Chapter 129 - The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Part 41: School Trip

The school trip.

It was one of the very few activities at Constel that actually felt like ordinary school life.

For Constel students, who spent even their vacations on individual training, rest was more important than it was for students at other schools.

Most enrolled at Constel with grand ambitions. They were far more likely to need lessons in resting properly than in working diligently.

From the school’s perspective, these students needed to be made to rest, even against their will. Of course, broadening their horizons—the original purpose of a school trip—was important too.

“So don’t even think about training once we get there!”

Runia glared fiercely at Aster.

He scratched his cheek and looked away.

“But a new location is the ideal environment for training.”

“No! You need some rest! You spent the whole vacation running yourself ragged trying to learn Aura during your internship, and since coming back to school, you’ve gotten caught up in one incident after another!”

Runia had a point, and Aster actually agreed with her.

Lately, he could feel the accumulated fatigue. Vacation had been even harder than his time at Constel. After returning to school, he had gotten caught up in ridiculous rumors and fought Robald while the latter was unconscious.

The incidents never stopped, and Aster never had a chance to rest.

Runia whipped her head around toward Elodie.

“Elodie! You agree, don’t you?”

Elodie had been watching them with her chin propped on her hand. Her eyes promptly narrowed to half-lidded slits. How had she known Elodie was listening?

“Right. Training when you aren’t in good condition can actually hinder your growth. Especially in an unfamiliar environment.”

Elodie’s talent rivaled Aster’s, and her rate of improvement was no slower. She was always a model student, too, which was why Runia had deliberately brought her into the conversation. No one was better suited to persuading Aster.

Aster glanced aside before looking back at Elodie.

“How do you know I’m not in good condition? I could be in peak condition.”

“Oh, really?”

Elodie waved a hand. A light breeze rose around Aster, circled his body once, and passed on.

“Right. Let me correct that. You’re in terrible condition. You’re severely fatigued, your muscles are sore, and all those little injuries still haven’t healed. You got those fighting Robald, didn’t you?”

“... You just...”

Did you check my entire physical condition with that one wave of your hand? That was the rest of his unspoken question.

Elodie merely smiled sweetly.

Inside, however, her thoughts were elsewhere.

‘Actually, I learned this spell to check on Frondier.’

Frondier kept exhausting his mana. He was clearly pushing himself too hard, so she had learned this spell to check his condition.

... Not that it was just for Frondier, of course? It was useful in all sorts of ways. Yes, absolutely.

But she hadn’t had a chance to see him lately, so she had yet to check.

Besides, examining someone without permission was rude. She hadn’t asked permission just now either, but Aster had practically challenged her, so that didn’t count.

Above all, Aten was at Frondier’s side. If his condition were truly serious, she would do something about it first.

‘... Still, I want to know.’

Frondier’s recent activities were no different from hers or Aster’s. No, he had deliberately walked into the hell that was Teibeon, so his vacation must have been even harder.

He had been caught up in the recent incidents too. In fact, he had stood at their very center, so his fatigue had to be even worse.

‘If I steer the conversation toward Frondier, maybe someone who knows something will tell us.’

That was Elodie’s thought, but there was one problem.

How was she supposed to steer the conversation toward him?

Bringing up his name herself and asking how he had been lately was, well... extremely difficult.

Then, suddenly, a voice spoke up.

“I’m curious how he’s doing. Frondier de Roach.”

Elodie flinched slightly, as though someone had read her mind, and turned toward the voice.

The speaker was Robald Rief.

Her eyes widened. She had never expected to hear Frondier’s name from his mouth.

“Frondier? Why him?” Runia asked.

“Well, I fought him for a bit too.”

“When? Weren’t you fighting Aster?”

“That was while I was unconscious. I mean before that. I thought he’d threatened Lady Aten.”

“... So you believed that ridiculous rumor and attacked Frondier like an idiot?”

“That’s right.”

Robald nodded. He was so unabashed that it was almost refreshing.

Runia sighed.

“So you’re worried because you beat him to a pulp?”

“No, I didn’t land a single hit. I did grab him by the back of the neck and throw him once, but that wouldn’t have done much damage.”

The looks in the listeners’ eyes changed slightly.

Even if he hadn’t been fighting seriously, the fact that Robald—a so-called fighting genius—had failed to land a single hit said a great deal.

“But then I lost consciousness. I heard afterward that all the students who passed out like me tried to kill Frondier, right? From what I hear, he was getting dragged all over the place before and after that too. I was wondering if he was all right.”

Elodie was a little surprised that Robald was worried about Frondier, but things were going just as she had hoped.

She made a show of clearing her throat.

“Does anyone know how Frondier’s doing? We could just ask them.”

“Hmm...”

Everyone listening seemed to consider Elodie’s question for a moment. Then their gazes converged in one direction.

On Selena.

“... Oh, yes?”

Still sitting ramrod straight, Selena startled when she noticed everyone looking at her.

“You’re Frondier’s bodyguard, Selena. Is he all right?”

