| Author: Eltria | Original Source: Syosetu |
| Translator: Mui | English Source: Re:Library |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | |
After returning home and taking a bath, I got into bed. The next morning, I woke up at the usual time and had breakfast with my mother. My father seemed to be on duty guarding the city for the New Year, so he had been away since last night.
There was nothing particularly special about the New Year. As we chatted about my visit to the shrine with Alfe last night, we enjoyed scrambled eggs, bread, and a soup packed with vegetables.
The soup, made with chicken broth from yesterday’s dinner, received my mother’s seal of approval, so it might be worth adding to our regular meals. Maybe I could try cooking it with rice as well. Or better yet, marinating the meat along with the soup would make it possible to cook steamed chicken and seasoned rice together.
As I pondered these thoughts, I headed to the atelier located in the warehouse. Inside the test tube that occupied most of the space, the homunculus had grown larger since yesterday, floating curled up as if hugging its knees.
Its features had become clearer, and it had grown hair as well. Given the time and effort I put into it, the craftsmanship was quite refined.
I was glad I took precautions to ensure it didn’t end up looking like me. While admiring it, I heard Alfe’s voice nearby.
“Have you arrived already, Alfe? I’ll open it now.”
Ah, perhaps she went straight to the entrance of the warehouse as usual? I had developed a habit of locking the entrance while working on the homunculus, so I quickly unlocked it. However, there was no sign of Alfe at the doorway.
“Alfe…?”
It definitely sounded like Alfe’s voice, and I felt her presence. I thought she was quite close by, but…
“Leafa, Alfe is here,” my mother called me as I was tilting my head in wonder.
“…Thank you, Mother.”
It felt oddly real, like déjà vu, but perhaps it was just my imagination. Curiously, I left the warehouse door open and went to the front entrance. It had nothing to do with the homunculus, but since Alfe was coming, it was good to ventilate the area occasionally.
“Welcome, Alfe. Aren’t you sleepy?”
“I woke up early because I wanted to see you as soon as possible.”
Alfe took my arm as I greeted her, pressing her cheek against it.
“We spent time together just a few hours ago, you know.”
“But being with you is always the best for me… Oh, by the way, I only sent my voice earlier, did you hear it?”
“Only your voice?”
Could she be referring to the strange phenomenon earlier?
“Yeah. I heard your voice nearby. But even though I opened the warehouse door, I couldn’t see you… How did you do that?”
“I found out about it during my magical studies. It’s called telepathy.”
Ah, I see. Telepathy involved marking the wavelength of the other person’s Aether, connecting it with one’s own Aether like threading a needle, and creating a transmission circuit to convey thoughts. In theory, as far as one’s own Aether reached, telepathy was possible regardless of the other person’s location.
With Alfe being able to see Aether with her Pure Eye, it should be easy for her to locate my Aether, and without that, I was apparently discharging such an amount that it was probably more efficient than speaking.
“That’s neat. I should learn it too.”
“Yeah. It’s nice not to feel lonely even when we’re apart. We might even chat before bed1.”
As I looked up at Alfe’s face, wondering if she didn’t get tired of being with me so much, her words were sincere, without any lies or exaggeration, evident from her beaming smile as she spoke.
“Yeah, that’s true. But if that’s the case, you should just come stay over at my place.”
Since having conversations through telepathy every day would be quite challenging, I decided to suggest an alternative.
“Really!? I want to eat your cooking again. And take baths together… and share the bed!” Alfe seemed unexpectedly pleased with the idea I proposed, her voice bouncing with excitement.
“You can do whatever you like, Alfe2. When you’re happy, I’m happy too.”
“I love you, Leafa!”
Only Alfe would love someone like me this much. I needed to be someone who deserved such affection…
As we talked, we arrived at the atelier, feeling the cold wind brushing against our cheeks from outside. It was probably time to close the door to the warehouse.
“Wow… she’s already grown this much…”
Alfe seemed deeply moved by the sight of the homunculus, stopping in front of the test tube as if in awe.
“I’ve doubled the growth rate, so it should reach the target size in another three or four days.”
