The Academy’s Weapon Replicator

A few days passed, and I was back at the Imperial Palace.

In the end, Philly entrusted the Shadow Unit to Elysia.

Due to the nature of the Shadow Unit, its existence couldn't be carelessly revealed to ordinary people.

Philly had always allowed the Shadow Unit a certain degree of freedom. If they had to report everything they did to the Empress, it would be too late and risk exposure.

This was because Philly believed that the Shadow Unit, at the very least, worked for the Empire.

However, the current Shadow Unit was difficult to trust to that extent. Those she could trust and entrust with the Unit were all dead.

‘In the first place, even they died because they crossed the line, so I should assume that the state of the Shadow Unit was originally worse than I thought.’

Even if it wasn't Elysia, the current Shadow Unit needed a leader to unite them. Someone Philly could trust.

But finding someone capable of fulfilling that role was difficult. It wasn't a matter of skill, but rather that it wasn't a position anyone desired.

The Shadow Unit, as its name suggests, worked hidden in the darkness. There was no honor, and the rewards were extremely meager. The reason Philly had given them a certain degree of trust was also because they couldn't receive many rewards.

The only reason they were able to continue was their loyalty to the Empire.

‘That's why the existence of the Shadow Unit was a kind of irony for me. It was a place that was absolutely necessary, but I couldn't fully trust it. The organization I had to be most wary of in the Imperial Palace.’

Too dangerous to trust, but too necessary to the Imperial Palace to blindly suspect. The most powerful card the gray Philly could play, and at the same time, a double-edged sword that could injure her.

Moreover, unlike the Shadow Unit of the past, whose skills Philly had trusted, the current Unit was visibly and precariously shaky.

However, if Elysia became the head of the Shadow Unit, the story would be different.

Philly's feelings towards Elysia weren't at the stage of discussing trust. For Philly, who had been acting for her daughters, whether Elysia was trustworthy wasn't even a question.

‘Elysia will do well. If she takes over the Shadow Unit, there's nothing more I could ask for. However,’

The problem was that Frondier had drawn this picture.

Frondier knew that the Shadow Unit was hostile towards him. However, he didn't try to attack the Unit directly.

That was probably because of Philly. Because Philly trusted the Shadow Unit. A 'minor' misunderstanding that Philly would prioritize the Shadow Unit over Frondier.

That's why Frondier saved Elysia, returned her to the Imperial Palace, and made her manage the Shadow Unit.

‘And he did this while dealing with the devils.’

At this point, it was no longer a matter of judgment or calculation. Frondier was simply out of his mind. It was something anyone could think of, but execution was a different matter.

‘Elysia won't say it directly, but she won't let the Shadow Unit and Frondier remain hostile. Then naturally, Frondier won't have to worry about the Shadow Unit, and I won't have to worry about the Shadow Unit doing anything strange. Elysia will be able to return to the Imperial Palace and do something that utilizes her abilities.’

It was a win-win situation. Moreover, it was even scarier because there was no malice visible in Frondier.

It was as if Frondier was saying to Philly, 'You're uncomfortable because I'm fighting with the Shadow Unit, right? I've taken care of it for you.'

‘I wonder if Elysia is doing well.’

Just when Philly's worries finally turned to her daughter,

Knock knock

There was a knock.

“Your Majesty, it's Robert. I've come to report.”

It was Robert, the knight Philly trusted the most.

“Come in.”

When Philly gave her permission, Robert opened the door and entered.

Philly tilted her head after seeing Robert's face.

“You look tired, Sir Robert.”

“……I apologize. I haven't been taking care of myself enough for Your Majesty to notice. I will pay close attention to it in the future.”

Philly's face turned sullen at that.

“I said it because I was worried. You'd think I was just picking on you, Sir Robert. I was just asking what happened. Really.”

“……Ah. That's what it was. I apologize.”

Robert nodded.

……It might be worth considering that he's too rigid. Or perhaps, if it was necessary for him to be this upright to gain Philly's trust, she should re-evaluate her own paranoia.

“Recently, several things have overlapped, so I've been moving around quite busily.”

“It must be because of the devils.”

“That's right. To be precise, the investigation of Manggot overlapped with the devil attacks, so the workload increased dramatically.”

Robert was a knight of the Imperial Palace. Shroud and Roach had gone to investigate Manggot, so he hadn't gone there himself.

However, working under Philly meant that almost all reports related to public order and defense that came into the Imperial Palace gathered with him.

It was only natural, and inevitable, that he would be busy after the war.

However, it wasn't planned for him to also have to deal with information about the investigation of Manggot and the sudden devil attacks. His workload had already exceeded its limits a long time ago.

“But now that the devils have retreated, wouldn't one of your tasks be reduced?”

Philly said so. While it was directed at Robert, it was also something Philly herself was hoping for. Even if she delegated some work to Robert, she still had a mountain of things to do.

To that, Robert said,

“……I have a report related to that.”

“Wow, I really don't want to hear this.”

At this timing, a report related to that. It only gave her a bad feeling.

“With the devils retreating, the Empire's mages and scholars have arrived in Manggot.”

“That's good news.”

“And they say they've discovered something strange within Manggot.”

“……That's… good news.”

Philly's face darkened despite her words.

They had sent investigators hoping to find something. So, it was good that they found something, but it ultimately meant an increase in workload.

“So, what did they find?”

“……Actually, I don't know how to accurately describe it.”

“That's an odd way of speaking for you, Sir Robert. I thought you didn't care about my understanding.”

“Because it was a report that I myself didn't quite understand.”

Hmm. A report that even Robert couldn't understand.

By the way, wasn't that a sarcastic remark about not caring about understanding? Why didn't he deny it?

Robert took out the report again and looked at it.

“What they found was a kind of sequence of symbols, or a sequence of patterns. Some saw it as a picture, others as a code, and still others as part of a rune.”

“……A sequence of symbols, or a sequence of patterns?”

“Yes. Actually, they don't understand any of them individually, so they don't even know if it's a symbol or a pattern yet.”

Philly slowly raised her head at those words.

She was searching through the vast knowledge accumulated in her mind for something related to it.

Symbols, or patterns, that the Empire's scholars and mages couldn't understand…….

A sequence of those.

“……Wait, that's.”

When Philly looked at Robert with a sudden thought, he nodded.

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