Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssey (15)

Frontier looked closely at the still trembling Lethe.

‘A slender body.’

Lethe was more suited to be called a girl rather than a woman. Her clothes were neat but somewhat loose, making her look even thinner from behind. Her shoulder blades were clearly visible.

“…So, you are Lethe, right?”

Frontier asked to confirm, wondering if he had come to the wrong place.

“Y-Yes.”

…Yes?

Frontier scratched his head.

“Well, you see, I wanted to ask about Cora,”

“I am sorry! Please forgive me!”

Whoosh!

This time, Lethe turned her body towards Frontier and bowed deeply.

It was a posture that screamed, “Please, spare my life.”

Even for a human, it was an extremely low posture, and for a god, it was an unimaginable level of humility.

Normally, one would make a rather awkward expression at such a sight.

“Forgive?”

But Frontier did not.

“You must have done something wrong to me.”

“Eek!”

A voice that fell coldly.

Just a moment ago, a voice completely different from the attitude of a neighbor who had come to visit flowed out.

Lethe was genuinely confused as to whether this voice was coming from the same person’s face.

“No, when you asked for forgiveness when you brought up Cora, it seems to be related to Cora rather than me.”

Prondir made his own guess.

Since it wasn’t something done to Prondir himself, the anger should have subsided a bit, but Prondir’s voice became even colder.

“Speak. What did you do?”

“Th-that is…”

“Do you want to die like the three goddesses of Moirai?”

“No! Never! I never intended to deceive you, Prondir!”

Lethe shouted earnestly.

Honorifics and respectful language. Lethe was doing everything to show respect to Prondir.

It seems like he really did something.

‘How Moirai died, it seems to have already spread among the gods.’

Prondir finally felt a bit sorry for Lethe. He thought he might have threatened him a bit too much.

But that’s that.

“So what did you do? Is it related to Cora not remembering the time of the white tiger?”

“N-no, it’s not something I did now! It’s something from the past that is still having an effect…”

“The past? Are you talking about Armel’s divine power?”

Lethe nodded. It wasn’t very visible as he was bowing, but he nodded.

Prondir sighed.

“Stand up for now. We can’t have a conversation like this.”

“Yes.”

Lethe stood up hesitantly. Only then did Prondir see Lethe’s face properly.

Lethe was indeed beautiful like a god. And his eyes were unique like a god’s. The gray irises darkened in a gradient from the whites to the center. It looked like fog was blooming in his eyes.

“You gave Armel divine power. What did he do again?”

Armel. Quinie’s father. The villain who exterminated the Viet family using Cora.

The only survivor was Quinie.

However, at that time, Quinie’s memory was altered by Armel’s divine power. In the process of making him forget his existence, he believed that it was not Cora but a wolf who exterminated the family.

Of course, now all those superficial matters have been resolved.

But on the contrary,

“Armel used divine power to make Quinier forget about his existence. So he also forgot that the one he massacred was Cora. I can erase people’s memories, but I can’t decide how to erase them. That’s up to the individual.”

“What does that have to do with the current situation?”

“Well, that is, the way Quinier lost his memory at that time might be connected to Cora.”

At those words, Frondier’s brow furrowed.

“Are you saying that Cora doesn’t remember the White Tiger because Quinier received your divine power?”

“Well, it’s just a guess! Usually, even if the White Tiger loses its reason, some memories remain. But neither Quinier nor Cora remember the incident at that time. I think Cora’s memory might be missing too…”

Frondier’s face twisted as if he had bitten into something unpleasant.

This is important information.

If Lete’s words are true, they might be able to approach the method of maintaining reason when Cora is the White Tiger more quickly.

To do that.

‘…Quinier’s memory.’

If Quinier’s memory and Cora’s state are really linked,

They need to retrieve Quinier’s lost memory.

From that distant past, when the family was massacred.

The day when ‘corpse fear’ was engraved on Quinier.

‘No.’

Frondier took a step back. It was an unconscious act of wanting to withdraw from this matter rather than stepping back from Lete.

The ‘corpse fear’ that Quinier has is a huge weakness for her. She suffered from it even in Constell.

Frondier wants to help Quinier if she is still suffering from that problem, but Quinier is doing well now. He doesn’t want to unnecessarily stir up old wounds.

There are wounds that don’t need to be overcome. Surely.

‘Besides, what this guy is saying is close to speculation. There’s no guarantee that it’s really the case.’

Somehow, he understood why Lete was so scared.

Even if he doesn’t know Frondier’s personality, he knows what he’s done, so he might do something to Lete in a fit of anger over this matter.

“…Alright.”

Frondier calmed down and nodded.

“I’ve heard good information. Thank you.”

“Yes…? Ah, yes…”

Lete nodded blankly at Frondier.

It’s annoying that things have come to this, but it’s not Lete’s fault. It’s Armel’s fault for using her divine power. If she has any guilt, it’s that she chose Armel as the one to give her power to.

Feeling a sudden doubt, Frondier asked.

“Come to think of it, why did you choose Armel? What did you like about him?”

