Chapter 140 - The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

43. Community Service

Kian plummeted, pressing heavily against the air. Catching up with her accelerating fall was no easy task.

As I closed the distance, I examined her. Her eyes were squeezed shut. She seemed resigned to death.

I shouted at her as she fell.

"Hey! Open your eyes!"

"...!"

Kian opened her eyes at my voice, spotted me, and gaped.

"Wh-what are you doing?! What are you up to?!"

She sounded bewildered. Fair enough. It hardly looked good for the very person who had dropped her to reach out to her again.

But did that really matter right now?

"Reach out! Do you want to die?!"

"...!"

Kian worked her mouth as though indignant at my words, then held out her hand.

I was still too far away to reach it. But that was fine. This time, I had come properly prepared.

Fabrication

Grade - Common

Rope

Following Atzier’s advice, I had made sure to store a rope in the Workshop.

I held one end and threw it. It was more than long enough to reach Kian. Once I confirmed she had grabbed it, I stopped in midair.

I pulled on the rope, drawing her up. Then I slowly descended toward the ground with her.

"... What on earth are you thinking?"

Kian looked at me discontentedly.

Ignoring that, I asked,

"Can you use a portal?"

"What?"

"I saw Kraken escape through a portal. Can all of you use them?"

Kian blinked, seeming to consider something, before answering.

"I can. Though I need a spell formula."

"Good. Then escape through a portal once we reach the ground."

Her eyes narrowed at my words.

"Seriously, what are you up to?"

"Look down."

Kian obediently looked down. Perhaps because I had saved her life, she was being oddly compliant.

"Skyler and Thompson have already been restrained. They can’t escape."

"...!"

Down on the ground, Isamaya and Pascal had already restrained Thompson and Skyler respectively. With those restraints on, they wouldn’t be able to escape through a portal either.

"You’re the only Indus member left now."

"... There’s still Kraken."

Oh, right.

"Anyway, if you get caught too, Indus will be utterly destroyed. There’s a good chance the people taking orders from its leaders will cause chaos and go on rampages of their own."

"I’m asking why you’re worried about that. You’re our enemy, aren’t you?"

As we talked, the ground drew closer. At this height, Kian would probably be fine even if she fell. She had her threads, after all. In fact, this would have been a good time for her to plot an attack on me.

But she did not. She wasn’t cunning enough to think that way, and above all, she was too young. She wasn’t merely baby-faced like Pascal. She was, quite literally, a young girl.

That was why the suspicions taking root in her mind only kept growing.

"The Empire needs to change. Just as you said."

I offered her dream a little support. As expected, some of the suspicion faded from her eyes, and she looked at me with a hint of interest.

I put on a serious expression and met her gaze.

"But the same goes for Indus."

"... What?"

"You saw Heldre abandon you and run."

"You made him do that. Besides, Heldre is more important than I am."

"Is that ‘equality’?"

"..."

Of all Indus’s leaders, Kian was the only one who genuinely believed in their slogan of equality.

"Go. There’s no time."

I deliberately landed on the deserted side of the cliffs.

We still had some time, but if we dawdled, one of the teachers would see me deliberately letting Kian escape.

Of course, I had a purpose in doing so, but they wouldn’t believe me even if I explained.

"..."

Kian watched me quietly as she took a few steps back. A portal opened behind her.

That portal probably only opened just above the ground, and perpendicular to it, like that. In other words, Kian couldn’t have opened one while falling to lessen the impact.

She watched me for a moment, then pouted.

"You’ll regret this."

"You’re the one who should have regrets."

It sounded like a childish argument, but I meant it.

Perhaps she understood that. Kian closed her mouth again and vanished through the portal.

The portal disappeared, and silence settled over the place that had been so full of battle and bloodlust.

"Whew."

I tilted my head back and looked at the sky.

It was simply blue and clear.

Truly, a perfect day for a school trip.

* * *

Meanwhile, aboard the train.

Once they had passed the elevated railway, the teachers inwardly sighed with relief.

No longer on full alert, they took turns patrolling the carriages.

After being relieved, Malia sat down and monitored the situation through Sensory Sharing.

Then...

"... We did it."

She clenched her fist tightly.

They had dealt devastating damage to the enemy’s leadership and its leader.

The results probably far exceeded anything Constel had anticipated.

'You had me worried when you suddenly went off-script.'

Malia had clearly witnessed Frondier’s exploits through Sensory Sharing. President Ospreet’s eyes had given her the best seat in the house.

Frondier’s abilities were growing by the day—though she wasn’t even sure growth was the word for it—and joy and pride overflowed in her heart.

But only for a moment. After confirming the situation, she sent a message to the entire faculty.

[Two members of Indus’s leadership restrained. Leader routed. Further developments will be reported as they arise.]

Every teacher who had been keeping an anxious eye out for Indus checked the message. Relief followed, and the atmosphere aboard the train relaxed.

Elodie noticed that change.

'... It’s like a balloon deflating.'

With her exceptional sensitivity to Mana, she did not miss the easing tension inside the train.

When the train had departed and tension deepened on the teachers’ faces, Elodie had already guessed that something was happening.

