After savoring the joy of their reunion, everyone gathered in the mansion's Great Hall.
The golems managed by Jack had been preparing a feast.
A spread of food and drinks rivaling the finest Hourai Island had to offer lined the tables.
"Come now, first let us raise a toast to celebrate our reunion!"
Reinhard declared as he uncorked a bottle of white wine—Ehrlich's 3454.
"Cheers!"
"Cheeeers!!"
Familiar faces gathered close, and the banquet progressed in a warm, harmonious atmosphere... or so it seemed.
"...I'd really like someone to explain what on earth is going on here."
Jin, his excitement still far from dying down, broke the ice.
"Nn... It really would be best... for Hanna-chan to explain."
"Kufu, indeed. Hanna-chan, if you would."
Not only Elsa and Saki, but the rest of the group nodded along. With no objections raised, it fell to Hanna to explain.
"Umm, well then, I'll tell you. I think you might already have an idea, but everyone here is a 'homunculus.'"
"Yeah."
"Originally, I started this research because Grandma's health began to fail. But with Laojun, No. 700672-san, and Jack all helping me, we somehow managed to make it a reality."
"Ah, just as I thought."
Laojun, No. 700672, and Jack had all faced the risk of developing Master Loss Syndrome.
They had clearly recognized the danger on their own and spared no effort to avert it.
"Still, there were all kinds of problems."
According to Hanna's explanation...
Creating a homunculus required a mental catalyst. Because these catalysts were limited in number, they had agonized until the very end over whose homunculi should be made.
"That makes sense."
Jin in his current state could not fully grasp the reality of it, but the Jin and Elsa of four hundred years ago should have had twin children.
The fact that those children were not here meant... that was simply how things had to be.
"I'm truly, deeply sorry about that."
Hanna bowed her head so low it was practically a dogeza.
"...Jin-nii, please don't blame Hanna-chan."
Elsa spoke up in her defense.
"She's right, Jin."
Goose chimed in, mentioning that they had agonized over the dilemma for a full decade before finally reaching that conclusion.
"First, we established something of an unwritten rule: 'Once reincarnated into a homunculus, one is forbidden from making contact with living humans.'"
This time, Reinhard took over the explanation.
"At the same time, everyone agreed that the homunculus transformation had to be strictly limited to the First Class Jin Family."
"...What do you mean by that?"
"Right, let me explain in order....With the homunculi Hanna-chan and the others perfected, people were naturally reborn in the order their natural lifespans ran out. Are you following so far?"
"More or less, yeah."
"...And so, Martha-san and Milowina-san were the first two to become homunculi."
Considering their ages, Jin found that easy enough to accept.
"Milowina-san agreed because Jack pleaded with her, but Martha-san's case was a little different."
"That's right. Before I knew it, I was young again—gave me quite a shock, I'll tell you."
Martha chimed in.
"Not that I have any intention of blaming Hanna for it, mind you."
In her final years, she had made peace with her fate, believing there was no need to prolong her life. But once she was actually reborn, she realized she was content to let things be.
"Even so, it's not like I could just carry on living in Kaina Village looking so young, could I?"
It would be unnatural for someone who was supposed to be dead to live on looking youthful, and revealing the truth would only invite chaos. After all, not just anyone could become a homunculus.
"Which brings us back to the rule I mentioned: 'Once reincarnated into a homunculus, one is forbidden from making contact with living humans,'" Reinhard said.
"So, as we underwent the homunculus transformation in the order of our passing, it came out to the seventeen of us gathered here, excluding Marikka."
These seventeen people had chosen to wait for Jin.
"In making that choice, what we inevitably had to give up on were the children. That applies to Elsa, to Beena and her family, and to the rest of us..."
They simply could not prepare enough homunculus bodies to include the children born of their marriages.
And so, to be fair to everyone, they gave up on making homunculi for the children.
"Even so, not being able to see our children was truly heartbreaking, you know."
So, what were they to do?
"After talking it over together, we decided to have Laojun use Amnesia."
Amnesia was a forbidden spell that forced the target to forget, peeling away memories backward from the newest to the oldest.
Using this, they first backed up their complete memories with Trans Info level 10.
Then, the memories in their physical bodies were erased, rewound back to the time before they had children.
Afterward, Laojun sifted through their memories and used Trans Info to restore only the knowledge deemed necessary.
Through this process, they were able to preserve their peace of mind.
"We know that continuing to exist by tampering with our memories goes against the providence of the world—that it's like spitting into the wind."
Reinhard continued.
"Even so, in order to protect this world, it had to be done."
There was no guarantee that Laojun or Reiko would not run wild once Jin was gone; in fact, the chances of them losing control were overwhelmingly high.
"Umm, so basically... if I'm not around, this world is in danger. And that's why all of you are here?"
"That's a rather stripped-down summary, but yes, pretty much."
Jin let out a heavy sigh.
"...So, while I was busy saving the world, I was also holding its very fate in my hands?"
"A bit late to realize that, don't you think?"
"Given Hourai Island's sheer military might, it ought to be obvious."
Reinhard and Goose told him plainly, pulling no punches.
"Is that so... Yeah, I suppose you're right."
Having had Reiko break down in tears before him so recently, Jin understood the weight behind those words all too well.
"And so, Laojun and the others made arrangements to ensure the First Class Jin Family would assemble once again in this era."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"...To begin with, thanks to the Jin who returned to the past, we knew that Jin would appear on Planet Ars once more in the year 3899."
"Yeah."
"Therefore, Laojun planned to copy that Jin's memories, and once Jin returned to four hundred years ago, create a homunculus of Jin possessing complete memories."
Due to what could perhaps be called the corrective force of time, the Jin who had returned to four hundred years ago retained only hazy memories of the world four hundred years in the future.
"And we're here like this precisely to support that 'Jin.'"
"I see."
"Because of that, even though we became homunculi, the time we spent in dormancy was far longer."
From the moment they decided to wait for Jin, they had remained in slumber the entire time.
"...I've had a bit to drink, so my explanation might be rambling a little, but did you follow all that?"
Reinhard asked with a chuckle.
A homunculus body, it turned out, was entirely capable of getting drunk on alcohol.
"No, parts of it were hard to wrap my head around, but I understand the situation."
Jin could not help but feel acutely aware of just how precarious his presence had been.
Even so, being able to reunite with this family of his filled him with boundless, unexpected joy.