The Simulacrum

"Yowza! I know that they say a man's home is his castle, but this place is fortified like the Maginot line!"

Ignoring Percival's spirited exclamation, I tried my best to hold my temper under control and my mind on track. This… irritation-thing had a pretty spotty track record, but I couldn't ignore the fact that it also identified about two-thirds of the 'antagonists' I've met so far.

"Cool, isn't it?" Penny chimed in while coming back outside. She picked up a bag, and on her way in, she added, "Snowy made them, and they're suuuper-sturdy!"

"Who?" the old man asked back from inside, and while they continued their discussion, I took several deep breaths and began to categorize my thoughts.

First off, having this instant reaction didn't necessarily mean that he was a bad guy. Let's look at this objectively: what was the common thread between all of the people that triggered this response from me?

The first thing that came to mind was that they were all people in positions of power… except, if this was the trigger, I should've reacted strongly to dad-in-law and the other Draconian big-wigs too, shouldn't I? Or what about Sahi? She never prompted the reaction, either in her young body or in her original one, and she had the same rank as Lord Grandpa.

"Brother! Don't just stand there! Help!"

Nodding along on autopilot, I grabbed the other end of the huge bag Penny was struggling with, but my mind was still bogged down with the problem at hand.

So, 'position of power' was unlikely. How about them being powerful in the literal sense, then? Well, Sahi once again threw a wrench into that idea. However, what if we narrowed things down further by adding another criterion? After all, literally every single person who gave me the urge to drown them in a spoonful of water were men, so maybe it was a combination of 'powerful' plus 'male'?

That sounded relatively plausible, but then came the question of intensity. The strength of my reaction, from highest to lowest, went something like this: Crowey and Percival, then the arch-mage and the Feilong grand elder, followed by Sebastian, and then finally the Kage elder and Naoren. That's… all over the place.

If it was about political power, shouldn't Naoren have been near the top, or at the very least higher than the grand elder? And if it was about individual power, Sebastian should've given me a much stronger reaction, being an ancient dragon and all.

"Um… Leo?"

"Yes?" I asked back, still on autopilot, and turned to Snowy. "Did you ask something?"

"Yes. I was wondering where Sir Percival was going to stay? Should we bring him over to the base?"

"No!" I responded by reflex, startling my Abyssal sister, so I hastily cleared my throat and tried again. "I mean, he just came to the island, and I'm sure Penny has a lot to discuss with him. I think we should let him stay in the ground floor guest room for now."

Snowy didn't seem entirely convinced, but nodded along all the same. In the meantime, Penny and Sir Percival carried in the last of the latter's bags, and he was listening to her bragging about her new phone.

Anyhow, where was I? Right, the intensity of my reactions. So, either the strength of the irritation was random and not tied to any external factors, or there was a completely different explanation, and since I was running low on Watsonian ones, I was starting to feel that it had to be a Doylist one. Such as that it was all related to how much of a nuisance they would be in the long term.

In fact, their ratings of the 'antagonist scale' lined up scarily well with my personal 'punchability index'. Crowey required no explanation, Lord Grandpa and the Feilong grand elder were both scheming bastards whose web of intrigue created big, chaotic battles, while the remaining three had the potential to be a pain-in-the-neck, but once we came to a consensus, my negative reaction to them more or less evaporated. So… where did that leave this guy?

"Oh, really? Well, look here, beansprout!"

"What!? You've got a full lightning team? How?"

Following my knightly sister's exclamation, I glanced over at the two of them sitting on the couch, huddled around Sir Percival's phone. By the sound of it, they were most likely talking about that mobile RPG that Penny was enamored with lately, and he was incredibly smug as he showed something off to her.

"Ah! You even pulled Indra! I couldn't get him during his event!"

"It's all about luck," Sir Percival answered with a sickeningly grandfatherly grin and rubbed her head. "Luck, and a deep wallet."

"I knew it! That's cheating! Free to play, or go bust!"

The old man let out a hearty chuckle and continued to rub my fuming sister's head. Snowy, on the other hand, might've picked up on my reservations towards our guest, as she stuck to my side and watched over them from a distance. This wasn't lost on Percival, as he flashed a supremely aggravating smile our way and waved at us.

"Come, you two! Sit down already! We have a lot to talk about, don't we?"

"Yes. We do."

After squeezing those words through my clenched teeth, I subtly gestured at Snowy, and once I had her attention, I whispered, "I have to step out for a moment. Please make some tea and keep an eye on him."

"Will do," she whispered back, and after exchanging one last glance, I turned to the knightly duo on the couch.

"I have to go upstairs for a moment. In the meantime, make yourself at home."

The old Knight acknowledged what I said with a shallow nod, but then Penny noticed something else on his phone, and they soon returned to their previous discussion. Note to self: look a bit deeper into what this mobile RPG was about, because it suspiciously sounded like a gacha game. Nothing against them on principle, but she was about to get her first paycheck from the Federation, and I would've preferred if she spent her money on something more worthwhile. That was, of course, for a later occasion, as my first priority was to get my temper under control.

In the meantime, Snowy walked into the kitchen, so I also crossed the living room and headed upstairs, all the while practicing the breathing technique that Naoren taught me. It didn't help much, but at the very least it slightly diverted my attention. I tried my best to appear as casual as possible, so I regulated my steps, right until I closed my room's door behind me.

A few more measured breaths later, I moved over to my PC and turned it on. While it was booting up, I looked around the room, and I couldn't think of any potentially incriminating evidence in the open. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and after some more thinking, I recalled the original spiral notebook I used to take notes, before moving everything to the PC. In retrospect, I should've destroyed it a while back, but I just never got around to it, and I kind of forgot about the whole thing after a while. I hid it at the bottom of my desk, under all my other school supplies, but this time I dug it up and put it under my armpit.

