The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 83

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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 83
Chapter 24: Teiburn (5)
I returned to the Waiting Room with Robert.
I’d sent Selena back to the mansion. With her around, trouble would crop up everywhere.
I’d told her to hide herself away, whether in Mangoat or the mansion—she’d find somewhere on her own.
Once the knights and I had gathered in the Waiting Room, a man entered.
“A pleasure to meet you. I’m Sanders, Commander of the Shroud Knight Order. As of today, I’ll be taking command here in Teiburn. I look forward to working with you all.”
A stern face, a compact, powerful frame. When the knights heard Sanders introduce himself, their eyes flickered with something—but it wasn’t his name that stirred them. It was the mention of the Shroud Knight Order itself.
The Shroud Knight Order is one of the oldest knight orders on the continent.
To put it simply, the order itself predates the era when Osprit, the Rector of Constellation Academy, was at his peak, and it stood alongside the other Zodiacs when they drew the boundary between humans and monsters.
Much time has passed since then, and they’ve yielded the highest seat on the continent to others. But given how knights prize tradition and discipline, they remain the object of admiration for many.
“Some of you may harbor resentment at being stationed away from your order in an unfamiliar place. But while you’re here in Teiburn, you will follow my commands without question.”
It was only natural. A knight without a clear chain of command is no knight at all. Everyone in the Waiting Room nodded silently in agreement.
Sanders looked at me.
“Frontdier, you’re no knight, but it applies to you as well. Be prepared.”
“Yes.”
“Whether you’re a noble’s son or a student—I don’t care. This is Teiburn. You came here of your own accord, and you’ll receive no special treatment.”
“Yes.”
I gave both answers in the same even tone, without inflection. Sanders regarded me for a moment. There was worry and unease in his gaze.
It was the look of someone watching a small child left on the water’s edge. Though this situation was far worse than that.
“……And today, Princess Aten herself will personally inspect the forces and facilities here.”
The knights let out a cheer at that.
I exhaled silently where no one could see.
So Aten really did come here.
“She should arrive shortly, so keep your guard up and maintain discipline—”
Knock, knock.
Sanders’s words hadn’t even finished when a knock sounded at the door.
“It’s Aten. May I come in?”
A familiar voice. Clean, composed, yet without a trace of the authority one might expect—comfortable.
“Ah, yes. I’ll open it at once.”
Sanders hurried to open the door, and a pale woman walked in slowly.
The knights gasped in admiration. I found myself a little startled too.
Aten was already pale as snow, but today she wore Silver Armor to match—and her brightness had transformed. Even in her school uniform she’d seemed as clear as fresh snow, but now she blazed like winter sunlight.
“I am Aten. Though I am an unworthy vessel, I’ve come in hopes of offering you all some small assistance.”
Aten was Aten everywhere. The same composed and gracious figure I’d first encountered at Constellation Academy.
She swept her gaze across the knights, then looked at me. But her eyes moved on naturally to elsewhere. Of course they did.
“First, let’s inspect the Barrier Wall.”
* * *
Hours passed. Late into the night.
Lidwei felt a throbbing in his temples as he watched Siabel standing confidently before him.
“……Where on earth did you crawl out of now?”
“Wait, isn’t the difference in how you’re treating me and Aten way too harsh?”
“Why would I treat some girl who wandered in the same as I treat the Princess?”
It was such a reasonable point that Siabel couldn’t muster a reply, only pulling her lip taut.
But Lidwei was being civil in his own way. Had she been any other girl, he’d have turned her away at the door.
‘The Princess said she was her friend, after all.’
Lidwei studied Siabel quietly.
Her expression and gestures were subtly coquettish. Add in her striking appearance, and she’d certainly beguiled most of the boys at Constellation Academy.
……Though I feel like I’ve seen someone similar recently.
Creak—
The mansion door opened then.
It was Aten who entered. Snow had begun falling without anyone noticing, and she shook the accumulation from her hair before stepping inside.
