the infirmary was certainly something she couldn’t fully understand, but its incompleteness was undeniable.
Yet Frontdier remained as he always was.
Through that very constancy, Elodi had come to realize it: she knew almost nothing about Frontdier.
Always seeing that familiar face, she had failed to suspect Mana Depletion, failed to suspect Mancroft, failed to suspect Taebyeon.
Because his face seemed just as it always was—unchanged by all he had endured—she had convinced herself he was still the Frontdier she knew.
……I know nothing.
The Frontdier I thought I knew never existed from the start.
Squeak—
Clang.
The iron door to the rooftop swung open without warning.
But Elodi wasn’t startled. She hadn’t expected it, yet she knew who had come.
“I’ve been looking for you.”
It was Frontdier, as she’d suspected.
“What for?”
Elodi replied curtly. Truth be told, she hadn’t wanted to see Frontdier. Not for the past few days, anyway.
“I wanted to receive a sendoff from my childhood friend.”
“Childhood friend? Who’s that?”
It was accurate, but right now she wanted to deny everything anyway.
Frontdier made an uncertain sound.
“I’m heading somewhere dangerous.”
That was something she couldn’t let slide.
She spun around, and Elodi’s eyes blazed. The Igni ignited visibly in her gaze, literal flames dancing there.
“You know that and you’re still going to such a place?!”
Her voice roared out like a lion’s cry, striking his eardrums, and something seared past Frontdier’s side.
A long trajectory streaked from Elodi’s position past Frontdier’s left, completing itself in a trail of flame.
Frontdier blinked, watching the flickering fire to his left. No matter his current strength, there was no way he could have dodged that.
Elodi walked toward him, her belt hissing as it trailed smoke in its wake.
Which meant the burst of flame just now had been deliberately controlled in its output.
Frontdier was genuinely frightened.
“Taebyeon? Taebyeon?! What on earth are you thinking, saying you’ll go there? Do you find the Outside amusing?! Just because your strength has improved lately, do you think you’re invincible?! Honestly, I’ve been trying—with practically superhuman patience—to understand what you’ve been doing all this time. But I really, truly can’t anymore! Listen! What kind of childhood friend are you? You only remember I exist when you need something! You never bother to tell me anything important first!”
As Elodi poured out her words, she felt something indescribable.
Before she’d spoken, her mind had been dizzy, her heart incomprehensible even to herself. But shouting it aloud somehow began to order her thoughts.
Elodi had drawn close enough to touch Frontdier, and her face was already streaked with tears. No—tears were actually spilling from the corners of her eyes, though the enormous heat she was radiating evaporated them instantly.
In a way, it was less embarrassing that way.
“You said I was like you!”
Elodi spoke. She remembered those words Frontdier had said once.
As Lyshae, as Inies, he had been her small anchor—a shelter against the loneliness that would otherwise cast itself as a shadow across her life.
“How am I like you?! I don’t understand at all! I don’t know anything about you!”
Elodi struck his chest. The flames had subsided, leaving only a girl standing there.
“I don’t understand. I don’t understand where you’re going, what you’re trying to do.”
As she spoke, Elodi understood what her true feelings were.
Elodi was afraid for Frontdier. It wasn’t just about him going to Taebyeon. That was merely the trigger.
Elodi saw him constantly reaching for danger, as if courting it. What was his purpose? And then, should he actually fall into true danger, should something—happen to him—
“Elodi.”
Hearing her cry out, Frontdier spoke her name calmly.
“What. You reckless fool.”
“When I said you and I were alike, I meant it.”
“Then we’re nothing alike.”
“It’s because I’m not as strong as you are.”
Elodi lifted her head in surprise. Frontdier spoke as if stating the obvious, his tone serene.
“You don’t need to rush. You’re already strong enough, and that talent will guide you toward the light. But I’m not. To overcome what I must, I’ll do whatever it takes—and I will. Taebyeon is the same. It will certainly be dangerous, but it’s worth the risk.”
“…Why are you the only one in such a hurry? Everyone else at Constellation Academy is training diligently in their own way. Why do you have to take it to such insane extremes?”
When Elodi saw Frontdier during the midterm exam, she was certain.
Frontdier had begun to exceed Constellation Academy’s average performance level. Since he’d shaken off his laziness, his growth had been astounding.
So she’d believed he would be satisfied now. She’d thought he’d been pushing himself only because he was falling behind the other students.
But Taebyeon.
“It’s something I need to do. That’s all.”
“…And you’re prepared to die doing it?”
“Who’s dying?”
Frontdier said it calmly, as if merely reciting a fact.
“I’ll come back without any problems.”

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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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