129 – Homunculus (2)
Nadal began to organize the various materials placed in the laboratory of the Imperial University.
Griffon’s mane, Wyvern’s bone fragments, the blue corals of Godiva Desert, and the highest-grade manastones that the Fire Spirit stayed in.
All of them were the best alchemy materials prepared for the Iron Blood Heart Dungeon.
Over the past month, Nadal and Rakan have had one task.
Before entering the Iron Blooded Heart dungeon, make all the preliminary preparations.
According to the research data of Regius, it takes at least three months to make an iron-blooded heart, assuming all the ingredients are present.
That’s why I was able to save a lot of time by making the materials that can be made in advance and entering the dungeon.
If only the giant’s heart, the tears of Nyx, and the powder of the wings of a world tree fairy were prepared in the dungeon, one month in dungeon time and three days in real time were sufficient to capture the dungeon.
But all this was to no avail.
-That…why are you saying that now?!
Trisha did not know that Nadal was a homunculus.
The fact that Nadal is a homunculus is a top-class secret, so except for the royal family, only Bastian, Beiton, and Tigris know.
So, giving Trisha the information that Nadal is a homunculus is really an exception among exceptions.
If Trisha was not the key figure in this dungeon attack, I would have lived my whole life without knowing it.
Nadal unknowingly dropped the beaker in his hand.
The contents of the beaker spread to the floor and soiled Nadal’s shoes.
“·················ogue.”
Nadal noticed that his hand was trembling slightly.
Nadal suddenly remembered that day 30 years ago.
When Nadal first breathed and saw the world.
That is, when I was born into this world.
* * *
“Cool!”
Nadal staggered and tried to get up on both feet, vomiting a gooey red liquid that filled his stomach.
It was an instinctive movement, like a young giraffe or elephant trying to stand up as soon as they were born.
However, he did not get up, trembling as if his muscles were not in perfect control.
At that time, a certain man supported me without a word.
I couldn’t even open my eyes, but the reason I decided it was a man was simple.
It was because the man’s shaggy beard scratched Nadal’s scalp and bled.
“ah······. ah······.”
Nadal tried to say something, but his voice didn’t come out.
But a person who could not stand up because of weak muscles could not speak.
Nadal opened his eyes and tried to scan his surroundings.
But I couldn’t open my eyes properly to the sticky, red liquid that covered my face.
After a while, the man wiped his face with the towel he brought, and the sticky liquid blocking his eyelids disappeared.
Nadal turned his head to see who the man supporting him was.
Nadal frowned and slowly opened his left eye.
“Aaaah!”
But the world was too bright for Nadal’s feeble pupils to see properly.
My left eye felt like it was going to burn, so I wrapped my hand around it.
At that moment, the man supporting him opened his mouth.
“Not only is the skin weak, but the eyes are also very weak.”
The man placed the towel that had been wiping his face over Nadal’s head.
It was then that Nadal realized that he had only two senses.
One was hearing and the other was pain.
Nadal’s whole body ached as if he had been mutilated.
The skin was so weak that even a strong grip made it ragged.
All the skin was like the skin of white sand.
The man sat Nadal down on an old chair nearby.
And for the white human who can’t see bright light, he turned off all the light magic that illuminates all directions.
Only then did Nadal open his eyes and see the world.
The first colors that caught Nadal’s eyes were green and black.
Nadal could find a ‘humanoid silhouette’ in a world full of green and black.
Nadal looked at the silhouette.
It looked like the man who saved him.
But it was too dark to see the man’s expression.
The man looked at Nadal without saying a word and opened his mouth.
“Nod your head if you understand me.”
Nadal nodded his head slightly.
“I have cognitive abilities. I never really thought it would be successful.”
Nadal had many questions at the time.
Where am I, who am I, and who is the man?
All Nadal knew was that he had just been born.
But the words didn’t come out, so it was just frustrating.
The man brought an old chair nearby and checked Nadal’s hands and face.
“Your skin is too weak and one eye is blind. But it can also be called a success.”
As Nadal’s remaining right eye adjusts to the green light, he can see the man’s face.
He was a middle-aged man with puffy eyes and stubborn lips.
The man opened his mouth when he made eye contact with Nadal.
“I am Margot de Asensio.”
Nadal opened his mouth with a cracked voice.
“……Then what about me?”
Margot didn’t speak for a while.
Nadal didn’t have the ability to read people’s facial expressions, so he couldn’t figure out what kind of expression Mago was making now.
The man did not reveal Nadal’s name first.