At that, Lethe’s eyelids drew an arc downward. Through her slender pupils, she glanced at the ground once.

“Because his fate was to be ‘forgotten.’”

“…I see.”

The River of Forgetfulness, Lethe.

With that one word, Frondier felt it was enough and turned away.

* * *

The purpose of the Odyssey’s journey is not to capture the monsters outside, but to expand the empire’s territory.

In other words, it is not about how far they advance, but about securing safety within a certain range.

And this part is quite troublesome.

If they were dealing with humans, they would declare victory through battle, secure the territory, and have time to fortify it. The defeated side wouldn’t want more significant wounds either.

But monsters are different. Monsters do not think about the entirety of the outside monsters. They just attack humans because they hate them. They do not weigh the pros and cons. So, no matter how injured they are, they do not give humans time to rebuild the barrier or expand their territory.

“How did they build the barrier in the past?”

And now.

The Odyssey members who left the barrier are visibly exhausted.

Their journey was exactly as expected.

As expected, the outside monsters sprang out, they fought with all their might, tended to the wounded after the battle, and once done, moved forward again.

The pressure of going beyond the barrier in this harsh cold, and the fight with monsters of a different caliber.

The only ones who were fine were the two Zodiacs and Aster. The rest, though not showing it, were feeling considerable fatigue.

In Aten’s case, he felt exhausted because others were struggling. The number of people he had to care for increased.

“That’s a simple matter.”

It was Zodiac Ludovic who answered Aster’s question.

“They divided it into two.”

“Into two?”

“Yes. Based on the line where the barrier would be built, they divided the people beyond that line and those inside it.”

Aten’s expression turned cold as he listened.

“…Then, the people outside the line…”

“They fought the monsters with all their might until the barrier was completely built. Hahaha!”

Ludovic laughed heartily at a part where it seemed inappropriate to laugh.

Seeing Aten’s gaze, he spoke.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s a proud memory for me.”

“…I apologize.”

“Proud, my foot.”

Zodiac Ridwi interjected bluntly.

“It was just damn tiring. Do you know what pissed me off the most back then? The guys inside the line said they’d build the wall quickly and piled up stones full of gaps. They wanted to bring the people outside the line inside as quickly as possible. Do you know how it feels to see the wall collapse on its own, not even from a monster’s attack?”

“…But still, it was because they were worried about the people beyond the line,”

“No, it was because they didn’t trust us.”

Ridwi nodded firmly.

“I told them over and over again. The wall must be built strong. No matter how long it takes, it must withstand at least a quarter of an hour of a monster’s attack, even if there are no people. But they ignored my words and did that.”

“I see… I understand.”

At Ridwi’s stern words, Aten looked at Ludovic. As if asking if he shared the same opinion.

Ridwi snorted and said,

“Well, it hurt my pride.”

“Pride?”

“Building the wall hastily, ignoring its sturdiness, means they were worried I might die from the monsters.”

Ludovic’s eyes glinted ominously at that moment.

“How dare they.”

“…”

Ludovic’s statement reflected the sentiment shared by all the Zodiacs at the time.

In other words, only those with this mindset could become Zodiacs later on.

“Well, anyway.”

Aster lifted his head.

“Then we have to do the same thing here.”

The members of Odyssey were already complaining of considerable fatigue, and they couldn’t go any further. They had to secure a safe zone and build a wall from here.

“We don’t start building the wall right away. First, we need to set up defensive facilities. The location of the base is also important. We were heading along the river, so one side can slow down the monsters’ entry with the waterway, but it won’t work for birds. There’s no forest around here, so it’s important to secure a vantage point by climbing to higher ground first.”

“We are a small group now, but when we build the wall, a large number of soldiers and wizards will be deployed. So, the location is important, but the ‘path’ to get here is also crucial.”

Aster nodded at the words of the two Zodiacs.

In other words, it’s more like building a fortress than just a wall. Before building the wall, they had to draw a line to see how far humans could advance.

“Then let’s contact the palace… huh?”

When Ludovic picked up the phone, the group sensed something and looked in a certain direction.

In the direction they had been heading, straight ahead.

“…Aster.”

“Yes.”

Aster drew his sword and took a step forward.

“A strange aura.”

A distant energy. It wasn’t ferocious, but it felt ominous.

While everyone was tense, something slowly began to take shape in the distance.

“…Huh?”

Aten made a sound.

What appeared in the distance was a human. Judging by the attire, it was a soldier, alone with no one around.

“He doesn’t look well. We should treat him,”

Before Aten could finish her sentence,

Sss─

Aster reached the soldier’s back.

Instantly.

“Ah!”

The soldier was split in half, his body falling to the ground.

Aster looked down at the soldier with indifferent eyes and said,

“Your Highness, this is not a human.”

Aten’s eyes widened at Aster’s words.

In fact, she was more surprised by Aster’s calm face than by the fact that the human she had just seen was a monster.

“A monster pretending to be human?”

Lidwi narrowed his eyes and asked.

Lidwi also knew it was a monster. He had intended to examine it a bit, but Aster had already cut it down.

“No.”

Aster said.

“It was probably human in the past.”