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The archery class. Although it was a class where Riana, who had a grudge against Aria, was a student, it ended without any incident, surprisingly.

Like other classes, the archery class also first assessed the students’ abilities and gave them a rather difficult task, but not a single student particularly stood out.

In fact, as it was an archery class, Riana should have stood out the most, but unlike Arin, she couldn’t perform properly because she was too conscious of me throughout the class, and thanks to that, the class ended without any incident.

Honestly, I had never thought about it before, but seeing Riana so intimidated, it seemed I might have been a bit too harsh.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to teach her properly during archery classes, so I should probably soothe her in the next class.

No matter how much of a jerk Riana’s personality is, she’s one of the capable talents of the future.

“Should I tell her in Aria’s body that I won’t bully her anymore…”

After all, the root cause of Riana’s intimidation is Aria, so it would be better to soothe her in Aria’s body. Adding that her sisters have forgiven her too.

As I was thinking that I should tell her something similar, or in an even better way tomorrow, I suddenly arrived at the street of the temple, stopped walking, and lifted my body with magic.

In the street of the temple, only temple-related people walk around unless it’s the Divine Manifestation Festival, so there’s no problem using magic. And as you can tell from my speech just now and the magic I’m using now, I’m currently in Meiyel’s body.

Originally, I would have been in Aria’s body, but there’s a reason why I’m in Meiyel’s body.

“Oh, Traveler. You’ve returned.”
“Yeah… Have you prepared all the ingredients?”
“Yes, of course. I’ve placed everything you asked for in your research lab, Traveler.”

As I landed at the entrance of the temple, the Pope greeted me.

And at my question, the Pope nodded and stepped aside, and I passed by him and opened the door behind the central staircase at the back of the temple, descending underground.

Going underground, what appeared was a wide space made of stone. Magic circles with strange patterns were drawn here and there, giving off a strong feeling of a magician’s research lab at a glance.

…Of course, those magic circles were just drawn for show and had no meaning whatsoever.

Therefore, passing through these meaningless magic circles, where I stopped was in front of a human-shaped clay doll placed in the center of the lab.
And seven ingredients neatly laid out in front of the doll.

I examined each ingredient one by one and then nodded slightly.

“Hmm… Yes, it’s certain.”

This is the reason why I’m currently in Meiyel’s body and the most important project in the current situation.

To be more precise, it was to create some spare time for myself.

“Now that the story has officially started… I need to prepare…”

The very early story quest that happened today, the Demon’s Signal Flare.

It was a quest I had completely forgotten about for a moment, so after dealing with the demons from today’s quest, I wrote down all the quests that would happen in the future during the remaining time.

I couldn’t be sure that I would be able to respond luckily like today if I forgot about the quests that would happen in the future as well.

I wrote down everything I could remember and tried to draw out what I couldn’t remember, and looking at it, the next demon-related incident would be the ‘Falling Sky Island’ quest that would happen not long from now.

If you ask what the Falling Sky Island story is about, it can be described as a story where demon executives infiltrate the Sky Island, forcibly move it over the Puhara Kingdom’s airspace, and then try to erase the magic keeping the Sky Island afloat to make it fall, which we have to prevent.

Of course, as the temple priests said before, in conclusion, it was a story that ends with the player character making the Sky Island fall somewhere else, and what was used for that was first, the demon parasites that were placed on the player character and professor who killed the demons in the Demon’s Signal Flare.

And those demon parasites were the ones hidden in the demon crystal that those guys had today.

“Those parasites… are now implanted in Arin and Kana…”

The parasites that couldn’t infest me in Yeonhwa’s state and attached to the two beside me.

To utilize those parasites that I’ve left untouched so far in reverse, this clay doll in front of me was essential.

“One of me is not enough…”

No matter how much I know about the future and have the power to prevent it, my body is just one.

Moreover, since I couldn’t arouse suspicion from the academy while working there, what I needed in the end was an alter ego that could substitute my role, that is, a homunculus.

And a homunculus that would obey my orders absolutely, without the slightest error.

“And what’s needed to create a homunculus is this… a doppelganger made by magic isn’t enough…”

Creating a homunculus to substitute for me with magic was easy. No, it was so simple it was almost too easy.

But what I needed was a homunculus that could fulfill my role without the slightest deficiency. Since I could only create a homunculus that would merely mimic my actions with magic, I asked the Pope to prepare these ingredients in front of me.

