CHAPTER 56: 56. A YOUNG MAN WHO FELT LONELY

Greg looked at the desperate hope in Felix’s eyes, the carefully made figure on his arms, and the faces of the people he had found as family. This was a risky thing to do because he had only made life once by accident, so it wasn’t something to take lightly.

It felt wrong to try to make that miracle happen on purpose, like trying to make something that should happen naturally happen. But he also knew what it was like to be alone.

He had been the Warhammer Saint for forty years before this, respected and feared but never really known. He had built a second life here to embrace solitude, yet he found reasons to avoid being alone, which ultimately led to unexpected connections. He had accidentally put himself in a group of people who cared about him and made his days better just by being there.

Felix also deserved that. All of them did.

Greg said honestly, "I don’t know if I can help."

"It wasn’t planned that Mira would be made. It happened because I was making something for someone I cared about, and I guess I put so much love into it that the ladle couldn’t hold it all."

""But trying to make life on purpose, trying to make that kind of miracle happen, I don’t know if that’s how it works."

"Please," Felix said, and that one word held the weight of months of loneliness for a young man who was trying tirelessly to find his place in a world that had given him a second chance but no promise of happiness.

"Please at least give it a shot."

"I don’t want much, like a woman who’s so beautiful that she has big massive tatas!"

"The fuck is a tatas...?" Greg looked confused when Felix said a word that does not exist even in the dictionary.

"Tatas means... you know... there’s Mira here." Felix gives a signal that Mira is still by his side.

Mira immediately understands the word, "Tatas means tits! And Felix said that she doesn’t want a woman who has big tits!"

Greg was shocked to hear that word come out of Mira, and Felix was even more surprised. "How did you know that, Mira?"

"Well, intelligence, of course!"

"Fuck it then! Yes, I take any girl that could love me deeply without any fakeness!"

"Someone who might think I’m worth loving. Someone who could love me like your family loves you."

"And someone who won’t NTR me!"

"Again... another word that even I don’t understand a single shit about." Greg face-palmed.

"Let me say it specifically... I don’t want a girl who cheats on me! All I want is a loyal girl who loves everything about me!"

"Always has something to say, huh..." He facepalmed again.

Greg looked at the person Felix was holding again, this time really looking. And he understood something that made his stomach drop. "That doll..."

"The work was wonderful. It was clear that professional sculptors and artisans had put significant effort into making something beautiful."

"But there was something missing, something basic that made Mira real, even though she was magical."

Someone didn’t make this doll with love. It had been put together with loneliness, desperation, and hope, but not real love for someone else.

It was made to get love, not to show it. Greg didn’t know if that made a difference or if he could even help if it did.

Finally, he said, "Let me think about this."

"Please wait until tomorrow morning. I need to know what I’m looking at, what you’ve made, and what might be possible."

"Felix, I can’t just get this task done in an afternoon. It’s a big deal to make life, even by accident. We don’t know what will happen next."

Felix nodded and held his creation close. "Thanks, Sensei. That’s all I want."

"Just think about it. Please."

Greg caught Lylia’s eye as Felix carried his would-be friend back to the workshop. She looked worried, and when she came up to him after Felix went inside, her voice was quiet.

"Be careful with this one," she said. "That boy’s heart is real, but people do stupid things when they’re desperate."

"And making life out of loneliness instead of love, I doubt that’s a good idea."

Greg said, "I know."

"But I can’t just say no to him without at least trying to figure out what’s possible. He is now a member of our family, and his pain is important."

"I know it does," Lylia said in a soft voice. "Just keep in mind that making something new won’t resolve every problem."

"People sometimes need to get used to the life they already have before they can handle more."

As the sun set behind the hills, she went back inside, leaving Greg outside. The hammock behind him swung empty, breaking his moment of peace.

He looked up at the sky, which was getting darker, and saw the first stars coming out. He wondered what he had gotten himself into this time.

Making Mira was an accident, a beautiful mistake that came from caring about someone else. But this? Felix wanted him to live life on purpose, to make a friend out of need and hope. It felt different, like he was going to cross a line he didn’t really understand.

But the look in Felix’s eyes stayed with him. The deep loneliness and the desperate hope that maybe his second chance at life would include the love he never found in his first.

"What would you do?" Greg asked the empty air, thinking of the three gods who had brought him here and were apparently writing fanfiction about his harem situation and watching him with amusement.

"Is this what you wanted? Another test?"

""Another choice that can’t be made?"

The sky didn’t give any answers, just stars and silence. He could hear his family getting ready for bed inside the workshop. Lylia was humming in the kitchen, Seraphine was putting her notes in order, and Bork was carefully putting away his tools. And Felix was probably sitting with his doll and hoping for a miracle.

Greg let out a sigh and went back inside. He would think about what to do about Felix’s request tomorrow, and he would just try to remember what peace was like before it got hard again tonight.

But as he walked through the workshop, he saw Felix through an open door. Sitting on his bed, the young man conversed with the carefully propped-up doll next to him. He was telling her about his day, his dreams, and the life he thought they could have together.

It made me sad and hopeful at the same time. Greg’s hand went to his chest, where he could feel the phantom pain from when he had given everything to make the Guardian Reborn.

Making life took something from you that you could never get back. He had done it once out of desperation to save lives.

Could he do it a second time? Should he? And if he did, how much would it cost this time?