Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Life of Unemployment

After the gods retreated, the two continents were given almost identical tasks.

One was to re-establish diplomacy and trade between the two continents.

This is being steadily carried out by the leaders of each country. The ports are already being designed. Once the land revealed by the receding sea is organized, ships will be launched immediately.

The other task was the expansion of the nation’s territory.

Even though the gods have retreated, monsters remain. The monsters outside, and even more so, the abyssal monsters.

It would be nice if the gods who dropped them on the ground disappeared like in a comic, but reality does not go as expected.

As a result, the purpose of educational institutions like Constell has naturally changed somewhat.

It remains a training center for warriors to fight monsters, but now it needs people who will advance, not just those who will defend the walls.

In other words, people who will fight the monsters outside and the abyss in earnest are needed.

Thus, the Terst Empire and the Palma Empire decided to establish a knight order to expand their territories under mutual assurance, naming it ‘Odyssey’. The personnel defending the walls remain, but those with superior skills can participate in the Odyssey.

However, this point was causing considerable headaches for both countries.

From the beginning, the number of people capable of confronting the abyssal monsters was extremely small.

The reason the monsters outside are strong is because of their resistance to divine power. That fact has been revealed, but even without it, they are stronger than ordinary monsters.

And above all, the fear instilled in humans has not yet healed.

The war with the monsters, which continued to push humans back until they built walls and stopped, has left a deep scar.

The only instance of territory being re-expanded was when Frondier won the war against Mangot.

In other words, ordinary humans still do not think about crossing the walls.

Even the warriors who are determined to fight to protect humanity think the same. They only think about intercepting monsters from inside the walls. They have no intention of crossing the walls.

“So.”

In the office of Atlas.

Aster spoke while looking at the WizerView.

“You could have left it to Frondier.”

On the screen of the WizerView that Aster was speaking to, there was Jane, a teacher at Constell.

Jane sighed dramatically.

[Aster. I told you earlier. He can’t be affiliated with anywhere right now. It’s really serious. So if you join the Odyssey, the territorial expansion will be much easier.]

“I’m a teacher at Atlas now. ‘Students are the future of the nation. Neglecting them is neglecting the country,’ as a teacher I respect once said.”

[Ugh. You sly guy.]

Needless to say, it was something Jane had said.

“So, Frondier is not affiliated with anything right now?”

[Yeah. They say he’s unemployed.]

“Unemployed…?”

[He wants to do something, but people around him are using his injury recovery or rest as an excuse to keep him from working. He’s like a walking front-page news story. Whatever he does, they say he’s flaunting connections, taking money, supporting something. They say all sorts of things. It’s best for him to stay quiet until people’s interest dies down.]

“Odyssey is a knight order created by the agreement of both countries. Wouldn’t it be fine if he joined that?”

[That’s not a problem in itself. But many people see it as the beginning. ‘Frondier has finally moved! Where will his steps lead after Odyssey?!’ They keep fanning the flames. It’s better to put out the fire first.]

Hmm, Aster pursed his lips.

Jane was just giving an example, but it sounded quite convincing, as if it was a phrase he had seen somewhere before.

[Anyway, think about it. Even though the gods have retreated, the monsters remain, and the fear of monsters is still there. If you join Odyssey, I can be at ease.]

“Yes. I’ll check it out as soon as I have some time.”

[Thank you.]

After Jane’s waving goodbye, the wizard view turned off.

This wizard view was the first project implemented in the exchange between the two empires, namely communication.

Connecting phones and wizard views between two distant continents was not an easy task, but the help of magic engineering companies along with Queenie Viet was significant. They succeeded in floating buoys in the middle of the continent to create a mana stepping stone.

“…Unemployed?”

Aster tilted his head after the wizard view turned off.

He roughly knew Frondier’s whereabouts. More than Frondier himself, the people around him reported everything to Aster.

Neither Frondier nor Aster wanted this, but without anyone saying anything, Frondier’s every move reached Aster’s ears.

As if only Aster had to know.

As if hoping Aster would stop him if Frondier did something wrong.

“I’ve never seen such a busy unemployed person.”

* * *

Let’s see.

So the beginning was probably from the Agoris coast.

After the war ended, the part I was most worried about was, ‘What happened to Poseidon?’

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Cybele or Jormungand, whom I fought first, or Hercules after that, but simply because I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.

So I went to check what happened to Poseidon, and also what happened to Hercules.

“…I see. It wasn’t for nothing that I came.”

I am now facing a giant whirlpool.

From the sea to the end of the sky, a waterspout rises. Waterspouts that seem capable of turning a whole village into a wasteland roam the sea countless times.

“…This might be.”

“I’m sorry.”

At that moment, someone reached my side.

It was Hercules.

As I got to know the extent of his teleportation skills, I was gradually getting used to his sudden appearances.

“I went a bit too far.”

“How do you fight to make waterspouts rise in the sea in groups? It looks like you were playing Go.”

“Go? Hahaha. That’s an interesting expression.”

Hercules laughed genuinely, as if he found it truly amusing.

It seems this metaphor has taken all the fun out of it.

Seeing how dull reality is.

“Is there a chance this will disappear on its own?”

“Of course. It will disappear after I die.”

That usually means it won’t disappear.

I sighed.

“…Are you sure about Poseidon’s side? You must have confirmed that he is properly dead, right?”

“That’s a bit ambiguous. I definitely killed his physical body, but…”

Hercules shook his head.

“A high-ranking god like Poseidon is almost akin to nature itself. Even if his physical body dies, his influence remains. These waterspouts are traces of our battle, but their fierce turbulence is probably his will. His ferocity seems to linger even after his death.”

