The Simulacrum

Once I came out of the shower and sat down in my room, with Cal laid across my thighs, I was hit by a tsunami of fatigue, to the point I wished I could just sleep it all off. Sadly, we still couldn't figure out what caused me to sleep through the night that one time, and it never happened since then, so I had no choice but to soldier through it the same way as usual.

"{We must reflect on your battle, young knight!}" the nosy sword declared the moment my butt touched my bed. "{I have memorized all the spells the Lord of Magic used against you, and I'm eager to discuss each and every one of them, so that you shall be more prepared the next time you were to meet such an opponent!}"

"… Cal. You know you're lucky you have this whole 'accelerates regeneration by proximity' thing going for you, right?"

"{Well, yes, young knight. Although, I would rather consider it something that is fortunate for my wielder instead for myself, but…}" They paused for a moment, as if they just realized something, and then tentatively asked, "{Was your question one of those word-plays you are so fond of?}"

"No, it was just a rhetorical question. Don't mind it." After muttering that under my breath, there was a fairly long beat of silence, but when I instinctively felt Cal was about to speak up again, I hurriedly uttered, "Please stay silent for a while. I need to think."

"{Oh? Are you planning to internalize your battle experience on your own first? Very well. It shall serve your growth well, so let's resume our discussion about the Magi's spells at a later date.}"

"Sounds good to me," I said in a jovial tone that was only slightly strained, and when Cal remained quiet, I let out a pent-up breath and relaxed my shoulders.

Truth be told, my injuries were superficial at most, with only a few purple bruises here and there. I have ascertained that much by inspecting my body in the shower, and while that was good news, it didn't mean I was completely fine. Even putting the exhaustion aside, my hands were still raw, and my feet hurt so much I was afraid I sprained something but didn't notice at the time because of the adrenaline rush. Thankfully nothing was swollen, and after continuously holding onto Cal until now, the pain mostly subsided as well.

Still, I was annoyed. Not just because I was caught flat-footed by the old bastard, but because this incident had once again shed light on how bothersome and complicated it was to play the role of Leonard S. Dunning. It was already tricky to keep my public power-set consistent on a day-to-day basis, but being forced to handicap myself in a battle like this was especially irking.

I seriously needed to talk with Roland again one of these days, and figure out a way to get rid of Bel in a way I could merge Phasing into my core move set. Doing so would've not only helped me deal with this bloody 'purposefully unwinnable battle' scenario, but being able to openly teleport around without having to excuse it with artifacts and whatnot would've gone a long way to simplify my daily life as well. At the very least, I wouldn't have had to constantly keep track of who knows about my Phasing ability and to what degree anymore.

But putting all of that aside for a moment, I was also annoyed by the fact that, due to the old man's random demonstration of the Magi's eclectic magic system, we didn't actually finish our discussion about burying the hatchet, let alone talk about any ways to mitigate the potential threat of the Assembly to our daily lives. Also, our literal lives, though I was slightly more ambivalent on that one.

I mean, he did say that this Ley Line Nexus of theirs caused his spells to be weaker due to some obviously contrived yet probably lore-consistent factors, but even so, those attacks were no joke. With my ability to close the distance between us under a self-imposed seal, I had to remain on the back foot during the whole ordeal, and while I got out of the encounter without any injuries, the magnitude and variety of the magic he threw at me were still pretty impressive. I couldn't help but wonder who else in my fairly sizable net of friends and allies could stand up to that kind of barrage.

If he was telling the truth, and all of the arch-mages of the Assembly could output that many destructive spells in quick succession, fighting them was probably a bad idea, if for no other reason than the absurd collateral damage such a battle would cause. Which, of course, meant it would've been all the more important to actually reach a proper consensus and figure out a way to defuse the situation, but alas, apparently throwing flaming faces and water hydras at me was more important. Of course, if push came to shove, I still had the option to just throw caution to the wind, Phase on top of them, disable their defensive wards, and just beat them into submission, but that was probably at least a minor diplomatic faux pas, and doing it to every arch-mage individually sounded like an enormous pain in the neck.

Thinking about that, a groan escaped my mouth on its own, which made me realize just how quiet the house was. I didn't turn on my PC yet, so the lack of its quiet hum was very audible, and after my previous chiding, my sisters in the other room also toned things down and had been silent as mice. These moments were pretty much designed to allow me to use Far Sight in peace, and after some consideration, I decided I might as well go with the flow.

First, I started with the usual suspects, and this turned out to be one of the slowest weekends ever, as there was literally nothing to see. Jaakobah was back in his crystal-spire hotel suite room and reading. Crowey was going through some kind of ledger in his office, and it didn't look particularly interesting either. His spy master, the young woman with the two-colored hair was outside and… ice-fishing. As in, on an actual frozen lake, with a hole in front of her, surrounded by portable chairs and everything. She wasn't alone, but I couldn't recognize anyone else around her, so… maybe this was her off day? Ice-fishing in the middle of the night was an odd hobby, but hey, I wasn't going to judge her.

Either way, there was nothing to see there, though I did put a small note in my mental filing cabinet about looking into whether ice-fishing was a thing on realspace Critias as well. It looked decently interesting, so I imagined it could serve either as a wacky date idea with the girls, or some bonding exercise with my father-in-laws.

Putting all that aside for the moment, I moved on to check our own little group next. Judy was relaxing at home, Elly was doing singing practice with Melinda, while Josh and Angie were… currently arguing about whether she should sleep over at his place, or vice versa. In other words, couple stuff.

Speaking of couple-shenanigans, by the looks of it, the class rep and Mike had a movie date after she left my place, and I just caught them walking out of a cinema. They also looked incredibly wholesome together, and I was half-tempted to keep spying on them and take some notes, because the guy obviously had to do something right to maintain that cozy atmosphere. In the end, I respected their privacy and moved on for greener pastures.

My sisters were in the next room over, so there was no reason to Far Glance at them (plus, considering Penny's state of undress, it would've felt like I was genuinely peeping), and I was planning to head over to the base later anyway, so Fred, Brang, and everyone else was also out of the race. That meant that I only had one target left, and I left him for last on purpose.