As I answered while closing the warehouse door, Alfe tapped her shoe soles lightly on the ground, as if bouncing in excitement.
“Soon, we’ll be able to play together, right?”
Ah, Alfe thinks of it like making friends.
“I hope it’ll be a good playmate.”
Considering my purpose, it probably wouldn’t. But it’ll definitely listen to my words.
“What are you doing right now?”
“I’m performing memory synchronization. It’s a process where I transmit my real-time emotions and memories using a technique.”
I explained while showing Alfe the ‘Synchronization Target’ array on the back of my hand.
“Then we have to have her remember that you and I are good friends too.” After gazing at the array for a while, Alfe hugged me tightly.
“I think it will already understand enough about you without doing that.” I had already implanted information about close acquaintances, and synchronizing my current stable mental state would provide even stronger reinforcement.
“Hehe, I hope so. …I wonder what this little one is dreaming about?”
“Do homunculi dream too?”
“They don’t?”
I wondered. If there were faint changes in expression due to the ‘Synchronization Target’ array with me, there might be a possibility that it dreamt about memories or current emotions. Dreams are said to be important for memory consolidation, so it’s not entirely implausible…
As I pondered this, I glanced at the infant homunculus in the test tube, and at that moment, a dark shadow was reflected on the wall of the tube.
Could it be a Kamut!?
“Ah, kitty!”
Beside me, Alfe exclaimed, pointing to the other side of the test tube. There was a black cat playing with the oxygen inhalation magic device’s connection cable, which extended from the test tube3.
“Oh no, I have to stop it.”
If the cable came loose and oxygen supply stopped, it could hinder the homunculus’ growth. In the worst-case scenario, the current infant could be ruined. I hurried to stop the cat, but it leaped in surprise, knocking over and shattering a spare bottle of Amnios fluid stored on a shelf.
“Ahh!”
Unfortunately, the Amnios fluid splashed onto the oxygen inhalation magic device. Since it was borrowed from the school, I rushed to check it.
“Alfe, please handle the cat—”
Before I could finish, a searing pain shot through the hand that touched the oxygen inhalation magic device4.
“Ahggh!”
For a brief moment, a foul smell of burnt flesh hit my nose, but it quickly faded. Looking at my hand, I realized it had touched the lightning magic stone part of the oxygen inhalation magic device. It was charred black, but the skin was slowly starting to regenerate.
“Leafa!”
Alfe, startled by my cry, rushed over, so I quickly checked the surroundings for safety. It seemed I had been electrocuted due to the Amnios fluid coming into contact with the lightning magic stone.
“What happened!? Are you okay!?”
“It hurt a bit, but I’m not injured.”
In reality, I should have sustained burns and damage all over my body, but there were no noticeable injuries anymore. Indeed, bathing in the Aether of a goddess had its benefits.
Still, even though it was just for a moment, being electrocuted was quite painful. If it were an ordinary person, they might have died, so I need to be more careful.
“More importantly, Alfe, it would be helpful if you could catch the cat and release it.”
“Yeah, I’ll try.”
While subtly entrusting the matter of the cat to Alfe, I wiped away the liquid again and confirmed that there was no abnormality with the oxygen inhalation magic device.
“Now then…”
It seemed the black cat had slipped in while I had the ventilation open. It was my carelessness, and I needed to help Alfe quickly.
“Alfe…?”
Alfe, whom I had thought was chasing after the black cat, had closed her eyes and was quietly concentrating. It seemed she intended to catch it with magic.
“Bubble, dance.”
Alfe traced a circle in the air with her shadowed hand. A manifested, transparent, and soft spherical bubble enveloped the yawning black cat in the corner of the shelf, then gently carried it as Alfe began to move through the atelier.
“Let’s take it outside from here. Can you do that?”
I opened the warehouse door and asked Alfe. With a smile as if she had already anticipated what I was going to do, Alfe moved the foam containing the black cat outside and drew another circle with her hand.
As a signal, the bubble softly burst and disappeared, and the black cat fled towards the bushes outside.
