Five

Rose blinked her eyes at a man whose face was covered in a true smile. Goggles erected below his blonde hair and above his muddled blue eyes, he leaped from his chair and he shouted, jumping here and there with excitement as his boots clanked on wood.

"I'm a genius!" His voice filled the area and he laughed with glee, "Fuck, I might have failed that damn school but which other slummer has a N. Series Doll!!"

Was he talking about her? She thought as her core hummed. Memories came back in a rush. She remembered a fiery being striking through her chest and shattering her core, however, that very thing was perfectly alright at the moment. She looked around, not understanding in the least how she got here besides the flickering memory of being dumped in a garbage collector.

'I was thrown out and this man picked me up. . .?' She came to her conclusion. She wasn't stupid, after all, and her processing speed was sky high.

The male finally coughed, he patted his jacket to calm himself, moved his chair out of the way, then hunched over her.

"State your status."

Oddly, she felt no compulsion within her to listen to him. She knew he was human, she was definitely sure of it—the database of attributes within her was certain—and even if it were an order that required a master's sigil, she should have felt at least a tug. However, there was nothing. Not one inkling of a push to answer him.

He tilted his head and his eyes showed a hint of alarm. "Say-say your status."

She decided to humor him until she knew the situation.

"N. Series number 37, named Rose, and created by the Silent Witch," She said, "I am currently at a hundred percent charge." Her old core was now out of her body, replaced with one at full energy capacity.

"They gave you a name! And the Silent Witch made you?!" The man was shocked, but soon broke into a smile. "Good good. My fortune's finally turning around."

It was impossible for any of what she said to be false. A homunculus answering a human's order could not lie unless it contradicted previous orders by its Master. Yet, he didn't know what sort of mischief a Grandmaster may have programmed into the thing so he ordered once again.

"Stay put, doll."

Lux didn't look back and hurried along through the side of his workshop as the door clanked close. Rose wondered what the man was up to, she momentarily spotted a metal thing attached to the back of his hip as he waltzed away, but she willingly did as she was told with nothing better to do until she could ask some questions, and he quickly returned with a woman at his side.

The woman wasn't beautiful. Certainly, her attributes were well enough; brunette hair and brown eyes, a supple chest and she held an atmosphere of warmth. She was tall and far from a beauty. The thing that stood out the most, however, was the image of a brown circle on her tanned neck.

'A homunculus,' Rose thought, eyes narrowing at the symbol with the quiet hum of her core. Specifically, the signatures the woman gave off was that of an S. Series, a slave model, and the woman was at 78% charge. However, that charge dropped down to 76% within a second and she could feel the mana continually seeping out of the woman. 'She's broken,' She concluded.

They stood before her and he egged her to check.

The lady soon finished looking over her and turned to her husband with a smile. "Dear, she's truly a Noble Model and there's really nothing wrong with her. Are you keeping her?"

"Yes!" He nodded.

There was a small pause from the woman.

"Alright, honey," She finally said, "I'll go prepare a third plate."

"Wait, no, don't go yet," The man quickly ordered as he bent down below Rose, picking up flakes of a shattered Core from the ground like glass, "I finally have enough of these shits to fix you."

Rose felt a residual feeling from the glass-like, glowing shards in his hands. And she realized what had happened. . .'I have a dual-core system?' It couldn't be anything else but that. If her core had been replaced instead, she would have lost her memories and been reset but here she was, still herself.

"Move aside and stay put," He said.

Rose obliged and did as she was told, standing to the side of the table. At the very least, she wanted to take check of what was happening.

Lux quickly ordered the puzzled woman.

"Bring out your core."

A sigil shined at the back of his right hand.

A hum and some buzzing later and Rose watched a orb of shining blue, cracked like glass, float out. The man disregarded her and grabbed the thing.

"You'll soon be perfect, Maria," He said, placing the woman down to the other side of the table.

He may not have enough skill to create a complete core from nothing, but he had enough to fix one with the shattered remains of another.

Rose watched with interest as the man sat upon the chair and brought the iron box closer. There was a hole in the thing and he placed the orb down into it, fitting perfectly. He sighed and pushed a button on the thing. There was a soft hum, and soon, mana lines wiggled out from his finger and attached onto the cracked Core.

"It's been years but finally. . ." He muttered and focused.

She watched as his mana lines danced, and she watched him carefully place the shards upon the thing, sewing and slowly melding it with the woman's core and healing it back to near-solidarity. Then, she watched as his voice fell.

"Fuck," He cursed when he realized he would need a Mana Orb to fully heal her. A part of him wondered if he should just take the N. Series at his desk as his wife instead—but, having been with Maria for five years now, he decided against it.

He touched the weapon behind his hip for a moment, he could use the orb that powered it but that was another gamble.

'No, as terrible and clunky as it is, a weapon is still better than nothing at all in this place.' Shaking his head, he stood up. 'I'll just have to spend the remainder of my savings on some orbs. Two should be enough, one for her and one for the beauty. I'll have to increase my scavenging, though, and sell a few scrap products after.'

The conscious homunculus watched his departing back as he flew out of the room.