Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssey (10)

Frondier was dumbfounded. Waiting for him? Did they already know of his existence?

“Do you know me?”

“Of course! You are the benefactor of our village!”

Benefactor?

Frondier was bewildered to receive gratitude for something he had no memory of.

Frondier, who never knew how to react even when thanked for something he did, was momentarily stunned by the situation.

“Wait a moment. What have I done to deserve this? Until recently, I thought Lirber and Alber were gone. I have no reason to be thanked.”

Frondier waved his hands. Like the driver he met a while ago said, he was not used to kindness.

“Ah, I see. The Empire believes that.”

The man shook his head sadly.

…A moment ago, Moretti called this man ‘Grassi’. It must be his name.

“Indeed, many areas were destroyed by the recent monster attack. Lirber and Alber, the places where they originally were, are now monster lands. We abandoned our villages and evacuated to build new ones. The Empire only knows that the villages were taken, but seems unaware of what happened afterward.”

At that moment, Moretti, who was holding his head, looked up and shouted.

“Yes! In response to the Empire’s irresponsibility, we united to take revenge on the Empire,”

Thud!

And he was hit again.

“Who are you to shout so loudly! You were the first to crawl into the Empire!”

“Ugh…! That was to destroy the Empire from within! I even got the village chief’s permission!”

“Permission? You think the chief’s furious ‘Do as you please if you want to live your own way’ was permission?”

At Ferrucci’s words, Moretti averted his gaze.

Listening to their conversation, Frondier asked Grassi again.

“Revenge…? So Lirber and Alber are planning to take revenge on the Empire?”

Frondier wasn’t too surprised as he asked.

He thought it was natural. Considering the anger of Mangot, he could almost understand their situation.

He didn’t know how they managed to live in a village outside of Mangot, but if it was possible, it wasn’t strange for them to harbor the flames of revenge against the Empire.

Grassi then asked back.

“What do you plan to do then?”

It was not Frondier, but Selena, whose eyes darkened at those words.

“…Lord Frondier.”

“No, it’s alright.”

Frondier raised his hand lightly in response to her murderous intent.

Then he spoke to Grassi.

“I want to stop it.”

“…”

“It is true that the Empire has not been able to protect everyone. I understand that there were cold judgments made in the process. However, the Empire has never abandoned those outside the barrier. The fact that we have come this far is also,”

“Do you really know what those cold judgments were?”

“…Yes. I know.”

* * *

While Philly was checking documents as usual.

“…Oh my?”

An unexpected person visited her room.

“What brings you here?”

It was Bartello, the Emperor and her husband.

The fact that he said ‘here’ while being in the same palace gives an idea of the palace’s size.

And how rare it is for the Emperor to come to this place.

“Hmm, dear. The thing is.”

Bartello cleared his throat once, placed his hand on his waist and then lowered it, looked elsewhere and then looked back at Philly.

“That, Aten is participating in the Odyssey.”

He spoke as if it was a casual conversation about the weather, with no particular intention.

Philly blinked a few times with wide eyes.

“…Pfft.”

Eventually, she burst into laughter.

“Are you worried about our daughter? You doting old man.”

“No, hmm. It’s not exactly that.”

“Coming to me won’t change anything, you know? I can’t order Aten to return.”

“I know that. …No, that’s not it.”

Bartello, swayed by Philly’s eloquence.

Perhaps, Philly is the only one who can play such pranks on the Emperor.

“You’ve changed a lot. You too.”

Philly looked at Bartello with warm eyes.

“Before the war with the gods, Aten, Elysia, and Sale all treated me as just a ‘princess’.”

“No. That’s not true.”

Bartello shook his head deeply at those words.

“I worried about those children. Why wouldn’t I? They are my daughters. I just couldn’t show it.”

“…I know. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I know why you said that.”

Bartello approached Philly with slow steps.

“I disappointed you and the daughters. It’s my lack of virtue.”

“…Why are you like this today? No matter what, this isn’t like you.”

At that, Philly put down the documents and pen. She looked at Bartello with her fingers touching each other.

It wasn’t that Bartello had never shown a warm side to Philly, but today Bartello’s appearance was strange. There would always be opportunities to talk about such things, but was it today of all days?

“…Hmm. Maybe I’ve become impatient.”

“Impatient?”

“Because of this Odyssey.”

At those words, Philly thought for a moment. Odyssey, what could Bartello’s impatience have to do with it?

But as expected, her doubts were soon resolved.

“Ah, right. It was the will of the predecessor.”

“Yes. It was the judgment of my grandfather, who was mocked and despised by everyone in the Empire.”

In the past, when the Empire was swept away by monsters.

Edezion, the grandfather of the current Emperor Bartello, made a significant decision at that time.

When he judged that he couldn’t block all the advancing monsters, the Emperor divided those who could be saved and those who couldn’t.

