A Dangerous Scent
"Haa..." Still nothing. How has that guy not been kicked out of the academy yet? He skips more days than he shows up.
It had taken nearly half a day to enchant the item he'd asked for yesterday and brew the strange potion he'd commissioned along with a stamina potion. After listening to that pink-haired girl who'd suddenly appeared, he'd dumped the request on me and left in a hurry with the finished goods.
Would it kill him to explain things properly...? I guess I'll just have to go.
"Are you close with Logue by any chance?"
Just as I was about to turn away, a voice called out to me. I turned to see a male student with striking red hair.
"....Who are you?"
My voice came out colder than I'd intended. It was only because I'd been startled by a stranger suddenly speaking to me.
"Sorry. My name's Hero. I'm Logue's classmate. I was curious about him... I've seen you visiting him lately. Are the two of you close?"
Am I close with Logue...?
I thought about my relationship with Logue after hearing the red-haired student's—Hero's—question. We hadn't known each other long enough to call ourselves close, and all I remembered was making potions or enchanting equipment whenever he asked. Though we had gone into a dungeon together.
Huh? Are we even friends...?
Suddenly, my mood soured. Forget being close—were we even friends?
"...You don't need to know. I'll be direct. I'll sponsor you. In exchange, you'll have to make potions and items for me."
At our first meeting, Logue had said he'd sponsor me. He'd even handed over ten gold, a hefty sum. Maybe our relationship really was just that of sponsor and sponsored...
I absentmindedly fiddled with the ring on the ring finger of my left hand. The ring Logue had given me in the dungeon. After countless cleanings, it gleamed with a smooth, dust-free shine.
"Um....?"
The red-haired student—Hero, was it?—spoke cautiously to my silence.
"We're close! Super close!"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. Whatever...
"Then, could I ask you just one thing...? What kind of person is Logue?"
Hero seemed genuinely curious about Logue.
What kind of person is Logue...?
"He treats people however he wants, acts all cold, barely talks unless he's ordering you around... and he hides a lot of things too..."
"...I saw potential in that passion. I can trust you."
"But he's surprisingly kind too..."
"...Follow Luden out of the dungeon. I'll catch up soon."
"He's reliable, trustworthy... cool... He's a really strange person."
After hearing my answer, Hero spoke with a dazed expression. Had I said something weird?
"Uh... uh-huh... I see..."
"But why? Do you have business with Logue?"
"I was just curious what kind of person he is... Anyway, I understand how you feel about him now. ...You really like him, don't you?"
Like him? Me? Logue? Hero left after spouting that ridiculous nonsense.
Haa... What a strange guy.
. . .
Somewhere in the Alchemy Department laboratory.
A female student was conducting an experiment amid the array of lab equipment. Her gaze was fixed on a brain organoid. The artificial brain organoid created through alchemy possessed a brain tissue structure similar to that of a human and was commonly used in experiments developing potions that primarily affected people—mainly the brain. Because of its similarity to the human brain, similar results could be obtained without testing on actual humans.
"Aww... Another failure..."
The experiment the girl had conducted involved injecting a drug—made by combining awakening herbs and living tissue—into the brain organoid. The expected effects of the injected drug were enhanced intelligence and increased regenerative ability. However, no visible changes occurred after the injection. Deeming it a failure, the girl flushed the brain organoid down the sink. Afterward, the organoid was shredded by the strainer installed in the pipes connected to the sink and the water pressure, flowing toward the sewer in pieces.
What the girl had overlooked was that the effects of the injected drug were far more potent than expected, and that the changes simply weren't visible to the naked eye. The shredded brain organoid began regenerating in that state. New brain organoids started growing from each piece of tissue, and countless organoids were born in the sewer. Originally, brain organoids were merely models that mimicked part of the human brain's functions, but their enhanced intelligence and regenerative abilities enabled cell division at an alarming rate.
—And before long, they transformed into something that could truly be called living beings.
The pipes connected to the Alchemy Department building all led to a single sewer. Experimental solutions, potion residues, and large amounts of mana contained in liquids discarded from the laboratories began flowing toward the brain organoids. As time passed, countless chemical reactions occurred within them. Only a single entity survived the aftermath. It was the birth of the first artificial lifeform—the homunculus.