First, a clay doll made from clay that can only be obtained from the Mirage Swamp.

Second, a phoenix tail feather that will allow it to withstand even powerful impacts without disappearing.

Third and fourth, the temple’s treasures, Iriel’s Chain and Changok’s Crystal, which will allow it to handle my power.

Fifth, the tongue of the Jok tribe that makes one recognize the owner of the blood they’re fed as their parent, to make it absolutely obey my orders.

Sixth and seventh, the brain of Yuok and mercury, which will serve as the core to enable autonomous action.

Eighth, a branch of the World Tree that absorbs its own movement mana.

“And lastly…”

I took out five finger-sized glass bottles that I had kept inside my robe.

Glass bottles each containing a strand of hair and a drop of blood from Aria, Yujia, Kama, Meiyel, and Yeonhwa.

I embedded all the ingredients into the clay doll, then uncorked the glass bottles and sprinkled the hair and blood inside around the doll’s head area.

Drip── Plop──

“With this, the preparations are complete…”

Although I had never made a homunculus before, Meiyel’s body already knew the method.

The first thing needed is water. Sprinkle water on the clay doll with all the ingredients embedded, and then use earth to build walls blocking the doll from all sides.
Next, light a fire hot enough to melt even iron ingots in an instant, and then blow wind into the walls to make the flames even fiercer.

“Water, earth, fire, and wind…”

The power of the so-called four fundamental elements of the world was the key to creating a homunculus.

Kuuuuu────

As I swung my staff to infuse the elemental powers in order, a sound like intense heat blasting from a furnace filled the underground lab.

At the same time, the moment that sound was heard, I instinctively sensed that this magic had also been successfully executed.

-Ugh, ahhh…

As if to confirm my intuition, a faint but certain sound of a living being came from inside the earthen walls.

Eventually, as the flames and wind filling the inside of the earthen walls subsided, something knocked on the wall with a thud.

Thud, thud, the knocking continued persistently without stopping after just one. I quietly waited for the homunculus inside the wall to break through and come out, and after waiting for a few minutes… finally, a rough impact different from the previous knocking-like thumps cracked the wall.

Boom──!

Once, twice, thrice. With each intense knock, the crack in the wall grew larger. And then, not even reaching ten times, the wall slowly crumbled.

I watched the homunculus slowly walk out, climbing over the crumbled wall.

No, should I say it was a homunculus in Aria’s form, not just a homunculus?

Light red hair and ash-colored armor. A woman carrying two swords at her waist. She stared at me with Aria’s characteristic sharp gaze, then opened her closed mouth.

“You, Meiyel. I know.”
“Hmm… More fluent than I expected…?”

The homunculus pointed at me with her hand, speaking more fluently than I had expected.

Probably even that slightly awkward pronunciation would be corrected through self-learning in less than a few minutes.
Although I had sensed that it was successful, I couldn’t hide my excitement at the result that was more satisfactory than I had sensed.

So, I stroked the head of the homunculus who was quietly closing her mouth, waiting for me to speak, and said:

“From now on… in private places, call me mother…”

According to the contents written in the literature, homunculi made using the tongue of the Jok tribe are extremely pleased when their creator allows them to call them mother.

Well, it’s natural since it’s a homunculus made with ingredients that recognize the owner of the imprinted blood as its mother.

And as if this information was also correct, the homunculus showed a faint but certain ‘smile’ and nodded her head up and down.

“Yes! I understand! One of five mothers!”
“First… shall we start with studying?”

There were still 5 hours left until the end of today, so if I teach her diligently during that time, she will perfectly transform into the homunculus I wanted.

Once that happens… I should take her to school tomorrow and do a performance test.

After all, she’ll be a slave I’ll keep using and grinding to hell from now on.

The morning of the third day dawned, and the day for going to school arrived.

At a time when students of the academy would be listening to the morning assembly in their classrooms. And that was the same for Riana.

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‘It still hurts…’

Riana was sitting in her seat but suppressing her aching body. The reason was that the muscle pain from the punishment she received from Kama during yesterday’s class still remained.

Her stiff neck that felt like it would snap at any moment, her aching back, and her heels that felt like they were being pricked with needles.

Well, it was understandable that she was still suffering from muscle pain, as she had been bowing with her hands behind her back and Kama even standing on her back.

