"An immortal gem? The Philosopher's Stone, Pandora?"
Having finished reading the documents before her, Vermouth casually tossed aside the photographs of those glittering, ornate crafts, then picked up a clearly handwritten record. She read it word by word, a mocking smile curling at her lips.
"Preposterous." Vermouth looked up at Tangze across from her and answered decisively, "A gem that grants immortality? Why would anyone believe in something like that?"
Tangze lowered his eyes and idly stirred the coffee beside him. "Who knows? Maybe it's real."
"...What, do you believe in something that sounds this ridiculous?" Vermouth shifted her gaze, subtly studying his expression.
Judging solely by his methods and behavioral logic, Kumeru was undoubtedly a madman.
But even a madman seemed ordinary and mild compared to those who feared death, feared disappearing, and refused to give up their luxurious lives.
Vermouth had seen many of them.
They carried the stench of being steeped in power and desire—the very limit of human greed, arrogant and laughable.
If possible, she truly did not want Kumeru to be tempted by some illusory goal and fall into a place from which there was no return.
Tangze snorted and lifted the bitter coffee for a sip. "Before someone researched and discovered it, could you have believed something like X Alloy existed? What about Cognitive Science?"
For someone with an extreme sweet tooth, this cup of black coffee was practically medicine. Yet Tangze swallowed it without changing expression.
After recovering his memories, Tangze quickly realized that even without memories of his previous life, his first eighteen years had still been lived by himself. His habits and countless tiny details were very similar to who he was now.
After realizing this, Tangze consciously began correcting those issues. Whenever he operated as Akechi Goro or Kumeru, he