Chapter 126 - The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

39. Meeting

The capital, Silester, was the most densely populated region on the continent.

Being the capital certainly contributed, but with monsters liable to invade from the Outside at any moment, the people’s thinking was simple.

‘The safest place is wherever the emperor is.’

Following that simple—and eminently sound—line of reasoning, people flocked to the capital.

And in the capital’s busiest shopping district, in the secluded basement of a little tavern wedged between buildings, a prearranged gathering took place.

It was a meeting of the “commoners’ organization, Indus.”

“Why did you call us somewhere so crowded?”

Kraken began complaining the moment they arrived downstairs, having followed the proprietor’s directions.

“We’re supposed to lie low these days. We’ve been making too much noise lately.”

The speaker was a man with a prosthetic left arm. It was practically a machine, moving freely with a series of creaks.

“Thompson, you call this lying low? With all those people outside?”

“Hide a tree in a forest, as they say. The more people there are, the harder it is to find someone.”

“Why would you hide a tree? By the time you uprooted it and carried it to the forest, everyone would have spotted you.”

Thompson let out an amused breath. Kraken knew far too little about idioms and proverbs.

Then the girl beside him spoke. She was a young girl, only about half the height of a grown man.

“Don’t worry. We change meeting places every time. I’ll always have the best location ready.”

“Well, I’m not doubting your abilities, Lady Kian.”

Kraken shrugged and took a seat at the central table. Everyone else was already seated there.

“Shall we begin the meeting?”

The speaker was a man in armor. He was armored from head to toe without a single gap, leaving neither his face nor his body visible beneath it. Fittingly, his voice was as unpleasant as the grating of metal.

Kraken glanced around.

“Huh? Where’s the leader? Are you running things today, Mr. Skyler?”

“Off at a meeting. A different one,” Thompson replied.

Kraken laced their fingers behind their head.

“Being a ‘Zodiac’ certainly keeps you busy.”

Apparently unbothered by Kraken’s behavior, Skyler continued. His armor clanked whenever he moved.

“Armel has been taken down.”

“What a dumbass he turned out to be.”

Kraken answered immediately. Thompson rested his chin on his fist and spoke.

“Armel being a dumbass aside, we can’t be careless about our covert operations anymore. We’ve lost the person who could erase memories.”

Kian elaborated.

“There’s a limit to cutting people loose. We can’t keep manipulating public opinion by saying, ‘Indus had nothing to do with it. The perpetrator claimed to be one of us without permission.’ Serf’s case was especially dangerous. If all he wanted was to frame Frondier, there was no need to make such a big production of it.”

Thompson sighed and shook his head.

“I told you. He was just a lunatic obsessed with murdering nobles. If ruining their reputations didn’t go his way, he couldn’t be satisfied until he saw them die with his own eyes. He was out of his mind.”

“We’re hardly ones to talk,” Kian interjected lightly.

Skyler looked at Kraken.

“Kraken, what happened with Serf’s business cards? Didn’t you say you were going to run some tests?”

“Oh, these?”

Kraken pulled a stack of paper from inside their clothes and placed it on the table. They were Serf’s business cards.

“They’re no use.”

Thompson tilted his head at Kraken’s sulky expression.

“Why? After all the trouble you took to bring them back?”

“For one thing, they don’t work very well. Apparently, being strong-willed isn’t about how powerful you are.”

“They worked on the Imperial Palace’s knights, didn’t they?”

Kraken shook their head.

“Most of the people Gregory gave cards to were trainee knights, and every last one had been involved in petty crimes. I suppose their guilty consciences were why they followed Gregory’s instructions. Filthy bastards.”

“Again, we’re hardly ones to talk,” Kian interjected from beside them.

Kraken continued.

“Almost no one can resist completely, but most people seem able to at least keep their bodies from moving. How long they can hold out varies from person to person, too.”

“True. It was the same for us.”

After bringing back the cards, Kraken had tested them on each of the Indus members present.

Thompson had lost his memory entirely. Kraken had resisted, but couldn’t move. Skyler had felt a powerful restraint but could still go about ordinary activities. Kian had acted as though she wasn’t affected at all, though she herself had said she could “feel the effects.”

“See? I lost my memory completely. If it depended on strength, that wouldn’t make sense, would it? I’m the strongest one here.”

“Maybe you’re just mentally weak, Mr. Thompson? Too little patience, for instance.”

“Want me to kill you, Kraken?”

“See what I mean?”

Thompson growled at Kraken, then asked as though something had just occurred to him.

“What about the emperor, then? If I can be controlled, there’s no guarantee the emperor could resist.”

One corner of Kraken’s eye crumpled. The suggestion was so absurd that their human form slipped slightly.

“How are you going to hand the emperor a business card? Maybe it’s not patience you’re short on, Mr. Thompson, but brains?”

“You little shit, I’m talking possibilities. Why couldn’t we do it? Keep talking like that and you really will die once, you know? Didn’t you already lose a life?”

Thompson chuckled. Kraken’s eyes flashed as they glared at him with unmistakable murderous intent.

Watching them, Skyler lowered his head with a clank and spoke.

“I doubt the cards would work on Bartello Terst. And if one did, he’d immediately lose consciousness, his eyes going blank like a dead man’s. Who would obey orders from someone like that? They’d notice something was wrong at once. We’d be lucky if they didn’t trace it back to us.”

“Our goal isn’t to kill the emperor. If Bartello dies, another emperor will simply take his place. We want to eliminate the very positions of ‘emperor’ and ‘noble.’”