While I was busy with that, the PC reached the login screen, and after once it got to desktop, I initiated 'Emergency Plan C'. It sounded fancy, but in reality, it was just hiding the primary partition using a third-party software. After the process was over, on the next reboot, the computer would automatically log into a dummy account. The current user profile, including all the documents and the browser with my login information to the Celestial Hub, was still there, but it could only be accessed by running the program in safe mode again, From a separate USB drive. Which was currently hanging from my key chain.

Some might call me paranoid, relying on the nebulous predictive power of this strange irritation, but as I had often told Naoren, it was always best to plan for the worst. If it was a false alarm, I would only feel slightly silly about it later, but if it wasn't… well, I had no idea, as knew diddly squat about Sir Percival, let alone his agenda, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Anyhow, I waited for the PC to reboot, and once I was sure it was now auto-logging into the dummy account, I turned it off, slipped into one of the shoes I kept in my room, and turned on the flashlight on my phone. A moment later, I reappeared inside the dark, abandoned corner of one of the especially chaotic warehouses of our underground base. The moment I did so, one of the nearby chairs jumped.

"It's just me," I whispered, and a beat later, the chair disappeared into a puff of smoke and turned into a basketball-sized ball of flesh and tentacles, with one overly expressive eye. Pudding-kun blinked at me, probably getting used to the light coming from my phone, but then he let out a delighted squeal and used its myriad fleshy appendages to skitter over to my side.

"Has anybody been here other than me?" I asked absently while searching for a certain thing, and the disturbingly cute eldritch horror repeatedly shook his entire body left and right. "Good."

Meanwhile, I found the large plastic box I was looking for, under the same tarp that used to hide Cal before I took it out of its stone for the second time. Inside, there was a whole pile of old documents; some in manila folders, others just hastily piled up every which way. They were the papers the class rep entrusted to me a while back, and true to my words, I kept them hidden away until now. This was as good a place as any to hide the notebook, at least until I actually got around to burning it or something.

For now, I put the lid back onto the box, then strewn the tarp over it, and then turned to the tiny creature expectantly staring at me with its one huge, unblinking eyeball.

"Good work. Please keep looking after this spot."

He still looked expectant, so I gave in and lightly scratched it under its… well, it wasn't exactly a 'chin', but let's not get bogged down in semantics. I knew from Ichiko that Pudding-kun liked it, and as if on cue, he let out a series of purring noises. I kept scratching him for a few seconds, and when I stopped, he hopped in place a couple of times before he tried to imitate a salute with one of its chubby tentacles, then returned to the spot where he came from. After waving its many tendrils around one last time, he turned back into a weathered metal chair in a puff of smoke, as usual.

For a moment, I was nearly lost in thought, wondering which of my many life decisions led me down the path where a strangely affectionate eldritch horror expy turning into an inanimate object squarely fell into the 'business as usual' bracket, but I had no time for that. After waving at the chair, I turned off my flashlight and Phased over to my next destination.

"[Ah? I welcome thee, Blackcloak,]" Brang greeted me without even looking up from his work at the weapons workbench. He was wearing his full protective gear, including an eye shield, and he was busy sharpening something on a grinding wheel, so I didn't mince words and got to the point.

"Hello. Where's Cal?"

"[I enacted maintenance on thine armament. Thou can find it over there.]"

"Thanks. I'll leave you to your work."

He nodded without looking up from the grinding wheel, and after a quick glance across the armory area, I quickly found Cal, resting in its scabbard on top of a cushion next to the sword racks. Talk about preferential treatment.

"{Good day, young kni—}"

"Yes, hi. I need to you help me with that circulation thing, right now."

"{… By perchance, have you become reliant on it? I believe I have told you that you should not cavort with such esoteric techniques.}"

"Cal. Not now."

The sword in my hand sighed (and no, I still didn't know how he did that without a lung), and after just a few seconds, I could feel the mana circulating in my system taking up its familiar course. Before long, the residual annoyance I felt mellowed out quite a bit, and I let out a breath of relief.

"{So, as I was saying—}"

I didn't let Cal finish, but instead I strapped them to my belt (the scabbard had a few convenient clamps just for that) and after waving at the busy Faun general, we Phased right back to my room. First, I kicked off my shoes, then did a couple of breathing exercises while circulating my mana, and only then did I head downstairs, all the while doggedly ignoring the sword's comments about whether or not practicing 'esoteric eastern energy circulation' was addictive or not.

By the time I got back to the living room, Snowy had already made the tea I requested, and was sitting apart from the two Knights. From the sentence-fragments I caught, Sir Percival was doing the whole 'embarrassing parent' routine, where he was talking about Penny's childhood in embarrassing details. How droll.

Pausing, I took another deep breath and focused inwards. The calming effects of this meditative technique or whatever weren't able to fully cancel out the irritation I felt in the presence of Lord Grandpa, and the same was true here, but the difference was still night and day. With this in tow, I finally felt confident I could potentially have a civilized talk with the old man without fully antagonizing him. While logically speaking, there was a solid sixty-to-seventy-percent chance that he was going to end up either as an antagonistic actor in the Narrative's grand design, or at the very least a major pain in the ass, it was best to keep my hunch in bay for now and pretend that everything was normal.

My considerations, however, were soon interrupted by a jaunty whistle.

"Now look at you!" The geezer in the middle looked at me with his arms crossed, seemingly impressed. "You really do have Caledflwch! That's amazing! You're amazing! Color me amazed!"

"Keep it in moderation," I told him a touch flatly, and for some reason it caused Penny to start giggling uncontrollably.

"Oh, wow. I never thought I would ever see brother get bashful like that!"

I really wasn't, but I wasn't in the mood to get bogged down by something like that, so I completely ignored her and walked over to my customary seat on my comfy chair and sat down without further fanfare.