In a moment, my vision was back in the arch-mage's office. The old coot was sitting behind his desk, as usual, but more surprisingly, he was not alone. Not only Sahi and Pascal were in the room with him, but Gowan also showed up at some point, and even more surprisingly, the school nurse was also there with them and was currently in the process of examining the old man with one of those magical monocles.

"You're, like, not just pretending to be weak to make me stop questioning you, are you?" the brown girl in the middle huffed indignantly, but instead of the arch-mage, it was the portly nurse who answered in his stead.

"Saahira, please. Amadeus is obviously suffering from mild internal injuries."

"How bad is it?" Pascal inquired before Sahi could get a word in, and Peabody answered with a thin-lipped smile.

"O-ho-ho. Nothing major, I assure you. A few days of rest and lots of fluids should sort it out in a jiffy." As he turned back to the man behind the desk, his jovial attitude quickly withered and he quietly added. "I mean that, old friend. You should rest. You shouldn't let the rest of the School see you shaken like that."

"It is not something I can help," Lord Grandpa griped and took out another bottle of mineral water from a drawer. "I have just been through one of the most harrowing experiences in my entire life."

"Was Leonard really that scary?" the chief artificer, standing a few steps behind the rest and distinctly feeling like a third wheel, threw in a question that raised everyone's brows, and their momentary apprehension soon turned into confusion when the old man let out a tense chuckle.

"Scary? No, nothing of the sort. He was downright terrifying."

"Are you serious?" Sahi blurted out in surprise, and the arch-mage solemnly nodded.

"I had already told you once, but let me repeat myself for the sake of clarity: I invited Leonard Dunning to the Nexus Chamber in order to permanently impress upon him the might of an arch-mage of the Assembly, so that he would not even think of antagonizing our peers once they arrived on the island."

"O-ho-ho? This is the first time I've heard of this," Peabody noted on the side, and Gowan also nodded along, meaning they probably weren't entirely clear on what went down between the two of us less than half an hour ago.

"In that case, I reckon both of you should pay close attention," Lord Grandpa told them in a flat voice, then finally took a huge gulp from his water bottle and placed it onto the table. "I intended to use the unlimited power provided by the Nexus itself to one-sidedly overwhelm him, and I failed. I failed miserably. I have no idea how it was possible, but he cut my magic like it was entirely natural to do so, and even after I resorted to elevated casting, despite the strain it put on my body, and bombarded him with combination spells, I barely managed to inconvenience him."

Everyone in the room was stunned silent, which was weird, considering I didn't think it was that big of a deal.

"My Lord? Have you tried to apply a holding spell on him?"

"Of course I did!" the arch-mage burst out with a scowl. "Who do you take me for, Gowan? That was one of the first maneuvers I had attempted upon him, while obscuring his vision with another spell, yet the magic bindings unraveled the moment they came into contact with him. It was maddening!"

"What about mind spells?" Sahi cut in, suddenly excited. Whether it was genuine, or just the schadenfreude talking, I couldn't tell.

"Saahira. Was that a serious question?" She nodded, and the old arch-mage responded with a drawn-out groan. "I naturally attempted to cast several different spells to hamper and confuse him, but I had the impression he did not even notice."

He… wasn't exactly wrong. I really didn't know what he was talking about.

In the meantime, the old man took another sip from his bottle and rubbed his face before he continued.

"The most terrifying thing of all was that, during all of this, Leonard Dunning remained completely unmoved by the power I displayed. The amount and intensity of magic I discharged upon him could have leveled half of Timaeus, yet he was never impressed or even startled. It was as if he had seen every spell and charm coming, even before I finished the incantations, and even the most sturdily weaved invocations were disintegrated by the merest touch of his sword, as if he could see the weakest threads to cut to have the entire spell fall apart like a frayed cloth. And his eyes… those indifferent eyes looking at me during all of this. It was almost as if he was looking through me the entire time."

…

Well… wow. I didn't expect to unnerve Lord Grandpa like that, but by the looks of it, I just did. Serves him right, I supposed? Still, I really didn't like how he was spinning this whole thing like I was some kind of bully who was tormenting little old him during the fight, when he was the one who started it in the first place, and was throwing firestorms at me like they were discount coupons at the grocery store.

"I... think I know what happened," Gowan raised his voice in the back, and everyone focused their attention on him all over again.

"Then speak up," the arch-mage hissed, sounding somewhat skeptical, and after some hesitation, the artificer steeled himself and stepped up.

"I had my suspicions beforehand, but since I had no evidence, I did not speak of it, yet under the current circumstances, I have no choice but to, at the very least—"

"Oh, stop that!" Sahi exclaimed and pointed a finger at the man. "Like, can't you just say it without beating around the bush like that?"

"I… will try," Gowan muttered, and after a long beat, he cautiously stated, "I believe Leonard Dunning is in possession of the Oculus of Trismegistus."

"Excuse me?"

Lord Grandpa's murmur made the man raise his hands defensively and hastily explain, "As I said, I only suspected such a possibility, and that's why I never shared my impression with others, but wouldn't it explain how he could counter Lord Endymonion's spellcraft with but a single sword?"

"O-ho-ho? That's quite intriguing, isn't it?"

"Oooh? That totally explains a lot!"

While the peanut gallery acted like this was some grand revelation, without actually explaining what this whole 'Oculus of Trismegistus' thing even was, the owner of the study remained silent and continued to absently stroke his beard while his eyes glazed over, apparently so deep in thought he couldn't even hear the first time Pascal called out to him.

"My Lord? What is your opinion on this matter?"

Looking over at him, the old man remained silent for a few seconds longer, clearly contemplating.

"Under any other circumstances, I would have dismissed such a notion without any further considerations, but after experiencing the abilities of Leonard Dunning on my own skin, I can hardly do the same anymore. It also places our current dilemma in regards to our peers into a completely new light."

"Does it?" Peabody wondered, and Lord Grandpa firmly nodded. After drinking all that water, color was finally returning to his face, and he seemed downright invigorated as he looked over the room.

"Indeed. We must do everything in our power to avoid any and all conflict between Leonard Dunning and his allies and the Assembly delegation. We can not let them even suspect him." Sahi was about to interject, but then he cut her off by directly addressing her. "Saahira, Pascal. You two have a more amicable relationship with Leonard, so try to influence him to stay hidden and not antagonize the Assembly."

