Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssey (35)

While Quinie kept her eyes closed, Frondir faced the wolf.

It wasn’t that difficult. Although her strength had somewhat weakened, it was not enough to be overpowered by the wolf.

Before long, she brought the wolf down, but there was a problem.

‘This won’t progress as it is.’

I did not create this space just to fight for no reason.

I need to uncover the truth about Quinie’s past, but at this rate, every time Quinie opens her eyes, she’ll have to fight the wolf.

“Is it, is it over?”

Quinie, who had been keeping her eyes closed, asked.

“Not yet.”

Phrondeer had taken care of all the wolves, but he said that for now. He needed time to think.

‘Beyond the strength, this body itself is uncomfortable for fighting. The range is short, and the visibility is low.’

That alone was troublesome, but the bigger problem was that Phrondeer was aware that he himself was a four-year-old boy.

If time continued to flow like this, even his strength and speed might be limited to that of a four-year-old. He would be swallowed by the dream.

‘Should I just imitate Amper?’

Phrondeer briefly looked at Quinie, who was still with her eyes closed.

In this space, the one who could exert the most effective power would be Amper.

If it were possible to pretend to be Amper, like when he blocked Kora, then dealing with a wolf would be no problem at all.

‘…No. Quinie wouldn’t accept that. Just pretending to be Amper from now on wouldn’t make it so.’

Kora had been in a state of irrationality, so he could mumble, but Quinie was different.

Phrondeer couldn’t transform into Amper just by pretending to be him. Quinie would never acknowledge that.

‘To become Amper, I need to create a situation where it would be natural for Amper to be present.’

Phrondeer looked around.

Fortunately, this place had almost perfectly recreated the mansion of the Viet family from the past. Thanks to Quinie’s excellent memory, this was near the entrance of the mansion.

‘Huh, I have no choice but to act.’

Phrondeer concealed his presence as much as possible. It was a type of stealth he learned from Dier.

In that state, Phrondeer spoke.

“I’ve cleaned everything up for now, but please keep your eyes closed. I’ll check the surroundings.”

“Check the surroundings?”

“Yes. I’ll see if there’s anything strange in this memory. If you open your eyes, you’ll be attacked by the wolf again, so let me check first. Please count to one minute in your head and then open your eyes.”

Phrondeer said only that and then retreated using the techniques of flight.

He moved to a location outside the mansion, climbing up a tree. While Quinie would not easily spot him, Phrondeer was in a position to observe Quinie’s movements.

‘…Will this work?’

Right now, Phrondeer had deceived Quinie and moved to a different location.

Quinie would think that Phrondeer was still nearby. In that state, she would be counting to one minute.

But Frondir is not in front of Quinée right now.

‘Quinée is the master of the dream. Sudden changes will be adjusted as a way to convince herself.’

In Elodie’s case, when she met her in the dream, she did not know that Frondir was real.

In other words, before the real Frondir appeared, Elodie must have been meeting the fake Frondir.

‘If I use that method, perhaps.’

While Frondir was hiding and watching, Quinée spoke.

“I’ve counted to one minute. Are you opening your eyes?”

“…….”

“Frondir?”

Of course, Frondir does not answer.

But since she was told to open her eyes after one minute, Quinée will open her eyes anyway.

As Quinée slowly opened her eyes, there stood—

‘……as expected.’

Frondir.

The four-year-old boy Frondir.

There stood the imaginary Frondir created by Quinée, different from the Frondir watching from the tree.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking for a moment.”

The fake Frondir said that. The way he spoke was quite Frondir-like.

‘It’s a strange feeling to see a fake version of myself, but I don’t need to keep watching anymore.’

Having confirmed that the fake was created without any issues, now all that’s left is to hide at the entrance of the mansion and appear at the right moment when Amper is likely to show up.

With the power that Frondir originally possesses, and if it’s the woven Gram, it should be able to deceive Quinée without any problems.

Grrr—

At that moment, the sound of wolves echoed again.

Before long, the wolves that had been recreated slowly approached Quinée and the fake Frondir.

‘Oh no, I need to move quickly.’

Just as Frondir was about to move from the tree upon seeing that—

“Step back.”

The fake said.

While Quinée looked at the fake in surprise, he lightly raised both arms.

Rustle─

There was no sense of having done anything, yet all the wolves were split in half.

“Ha.”

And a light sigh escaped.

The fake Frondier looked at Quinier with eyes too deep for a four-year-old.

“Don’t worry, senpai.”

“Hmm…?”

The fake Frondier spoke with a voice too sultry for a four-year-old.

“I will protect you.”

And the real one kept silent, watching.

‘…What is that?’

An overwhelming power that made it meaningless to even contemplate transforming into Amper.

Moreover, there was no visible mechanism for the wolves being split in half.

When I raised both arms, the wolves simply died.

‘…Did Quinier see me fighting like that?’

Of course, Frondier could mimic something similar using the black sky, but it was a proper weapon delivering a proper attack. Such supernatural occurrences did not happen.

Furthermore, if it was that strong, there was no need to bring Amper along.

After all, it was the same Frondier; the real one struggled against the wolves while the fake handled them easily. It felt like an understatement to call it irrational.

‘In Quinier’s mind, while my eyes were closed, I must have discovered some solution, and that expectation activated, causing the fake to take care of the wolves with that ‘certain solution’… Is that roughly the story?’

