The summer practically flew by.
Eugene didn’t spend even a moment of time enjoying any of the activities that characterized the season. This wasn’t just a behavior he had picked up since coming to Aroth; after he had been reincarnated, he had never once turned his eye to having some fun.
While he was staying at the main estate, Cyan and Ciel had repeatedly tried to persuade him to go on vacation with them in the summer, and in the winter, they had conspired to get him to go skiing with them, but Eugene had never once gone along with their plans. Eugene also didn’t hold any intentions of doing so in the future.
The sea that Eugene was familiar with was a haunting place where shipwrecks and floating dead bodies could be seen wherever you turned to look. The area of the sea that connected Helmuth to its neighboring countries was filled with the nests of terrible and powerful marine monsters.
The snow that Eugene was familiar with was dyed red with blood, forming a cemetery of frozen corpses whose limbs could be seen sticking out from all over the place. The weather in the northernmost part of Helmuth was terrifying regardless of the season. Still, even in such a region, the realm ruled by the Demon King of Fury was especially terrible, a wintry hell where blizzards never stopped blowing.
‘Could something like this be called a trauma?’ Eugene pondered this thought deeply.
Once he really thought about it, Eugene realized that his entire life following his reincarnation had been overshadowed by the memories of his previous life.
This wasn’t the first time he had considered something along these lines. Whenever he became too caught up in the memories of his old life, he had to shake himself several times just to break free of their hold. But since he’d already been reincarnated, wouldn’t it be pitiful and laughable if he were to remain caught up in reliving the memories of his previous life forever?
However, it wasn’t that easy for him to resist doing so. The necklace that he had insisted on taking from the Lionheart clan’s treasury, coming to Aroth to follow the clues left behind by Sienna, and his reasons for going to the Northern Ruhr and Nahama; all of these were because of the memories from his previous life.
He couldn’t just avoid these various memories and entanglements. Although he had already lived for nineteen whole years since he’d been reincarnated, the time he had spent as Hamel was still a lot longer. The length of Eugene’s existence fell far short of Hamel’s experiences.
‘Well, in the end, they’re both me,’ Eugene clicked his tongue as he tilted his chair backward.
He didn’t want to spend too long worrying about a problem with no easy answer. What was he supposed to achieve by getting all frustrated, worrying, and contemplative? He may have been reincarnated, three hundred years may have also passed, and even his name may have changed, but could he really just ignore all the memories from his past life?
How could anyone do something like that?
“...Haaaah…,” Eugene sighed as he reached this conclusion.
Meanwhile, across from him, Mer was reading Eugene’s thesis with wide-open eyes. The thesis was meant to be just for self-satisfaction, a thesis that was never intended to be published but that didn’t decrease its value. In the first place, wasn’t a thesis just meant to show off what someone had managed to learn?
In that sense, Eugene’s thesis was impressive. Although other wizards may not be able to understand it at first glance, Mer, as Witch Craft’s artificial intelligence, was able to fully comprehend this thesis.
‘The Cores and the Eternal Hole have reached a perfect combination through this. There might be a few innate imperfections, but… structurally, it’s reached a level where I can’t see any way to improve it,’ Mer observed.
Even with these imperfections, it could already be said to have reached completion like this. It was impossible to believe that this thesis was written by a young fledgling who had started practicing magic less than three years ago. This Ring Flame Formula had gotten closer to reproducing the full possibilities of the Eternal Hole than any Archwizard had managed.
‘...As for the innate imperfections, they’re due to a Core being different from a Circle. The resulting variables… he’s able to adjust for them by using only his senses,’ Mer realized in shock.
This showed that Eugene must have terrifying control over mana.
‘Even as he continues to adjust to these variables by using his senses, he still manages to perfectly cast his spells. It might fall short of the Eternal Hole, but Eugene’s Ring Flame Formula greatly surpasses the common Circle magic formula.’
Wizards were people who were obsessive about magic. They wouldn’t stop until they had ruled out all imperfections. Anything that could go wrong with a spell needed to be corrected so that it couldn’t go wrong. This was because, if there was even a single mistake, it could cause an irreversible problem.