And because her whole body hurt so much that she couldn’t concentrate on anything, Riana, who had been listening to the assembly with one ear and letting it out the other, stiffened as she saw Professor Aria approaching her when the assembly ended.

Thud─ Thud─

Professor Aria walking straight towards her as if Riana was her goal.

Wondering if she was going to retaliate for not paying attention, Riana started trembling involuntarily, but contrary to her expectations, Professor Aria placed a piece of paper in front of her and immediately turned around.

“I have something to say, so come to the place written on the paper.”

Although it was clearly a request, Professor Aria’s words sounded like an order due to her voice and atmosphere.

Professor Aria left the classroom as if she had finished what she needed to say, and it was only a few seconds after she left that Riana gathered her momentarily disconnected thoughts and unfolded the paper she had left behind.

The paper unfolded quickly in Riana’s hand with a flutter.

When she opened the neatly folded paper, all that was written on it was a short and concise location: ‘Old Biology Lab’.

The distance from Class 1-A’s classroom to the biology lab wasn’t that far.

It was just a matter of climbing two flights of stairs. It was a close distance that took less than a minute.

The only downside was that now, as the new biology lab was being used, the corridor where the old biology lab was located was quite dusty.

Dust that looked like it would scatter visibly if even a small breeze blew.

And Riana was waiting for Professor Aria, who had called her, in front of the biology lab in the middle of such a corridor.

“When is she coming… Ah.”

When about 5 minutes had passed without Professor Aria arriving, Riana was about to let out a small complaint, but she swallowed back the complaint she was about to utter when she saw Professor Aria appearing at the end of the corridor.

Professor Aria walking from the end of the corridor connected to the stairs. Riana was about to bow her head lightly to greet her, but she couldn’t bring herself to bow when she saw ‘something’ being dragged by her right hand.

‘Professor… Kama?’

The cause of her current muscle pain, who had given her the choice between penalty points and punishment yesterday and had become an object of fear.

When she saw this object of fear being dragged by an even greater object of fear, Professor Aria, Riana took a slight step back while looking at the two with quite a curious gaze.

Well, she couldn’t help but be curious. Although Professor Aria had said with her own mouth that they were her sisters, she had never once seen her actually with these people she called sisters.

No, to begin with, it was hard to even see the faces of Professor Aria and the professors said to be her sisters at the academy unless it was during major practical class times.

The only one whose face could be seen definitively was the cook named Yeonhwa working in the cafeteria.

So today, seeing Professor Aria dragging Kama, who was said to be her sister, for the first time, Riana opened her mouth slightly in surprise, and before she could close it, Professor Aria, who had arrived in front of her dragging Kama, put her hand on Riana’s shoulder and said:

“I’m sorry. I was no longer holding that incident deeply in my heart, but due to my mistake, my sister has caused you trouble. I’ll apologize. Come on, Kama. You apologize too.”

Words of forgiveness. For a moment, Riana didn’t understand those words and was about to ask again, but before that, Professor Aria forcibly made Kama, whom she had brought, stand up.

Then Kama resisted with a crooked posture as if trying to resist being made to stand. However, there seemed to be a big difference in strength between her and Aria, so she was eventually made to stand up from where she had been sitting.

Her appearance was so different from the elegant and kind atmosphere she had exuded yesterday that it was questionable whether she was the same person as Kama. Was it because she was with family?

Riana inwardly asked herself about Kama’s 180-degree changed appearance, but the answer to that was shown right in front of her.

“I merely punished a student who was rude to my sister. So I did nothing wro… Kyaak?!”
“I clearly told you to apologize, Kama. Or do you want to die by my hand today?”

Kama trying to slip away, slightly turning her head while maintaining her crooked posture. However, before Kama could even turn her body, Aria’s fist grabbed her crown and shoved her face into the dusty corridor, and finally, Kama gave a sincere apology to Riana.

“I’m… truly sorry for yesterday, Miss Riana. If my sister has forgiven you, there’s no reason for me to be angry with Miss Riana. So please feel comfortable focusing on my class from now on.”

A truly sincere apology that didn’t seem like it was just done because she was told to. And when she realized that it came from something beyond respect and consideration for Aria, Riana had no choice but to fold what she had buried deep in her heart.

‘Yes… I’d better give up…’

Things like revenge. It might be better to forget about it now.

It’s better to save one’s life than to die trying, isn’t it?