Academy’s Weapon Replicator

Odyssea (38)

Quinée’s eyes trembled at Frondier’s words.

But she soon shook her head.

“Lies.”

It seemed painful for her to speak, her one eye narrowing.

“I know that’s how you talk. In the end, I know you’re trying to comfort me, that you’re keeping an eye on my feelings.”

Just as Frondier has an image of Quinée, so does Quinée of Frondier.

Through her experiences, Quinée has roughly grasped what kind of person Frondier is.

“How can it have nothing to do with you? You’re as sensitive about who is on your side as you are about valuing your allies.”

“…….”

“Can you really see me the same way? Me, who has killed so many? Can you still believe I’m on your side? If I ever, again, use Kora to do something similar….”

Frondier narrowed her brow at Quinée’s words.

“You’re not that kind of person.”

“No, no.”

Quinée still shakes her head.

“You might say that now. But who knows? There’s no guarantee that someone who has done it once won’t do it again. You just hope I’m that kind of person.”

“Not at all.”

Prondior interrupted her.

“I don’t wish; I know.”

“Another wordplay.”

“No.”

Prondior’s voice was firm.

“I can assert that I know more about you than you know about yourself, Quinie.”

“What…?”

Prondior had played the ‘Etius’ game more than anyone else.

Through countless experiences, he learned who the heroes and villains were.

However, even so, not all heroes act heroically.

Some harbor doubts about their actions, their beliefs waver, and they make mistakes.

In Etius, the roles of characters as heroes and villains are not predetermined. There are times when someone who appears to be a hero turns into a villain, and the opposite has always been true.

Everyone is gray. Just countless shades of gray.

Yet, despite that, Prondior always defined heroes and villains.

He needed someone to trust.

He realized early on that he could not break Etius alone, and thus needed companions.

He understood that the most dangerous thing in this game was doubt.

To see a person as they are.

Not to make conclusions, not to jump to judgments.

Not to try to read minds, but to believe what one sees.

To trust another means to trust oneself, and to trust the eyes that are looking at the other, and the mind that is processing it.

‘So what about her?’

What about Quinie?

Quinie has killed many people.

Whether it was pure self-defense is unknown.

Prondior cannot gauge how much intent to kill and malice Quinie harbored at the moment she asked Kora for help. Perhaps Quinie herself does not know.

If that’s the case, then someday, Quinie could also become a villain.

Among the countless possibilities that Prondior has yet to see.

If such events continue to repeat, even she might fall into corruption.

Yet, even so.

‘Just this much.’

Quinier is one of the characters that Frondier has chosen to believe in.

And that belief was not formed overnight.

It is the result of the time accumulated in this endlessly repeating game, a product of the efforts made to somehow conquer the game.

“How long do you think I’ve been watching you, senior?”

“…Huh, what?”

“I’ve seen and known you for at least several times longer than you think.”

To Frondier, Quinier’s mistake of this degree truly has no bearing.

Just this much, and Quinier becomes the villain?

That is simply impossible.

Quinier, with her mouth agape at Frondier’s words, looked at him.

Between her blinking eyes, Quinier spoke.

“What do you mean by that—”

Kugugugu…

However, her words were soon cut off.

A change came to the surrounding scenery.

The burning village sank, and buildings and bookshelves rose again.

In the basement of the library. The two returned to their original place.

Frondier lifted his head and spoke.

“It seems to be resolved.”

“…It does.”

Quinier also answered while blankly looking around.

“How about your memory? Has it definitely returned?”

“…Yeah. It seems so. I feel clear-headed. I don’t feel any contradictions before and after.”

Quinier lightly touched her head with her hand and spoke.

Frondier nodded.

In any case, the objective has been achieved. Quinier’s memory has returned, and she has completely escaped the influence of Lethe. Now, there should be changes for Kora as well.

‘Every time Kora becomes the White Tiger, she loses her memory; perhaps she carries a similar sense of guilt as Quinier.’

Quinie is the one who commanded Cora, but Cora is truly the one responsible for killing people. It is a daring task to judge whose guilt is greater.

When I return, I must tell Cora this story. Then he will make progress in handling the White Tiger.

“……Well then.”

Quinie looked around and then back at Frondir.

“Shouldn’t we wake up?”

“……Um, right.”

“How do we get out of here?”

At Quinie’s question, Frondir tilted his head.

“……In Elodie’s case, a door was created. It was like a trigger to wake up from the dream, but it seems there’s nothing like that here.”

“A trigger… um…”

Quinie placed her fingertips on her forehead. She seemed to be trying to follow Elodie’s case.

Frondir cast a slightly anxious glance.

‘But just listening to the story, it’s unlikely that it would work,’

“Got it.”

Quinie said.

“Pardon?”

“You just need to go back to the first floor. If you exit through the library entrance, you’ll wake up from the dream.”

“…….”

Frondir was left speechless, looking at Quinie.

‘I thought about it since retrieving the memories of the past, but Quinie’s ability to control imagination is remarkable.’

Recreating her past, pulling time forward and backward, Quinie has a considerable ability to handle dreams.

I don’t know how this applies in reality, but it might be quite helpful in mastering magic. Ospreet might know. Perhaps it could also help with ‘metaphors.’

“Understood. Then I’ll go up,”

Just as Frondir was about to speak and take a step,

A rumbling sound echoed, coming not from above but from here, the underground.

