Nereid spoke to the girl in the flask every single day without fail.

He had only one wish—to witness the continuation of the brilliant life that Atyura should have walked, the life that was stolen on the day his beloved daughter died.

The Atyura inside the flask began to show slight physical reactions to Nereid’s words. She absorbed his knowledge at an astonishing rate.

She did not grow at the same pace as a human. In just a few years, the Atyura in the flask had matured to the equivalent of a ten-year-old child.

The physical prime came quickly, and from there, development slowed. Even if Nereid himself were to pass away, Atyura could live a life equal in time to that of humans. Everything was according to plan.

—Papa.

Inside the fluid that filled the flask, Atyura narrowed her eyes and moved her lips to form that word. There was no voice. She simply moved her mouth. Yet Nereid was certain that’s what she said.

Tears overflowed like a waterfall.

His dead daughter Atyura had come back. At least, that’s how Nereid saw it. The only difference was the color of her eyes. Such a trivial matter. Something that could be fixed later, as many times as needed.

Atyura continued to grow.

—Father.

Soon, they were able to hold simple conversations.

Though no sound echoed within the fluid, Nereid could read her lips. Atyura spoke of things he had once told her, as if they were her own memories.

His gentle, twisted obsession had finally borne fruit.

But just then, fate once again tore the father and daughter apart.

A woman who had been working as a servant in the Arlensmith household for about a year suddenly turned her blade on Nereid. But all Atyura could do was watch the scene unfold through the glass of the flask.

—Why would someone do that?

She could not understand malice. Nereid had never taught her such things.

At the last moment, a group of men burst in and slashed the woman’s face. She fled through the shattered window, and Nereid was safe.

But Atyura barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief.

Those same men restrained Nereid, and to her horror, they began to carry away her flask.

Pressed against the glass, Atyura watched Nereid scream and reach out, crying in anguish.

—Father...?

And so she was taken out into the world.

Her destination: a magi alchemy research facility under the control of the Republic military. There, the men extracted her naked body from the liquid-filled flask.

—Heavy. My body... it's so heavy.

It was painful. But when she expelled all the liquid from her lungs, they filled with air.

However, an unexpected issue arose for the Republic soldiers.

They believed they had seized a homunculus weapon and its research data from Nereid. They never imagined that the heart of Nereid’s daughter, Atyura, had taken root within the weapon.

Yes—Atyura had a will of her own.

—I want to go home.

Because Nereid had given her a heart, Atyura went out of control.

No—that’s not right. She simply wanted to go home. Back to the house where Nereid was waiting.

She tore a massive hole through the military facility, swept aside the researchers, obliterated the arriving knight order, and finally, Atyura returned home.

But by then—

Nereid had taken his own life.

He was not strong enough to endure a second parting from his daughter.

In his arms was the outfit he had planned to give her on the day she left the flask.

Before his cold corpse, Atyura shed tears for the first time.

She screamed like a beast and wept.

She came to know the intense negative emotions of sorrow and hatred.

Atyura put on the gift of clothes.

For several days, she read many of the books left in the mansion and learned many things.

Eventually, she was discovered by the Republic military and fled.

Everywhere she fled, she read more books.

She spoke with many people.

Though she was exposed to malice and deceived at times, the strong body Nereid had given her always protected her.

For a while, she focused on learning about the world.

She concentrated on understanding human malice.

She registered at a guild under a false name and began living day-to-day.

Once again, she was discovered by the military and fled.

After several years of living this way, her places to hide gradually disappeared.

That was because the Republic military had listed Atyura as a high-ranking criminal. She was expelled from guilds, then from inns, and finally from the country itself.

But by then, she was no longer an ignorant girl.

If she went to a nation hostile to the Republic, their military wouldn't be able to reach her. Thinking this, Atyura crossed the dangerous borderlands alone from the Egil Republic to the Kingdom of Galliant.

“...And so, she ended up at the Rare Dungeon,” Void said. “According to the tablet I threw, this place was apparently a magical alchemy research facility. An ancient one, of course. Atyura found out about it from a magic book back in the Republic. That’s why she came here.”

At Void’s words, I let out a low groan.

“There are still many things I don’t understand. I won’t take it all at face value, but... well, at least it seems clear Atyura isn’t our enemy. But then, what were those homunculi and dragons we fought?”

“Don’t panic. There’s more to the story—but before that...”

Just then, Void suddenly reached out and grabbed me by the collar in front of the underground lake.

“Uwah!? Hey!”

“You’re not as tall as old man Bernald, so just bear with getting your feet a little wet.”

With that, Void hoisted me onto his back.

Oh right, there was an underground lake on the way back too.

“No problem! I can walk on my own! —Wait, hey!?”

Oujin pulled off the shoe and sock from my left leg, while Riona did the same for my right.

“We’ll hold onto these. We figured you'd start complaining,” Riona said.

“Complaining? At least call it bluffing!”

Riona placed her hands on her hips.

“El-tan, it doesn’t matter what you call it! You always end up cold and shivering halfway through anyway, right?”

“Nnghh...!”

“All right, let’s go~”

Before I knew it, Void had gone barefoot and stepped into the icy water without flinching. Still carrying me on his back, he waded through the lake, creating ripples.

“...Sorry.”

“Heh, don’t worry about it. We’re gonna squeeze plenty outta your dad, Baron Neu, anyway.”

Please give me a break. Kilpus is definitely going to scold me soon.