Hercules’ eyes calmed as if he was recalling that time.

“That girl’s help was significant. If she hadn’t drained Poseidon’s power, I wouldn’t be in one piece either.”

He was talking about Cybele. As always, she never ceases to amaze me.

I asked.

“I heard that if we win the war against the gods, all the gods will disappear.”

“Of course. There’s no reason for gods to be above humans. Their authority will fall, and they will soon vanish.”

“Then Poseidon will also vanish, right?”

“That’s right.”

“……”

“……?”

Hercules stared blankly at me, as if he thought that was an answer.

As I was pondering where to start explaining, Hercules seemed to realize something and said,

“Ah, I see. Misunderstandings arise because our sense of time is different.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s true that the gods are disappearing, but that means they are walking the path of mortality. They aren’t disappearing right away. Simply put, you could say they now have a ‘lifespan.’ The gods will now age and die just like ordinary beings.”

“…If they have a lifespan, how long is it?”

“The same as humans.”

Ha. I let out a hollow laugh.

So, the gods fought so fiercely because they were afraid of gaining a lifespan? They can’t accept a death that humans naturally accept, even though they won’t die immediately?

“Don’t be too harsh. They were beings who originally had no concept of death. The fact that they now have death is naturally terrifying for them.”

“…Even while watching humans? They’re being overly dramatic.”

“That’s right. That’s why we defeated them all.”

“…Yes. That’s true.”

The war is already over, and it was a victorious war. It would be unseemly to be angry at the defeated.

“Now then, we need to do something about this waterspout.”

This violent storm of water, rising fiercely from the sea to the sky, is blocking the path from Palind to Agoris.

No one can leisurely sail through this broken sea, except for Cybel.

I extended my right hand.

Snap.

Mjolnir landed in my hand.

“Can this waterspout be destroyed if we break it?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you try?”

Boom!

Lightning struck the hammer, and a light shone in my eyes.

“There are many waterspouts, so let’s deal with one each day.”

…So this was the beginning.

The beginning of my schedule starting again, after becoming unemployed following the war.

* * *

Evening, at the Roach mansion.

“Selena, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Selena sat still in a seiza position.

I remember the first time she took this position. In Teivon, she sat in seiza beside me until I woke up from my sleep. It must have been quite a struggle for her to stay still for hours in a position she was trying for the first time.

But now, she looked very comfortable in this position.

Swoosh.

I placed my hand on Selena’s shoulder. She tensed up and gently closed her eyes.

Then, I took a deep breath.

I swallowed the Dragonheart.

Fwoosh─!!

Mana filled my body. Feeling the exhilaration in my body, I used the ‘Analyze’ skill on Selena.

[Selena]

– Former assassin of ‘Mangot’.

– Currently assigned to guard duty in Frondier.

– In ‘Mangot’, she was called Jay, derived from the alphabet. Mangot trained assassins and named them in alphabetical order. She was the tenth assassin of Mangot.

– Her parents named her ‘Selena’, but she did not remember. Later, Frondier told her, but her memory did not recover.

– Her parents, during their lifetime─

Now, I am struggling to keep my promise to Selena.

In the past, I used the Analyze skill on Selena.

Even now, the content is not much different from back then. Some things have changed, but that is only because Selena’s situation has changed over time, not because new information was added that I didn’t know.

It always stops there.

Her parents, during their lifetime.

What on earth did they do during their lifetime?

Crackle, crackle!

“Ah, ugh…!”

Cold sweat ran down the side of my ear.

No matter how much mana I poured in, the content did not progress beyond this point.

“Huff, huff, whew…”

Eventually, the light faded, and I canceled the skill.

“Don’t overdo it, Frondier.”

Selena looked at me with worried eyes.

I shook my head.

“No. It’s just mana exhaustion at most.”

“…Saying ‘just’ mana exhaustion is very dangerous. Prondier, it seems like your senses are still at war.”

Hmm.

Indeed, if you think about it normally, mana exhaustion is a dangerous state.

I didn’t think much of it because I included it in my training process.

‘Anyway, if using this much mana doesn’t work, it seems like it’s not something that can be revealed with an analysis skill in the first place.’

In fact, analysis is one of the skills I have that consumes a lot of mana. If I decide to reveal all the information of the opponent, it uses mana that easily surpasses the level of replicating a divine weapon.

That’s how powerful it is to freely access someone else’s information. To the extent that it surpasses a divine weapon.

‘But the analysis skill consumes less mana if the opponent doesn’t resist. Especially if it’s someone I’ve already accessed once.’

Even so, it doesn’t work.

Honestly, there are only a handful of people in this world who have more mana than me, and I just ate a dragon heart.

No matter who uses this skill, it wouldn’t work.

“Selena, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

I didn’t find out anything additional through analysis.

But after looking again, there was something I had to tell Selena.

Even though the analysis skill didn’t reveal everything, it used the term ‘in life.’

In life, in other words…

“…Your parents are probably…”

“Dead, right?”

I looked at her in surprise.

“How did you know?”

“It’s written all over your face, Prondier.”

Really?

Did I make such an accurate expression?

“And.”

Selena tilted her head and looked up at the ceiling.

“I just had a feeling.”

Selena’s face looked a bit lonely as she said that. And at the same time, she seemed to be mocking herself, as if feeling lonely was strange.

“Mr. Prondier. You don’t need to push yourself. It’s not that important to me anymore.”

“No, it is important.”

I shook my head.

Selena tilted her head and asked.

“Important? To you, Mr. Prondier?”

“No, it’s important to you.”

I asserted.

“At least when you think it’s not important, I want to keep my promise.”