Everyone stared at Ledio after his exclamation. What was he saying about his father?

“What are you talking about? Why am I your..oh? Are you Ledio?”

“Are you really, Father?”

The strange meet between father and son continued as they conversed.

“I’m your father..but, why are you so old? How many years has it been?”

“Um..Twenty six winters passed after your demise.”

“Then, how old are you?”

“I’m thirty-seven.”

“Wow..!”

The situation was becoming weirder, and had Ledio’s supposedly dead father really come back alive? Actually, rather than being revived..

‘Can it be true?’

Ian narrowed his eyes like he had realized something.

“It has been only twenty-six years? Not two hundred and sixty, but twenty-six? Had I worked that hard to sleep for just twenty-six years? Damn.”

The mid-aged man, doused in confusion and agony, sat down on the floor.

“How can this have happened..!”

“What happened? Didn’t you die then? I remember an accident, a huge explosion..”

Ledio seemed to have believed that his father had died in an alchemy accident, and there appeared to be a connection between the explosion that had just occurred now.

“Yes, that was my plan, and I was going to do so..”

The mid-aged man suspected to be Ledio’s father could not speak further in grief. His state seemed to stem from layers of anger that had transformed into sadness.

“Do you..”

Ian’s quiet voice rang the air before the confusion was gone, and he spoke to the mid-aged man, who he had obviously met for the first time.

“Know Knocking Island?”

“What?”

Ian’s question was not off the mark, as the mid-aged man had black hair, pale skin, and enough knowledge to leave behind that alchemy book. His desire for eternal rest and a plan for it were the same as the artisans who had wanted death.

“I heard that eight artisans had lived there, and I now accommodate six of them.”

That mid-aged man had to be an ‘artisan,’ one of Fran’s eight. Ian’s instinct screamed that he was the artisan in the alchemy field.

“You’re housing them? Why?”

“I’m Ian Page.”

“Oh? My name is Baion..did you say Page?”

“Yes. Can you guess the reason why I’m with six artisans now?”

“If your name is that..”

All artisans knew the name Fran Page, and Ledio’s father, Baion, who had suddenly appeared before them, seemed to be the same.

“Then, you know the meaning of waking me up now, right?”

“Of course. I want to clarify that we had not intentionally woken you. We had only been researching about the inner world.”

“Inner world? Spoken like a descendant of Page. You have the same tastes. Are you also interested in fractured time, other dimensions, and similar nonsense?”

“Recently, yes.”

“You’re crazy, just like him.”

Baion spoke, clucking his tongue. He was different from other artisans, as he did not hesitate to degrade Ian or Fran. He seemed to be speaking from an equal or a higher position from Fran.

“Father? Ian? What are you two talking about? You have to explain it to me! What had happened to you, Father? Why does Ian know my father? I’m so confused..”

Ledio spoke with blinking eyes, and he was about to burst from confusion.

“Strictly speaking, I can’t say that we’re acquainted..”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m not changing the subject, but I had not expected to meet your father like this.”

Ian was speaking the truth, as he had not expected ‘Baion,’ Ledio’s father and the artisan of alchemy, to suddenly appear in this room.

“Father! Say something! What happened? How can you come back from the dead..?!”

“Listen to what you’re saying! I’m dumbstruck. Shouldn’t you be planning a banquet if your father came back from the dead? Why do you keep only asking why I’m alive?”

“That’s..”

“Children are useless. Well, it’s all my fault for having another after being harassed for all that time. Yes, it is.”

“Father, what I meant was..”

“Silent! So, you got older? You were cute when you were small, but now you’re just a mid-aged man. Is that boy next to you really your son, that is my grandson?”

The alchemist Baion spoke as he pointed at Douglas, who stood next to Ledio. He had a sharp eye, as Ledio and Douglas did not look alike.

“Ah, yes.”

“How about your wife?”

“That’s..”

Only

“You don’t have to say it. You look like a single father.”

“....”

Baion spoke to Ian while shrugging his shoulders at Ledio, who had remained silent like he was thinking of his deceased wife.

“You seem to know my son well, and was that also a coincidence?”

“You might not believe it, but we have known each other for seven years.”

“Hmm..”

Was Baion not satisfied with Ian’s answer? He furrowed his brow while thinking and looked around at the messy lab.

“You seemed to have asked my son to research something relevant to the inner world.”