When Kaizowski first set foot in the Gift Academy, he was torn between a terrible guilt of having wished for the destruction of an entire nation at the hands of an Evil Dragon and the sense of achievement from eradicating the Millennium, an evil kingdom that could not let go of war, thus stopping a chain of tragedy.
“I did the right thing.”
“If someone hadn’t stopped the Millennium Kingdom, more people would have died.”
“They were planning to militarize artificial cultivation technology. That technology, a culmination of science and magic sacrificed by promising young lives, would have been trampled on!”
Hearing Kaizowski’s fervent speech, the teaching assistants wore expressions of ‘Oh, I see,’ mixed with ‘So what? What does that even mean?’ and ‘Is he getting senile? How many times does he have to say this?’
An old man’s struggle to find justification for his actions was nothing but tiresome talk to the youth who had heard it all before.
Homunculus Manufacturing Facility.
The little ones in this facility were born for experiments, used in various tests, and then died.
Since the day Kaizowski made a deal with the Evil Dragon, it was their predetermined fate. They would be born, experimented on, and die. Creating lives destined only to be killed in exchange for destruction.
Of course, there might be a sense of fulfillment in it.
To study the optimal spells and intensities that inflict permanent damage to a human body with lightning magic.
To research the heart-shock magic that brings back the dead by delivering a jolt to the heart of someone who has stopped breathing.
For both lethal and non-lethal purposes.
Homunculi were excellent materials.
“Director. This is a message from the professor. You’re supposed to stop opposing the Homunculus Ethics Amendment now.”
“Absolutely not! Don’t you have any conscience? How can you not see that further enhancing the senses of those who live solely for death is a cruel act that subjects them to greater suffering!!”
“Haah, could you just drop the theatrics?”
“What, what did you just say? What are you talking about?”
“Since we’re at it, let me be clear. I understand you’re tormented by guilt, but that’s a contract you made, isn’t it? Whatever research you’re doing, you should bear the consequences yourself.”
Kaizowski was engulfed in furious rage at the teaching assistant’s outrageous words.
“Paul. Amy. Do you share James’ thoughts?”
Even at James’ shocking statement, the two students who had always boredly listened to Kaizowski nodding along.
Under the Empire Faction Professor, the teaching assistants received permission to assist with experiments, stating that they couldn’t solely research taboo technology at the Academy for the future of the Empire.
Once they graduated from the Academy, they would become pioneers in life magic engineering, establishing the Empire’s own Forbidden Research Institute or actively participating in the mass production of Homunculi after regulatory relaxations.
In unison, these young ones stated:
Your guilt is yours alone.
We have no reason to share it.
Rather, visible was even a sense of anxiety.
They didn’t see it.
The suffering the Homunculi would endure.
Their miserable reality ending in disposal.
The horrific recycling process for the creation of the next material.
To achieve better results for themselves.
To contribute to the Empire’s interests.
To savor their own glory.
“James. Paul. Amy. I apologize for bothering you busy young ones. We shouldn’t obstruct the future of promising youth. Tell the professor I will no longer oppose the ethics amendment.”
The rebellion and hostility disappeared from the eyes of the three students.
“Thank you, Director!”
“If you ever need the power of the Mint Choco family, just say the word. Our family can be of great help to you.”
“Did you hear that the fourth years’ potion for transcendental awakening allows you to awaken one random extreme for a while? Want to go drink it together?”
Kaizowski faced the friendly teaching assistants with a smiling face.
But his eyes were not smiling at all.
“Why are there shackles… Ugh.”
“Paul? What’s going on? Where are we?”
“We were definitely celebrating the passing of the Homunculus Ethics Amendment… after drinking the director’s wine… wine? Right, wine. We drank that wine and fainted!”
“James, Paul! Help!”
“No way. We’re bound too. Paul, can you move your mana?”
“No way. It’s Mana Poison. I can’t move at all!”
The three teaching assistants woke up, shackled on the experimental table.
The celebration for the passing of the Homunculus Ethics Amendment was a trap for Kaizowski’s revenge.
“Director, let’s talk this out.”
“If you touch even a hair on us, the elders of our family won’t stand by!”
“We admit we were wrong. Right? Please, just let us go.”
Pop. Pop. Pop.
The lights turned on in the laboratory.
Familiar magical devices came into view behind Kaizowski, who was standing with his back to them.