"Hey! Like, since when are you ordering me around!?"

"Sahi, this is important," Armband Guy interjected, and even put a hand on her shoulder for emphasis. "Please cooperate."

The incognito ex-arch-mage glanced between the guy's face and his hand, and then let out a soft 'Bah!'

"Fine. I'll play along, but only because Paz asked nicely."

Without even acknowledging her response, the old man moved on to the artificer next.

"Meister Gowan. Please continue to support him, and as soon as the opportunity presents itself, make a request for a few more of those plaques he exhibited during the recent auction. The more complex and impressive, the better. I will personally pay for all the materials and your expenses."

"I… will make an honest attempt, but… may I ask you why?"

"We will utilize them as bribes," the arch-mage responded like it was self-evident. "I know for a fact that Lord Barnabas desperately wants to put his hands onto one of them, as much for the sake of his research as to soother his wounded pride over losing the last plaque to the New York School during the auction. Similarly, we could use them to gain the support of Lord Gulliver and Lord Avid as well. So long as I managed to convince the other senior Keepers of the Keys to see things our way, we might be able to stop the Assembly from moving its forces to Critias altogether. That should buy us enough time to come up with a more all-encompassing solution."

"O-ho-ho. What about me?" Peabody spoke up, sounding like he was joking, but when Lord Grandpa gave him a flat look, he tentatively asked, "Do you… actually have something for me to do?"

"As a matter of fact, I do, Archibald." The old man placed his hands on the table and linked his fingers. "Leonard Dunning expressed his intent to employ you."

"He did?"

"Indeed. If he were to make his offer to you in person, I would like to ask you to accept it."

The school nurse slightly narrowed his eyes at the request.

"Are you telling me to infiltrate his organization?"

"You can certainly look at it that way, but it is not my core intent. I do believe that the opportunity might prove beneficial to you, not to mention I would finally no longer have to listen to you complaining about how much you miss your nephew and his mechanical creation. More importantly, I want you to make sure whether or not Leonard truly possesses the Oculus of Trismegistus. That is my only request. Beyond that, you may do as you wish."

"O-ho-ho. Well, I admit I do miss Galatea. Friedrich too, I suppose, but… why would he even think of hiring me? For what reason?"

"I reckon it has to do with your research into—"

And then, a guitar solo.

Opening my eyes in surprise, I blinked a couple of times and then hit my forehead with the heel of my hand.

"Yeah. I knew I forgot about something."

"{What is it, young knight?}"

"Nothing, never mind."

Saying so, I set the sword aside on the bed and walked over to my still-ringing phone. This wasn't the first time my Far Sight session was interrupted by a random phone call, so I decided to mute it before I would do so in the future, but because I was so out of it after my impromptu 'power demonstration' with Lord Grandpa, I completely forgot about it. It was fine though; I'd already heard all the more important details, and I didn't think I was missing anything vital.

More importantly, I glanced at the caller ID and then raised the phone to my ear.

"Hi, Dormouse. What's up?"

"Chief, are you really hurt?"

That made me narrow my eyes and unconsciously glance at the wall between my sisters' room and my own.

"What gave you that idea?"

"I've got a text message from Penelope saying you fought Amelia's grandfather. It also said I should tell you that you're an inconsiderate jerk."

"Yeah, that sounds like her all right," I said with a sigh, and quickly explained the situation to my dear assistant, from Ammy's request to my very recent Far Sight activities. She listened closely, and after a got the broad strokes across, I finished things with, "In short, because of yet another mysterious magical misunderstanding, the whole Assembly-sub-plot might actually sort itself out without us having to lift a finger."

"Don't jinx it."

"I've already heard that one today," I answered in a deadpan voice, but it only elicited a soft hum. "Anyhow, do you know any good ice-fishing locations nearby?"

"… Where did that come from?"

"I just thought it would be a nice, quirky date opportunity," I told her with a cheeky smile she obviously couldn't see, yet I imagined she could hear it in my voice.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to divert my attention away from your injuries?"

"It can't be that, because I don't have any injuries."

There was a long moment of silence on the line, but then she frankly stated, "I'll see that for myself tomorrow. Also, I'll look into ice fishing."

I didn't think she would take that seriously, but apparently the idea hit a chord with her. However, just as I was about to respond, my phone started vibrating again, and after checking the new caller ID, I said, "The princess is also calling me, so I have to put it down. Love you."

"Same here. I'll see you tomorrow."

After that short exchange, I pressed the red button on the screen, and a moment later, I was connected to the second caller. Unlike my suspicious assistant, my other girlfriend sounded downright excited.

"Leo? Is it true? Did you beat up the arch-mage?"

"… Did Penny send you a message too?"

"Yes!"

Sighing, I began my explanation from the ground up, for the second time today, and I couldn't help but feel that it would be some time before I could head over to the base. On a completely unrelated note, was it appropriate to spank one's younger sister at this age, I wondered? Even if not, I was sure I would be able to come up with an embarrassing punishment for her. I was good at those.

I think I might've already said this before, but it bore reiterating: after going through all kinds of supernatural shenanigans, going to school on a slow Monday morning felt much weirder than it was ought to be, and it doubly applied after the extra-long winter break. Since the last time we walked down the roads leading to Blue Cherry High, we had an attempted kidnapping, a fake duel, two entire tournament arcs, a big supernatural battle with all the bells and whistles and surprise-dragons, and an entire hot springs episode.

Funnily enough, after such as exhausting 'break', I was almost looking forward to school again. While sitting behind a desk for half a day and cramming knowledge one probably won't ever use into their heads didn't necessarily sound like a good time, I welcomed it with open arms. With everything else going on around us, our school lives started to feel like this small oasis, where we could just sit back, focus on the lessons, fool around during the breaks, and just have a nice, relaxing time.

"Am I the only one who feels like winter break was way too short? Why do we already have to go back to school? What is even the point?"

Or maybe it was just me, at least based on Angie's dispirited moans.

Over time, our initially small group had grown fairly sizable, to the point we crowded out the sidewalk. At the front, we had the childhood friend couple leading the charge… though that might've been overstating things a little, considering the Celestial girl's constant complaints.

