The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

“Hey, half-wit.”

Just then, Antero called out to him.

“You know who I am now, so get on your knees. You idiot.”

Frondier blinked at his words.

He was taken aback by the novelty of the request and couldn’t quite process it.

Kneel? To someone who wasn’t even an emperor?

Antero didn’t stop there.

“Get on both knees and bow your head to the ground. If you stay still, it’ll be over without any pain.”

Surprisingly, he was openly threatening to kill him.

Carla cried out in alarm.

“Antero!”

“Stay out of this. This is what he gets for crossing the line.”

Antero didn’t seem to be joking. Even if it was a joke, it was hard to find it funny.

Carla looked at Frondier and said,

“Run away, Frondier! I’ll buy you some time!”

“…….”

Frondier was speechless for a moment.

He didn’t answer her and asked something else instead.

“Are Paladins allowed to do that?”

“……Technically, no, but.”

Aha.

She was saying no, but the opposite meaning was strongly conveyed.

“Just run away!”

Antero gave a leisurely glance at her words.

“You know why I’m listening to that nonsense right in front of me? Because your interference means nothing to me. Run all you want. He’ll just die more painfully.”

Frondier listened to Antero’s words and thought deeply.

He really, really thought hard.

The aura he felt from Antero right now, the measure of his strength, the possibility that some of it was hidden. If it was hidden, how much, and how strong would he be if he revealed it all? Whether all of this was a bluff or not.

As he carefully examined all of that, Frondier’s head tilted more and more. Antero’s expression, watching him, twisted in sync.

“What are you thinking, you…”

“You’re Antero, right?”

Frondier’s words flabbergasted Antero.

There was no fear, anger, or contempt in Frondier’s voice. It was as if he was talking to a man his own age whom he had met for the first time that day.

As if Antero’s power and bloodlust didn’t reach him at all, like a third-rate clown who couldn’t read the atmosphere.

It was extremely unpleasant, and Frondier asked again,

“The king’s 12 knights. So you’re saying you’re incredibly strong in Palma? You must be at least 12th place, right?”

“……You really are an idiot. You’re beyond help!”

Antero’s aura flowed into his sword. At that moment, the sword made a strange whirring sound.

It was undoubtedly a mechanical sound. Frondier looked at Carla and asked,

“What is that?”

“A magic-engineered weapon, the sword ‘Exo.’ When the user pours their aura into it, the drive unit inside rotates, making the emitted aura spin sharply.”

In other words, the form of aura emission changed to be like a drill. It transformed the same aura to be a more deadly attack.

“Frondier, Antero can wield all sorts of magic-engineered weapons with ease!”

At her words, Frondier’s eyes widened. Seeing that, Carla finally believed that her words were getting through.

“You understand now, right? Run away, Frondier!”

Carla’s mana surged. She was no match for Antero, but she could at least buy some time. More than anything, Antero wouldn’t try to kill Carla, so if she threw herself in his way, it would be troublesome for him.

But Frondier said,

“So you’re saying that guy has a bunch of magic-engineered stuff hanging off him right now?”

“Y-yes! So hurry up and…”

Thud!

Antero kicked off the ground.

“Shut up already!”

His figure shot forward, imbued with aura. He cut through the air and reached Frondier in an instant, the sword ‘Exo’ whirring loudly as it thrust straight towards him.

A speed that Carla’s eyes couldn’t follow, a strike from one of the nation’s strongest, a Paladin.

Immediately after,

Clang!

“What the?!”

Antero felt a searing pain. He almost lost consciousness for a moment and barely managed to hold on. It was a miracle that he was still gripping his sword.

“W-what, what was that…”

Antero thought he had been ambushed from somewhere and was enraged.

But his body wouldn’t move.

‘What, what is this?’

Only then did he grasp the situation around him.

He was half-embedded in the wall, having broken through it. A black solid had slammed his entire body against the wall. Only his fingers and neck could barely move; the rest of his body was stuck, unable to get out.

‘What is this jet-black thing! A monster?’

He thought it was an unfortunate surprise attack. Something completely unrelated to Frondier.

But the origin of this black thing was Frondier.

Because Frondier was reaching out towards him with his hand as if controlling it.

“What…”

Antero looked at Frondier in a daze.

But Frondier wasn’t even looking at him.

His hand was just reaching out towards Antero, but he was still deep in thought, tilting his head slightly with his chin resting on his hand.

“You, you bastard! What do you think you’re doing! How dare you!”

“Hold on a second.”

Frondier spoke. In a voice that was soft and calm, yet slightly stern, as if soothing an angry child.

“I’m thinking right now.”

Frondier said so.

After embedding a Paladin into a wall.

Without even looking at him.

Carla’s jaw dropped in shock at the sight before her, and Antero’s eyes widened in disbelief at his own predicament.

But more than either of them, Frondier himself seemed to find the situation incomprehensible.

With one eyebrow furrowed, he was deep in thought.

‘Does this make sense?’

Even more than the helpless Antero,

Frondier was the one who found this situation unpleasant.