At Kian’s explanation, Kraken and Thompson both snorted.

Kraken waved the business cards in their hand.

“Anyway, they’re useless like this. We don’t know who they’ll work on or how well. They do seem guaranteed to work on ordinary people who know nothing about Aura or Mana, so we’ll have to shift our thinking in that direction.”

“Besides, the only order we can use now is ‘Kill Frondier.’”

Serf was dead, and there was only one voice recording saved on the recorder. From Gregory’s perspective, that order would have been enough.

Kraken sighed.

“Honestly, I don’t know why Serf didn’t put these to use while he was alive. If he couldn’t go after the people at the top, he could’ve made a few million of these cards and controlled the people at the bottom.”

“Do you know how long it took him to make one? More than three days. And that was with him spending practically every waking hour on it. Apparently, he’d only recently gotten it down that far. It used to take over a week.”

At Thompson’s words, Kraken gave a startled “Huh?” and checked how many cards they had.

“... There are about three hundred here. He certainly worked hard.”

“I imagine he was planning something once he had enough, but there’s no way to find out what now.”

“Hmm.” Everyone seated at the table turned their eyes to the cards.

Their thoughts were the same: Frondier.

He had killed Serf, taken one of Kraken’s lives, and captured Armel.

All the strange incidents befalling Indus lately were connected to Frondier.

Kraken’s gaze darkened.

“... I really do want to kill him.”

“No,” Kian replied at once. “That will happen someday. But not now.”

“I know. He’s the sacrifice for the revolution, right? But can we really do it? He’s clearly getting stronger than we anticipated.”

“His getting stronger isn’t the problem. He definitely knows something. Otherwise, there’s no way he could counter us every single time.”

Everyone agreed with Thompson.

Frondier clearly knew more about Indus than they had thought. While they prepared for the revolution, it was as though Frondier, too, was preparing for it.

Frondier knew far too much.

Could information have leaked?

“... A traitor within Indus?”

“Surely they know what happens if they betray Indus?”

“Who knows? It’s possible, if they want something more than their own life. There’s no shortage of people who don’t value their lives. We’re like that ourselves.”

While the others talked, Kraken searched their memory.

‘... There was that girl from the Ten Thousand Capes.’

The woman who had used a needle to sever Kraken’s left hand. She was definitely from the Ten Thousand Capes. Her method of teleportation left no doubt.

Had the Ten Thousand Capes sided with Frondier? Had they joined hands with a high-ranking noble?

‘No, that can’t be.’

They, too, wanted something from Frondier. The infernal Ten Thousand Capes would never help an imperial noble out of goodwill.

Kraken spoke.

“The Ten Thousand Capes have joined Lord Frondier’s side.”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Kraken.

Kraken smiled, a crescent-moon smile that was still not quite human.

“Whatever the Ten Thousand Capes want from Frondier, might we need it too?”

* * *

I woke up after being unconscious for nearly half a day.

Fortunately, I was able to attend Constel the next day. Taking the day off right after Kora’s incident would have been far too obvious. Other people might not notice, but those who knew me might suspect I’d gotten caught up in another incident.

And they’d be right.

That was how I somehow managed to escape Aten’s deeply suspicious gaze. After all, what she’d seen wasn’t me, but Ampere’s younger face. As long as I consistently played dumb, she didn’t press any further.

A few days later, Kora was placed under Constel’s supervision.

That didn’t change much. He was simply given a support Artifact to control his rampages, along with an alarm spell that would immediately notify Constel if he went berserk despite it.

Kora didn’t cause much trouble when he wasn’t rampaging. Most of his attempts at magic just failed, too.

‘So that’s why Kora wants to be a mage so badly.’

Kora couldn’t remember what had happened thirteen years ago, but apparently his body did. In fact, when he was in his right mind, he was quite reluctant to use his strength.

He didn’t want to fight barehanded, but he wanted to protect Quinier. Was magic the answer he’d arrived at?

‘Once his White Tiger powers fully awaken, he should be able to use magic, too.’

Kora wasn’t fully grown yet, and he was half human. I didn’t know whether he would truly awaken his White Tiger powers, but if he did, there would actually be less to worry about. A fully realized White Tiger wouldn’t be ruled by instinct.

... And there was one more thing.

This had been an additional directive after Kora was placed under supervision.

“Hello, everyone.”

Jane entered the classroom looking utterly exhausted.

Why did she seem more haggard every time I saw her? Why did she give me that resentful look every time she entered the classroom?

Could I possibly have something to do with her exhaustion?

Haha. Surely not.

“We have a transfer student joining our class.”

At Jane’s words, someone entered.

I’d known who it would be, but the moment I saw him, I felt just as tired as Jane.

“His name is Kora. He’s younger than all of you, but he’s been admitted due to special circumstances.”

Kora was actually older, though. And why this class? Because I was here?

Haha. Surely not.

“Yes! Good to meet you!”

Kora planted both hands on his hips and spoke proudly.

Considering all the trouble that little bastard had caused just a few days ago, I wanted to smack him in the back of the head right then and there.

“My name is Kora, and I’ll be studying with you from now on! You’ll struggle to keep up with my abilities, but please don’t feel infer... ior...”

In the middle of his pompous introduction, Kora spotted me. His eyes instantly widened, and all his towering bravado deflated.

“I-I look forward to studying with you.”

Then Kora bent at the waist in a deep, polite bow.

... Wait, was he...

‘Scared of me?’

Even without his memories, Kora’s body certainly seemed to have an excellent memory of its own.