I almost screamed in surprise at her words, which hit the nail on the head. It was a truly accurate deduction for something tossed out so casually. Moreover, it seemed to me that she said this with the intention of testing me.
'No, that's not right. How could this person know my past? That's an oversimplification.'
Being surprised or nervous here was no different from revealing my tail to that researcher.
I sat in front of the vanity and picked up the toner Mary had bought some time ago. Then, as if to show off, I started applying it to my face, making a tapping sound.
"I can't believe it's really Sally. Did someone come to the Magic Tower while I was out?"
“Not really.”
"I'm not really sure. Couldn't it just be the Tower Master's whim? Maybe he got tired of playing Sally now that the secrets of the exhibition hall have all been revealed."
"Oh my, you know how sincere the Tower Master is towards Sally, right? To say he's gotten tired of her... that's exactly what you've got wrong."
The woman visible through the mirror was staring at me so intently that it was uncomfortable.
"Would you like to apply some too, senior?"
I rubbed lipstick onto my lips, something I didn't usually wear, and asked, even though I knew it was completely different from what she wanted. Naturally, she shook her head.
"Or how about this perfume? The scent rises subtly, so I think it wouldn't be overwhelming even for people who don't usually wear perfume."
She approached me. However, instead of the perfume bottle, she picked up the comb lying beside her. Then, she stuck it into my hair. I flinched involuntarily.
"Oh my, there's no need to be so surprised. I just thought I'd comb your hair."
" How could I make a senior do something like that?"
I felt like I had offered my neck to the enemy. I tried to snatch the comb from her hand, but Researcher Sally dodged it by stretching her arm high.
"Don't feel pressured, just do it. I'm doing it because I want to."
It felt awkward to refuse when she was saying it like that. More than anything, I wondered what could possibly happen with just a comb. In the end, I sat down, letting her touch my hair.
"Come to think of it, I’m really curious. What kind of person was that Sally? Was her magical ability incredible? Just how great must she be for the Tower Master to be searching for her so desperately? Why on earth hasn't she appeared until now?"
Before she knew it, she was speaking as if she were referring to a living person, not someone from the past.
“Aren’t you curious?”
Her eyes met mine. They gleamed, just as they do when she is engrossed in her research. It was a look that had excluded everything else because she loved one thing so much.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
I wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.
"Thanks. Well then, Senior, I'm hungry, so I guess I should head to the cafeteria. Let's talk about that next time."
“Then eat this.”
A potion, brought at some unknown time, was placed on the dressing table. It seemed that she had no intention of ending the conversation willingly.
"I just want to eat something right now."
"Then shall we go to a restaurant together?"
The moment I stood up from the chair, she threw the potion she had placed on the dressing table onto the bookshelf without giving me a chance to stop her.
"Now..."
Following the sound of shattering glass, an alien sound was heard. I turned my head without a moment to interrogate the other person. Flames that had shot up in an instant were blazing.
'If you call someone, it will be too late.'
I had no other choice, even though I knew that using magic would make that crazy woman cling to me even more tenaciously. It was obvious that if I delayed, the fire would spread throughout the entire magic tower.
I reached out my hand in the direction of the flickering flames. It wasn't that difficult to put out the fire itself, but I was shocked that the researcher had done such a thing.
'Just vanish.'
A deep blue light radiated from the fingertips and enveloped the flames. That was the end of it. The flames vanished without a trace, and Rudis's scroll fell to the floor with a thud, spreading out long across it. But this was not the time to worry about that.
“What are you doing!”
Rather, measures should have been taken against the person who committed this reckless act.
The researcher grinned with eyes full of madness. I had suspected that someone who had done this wouldn't meekly tell me the reason. However, that smile, as if he expected me to naturally be able to stop the flames, felt unsettling.
"Also."
Instead, she took a step closer to me.
"You're the real Sally, aren't you? Archmage Sally."
"What do you mean by that? More importantly, please explain why on earth you set the fire..."
