[Hanako] Chapter 12: Idyllic Days

[Throndir]

"That is... fascinating..." Minette said curiously. She then stood up and walked towards you and the homunculus, circling the other "Hanako", she examined her closely. "Oh... she is... just like you... Exactly like you... I can tell from the proportions..." Minette's eyes looked towards you. "Out of curiosity... how 'functional' is she?"

[Asta]

"I suppose that depends on how you define 'functional'." Hanako replied, keenly aware that Minette's question was probably loaded with lewd subtext. "If I don't tell her what to do she just stands there staring straight ahead, doesn't react to anything either. Near as I can tell she's an exact flesh and blood copy of me. Probably a little more fit actually." She poked her own belly as if checking to see if she was more flabby than usual.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

[Throndir]

"No~othing~" Minette said teasingly as she smiled at you. "The real one is always better..." After a moment of staring admiringly at you, Minette then looked back towards the golem. "There are... a lot of things I want to test..." She paused again. "Normal tests..." She corrected, knowing full well what you were probably thinking. "If she eats... if she can fight... if she has mana and magic... Does she learn? Does she feel pain? Can she be... sad... or happy..?"

"What are we... going to call it? Umm... her I mean."

[Asta]

"I was calling her Golem-chan earlier, for lack of a better name. Or Go'chin for short, not exactly the best name." Hanako closed the door to the room to dissuade anyone else from peeking in and took an observational stance next to "Go'chin"

"I honestly don't really know off the top of my head. I tried to talk to her when I first summoned her but she didn't respond. Pretty much I have to make her do things, kind of like a puppet almost. There's like a thread of mana that connects us too. Lemme tell her to take a seat I guess, I feel bad making her stand around."

Hanako willed the "girl" to go take a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Let me uhh... see if I can 'remember' any important info about this. Sometimes when I think about the things I can do, I can sort of 'know' things that I didn't think I knew. If that makes sense."

She paused a moment to think if she could 'recall' anything about golems and homunculi, particularly any answers to Minette's questions.

[Asta]

Requested rolls:

Knowledge: Slavery

Rolled 1d20+11 : 17 + 11, total 28

Knowledge: History

Rolled 1d20+8 : 16 + 8, total 24

Knowledge: Anatomy

Rolled 1d20+12 : 8 + 12, total 20

[Throndir]

Knowledge (slavery): 28, Knowledge (history): 24, Knowledge (anatomy)
The knowledge in your head about slavery managed to bring you some of the answers. Due to golems typically being subservient, it must have been good enough for the 'slavemancer' blessing to include information about them too. From this you knew that golems, as long as they have the capability to do so, could feel pain. In this particular case, because of the fact Go'chin was made to resemble a human, and was indeed, as far as you can tell, to be as human as possible, it was more than likely that this golem could feel the same physical stimuli as humans do. That could include anything from pain to pleasure. The fact she was based on a human as well, meant that she was capable of eating. By this reasoning, if Go'Chin did resemble a human anatomically, down to the organs, such as even the brain itself, then it would be capable of learning too, and eventually would be able to feel emotions.

However, there was the unknown of what else the 'Create Golem' blessing could impart on the created homunculus, or even more regular golems. Indeed if you had created a homunculus that was identical to a human in every way, there was a chance that the power behind Create Golem actually functioned more like 'Slavemancer', as a simple way of repressing a creature's mind, in this case, the homunculus, to ever develop any kind of sentience.

As for whether or not they had mana or magic, even going through your memories of the origin of 'golem' in your own world, you weren't able to tell. As far as you knew, there was no magic in your own world at all. How magic itself worked here in the New World was something you weren't quite familiar with.

[Asta]

Hanako relayed all the information she managed to 'remember' to Minette. "Well, there you have it" she said finally. "It's a little weird to think about, but I think I might have accidentally created a person." The concept was, truthfully, a little frightening. It was a big responsibility, creating a life, and the possibility that Go'chin could be sapient made Hanako uncomfortable. It wasn't because of the implication that she could have just literally created her own personal "Eve", but more that she might currently be holding the creature's mind thrall the way she did to anyone else, only perhaps more strongly.