“……?”

The sound came from much deeper inside, from the most secluded corner of this underground bookshelf.

“……What could that be?”

Frondir said, a bit tense.

I don’t feel any malice or ill intent, but from Frondier’s perspective, such situations are the most frightening.

There was only a sound without any intention. Is that even possible?

“……Ah!”

Quinie, who had been looking at it suspiciously, raised her voice as if she had realized something.

“Oh, that’s it. It’s my job. You go ahead, Frondier.”

“My job?”

Frondier narrowed his eyes. His vision is quite good, but this underground space is absurdly long, and even with his eyes, he can’t see well into the depths.

“……It’s dangerous. I’ll go with you,”

“No, no! It’s not dangerous at all! Go ahead first!”

Quinie grabbed Frondier by both shoulders. Then, with a swift motion, she turned his body to face the opposite direction. She then pushed him forward.

“Come on! Go ahead first!”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“Of course I’ll be okay! This is my dream! Who has a dangerous dream!”

……It’s a logically sound statement, but there really are dangerous people.

However, seeing Quinie’s reaction, she seems to know exactly what that is, and there are no more elements of danger.

Judging that it would be okay, Frondier nodded.

“Then I’ll go ahead first. Don’t take too long.”

“Yeah, I won’t be late. Go!”

Quinie almost forcibly pushed Frondier up the stairs. She waved her hand at him as he walked up the stairs with a reluctant expression.

After seeing him off, Quinie let out a sigh of relief and turned her back.

Thud!

Quinie leaped. In an instant, she reached the depths of the underground. Of course, it’s her dream, but that speed surpassed even Frondier’s full speed.

──The standard of this bookshelf is based on the ‘value’ set by Quinie.

Quinie is a merchant, and she knows better than anyone that the most important asset for a merchant is information.

Therefore, within the shelves of this underground, important things, including her privacy, are gathered, and she must delve deeper according to the value she has assigned herself.

Each piece of information may have a value similar to that in reality, or it may not. After all, Quinie is the standard.

Of course, she is also influenced by the prices of information that exist in reality, but in any case, the things she personally considers important tend to have higher value.

As long as it goes that far, it’s still acceptable, but the broad range of what is called ‘value’ is the problem.

Quinie has almost accurately assigned values to most of the information she possesses, but there are times when that is not the case.

……In cases where her personal greed is involved, the price can inevitably plummet or soar to the heavens.

In the depths of this underground, the highest information she could value.

Quinny looked over the books on the shelf and let out a sigh.

“Yeah, I knew it.”

Quinny checked the label attached to the shelf.

‘Prondior de Roach.’

All the books on the shelf were related to him. Starting from the most ordinary information, to the traces of Prondior that Quinny herself knew.

“Then the sound I heard earlier means something has been added here…”

Quinny looked around.

That sound earlier was not the sound of a book being added, but the sound of the shelf expanding.

She had no memory of acquiring that much information; what on earth—

“Oh my.”

And Quinny realized which shelf had expanded.

Her cheeks instantly flushed.

“Oh my, oh my. I must be crazy.”

Quinny reflexively pushed the shelf away. The more she wanted to hide it, the further that shelf retreated inward.

As if that wasn’t enough, all the shelves related to Prondior slid back, and the empty space was concealed by walls filling in from both sides. Just as a secret passage was made from the upper floor to the basement, another wall was erected in this underground.

This back area would probably be a hidden space she would never show to anyone in the future.

“Phew, that was close.”

Quinny let out a sigh of relief and turned her back.

To follow Prondior into her dreams, she headed to the first floor.

After she left, the shelf hidden at the innermost part.

Waiting for the day it would unfold for her again, the shelf remained quietly still.

‘Prondior de Roach.’

─’Album.’

* * *

Prondior opened his eyes.

At first, his vision was blurry, but after blinking a few times, the ceiling came into focus.

And he also saw Elodie looking down at him.

“……Hello.”

“Hello, you made it back safely.”

Prondir raised his body.

“……This isn’t a dream, is it?”

Having been in dreams for so long and having seen all sorts of landscapes, he felt somewhat confused.

Elodie chuckled softly at him.

“If it were a dream, you could at least pinch your cheek, right?”

“That doesn’t help me distinguish it.”

From his experience of entering Quinie’s dreams, simple pain does not serve as a distinguishing factor in dreams.

“Hmm….”

Prondir pondered for a moment before looking at Elodie.

He stared intently at her.

“W-what is it?”

Elodie seemed a bit flustered. Prondir, undeterred, continued to look at Elodie and then said,

“Hmm, okay. It’s not a dream.”

As if he had concluded his own judgment, he nodded.

Elodie’s eyes narrowed.

“……What exactly was the basis for that?”

Just as Elodie was about to question him,

“Umm.”

At the perfect timing, Quinie also raised her body.

Quinie looked around with somewhat dazed eyes.

“……Is this a dream?”

Elodie forced a smile.

“You’re saying the exact same thing as Prondir. Senpai.”

“Oh my, really?”

Quinie asked back, seeming a bit flustered.

Elodie looked back and forth between the two and let out a deep sigh, brushing her chest.

“I’m glad you both are safe. Did everything get resolved?”

Prondir and Quinie nodded their heads simultaneously.

Prondir spoke.

“Then it’s the next step.”