"Do you intend to hide your identity even after showing off such amazing magic? Then how about this?"
Sally opened another glass bottle. Black smoke immediately shot up.
'This is.'
They were shadows. If it were me before I regained my memories, these things wrapping around my body would have been quite terrifying. But now, they were creatures that would disappear with a single command from me.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I just want to know the truth. I am simply using a method to verify it without you having to say anything. I can do this again and again."
I had been watching her for the past few months. She was always holed up in her laboratory, making things. She also possessed considerable knowledge of alchemy and magic. So, this couldn't be just empty bravado.
I clutched the shadows tightening around my neck. They crumbled and vanished in my hand. After shaking my head a couple of times, as if to shake off any remaining traces, I looked her straight in the eye.
"That's right. I am the Archmage Sally."
Denying it any longer was nothing more than playing along with her crazy antics.
"I knew it! I felt it from the very beginning. That you are the one."
The researcher clasped her hands together as if she had made a tremendous discovery. Unable to contain her excitement, she was shaking her body up and down. The atmosphere was such that it wouldn't have been strange if she had just burst out the door and shouted that the Archmage had returned.
'I haven't even recovered my full memory yet. That would be troublesome.'
"You wouldn't be loose-lipped enough to spill the beans to others, would you?"
"If the Archmage wants it, of course I should keep it a secret."
I was relieved by her more obedient attitude than I had anticipated. She was someone who had followed Eon simply because he was the continent's greatest mage. Perhaps she would worship me, the Archmage, in the same way. If she would just do that, things would be much easier.
"Why on earth were you so curious about my identity? Did you want something?"
"Oh my, are you willing to grant anything I wish for?"
She leaned her face in before I could even say anything.
"I heard you completed the Philosopher's Stone, right? Teach me the method, too. That is exactly what I want."
It was the Philosopher's Stone once again.
'Count Hyrn also demanded the Philosopher's Stone.'
However, unlike him, the researcher was deeply immersed in alchemy. In fact, it could not be seen as entirely strange that she mentioned the Philosopher's Stone.
"It’s not something that can be explained that easily."
"Why? Do you feel that my skills are still lacking?"
I pushed her away as she kept clinging to me and said.
"The qualification to transmute a Philosopher's Stone is not skill."
“What do you mean?”
"No matter how lofty the level of alchemy may be, it cannot be perfected without an altruistic heart."
I had merely conveyed the realization I had gained. However, the researcher contorted her face.
"That's a lie. You have no intention of telling me?"
"It seems like we’re too worked up right now, so I think we should calm down for a while. Both you and I."
My plan was to gently coax her out of this situation for now. Since she was someone obsessed with knowledge of magic, it was a perfectly realistic plan. However, there was something I hadn't anticipated.
"Ugh."
Suddenly, I felt a hot pain in my side. It was a type of pain I had never experienced before, and I couldn't even tell what was happening.
I lowered my head and saw the handle. It looked exactly like part of a knife. And the opposite end of the handle had pierced my flesh and was embedded in my body. My clothes turned red in an instant.
"Do you think I'm a child? The secret to crafting the Philosopher's Stone? You think you'd teach me that? Not a chance."
"Why, why are you doing this?"
"You didn't even tell the Tower Master that method, did you? Aren't those failed homunculus the proof?"
I had to admit that I underestimated her. She was much crazier than I thought and had been preparing for this moment for way longer.
"Would you like to hear my hypothesis? The Tower Master must have created all those Homunculus to summon your soul. That would have been the safest way to find you again."
Her words lingered in my ears. Even for a researcher at the Magic Tower, it was not an easy task to conceive of someone's reincarnation. However, she assumed reincarnation so naturally.
"However, considering the completed works to be quite unsatisfactory, he must have used a different method. He must have summoned you to this land in a new body. Of course, he had to go through the hassle of finding you, but as the Tower Master, he would have been confident."
Perhaps she came to the Magic Tower knowing all of this from the beginning, just like Tara did.
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