Even outside winter, it snows in Teiburn. In Teiburn, the concept of “winter” is merely another name for the rampaging of the outer monsters brought on by food scarcity.
“Master, the condition of the Barrier Wall is not good.”
“Mm, I’m aware.”
In truth, “not good” doesn’t begin to cover it. It’s serious. The outer edges already show fractures, and the sections riddled with holes are being patched up haphazardly with whatever materials can be scrounged.
The outer monsters are exceptionally intelligent, so it’s only a matter of time before they discover the weak points in the wall.
“Shouldn’t we formulate some kind of countermeasure?”
“Of course. Though, Your Highness, if I may presume to ask you something.”
“Yes? What is it?”
One corner of Lidwei’s eye twitched deeply.
“If I may be so bold as to ask—is there any connection between you and this Frontdier who arrived earlier?”
“There isn’t.”
Aten answered immediately, as if the very suggestion were absurd. Her expression held no emotion whatsoever.
“Ah, I see. My apologies for the intrusion. It seems that as one ages, foolish questions multiply along with the years.”
“It’s nothing. The pressing matter is the Barrier Wall. Shouldn’t we reinforce it as soon as possible?”
Aten brushed the question aside and turned to the matter at hand.
Lidwei stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Indeed. But it is not so simple.”
“Not simple? In what way?”
“The intervals between the monsters’ attacks have begun to shorten. Because of this, there is no time to reinforce the wall. Though I will say, the number of monsters appearing in each wave has decreased.”
At Lidwei’s answer, Aten’s eyes narrowed.
“In other words, the monsters are deliberately preventing the wall from being repaired?”
“That is how it appears to me. Yet no matter how intelligent these beasts may be, they value their own lives. I cannot fathom how they could engage in such wasteful tactics…….”
The monsters’ relentless assaults.
Though there was no time to repair the wall because of them, from an individual monster’s perspective, such an attack was nothing but throwing one’s life away. And being intelligent, they would surely know this better than anyone.
Yet how was such a thing possible?
“There is a leader.”
Lidwei’s musing was answered from elsewhere.
It was Frontdier, descending the grand staircase at the center of the manor. Selena stood beside him.
“A leader?”
“Yes. The monsters, like us, have someone commanding them. After all, whether beast or man, no one throws their life away without an order.”
Hmm.
Intrigued by Frontdier’s hypothesis, Lidwei pressed further.
“Then who is this leader? Are you suggesting there is a stronger monster capable of gathering the Outer Monsters? I have never seen such a creature.”
“They need not use strength alone to command the Outer Monsters. For instance—”
While Frontdier and Lidwei engaged in their serious discussion, Aten and Siabel’s gazes were fixed on one point.
On Selena, who stood beside Frontdier.
“…….”
“…….”
Aten and Siabel regarded Selena with expressionless stares.
Utterly devoid of emotion, as though they had never known what an expression was.
To any observer, it was unsettlingly eerie—so much so that even Selena, who had maintained her composure, found herself glancing toward them, if only for a moment.
“……Ah, forgive me for my rudeness. I failed to greet you properly, Your Highness.”
Frontdier noticed Aten’s gaze and offered a greeting.
Not that he hadn’t known she was there from the start—but her expression was so unsettling that he felt compelled to speak. It had felt strange to suddenly treat a student he’d known at Constellation Academy as royalty.
He’d assumed her silence meant she was displeased, but Aten responded without so much as a millimeter’s change in her features.
“……Yes. It’s good to see you. Frontdier.”
Machine-like, or something close to it.
Frontdier then greeted Siabel as well.
“Hello, Siabel. I never expected to see you here of all places.”
“……Yes. Nor did I. It’s good to see you.”
The exact same expression as Aten’s.
By this point, Frontdier himself was beginning to feel genuinely unsettled. It was like watching a horror film.
Then Aten raised her hand.
“Who is this person?”
Confirming that her gesture pointed toward Selena, Frontdier explained.
