episode_0088

000

Today, a new day has dawned at the Academy.

To satiate the desire for knowledge that springs forth like the rising sun, students of all kinds are preparing to head to their classes.

Among them are those who find worth in daily learning.

And there are those who feel doubt or unease about their stagnant studies.

But this is the Academy, the continent’s greatest repository of knowledge.

There is no difficult problem that cannot be solved by their hands, and even if it takes generations, they will surely find the answer.

The 21 departments research different fields of study and foster new intellectuals.

And leading them are the top students of each department.

They are the most outstanding talents in each department and students recognized by the Council of Elders.

They have succeeded in leaving meaningful footprints in their specialized fields, becoming role models for other students.

They receive more support than other students, to the extent that they are provided with exclusive mansions to reside in within the Academy.

And this place.

Among such mansion districts, the most enormous and luxurious mansion of all.

Belongs to Laila Flamewatch, the top student of the Department of Magic, one of the Academy’s three major departments.

When Laila wakes up in the morning, a homunculus with dark crimson hair waits beside her with its eyes closed.

Next to her are neatly folded and arranged clothes, and the homunculus opens its eyes at the same time as Laila.

The homunculus’s eyes do not contain light, as if they were the eyes of the dead.

But that is only because she is an artificial being created by Laila’s hand, and she is clearly a living creature.

“Have you awakened, Master?”

Speaking to Laila with the same calm and polite tone as always, greeting her good morning.

The homunculus “Innis” bows, paying respect to her creator and master.

Laila stretches lightly and greets her.

“Good morning, Innis. Where are Sasha and Kuon?”

“Both Sasha-nim and Kuon-nim have already risen. Kuon-nim said that she has almost finished preparing breakfast and told me to bring Master over.”

Sasha and Kuon were originally companions who adventured with Laila, but in order to investigate and treat the abnormality that occurred in Sasha’s body along the way.

They came to the Academy together with her.

“Of course, you helped too, right?”

Laila asks, narrowing her eyes at Innis’s words.

Innis nods expressionlessly.

“Of course. I am a homunculus created by Master to manage this mansion. The housework of this mansion is originally my duty. However, Kuon-nim said that she would like to do whatever she can, even if it is just a little.”

“I know. Kuon is diligent.”

Laila gets out of bed, raises her arms, and stands in front of Innis.

Then, with familiar hands, Innis helps her undress and changes her master’s clothes into the outfit she has prepared.

“It’s so convenient, as always. I’m glad I have Innis.”

“Those are excessive words.”

Laila’s change of clothes is completed in an instant, and then it is time to brush her hair.

“Today’s schedule is to attend the meeting of top students, and then select a restoration budget for the damage to the city area caused by the previous battle… Seriously. They don’t give me any time to research.”

In the meantime, Laila sighs as she looks through a notebook filled with her packed schedule.

A week ago, the top students of the Academy raided the hideout of the Execution Department in order to subdue them.

However, in the process, some of them escaped to the surface, and a battle was fought in the city area to capture them, but unfortunately, they missed a few.

Of course, since the number is small, rather than pursuing them excessively.

The situation now prioritizes a quick recovery in order to minimize the damage to general students caused by the fight.

“Well. But once this is over, I finally have to do research to find a way to restore Sasha’s body.”

Laila taps the cover of her notebook, in which she has filled with her own hypotheses, as if wanting to reassure her companion as soon as possible.

“That’s right. That room in the mansion that won’t open, have you investigated it?”

Laila asks Innis as if she suddenly remembered.

In fact, there is a room in this mansion for top students that has a powerful barrier spread over it.

Even Laila, the owner, could not enter it.

Until now, she had not paid much attention to what was inside for some reason.

Recently, however, she felt that the magical reaction emanating from within was unusual, and she entrusted Innis to investigate it in her stead.

“I am sorry. Master. That barrier cannot be undone with my specifications.”

“Hmm… Then should I open it?”

Laila thought that far, then closed her mouth for a moment before shaking her head.

“No, never mind. It’s a mansion with so many rooms that it would be difficult for three people to live in, so it won’t be a problem if one doesn’t open. Maybe the previous top student of the Department of Magic sealed something and then forgot about it.”

Wizards often do that, she adds, finishing her grooming and getting up from her seat.

“Then, shall we go downstairs?”

Innis bows her head at Laila’s words and follows her.

After Laila leaves the room first-

Innis looks around her master’s room for a moment, then wears a somewhat lonely expression.

She carefully closes the door and follows her master.