***
The homunculus attack incident, which originally occurred at the end of the first-year second semester, happened suddenly without any warning. The homunculus that suddenly appeared from the Alchemy Department building. Since the building was already destroyed by that point in the original work, the exact cause couldn't be determined, but its ability to mimic the powers of those it consumed and its insane reproductive capability were the real problems. If even one escaped alive, it would be over. There was a way to distinguish them, but...
If only there was a way to stop it, but I don't even know where it started...
Knock knock.
"...May I come in?"
Sane knocked before entering the room with what looked like delicious food.
"Thanks, Sane."
"Right? You'd be lost without me, wouldn't you?"
Sane puffed up immediately. But as someone in her debt, I had nothing to say.
"...It's no fun when you don't react anymore. Are you feeling better?"
"I think I can move around without much trouble now. I should be able to return to the academy soon."
Several days had passed since I'd been staying at Sane's house, and my condition had improved significantly. Intense movement would still be difficult, but...
"By the way, is everything okay with the Demon Countermeasures Division? You haven't been going to work lately."
"Oh? That? I quit."
...?
"Are you allowed to just quit like that?"
"The guy who took me in died last time anyway, and I was only staying because I had no reason to leave... I was getting tired of it."
Sane's expression grew slightly wistful as she mentioned the man. They must have been close. Without thinking, I reached out and patted her head.
"...What are you doing?"
"Sorry. It was just instinct."
Because my parents used to pat my head a lot when comforting or praising me as a child, that habit seemed to have lingered even after possessing the game character.
"So, do you have any plans for the future?"
"Hmm... I don't know? I've saved up quite a bit of money, so I was thinking of just relaxing for a while."
"I see..."
Sane was more capable than she looked, so finding work wouldn't be difficult if she wanted to.
"Then you're heading back to the academy?"
"That's the plan. ...Thanks for everything while I was here. I'll definitely repay this debt someday."
"Yeah, yeah... Huh? You're leaving already? You just mentioned it."
After finishing the meal Sane had prepared, I got up from the bed right away.
"It's best to act when you think of it. ...There are things I need to do at the academy anyway."
I planned to head straight to the Alchemy Department building once I arrived. To find clues about the homunculus... and to see Liana while I was at it.
. . .
After packing my things, I left Sane's house.
"By the way, why are you following me?"
"I told you I'm unemployed...? I'm bored."
For some reason, Sane kept following me. ...She must really be bored.
"...Understood."
In the end, Sane and I walked together all the way to the academy.
***
In front of the academy's Alchemy Department building.
"Whoa... This building is seriously fancy. As expected of the academy?"
Sane let out an exclamation of surprise at the building's sleek design. The game had given the academy a strangely modern aesthetic, so it had a very sophisticated feel.
"...Let's go in."
"Okay~"
After that, Sane and I entered the building. In the game, the point when the homunculus took over the Alchemy Department building was around the end of the second semester—roughly two months from now. But if we could prevent it, there was nothing better.
"Hmm...?"
"What's wrong, Sane?"
"...I smell something strange..."
A smell? I took a deep breath to catch it, but aside from the scents of chemicals and materials, there was nothing unusual.
"Are you talking about the chemical smell?"
"......No. It's more rotten... and pungent... but also sweet? What is this?"
Thud. Thud.
A male student who looked like he belonged to the Alchemy Department was walking toward us. His expression was lifeless, as if he was exhausted.
...Whoops.
Without even the energy to look ahead, he bumped lightly into my shoulder before passing by.
"Huh? That guy had the same smell I just caught. ...Did he spray perfume or something?"
"It might be the smell of perfume mixed with body odor."
"Hmm... Maybe?"
Sane wore an oddly uneasy expression.
"You know, I've had assassin training?"
"...I know."
"So I mainly trained my five senses, especially smell and hearing? Eyes are easy to deceive, but smells and sounds are hard to fake, right?"
"...."
"People told me my sense of smell was especially good. While working as an assassin, I ended up being able to distinguish things without even trying."
"Distinguish what?"
Sane spoke to me with a serious expression.
"—The smell of danger."
Then Sane suddenly dashed toward the male student who had just passed by.
"Sane!"
And before I could stop her, she pulled a dagger from her coat and drove it into the student's neck.
Thud.
When Sane's dagger pierced his neck, the student trembled and collapsed on the spot.
"What the hell are you—huh?"
Something was wrong. The student had stopped trembling and lay there, but what should have been there wasn't.
"...See? I told you I smelled danger."
Not a single drop of blood flowed from the student lying there with a dagger embedded in his neck.