"To think that ancient curmudgeon would choose you of all people," Sir Percival mused, one hand gently stroking his beard before abruptly slapping his knee. "I can still remember the way it shouted at me when I tried pulling it myself. Uuunwooorthyyy!!! Hah! It's like it was just yesterday!"

"That's exactly how it was for me too," Penny backed him up with a bunch of nods, while Snowy seemed rather left out and awkward. I wasn't a fan of that, so I lightly cleared my throat, set Cal across my lap, and after a few more rounds of circulations, I forced an amicable smile onto my face.

"That's how we started out too, but then we reached an understanding."

"O-ho? I would love to hear more about that!" Sir Percival mirrored my expression, and the two of us entered into a short smile-off before I slowly shook my head.

"It's a long story, but we can discuss it later. First, girls?" My sisters didn't expect me to address them, and they glanced at me in unison. "For now, why don't you go upstairs and finish your homework for the day?"

"What? But… Uncle Percy—!"

"You can talk to him to your heart's content later, but if you do that now, you're going to lose track of time, and then you'll completely forget about your homework."

"He's… got a point," my other sister backed me up, if a little half-heartedly.

"Aw, come on!"

Penny tried to protest, but I maintained my poked face and emphatically stated, "Kiddo. Please."

We locked eyes for a second or five, but in the end, I naturally won the staring contest and my sister's shoulders drooped in defeat, right before she jumped to her feet with renewed vigor.

"Oh, fine! Come on, Snowy! Let's finish everything quickly, and come back!"

"Do it properly!" I called after her, but by then she was already halfway up the stairs, so I turned my attention to my other sister instead, and I didn't even have to say a word for her to understand me.

"I'll make sure she doesn't slapdash it."

"Please do."

I waited until she also went upstairs, and only when I could hear their door getting closed did I turn back to my guest, currently leaning forward and scrutinizing.

"Well, well. It's just the two of us now," he noted with the exact same, practiced smile that had been plastered on his face all this time. After a beat, he straightened his back, without breaking eye contact, and let out a soft chuckle. "Why so tense? When you look at me like that, it almost makes me feel like you didn't bring Caledfwlch here just to show it off to your dear mentor and friend."

"Think of it what you will," I responded with my deadpannest of voices, which earned me another chuckle.

"Ah, here it is. I was worried that losing your memory might have dulled you, but on the inside, you are still the same as always." While I wondered whether that was supposed to be an insult or a compliment, Sir Percival pinched the end of his beard and asked, "If you really did lose your memory, that is."

"I did."

My straightforward answer didn't seem to convince him, and after a beat, he pointed a finger at me.

"The Sun and Moon can be both blinding."

He kept poring over me, and since I had no idea what kind of reaction he was expecting, I uttered a straightforward, "… What?"

"Hm. I thought you might've been just messing with me, but it seems you really have lost your memories… And to think you could achieve all of this without your training! Mind-boggling!"

"Yes, yes. I'm very impressive. Have lots of fancy titles, too. Much wow."

"Indeed," Sir Percival nodded, and after some further consideration, his body language eased up and he put on the friendly, grandfatherly smile that made me want to punch him even harder. He didn't seem to be aware of my inner tug-of-war between the calming effect of the meditative circulations and the waves of pure, undiluted irritation radiating from his mug, and he clapped his hands, as if to signal a shift in the conversation. "Oh well. It is a pity indeed, but it makes many things much simpler, so maybe it's for the best. So, since you have the Kingmaker with you, I suppose that means you are officially the King of Knights. That means you're my boss for now. That's going to take some getting used to, but oh well. Please treat me well, your majesty!"

"Cut it out." Percival only chuckled at my response, and after reining in the sudden urge to kick him out of the house, I exhaled hard. "All right, Uncle Percy. Let's talk business."

I didn't mean that to be so dramatic, but it was made so by the uneasy silence that settled onto the room shortly after. My guest stared at me quite inquisitively, and then snorted, which popped the tense atmosphere like a balloon.

"Yes. Let's do that." Saying so, Sir Percival made himself comfortable by leaning back on the couch, and for a moment I was worried he would put his feet onto the coffee table. Nothing of the sort happened, thankfully (otherwise I would've been forced to throw him out, calming meditative circulation or not), and he began to talk in a leisurely tone. "I've been in contact with both Penelope and Roland over the past couple of days, and I think I'm already familiar with the broad outlines of the current situation. Some of these developments are… troubling, to say the least, but I have to give it to you; as unorthodox as your methods were, you have accomplished quite a feat here."

"I'll take that as a compliment," I stated flatly, which earned me a chuckle.

"It was. Honestly, just the fact that you made them believe you defeated a Chimera would've been amazing, but doing everything else on top of that… you must have worked hard."

"I did, and I did kill a Chimera."

Technically, it was more than one, though I wasn't sure the remote-controlled corpse counted.

"Did you?"

Sir Percival sounded eminently skeptical, and after taking a deep breath to rein in the impulse to jump over the table between us and sock him in the jaw, I slowly exhaled and told him, "I've got lucky."

"Hah! You, and luck! Who are you trying to trick here? Knowing you, I'd bet my beard that you set up a trap or two to exploit its weakness, created an opening, had someone else do the heavy lifting, and then stole the show at the very end."

It took a lot of effort to still my facial muscles, and I could feel a chill run down my spine. This cheeky old man knew me way too well, and he wasn't the least bit shy about it. This… might get troublesome.

"Let's ignore that whole Chimera business for now. You can tell me the details later," Sir Percival told me with an amused smile and circled his left wrist. "If you really have lost your memories, then I presume you don't remember why you came to Critias either, right?" He didn't even let me respond before continuing his previous thought, though this time accompanied by him repeatedly snapping his fingers. "Argh… What was the name of the boy? It's on the tip of my tongue."

"… Joshua?"