Through his experiences of defeat, the Emperor drew a line marking the area from which it was possible to return to the capital of the Empire.

He judged that humans outside that line had a higher chance of survival by hiding in their respective areas rather than exposing themselves to the monsters and coming to the Empire.

The capital of the Empire was located in the east of the continent, and thus the people most outraged by this drawn line were those in the west.

This is what Grassi and Frondier refer to as the Emperor’s ‘cold judgment’,

─To divert the monsters’ attention, the Empire used all the citizens as shields and fled! We stood there believing only in the Empire! Believing that knights would come, that soldiers would come to protect us! Didn’t they say so!! Why didn’t they come! If they weren’t going to come, why did they leave us there! Why did they bind people with lies and throw them as prey to the monsters!

─You, you fool! The East and West of the Empire at that time─!

This was one of the greatest flames of karma, shouted by Notker, the former shepherd of Mangot.

This was one of the things that angered the citizens within the Empire, and the reason why Edigion is considered the most incompetent emperor in the history of the Empire.

His son, and Bartello’s father, Edmund, followed the will of the citizens. He showed a completely different side from Edigion, completely denied him, and worked hard to strengthen the national power.

From Edmund’s perspective, his father was nothing more or less than an incompetent emperor to the royal family and the entire Empire.

However, Edmund’s era also passed,

Time passed enough for everyone’s anger to subside, and Bartello, who could only evaluate his grandfather’s deeds through records.

As the current emperor, he thought differently.

He judged that Edigion’s actions were the best at the time. Above all, Bartello himself was confident that he would make the same decision.

However, by the time Bartello became emperor, too much time had passed.

His predecessor, Edigion, had now become a forgotten name, and now people only remember him as the ‘incompetent king’. They even forgot why he was called that.

“Do you think they are still alive?”

“I hope so.”

Bartello just clung to hope.

Even if Edigion’s judgment was right, not all results can be right. Besides, even if they succeeded in surviving at that time, it is uncertain whether they are still alive now.

Beyond that is the land of outer monsters. It is a hell where even trained soldiers cannot guarantee survival.

Could those people have endured all these years?

Is it not too late?

“That’s why you hastily carried out this Odyssey.”

“I know I’m burdening everyone. I also stirred up public opinion to form the Odyssey.”

“Your bad habit came out again. Making everything your responsibility, making those who decided according to their own hearts look like fools.”

“That’s what an emperor is.”

Philly shook his head. Anyway, when it comes to the story of the ’emperor’, he cannot persuade Bartello.

“If there really are survivors from that time, and they are found through the journey of the Odyssey, what will you do? They will not look favorably upon the Empire. Above all, they will hate you. Even if it wasn’t your doing, you are the emperor now.”

“I will have to endure it.”

Bartello said as if it were natural.

“That’s why it’s karma.”

* * *

Grassi said.

“Our previous generation abandoned the village and fled. There was nowhere to go but the forest. They hid among the trees and bushes, fled between valleys and dangerous cliffs. Of course, they couldn’t evade the monsters forever. Many died in the process. They found a place where they could avoid the monsters’ eyes and finally built a village, but as time passed, more monsters approached this place.”

Grassi began to recount the past, and gradually grew darker.

But soon his eyes sparkled, and this time he grabbed both of Prondier’s arms.

“But then a war broke out. A great war where all the monsters headed for the empire!”

Ah. Only then did Prondier understand.

Why they considered Prondier their benefactor.

“The war that Mangot started. There, Mangot shared the same goal with the monsters, even if they didn’t communicate. They moved with the unified goal of breaking the empire’s barrier. If it weren’t for that war, we would have been in unimaginable danger.”

Ferrucci laughed as if to support Grassi’s words.

“They say it’s thanks to you that most of the monsters were eradicated? Even if we were far from the empire, such big news reaches us. There were even people who said they saw the Wezerview screen in the sky at that time. They all testified the same.”

It was the Wezerview installed by Quinie.

Thanks to that, even if they didn’t know the full story, they knew that Prondier was the main player here.

Prondier, who heard the explanation, gave a bitter smile.

‘It’s a strange feeling. They consider me a benefactor because the monsters invaded the empire…’

Just saying that makes it seem like Prondier is on the side of the monsters. Of course, they are more grateful for the eradication of the monsters than anything else.

“And yet you seek revenge on the empire? It was the empire that diverted the monsters’ attention and dealt with them. What I did was very minor in comparison.”

“Please understand. We hate the empire. Of course, you are an exception. When the time comes, we will all take up our weapons and march towards the emperor.”

What was in their eyes was clearly anger and resentment.

Prondier, who was watching for a moment, spoke.

“I cannot allow it.”

“We don’t need your permission.”

“You will need it.”

Prondier declared.

His eyes lowered, sweeping over everyone who was looking at him.

“Lirber, Alber… No matter how many survivors there are beyond the empire, I will be in front of every path leading to the emperor.”