001

“Laila, you’ve come down. Innis, take a seat too.”

Kuon, who had finished preparing the meal, greeted Laila and placed the tableware.

Sasha sat at the table with slightly sleepy eyes, but it seemed that she was already ready to go to school.

Innis shakes her head at Kuon’s words and answers.

“It’s all right. According to Master’s design, I am replenishing all the energy I need by absorbing mana in the atmosphere.”

“I’ve heard that story many times, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a meal, does it?”

Innis is silent for a moment at Kuon’s words and looks back at her master, Laila.

Then, Laila smiles at her, points to an empty seat at the four-person table, and tells her to sit there.

Innis then sits down in the chair designated by her master, without changing her expression.

“But it’s unexpected that Laila would have tableware like this.”

What Kuon said as she said that was tableware for men in every way.

Laila stares at it for a moment, makes a sound, and tilts her head.

“Did I buy that?”

Laila expresses her doubt.

Kuon also puts a question mark over her head, following Laila.

“Oh my. Then it was originally attached to this mansion?”

“No, basically, when you move out of a mansion, you have to take your belongings with you….”

“Then did you receive it as a gift from someone? Ah, but Laila doesn’t live with a man, so it’s strange to give her men’s tableware as a gift….”

Laila was even worried with her chin resting on her hand, but soon she couldn’t find an answer and shook her head.

“I don’t know. But it’s better to have it than not, considering the number of people. Innis, is that okay with you?”

“Thank you for your consideration. Master. Yes. There is no problem with that.”

The mealtime began with those four people.

Sasha also comes to her senses from the scent of Kuon’s cooking, which is filled with warmth, and recently she has been talking about her friends a lot.

Both Kuon and Sasha feel a sense of pride and a little loneliness at the feeling that their young sister is growing into an adult through new encounters.

This made them realize once again that this is what human growth is all about.

The three women’s topics change quite often.

All three of them are close friends, but basically they have different fields of interest and different personalities.

Thinking about it now, it was a mystery how the three of them were able to come this far.

And the story changes to the story of the taste of today’s food.

Of course, Kuon’s cooking was close to ordinary home cooking, but it was also faithful to the basics.

Thinking about the people who eat it, imagining what they would be happy about, taking care of both nutrition and taste.

It was a wonderful meal that a wife and mother would make.

“Oh, that’s right. Innis, can you do some grocery shopping today?”

Kuon talks as if she suddenly remembered while talking about cooking.

Innis, who had been eating quietly without saying a word in the story of the master and her companions, nods at Kuon’s request.

“I understand. If you write down a list of items to buy, I will go and get them.”

“Thank you. I’ll write it down before you go out, so please.”

As Kuon smiles, Laila has a proud face and Sasha smiles as well.

“I’m so glad Innis-ssi is here! Innis-ssi is stronger than us, and when Kuon-ssi went grocery shopping alone, she couldn’t carry heavy luggage, right?”

Kuon also nods at Sasha’s words.

“That’s right… Hmm. But when I was writing the household account book last time, it seemed that I bought quite a lot at once even when Innis wasn’t around….”

Kuon says a little strangely.

Then Laila answers like this.

“Well, I got it delivered, or I went with you? If you cast a little flying magic, you can bring it regardless of weight.”

“Was that so…? I think so.”

Then Innis listens to those words for a while and answers like this.

“Was that really the case?”

“Innis?”

“Perhaps there was a man who went grocery shopping with Kuon-nim.”

At Innis’s sudden words, silence flows between the three people surrounding the table.

Immediately after the silence as if time had stopped, it was Laila who burst out laughing.

“Aha ha! Kuon with a man? Ah~ah~ Our Kuon is already old enough to get married~”

“Laila! Even if I look like this, I’m a year older than Laila! Innis, don’t worry. I don’t have a man to date.”

“Kuon-ssi is an attractive person, so I’m sure she’ll be able to meet a good man!”

The three people treat Innis’s words as a joke while saying together.

Innis doesn’t say anything, still without changing her expression.

002

Despite it being a weekday afternoon, the free market is still crowded and bustling with voices like a weekend, due to the students who are enjoying a short break and shopping during lunch time.

Innis’s existence, carrying loads of luggage in both hands requested by Kuon and Laila, and walking through the crowd.

Due to her rare race as a homunculus and her very well-organized features.

She was drawing people’s attention.

Innis feels such gazes regardless of gender, but since she can’t change her expression, she doesn’t show any signs of dislike.

She organizes the work she has to do when she returns home in her head.

