Chapter 40: Moonchild (2)

“...By the way, we have finished the first stage of bringing in the surrounding nobles. Charl. How is the research I entrusted you with while you were at the capital?”

I walked to the underground research facility while feeling a sense of fatigue after the completion of a task. The path that connected to the mines was initially just a dirt road but as part of the plan to improve living conditions, stone was installed. The clacking feedback sound from walking on the stone road was satisfying.

However, Charl’s reply to the topic that I brought up could not be said to be satisfying.

“Hey, Oubeniel. Rather than ask about it, how about seeing it in person now? Then I wouldn’t have to explain twice, yeah? Ain’t this what ya call inefficiency?”

“Ugh...”

I let out an involuntary groan. It has reached the point where this vampire was acting like this. Was it the environment making him overly relaxed or was this an early sign of him growing rebellious? Well, further investigation can be done later.

“Why not? It isn’t like explaining is going to decrease anything. With your expertise, I don’t see anything bad with being informed in advance. After all, you are my important fellow researcher.”

“WhaーIf you say it like that, why don’t you stop overworking me, master. After being suddenly ordered, I had to quickly take over the mass produced types and assemble them at the capital. To make things worse, you banned sucking blood...”

Wish he would stop being absurd. A vampire lord sucking blood in the capital would be a nightmare. If this guy chose a virgin girl of his liking to suck blood on, it was possible for her to become an A rank subjugation class monster.

“Don’t worry, with the success of this experiment, your burden should reduce considerably. This is a great chance for you to gather your favourite cute virgins too though?”

“Buuuut, that kind isn’t my favourite. That is just too pure. Compared to a brazen hussy, it is better but it wouldn’t give that kind of taste y’know? That kind is far too empty...I much prefer slowly enjoying a good girl at her moments of breaking down...”

“Disgusting hobby...”

Uni who was following me from behind said. I agree but for women like Uni and Drei, Charl’s hobbies were too much. It’s probably being of the same sex, they sympathised with the victims.

“Senior senior! Let’s not be mean to each other okay? In general, men find it more romantic when the girl tries to match their preferences. A fine example right here is senior yourself. Haven’t you been trying to match Oubeniel’s preferences?”

“This is gonna be a waste of time so all I’m gonna say is disgusting. Also, are there any benefits to putting stress on one’s body by offering it up to you?”

“You have it wrong. The other person who is being sucked by me isn’t offering their body to me, they are my toys, T-O-Y-S. The first and foremost priority is how I enjoy them. It is not about how practical it is for them.”

While being amused by my ‘creations’, we finally arrived at the place where the research in question was being conducted. I sighed and turned to face Charl.

“All this talk about your hobbies, but in the end, you couldn’t produce any good results?”

“Eh? Um, well...”

After pointing out his failures, Charl squeezed himself together.

Ahh, as I expected. Well, I had already guessed it. If it was successful, Charl would have been boastful on his achievements and would have pestered me for rewards. The moment he did not do so, I could predict that progress was unsatisfactory.

“Alright. Part of the blame was that this wasn’t your field of expertise. As long as you fix the mistakes and speed up, it is fine.”

I tried to comfort him.

It will soon be winter. When snow falls on Marlan, which is landlocked, the transportation networks would all slow down, affecting progress on the faction. It was not a season for tending crops so the only job left for the lord of the region was to come up with a plan to get past winter. Which means, I could put all my efforts on research until spring arrives.

“Y-You are absolutely right, Oubeniel! It is my greatest fortune to have such a gracious master!!”

“Flattering me won’t do you any good. Please endure yourself with the slaves that Laubert brings over.”

I opened the door to the research facility as I said. Inside was another door. It was used to maintain cleanliness in the room and ensure the experiments were unaffected by microorganisms. After being sprayed on by disinfectants, we went through the door.

It was a scene out of this world, but perfectly commonplace in science fiction from my previous world. Transparent glass cylinders lined up neatly near the wall. Inside the cylinders was some liquid and countless numbers of people floating like seaweed inside.

As though it was a factory for cloning people ― that was the impression it gave.

“So how was it, Charl? Their physical bodies look okay,  but what about inside of them?”

“It was a failure.”

He denied instantly.

Charl walked towards a cylinder abruptly and lightly poked the inside with his fist.

“All of them look well built from the body aspect but their wills are so weak beyond measure. They probably could make short replies if they were let out and perform simple tasks but are completely inferior to the M-series or B-series. They are supposed to be superior on both the physical and magical front though... Umm, what do you call this?”

“Their hardware poses no problems but their software is hopeless, right?”

“Right, that! Plainly speaking, their souls are faint and minuscule. It would be the same as not having self-consciousness and moving around in the outside world would only speed up their exhaustion and cause their souls to disappear faster. It would be considered good if they can even last 6 years. Of course, that is if they avoid injuries and illnesses.”

“...Then it is no different from what we made at the academy back then.”

It was no different from the past. So this was a failure.

After preparing such a large facility, the results were as such. Even I would feel disheartened.

Uni exhaled lightly and tried to comfort me.

“This is challenging to say the least. Creating a perfect homunculus that is...”

Homunculus. In the words of the old, it would mean ‘tiny people. It was an artificial human created by an alchemist. Compared to a golem that moves by magic, homunculi were cultivated in containers and were a genuine form of artificial life.

By the way, though they were termed as ‘tiny people, they were by no means limited to being small. Their size depends on the size of the container. Just like the cylinders in this room, if they were cultivated from large containers, it was possible to create homunculi the size of humans.

That being said, independent of their sizes, homunculi do not tend to live long. They could be kept alive for around ten years within their cultivators but once they are brought outside, they quickly die. The reason for this was not yet understood well. Weak immune systems were considered and autopsies were conducted but their bodies looked healthy. It was almost as if they ran out of battery power and switched off. Looks like I have to look into the flaws of their souls, as mentioned by Charl.

“Isn’t it obvious that recreating life from scratch would be difficult? The only person who managed to create a homunculus that overcame the longevity problem was the founder of alchemy himself.”

Basically, this was during the age of mythologies and was among the fairy tales of that era. Even though the events were written into literature, they slowly became inauthentic folklore as they passed on from generation to generation and were useless as reference. It even mentioned using horse dung or some herb in the cultivator. How on earth could humans be created like that.

“However, I thought the results at the academy were good...I thought if we used elves as the base of the homunculi, their lifespan would considerably increase.”

Charl pressed on.