Chapter 131 - The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Arc 41: School Trip (3)

“What!”

“No, how could...!”

This time, some of the teachers could not hold back their exclamations.

Malia spoke.

“... Frondier, the Zodiacs are the twelve strongest individuals designated by the Empire. They wield power beyond that of high-ranking nobles, and their personal strength is extraordinary. Why would any of them belong to an organization like Indus? They would be throwing away their own power and authority.”

Indeed, Indus publicly presented itself as an organization fighting for commoners’ rights.

The teachers therefore saw its actions as a violent reform movement in which commoners sought to threaten the nobility’s position through force.

But a Zodiac? Why would a Zodiac, already occupying such an elevated position, help the commoners bring about reform?

Frondier answered.

“Indus wants a revolution. To overturn the existing class structure.”

“Yes. That’s why a Zodiac—”

“Indus intends to overturn the entire class structure.”

Malia blinked for a moment, not understanding what he meant. Then her eyes widened.

“... You mean even the emperor?”

“Yes.”

Frondier continued calmly.

“Their goal is to overthrow every rank that separates the imperial throne, the nobility, and the commoners. In other words, they want to plunge the Empire into anarchy.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment.

The implications of Frondier’s statement were far greater than they had imagined.

Oblivious to the atmosphere, he continued.

“Given that their aim is to overturn the entire hierarchy, anyone other than the emperor, who stands at its pinnacle, could potentially join them. Even a Zodiac.”

Pascal asked a question.

“What does Indus truly want? Are they genuinely pursuing complete equality throughout the Empire?”

Frondier smiled at that.

Though he probably had not intended it, his languid smile eased some of the tension that had built up in the meeting room.

“Most of Indus’s members probably think so. They likely believe they’re doing something noble. Even the senior leadership. But their leader has no such intentions.”

“Then what?”

“Indus’s leader simply wants to establish a new hierarchy to his own liking. He intends to hold power and rule no different from an emperor’s or a noble’s, without calling himself either. Abolishing the class system is nothing more than a pretext for rebuilding it.”

“... So they intend to take the lead in establishing a government once anarchy sets in.”

“Yes. Their behind-the-scenes preparations are probably almost complete.”

Their slogans about siding with commoners and all their efforts to improve their image had been for this very purpose.

“Listen, Frondier.”

The teacher Isamaya spoke up.

“You keep talking about a Zodiac. Do you know exactly which one is an Indus member? This isn’t just empty boasting, is it?”

“Of course I know.”

“... Oh?”

Frondier shifted his gaze, a trace of delight crossing his face as though he found something amusing.

For some reason, it felt as though he was about to say something frightening.

“Interestingly, aside from the president, he’s the only Zodiac I’ve met face-to-face.”

“... You’ve met a Zodiac? When would you have had the opportunity—”

Isamaya stopped midsentence as something occurred to her. Shock soon spread across her face.

There had been one. A Zodiac Frondier had met.

The fake Mistilteinn incident. The nobles’ assembly.

“That’s right.”

Frondier nodded.

“Indus’s leader is the Zodiac Heldre.”

CLATTER!

Someone jolted in surprise and struck the table. Some trembled faintly, while others began breathing a little faster.

Heldre, the Zodiac.

Everyone called a Zodiac possessed strength in a league of their own. But beyond questions of strength, Heldre was of a different stripe.

All those who had risen to the rank of Zodiac had rendered distinguished service in the war against the monsters.

In other words, they had killed countless monsters. In that respect, Heldre’s achievements could have been called greater than anyone else’s.

If only he had not been the most dangerous man in the Empire before that war.

Before the war, Heldre had been a criminal obsessed with slaughter. Of those around today, Renzo, the Freeloader of Chaos, resembled him most closely.

After the monsters were driven back and the Empire itself granted him the title of Zodiac, Heldre had quieted down. Or so everyone believed.

Now entering old age, he had lately even begun to seem benevolent.

“... Frondier de Roach.”

Ospreet spoke in a weighty voice. His full name, without the usual familiar or student form of address.

Frondier looked up at him, and a chilly question followed.

“How do you know so much?”

Frondier clearly knew far too much.

Almost as though he were an Indus member himself.

Of course, no one present actually suspected that. His actions thus far would have made little sense if he truly belonged to Indus.

Still, they needed to hear a convincing explanation of where he had obtained so much information.

Frondier paused, then spoke slowly.

“I have been investigating Indus for a very long time.”

Ospreet was startled by the look in his eyes as he said it.

He sensed the traces of an immense span of time in that gaze. These were the eyes of someone who had endured countless attempts and failures, regret and surrender.

“I researched endless amounts of material to uncover Indus’s true nature. There is nowhere I haven’t gone, nothing I haven’t done. I can’t explain every last detail.”

‘... Huh? Wait.’

At those words, Einen, the librarian who had been listening quietly at the back, recalled something.

