Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssey (32)

The only god.

Frondior thought Lethe would still consider this a ‘bluff’ as she had until now.

However, upon hearing those words, Lethe’s eyes widened.

“…As expected.”

“Really?”

“You said you were trapped alone in the world of salvation. If that’s true, then you are indeed a unique being. Not perfect, but still.”

Surprisingly, there was no doubt about that point.

Prondior thought.

‘The fact that Mistilteinn rejected me means that Mistilteinn senses something divine within me. Is it possible that Lethe, who was a god, also senses it?’

Then, while sensing that, Lethe challenged Prondior to a fight. One could clearly understand how a god perceives humans.

Lethe said.

“Now, I’ve kept my oath! Let me out of here!”

Lethe looked at Prondior with anxious eyes as he spoke.

It was only natural. Leaving the Pantemonium was something that no god had ever accomplished. Although Prondior had sworn by the River Styx, as a human, he might have uttered it without truly understanding the fear of the Styx.

In the meantime, Prondior thought for a moment.

‘…It’s not difficult to let him out.’

Letting Lethe out of the Pantemonium itself was not hard. Prondior had done it several times before. Bael had done it, and so had Athena.

However, thinking of those two brought a strange sense of unease.

‘Can Lethe withstand my Ecclesis?’

Bael and Athena had chosen to leave after Prondior had exited, then returned to take them out. It was after determining the outcome of the battle.

And it wasn’t as if they had been left for a long time, but when Prondior re-entered the Pantemonium, he was half out of his mind.

That was how difficult it was to withstand Prondior’s power. Whether demon or god.

It was hard to believe that Lethe, who stood before him now, would have a stronger will than them.

‘It doesn’t matter if Lethe goes mad or not, but I need to know the exact method of the ritual required to clear the three conditions.’

There might be other gods he knew, but finding them would be as difficult as searching for a needle in a haystack. Even if he found them, the likelihood of them resenting Prondior like Lethe did was high.

“…Well, shall I give it a try?”

After much contemplation, Prondior raised his hand.

It seemed that if he went out alone, Lethe wouldn’t be able to endure.

So, he had no choice but to go out together.

‘After the outcome is decided, the Pantemonium is very close to my Ecclesis. That’s why I could see that boundary through my instincts. But right now, the outcome hasn’t been decided yet.’

Currently, the Pantemonium was a mix of Prondior and Lethe, two Ecclesis. When Prondior had defeated someone within, it felt as if the world had been confirmed. That made it easy to go in and out, but this time it was different.

“Lethe, I’m going to erase yours.”

“Hmm?”

Prondior did not wait for a response.

The next moment, everything except for the 1-meter radius around Lethe and Frondior was engulfed in darkness.

No, it had vanished into darkness.

“…….”

By that time, Lethe seemed to have forgotten even her surprise.

“Good. This way, things will be a bit more organized.”

Frondior nodded in satisfaction. The rest of the world belonged to Frondior, leaving only Lethe’s very small world. Frondior placed a hand on Lethe’s shoulder.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“……You say let’s go, but we haven’t done anything yet.”

* * *

“Didn’t do── oh?”

At some point, the two had exited the Pantheon. There were almost no signs of their departure.

Even after leaving, they were still within Quinie’s dream. Because Quinie was still asleep.

“Okay, we’re out, right?”

“……We really came out.”

Lethe looked around, seemingly in disbelief. She doubted whether this was an illusion, but constructing an illusion of this level in an instant was impossible, and she could still feel the unique omnipotence of the dream’s master emanating from Lethe herself.

“What do we do now?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to fight again?”

Frondior asked.

Lethe wondered if he was joking, but Frondior’s eyes were serious.

At that, Lethe felt a chill.

‘This man is reading my mind.’

After returning to this dream, Lethe had regained her sense of omnipotence. Within this dream, she felt she could do anything.

In reality, it wasn’t much different, but even so, she could not defeat this man.

Frondior had now awakened that realization again.

To prevent Lethe from having any foolish thoughts with the sense she had regained.

She let out a deep sigh and shook her head.

“No, it’s fine. I lost.”

“Then can you help me later? I want to know exactly how to perform the ritual.”

At that, Lethe shot him a glare.

“Did you forget that we just fought for our lives?”

“What does that matter? The fight is over. You admitted defeat, and there’s no point in that anymore.”

Prondior tilted his head.

“Now you’re just someone who has information I need.”

“……!”

Rethe’s eyes trembled.

Prondior’s words seemed gentle at first glance, but the gaze behind them was endlessly cold.

Prondior did not see Rethe as a god. He did not see her as a human either.

No, it was not the gaze of someone looking at a living being.

Prondior shrugged his shoulders with that very gaze.

“Well, this isn’t a coercion. I’m just asking for your help.”

“……Ha….”

Rethe let out a hollow laugh.

Asking for help. From someone who deceived her, from someone she had stabbed with a knife.

Rethe thought she would probably never understand this man for the rest of her life.

“……Alright. Then let me know if you need anything later. I’ll tell you how to perform the ritual then.”

“Later? Ah, I see.”

Prondior nodded. First, it was important for Quinie to regain consciousness.

“Then I’ll go ahead, and you take care of Quinie.”

After saying that, Rethe closed her eyes.

The body of Quinie, in which she had been possessed, soon lost its strength and leisurely collapsed toward Prondior.

Thud.

Prondior gently embraced her.

As he did, the bookshelves that had been filled around them began to fall one by one.

Bang, thud!