"I should've called in sick. In fact, I'm sure I've got the flu. Maybe I should go back home."

"Oh, no you don't. Your mum made me promise to take care of you, so no skipping on my watch," Josh chided his girlfriend and linked arms with her, as if afraid that she would actually turn back.

"Traitor. You're supposed to support me in situations like this," Angie grumbled, but considering she was simultaneously snuggling up to him, she probably only did so on principle.

"Brotheeer!" The cozy atmosphere at the front was somewhat overshadowed by Penny's cries from the back, and when I glanced over, she immediately pleaded with me. "I already reflected on what I did! Please stop her already!"

"Not happening," I told her flatly, much to her chagrin. "This is your punishment. Just accept it and be more mindful next time."

"But it's just so… weird!" my knightly sister continued to moan and tried to look as innocent as a newborn lamb, but I wasn't buying it.

Instead, I glanced at the shadow she cast onto the sidewalk.

"Make sure you stick to her all day."

"Roger, ue-sama!" the fluffy little fox declared as her head emerged from the shadow, and she even saluted with her tiny little paw before she dived back down.

"Eeek!" Penny, despite being a dashing knight and all, let out a startled cry, and despite only catching the tail end of Ichiko's tail (pun intended), she honest-to-goodness clung to Mountain Girl for a moment.

"I'm starting to feel sorry for her," the princess noted on my left, but I remained firm.

"Since spanking is off the table, I had to get creative, and it works. It wouldn't be a punishment if she liked it."

"Leonard-dono is right," Rinne agreed, followed by a nostalgic sigh. "Disciplining is an important part of proper upbringing, and Leonard-dono is already very lenient. When Rinne was misbehaving as a young child, Rinne's mother would use a carped duster after tying tie Rinne up with ropes and hanging Rinne upside-down from the ceiling, and then—"

"A-A-Awawa! Too much information!" Penny cried out, and this time she clung to my other sister instead.

"The more we learn about Rinne's younger days, the more sense she makes," Judy noted on my other side, and I wasn't entirely sure I agreed with her on that front.

In any case, we waited for Penny to calm down, during which the ranks got reshuffled, and somehow my sisters ended up at the front, with my girlfriends lagging back to further question Mountain Girl about traditional Japanese punishment. By the time she started talking about her feet being dipped in starch glue, covered in corn seeds and then being forced to stick her legs into the chicken coop until her soles were cleaned up, I was pretty sure that she was either pulling their legs, or that weirdness ran in her family.

More importantly, after the reshuffle, I somehow still ended up in the middle, except this time it was in the company of the childhood friend couple. Angie was still noticeably peevish and reluctant to return to our school life, while Josh seemed like he was already used to these kinds of tantrums. They were also still walking arm in arm, which was something I approved of.

"Keep it up, guys."

"Keep what up?" Josh responded to my sincere encouragement with a skeptically raised brow.

"Being obviously couple-y," I clarified, but his puzzlement didn't abate at all. "Oh, come on. We talked about this in the pool."

"What are you two talking about?" the Celestial girl butted in, doing her best to mimic her boyfriend's expression, and since Josh didn't seem to be any wiser either, I finally resolved myself to fully explain my words.

"I was just trying to tell you to keep expressing your affection for each other in public. I already told Josh about this, but after the tournament, he became the most sought-after bachelor on the island, and the Draconian families are already lining up to entice him. The more obvious it is that you two are already going out, the easier it will be to turn them down."

"Why is this the first time I've heard about this?" Angie inquired in a neutral tone, but her suspiciously narrowed eyes directed at her boyfriend were anything but that.

"Hey, it was only a possibility Leo brought up, and it's not like it's guaranteed to happen."

"I asked Naoren. They're definitely looking into you," I told him flatly, but before he could answer, the Celestial girl waved at me to get my attention.

"Be honest, Leo. What's the worst-case scenario?"

The question stopped me in my tracks for a moment, and after some thinking, I shook my head.

"… I'm not saying that, because I've been tempting fate too much lately, but if you want to hear a 'likely' scenario, imagine half a dozen ultra-wealthy pseudo-noble dragon-girls transferring to the school all at once, with the express goal to marry Josh."

"Wait… Like Elly?"

"Hm?"

My girlfriend's ears perked up in the back, so I glanced over my shoulder and told her, "Don't mind us, princess. We're just talking about a template here. It's more of a hypothetical, really."

Her eyes told me she didn't get it, but she smiled and nodded anyway before returning to their discussion with Mountain Girl and Judy. In the meantime, Angie considered my words seriously, and let out a determined huff.

"Okay, you sold me on it. How do we stop this?"

"For a start, you two should keep acting all dere-dere in public."

"Hey! We're not being… whatever heck you just said!" Josh protested, causing his childhood friend to roll her eyes.

"He means we should act lovey-dovey, you dunce!"

"Then why didn't he say that?"

"He did! If you just read the romance I recommended to you last month, you would know all this!"

"I did, and you tricked me! It was a about two guys! "

"You see? This is why I keep telling you that you need to broaden your palate. A true connoisseur would've been able to divorce the superb prose and the vivid descriptions from the gender of the main characters. Shame on you. You need to be more cultured."

"That's not culture, that's just thinly veiled smut!"

Josh continued to complain, and while I had no idea what they were talking about, I knew for a fact that it was not only entirely beside the point, but I didn't care about it either. I waited until there was a brief pause in the argument, and the moment I got the opportunity, I loudly cleared my throat to draw their attention.

"So, as I was saying, you two should telegraph your relationship to the whole wide world, so that nobody gets any funny ideas, and the best way to do it is by acting like hormonal, love-stricken idiots both in and out of school. Give it a few days, and the news should spread like wildfire."

Josh still looked fairly unenthused by the idea, but on the other hand, Angie sounded downright thrilled.

"Allrighty then! In other words, we should keep holding hands like this!"

She proudly showed off their interlinked fingers, accompanied by a toothy grin.

"That's a start. You should also whisper sweet nothings to each other, and kiss a lot."

"You mean… in front of everyone?"

Josh went from lackadaisical to alarmed in a split second, so I decided to be even more straightforward.