‘... When did Frondier start changing into a different person?’

He had first distinguished himself during the fake Mistilteinn incident.

Before that, he had looked at the commonly accepted depiction of Mistilteinn and called it a fake. Einen had tried to put his claim to the test. And where had that happened?

‘The library!’

Frondier had never visited the library before then. But the day before the Mistilteinn incident had been different. As both a gossip and an information collector, Einen had an exceptionally good memory.

Frondier had just said he had researched endless amounts of material.

Could it have started then? Had he already caught Indus’s scent at that point?

‘Then did he deliberately challenge the lesson about Mistilteinn?’

She did not know whether Frondier truly knew Mistilteinn’s original appearance.

But by bringing it up at Constel beforehand, he had given some plausibility to his bizarre act of smashing the casket containing Mistilteinn at the assembly.

Einen had not been present at the assembly, so she did not know exactly what he had done there. She did not even know whether he had spoken to Heldre.

But such an outrageous act would surely have provoked some response from him.

‘Frondier made sure Heldre would remember him!’

But why?

Even if he had suspected Heldre back then, there should have been no need to expose himself.

If Heldre took notice of Frondier and made a move against him...

‘... The cabin!’

By the time Einen’s thoughts reached that point, goosebumps had risen on her skin, almost like a chill.

Malia was thinking along similar lines.

‘Frondier, don’t tell me you went to the cabin alone to lure in Heldre’s men?’

Even when she had heard about it afterward, she had found his actions strange.

There had been no reason for him to visit the cabin now, when he had only ever gone there with Elodie as a child.

But what if it had been bait for Heldre?

What if he had exploited the difficulty Heldre would face in acting personally and drawn out his subordinate instead?

‘That subordinate was Serf Daniel.’

Serf had not sought Frondier out. Frondier had lured him in.

And Serf was dead. By Frondier’s hand.

Though she did not know exactly how he had died.

‘Frondier, what did you do?’

Frondier had just said there was nothing he had not done.

If he had truly been trying to obtain information about Heldre, he would not have given Serf an easy death.

If a substantial portion of the information he now possessed had been wrung out of Serf...

... She could not even imagine what sort of torture he had used.

Meanwhile...

‘When Frondier went to Teibeon, he definitely...’

Jane’s thoughts had taken a slightly different turn.

The news that Frondier would be going to Teibeon during the break had caused quite a stir at Constel.

According to what Aten had told Jane about his reason...

‘He said he had something to bring back.’

Something to bring back.

Taken literally, that meant he had left something in Teibeon.

At first, she had assumed it was an object.

But what if it had actually been a person?

‘... Did he go to speak with Grobel?’

There was, in fact, a record of Frondier visiting Grobel in prison. She knew because Frondier was her student.

Grobel, whom Serf had hired as a mercenary.

Perhaps Frondier had hoped to obtain information about Indus from him.

Frondier had just said there was nowhere he had not gone.

Was that why he had gone to Teibeon? To that hell?

“...”

“...”

“...”

Silence abruptly descended on the meeting room. But it was a meaningful silence.

Pascal looked around and shrugged.

“Well, I don’t really understand, but the other teachers seem to find Frondier’s explanation convincing!”

He was right.

Einen, Jane, and Malia in particular were staring at Frondier as though he were some kind of monster.

President Ospreet smiled at the sight.

He addressed Frondier as if testing him.

“Frondier.”

“Yes?”

“May I ask you the same question I asked last time?”

“Question?”

At Frondier’s response, Ospreet’s smile grew more mischievous.

“Your reputation is hardly favorable. Why did you keep all of that hidden?”

It was a question Ospreet had asked when the two of them were alone.

But since most of that conversation was a secret between them, Frondier tilted his head and gave a somewhat simpler answer than before.

“Because I’m weak.”

Those few words.

The teachers sank lower, as though a weight had settled on their shoulders.

Now it was clear.

There had been a single thread of logic running through all of Frondier’s bizarre actions.

Judging by what he had shown them, Frondier had definite talent befitting a Constel student. Everyone had seen it during the first-semester finals.

He was not incompetent. He had merely been lying low.

To pick up Indus’s trail, willingly enduring the derogatory nickname of the Human Sloth.

Only when rumors began circulating that he would be disowned by the Roach family had Frondier acted. He had spent an extraordinarily long time dangling himself as bait for Indus.

Had he really been asleep every time he lay slumped over his desk in class? Or had he been concealing a cold gleam in his hidden eyes, waiting for his moment? Now there was no telling.

“Then, Frondier, how should we stop Indus’s plan? If you’re attacked in Kropol, things will go exactly as they intend.”

They understood Indus’s intentions. Now it was time to stop them.

This time, however, Frondier answered with an unexpectedly bright expression.

“Oh, that’s simple.”

“Simple?”

Frondier nodded.

“I just have to stay out of Kropol.”