Ch.208The Doll Does Not Shed Tears (5)

The warm research lab surrounded me with body heat.

After being subjected to a group hug from my companions, I soon regained my composure.

Was I uncharacteristically embarrassed? My expression remained awkwardly stiff.

I deliberately shake off these trivial sentiments.

I add in a soft voice to the children.

“Thank you all. Honestly, I thought you would be reluctant.”

A remark thrown out like a joke.

Lezia, who had been clinging to me for quite some time, shakes her head.

“N-no way. How could we ever be reluctant toward you, Master…”

Her usual stuttering speech pattern.

Had her rationality finally returned?

The previously enthusiastic atmosphere had subsided, and her face remained flushed like a tomato.

It seemed she had belatedly realized she had done something embarrassing.

Nevertheless, she didn’t slur her sentences.

“I respect you, Master.”

“……”

“Homunculus, doll… I don’t really understand all those complicated things. But you’re still my benefactor. I don’t think my gratitude will ever change.”

Wavering, yet steadfast pupils.

Lezia’s green eyes look up at me for a moment.

I gently reach out my hand and stroke the girl’s head.

After a brief contemplation, I murmur.

“My goodness.”

Until just a year ago, she was a timid girl who shrank from everything.

Now Lezia exuded quite the protagonist-like aura.

Perhaps this was the fruit that had formed at the end of her long, long growing pains.

I felt a slight twinge of wistfulness.

“When did you grow so much?”

I caress her pink hair with my fingertips.

A faint smile forms at the corners of my mouth.

I whisper softly to the children.

“I respect all of you as well.”

A strangely ticklish atmosphere.

How should I put it?

I’m not used to this kind of atmosphere.

I gently move away from my spot.

“Anyway… you should rest now. Since it’s late, we planned to stay overnight. The servants will soon guide you to your rooms.”

The group heads out of the research lab one by one, following the assigned servants.

I remained in the research lab. The interior had become empty.

As I was savoring the momentary silence, someone’s voice reaches me.

It was none other than Geppetto, who had been standing in front of the test tube.

“Pinocchio.”

“…Count.”

Geppetto had been observing the situation all along.

His eyes were still lifeless.

A gaze devoid of any vitality.

Without even turning to look at me, he continues his paperwork.

Nevertheless, his voice was directed at me.

“You seem to get along well.”

“They’re more than I deserve.”

“Are they women you’ll take as wives? If I remember correctly, there was one more.”

“You must be referring to Miss Neria. She once visited the family home with me.”

“Yes, the girl with silver hair and burn scars… I offered to remove her scars with alchemy, but she flatly refused. It was quite an impressive response, so I still remember it.”

“No matter how impressive it was… you remember it in quite detail. I thought you never showed any interest in others.”

“Well, who knows.”

An indifferent response.

Geppetto mechanically moves his fountain pen.

Scratch, scratch—only the sound of paper tearing echoes.

Just when the silence seemed to linger.

“Anyway… I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”

He suddenly throws out such words.

Completely unexpected.

Beyond surprising, it made me wonder if he had eaten something strange.

What wind had blown for this man who normally showed no interest at all?

I tilt my head but continue to stare at him.

“…I never expected you to care about such things, Count.”

“Care? Is it strange for a creator to take interest in his creation?”

“When you put it that way, I have no counterargument.”

Of course, I knew.

For Geppetto, showing interest was like handling a childhood album tucked away on a bookshelf.

He might flip through it occasionally, but usually forgets its very existence.

I didn’t think it was bad. Whatever the degree, it meant he was at least somewhat friendly.

At the very least, Geppetto wasn’t in a position opposing me.

‘Well… he’s not exactly a great father.’

It didn’t really matter.

If anything, had he been an excellent father, that might have been uncomfortable in its own way.

Therefore, I respected Geppetto’s characteristic indifference.

There are many types of relationships, after all.

Geppetto was simply the lonely type.

“By the way…”

I change the subject.

Looking at the documents in front of Geppetto, I ask.

“It seems you’re no longer interested in homunculus research.”

“That’s right. I’ve already achieved what I wanted from that research.”

“Hmm? But you haven’t achieved your goal yet, have you? Didn’t you say you wanted to create a perfect human being, transcending the limitations of homunculi? As you mentioned earlier, I’m a failure who couldn’t overcome those limitations.”

“There was only one ‘Fragment of God’ given from the beginning. There was only one chance.”

“That’s unfortunate. If there had been enough materials, you might have had a successor by now, right?”

“You’ve gotten quite good at making pointless jokes. When you first awoke, you were nothing but cold.”

“That’s because I’ve met many people. There’s no such thing as an eternal winter or an eternal spring in the seasons.”

“You speak quite maturely.”

Click.

Suddenly, he puts down his fountain pen.

His consistently lifeless eyes were now looking at me.