"Yeah? I mean, that's the whole point." He continued to look at me funny, so I exhaled sharply and said, "We don't live in the Victorian era, you know? Nobody is going to get outraged over a few kisses here and there. Well, except maybe for the four creeps, but once they're convinced that you've settled on Angie, they might actually finally get off your case, so that should be a net positive. In fact, you should try to be extra touchy-feely around them."

"Oh, come on, man!" Josh moaned and threw his free hand up into the air. "We are new to this whole 'couple' thing, and it's complicated as is already! Be a little more considerate, will you!"

"I am considerate. That's why I'm telling you to be very overt about your relationship so that we can avoid any further shenanigans. Not to mention, you two had already gone all the way, so a kiss or two really shouldn't be all that embarrassing anymore."

The childhood friend couple stared at me like I just told them I ate kittens, but before I could further explain myself, Angie let out a surprised noise and pulled Josh over.

"Oh look Ammy is standing by the gates let's go ahead and greet her because we haven't seen her in a while and there are a lot of things to discuss don't you think so Josh all right let's go!"

Before our resident probably-no-longer-harem protagonist could respond, he got dragged past my sisters at the forefront, and the two of them rushed to the top of the hill, where the class rep was already waiting for us, in the company of Armband Guy.

"What was that about?" I mumbled under my breath, and to my surprise, Snowy slowed down to get next to me.

"Um… I think… you made them uncomfortable."

"Did I?" I asked back while moving to the side so that Penny could also join us.

"Obviously," my redhead sister, visibly flushed under her knit cap and scarf, commented in a sulky tone, and Snowy also nodded along.

"They just started going out, so I think they are still very sensitive about the topic of… um… intimacy."

"They shouldn't be though. It's not that big a deal," I pointed out, but my Abyssal sister shook her head.

"Maybe not for you, but you shouldn't presume that it's the same for everyone else."

I mulled over her words for a few seconds, and ultimately shrugged.

"Maybe I'm just desensitized to the topic thanks to… well, you know what I mean, right, sis?"

I was obviously addressing Snowy, yet Penny shook her head first and then pulled her scarf up to further hide her face and turned aside, pretending to be fiddling with her phone.

"I've heard you never had much interest in it, to begin with," Snowy pointed out, and I awarded her comment a certified Single Raised Brow™.

"Did you hear that from Judy?"

She glanced back, and seeing that my dear assistant wasn't paying us attention, she nodded.

To be fair, I was aware that my libido was lacking compared to the average guy my age, to put it mildly, but I didn't know how to feel about my sister learning about it as well. Was this how Josh felt when I brought my knowledge of their 'experimentation' up as well? That was a question worth mulling over, but before I could get any pondering done, Penny pulled her scarf back down and excitedly tugged on my sleeve.

"Stop talking about those kinds of things, and listen to me! I've just got an e-mail from Uncle Percy!"

"You mean Percival?"

"Who else could I mean?" she pouted and then turned the screen my way, only to retract it before I could even see the message. "He says he already bought a plane ticket, and he should arrive tomorrow morning! I should message Uncle Roland and tell him about it!"

"You do that, kiddo," I told her with just a hint of trepidation.

I still knew practically nothing about this Sir Percival, other than the fact that Penny seemed to like him a lot, and while another experienced ally joining my side wasn't a bad thing per se, the timing was a little iffy. Between the Draconic Federation, the obvious Celestial plot, and the Assembly coming over to muddy the waters, I didn't know how much time I could dedicate to this potential parental figure of mine.

Anyhow, while Penny was busy typing, we reached the school gates, where our three friends and Armband Guy were having a lively discussion about something or the other. When we got close, I nodded at Pascal, and he returned the gesture, along with a strained smile. If I had to guess, he was probably taking the old coot's order to 'maintain amicable relations' a bit too literally.

We didn't spare any time for pleasantries, as school was about to start, and Rinne immediately broke off from our group and headed to the faculty office. In her place, Josh and Angie replaced her at the end of our little processions, while the class rep zeroed in on me. Penny was still busy texting, but my other sister immediately read between the lines and pulled her aside, so that Ammy could take their place by my side.

"Morning, class rep," I greeted her with a friendly smile, and after a short beat, she theatrically dropped her shoulders and shook her head.

"Leo. I know that you are being heavily influenced by the culture of the Eastern Draconians at the moment, but when I told you to come to an understanding with grandfather, I didn't mean that you should spar with him."

"… I think you're laboring under some kind of misunderstanding."

"Am I?" She paused to tweak her glasses and then crossed her arms. "Didn't you come to talk with him wearing a sword?"

"I did, but it was for a completely unrelated reason," I defended myself, but she remained unconvinced.

"Nobody shows up to a friendly discussion with a weapon."

"Well, I do," I said, pointing at myself, and after a tense beat, she exhaled a long sigh.

"I've heard you have reached some kind of agreement at the end, so maybe I shouldn't complain too much, but you do realize that challenging grandfather like that could've ended up in a disaster, right?"

"I tell you, I didn't challenge him," I retorted, to little effect.

"In any case, grandfather told me that he's planning to support your case in front of the Assembly, so it worked, but next time you try to 'negotiate' like that, please think twice about it."

"… Are we really doing this? Is this going to be one of those 'persistent misunderstanding' things we're just going to run with?"

As if to prove my point, the class rep ignored my complaints, and while I thought that was the end of it, she approached me once again while I was waiting for the girls after I changed my shoes. She didn't address me right away, but instead she looked me over from head to toe several times, and after peering at me face for an uncomfortably long time, she let out what sounded like a relieved sigh.

"Okay, I bite," I spoke a tad morosely. "What is this about?"

"I'm just glad to see that you don't have any visible injuries."

"What injuries?" I blurted out without thinking, and she appeared genuinely surprised.

"The injuries you suffered after you recklessly challenged grandfather."

"There we go with the misunderstanding again. Listen, class rep. I didn't challenge him, and I didn't get injured either."

"Really? But didn't you lose to him?"

"Who told you that?"

I thought that was a rhetorical question, and I was already working myself up into being angry at the old bastard for twisting the truth into a pretzel to save his own ass, but then the class rep's answer caused my indignation to falter for a moment.