“D-Director. That’s not… the [Consciousness Transfer Device], is it?”
“What are you planning to do to us!!”
“Mom, mommm!!”
With a smiling face, the director said gently,
“Your words have moved this old man. If feeling guilty is a problem for my research for humanity’s future, then I simply won’t feel guilty.”
“Do you know? Ignoring the human rights of the test subjects, I’ll store, replicate the consciousness of teaching assistants and insert it into the Homunculi, so this kind of country wouldn’t feel guilty either.”
“I could rapidly increase the intelligence of a Homunculus to a child-like level. We could extract better quality data. Although the professor had a fit, as the principal and the emperor both approved, any trouble caused by the noble faction will amount to nothing, and they will sleep.”
But his gentleness was only directed at the immature Homunculi who would no longer suffer.
It was a relief and joy directed at a reality where instead, the demonic teaching assistants, sulking about not being able to leave because they couldn’t die quickly, would bear the pain.
“Farewell. No, we shall meet soon. In the Homunculi’s experimental area.”
The consciousness of the teaching assistants was stored in the preservation device.
Now, the process of creating Homunculi included a ritual where their consciousness was replicated and extracted into the Homunculi.
The nameless Homunculi received names.
James #1.
Paul #1.
Amy #1.
Remembering the knowledge of Mana Flow Technique, they stacked Mana, and recalling the Mana Refinement Technique, they enhanced their bodies, thereby extending the lifespans of the Homunculi.
Homunculi no longer died too quickly and could endure more intense experiments.
It didn’t matter if they suddenly dropped dead.
Endless replicas could be made.
“Director, you’ve lived a pretty long life for a human. You could stop your research now. The principal has granted your retirement. You may not leave Gift Island, but you can comfortably enjoy the rest of your life in the staff living quarters.”
“No. I cannot end the experiment. I will submit a new [Ethics Amendment] so that no one can commit the same sins as I did, as they do.”
“OMG… Have you gone mad? Such a terrible amendment…”
The Director submitted an amendment to the procedure to transfer his soul to the Consciousness Transfer Device, so that only souls worthy of suffering would be inserted into the Homunculus’s body.
Of course, Kaizowski would be left trapped inside the cold machine, only repeating the same task of approving cruel experiments.
For the next ten years, twenty years, or even more than a hundred years.
“Professor, do you think I will leave without liberating the souls of those demonic children?”
“!!”
“Your greed has destroyed your apprentices. And they will never be saved for the rest of their lives. This is the last revenge an old man can enact who is left with nothing but guilt and arrogance.”
The true enemy who pressured the passage of the Ethics Amendment from behind the teaching assistants also kneeled before Kaizowski’s madness, which surpassed even his own flesh.
Kaizowski gained the principal’s permission and chose the Consciousness Transfer Device as his new body.
Time passed.
Ten years, twenty years, a hundred years.
Eventually, five hundred years.
A cycle of revenge repeated over five hundred years.
The purpose of the revenge became blurred, the consciousness and will gradually fading each day.
Now, an unexpected guest visited what had become a mechanical routine.
“Can I borrow the Homunculus production equipment and the Consciousness Transfer Device for a moment?”
A girl full of hope for the future and an ominous hat holding the girl’s soul in her hands, along with an old man in butler robes who seemed distant even when he was right in front of them.
“Who are you…”
The endlessly suspicious trio was led by Oknodie.
“Here to make big sister’s body, good child?”
“Is that so… We should reward a good child…”
Despite his sinister aura, the director operated the devices willingly and collaborated.
James. Paul. Amy.
And a few other names.
The bodily information of the small Homunculus models modelled after the sinners whom Kaizowski condemned appeared on the dashboard.
“What kind of body do you want…”
The director genuinely seemed willing to cooperate.
The ones he punished were all evil beings.
There was no reason to torment the good child.
“I want all of it, but can’t you customize it? Using the best materials!”
“Such greed…”
“But I’ll grant you one wish! Do you want to get out of there?”
However, this child was not just a simple, helpless child wanting to save her sister.
“I can do this too!”
The child who stuck her finger into a blood-red violin pulled out a soul that screamed in agony and despair from within it and then shoved it back in.
“Should I make a body for grandpa too?”
What was felt was pure goodwill.
But violating and inflicting pain on human souls is not something a good child would do.
From every angle, it was a wicked child.
Perhaps more wicked than all the other James, Paul, Amy combined.
