Chapter 66: Chapter Sixty: Fortune Turns

Otrea raised an eyebrow before sitting her mug down, “Crafting a homunculus is a massive undertaking. Eskame’s body may have been made rather quickly, but that was only because I had already obtained what was needed, I just hadn’t carried out the process yet.” 

Nodding along I raised my cup to my lips and breathed in the calming aroma of my coffee, made with just a splash of milk and a teaspoon of sugar. “Mommy Laura made it sound as if this is the only way. If you tell me what we need I’d be happy to gather it.” 

“First and foremost, we have to make a body Karolina’s soul is willing to inhabit. I have lived long enough that any form is novel and enticing, but for a young soul, it can be distressing. If she rejects her homunculus body, there is nothing I can do to stop her from passing on.” 

“Can we not create a body identical to the one she has now?” 

“If she feels any kind of dysphoria for her current form she’ll die. This isn’t something we can make assumptions about, you’ll have to find a way to extract the information from her. I need to know what she looks like in her dreams, that should be close to her idealized version of herself.”  

“Okay, so we need an exact idea of what kind of body she’d be happiest with, what else?” 

“A corpse, it doesn’t have to be humanoid, I can shape it into any appearance we desire. Of course, if we use an immature body I’ll need time to age it up, otherwise, she’ll be forced to live a second childhood. Then again, if she’s a demon I guess she never had a first childhood. Perhaps she’d like it then?” 

“I don’t know if I could take care of two younger sisters,” I chuckled in exasperation. “I love Eskame, but she’s a handful.” 

“In this case, Karolina would keep her memories, so she’d be an exceptionally precocious child.”

“Alright, so a plan, a body, what else?” 

Otrea gazed at me a bit uncomfortably before sighing. “Dryad sap.” 

“Dryad sap?” 

“I’m sure if you think on it a bit Bernice, you’ll discover just what this item is. Dryad sap is one of the most magically infused substances I’ve ever known, we need it to infuse the corpse we plan to use, to awaken its dead pathways. A soul cannot inhabit a magically dead body.” 

“We can get the Dryad sap from Lulu right?”

“Yes, I’ll try to collect it from her tonight. After that we just need some herbs to make a salve that’ll help us administer the sap to her new body. I can give you a list if you feel comfortable collecting them on your own. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before in your alchemy practice.” 

“I’ll collect them,” I nodded before frowning. “Hey Otrea, do… you think what we’re doing is right?”

“I assume some wolves are willing to betray the wilds for the succor of a dog’s life. To that end, it wouldn’t be surprising if she is a willing conspirator with the god who created her. If we think like that, then instead of putting in this effort we should just kill her right? She’s a danger if she remains in your company.” 

“Couldn’t we just… banish her?” 

“If we believe everything your mother said, and we have no reason not to, she’s a false dwarf. Because of this she’ll find no home in their community, and she’ll struggle to find a fulfilling life in Human or Scaleborn settlements. Banishing her as she is would likely just be condemning her to a slow death.” 

“I guess that’s true.” 

“If it worries you, after we’ve finished our preparations you can spill our plans to her. Once we have everything together we should be able to outplay her patron deity even if they decide to dispose of her.” 

“You sound so certain we can beat a god at their own game.” 

“We do have two goddesses of our own. If they believed we couldn’t win they would’ve already taken action.”

“I guess you’re right,” I giggled. “Maybe I’m not giving them enough credit.” 

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“Now then,” Otrea stood and straightened out her clothing. “Give me a second, I’ll write down the herbs we need.” 

As Otrea made her way to a desk the teleportation circle in her study flared to life, Harriette and Karolina appearing from within it. 

“Is something wrong?” I asked jumping to my feet. 

“Karolina is a servant of Zaserdizar,” Harriette responded in a fluster. “He’s decided to dispose of her.” 

“Dispo—“ Before I could even finish the question Karolina screamed and her body began to rapidly age in Harriette’s arms. 

“Crude fucker,” Otrea hissed before charging forward chanting under her breath. 

I watched, frozen in place, as Karolina’s body turned to dust. Thrusting her hand forward Otrea grasped at nothing, a silver orb appearing in her palm as she pulled her hand back.

“How worthless,” a male voice tsked from behind me. Twisting around I came face to face with an elderly man. He was completely bald yet had a beard thick enough to appear almost like a small animal clinging to his face. 

“Zaserdizar?” 

“Right you are Bernice. I'd hoped to be able to do business with you through my companion there, but she turned out to be far too inept at the task, so here I am. If you don't want everyone you've ever loved to turn to dust I sugg—"

A bolt of golden lightning flashed over my shoulder, striking Zaserdizar in the chest. Gazing over my shoulder I expected to see Mommy Laura, or Rysa, only to find the attack’s origin to be Otrea.  

“Insolent Witch,” Zaserdizar growled. 

“Hmm?” Otrea prowled forward. “You’re the one who intruded on my home. That’s a little uncouth of you isn’t it?” 

"You should stay out of this if you know what's good for you. Bernice's existence is rapidly altering our world." 

“A little change could do the world a bit of good.” 

“Our world is perfect, she will bring nothing but discord.” 

“Then I guess we’ll never see eye to eye on this. Come Zaserdizar, today I take your divinity as my own.” 

“A mere mortal can never usurp a god.” 

“Not alone perhaps,” Mommy Laura chuckled appearing from a flash of light behind Otrea. “It would be extremely unfortunate for a primal god to lose to a mortal.” 

“You’d violate our laws Laurmonja?!” 

“Yeah,” Mommy Laura shrugged. “I don’t know how you thought you’d get away with this one Deezer. My wife is the one who enforces the law, with her on my side I can do whatever I damn well please. Now then Otrea, hand Bernice Karolina’s soul and let’s get to God-slaying shall we?” 

“Did you plan this?” I gazed at Mommy Laura in confusion as Otrea handed me a small silver orb. 

“Nope,” Mommy Laura winked at me. “Sometimes we just get lucky.”