However, Eugene simply accepted these imperfections. With the experience from his previous life and the talent of his current life, Eugene was able to bring a challenge that should be so difficult that it was impossible into the realms of possibility. Even the magic formula, which other wizards could not understand and might even consider a failure, was not a failure in Eugene’s eyes.
The success of this Ring Flame Formula was based on such an absurd proposition.
“...A-amazing,” Mer couldn’t help but say this eventually. “As for its level of completion… it’s fine. But since the only one who can use it is you… it reads as… um… a little egoistic? At least that’s what I felt while reading it. From a general point of view, its imperfections render it unusable, but that isn’t the case for you, Sir Eugene, and… judging it by your standards… its level of completion is excellent.”
Mer’s expression twisted as she reluctantly admitted this.
Just as Eugene had said, he had managed to complete his thesis before the end of summer.
“...When will you be leaving?” Mer eventually asked.
“The day after tomorrow,” Eugene answered.
“With your personality, I thought for sure you would be leaving tomorrow, Sir Eugene.”
“Since I’m only human, I need to at least rest for a full day. Also, they said that they’d hold a farewell party for me at the Red Tower of Magic.”
“That must be so nice for you. Won’t you be able to go there and eat a lot of delicious food? You’ll also be receiving congratulations from all sides,” Mer said sarcastically as she pouted her lips.
While kneading the large hat that she had set down next to her, Mer looked up at Eugene.
She reminded him, “Sir Eugene, surely you haven’t forgotten what you said to me a few months ago? Didn’t you say that you would have something to tell me?”
“First, let me ask you something,” Eugene said as he stopped reclining back in his chair. “The things we’ve talked about… are you able to pass them on to someone else?”
“Geez, are you really suspecting me right now?” Mer demanded as flames of anger flared in her eyes. “Are you asking me this because you’re afraid I might have told another wizard what we’ve talked about when discussing your thesis?”
“Well, have you ever said anything?”
“I haven’t! Sir Eugene, do you know how much those sons of bitches, the Green Tower Master and a few others have been annoying me when you’re not around?”
“Even if you haven’t told them anything, can’t they just force you to say something?”
“Hah! I never realized you were that kind of person, Sir Eugene. Can you really not trust someone—no—something like me? Even if those bastards tried to dissect both Witch Craft and me, I would absolutely never say anything.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’ve been programmed not to do so! This isn’t something special regarding you; it’s a function meant to preserve the safety and privacy of all wizards permitted to enter Akron. I have stored the recorded information and conversation of all the wizards who have done research in Sienna’s Hall, not just yours, Sir Eugene, in the deepest depths of Witch Craft’s storage files. Unless those bastards decide to completely destroy Witch Craft, there’s no way that Sir Eugene’s information will be exposed to the outside world.”
“Are you sure about that?”
When Eugene asked this question with a grin, Mer couldn’t stand it any longer and let loose a scream.
“Argh, really!”
Eugene snickered as he watched Mer struggle to catch her breath.
“If you’re going to be that thorough about it, make sure not to let what I’m about to tell you to leak to anyone else,” Eugene ordered.
Mer sighed, “Hah, I’ve already said I’ll do that. How many times must you ask me—”
Eugene interjected, “I remember being reincarnated.”
As soon as Eugene first started speaking, Mer immediately fell silent.
Mer glared at Eugene with narrowed eyes before spitting out, “What kind of bullshit is that?”
Eugene repeated, “I said that I remember being reincarnated. And I’ve still got the memories from my past life.”
Mer scoffed, “No, I heard you, and that’s why I asked, what kind of bullshit is that? Are you trying to make fun of me right now? It’s so unfunny that I can’t even force myself to laugh—"
“My name in my past life was Hamel Dynas,” Eugene continued speaking in a calm voice.
His name in his previous life was Hamel Dynas.
His name in his current life was Eugene Lionheart.
Eugene declared, “I was the Stupid Hamel.”