“Oh, yes. Yes. He didn’t seem to have any particular injuries.”

“Really? Sounds like he’s getting enough rest, then.”

Elodie felt somewhat relieved as she spoke.

But her words seemed to remind Selena of something, and she tilted her head.

“... Rest...”

The teleportation magic set up by the Ten Thousand Capes allowed Selena to reach Frondier’s side at any time.

She was always ready to perform her duties as his bodyguard, whether he was in danger or summoned her himself.

As a result, she had a rough idea of his daily schedule.

‘He attends classes at Constel all morning and afternoon, then trains in a private training room after school. At the estate, he seems to train again with his older brother Atzier, who recently returned from a mission. At night, he teaches me the ancient language...’

... No, wait. Seriously.

“When does Lord Frondier rest?”

“Huh?”

Startled by Selena’s murmur, Elodie asked her to repeat herself.

“Now that I think about it, I’ve never seen him resting.”

Selena had first met Frondier in Teibeon.

Of course, he’d had no time to rest in that dangerous, unforgiving environment. Yet even after returning to Constel, his hardships didn’t seem to have eased at all.

“Then, does he look tired or anything?”

“I’m not sure. He always looks tired.”

That was true.

He always wore that same expression, which had made it difficult for Elodie and Saibel to notice too.

Runia, who had been listening, shrugged.

“... Well, this school trip should at least give him a chance to catch his breath.”

Runia said it casually, as though it were nothing.

But Elodie sincerely hoped that would be the case.

* * *

I stood beside the lectern under the class’s gaze. Jane had called me up. Kora stood next to me.

With me beside her, Jane looked around at the seated students.

“Frondier will not be able to join you on this school trip.”

The students each expressed their puzzlement in their own way.

Honestly, I’d expected a general feeling of “Who cares whether Frondier’s there or not?” Still, apparently I merited at least some curiosity.

Jane continued as a small commotion spread among the students.

“Frondier will be doing community service. Of course, he’ll travel to our destination with us, but you probably won’t see much of him during the trip.”

The commotion grew a little louder.

I heard whispers such as “What did he do to get community service?” and “I heard it was property damage,” and “Apparently he blew up a wall.”

Some students even looked at me with pity. I was a little touched. Had my efforts to improve my reputation actually meant something? Or had Frondier’s reputation never been quite that abysmal to begin with?

“And Kora has eagerly volunteered to join him in doing community service.”

Despite supposedly having volunteered, Kora looked profoundly unhappy. Naturally—he hadn’t volunteered at all.

Kora had gone berserk after inhaling the powder from the pouch Armel threw.

In other words, it was fairly easy for Indus to trigger his rampage. All they had to do was make him inhale that powder.

The police and Constel were currently investigating what it was, so they would devise a countermeasure soon. Until then, I had to protect and monitor Kora.

“You may return to your seats, Frondier, Kora.”

At Jane’s words, Kora and I returned to our seats. Beside me, Aten looked worried.

“Are you all right?”

“Of course. This is actually better. A school trip would just be a hassle.”

It felt like the first properly Frondier-like thing I’d said in a while.

Aten peered at me.

“... Are you really doing community service?”

“Of course.”

That was a lie.

I would be taking part in the operation to eliminate Indus. Kora wouldn’t be participating, but he would be safer beside me than mingling with the students. I would protect him as best I could.

Jane continued her explanation.

“Some of you may have heard already, but our destination is Kropol, the famous resort in the south.”

Kropol was a city beside a lake. The lake was so enormous that it had waves just like the sea. To the human eye, it looked no different from an ocean. The water wasn’t salty, though.

So, although Kropol’s lake wasn’t the sea, its shores with accommodations and facilities were called “seaside beaches.”

Kropol was practically the only place that functioned as a proper resort with fully equipped beaches.

In this world, teeming with monsters from the Outside, people didn’t visit the sea for fun even where humans controlled the coast.

Not even with fully fortified walls. Psychologically, enjoying yourself there was difficult unless you had truly outrageous nerve.

“We’ll be taking the sky train to Kropol. The scenery from the train will give you something lovely to enjoy on the way.”

The sky train Jane mentioned didn’t actually float through the air.

Instead, there was a railway spanning an immense distance between two cliffs. Powered by mana, the long tracks hung in the air without any other supports.

When a train crossed them, it really did look as though it were floating through the air all on its own.

“We teachers will do our utmost to ensure that your school trip is safe and comfortable.”

Jane said this while looking around at the students, but it felt as though she was speaking to me.

That was, in fact, my mission.

To let everyone at Constel unwind and recover from their accumulated fatigue while we eliminated Indus. To preserve the peace, so that for Constel’s students, it would be as though “nothing had happened” during their school trip.

It would be absurd to attempt that alone, but with Constel’s teachers and Ospreet involved, we had more than enough strength.

As for my own rest, well, that would come afterward.

Once the operation to eliminate Indus was over, I would be able to rest like the other students.

I hoped so.