If I could have read Quinier’s thoughts like that, the situation would have been simple, but of course, that was impossible.

Still, for now, it was right to feel relieved that the fake was handling the wolves without any issues.

And there was something even more important.

‘Did I speak like that?’

Watching the fake’s words and actions made Frondier want to cover his face.

It was strangely similar, yet fundamentally different.

It is said that it’s hard to objectively examine one’s true self, but even considering that, the fake’s appearance was somehow odd.

‘Does Quinier think of me like that?’

If that were true, I really acted quite sweetly, didn’t I?

Frondier found himself reflecting.

‘Anyway, if that’s the case, there shouldn’t be any problems. Transforming into Amper has its timing and situational risks, so I’ll just observe for a while.’

Regardless of the process, the wolves’ attacks had ceased. After the fake Frondier declared, “I will protect you,” it was as if it were a lie.

The Phondier over there is fake, but still, it’s on our side. To be precise, it’s on Quinie’s side. Since it’s an ally conjured up by Quinie’s imagination, there’s nothing to worry about.

“Well, since it’s quiet now, shall we take a look around?”

“Y-yeah.”

The fake took the lead, and Quinie, flustered, followed behind.

As expected, the fake was also saying what Phondier would want to hear.

‘Right now, Quinie is like having one more version of herself by her side. It might not seem helpful at first glance, but surprisingly, a solution might come up easily.’

The fake is ultimately something Quinie created. Its way of thinking would be similar to Quinie’s, and it cannot think beyond what Quinie is considering.

However, Quinie believes the fake to be real right now.

If it were Phondier, it would say this, it would make such a suggestion, that’s the kind of thought she has.

Even if the fake only speaks within the thoughts Quinie can have, if she thinks of it as someone else, another perspective will appear to Quinie.

It’s better to jot it down and look at it again than to be wrapped up in her thoughts.

The fake Phondier will at least provide Quinie with some level of meta-cognition.

“Now, the wolves aren’t attacking… Is this place secure?”

The fake asked while looking at the wolves. Now, the wolves too are firmly frozen like the other scenery here.

“…Of course not.”

“Yeah, right.”

After all, these wolves are illusions created by Quinie.

The truth is the incident caused by the irrational Kora. She must not turn her eyes away from this.

The real Phondier, watching from the tree, thought.

‘Quinie is a cold-hearted person. She already knows that Kora is the culprit of that incident, and at least she said she has regained her memories from when she faced Amper.’

Then, it doesn’t make sense for her to still remember that part as wolves.

What could be the reason?

“Then shall we try to connect for now?”

The fake said.

“Connect? What do you mean?”

“The memory Quinie-senpai regained was her meeting with our father, right? We’re going to proceed to that part.”

“…Are you saying to pull the time of this scene forward?”

“You should be able to do it.”

Phondier, watching that conversation, pursed her lips.

Though it wasn’t her place to say, she felt that the fake’s way of speaking was quite clever.

‘It’s really hard to accept that I resemble that.’

“……Alright, I’ll give it a try.”

Quinée seemed a bit flustered, but she focused her mind again.

After all, what the fake one says is also her own thoughts, so it’s quite amusing to be flustered when hearing it from someone else.

Soon, changes began to occur at the scene of the incident.

People hidden in silhouettes moved, and wolves chased after them.

Most of them had been injured by the wolves and had fallen, with screams and horrific sounds echoing all around. Although the brutal scene was not clearly visible due to the silhouettes, the sounds alone evoked vivid imaginations.

And soon it would be time for Amper to appear.

‘……Let’s watch.’

Frondeer briefly thought about stepping in as Amper, but decided to observe for a moment.

While watching from the tree, a strange thought crossed her mind.

As Frondeer remained still, it was only natural that Amper appeared again as an image created by Quinée’s imagination.

And the moment he appeared.

“……So this is how it goes.”

All the wolves disappeared, and only Kora stood in front of Quinée.

At that point, time at the scene came to a halt again. Kora faced Amper, and Quinée was behind him.

“The wolves vanished in an instant, and Kora appeared to confront Amper….”

“Yeah. It’s completely a scene of its own.”

Quinée said, narrowing her brows. It was her memory, yet this part was utterly incomprehensible.

The fake Frondeer, who seemed to be thinking for a moment, spoke to Quinée.

“Then let’s find out. What the contradiction is. If we know that there can’t be any wolves here, Quinée’s memory will align correctly.”

“Alright.”

After that, the fake Frondeer and Quinée repeatedly discussed and retraced the scene to identify the issues.

From there.

From there, it was different from the truth.

‘……It probably won’t be resolved that way.’

Quinée already knew the contradiction. She knew it better than anyone.

In reality, she was erasing the wolves one by one while talking to the fake, but as long as she couldn’t accept it, the wolves would continue to appear.

Above all, Kora wouldn’t fill that spot.

While the fake and Quinée were conversing, Frondeer closely observed the people around them.

Most of them seemed to scream in pain and fear, turning their backs to the wolves, waiting for death while lying fallen. Or perhaps they were already dead. Even though they were hidden in silhouettes, their expressions seemed visible.

……It was so strange.

Prondior began to check each person one by one for a very long time.