Rather, he placed the curse that Nadal should carry for the rest of his life.
“You are obliged to be loyal to the Empire for the rest of your life and to protect it. It was created for that, and it is the existence that we have to live like that in the future.”
Margot said, holding her clasped hands tightly.
“And your name is Nadal. It means ‘savior’ in ancient language.”
* * *
The door opened and Nadal and Lenny got out of the elevator.
It was the first time Nadal had visited the penthouse in person.
Since the penthouse of Tigris was not open to anyone, only those related to Tigris could enter and exit.
As Nadal is the Inquisitor’s Undercover agent and the Inquisitor’s head, he was not qualified to enter a penthouse like this.
Of course, now that Tigris’ co-worker, Djokovic, came to see him, the probability was good enough, but other instructors, eager to somehow connect with Tigris, might even bubble up and rush in.
smart-
Lenny said as he knocked on the study door.
“Instructor Djokovic is here.”
As the study door opened, familiar faces appeared.
Tigris, Rain Rover, Rakan, and the first woman I see.
However, I was able to find out at once what that woman’s true identity was.
It was Amoris, a witch and companion of Pereira, whom Tigris had reported before.
As the study door closed, Nadal dispelled the Polymorph magic.
Then he returned to the pure white and pale face of Nadal, not Djokovic’s face.
Nadal greeted Amoris.
“I have heard a lot of stories. This is Nadal de Asensio.”
“This is Amoris.”
Nadal can read other people’s facial expressions with his prosthetic eyes.
Amoris looked innocent on the outside, but Nadal knew what Amoris was feeling.
[Anger, Embarrassed]
Nadal did not know why Amoris was angry with him.
He looked angry at Nadal’s something, but he had no idea what it was.
Once Nadal sat down in an empty seat.
It was a seat facing Amoris face-to-face.
Amoris continued to stare at Nadal.
To be precise, he kept looking at Nadal’s heart.
After an awkward silence, Tigris opened his mouth.
“Amoris-sama, are you and Nadal Gugumyeon?”
“no. See you for the first time.”
Tichrist could also notice Amoris’ emotional agitation.
Until just now, we were talking about dungeon strategy and homunculus.
Until then, Amoris’ condition was not bad.
Because of Rakan, he seemed to be having a bit of fun.
However, as soon as Nadal appeared, his expression hardened and he began to express intense anger.
He had to be patient because he was in front of Rakan, but he was so angry that the usual Amoris would have poured out his double lust.
What did Amoris see in Nadal?
Did he feel something strange in Nadal’s soul?
Amoris looked at Rakan and Trisha for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Mr. Tigris.”
“yes.”
“I’m sorry, but I wish I could talk to Rakan a little later. Is it okay?”
Amoris may have several reasons for saying this.
Either he has to confide in Amoris’s past, or he has to bring up a story related to the regression, or there is a secret that Rakan shouldn’t enter.
Amoris didn’t explain it well, but Rakan smirked and got up before Tigris could even speak.
“I will come in a little later.”
“thanks. Mr Rakan. I’ll explain everything later. The timing is not right now.”
“I understand. I’ll go outside to see Trisha’s condition a little bit. I was still worried about Trisha-san.”
Rakan carefully closed the door and left.
Amoris’ expression changed as soon as Rakan left.
It was like a tiger.
“Where did you get that?”
“What are you talking about?”
Amoris pointed to Nadal’s heart.
“heart. That heart is not yours.”
Unbeknownst to everyone else, Amoris could smell the mana emanating from Nadal’s heart.
“That’s Scarlett.”
“Who are you?”
“My sister, like me, who escaped from that hellish demon king’s laboratory!”
Nadal’s heart was the witch’s heart.
This was a fact that neither Tigris nor Rain Rover knew, so I was very surprised.
“So Nadal’s heart is like that…”
“okay. witch. It’s a witch’s heart. So, you have such a ridiculous amount of mana. Because Scarlett was the most talented at magic among the other sisters.”
Amoris looked at Nadal and said.
“So you have to explain it properly. Where did that heart come from?”
Although Nadal was unaware of this fact, he was able to fully understand Amoris’s anger, so he began to explain.
“My heart has been the only one since I was created. And you never know who owns the heart. The alchemist who made me is already dead.”
“Who is that child?”
“It was a vicious alchemist named Philip. My adoptive father, Margot, killed Philip and found me.”
“Then where did that heart come from?”
“I don’t even know that. If I had known that my heart belonged to a witch, I would have known how to make a homunculus.”
Amoris took a deep breath, cooling the anger that had built up to the end of his head.
