The Academy’s Weapon Replicator
chapter-17-2

On the day of the joint mission.

All of Constel's students gathered in the field.

"The 'field' is a special area created by Constel for the practical training of its students.

The field is a managed area within a certain range, its size comparable to that of a village.

Here, students undertake various missions such as tracking, annihilating, and capturing magical beasts...

After the teacher's detailed explanation from the front stage ended, I pulled out a piece of paper from the box.

Group B.

I silently looked at the paper I drew by lot.

Somehow, I wondered.

Did Frondier also pick this paper? Was this the lot I chose of my own will?

...It was a frivolous thought.

“Oh?”

“Oops.”

Looking around, I then noticed her.

Quinie de Viet.

Quinie was fluttering a paper marked 'B', looking at me.

“We meet often.”

“Indeed.”

Quinie's expression in response to my greeting was subtly complex.

Ah, she went through the pro experience. Should I ask to confirm?

“Was the information helpful?”

“...Yeah. More than I thought.”

Quinie hesitated but answered honestly.

“Um, excuse me...”

And then another person.

I'm a freshman, Quinie's a junior.

So, there's still a sophomore left in Group B.

“This is Group B, right? Please take care of me.”

A man with a powerless voice approached.

His brown hair was in a short sports cut, contrasting his friendly face with a somewhat shrunken posture and narrow shoulders.

I greeted him first.

“Yes. I'm Frondier. Nice to meet you.”

“Uh, I'm Edwin. A sophomore.”

I stopped upon hearing his name.

It was a name I couldn't possibly not know.

“...Edwin, by any chance, from the Behrtio family...”

“Huh? You know my family?”

As I was surprised by Edwin's question, a loud voice came from in front of the field.

“Now, if you've found your group, start the mission! As mentioned initially, the time limit is 3 hours! The field is limited to the 'Temperate Forest'. Moreover, magical beasts were placed in the field a day ago! So, if you look carefully, it will be easy to see the traces left by the beasts. Upperclassmen will lead, tracking the traces and instructing on how to do so! Depending on how the freshmen you teach act afterwards, the upperclassmen's evaluations will also change.”

Tracking the signs of monsters is taught in theory classes, but practice is a different matter.

Many students become overwhelmed by the gap between reality and theory during actual training, unable to perform to their full capabilities.

The role of the upperclassmen is to eliminate that confusion.

If one calmly observes the situation and recognizes the difference between theory and practice, it is entirely possible to make use of the knowledge they have learned.

“Then, let's begin!”

With that declaration, some teams quickly ran off, while others were still discussing their plans.

“Let's go too. It's not that being fast is everything, but it's frustrating if the monster we're tracking gets caught by another team first.”

Quinie leisurely took the lead.

Frondier followed her, and Edwin trailed behind with hesitant steps.

‘...Edwin von Beherti.’

To be honest, I hadn’t realized it was Edwin. I thought he was a commoner.

His clothes were shabby, and his posture, timid.

But he's not a commoner. Nor is he an ordinary noble.

He is one of the characters with ‘divine power’.

A fallen noble, Edwin von Beherti.

Edwin is a bit of an odd character.

Because he possesses divine power, players often hear his name, but he is almost impossible to find in the game.

If Frondier is a character who has completely exited the scene, Edwin is definitely within the Constel but hard to find. That’s how faint his presence is.

“Edwin, nice to meet you, I'm Quinie.”

“Yes, ye-yes……”

Even as Quinie spoke to him in a friendly manner, Edwin’s voice retreated more and more.

This personality contributed to his faint presence.

“From here on is the temperate forest. Frondier, stick by me from now on. I'll teach you the tricks to finding tracks and tracking.”

Somehow, Quinie is being nice to me.

I don’t know why, but it’s not bad, so I’ll quietly listen.

While listening to Quinie's explanation, I briefly observed Edwin.

He seemed to be earnestly engaged in finding the tracks.

Edwin is quite a good character.

Like Quinie, he belongs to the ‘good’ side, and more importantly, he possesses divine power.

That alone raises the value of his character.

Edwin's divine power comes from the blacksmith god of Greek mythology, ‘Hephaestus’.

Excellent with metalworking and familiar with "flame," a blacksmith's necessity. He might later create golems using metal.

Edwin naturally raises a family as the game progresses, given his potential. The restoration of his family's honor, though unnoticed, is a given.

──That's how it was in the game.

Can such a gloomy man really succeed in rebuilding his family?

"The easiest and best trace to find is footprints. Look at these."

Quinie pointed at large footprints, much larger than a human's. The prints were intermittent due to fallen leaves and twigs, but their direction was clear.

"Great. Judging by how distinct the footprints are and the stride length, it must have been walking. Looks like we found something first."

Quinie said cheerfully.

Then she gave me a mischievous smile.

"So, our newbie, do you know whose footprints these are?"

Playfulness filled half of her tone.

Probably a question she didn't think I'd know.

Of course, I have no idea who owns these footprints.

I could just say I don't know, but I somehow feel like she's testing me.

If I pass this test, I might be able to befriend Quinie. If I'm wrong, no harm done. It's not like I know which monsters were placed in the field for this joint mission anyway.

It felt strange knowing information the other students didn't.

All I can tell about these footprints is that...

They're huge.

Among the things placed in this field, the huge monster would be...

"...A Red Bear?"

At my murmur, Quinie and Edwin looked at me at the same time.

"H, how..."

"How did you know?"

Taken aback by their surprised reactions, I answered noncommittally.

"Well, like Quinie said, the footprints are big and clear. It's a rough guess."

That's probably one of the five honest statements I've made since coming to this world.

But they didn't seem to believe me at all.