"Penelope sent me a text message yesterday, but I was busy, and I only read it in the morning, and by then Pascal…" Her words trailed off into a mumble as she noticed the look in my eyes. "Is there a problem?"

"No, none at all," I told her in a level voice as I gazed after the hurriedly retreating Penny dragging my confused Abyssal sister up the stairs while trying not to make eye contact. "Did she write anything else?"

"Only that, and that I should talk to you about not picking fights with people you can't defeat."

"I see. I see," I repeated with a nod, and then headed over to my shoe locker, leaving the puzzled Amelia behind.

I checked the time on my phone, and we still had a little over seven minutes before classes started. Not a lot of time, but enough. Screw creative punishments. Spanking was officially back on the menu.

It took until the third break for the misunderstanding to get cleared up, which was coincidentally around the same time Ichiko was moved over to Judy's shadow. By lobbying with my girlfriends, Penny claimed that she had already 'paid for her sins', and threatened to go on a hunger strike if her demands weren't met, ultimately forcing my hand.

That was a bit of a scene in and of itself, but back to Ammy. After fuming all through the following class, she disappeared the moment the bell rang, and we didn't see her until lunch break was over. Other than that, nothing particularly interesting happened during the school day, and so I was taken quite aback when Gowan suddenly brought her up.

"I've heard that Amelia got into an argument with the Lord today," the friendly artificer noted, seemingly just to make small talk, but the way his eyes were glued to my face told me he was looking for a reaction.

"It must have had something to do with the stunt the old man pulled yesterday," I noted with disinterest, focusing on the small metal disk in my hand. Apparently, after the arch-mage ordered him to 'support me', Gowan spent all night manufacturing the base array I requested from him a while ago, and judging by the bags under his eyes, he likely worked on it until the morning.

My sisters were still waiting for me upstairs, so I wanted to wrap this up quickly, but I held back and inspected the enchantment array from front to back, inside out, and in many other less Euclidianly intuitive ways. It was better to be thorough now than having to return it later when it turned out something was out of order.

"It was truly surprising. Amelia always used to be such a quiet, obedient girl. I never heard her raise her voice in the presence of the Lord before this day," Gowan said while still staring at me, and once the artifact base in my hand passed another round of inspection, I shrugged before starting on the next,

"What can I say? Children grow up fast nowadays."

It was only after I had already uttered the words that I realized they must've sounded really cheesy to the ears of the stocky artificer, coming from the mouth of someone who was legally still a minor. Contrary to my expectations, he considered what I said with undue solemnity, and even nodded to himself, like he just solved a part of a difficult problem.

"You might be right. She most certainly is at that age, but… I don't think it's a good idea to raise tensions in the current situation."

I very nearly asked what he even meant by that, but I figured he was probably referring to the Assembly's new 'delegation' coming to the island to flex their magical muscles. I still didn't know how that was related to an argument between the class rep and Lord Grandpa, but maybe he already considered her part of my 'faction', and imagined that the two of them fighting over his stupid challenge from the day before was some kind of political stand-off? It sounded silly, but to be fair, every single Magi or Magi-related person I've ever met had a bad tendency of overthinking very simple things, so I couldn't completely rule out the possibility.

"To be fair, the arch-mage did trick me into a duel against my will, and who else on this island was going to scold him for it if not his only relative on the island."

I tried to make my answer as diplomatic as possible, yet Gowan continued to nod along like it was some kind of exquisitely profound insight.

"Yes. Yes. If you put it that way, it certainly makes sense. Yes."

I'm not going to lie, I was getting a little tired of his responses, so after one last round of quality check, I placed the metal plate into the handy little carrying case it came with, and after I securely locked it, I turned back to the senior artificer with my friendliest of smiles.

"The enchantment seems perfect for my purposes. Thank you for your hard work, Meister Gowan. How much do I owe you again?"

"Oh, don't even mention it!" the man responded in the company of a chuckle, but his eyes told me that he had been waiting for me to ask about that all this time. "However… I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries, but could I ask for, or rather, request, one of those plaques you had on auction not too long ago?" Before I could even open my mouth, he hastily raised his palms and sputtered, "Of course, I don't dare to ask for one for free! Goodness gracious, no. I'm naturally going to pay for them, naturally. It's only natural, after all. It doesn't have to be anything remarkable, just… Just roughly equal to the ones previously exhibited."

"If it's you, it's really not all that much to ask for," I told him with a practiced smile. "I would've given you one for free, in light of our continued cooperation, but if you insist on paying for it, the least I can do is to give you a discount."

Gowan's face visibly relaxed, but then he softly cleared his throat and lowered his voice.

"If that's the case then… can I maybe ask for two of them?"

I waited for a beat before theatrically raising a brow, and I was admitted amused by the way he vacillated between whether he should backpedal or soldier on. For the record, I didn't dislike the man; quite the opposite, really. However, if he was doing such sneaky work for Lord Grandpa, it was only fair that I made him sweat for it a little. Not too much though, as at the end of the day, their plan was at least nominally beneficial to me.

"Of course. Do you want to give one away as a gift?"

"Y-Yes. Someone I know is very interested in your work, and—"

"No need to say anything more. Any further requests?"

Once again, Gowan hesitated for a while, but then he sheepishly asked, "Can you also sign them?"

Pretending to be amused by the request, I stifled a chuckle and patted the man on the shoulder.

"Sure thing."

He exhaled a pent-up breath, like I just took a huge weight off his shoulders, once again proving that the amicable artificer really wasn't cut out for this kind of deceptive stuff. For but a split-second, I wondered if Ammy would get into another argument with the old coot if I told her he put poor Gowan up for this, but I just as quickly decided against it.

"Thank you. Let's discuss the details at a later date. I don't want to hold you up longer than necessary."

"Let's do that."

After concluding our 'deal', I bid my farewells and left the workshop. On the way out, I didn't run into any familiar faces, though I did notice that I turned a few heads. They belonged to artificers, researchers, and other assorted School personnel, or in other words, placeholders. Normally they didn't pay me much attention, so their hushed glanced and the wide berth they gave me became all the more apparent. Were there some rumors floating around already, I wondered as I reached the elevator and rode it up to the surface?