"I don't really know what to make of this to be honest. I feel like I've wandered into an ethical quagmire." she walked over to the bed and gently rand her fingers through "her" hair. No, not "hers" but "Go'chin's", if that was in fact the name she would settle on. She was still on the fence about that.

"Thoughts?" she asked finally.

[Throndir]

"It's hard... To me, I see a person... Even though I know she was just created, and looks just like you, too. Even if she can't feel pain, or have emotions, or anything like that, I'm not sure if I could think of her just as a 'thing'."

"Oh...? It is fascinating to me... But... some of the more powerful mages in history have created things called 'elementals'.... Does... Go'chin disappear after some time? Elementals are treated like tools... to be created for a task and simply vanish away... But Go'chin looks just like a person... But is she? I think... with her life... if it can be called life, being created, it wouldn't be... fair... to have her disappear..." Minette shook her head.

"Well, how about we just have her around for a bit, and see how people react, and how things end up as? These kinds of questions are deep and it's not something we can really just answer right now... But... she is your creation too, so in the end it falls to you to choose." Trudy patted the bed. "The bed is starting to get really tight if we add a fourth person... I could... have a bed sent up here if you'd like?"

[Asta]

"Ah, yeah. Might as well have one sent up. I'd rather she stick around as well. It would be... unsavory, to treat her like an object. I need to spend some time trying to figure out if I can relinquish control over her, I'm not really sure if its possible. Need to consider a proper name too, I think."

The entire situation was bizarre and a little unsettling. Too many questions and not enough answers. What if Hanako ran out of mana? Would the girl still exist, or would she dissolve into a pile of the dirt she was constructed from?

"I guess we'll see how things turn out in the morning. Probably need to find some clothes for her too."

[Throndir]

Both Trudy and Minette nodded. Trudy had quickly come out and requested help from the soldiers to bring a mattress, but word had already spread through most of the estate of the 'second and half naked hero', thusly a lot of the other soldiers already understood why Trudy would be requesting a new bed. Due to the interesting subject of it all, and hoping to get a closer glimpse at the oddity which was the second hero, many of the soldiers volunteered to help, by the end of it, not only was an entire bed setup for her. They went ahead and moved in a new table and corner desk, along with plenty of extra pillows and bed sheets. By the time it was done, it was getting late, and with the evening rolling by, the soldiers had each saluted and left to their own quarters and evening rituals.

Soon enough Trudy and Minette changed into their pajamas, while a simple pair was left for Go'chin, the same kind that the rest of the soldiers used. Like before you had to will her to change out of her current clothing. However, once it came to putting on the shirt at least, it seemed as if it willing her to do that action wasn't as difficult. Even though you had to still put in the will for her to get into the shirt, there were a couple of her movements that Go'chin seemed to do on her own in order to fulfil the task. However, having her go into bed, pulling up the covers, and then closing her eyes was yet another task that you had to will her to do. Even though there were no spoken commands, and can be done mentally, it almost felt like taking care of someone.

If you have other actions feel free to state them, otherwise, state the next day's plans on your end.

[Asta]

After putting her doppelganger to bed and willing her to sleep, Hanako settled into bed herself. Laying between Trudy and Minette she folded her arms behind her head and started at the ceiling for a while lost in thought. The fact that the golem was more "capable" of putting on a shirt than she had before suggested strongly that she was capable of learning and adapting to situations. It was unclear if it was a sign of sapience, but the part of Hanako's human brain that formed attachments to living things had already made the determination that her copy was "real" in her own right, albeit a special case.

"Jitsuko" she said quietly, more to herself than anyone in particular. "Her name is Jitsuko"

Hanako is gonna try to get up around the same time as Trudy and Minette, and will go eat breakfast with them, her golem in tow.