"Right! Joshua Bernstein!" he exclaimed with an extra-loud snap and pointed a finger at me. "He was the one the little missy of the Dracis had the hots for, wasn't he? Do you know how many favors I had to cash in just to find that out, only for you to come in and seduce her first? This outcome isn't half-bad either, but seriously, Leonard? Seriously?"

"Things just kind of ended up this way," I told him with a shrug, if only to hide how hard the gears in my head were spinning to keep up with the conversation. "I guess the original plan was to let Joshua and Elly become a couple, and then…"

"And then induct the boy into the Brotherhood, make him a squire, and use him to infiltrate the family. It was a bold plan, and it was yours."

"Really?" I asked back in reflex, and I might've sounded insincere, as the old man on the couch narrowed his eyes and suddenly pointed a finger at me.

"The jade rabbit of the moon."

What followed after this was several seconds of some of the most awkward silence I've ever experienced, and it lasted exactly until Sir Percival clicked his tongue.

"Well, I'll be damned. I thought the third time would be the charm, but you really can't remember anything, can you?"

"I think we were already over this."

"You can't blame a man for trying," he responded flippantly and rested his arms on the back of the couch. "It's just a little vexing, but don't mind me. Where were we?"

"The plan to use Joshua as a sleeper agent." My flat response made him nod and level a stare at me as if expecting me to continue. "So… Did I bring Cal with me to test him?"

"Hm? Nah. I've checked; the boy didn't have any prominent bloodlines. There was no chance in hell that Caledfwlch would choose someone like him… but then again, I never would've expected that you would get a second chance, let alone be chosen. It absolutely boggles the mind."

"The world works in mysterious ways."

Sir Percival frowned at my filler response and shook his head.

"I see you don't want to talk about how you did it, but you don't have to be that blatant about it." I had no idea what he was on about, but then he let out a pent-up breath and mused, "In retrospect, the plan was doomed to failure from the beginning. Who would've thought that the boy was actually some hidden Old Blooded off-shoot?" Suddenly pausing, his eyes narrowed into suspicious squints and he asked, "Wait a moment. Did you change your plan and seduce the Dracis girl before or after you realized that he was a Draconian?"

"Does it matter?"

"… No. You're right, it doesn't," he relented, but his eyes remained intensely locked onto me. "But if we're at that, is the rumor true?"

"Which one?"

"The one that says you have two fiancées," he stated bluntly, and when I still didn't react (I was using the meditative circulation non-stop), he stifled a groan and stopped beating around the bush. "Listen, Leonard. I understand that the mission went off the rails. I understand that you seduced the Dracis girl, and it was a good call; it made manipulating the Draconians much easier, and you probably couldn't achieve half of what you did without it. But what's the point of the other girl? As far as I know, she's just a mundane human without any remarkable assets or connections. She's useless."

This time, it took me several seconds to somehow stuff the slowly rising sense of scorching fury back into the pit of my stomach. It was hard, but once I was sure my emotions were in check, I slowly exhaled and forced myself to stay as diplomatic as possible.

"Judy is the asset. She had been a huge help to me, so I would advise you to think twice before you call her 'useless' in front of me."

"Oh? Did I touch a nerve?" Seeing my glare, the old man offered an olive branch. "I'm just kidding, of course. If you say she's useful, I'm not going to question your judgment. But to make her your second fiancée…" Sir Percival stroked his beard, deep in thought, and before I could get a word in to forestall any misunderstandings, he snapped his finger again and pointed a finger-gun at me. "I'm sure you wedged her into the family for a reason. Was it to infiltrate the household? If my memory serves right, the old steward of the family is unusually influential, and he's rumored to give preferential treatment to young girls. You used her to get in his good graces and ease your entry into the family, huh?"

This time, he was quite off the mark, but there was no reason to correct him.

"In a manner of speaking."

"Calculating, as always," he responded with a satisfied grin, and then fell into deep contemplation. "If you still keep her around even after she served her purpose, I guess she must be really resourceful. Maybe I'll have a talk with her; she could be a good addition to our ranks."

"By being my girlfriend, she's already pretty high in the ranks of the Draconic Federation and the Ordo Draconis," I pointed out, and the old man looked at me like I just said something weird.

"That's not what I meant by… Oh, right. Amnesia." His eyes lit up with realization, followed by a series of stifled chuckles. "No, I wasn't talking about that, but since you've brought it up, we might as well talk about this 'Ordo Draconis' of yours. As far as I've gathered, it is a progeny organization of the Brotherhood of the Most Heroic Bloodlines."

"That's the gist of it," I confirmed, and since he looked expectant, I figured I might as well put some effort into this talk. "Using the authority of the King, I dissolved the Brotherhood and reformed it into a new organization focused on regulating the Draconian clans and families from the inside. Arnwald came up with the name."

"It does bear his fingerprints. That said, I have my misgivings about this development."

To say I wasn't surprised at the least would've been an understatement. Now, he just had to pick what he was more outraged about; the fact I reformed a centuries-old organization without his input, the fact I didn't contact him about it, or that we now allowed Draconians in the ranks. I was prepared for any and all of those, so naturally, as per the rules of drama, he hit me with a curve ball.

"I have a suspicion that your memory loss was taken advantage of by a third party."

"Excuse me?"

"I don't blame you," he cut me off before I could say anything else and let out a deep sigh. "You did your best with the hand you were dealt, but after listening to Roland's explanation of the events, I'm almost sure your blind spot was exploited by the Abyssals."

"… The Abyssals," I repeated after him, my voice simultaneously flatter than a pancake and more skeptical than an economist at a multi-level marketing demonstration.

"I've already heard about this new menace called 'Bel of the Abyss'," Sir Percival launched into his explanation, his tone suddenly gaining a grave undertone. "According to what I know, this Abyssal was instrumental in serving as a catalyst for the formation of this Draconian Alliance of yours."

"Federation, but do go on."

