Chapter 33 - A New Encounter!
At the head of the battlefield Luke and the others were rushing towards the doctor and the chimeras at the start. Some of the Beast folks stayed in the back to prepare against any potential attackers from behind so the ones at the head were Luke, Vanessa, the Lion Beast folk and Mellie who stayed at the front to help the front deal with any injuries.
Staring at them, I started to wonder what role I played din this team anyways. At first, I only joined them since the hero had invited me to come. He had seen through my disguise and the both of us wanted to keep an eye on each other but when sis my feelings start to change?
When did I start feeling like I really wanted to be a part of their team?
Maybe it was when I first saw them go and protect people, or maybe when they fought valiantly on the frontlines to fight for what they believed in? Maybe it was just now when she saw that broad back protecting in front of her?
For whatever the reason is, all that she knew now was that she wanted to be a part of this team. To be truly recognized as one of them. A spark glistened in her eyes as she then finally stood up and stared. at the front lines.
On the side, Wendy saw the mental and physical transformation and gave a heartfelt smile to me.
"Welcome to the hero party, Felicia!"
With a hand stretched out to me, I stared at it dazed for a moment before showing a confident grin.
"Yeah, happy to be a part of your team!"
Taking that hand, she was then pulled up and after a nod from Wendy the two of them ran up to the main team and started to cast together.
"Water Prison!"
"Void Hands!"
Both of our spells were cast and as the doctor was surprised that he was caught in a bubble of water, the cannons were then smashed and dismantled with ease.
"Alright, let's start our counterattack!" Shouted Luke who was now getting pumped from the decision made by me. In the front, Vanessa herself showed a bright grin as she worked with the lion to take the front and stop the chimeras from heading forward.
"Took you long enough." The lion folk responded with a gruff. They then used their claws to dig into the flesh of a chimera and use their limbs as a weapon to deter his opponent.
"Welcome!" Vanessa said with a bright smile.
With our teamwork, the doctor's various chimeric creations were completely outmatched and thus he was finally pushed into a corner.
"Urgh, damnit! You will not see the end of this! Mark my words!"
Running out through the entrance, we quickly tried to keep pace but a bunch of commotion in the back erupted. Looking back, we saw that the other beast folk were suddenly ambushed by a large crowd of chimera and rumbling sounded throughout the lab.
"Sorry you folks, I have to help make sure that the others are stable. You can pursue him if needed." The lion man said.
"No, we will save them. As a hero, what kind of a person would I be if I did not save the lives at my hand's grasp when a critical moment arrived."
After saying that, he turned and rushed to help save the beast folk. Surprised at the situation, he then showed a bright grin and came to help. With a sigh, the rest of us all joined in the rescue efforts.
Using my Void Hands once more, I helped to hold back most of the chimeras as the others helped to evacuate the lab basement. When the others saw that the entrance to the basement was closed off, they all worked together to slam the gate open.
When they all evacuated to the outside, I finally was able to no longer hold back and started to use the multiple Void Hands of mine to completely dispose of the chimera.
But before I could do so, some arguing was heard back up at the village. Although I did not head up there, I eventually heard some gasp and a little clashing before it all ended and someone came down to inform me what went wrong while I was preventing the chimeras and the lab cave in from affecting the outside world.
"WHAT?! That Doctor was still able to get away from you all?"
That's right. The doctor was able to still weasel himself out of this situation. Even with the Hero and that Lion folk arguing against them, the Doctor was able to use his reputation to convince the guards of the town that there were intruders trying to sneak their way into his private quarters and that he was attacked and needed to run to safety.
Using the opportunity that this granted, while the hero and lion folk were trying to convince the townsfolk of the doctor's evil he was able to make a getaway through the appearance of a mage with Shadow Magic.
It seems that instead of conflict, the earlier battle eventually led to the two working together again and escaping from this situation. After a lot of explanation, the townsfolk were then led to the lab that he had blown up and due to both the witness beast folk among them and the remaining rubble under the clinic were finally convinced that they had been tricked.
Unfortunately, it had been too late and that doctor had long since disappeared from view.
The townsfolk living there were all feeling bad for preventing one of the problems in the region from getting justice so they insisted on keeping us all here for a bonfire festival in the town square in the afternoon.
We agreed and listened to their request and finally left the dreary and sad place that that lab was.
During the festival, there were many excited and free townsfolk but the mercenaries and adventurers who had arrived for medicine were in a much more sour mood. After all, there would no longer be such a good source of high quality potions for the surrounding area and the development of the town here might stagnate because of our actions today.
Sitting on the sidelines after playing around in the afternoon made me a little contemplative so I wondered what I could do to help these people while I was here.
It was then that everything in the surroundings seemed to pause at that exact moment. All the festivities and noise seemed to have been put on pause as even the fire from the bonfire stood still. I quickly stood up on alert at the situation but then heard a familiar voice in my ear.
"It seems that you are doing much better than the main body anticipated. How wonderful!"
Turning to look at the source of the sound, a familiar figure appeared with the same familiar silver hair and blue eyes on them. Short horns sprouting upon her head like a crown while wearing what seemed to be a pure white lab coat on their body. Pulling out a pair of glasses from their breast pocket, they put it on and leaned in close to check on Felicia directly.
