The West Wind's Destination - Chapter 64
“Even without me, that human will protect you, Master. I wanted to, but my body couldn’t grow fast enough.”
Bea wasn’t even someone who needed someone’s protection. Yet, Aseph Vilkanos viewed her as something that would break if exposed to the world.
Was it the same for the homunculus? Instead of denying their words, Bea chose different ones to say.
It was difficult. Dealing with Aseph Vilkanos was hard enough, but now it was even harder to find words for the homunculus, whom she had watched over since its birth.
“You weren’t entirely useless. It’s thanks to you that I came here, and I even obtained magic stones.”
“I see.”
The homunculus, even as tears streamed down, managed a faint smile.
Bea felt her heart drop just as it did when Aseph smiled at her. But it was a different emotion, one she couldn’t identify.
Suppressing her unsettled feelings, Bea continued.
“…Thanks to you, the next experiment might succeed.”
If she were to create another homunculus, it wouldn’t be as fragile as this one.
No, that’s not right.
This was an unintended creation. A failure. There would be no making something similar next time.
Originally, there was only the intent to revive her master. The plan she had forgotten about since this homunculus came to be and after meeting Aseph.
“Now, Master, you don’t have to do that experiment.”
“…….”
“You don’t have to do that anymore. I hope you won’t.”
There was no chance to ask how it could decide such a thing.
The homunculus closed its eyes after speaking. Not yet at death’s door, but clearly weakened.
Bea once again looked intently at its face. The face that resembled Aseph Vilkanos. The reason she hadn’t discarded it initially was because of that face.
But now, that beautiful face was marred by sweat-drenched hair sticking to it and the body was hideously bruised all over.
Bea’s hands trembled as she injected Homunculus with painkillers. Just a bit more, and it would be at peace.
She had killed many before. This wasn’t even human. Yet, why?
‘Would it have been better if I had discarded it from the start?’
It wasn’t too late to discard it now. It had been useless from the beginning, and delaying its disposal had only wasted too much resource until now.
Bea stopped the trembling in her hands and detached the syringe.
But even so…
She couldn’t do anything.
❖
What remained for Bea was the task of reviving her master.
So, the only thing left was to carry out the command she hadn’t completed before. In fact, she had been distracted by pointless matters and delayed her research.
Only one thing had bothered her.
―You don’t have to do that anymore.
It was because of what the homunculus had said.
‘I thought I made it cleverly.’
Whether it was Aseph Vilkanos’s incomprehensible language that rubbed off on it here, or if it was originally like that and it learned to express itself from Aseph, she couldn’t tell.
It said she would be lonely without it, that it wished it could grow faster to protect her, yet it reassured her while still shedding tears. Bea couldn’t understand those emotions.
Just curious about why that insight came to be.
In reality, Bea had completely forgotten about her goal to revive her master all this while.
From then on, Bea spent several sleepless nights pondering how to normalize the homunculus’s body, but no solution had emerged.
After a while, Aseph came to the laboratory.
He handed her something neatly wrapped in paper.
“Please take this.”
It was so large it had to be held with both hands and was even heavy.
“Didn’t you say it could be temporarily removed using magic stones? Would this work?”
Aseph had taken her words to heart and brought something ridiculously large. However, its purity was not compromised. Bea had never seen anything like it before. Not because Bea lacked experience, but because the existence of such an object was completely alien to her knowledge.
“Did something like this exist before?”
“It’s presumed to have formed as a result of the last incident.”
The Vilkanos dominion was a source of magic stones. They were rare in the empire. Only specific minerals found here had the property of absorbing magic.
When natural magic accumulates in a mineral, it becomes a magic stone.
‘Why wizards don’t naturally occur in the Vilkanos land… This is the reason.’
Human civilization is more influenced by the natural environment than the abilities of individuals.
It was probably not just the geographical barrier of the giant mountains but also the minerals with magic-absorbing properties that played a significant role.
And the existence called ‘Guardian’ of Vilkanos. They were as good as living magic stones. It was inevitable for them to be incompatible with wizards.
‘And this is…’
With the addition of the high heat and pressure created by magic, and the anti-magic force to withstand it, a new substance was synthesized.
“Will this be okay?”
Aseph seemed to think that, like how Bea had helped Homun grow, he could call a mage to treat him after removing the anti-magic force with this.
There was a possibility of success. But that method was not a good one.
Since the homunculus had the same properties as Aseph Vilkanos, eventually, being together would cause the same issue again. A temporary solution could never be a real solution.
“The fact that its body is deteriorating due to absorbing too much of your magic means that changing its constitution might be better. The problem is how that’s possible…”
As Bea mumbled, her voice faded. She lost track of her words as she calculated formulas in her head.
After finishing her thoughts, she looked up to find Aseph watching her anxiously. She wasn’t sure how long she had been lost in thought, but Aseph seemed to have waited quite patiently.
“It’s possible.”
Aseph’s expression brightened.
“But the homunculus’s nature will completely change.”
“Would that be a problem?”
“The likelihood of losing its anti-magic properties is high. Its body might become weaker.”
“That’s still better than having to forfeit his life.”