He grunted, displeased by my interruption, but continued anyway.

"Let us look at the bigger picture. The number of Abyssals capable of returning to the surface is small, and they invariably keep a low profile to avoid capture. Yet, the head of Inanna not only came to Critias and operated in the open, he even caused a huge incident. That is not the usual modus operandi of the Abyssals, so the only explanation is that there's something on this island that was worth exposing themselves for and risking their connections to the surface. Then, not long after that, a powerful new Abyssal appeared, completely unknown to the world, and while looking for some kind of artifact, the power he demonstrated led to the forming of a new, potent organization that threatens to overthrow the balance of power on the surface. Only a blind man living under a rock wouldn't find this situation extremely suspicious."

"To be fair, your summary was rudimentary at best," I offered my five cents, and got summarily ignored.

"It is often in the broad strokes where you can find the patterns lost in the details. If my conjecture is on the mark, you might have inadvertently become a pawn in the greatest conspiracy of the century."

He… wasn't completely wrong on that, but as much as I resented that 'pawn' remark, I remained tight-lipped, which my guest mistook for rapt attention.

"The fact that the Inannas operated in the open tells us that there is some kind of scheme in motion, and the fact that they did not come after your life in revenge after you foiled their initial plans means there is some kind of larger design in play that forced them to stay their hands. Then, this Bel of the Abyss expertly manipulated the forces on the island, including you and the rest, to form this Draconic Federation of yours. But for what purpose? If you ask me, a rising power like that would naturally earn the suspicion and ire of the Magi, and disputes over authority and jurisdiction would inevitably sour relations even further. United, the Draconians possess the economic and military strength to rival the Magi, and with a few well-timed false-flag operations, it wouldn't be hard to cause the two factions to descend into total war."

"That's a pretty pessimistic prediction," I noted, and Sir Percival all but scoffed at me.

"Optimism is for children and fools. I thought I'd taught you that."

"It wasn't disagreement, just observation," I answered, earning another grunt from the old man.

"In any case, no matter who emerges victorious from such a conflict, it would leave them exhausted and weakened, ripe for the taking."

"So your theory is that the Abyssals manipulated everyone on the island to create an opponent for the Assembly, then they'll spark a war, and once the dust settles, they would invade realspace."

"When you put it that way, it is a ploy strangely elegant in its simplicity, isn't it?"

The old man smiled, as if expecting me to congratulate him, but instead I asked the first question that came to mind.

"Aren't you missing one piece of this puzzle? What about the Celestials?"

"They definitely aren't the mastermind behind this plot. If anything, they're also suffering its consequences." Before I could ask him to elaborate, Sir Percival dismissively waved his hand and told me, "It's pointless to go into details now; you'll see it for yourself soon. More importantly, now that you know that, what do you plan to do about the Abyssal girl?"

"Snowy?"

"Yes, the Inanna girl," he emphasized, then after glancing up the stairs, he lowered his voice and leaned closer to whisper, "I know you took her in to use her as leverage against her true family, but in light of everything I've just explained to you, it's just as likely she's also part of the conspiracy and she's keeping you under surveillance. I recommend cutting her off as soon as possible, preferably permanently."

This time, it took me even longer to keep my flaring temper under control, and even then, the best I could do was to squeeze out, "There's no need for that. It's better the devil you know than the devil you don't."

"That is… a fair point, actually. By keeping a close eye on her, we might actually catch the tail of the conspiracy through her." Pausing again, he peeked upstairs for the second time and then lowered his voice even more. "I knew you have been living together with her for months now, but you must always remember that she's an Abyssal. She's not like us, and does not deserve our sympathy or mercy. I hope you'll keep this in mind."

"I'll… certainly remember your words in the future."

We locked eyes for a while, and soon enough, the old man's lips parted in a wide smile and he leaned back on the couch again.

"I'm relieved. I was afraid that you would grow soft after pretending to be a common man for so long, but I'm glad to see you're the same as always. Memories or not, I guess blood will always be thicker than blood."

"We aren't related by blood though," I pointed out, but that only earned me another chuckle.

"Does it really matter? You and I are kindred, and I knew it the moment we first locked eyes with each other in St. Haerviu's."

That was the name of the orphanage where Penny and I grew up, but putting my background minutia aside, the affectionate way he was looking at me was making my blood boil, it was getting increasingly harder to keep my temper under control when this man's words and actions kept making my indignation less and less inexplicable by the second. Thankfully, it was at this moment that a door upstairs was thrown open and Penny dashed down into the living room, cutting our conversation short.

"I'm done!" she declared and immediately sat next to the old man, and by then, he already switched back into his jolly old grandpa act. "What were you talking about? Did I miss anything?"

Instead of answering right away, I glanced at the second girl coming down the stairs, and when our eyes met, she hastily told me, "It's the first day after winter break, so we didn't have a lot of homework."

"Fair enough," I muttered and turned back to pair on the couch, where Sir Percival was already in the process of explaining what 'we were talking about'.

"… and since Leonard forgot everything, I guess I have no choice but to resume my duty as the Keeper of the Bloodlines, at least until he recovers his memories. Isn't that right?"

That question was aimed at me, and after a beat, I nodded.

"That was a short retirement," he lamented with an overdramatic flair, causing Penny to giggle uncontrollably. In the meantime, Snowy reached the couch and was unsure where to sit. Out of the blue, Sir Percival patted the cushions by his side and exclaimed, "Don't just stand around, girlie! Come, join us!"

My Abyssal sister sent an uncertain glance at me, but before I could respond, Penny butted into the conversation while repeatedly gesticulating her way.

"Don't be shy!" the old man followed her up with a disarming smile, leaving her without a way out and she ultimately took a seat next to him.

"In that case… please excuse me."

"Hah! There's no need to be so reserved! Leonard is like a son to me, and you're his sister now, so we're practically family!"