It was a mostly inconsequential concern, so I more or less forgot about it by the time I walked out of the basement of the main school buildings. Looking back, I couldn't help but wonder about the logistics of the underground School complex. By my reckoning, there were about a hundred Magi and support staff working there, yet the only two entrances were this elevator and the stairs Fred used to infiltrate the place that one time, which seemed to be for emergencies only and locked off most of the time.

You'd expect that, with the breakneck pace at which our school-mate placeholders were developing, someone would've raised a fuss about dozens of non-staff adults moving in and out of the school's basement. Presuming they ever left the School to go home, of course.

"Maybe they live underground," I muttered as I headed toward the school entrance. "Plot twist: the Roman fire-mole people were the Magi all along."

Putting my silly conjecture aside, the core point remained a small concern still. Many of the weird and counter-intuitive things relating to the supernatural masquerade in the Simulacrum could only exist as they did because, just as 'main characters' were completely oblivious to placeholder behavior, said placeholders were not only unaware, but lacked the development to do anything about any of the uncanny stuff going on around them. However, if they kept on developing like they had been doing for the past couple of months, it was only a question of time before we would reach a tipping point.

Once that happened, I had a feeling there were only two options left on the table: we would either see the whole 'secret world of mystics' card house crumble down, or the Simulacrum would be forced to engage in large-scale modifications to keep things under wrap, with unpredictable means and results. I wasn't looking forward to either possibility, but it wasn't a cat that could be stuffed back into the bag, so I hoped for the best and prepared for the worst, as usual.

Anyhow, I just reached the school gates when my feet stopped by an unexpected sight. Penny and Snowy were waiting for me, as we promised beforehand, but strangely enough, they weren't alone. The two of them were standing under one of the bare cherry trees, just outside the gate, and were flanked by three guys. They weren't wearing our school's uniform, but one of those all-black ensembles you would see on delinquents in Japanese fiction, which meant…

"Holy crap. Do we have a new Goldfish Poop Gang?"

These guys looked way more generic than the original trio, who, for some inexplicable reason, switched careers to the service industry, but at least one of them had something resembling a pompadour, so they got a passing grade in my book. I was half-tempted to sneak closer and listen in on what they were talking about with the girls, but at the very least Snowy looked uncomfortable, so I dropped the pretenses and walked right over.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"Ah, brother!"

Penny welcomed me with a bright smile, and the three delinquents exchanged surprised glances before they lined up slightly behind her. At the very least, they didn't seem hostile.

"Hi, kiddo. Is there a problem?"

"No. We were just talking."

This time, I turned to the trio behind her, and the moment our eyes met, they all made ninety degrees bows and loudly exclaimed, """We greet anego's big brother!""" in unison.

"… Are you bloody serious?"

"Brother, don't bully them!" my knightlier sister stepped between us and graced me with one of her world-class pouts.

Seeing that their 'anego' was standing up for them, the three delinquents also straightened their backs, only to slink back when I frowned at them. During the stalemate that followed, I looked over at Snowy, and once our eyes met, her exasperated expression told me essentially everything I needed to know.

Turning back to Penny, I said to her, "I'm sure there's a story behind all of this, so let's hear it later. As for you three…" Pausing, I leveled my finely honed Chilling Glare ver. 1.23 at the trio and uttered, "Scram."

I didn't need to say it twice, and after mumbling something about a promise, they ran away like the entire Timaeus police force was on their heels.

"Brotheeer! Why did you do that?"

"Na-ah. Don't 'brother' me. First, tell me what all of that was about."

Penny glared at me for a while, followed by an irritated 'Bah!', and then concluded with her defiantly crossing her arms and turning her face to the side while still pouting. The eagle-eyed might've already noticed that there was no explanation in that chain of events, but thankfully, my other sister came to the rescue, sounding unusually deadpan.

"Apparently, Penny met those three back when she first came to the school, and they have been following her since then."

"Following, huh? How exactly did that happen?" Instead of answering, Penny continued to sulk, so after waiting for a few seconds, I turned away and gestured for Snowy to follow after me. "Well, someone's not getting desserts tonight, I suppose. Come, sis. Let's pick up the pace and burn some calories; we'll have extra pudding to eat after dinner."

"Hey! Holding my pudding hostage is unfair!" the troublesome girl called out after me, and after a long pause, she let out a soft groan. "Oh, fine. I'll tell you. Are you happy?"

"Less complaining, more explaining."

Following a soft 'Hmpf!', Penny took a deep breath and launched into her explanation, just around the time we started walking down the hill.

"When I was scouting out the school's neighborhood, I found those three being picked on by a group of bad students, so I taught them a lesson. After that, I promised to teach them how to defend themselves, so that they wouldn't be bullied again, and then they invited more of their friends, but then there was a whole bunch of troublemakers from this other school who came over to pick a fight, and they were inconveniencing the people around the neighborhood, so we all got together and chased them away."

"… Oh, great. My little sister is a gang leader now. Marvelous."

Putting that revelation aside, just when did all of that happen? I had a close eye on her ever since I first managed to mark her for Far Sight, so all of this either had to go down before that, or the Simulacrum was exploiting the hell out of my blind spots, but for what reason?

"You see. I told you," Snowy noted on the side, causing my other sister to act like she was hit in the nose.

"Not you too, Snowy! I told you, they aren't scoundrels! They are just misunderstood!"

"You just said they beat up delinquents."

"It was self-defense!" Penny protested, but when we both gave her the cold shoulder, she stomped her feet and pointed a finger at me. "Just you wait! I'll gather them all, and have them bring all their motivational flags, and you'll see how they are all good guys, and then you'll feel really foolish!"

"Sure, kiddo. I'm sure that's exactly what's going to happen."

Penny continued to fume for a while longer, but then I noticed that she kept sending furtive glances at the small case I was carrying, and once she noticed that I noticed, she discarded all pretenses and directly asked, "Sooo… What's in that?"

I had a feeling that she was trying to change the subject, but I didn't really mind.

"I'm going to make my own Magiformer, and it's the base for that."

"Oh, wow! It's about time!" Penny exclaimed, and surprisingly enough, my other sister looked equally excited and relieved at the same time.