“Ah, I hired her as an escort. This is Teiburn, after all. I felt uneasy going about alone, and it’s dangerous, so—”
Frontdier produced the excuse he’d prepared in advance.
“I see. An escort. Yes. I see.”
Siabel murmured, repeating the words as though chewing them over.
She was plainly reciting exactly what she’d heard, yet she didn’t sound like she was listening at all.
“……Well then, I should go. I need to check the night watch roster and patrol schedules.”
Frontdier, feeling oddly uncomfortable, stood to leave. Selena followed in his wake.
Until the very moment Frontdier stepped outside the manor, Aten and Siabel did not speak a single word, nor did their eyes twitch so much as a fraction.
And once Frontdier had fully departed.
Siabel drew in a sharp breath.
“What is she? What is that woman? What is she doing dressed in that unnecessarily scandalous maid outfit?”
“I know exactly who you’re referring to.”
“An escort? How can that be an escort? Why is an escort dressed like that? Why does an escort have that body and face—”
“I understand what you’re trying to say.”
Watching the two of them chatter away, Lidwei’s expression turned incredulous.
But there was one thing.
Aten’s claim that she was unrelated to Frontdier was an outright lie—that much he could see plainly.
* * *
As Lidwei had said, for the next several days the Monsters would attack in small groups, and frequently.
They gave their lives without pause, never allowing time to repair the wall. The plan was to find the wall’s fatal weakness and destroy it in one strike. Until then, the strategy was simple: waste Monsters like disposable tools.
There was a commander orchestrating these intelligent, powerful Outer Monsters.
But for me, it was fortunate timing.
I still needed to adapt since arriving at Teiburn, and there was plenty of training left to complete.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang—!
A loud bell tolls. Beyond the Barrier Wall, a murky aura churns in the distance.
The prison gate opens, and inmates crawl out one by one through the narrow passage leading to the Barrier Wall’s exit.
Soldiers positioned themselves behind them, while knights lined the ramparts.
“Hey, you lunatic.”
Some knight next to me called out. It seemed my epithet among the knights had already solidified: “that madman.”
“Show us what you’ve got. I’ve wagered on ‘today,’ after all.”
He grins wickedly, tapping my shoulder twice.
The previous wager. How many days before I die.
Even so, betting on the first day of battle—this one isn’t contemptuous so much as he’s simply addicted to gambling.
“Don’t get comfortable just because you’re standing on the rampart. Once the inmates and soldiers are done, it’s our turn next. There are plenty that scale the walls, pound at the gates, fly through the air, and leap from the sky to reach this very spot. You getting the picture now?”
The knight droned on irritatingly.
In that interval, the Monsters came into view. Tearing through the distant mist, they charged madly toward us.
“Don’t let your guard down just because it’s not Winter! A single Outer Monster can cause countless casualties!”
Sanders’s voice boomed across the wall.
Everyone gathered to defend the Barrier Wall took their stance. Most of them, I imagined, had already accepted their deaths.
The winged ones were the most dangerous. They ignored the wall entirely, and they were the primary killers of knights.
The knight beside me hadn’t been wrong in his rambling. Even as I kept my gaze forward, I identified the flying ones.
“Battle stations! Ready!”
Sanders’s command came through. The number of winged Monsters in my field of vision registered.
……Hmm, at that count.
“Menosorpho.”
“……Huh? What?”
The one babbling beside me asked stupidly.
Menosorpho
Spatial Weaving, Simultaneous Replication
Royal Armory
Spears, First through Tenth Series
Through leveling, Simultaneous Weaving now allowed ten instances.
Around me, spears floated in empty space, each one trained mercilessly on the Monsters rushing toward us.
The knight beside me fell silent, staring blankly. Not all the knights had seen it yet, but those near me were slowly turning their attention to the sight.
“Fire!!”
Sanders commanded it.
Clearly, he said fire.
I released all ten woven spears at once,
and each found its mark in a winged Monster, striking them dead.
What exactly the slain Monsters looked like—honestly, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to say.

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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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