"Yes! One big family!" Penny followed him up with sparkling eyes, and it only made Snowy more uncomfortable.

"So, girls? My collection of equipment is still shipping, but I've brought the helmets with me in the big bag. How about we make something of them?"

"Ah? Like the mantelpiece back in Manchester?"

"Precisely!" the old man responded with a toothy grin and made finger-guns at Penny. In the meantime, Snowy kept looking at me, and while I felt conflicted about leaving her side, with my other sister around, I was sure the old man wouldn't try to pull anything.

Making sure that Sir Percival's attention was still on my knightly sister, I gestured for Snowy to pay closer attention, and slowly mouthed the words, 'Hold the fort. Don't let your guard down. I'll be right back.' without a sound. I thought I would have to repeat it a few more times, but contrary to my expectations, she firmly nodded and mouthed back 'I'll be vigilant.'

I flashed a reassuring smile at her and then cleared my throat to gain everyone's attention.

"You do that, but in moderation. Now, if you excuse me, I have to take care of something. I'll be right back."

"What? Why?" Penny complained and waved for me to wait. "Brother, we'll need you to move the furniture!"

"I just told you to do things in moderation," I snapped back, but once I realized that I let my temper slip, I cleared my throat again and added, in a more neutral tone, "On second thought, I'll leave things in your hands. I'm sure Uncle Percy will be happy to help with any heavy lifting."

"Aaah… You see, my back's not what it used to be…" the bearded knight complained while massaging his lower back and doing his whole 'charming old codger' act.

"I'm sure you'll manage," I told him with a reassuring smile and turned on my heel before he could object.

"We have been abandoned!" Sir Percival cried with the flair of a community theater actor, but then he froze mid-shaking-fist-against-the-heavens pose and shrugged. "Oh well, let's work with what we have. Girlie? Could you please open up that bag and bring some helmets over here?"

"Y-Yes, sir."

"Oh, don't be like that!" he moaned, followed by a hearty chuckle. "I just told you, we're family! You can call me Uncle Percy, like the Beansprout over here."

That faux-affable comment nearly made me turn back on my way up the stairs and kick the old bastard so hard, all his descendants would be born with foot-shaped birthmarks until the end of eternity, but I somehow managed to restrain the urge and head into my room. It also took way too much effort not to slam the door behind me, but once I was out of sight, I finally let all the pent-up anger show on my face, and I was really glad there was no mirror nearby, as I was sure I wouldn't have recognized myself.

"{I must admit, young knight, I'm rather bemused by this situation.}"

Cal's voice came just the right time, and for once, it actually served to calm my nerves a bit. I took several deep breaths, and while I still wasn't in perfect condition, I was good enough for now. Without further ado, I hung the sword from my belt, and after telling them to keep up the circulation for a while longer, I reached for my phone on the nightstand.

"Hi, Chief."

Judy picked it up right away, and her voice was like salve to my soul, and hearing it finally let me calm down to the point I was no longer afraid my facial muscles would start cramping.

"Emergency meeting."

"Where?" she responded without batting an eye.

"Your room. I'll pick up Elly on the way there."

"I'll tell mom you'll come over. The time?"

"Don't know yet. It could be late. I have to wait until my guest goes to bed."

"Do you mean Sir Percival?"

That threw me on a loop for a second, but then I connected the dots.

"Penny told you."

"Yes."

"Figures."

"Is he troublesome?"

"Worse," I uttered with undisguised distaste. "I'll explain the detail in person."

"All right. I'll be waiting. Love you."

"Not as much as I love you," I responded on a whim and got a huff in return.

"Was that a challenge?"

"No."

"You know I'm still going to prove you wrong, right?"

"I'm looking forward to it."

Judy let out another playful huff, and after saying our goodbyes, I cut the line. In retrospect, I really needed that. After bottling up all my various colorful emotions while listening to Sir Percival, I felt like a water boiler with its safeties removed, ready to blow everything up. After my talk with Judy, I was closer to a soda bottle that spent ten minutes on a rodeo machine. Still explosive, but at least there was some progress.

"{What now?}" Cal inquired in an unusually low voice, and after some thinking, I shook my head.

"It's too early to say. First, I'll go take a cold shower, and then we go down and mark our very own Knight of Cerebus."

"{I'm… afraid I'm not familiar with the term. Who is Cerebus?}"

Chuckling softly, I shook my head and answered in a low voice that sounded sinister even to myself.

"It means someone whose appearance causes everything to become darker and bleaker. Whether he does that by his own actions, or by causing me to break my no-killing rule… well, that's still up in the air."

"O-ho-ho? So this is the 'secret base' Friedrich had told me so much about? Very impressive!" a certain portly nurse exclaimed as we stepped out of the designated 'teleport closet'. His reaction was a little overblown, considering it was only the reception area.

Frankly, I was too mentally exhausted to point that out to him, so I gestured for him to follow after me instead. It's been three days since the good 'Uncle Percy' graced us with his presence, and it had been the bane of my existence. He was still living in my guest room, so I couldn't avoid him, and carrying Cal around with me everywhere in the house was not a feasible solution either. Worse yet, I couldn't just ignore him either, because the whole reason I kept him close was to keep a vigilant eye on him.

"Ki-hi-hi! Welcome, uncle! Come in, let me show you around!" Fred exploded onto the scene the moment we opened the door leading into the central hall and took our guest under his wings right away, more or less ignoring me in the process. I didn't mind.

"Oh. You weren't kidding about the Fauns," Peabody noted a tad awkwardly when he noticed Rabom and Pip carrying a couple of steel beams on their wide shoulders in the background. They must have overheard him, as they stopped in their tracks, but when I waved to them to carry on, they returned the gesture and continued on their merry way. "They seem… surprisingly amicable."