“So you don’t know anything?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Then where is that Margot?”
“He passed away several years ago.”
Amoris opened his mouth with serious eyes.
“Then let me ask you one thing. Are you sure that Margot wasn’t the one who made you?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Nadal said as he recalled the piles of corpses all around him.
“There is no way that the chieftain of the Inquisitor, who swore allegiance to the Empire, would have committed such a vicious thing.”
Amoris choked up what he wanted to say and swallowed it.
But Nadal knew what he wanted to ask in Amoris’s eyes.
“You might think that I trust my father too much, but there is a reason. My father was an archmage. But he was an elemental water wizard that had nothing to do with homunculus making.”
“So, that means that your father, Margo, didn’t have the knowledge to make you… no, homunculus?”
“Yes. That’s right. Rather, it would be more credible that I made it. I am an alchemist of the 7th circle.”
“Then there is no connection between your father and Philip?”
“As far as I know, none. If you want relevant investigation materials, I will give you permission from His Majesty the Emperor.”
Amoris made eye contact with Nadal for a while.
However, there was no movement in Nadal’s expression.
It was like a human being with a machine.
Amoris did not speak for a while while washing his face, then opened his mouth.
“Sorry. I think I overreacted a bit.”
“no. it’s okay. Of course, I think you should be angry. And I am a different homunculus than an ordinary human. I don’t get hurt or anything like that.”
“Hmmm…”
Amoris crossed her arms and looked at Nadal.
“By the way, I was calling you for that matter. I heard from Tigris that you don’t have a soul, right?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Amoris said with a smirk.
“Why do you think you have no soul?”
“According to the alchemist’s definition of a homunculus, the soul is not essential. You just need to have a self-awareness to think and make judgments like a human in a fully humanoid body.”
“If that’s a homunculus, the monsters raised by black magic like the Dark Knight are the same. The Dark Knight is a humanoid monster with intelligence comparable to that of a human. But don’t you call the Dark Knight a human?”
“The Dark Knight requires constant enchantment from a warlock. It cannot be considered human.”
“Then what is the definition of the soul that the alchemists say?”
“It is an essential element responsible for human self-consciousness. Without a soul, it is not human. It’s just a corpse. But for the homunculus, self-consciousness is not synonymous with soul. It’s a kind of algorithm that thinks and makes decisions. Like a machine or an artifact.”
“So you mean you have no soul and you have a complex algorithm inside you that works like a machine, according to set criteria?”
“Yes. That’s right. That is why I am called a homunculus.”
“lie.”
Amoris said, twisting his neck.
“You’ve been feeling it lately. As for you, you’re not like a machine that lives by a set algorithm. You feel emotions and you are starting to feel that you are alive.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Just because you swear at a pocket watch doesn’t mean the hands go slow or fast. Even if you teach the Artifact a magic every day, you can’t use any other magic other than the specified magic. According to you, there is absolutely no way you can progress. But you became the Archmage of the 7th Circle.”
“You are comparing me to a machine or an artifact, I’m not saying I’m like a machine or an artifact.”
“So, is it possible for a machine or artifact to learn ’emotions’? No, is it correct to say that you learn emotions in the first place?”
Amoris pointed to Nadal’s heart.
“Emotion is an ability only granted to individuals with a soul. It’s not just a reaction caused by complex chemistry in the brain. And that feeling is self-consciousness, in other words, the soul.”
“If that’s true, then I’m not a homunculus, I’m just a human. My body is similar in composition to other humans, but it’s definitely made. Because the body grows rapidly, the bone nodes are thin and there are traces of rapid growth of the growth plate. This is solid proof that I am a created human.”
“Your body is definitely made. Except for the heart, of course. But no soul? I don’t think that’s it?”
Amoris said, looking at the withered soul beating small in Nadal’s heart.
“Then what will be your soul that I am seeing now? Are my eyes wrong?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You are not a homunculus. A human being with the soul of an original living human in a well-crafted body.”
“I have lived with little emotion for over 30 years. Of course, I’ve been feeling weird lately, but it doesn’t happen often. It’s just a very small margin of negligible error in my 30 years of life.”
Amoris clenched his fists and said.
“Why can’t you believe it? okay. You might not believe it. Then I’ll make you believe it.”
Amoris was wearing the glove he had pounded on Jane a while ago.
“You will soon find out if you have a soul or not.”
“Now what….”
“I don’t know if it hurts a little, but bear with it. Oh, and biting your teeth.”
Amoris walked over to Nadal without a word and clenched his fists in the chin.