KTBYM - Chapter 82

What she wanted was to create a perfect life form that had the appearance of a human but transcended humanity. It was a being known as a homunculus, the pinnacle of alchemy.

It was also something Sally had been researching before the massive monster attacks. She had created several times that were identical in appearance to humans, but that was not what Sally wanted.

'You can't even call that a real homunculus.'

That thing, which seemed to possess intelligence no more than that of a puppy, blindly followed only the commands inputted by its owner. As a result, incidents and accidents were frequent. Whether fortunate or unfortunate, their lifespans were short. After a little over a year, they had exhausted all their energy, leaving only empty shells behind.

It was said that they knew all truth and knowledge from birth, but the homunculus, lacking a heart, was merely a doll resembling a human.

'If it is a homunculus with the Philosopher's Stone in its heart.'

Sally had no doubt that a creature just like the legend would be born.

And so, peace came to Baynan. In a world where a common enemy had disappeared, internal division was a rare occurrence. But Baynan was different. From the noblest to the lowest, everyone shared joy with one heart and mind and knew how to cherish peace.

Sally was offered all sorts of honorable positions, but all she wanted was to quietly devote herself to her research.

Sally, having returned to the Magic Tower, created Eon here. It was the birth of a perfect homunculus with the Philosopher's Stone as its heart.

And this was Sally's memory, and it was my own past life.

'Eon, how could I have forgotten you? Why had I forgotten myself?'

If this hadn't been a reenactment of the past, I probably wouldn't have been able to control my overflowing tears. Fortunately, I was merely an audience member watching the play. Even while I couldn't compose myself, Sally—no, the me from my past life—was steadily carrying on with my work.

I took my lips off the child's forehead. I held the child's face, which was finally regaining its color, in both hands.

"Eon. That is your name. It means to become the light of the world."

Little Eon's eyelids blinked as if he had understood my words. The endless purple universe vanished. It was a universe deep and distant, yet empty and indifferent. And the first thing to be captured in this universe was my face.

The child stared at me again and again, as if I were the entire universe. And finally, the small lips moved, and a voice flowed out.

“Eon?”

"Yes, Eon. Just like your name, you will become a bright and shining being."

The child muttered that name several times. That name was becoming firmly embedded in this frail body.

This time, a small hand pointed at me. It seemed as though he were asking what my name was.

"I'm Sally, call me Sally."

“Sally?”

Perhaps because of the clear, delicate voice that sounded like a gentle breeze brushing past, the name Sally sounded completely different. It was not a name I had heard sick and tired of hearing from Tower Master Eon, nor was it the name of the Archmage I had seen through the eyes of others. It was simply my own name.

'Eon, I'm back. It might be too late, but I'm back anyway.'

It was none other than I who studied magic and lived my daily life with this little being. It was I who left for the Eastern Continent promising to return, and it was I who made him weary of waiting.

I, who had been wandering the dimensions, had finally returned to Eon after hundreds of years.

I suddenly remembered living in my previous world without parents or friends. Overwhelmed by loneliness, I even thought that the world was pushing me away. Perhaps it was because I was a person from another world.

'Then why on earth did I think this place was a novel?'

"Sally. Sally!"

Just then, I heard a voice calling out to me desperately. It was not the little boy from my memories, but a real child calling out to me. It could not be a coincidence that I had been reincarnated on this earth with brown hair and green eyes. He must have researched magic to bring back my soul, which had been wandering across time and space.

'And surely before I die...'

"Sally, Sally."

My thoughts went blank. It was partly because my memory hadn't fully returned yet, but more than anything, I wanted to respond quickly to that desperate call.

'Until now, I thought the child was mistaking me for Sally, but it was actually me who was the one mistaking him.'

What expression should I make toward that child who waited for a fool like me? What should I say to him? I opened my eyes without being able to decide.

The child's tear-stained face was right in front of me.

“Sally?”

As I met those wet eyes, words naturally flowed out.

"I'm alive. I've returned to your side alive like this. So please don't worry anymore."

"Thank god."

The child, with reddened eyes, smiled brightly. It was purely out of relief that I had woken up from fainting. I opened my mouth once again.

"I made you wait too long. Right, Eon?"

In an instant, the smile vanished from the little boy's face, and his breathing stopped. No, it seemed as though not only his breathing but time itself had ceased. My image was reflected in the child's eyes, just as it had been when we first met. Like someone who sees nothing else, they held only me.

I could read the old emotions sleeping beyond it. It seemed as if it would soon collapse like an old house, yet also as if it would never change like a rock firmly rooted.

I gently stroked the little boy's cheek. A single tear rolled down from the child's eye. Time, which had stopped, finally began to move again.

“Sally?”

"Yeah, it's me, Sally."

The small body collapsed into my arms just as it was.

"I... I really missed Sally."

Even though I was sitting on the ground, I almost fell backward. It wasn't because the child was heavy. It was because the moment I heard the words "I missed you," something that had been constricting my body suddenly let go.

“Did you miss me?”

“Yeah. A lot.”

I realized, belatedly, that I had actually been nervous. The day I abandoned him and left, the day I ended up so late... I was inwardly worried that the child might hate me. Even if that were the case, I was all the more afraid of that resentment because there was no room for excuses.

'Three hundred years have passed, but I am still the person little Eon loves and trusts.'

The child in my arms was warm and sweet. What welled up from my chest soon bloomed fully, enough to fill my entire body. It felt just like returning home after a long journey.

"I'm sorry. I came too late."

"No. It's enough that Sally came back. Really, that's all I need."

With his face buried, the child kept muttering the same words. I rubbed my cheek against the little one's soft hair and patted his small shoulder.

The image of the little boy waiting for Sally all alone flashed through my mind. However, what I saw was merely a part of it. The time the little boy waited for me without a promise of return was a staggering three hundred years.

'Why on earth did I do that?'

If I had known we would be separated for this long, I would never have left.

'Yeah, back then I thought one or two years would be enough.'

Besides, I had already dealt with monsters until I was sick of them. I thought that the monsters appearing in the Eastern Continent could be easily defeated as well.

'But there...'

"That is quite a tearful reunion."

Just as I was about to recall what happened at Tartan, a gritty voice pierced my ears. I frowned reflexively.

"Stop making that face as if a troublemaker has appeared. Even this boat has come looking for you."

'Now that I think about it.'

Only now did I realize the situation I was in. I hadn't returned home; instead, I was fighting far away. Along with that, I thought of Count Hyrn, Tara, and Mary, who had collapsed after being stabbed.

"Mary?"

It was not a situation where I could leisurely savor the joy of reunion. I left the little one behind and looked around.

"What happened?"

"Mary is fine. I treated her."

The child pointed at Mary as if knowing what I was worried about. Mary was lying flat with her eyes closed. I quickly dismissed the frivolous thought that she looked just like a corpse in that position.

“Are you sure she's okay?”

"Yeah. Her wounds are all healed. She's just sleeping right now."

The little boy wrapped his arm around my neck and answered. My vision was once again filled with the child.

"Everything is fine. So you don't have to worry about anything else."

It was a gesture demanding that I focus solely on him. It seemed he wanted to monopolize me, having met him after such a long time. I, too, was fully prepared to indulge the little one's childish antics.

"What about Count Hyrn?"

I asked Eon while holding the little one in my arms.

"I sent him back to where he originally came from."

"If it were the original place."

"I don't know either. Since they followed the magic circle, they must have followed it back."

Eon shrugged his shoulders as if it were none of his business. Whether it was because he had survived a near-death experience or because the other person was Count Hyrn, his indifferent words did not sound bad.

“You’re alive, right?”

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