"The Fauns are an exemplary workforce," the newly arrived Galatea commented on the side, currently wearing a dungaree with a matching shirt. "I told grandmaster to hire more of them, but he's resistant to the idea."

"I'm not 'resistant', I literally can't do that. Do you think Fauns grow on trees?" I grumbled back, and after ignoring her click of the tongue, I turned back to the mad scientist and the… well, I still wasn't sure what Peabody's designation was, considering he was an ex-mad-scientist, but for me, he was probably going to stay 'the school nurse' for a while longer. Anyhow, I stepped closer to them. "For now, Fred will give you a tour of the facilities. Familiarize yourself with the layout and the staff, and if you need anything, don't be too shy to ask."

"O-ho-ho. Thank you for the hospitality," the portly nurse answered with a genial smile, and the three of them soon headed off towards the canteen of all places. I imagined that they would want to start with the workshops right away, but what did I know?

In any case, I remained near the entrance to the central hall for a while longer, lost in thought, until I finally resolved myself to head to the training area first. Though it was probably obvious by now (and a bit of a foregone conclusion, really), after some nominal negotiations, Peabody officially joined our research divisions… as a part-timer. After all, he was still the official school nurse, and couldn't just quit his job in the middle of the school year, so that was the compromise we reached.

However, that was none of my business. Or rather, it was in the sense that I would be the one who would need to pay his wages and provide him with resources and equipment, but that was par for the course, and so I left him in Fred's care for the time being. I had more important things to worry about.

Meanwhile, I reached the training area of the main hall, currently rather deserted save for a few stragglers, yet my presence was immediately acknowledged by Roland with a laconic, "Leonard."

"Good afternoon," I responded as I walked over to his side. He was sitting on a bench by the side of the sparring ring, clad in his Uniformer outfit, and with a clipboard and a pen in hand. He was observing the squire and the Kage ninja sparring in the middle of the ring, surrounded by their peers, though it was hard to tell if he was acting as a referee, or doing some kind of test.

I didn't mean to interfere, but after a long beat, he stood up and waved at the trainees, "We'll have a short break. Good work."

The two in the middle stopped at once and saluted to each other, during which Roland turned to me with a questioning look in his eyes.

"I'm not here for any particular reason," I told him a touch flatly, then amended, "I was just on my way to the workshops and figured I'd see how you are doing."

"Everything's in order," he told me, followed by a long and somewhat awkward pause. At last, he couldn't hold himself back any longer, and after glancing around to make sure nobody was listening in on us, he lowered his voice. "Have you still not changed your mind about Sir Percival?"

"I can't say I have."

My answer obviously didn't please him, but for the time being, he deferred to me and simply said, "I still think that the way you are handling the situation will only raise more suspicion, but if that's how you want to do things, I'll cooperate."

"And I appreciate that."

To give some context to our exchange, after the first impromptu emergency meeting about my alleged mentor and kinda-sorta parental figure concluded in my girlfriend's bedroom, the only conclusion we reached was that we needed to have a second emergency meeting, this time with Roland and the science duo in tow. In the end, we decided, mostly due to my insistence, to keep Sir Percival away from the base, not reveal the fact that I'm actually Bel of the Abyss, and to keep him under close surveillance until we could be sure about his allegiances and whether or not he was dangerous.

It said something about the old man's acting skills that Roland still wasn't entirely convinced about my claims about him, but since he was the cautious sort, he still played along with my plans. As such, for the time being, Sir Percival would stay at my house, he was excluded from the inner workings of the Ordo Draconis by telling him that his 'office' was still under construction in the Dracis mansion, and everyone was told to be wary of what they talk about in front of him.

Unfortunately, this was far from foolproof. For a start, I couldn't do much about Penny, and she had already given her own take on the events that transpired in the past couple of months to him. I also couldn't keep the other Knights away from him, especially since they decided to throw a welcome party for him two days ago. In my living room. It was quite a mess, and I still gave daily thanks to the unyielding work ethic of the invisible ninja maids.

On a more serious note, watching the old man during the party only further solidified my opinion of him being a two-faced snake. The ease with which he held up his congenial image was startling, and when I watched him interact with the others, I couldn't blame them for falling hook, line, and sinker for his act. He was not only good at it, but he was also incredibly consistent and didn't show any of the cynical, calculating side I'd come across when we were alone.

Worse yet, while I was covertly observing him, he did the same to me, and I didn't know how to feel about the occasional respectful glances and nods he sent my way whenever I was talking with Duncan or Morgana. I wondered, was he convinced I was putting up an act in front of them? Kind of like what he did? Was he impressed by that, or was there another meaning behind his expressions? Unfortunately, as much as I would've liked to objectively analyze everything about him, the way just the memory of his face made my blood pressure rise a notch didn't exactly let me.

As such, I also asked Judy and Roland to act as my unbiased, third-party observers. Elly also applied for the role, but she wasn't quite subtle enough to pull it off. For now, Sir Percival mistook her behavior for being awkward around a Knight she just met for the first time, or at least that was what he told me, but I had a hard time trusting any word that came out of his mouth. Conversely, he seemed to take a strong liking to Judy, and I also didn't know how to feel about that.

Anyhow, the long and the short of it was that Uncle Percy was still under surveillance, and I doubted that would change any time soon. Case in point, I Far Glanced over to him, and true to form, he was snooping inside the teleport closet back home, despite my explicit warning. That wasn't the first time something like this happened, and I had already caught him red-handed while poking around in my room. Of course, I did that through Far Sight, so I couldn't use it as evidence in front of others, but it certainly made me feel vindicated in a sense.

Back in the present, Roland had a pensive expression, and when I raised a brow at him, he took that as a prompt to launch into a new topic.

"Putting your suspicions about Sir Percival aside for the moment, I would like to request some advice from you."

"I'm listening," I answered on autopilot, and he flashed the clipboard in his hands to me.