The seemingly endless maze was organized, and the bookshelves were aligned. Before long, Prondior and Quinie were standing on the library floor, and the bookshelves fell with a sound, returning to their places.

“……Huh……?”

Quinie slowly opened her eyes in Prondior’s arms.

“……Ah! What’s going on here?”

Regaining her senses, she panicked and distanced herself. She was surprised to find Prondior holding her.

“……Really? No.”

Then, suddenly changing her expression, she leaned back into Frondier.

“……What is this? Right now.”

“I don’t know. You hugged me, didn’t you? So, do I really need to explain? You’ll provide the context, right?”

“……Okay.”

Frondier explained the situation regarding Lethe.

While holding Quinier.

Quinier listened to Frondier’s story as if she had fallen asleep in that position. Occasionally, her head nodded against Frondier’s chest.

After hearing everything, Quinier spoke.

“I see. I’ve figured out how to become a spirit.”

“That’s right. So now you can wake up from the dream.”

“Hmm?”

Surprised by Frondier’s words, Quinier lifted her head to look at him.

Frondier said.

“Originally, recovering your memories was to make Kora a complete white tiger. So I wanted to hear about spirits from Kora, but now I’ve figured out how to make Sergio a spirit without Kora.”

Of course, this was only true if Lethe had told the story honestly.

But since it was said under the oath of Styx, it wouldn’t be a lie, and even if it didn’t go well, they could just find another way then.

There was no need to dig into Quinier’s memories right now.

In that moment, Frondier felt the greatest relief about that.

‘Thank goodness. I don’t have to implant painful memories into Quinier.’

As he thought that and looked at Quinier with a relieved smile,

“……I want to recover my memories, though?”

Quinier said, blinking her eyes.

“Pardon?”

“No, since I’ve come this far, shouldn’t I know? I’ve entered my dream after a long time. It would be a waste to go back without doing anything.”

A waste.

It was a word that held more persuasive power coming from Quinier than anyone else.

“Is it a waste?”

“Of course. It would make my determination to recover forgotten memories, the magic circle that Elodie worked hard to create, and you, who followed me to protect me, all meaningless. It’s a total waste.”

Quinie then turned away from Frondir and looked around.

“Look at this. My heart is a library! The thing I hated most in the world was a library!”

“You hated libraries?”

It was quite unexpected. I thought she would like them.

And I thought it suited her very well. That was also why I was momentarily deceived by Lethe’s performance.

“Frondir, do you think a nurse would like a hospital?”

“…Um. Is that the feeling?”

“Yeah, that’s the feeling.”

Quinie placed her hands on her hips.

“But it’s fortunate. It’s not a place I like, but there’s no better place to explore the information I have.”

“You adapt quickly.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Quinie pulled out a book. It was indeed a book Frondir had never seen before.

Her eyes narrowed at the title.

“I can tell at a glance what the concept is.”

“Actually, while Lethe was deceiving me in this space, I did acquire some knowledge.”

There was no harvest.

Of course, I had obtained quite useful information regarding finance, accounting, and social skills, but I couldn’t call that a harvest. I couldn’t find anything related to Kora, nor could I find any books here about Quinie’s past.

“Well, that makes sense.”

Quinie put the book back and lightly looked around.

“I wouldn’t have left my information just anywhere.”

“That’s a valid point. The problem is, if it’s not just anywhere, then where could it be?”

At Frondir’s words, Quinie opened her eyes wide and examined the books.

“By the way, why are these books so out of order?”

“I thought Lethe had intentionally mixed up the order of the books.”

However, even after the space Lethe had opened returned to its original state, the order of the books was still a mess.

This part alone hadn’t returned to normal, or it meant that this was the correct order from the beginning.

“There’s no way I would leave it disorganized like this…”

Quinie tilted her head.

She couldn’t comprehend why the books that organized her memories in her dreams were not in order.

Frondier thought for a moment at that sight.

‘……Is this, just something I don’t know, actually the correct arrangement?’

If it wasn’t that Lethe had mixed things up, but rather that it was originally in this state, there might be some kind of standard. Not the obvious arrangements like alphabetical order by title or author, or by year or theme, but a standard unique to Quinier.

That means, conversely, that Frondier and others would never know, and only Quinier would know the criteria for the arrangement.

But in reality, even Quinier herself was at a loss.

“……Ah.”

At that moment, Frondier suddenly thought of something and spoke.

“By any chance, Quinier-senpai, what did you do when you were young?”

“When I was young?”

“Yes. When I entered Elodie’s dream, Elodie was a very young girl.”

Of course, that was influenced by Ospreet’s magic, but through the image of young Elodie, Frondier was able to discover the trauma and guilt she carried.

If it was arranged by a standard that Quinier herself didn’t know, then it could be something that had to do with what Quinier did when she was very young, like Elodie.

“When I was young……?”

Quinier furrowed her brow as she delved into her childhood memories.

“I didn’t like books much when I was young. It was also a time when my family’s situation was getting worse. Still, I was very interested in what merchants did. So when I was very young, I followed my father─”

Ah.

Quinier raised her head.

She carefully examined the bookshelf as if confirming something. After briefly scanning one shelf, she moved to another.

“……I figured it out.”

Quinier soon said.

“You figured it out?”

“Yeah. I know what criteria this is arranged by, and maybe where my past memories are.”

That was a significant discovery. It was almost as if she had found all the answers.

However, Quinier’s face was bright red as she spoke.

“……Are you okay? Senpai?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“……Could you tell me what that criteria is,”

“Shall we go check it out first?”

Without listening any further, Quinier turned her back and walked away.