First of all, organize the purchased items, then laundry and cleaning.

Kuon-nim said that her afternoon class will end late, so I have to prepare dinner for Sasha-nim and Master.

Thanks to the artificial life form’s unique divided thinking, her body is here, but her mind is as if it exists elsewhere.

Just as she was walking absentmindedly, she bumped into a woman coming from the opposite side without avoiding her.

“Ah. I’m sorry.”

Of course, since it was her fault for spacing out, Innis puts the words of apology into her mouth first.

“Ah, no. I was also talking to my friend…”

The one who answered that was an ordinary-looking girl with blonde hair and blue eyes.

Maybe she was walking around the market with her friends.

“Seriously, you should look where you’re going. Aruru.”

“Sorry, sorry. Ah! Let’s go to that store over there, Cecil!”

Watching the girl with glasses babbling and walking away as if nothing happened.

Innis feels a throbbing in her chest.

For some reason, feeling more gloomy than usual today, Innis heads to the mansion on a slightly longer route to feel a little more of the outside air.

She passes in front of a building located a little far from the free market and other department buildings.

A building in the shape of a huge tower in the center, and dome-shaped practice buildings on both sides.

As she walks, thinking that it is a unique shape, the students of that department all come out of the building at once, as if they have finished their classes.

However, they all maintain order and walk gracefully, respecting each other.

They move while maintaining a neat appearance, as if being careful not to get any dust on their bodies.

“I think there will be an opportunity to study the etiquette of the royal family with the professor in this afternoon’s class. Pairu unnie.”

“That’s something I’m really looking forward to, Lujuri. If you listen to the Etiquette Department’s classes diligently, your parents will surely be happy.”

Looking at the sisters who are talking to each other in gentle voices.

The two people, who are wearing robes that reduce the amount of exposure much more than the prescribed Academy uniform and cover almost their entire bodies.

They can be seen walking down the street with pure smiles.

Innis thought that even though they were people she was seeing for the first time, she felt a familiar energy from them.

The strength entering the feet walking on the street gradually disappears.

Why has this Academy become like this?

A week ago. The day after she was born. After the battle that changed everything ended.

There was a light that covered the entire Academy.

After Kuon and Sasha, who were at home, collapsed under the influence of the light.

Not long after, Laila staggered back home.

Without telling Innis much, she.

After casting a barrier over an entire room in the mansion, she collapsed.

And when she woke up again, she had forgotten even those memories.

Like Kuon and Sasha, she had completely forgotten “his” existence.

“…Papa.”

The highest-pitched voice among the voices that came out of Innis’s mouth today flowed out.

No, originally this is her original voice.

In a world where something had gone wrong, Innis was staying by Laila’s side by hiding her true nature.

Everyone was acting as if that was normal.

No one in this Academy remembers “Papa.”

That his creator shared affection with, and completely forgot the existence of the one he loved so much.

It certainly wouldn’t be a normal thing.

The influence was on all humans inside the Academy.

Innis thinks. Was it because she was a homunculus that she was not affected by the strange light?

If everyone had gone strange, she thought it would have been better for her to have gone strange as well.

Suddenly, a toolbox placed on the side of the road came into view.

“… …”

Innis had faintly inherited Papa’s memories, which formed the essence of her being.

He used to hide inside this toolbox to avoid students whenever there was trouble at the Academy.

Innis looks at the luggage she is carrying for a moment.

She slowly moves her steps and tries to go inside that toolbox.

Just one day.

Innis spent only one day with Papa.

No, to be exact, it wouldn’t even be a full day.

Even so, Papa was a precious being to Innis.

He was the person who shared his life so that she could be born.

The affection and heart for him engraved in the foundation of her soul.

It didn’t matter how long they spent together.

Because his memory is connected to her.

There wasn’t much of his presence left inside this small toolbox.

She is just holding on to a faint fragment of memory.

Only sadness accumulates in her body, which has no tears to shed.

At that time-

“That way! The remnants of the Execution Department went that way!”

A shout coming from outside the toolbox.

Innis blinks at the voice and tries not to leave this toolbox until the commotion has passed.

As she sighs at the gradually receding voice.

Just as she was about to return to the mansion with the memories of `Papa` buried in her heart.

She sees the toolbox being opened not by her own hand, but by someone else’s hand.

With the sound of the door opening, the light shining from outside comes inside.

There was a man showing a shady face with the light behind him.

“… …”

A silence in which they stared at each other without saying a word continues briefly.

And.

“-Papa?”

“Ha. Innis. What are you doing here?”