"Lately, there had been some debate within the Ordo Draconis about how to integrate the Kage clan into our hierarchy. Some think that they should be put merged into the Ordo Draconis, but there's a sizable opposition that wants to put them directly under the jurisdiction of the Draconic Federation."

"Huh. Okay, before I say anything else, what does that have to do with those guys sparring and you taking notes?"

"One of the chief arguments relies on the notion that the Kage ninjas are a reconnaissance force not fit for direct combat, and as such, they should have their bureau separate from the Ordo Draconis. We're currently doing organized sparring to determine if this argument has any merits."

"And who pushes this argument?"

"Mainly the Albions," Roland told me with just a hint of exasperation.

"I see." Nodding, I pinched the clipboard between my fingers and gently pulled it out of his hands. He didn't give any resistance, though he did look rather surprised when I tossed it aside. "Listen up. The next time they bring this up, tell them that the Kage Clan has absolutely nothing to do with either the Ordo Draconis or the Draconic Federation. They swore loyalty to me, despite my best efforts, so they are my responsibility. I'm already interfering with their traditional mission, and I'm not going to strain our relationship any further by trying to integrate them into anything. They are with me, only I'm telling them what to do and not to do, and if the Albions have a problem with that, tell them to take it up with me personally. If they dare."

"I'll… do that." Roland looked me over from head to toe. "Are you feeling unwell? You sound more aggressive than usual."

"Well, excuse me for being a bit on edge after having to be constantly vigilant in my own bloody house, all the while the Assembly is just around the corner trying to pick a fight with me in particular, and then on top of that, my head hurts like a bitch," I griped maybe a bit too hard, but Roland didn't seem to take it to heart.

"Maybe you should take a break."

"We just came home from a break, remember?" A long beat later, I exhaled a shallow sigh and added, "I appreciate the sentiment, but this really isn't the time for that."

"You should take care of yourself all the same. Maybe I should mention this to Judy?"

"… Why do people keep threatening me with my girlfriends lately? Is there something I'm unaware of?" He remained silent, so I let out a soft 'Bah!' and turned on my heel. "If there's nothing else, I'll get going. Take care."

"You too," Roland answered and walked over to pick up the discarded clipboard. Knowing him, he was going to finish the sparring sessions anyway, just to be thorough, but that was none of my business.

Moving on, I passed by the empty lounge area and then headed straight to Fred's workshop. It was as chaotic as always, but it was also the reason why it was the perfect place to hide my own side projects. I liked to call it the needle-in-the-needlestack tactic.

Jokes aside, my destination was the same corner where we built the fake Ascalon. After the original was successfully destroyed (if in an infinitely more grandiose fashion than I originally planned), the fake was successfully 'returned' to Sebastian, and it was once again displayed in the old lizard's office. By now, most of the equipment used in the process was either moved or repurposed for my current job and the source of my persistent headaches.

On the middle of the mostly clean and orderly workbench sat a metal plate, held in place by three metal prongs and surrounded by a couple of tools and gadgets I borrowed from Fred, as well as a custom-made leather belt. The plaque itself was shining with invisible magical light, dominating the entire corner with its presence, and it was the result of what is colloquially known as 'feature creep'.

For context, the Magiformers the guys were using to this day were akin to souped-up street cars; a simple and efficient chassis made stronger, faster, and fancier by after-market modifications. The Knights' Uniformers, on the other hand, were more like high-end supercars, custom-made to be as streamlined and powerful as possible. What I was making was… well, the car analogy kind of breaks down, but the idea was to make it simultaneously robust, powerful, and something I could easily customize after the fact with my phantom limbs. The goal was to have a formula one racer, a rally car, a drag racer, and a monster truck in a single package.

Needless to say, for a good while it felt like I bit off way more than I could chew with this project, but after my impromptu duel with Lord Grandpa, I returned to it with renewed determination, and I had spent that past couple of nights working on it, and I was finally able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

While my phantom limb poked the plaque, to make sure things were still stable, I picked up the belt. It was Galatea's handiwork, and once I was done with the enchantment, the idea was that the plate could be housed inside the hollow belt buckle at the front. When I was making the Uniformers, I was pressed for time and didn't bother to think outside the box, so I'd made them into watches to follow the trend set by the Unifomers, but for my personal equipment, I decided to go fancy.

First and foremost, unlike with the Knights, I didn't need physical contact to activate it. By incorporating a small battery- and kickstarter-array that I could trigger with my phantom limb, I could switch it on even while my hands were otherwise occupied. Furthermore, by expanding the enchantments storage memory, I could save multiple, customizable outfits and gear inside it, and I even managed to copy over the inventory-enchantment from Raven Boy's little baggie.

As of right now, the only outfits stored in the enchantment were a school uniform modeled after Josh's, and a military uniform based on Roland's, just to test the Oath connectors. Once the underlying framework was completed, I was going to add more of them, including a full copy of my Bel outfit, anti-dragon gloves and all, but that was for later. Modifying an already 'saved' outfit was laughably easy, so it was fairly low on my priority list.

Speaking of priorities, I put the belt down and faced the metal plate again. My preliminary inspection told me the arrays were stable and everything was working fine. In theory, I should've been able to completely finish by the next morning, barring any interruptions. However, did I want to do that to myself?

I must've looked pretty out of it if even Roland told me I should take a break, and even though I only did some cursory inspection on the enchantments, my head was once again throbbing like it would explode at any second. Should I finish it another day, and focus on other things for the day, I wondered? Maybe I should check on how Peabody was doing, or maybe it would've been best to keep a close look on Sir Percival to see if he was up to something nefarious, or maybe…

"Nah. Procrastination is for optimists," I muttered under my breath and picked up one of the tools from the workbench, and immersed myself in the task, headaches be damned.

In retrospect, this was definitely one of the best on-the-spot decisions I had made in a while, but that was a story for another occasion.