The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

lt about you.

She had been waiting.

The words were unfinished.
Because they were cut short by a baseball that suddenly flew in.

But in hindsight, she considered it a good thing.

Frondier and Elodie have known each other since they were children.

Though no one else in Constell knew it.

Fondier's family, Roach, and Elodie's family, Rishae, are longtime friends and rivals.

Enfer, the head of House Roach was famous for his feat as the Iron Wall, but House Rishae was not without its share of credit.

It was inevitable that the sons and daughters of each Lord, both the same age, would come to know each other.

……It was not that Elodie expected anything from Frondier.

The son of Enfer, the brother of Atzier.

Everyone expected him to be as talented as they were.

And Elodie was okay with that.

’

She just hoped that as an old friend, she would do the right thing.

But Frondier was not like that.

He had neither divine power nor talent, and even his character was poor.

He didn't make any efforts to improve his lack of skills, take responsibility for getting things done, or even manage his own life.

The fondness she had known since childhood faded away with time.

Frondier finally broke even the last promise he made to Elodie.

-Frondier, meet me at Constell Alumni after school, I have something for you.

It shouldn't have been a difficult promise.

He were the one who said yes.

……But Frondier didn't follow through, and tried to pass Elodie in the hallway as if he didn't know her at all.

‘……Hallway.’

Elodie's eyes widened and she turned to Alice.

“……Teacher, if I were to ask you, how would you defend against the flying arrows?”

She remembered a small commotion in the hallway when she was with Frondier.

Baseballs had come flying, shattering windows, and she had burned them all in one fell swoop.

However, during their fall, they bounced off in the air.

It must have been Frondier, but she can't imagine how.

She don't want to explain the whole thing, so she just changed the example to arrows instead of glass shards.

“Magically, there are countless ways to do it, such as burn it, freeze it, blow it away.
You just have to make it lose its power, unless it's an arrow of destruction.”

“……
If someone said they blocked an arrow with an invisible wall or something, what would you think?”

“Do you mean they pushed it away with the wind?”

“No, I mean they literally bounced it off an invisible wall.”

“Have you seen such a person?”

“Oh, no, I'm just talking hypothetically, like, what if that were the case?”

Elodie's question might have sounded childish and silly to any other student.

But Alice was serious.
Because the student who asked the question was Elodie.

Elodie must have thought what Alice was thinking first.
However, the fact that she asked the question at all shows that she must have some concerns about it.

……
But, on second thought, Alice came to the same conclusion.

“It's weird.”

“……It is, isn't it?”

“The most likely explanation is invisibility magic.
It could be a wall, a shield, or something else, but casting invisibility on something that a person could hold up to block an arrow is difficult.
Then, when others see it, it can become an 'invisible wall'.
Literally.
But invisibility magic is quite difficult.
It doesn’t really become invisible, but rather applies light reflection.
A slight miscalculation and the invisibility fails.
And even if you pull it off, questions remain.”

“……What's the point of doing that?”

“Exactly.
You don't need it to be invisible to block, you just need a simple shield.
You don't even need magic.
If you really want to use magic, there are easier ways to do it, and if you're going to block it with a shield, you don't need to make it invisible.
It doesn't make sense.”

Elodie nodded, thinking the same thing.

’

……though she left out the details for Alice.

In fact, the arrow thing was for wartime, and in Elodie's case, it wasn't even an arrow, it was a piece of glass, it was just an everyday accident.

Who would carry an invisible shield in the hallways they normally walked down, bracing for an attack that may or may not come.

Alice thought for a moment, then spoke up.

“There's another thing, but it's very unlikely.”

“What is it?”

“Well, it's a bit of a stretch.”

“Still.”

Alice smiled bitterly.
The look alone told that what she was about to say was absurd.

“It might be the use of Aura.”

“……The Aura? The ones in the weapons of warriors?”

“That's right.
Mana and auras are essentially the same substance, called 'chi'.
Where a wizard manipulates mana through spells to create magic, a warrior nurtures the aura itself through tens of thousands of trainings and discipline.”

“But what does that have to do with the invisible wall?”

“It is a mystery to wizards, but warriors who have reached a certain realm of enlightenment can create auras without weapons.”

Elodie's mouth dropped open, suddenly realizing what Alice was trying to say.

She could see why Alice said it could be nonsense.

“So……
a warrior of that caliber could create an Aura  the size of a shield out of thin air?”

“That was a hypothetical, wasn't it?”

“Oh, yes, as a hypothetical story, I was asking if such a thing was possible, or something.”

Even as she answered, Elodie thought.

There is no way in hell that Frondier could have created an Aura.

Creating an Aura with bare hands and no weapons was already a rare feat.
But to create an Aura large enough to deflect all those shards of glass?

‘……No way.’

So either Frondier really did something stupid like enchant his shield with invisibility, or.

……or, what.

Alice smiled as she looked at Elodie, who had a troubled expression.

Elodie must have seen something for sure.

However, Alice was sure.
What she saw was wrong.

“But it's just a theory.
No one could do that.”

“……, oh, is that so?”

“If there was even one person who could do such a think, the land of mankind would be bigger than it is now.”

“Is it that amazing?”

“If someone can create an Aura the size of a shield, barehanded and without a weapon, their very body would be comparable to a legendary weapon.
And that's even for randomly shooting legendary weapons.
Imagine dozens of invisible shots flying at you, and each one puts a hole in you the size of that.”

Elodie's face fell at Alice's words.

“That's scary, that's for sure.”