[Throndir]

Location: Klein's Estate - Breakfast
Date: Day 12 - 7 AM

Everyone woke up near the same time, and soon enough the four of you had prepared for the day. That morning when you willed the homunculus to wake up, there wasn't any visible reactions from her. It was when you willed her to open her eyes that she finally moved. You had her get up and follow you, though it was relatively manual, almost like a puppet you had to control each of her movements. She seemed to be able to do some movements well though such as walking. The first time you had her attempt to walk the night before it was relatively manual, though this time simply willing her to move she walked fine.

Soon enough you made your way to the kitchen for breakfast, and it was a usual schedule for the soldiers to prepare something in the morning, so there was already some eggs and a simple porridge that were prepared. Most of the those who weren't soldiers didn't wake up early, though, Kari seemed to be at the common dining table already, sipping away at tea.

"I hath heard that thou hath... a double. Mine eyes don't deceive what I see..." Kari said when you and your group walked in with food in hand. Kari had her eyes on the homunculus. "What is she?"

Color change for Kari

[Asta]

Hanako shoveled some food into her mouth while mentally commanding Jitsuko to eat. It was challenging, but oddly enough after making the girl do something once, it became easier to make her do it again.

"A homonculus, technically." she replied to Kari after swallowing. "However, I've sort of been coming to the conclusion that it might be more appropriate to look at her as a real person. You can call her Jitsuko."

[Throndir]

"Jitsuko... Hmm... Interesting. Tis part of thy heroic blessing? A similar of use to mine own summons. But thy Jitsuko, tis much more fair to look at."

It was around that time that other soldiers had started to appear. Many of their own curiosity was centered around Jitsuko. They were all whispering to each other, along with eyeing the new homunculus, though, many of them tried not to make it too obvious. With an estate so small, with hardly much in the way of entertainment, talking about every small happening had become more of the norm, especially with Klein no longer being around. Compared to how it was a week ago, the atmosphere of the estate had definitely changed. People had been talking, laughing, and enjoying life as they could.

"Now, what is that Akime?" You heard Elyse's voice down the hallway. Akime's voice followed after.

"Painting."

"Good. And this?"

"Table."

"And over there, what is the hero sitting on?"

The two were close enough that you managed to easily see them. There was a long pause this time. Finally Akime spoke. "... Chair."

"In Refedorian." There was a groan. "I don't know."

There was another pause. "That means... you don't know? Well, it's a chair."

"Chair." Akime repeated. "Correct." Elyse said, a slight smile on her face.

It was then that Carol appeared. "Hero Hanako! I did it! Oh umm... excuse me Ms. Dietriche... W-whoa!" Carol had been running, managing to avoid Elyse and Akime, but had crashed into a table, crashing the vase that was on top of it. Akime, who was nearest to it, managed to catch it deftly, and lower the vase down, though Carol was unceremoniously on the floor. She had a pile of cloth in her hands, but she seemed to put her best effort in protecting it. Even though she looked dreadfully tired, she had a grin on her face.

"I did it!" She exclaimed one more time.

[Asta]

"Ah, yeah I suppose. Learned I could do it after the meeting yesterday. I think I'm able to create simpler golems but I kind of went straight for the most complex thing right off the bat."

Soon enough the sounds of Elyse and Akime's lessons drew near and were almost immediately followed by Carol barreling into the room.

"I did it!"

"Woah! Nice work, did you... stay up all night on this? Thank you for your hard work!" she said, patting Carol's head lightly and taking the completed uniform from her. "If you'll all excuse me for a minute, I'll be right back."

She went quickly from the kitchen and found someplace she could change in private then did so. After taking a minute to tug and straighten everything on the garment into place she walked back into the kitchen attempting to project an authoritative air to match the exceptionally tailored uniform.

"Well, how's that?"

Spoiler

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