With all the necessary meetings out of the way, and the Blood Ancestor's arrival taking longer than expected, Arthur was left with nothing to do for the first time in months. Since the System's arrival, it had just been one crisis after another, a constant battle for survival, hiding his identity, fixing his soul, and now, after months of struggle, he was finally free to simply exist as The Perfect Homunculus.Yes, he’d had to make concessions, and people would argue that he wasn’t truly free, but Arthur was happy with what he’d managed to achieve. He recalled a quote he’d heard a long time ago, something about true freedom being impossible, so long as you continued to care about things, be it people, a place, or the rule of law. Now, Arthur didn't much care about what people said he could or couldn’t do, but so long as he continued to care about Earth, about certain people within it, he realised he would never be entirely free.It was a realisation he found he was perfectly fine with. Arthur shook his head in amusement. The first bit of free time he’d gotten in months, and it made him philosophical. There were several things Arthur could have been doing right now, working on his magic, improving his alchemy, strategising for his upcoming battles, but for once, he wanted to take a step back and relax. Iris said the voidling hunt coming up in two days would be fun; she’d gotten them hired as a scout and secondary tanker, respectively, positions that shouldn’t demand too much out of them, but would still require a little fighting.Until then, Arthur just wanted to rest.Iris had wandered off with Ayesha somewhere, which didn’t leave him much in the way of company. Alyssia was great, but her personality didn’t match well with the relaxation he had in mind. That just left one person, and Arthur had been planning to spend some time with her. Arthur walked out of his office, the room reverting back to a bedroom the second the (...)