Rarely did his eyes contain another person.

A puzzlingly subdued voice reaches me.

“Pinocchio.”

“Hmm…?”

“Do you think of yourself as a failure, as a doll?”

“Of course. That’s what you called me from the beginning.”

“Yes, I certainly did. But I soon realized.”

“Realized what?”

“It’s all just a matter of perspective.”

Geppetto explains.

About that perspective.

“What is human, and what makes something human… the boundaries are drawn by oneself. They say dolls don’t shed tears, but not shedding tears doesn’t necessarily make one a doll. Similarly, humans shed tears, but not everyone who sheds tears is necessarily human. One can be human yet a doll, and a doll yet human. Do you understand what I mean?”

“……”

A complicated, twisted story.

It seemed simple, yet I couldn’t quite grasp it.

Suddenly, I remember hearing similar words somewhere.

It was definitely what I heard during my first meeting with the Chancellor.

-Dolls don’t shed tears.

-However, not everyone who sheds tears is necessarily human.

-I hope you’ll contemplate this difference.

Words that puzzled me then as well.

What was the Chancellor trying to say?

And what is Geppetto trying to say now?

“……”

“That’s enough small talk.”

I wanted to ask questions, but Geppetto had already organized his documents.

He leaves the research lab with his characteristically lifeless gaze.

Geppetto leaves only a brief remark.

“You should go to your companions now. They all seem to be waiting.”

The research lab door closes for the last time.

In the falling darkness, I stood alone.

***

-The Snakus family.

-Go there. To the place of your origin.

The Chancellor’s advice to visit the family home.

Thanks to it, I learned that my birth was related to the “Fragment of God.”

An item that existed only as a setting in the original work. It was quite a large puzzle piece.

However, questions about the overall picture still remained.

The scattered puzzle pieces refused to fit together.

‘Judas was a homunculus.’

That much was okay.

But everything after that was full of questions.

Why did Judas betray everyone in the original work?

Was that also related to the “Fragment of God” item?

What about the identity of the approaching Demon God, and the possibility of Judas being involved with it?

Or was it really just Judas’s change of heart? Would he betray everyone for such a simple reason?

No matter how hard I racked my brain with the given clues, it was beyond me.

I knew more, but the questions had only become more complex.

I sank into contemplation.

‘In the end… I couldn’t find out anything about Judas this time either.’

A softly exhaled sigh.

I leave the research lab.

The long staircase resembles my tangled thoughts.

I climb the twisted steps as if staggering.

Just as I set foot on the first floor again.

“Hmm?”

Beep, beep-!

No sooner had I arrived than the crystal ball in my pocket starts ringing.

A glass marble glowing with a noisy alarm sound.

“Neria…?”

More precisely, it was a call from the Academy.

Next to the small screen were several missed call notifications.

In Geppetto’s research lab, the use of magical tools is generally suppressed.

The entire space was dispelled to prevent interference with experiments.

Having stayed in such an environment for hours, I seemed to have missed incoming calls.

I had an uneasy feeling.

“……”

For Neria to call repeatedly like this.

Given her personality, she would have quietly waited if I was unavailable.

I sense an ominous atmosphere.

I answer the call.

“Miss Neria?”

-{C-Captain…!}

What comes back immediately is an urgent voice.

Something had definitely happened.

I calmly ask.

“What’s going on?”

-{It’s an attack by the cultists.}

“The Academy?”

-{No. The Academy is safe. A small force attempted to infiltrate, but they were neutralized by faculty members on patrol. The situation at Astro headquarters is the same. The problem is…}

Neria hesitates for a moment.

Then she delivers the troublesome news.

-{The problem is the Cathedral. Reports indicate that all of Baov’s apostles have gathered there. From what we’ve gathered, it seems the entire cultist force has invaded the place.}

“Of all places… Were there any personnel separately stationed at the Cathedral? Where is Sir Kyle?”

-{In Kyle’s case, he couldn’t move freely as he had to defend the headquarters. I too am stuck here, tasked with the Academy’s defense.}

“What’s the current situation at the Cathedral?”

-{It’s chaos.}

“The cultist forces poured in, yet remarkably it hasn’t fallen yet.”

-{About that… I heard that a monarch who suddenly appeared is holding off the apostles.}

“A monarch?”

Unexpected words.

My expression couldn’t help but harden.

No matter how strong he was, he too was close to being a has-been.

There was no way he could handle the cultist forces alone.

I urgently request Neria.

“Please send Rena here immediately. I’ll go support the Cathedral.”

-{I’ll call her right away.}

“Damn it…”

I hope it’s not too late.

I click my tongue with a soft mutter.

“……”

The night sky reflects through the window.

Today, that backdrop seemed particularly crimson.

I moved to gather my companions who had come with me.

A ripple reaching the world.

It was the night marking the beginning of the final chapter.