Other "Methods"

Serim Zolgen's Diary:

February 13, 1795. Overcast.

I found Mark and spoke with him. As expected, a good brother was a good brother—he agreed to my request.

But—

The Einzbern Family still hadn't produced any new homunculi!

This was troublesome. There were still nearly two months until April. What was I supposed to use to fill this gap? Suspend the experiment!?

No, that wouldn't do. Experiments had to maintain continuity.

I needed to think of another way.

The next day, Serim sat at his desk, tapping his fingers irritably.

His breathing was somewhat heavy, and he looked to be in a terrible mood.

The night before, he had nearly lost his temper with Frederika von Einzbern, head of the Einzbern Family, but Frederika had also said there was nothing she could do.

Producing homunculi genuinely took time. It was impossible to create high-quality homunculi that met the requirements of magecraft experiments within such a short period.

In the end, Serim had restrained his temper and apologized to Frederika.

But—

"AAAAAAAH—!!!" He suddenly let out a roar and slammed his fist down on the desk.

"What am I supposed to do!?"

"How can I keep the experiment going!?"

"Homunculi, homunculi... What am I supposed to use for experiments without homunculi?" Suddenly, Serim thought of something.

He looked at the hand he had smashed against the desk.

Then he turned to look at the homunculus arm he had modified earlier but never used, sitting beside him and still retaining its vitality.

His pupils contracted.

After standing there blankly for a while, he swallowed.

The prototype for homunculi... was humans, wasn't it?

Since I can't use homunculi right now...

Then why... can't I use humans?

A glimmer of light flashed in his eyes.

That's right. Since I can't use homunculi during this time,