"Hmm, even after all this research I barely know the specifics of the soul. How on earth did a normal clone gain a will of its own like that? Research on the Soul and Will definitely still need to be researched from head to toe."
"You are the Alchemist Clone belonging to Alice, right?"
"Bingo!"
"But why do you have emotions? Didn't the other clones used to be all emotionless machines meant to research all aspects of magic and skills?"
"It has simply been too long since you have last checked up on us haven't you? If you were truly to investigate it, you would have known that a while back Alice had brown bored of speaking to basically robots when researching things in her own space. That is why she designated leader clones on each research subject to have their own subjective emotions but still be under her control."
Leader clones? How much has changed for Alice since the last time that they had met? Although Felicia had several questions, her train of thought was interrupted by the Alchemist clone once again.
"How vulgar, such low quality clones had been obsolete ever since I first started studying Alchemy! Their souls and wills are all still separate and are only physically mended together."
"Can you help them in any way?"
I asked this out of reflex but right afterwards I thought about it and found the thought quite dumb.
"... It seems you also know how idiotic of an idea that was. For these people here, the chimera that their people became are no longer their people. They have already accepted that and decided to simply celebrate the fact that such danger would no longer loom above them. Even if I revert their bodies, would they still be treated the same way when they return home? They saw what they had turned into. These are simply poor ordinary people with no resilience towards changes like these."
"But these people... they had suffered for so long and finally have an opportunity to live. I... I..."
"Calm down and take a deep breath. Breathe in, and breathe out. In and out. Yeah, just like that. Have you calmed down?"
Following her advice, I breathed in and out in pace with her words and my emotions finally calmed down. I was feeling a bit heated at that moment perhaps as a side effect of getting saved before in that lab. But now that I could think properly I began to ponder about the situation. If I wanted to convince this clone to save people, I need to find a way that they could be brought back but not cause any suspicions to the other townsfolk...
Thinking for myself, I kept on thinking of ways I could convince her to save them... After mulling it over, I finally found an answer that satisfied the conditions that I sought.
"Can you, pose as a alchemist who found out about what happened here and pretend to have reverted them back?"
It was then that a smile grew on the clone's face.
"It seems you are starting to finally think. How wonderful! This was all a test though."
"A test?"
"Let me ask you, why did Alice first send you to watch the hero's party?"
Why did I first get sent to watch the hero's party? Well obviously it was to monitor the hero and see his strength and growth to find out whether their party could be a threat to her.
"Then do you think she is worried about that now?"
Her question rang into my ears like thunder. Yeah, Alice had already seen in person the Hero's capabilities. She had already partly transcended the limitations of the skills in the system and has mastery over a variety of different spells that would casually trounce the hero and demon king both now. So why am I still watching him now?
After thinking about it for a long while, I finally came to a conclusion that startled me.
"Is it for me?"
"That's right! As a special soul born in a body created by her cloning technique, your consciousness can be considered to be her child. Thus she wanted to let you find and live out your own life. There is also the fact that her current research has reached some dangerous conclusions so that you would bo longer be safe around her."
"Dangerous conclusions?"
She did not answer. She simply went on to talk about fate and respecting life but all of that paled in comparison to what she was doing now. Seeing that I was disinterested in her current topic, she changed tunes and spoke about something else I was worried about.
"Don't worry about her. She knows what she is doing. About your previous topic I have found a compromise for those chimera's situation."
Hearing that caught my attention once more. Seeing that I was paying attention, she told me her full plan for those souls now that they had become chimeras.
"I will separate them all and wipe out their memories. They would be in much pain if they had to remember about what they went through to become their current state."
She then pressed a finger against my lips when I wanted to interject.
"Listen to the whole plan, Felicia. The townsfolk have already accepted that these people have died. Didn't you notice how they have not moved the chimeras from the lab? It is both out of caution as well as respect. They are treating those members there as if they had died when they turned into those forms."
Turning to look, indeed the clinic has not been touched even after day and turned to night.
"Remember that although this world has extraordinary power, these people have long seen fantasies like bringing back the dead as mere hearsay. Bringing them back and the townsfolk spreading the news would simply endanger the folks here. You have seen with your own eyes the darkness that some will voluntarily follow. So simply letting all of this end here and taking those souls away would be the best ending for them."
Listening to all of this, Felicia had no words to say. Although she knew that they could bring them back, but if that action would cause them to be targeted again in the future would such a situation be right? There is also the method of letting everyone related to the subject forget all about it and bring them back like nothing happened but such a project she did not even bring up to the clone.
After all that situation would simply be absurd and potentially leave problems if things are not cleaned thoroughly enough. Perhaps letting those souls live a new life might be a better end for them.
"This might all be a little overwhelming for now, how about you go and speak to the people here yourself? Maybe then you would be able to rest easily."
After suggesting this time seemed to flow once more and her figure and long since disappeared from view. After sitting in place contemplating for a moment, I decided to wander the town once more before finally confirming my thoughts again.
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