— — — — — —
Following Eirin into a room lined with shelves full of bottles, tools, and all kinds of medicinal ingredients, Veyron suddenly heard something that made him pause for a second.
"Take off your clothes."
He didn't respond right away—just blinked and glanced at the little one who had come in with him.
"What are you looking at me for?" Kaguya tilted her head seriously. "If I actually knew how to do this kind of thing, I would've checked you myself. You think I'd have gone through all the trouble to get Eirin to come down here just for fun?"
"…"
Veyron turned back and locked eyes with Eirin.
Three seconds later, the two of them each grabbed one of the princess's arms and dragged her out the door.
With the door closed, Eirin casually added a spell seal to make sure someone outside couldn't just brute-force their way in.
"I won't have to take off everything, right?" Veyron asked as he took off his shirt, figuring that much should be enough.
"If you don't mind, you can take the pants off too. That way the exam will be even more thorough."
Eirin left it totally up to him.
"…"
At that point, Veyron really couldn't tell if she was being serious or just messing with him.
Following her instructions, he sat down in the room's only chair. The next moment, he felt a hand, infused with some kind of strange energy, press gently against his upper back.
Suppressing his instincts, he didn't block the energy with Armament Haki or anything like that. Instead, he let it move through his body under Eirin's control to scan his condition.
Time ticked by. The foreign energy gradually explored every inch of his body, while Eirin's other hand began sketching a human figure on the nearby table.
"All done?"
He felt the hand lift away from his back and asked.
"Phase one's complete… at least for the state before you unlocked the gene lock," Eirin replied, setting down her pen. With a tap of her finger on the figure she'd drawn, a dense stream of data began flowing across the paper.
After checking with Veyron and getting his okay, she grabbed three blood sample tubes from a cabinet and drew the first one. Then she gestured for him to activate the gene lock.
Veyron took a moment to recall the mental state he'd reached back when he first unlocked the gene lock—when he struck with the Bloodwing Blade, focusing all his energy, spirit, and will.
One breath… two… three…
He adjusted his breathing. Then suddenly—blank.
His mind went quiet, and instincts from countless battles began to surface.
The pen on the table, the blood tubes, the bottles and tools on the shelves, the microscopes, the weighing equipment… in that instant, he could think of at least ten ways to turn every single object around him into a weapon.
Eirin noticed his gaze had become unfocused. She'd already read that this blank, dazed look was one of the key signs of someone entering the early stages of the gene lock.
She didn't waste time—immediately running a second scan and drawing another blood sample.
Lastly came the third scan and blood draw after he deactivated the gene lock.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, handing him his shirt after confirming he didn't need emergency treatment.
"Well…" Veyron thought back on the side effects he'd felt after coming out of the gene lock. "Actually better than I expected."
The pain and numbness all over his body were still there, but compared to last time, it was much more manageable.
As for why…
First, surviving the most dangerous first activation meant his body had started to adapt. With every successive activation, the side effects would naturally become milder.
Second, his overall physical condition had improved drastically.
After the first activation, he had traveled to Rusukaina Island in the One Piece world, devoured a ton of beast meat, and strengthened his body. He'd also started learning Haki—a power system that channels willpower, belief, and spirit into physical force. His overall stats had shot up.
"My advice," Eirin said, gesturing to the three human-shaped data diagrams, "is that you take advantage of this peaceful period to activate the gene lock a few more times. Make it something you can reliably use in battle without crashing afterward."
She continued, "While I still need to analyze your blood samples to be certain, based on the scan I just did, I'd say the risk of your genes breaking down from using the gene lock—at least in the first stage—is basically zero. Maybe literally zero."
She added. "It doesn't have side effects bad enough to kill you after a few uses, like you and Kaguya were worried about.
"But if you're still unsure, I'll be around for a while. You're welcome to stop by regularly for checkups."
"Well then… I guess I'll be bothering you a lot in the near future, Eirin-sensei."
Veyron finally let out a breath, reassured by the professional opinion.
"No need to be so formal. Just consider it the rent I'm paying to stay in Eientei," Eirin smiled. "Besides, I'm the princess's servant, and you're technically her father now. If you don't mind, you can just call me 'Eirin' like she does."
"In that case… Eirin, you can just call me by name too."
Veyron nodded and accepted the change.
Seeing her already absorbed in analyzing the three charts, he didn't linger to disturb her.
He stepped out into the hallway and suddenly realized—he forgot to ask how to get out of this jar-world.
But before he could head back in, he felt a sharp, knowing gaze land on him.
"Father~ You were in there for exactly 49 minutes, 36.72 seconds."
Kaguya smirked mischievously as she stared at him.
"...What?"
"That's how long you two were in there… undressed… doing who knows what behind my back. Hehe~ Did you two—HEY! At least let me finish the sentence!"
She flailed as Veyron casually picked her up by the back of her collar.
"Don't go making up weird scenarios in your head…"
After gently setting her back down and making sure she stood straight, he added, "Out of those forty-nine minutes, I only took off my shirt."
"Well, that alone is already pretty shocking in my book."
Kaguya dropped the teasing tone and grew serious. "If you call my ability something like 'manipulating eternity and the moment,' then Eirin's would be 'crafting any medicine.'"
"In pharmacology, even compared to gods of the divine era, her talent ranks at the top. And do you know where she first learned medicine?"
"Don't tell me it's from our side…"
Veyron thought back to the old-school cabinet designs he saw in the room.
"You guessed it."
Kaguya nodded. "Back in the day, all she needed was a look and a listen—just 'observe the complexion' and 'hear the breathing.' That alone was enough to cure most illnesses. For trickier ones, maybe a few questions, then boom—spot-on diagnosis and treatment."
"…"
No wonder her expression was kind of weird when he asked if he should take off his pants.
She even didn't refuse.
.
.
.