That tension had swelled as though an enormous balloon had been stuffed inside the train. It had grown so taut she wondered whether it might burst at any moment.

But instead of bursting, the balloon’s opening had come loose, letting the air back out.

Did that mean the trouble they had feared hadn’t happened, and everything had been resolved?

"... Professor."

As a test, Elodie called to a nearby teacher.

"Hmm? What is it?"

Even a casual listen revealed a completely different voice. Sounding far more relaxed and composed, the teacher approached her.

"How much longer do we have?"

"Until we arrive? Hmm, about an hour?"

"Thank you."

After finishing her conversation with the teacher, Elodie looked at Aster.

As it happened, he too was watching her with a meaningful look.

Rather than the tension aboard the train, Aster had been preoccupied with the phone screen Runia had shown him on the bus.

'Information about Frondier is getting far too much exposure in Kropol.'

He would have to go there himself to be sure, but most of Kropol’s citizens probably knew Frondier’s face by now.

The teachers had also been checking their messages simultaneously with remarkable frequency. A little while ago, a civilian had even gotten up after a teacher’s warning and been led away somewhere.

And above all, Elodie was looking at him now.

Their thoughts were almost identical.

'Something the students don’t know about has happened at Constel, and Frondier is involved.'

For now, it was only a suspicion. They had no real evidence. It was closer to a wild guess.

There was a simple way to check.

They only had to find Frondier once they reached Kropol.

If they didn’t see him there...

'So you’ve gone somewhere dangerous without telling anyone again?'

Elodie’s eyes blazed.

Not because of Divine Power, of course. Figuratively speaking.

* * *

After arriving in Kropol, the students were escorted to their accommodations and unpacked.

Each class listened to instructions from their teachers, then cheered at the announcement of free time.

Since the main purpose of the school trip to Kropol was to let the students relax, almost all of it was free time.

As long as they stayed within the designated area, the teachers generally wouldn’t interfere with whatever they chose to do. All they had to do was gather again in time for dinner.

Helping a friend with community service, then, surely ranked among the most wholesome ways to spend that free time.

With that thought in mind, Elodie went looking for Jane, the teacher in charge of Class Five, only to find that someone else had gotten there first.

"So, where is Frondier?"

"Ah, well, you see..."

It was Aten. Her clear eyes stared straight at Jane.

Jane averted her gaze. Aten’s unreadable expression made things all the harder for her.

"You said he would be doing community service here in Kropol, didn’t you? But I haven’t seen him at all since we arrived."

"Ah, Frondier, you see... He’s being punished for misbehaving at Constel. That’s why he’s doing community service, so—"

"But surely you could tell me where he is."

Aten leaned closer, and Jane retreated by the same amount.

'She was planning this from the start.'

Faced with Aten’s overwhelming intensity, Jane realized what had happened. She had wondered why the girl was so quiet on the bus and train. Clearly, she had intended to do this once they reached Kropol.

"Ah, um, well... Oh! Elodie!"

Just then, Jane spotted Elodie some distance away. A savior had arrived to get her out of this predicament!

"Elodie! Say something, will you? Frondier is doing community service as part of his punishment!"

At Jane’s call, Elodie approached.

She smiled at Jane.

"I’d like to know where he is too. Frondier, I mean. We’re friends, so I thought I’d help with his community service."

Not a savior. Enemy reinforcements.

Cold sweat ran down Jane’s back as she forced a smile.

"... Why don’t you two just go play at the beach?"

"Yes. After I see Frondier."

"I will. Once I’ve helped Frondier."

They weren’t listening to a damn word.

Just then, she heard humming in the distance. "Hmm, hmm-hmm~" At the familiar voice, Jane turned her head once more.

She hoped this might finally be her savior, but this time it was Saibel. She approached with her distinctive rhythmic gait, almost as though performing a little dance.

'No wonder that voice sounded familiar!'

Jane regretted turning to look.

"Oh, Saibel! Over here!"

Elodie called to her.

"Huh-wha?"

Saibel gave a peculiar reply.

"What’s going on?"

"We’re looking for Frondier. Aren’t you curious where he is?"

Elodie knew perfectly well that Saibel liked Frondier. Having gone through the cabin incident together, she could hardly have missed it.

At Elodie’s words, Saibel nodded, her eyes sparkling.

"Yep, I am! That’s why I’m on my way!"

"Right...? Huh? Wait, what?"

When Elodie asked again, Saibel repeated herself.

"I’m on my way. To Frondier."

"Huh?"

"Pardon?"

"What?"

This time, even Jane made a sound before she could stop herself. Aten’s head whipped around toward Jane, who promptly whipped her own head away and feigned innocence.

Elodie asked,

"You know where Frondier is?"

"Nope, I don’t."

Saibel answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Her words seemed contradictory. But what she said next made perfect sense of them.

"I just feel like I’ll find him if I go that way."

She pointed in a direction along the shore.

Elodie and Aten exchanged a look.

Had anyone else said it, they would have wondered what nonsense they were hearing. But this was Saibel.

"... I’m coming with you."

"So am I."

Neither Elodie nor Aten needed long to decide.