"You really should pay more attention to your own safety," Snowy told me sternly, and Penny agreed with a series of nods.

"Yes, you should! Especially after what happened yesterday!"

"Yeah, I know. I put it off until now, because your gear is more important, but I'm going to make it tonight."

"Good. Nothing is more important than your safety," my dear Abyssal sister stressed, and I couldn't really argue. "We almost finished adapting one of my protection Sigils for human use. We should put one onto you as soon as possible."

"Great idea!"

Penny sounded pretty enthusiastic, and before I knew it, the two of them began making plans for another 'experimental session'. I was half-tempted to tease them a little by complaining about the noises, but decided against it. It's been a while since the last time we walked home like this, just the three of us, and I didn't want to ruin the atmosphere by putting Penny into hedgehog-mode again.

But thinking of which, I suddenly recalled something and interrupted my sisters' discussion with a question.

"I forgot to ask, but did Judy or Elly say anything before they left?"

"Nothing much," Penny answered offhandedly, but then her eyes opened wide, and she snapped her fingers. "Wait, no! There's something. She said they'll buy fishing equipment."

"Was that a code for something?" Snowy mused a touch uncertainly, causing me to chuckle at her.

"No, I think she meant it literally. We're planning to go ice-fishing one of these days."

Penny sent me a sideways glance, and wondered, "How can you even think about something like that with everything else going on?"

"Priorities," I answered with a cheeky smile. "Girlfriends first, family second, everything else a distant third."

"Are we second?" Snowy blurted out with innocent eyes, so I reflexively pinched her cheek.

"By a hair's breadth."

"Then when are you taking us ice fishing?" Penny asked, and while it was probably meant to tease me, I considered her question seriously. Maybe a little too seriously even, as Snowy gently pulled my hand away from her face and held it in her own to get my attention.

"You don't need to overdo it. Just walking home and talking like this is plenty."

"I'm not going to argue with that, but still, I won't turn down an ice-fishing trip," Penny noted on my other side, and the three of us broke into chuckles more or less at the same time.

Unfortunately, that cozy atmosphere only lasted for a few more seconds, as the moment we turned the corner leading to our street, the smile withered off my face.

"Is that…?" Penny gasped, looking at the man sitting on a brown hard-shelled suitcase, furiously poking at the phone in his hands. Beside him, there was a whole pile of other assorted luggage, and while I couldn't see his face from this distance, my knightlier sister had no problem recognizing him. "Uncle Percy!"

In the blink of an eye, Penny broke into a dash, and her voice caused the man to look up and put his phone away, rising to his feet just in time to catch the girl leaping at him like she was trying to tackle him. The two of them laughed from the bottom of their lungs as they hugged each other, and after Snowy and I shared an uncertain glance, she stuck closer to me and we also made our way over.

"Beansprout! Did you grow again? I could barely recognize you!"

"Hehe!"

Ignoring my sister's silly laugh, now that we got closer, I could take a better look at our visitor. He was about a head shorter than me, with a stout build and a short-trimmed full beard, white as the snow on the ground. His bright blue eyes had a gentle slant to them, and combined with the wide smile plastered onto his face and all the smile lines etched into his skin, he was just a red robe and fur-trimmed hat away from being a professional Santa Claus impersonator.

"I thought you would only arrive tomorrow!" Penny continued to fawn upon the man, and he responded with a good-natured chuckle.

"That was the plan, but there was a last-minute change, and I managed to hitch a ride with some people I knew."

Putting aside how one could 'hatch a ride' onto an island, Snowy and I got close enough that he could no longer ignore our presence, he turned to face me and let out an impressed whistle.

"Talk about growing! Just how much taller are you planning to get, you rascal? At this rate, my neck will get sore from looking up at you all the time!"

"It's not something I have any control over," I told him as flatly as I could manage, and the elderly man blinked in surprise. Using the momentary silence as an opportunity, Penny wedged herself between us and dramatically gestured at the newcomer.

"Brother, this is un— I mean, Percival Pendragon!" Before anyone could get a word in, she turned around, and this time she waved at my other sister. "Uncle Percy, let me introduce you to our new sister! Her name is Neige and she had a… complicated history, but she's with us now, so please treat her well!"

"I-It's a pleasure to meet you, sir," Snowy greeted our visitor while practically hiding behind me, and after a glint of recognition flashed in the old man's eyes, he broke out into hearty chuckles and slapped his own stomach.

"A complicated history indeed! I'm happy to meet you, little missy! We're all a big family here, so feel free to call me Uncle Percy, like this little scamp over here!" He waited until Snowy acknowledged him with a nod, and only then did he turn to me. "As for you Leo, I guess the rumors are true. Did you really lose all of your memories?"

"More or less," I answered curtly, and 'Uncle Percy' let out a forlorn sigh.

"Sometimes even silence holds a lie."

I had no idea where that comment come from, and after studying my face for a few seconds, our guest exhaled another sigh.

"It's a crying shame."

There were about half a dozen questions of various levels of indignation right on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them all down. In the meantime, he shook off our previous exchange and theatrically rubbed his upper arms.

"Brrr! Won't someone let me in already? My ears are about to freeze off!"

"Ah, right! I'll open the door!" Penny offered right away.

My other sister seemed a bit more reluctant, but when I nodded toward the house, she said, "I'll… open up the wards."

"Well, I guess that leaves you with the bags, Leo!" Sir Percival exclaimed in the company of a good-natured chuckle and followed after the girls.

As for me, I had a much bigger issue to deal with than a few measly travel bags.

By this point, I wanted to believe that I had already acclimated to the irrational, primal irritation that occasionally reared its unwanted head whenever I was around certain people. In some cases, like with Sebastian, Naoren, or the Kage elder, it abated to the point where I barely even noticed it anymore. In the case of the likes of Lord Grandpa and the Feilong grand elder, I got to the point where I could regulate my feelings to the point I could at least converse with them without the constant urge to punch them.

Out of all the people I've ever reacted to this way, the only person whose mere presence gave me outright 'strangle him, right now, ask questions later' vibes was Crowey, and for good reason. That was true… until today.

…

This did not bode well.