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The Simulacrum - Chapter 115 - Part 3
🕑 Added 2023-06-05 14:59:27 +0000 UTCAs they say, time flies in good company, and who was I to argue with such universal truths?
In the blink of an eye, the whole afternoon rushed by me like a bullet train, leaving me a touch disoriented by the whole affair. Between the heart-to-heart discussions, the barbecue party, and playing around with my girlfriends, it was a good thing I set an alarm on my phone so that I wouldn't forget to keep an eye on Jaakobah.
Half past seven, I continued to keep one ethereal eye on the man, prepared to make a beeline for the teleport closet the moment he was about to deliver my dinner to my Celestial penthouse suite. Not that I was in need of one anymore; thanks to Brang's handiwork, I was already filled to the brim with grilled meat, more than making up for my vegetarian diet over the past couple of days. But putting my food woes aside, once I announced that I would soon have to return to the Elysium and returned tot he reception room, I had to endure pretty much the exact same thing as I did during my arrival, just in reverse.
"Make sure you eat well, and if you feel like you're in danger, come home immediately," Emese instructed me while giving me a bear-hug.
"That's right, son! We aren't afraid of any Celestials!" dad-in-law followed her up with a boisterous declaration and put his arms around the both of us.
"Rest easy, future young master," the usually quiet Melinda spoke up on the side, sounding as unflappable as always. "Even if something were to happen to you, I promise I will take care of Milady in your absence. You can feel free to take risks."
"Hey, princess? Your chambermaid is sounding more dangerous by the day. Would you please do something about her already?"
Elly completely ignored my objections and she exclaimed "Family-hug!" instead, embracing me to the best of her ability. "Come, Judy! You're missing out!"
"I'll make up for it later," my dear assistant responded nonchalantly and turned back to Mountain Girl.
The latter was currently dressed in a mixture of a white shirt and lab coat combo fashioned to vaguely resemble some kind of uniform, the visorless white helmet she borrowed from Fred's workshop, as well as a whole bunch of random armour pieces Ichiko and Xiao pilfered from the squires' storage for her. It was all over the place, but it was still better than the first iteration of her disguise, and I grudgingly accepted it. If I was in any way invested in this whole thing, I might've proposed to throw together a makeshift Uniformer for her, but I had neither the time nor the will to do so.
"Make sure the Chief doesn't accidentally seduce anyone in the Elysium."
"Rinne will strike to do so!" Mountain Girl declared with undue solemnity, causing a tiny miko to yell "Rinne-san meant 'strive'!" from somewhere in the background.
Meanwhile, the Dracis family finally stopped trying to crush me under their familial affections, and they were soon replaced by the Knights, led by Arnwald and Morgana. Despite Roland more or less taking the rein as their leader as of late (for obvious reasons), seniority was still seniority, I supposed.
"My liege, please be careful. The Celestials are an insidious lot…" He suddenly paused, and glanced at the glowing girl with the ponytail shadowboxing not far behind them and added, "Present company notwithstanding."
"I can only echo Arnwald's sentiment," Morgana followed him up with a heavy voice. "I have already seen too many of my comrades in arms die before their time, and if it was up to me, I wouldn't let you return to the den of the lion… but you are the King, so I'll only say this: don't take any unnecessary risks."
"Aye. Tis nae lik' ah care whither ye bide or die, bit losing a King richt efter we fun yin wid mak' us a laughin' stock, sae huv a go nae tae bite th' stoor."
"Just don't take any risks in general," Roland echoed the other two's sentiments… or at least I figured that's what Duncan was trying to say. With all the buzz around us, it was even harder to decipher his accent than usual.
Anyhow, Raven Boy in the back was also about to say something, but he never got the chance, since the entire Knightly cluster was unceremoniously shoved out of the way by a loud ex-arch-mage and her exhausted handler.
"Like, we've totally got this! You shouldn't worry about this whole lame-o-rama with the old fogeys of the Assembly, and just give them hell!"
"No, you should at least keep the Lord's position in mind," Pascal interjected, and Sahi promptly rolled her eyes.
"Endy is a big boy. He can totally take care of himself, and I already charmed like three of those old badgers off their feet, so we're going to be totally fine!"
"I already told you that trying to honey-trap the Assembly officials is more likely to backfire than to help."
"Aw, Paaaz! Don't be jelly! Everything's totally fair in love and war, you know?"
While those two argued, they kind of drifted away, only to be replaced by the gang of my friends and sisters.
"Leo, be honest with us. Are you one hundred percent sure you have to do this?"
The source of the question was, surprisingly enough, the class rep, who seemed genuinely worried about me.
"I don't necessarily have to do it, but I would rather get to the bottom of this whole situation with Polemos and everything else now than let it ferment in the background and blow up in our faces later."
"I understand that part, but…" Sighing, she readjusted her glasses and sternly pointed at me. "Just remember: don't trust anyone over there. Celestials are all about deceit, subterfuge, and lies. They never tell you the whole truth, they always have secret plans within secret plans, and the moment you think you figured them out, it turns out you only peeled a single layer off, and there are even more layers of deception underneath."
"Huh. Maybe you really were a Celestial all along?" Josh quipped before I could open my mouth, and I punched him in the shoulder for his trouble. "Hey! I couldn't have been the only one to think that, right, Angie?"
Instead of answering, the happy-go-lucky Celestial continued to hop from one leg to the other while humming the refrain of Eye of the Tiger, the magical glow around her rising and waning to the rhythm of the song.
"I think you broke her brain," Judy noted upon returning to our midst, her discussion with Rinne finally concluded.
"Judy. Don't be rude," Elly chided my other girlfriend by pinching her arm. "You aren't supposed to say these kinds of things out loud."
"It's not nice to silently think them either," the class rep rebuked both of them in turn, during which I turned to Josh with a shrug.
"I take no responsibility for any potential brain-strain, either spoken or unspoken," I declared, but then Angie chose this precise moment to stir from whatever she was doing and turn a pair of sparkling eyes at me.
"Hey, Leo? Leo? Can this be done with any song? Does the tempo make any difference? And what if I change the pitch?"
"I have no idea. Feel free to experiment in your own free time."
She nodded and started humming again, eliciting a groan from her boyfriend.
"Are you seriously just going to keep going like that?"
"But this is so cool!" Angie exclaimed, eyes still sparkling and looking nearly half as cute as the princess. That development was still troubling, but once the first surprise wore off, it was relatively easy to ignore. "I always thought you needed to sing one of those boring old hymns to make this work, but look! Even the Trucy opening theme works!"
"That's neat, but could you at least wait until Leo leaves before you continue experimenting?"
"Oh, fine," Angie finally relented with a soft huff and grabbed hold of Josh's arm. "But in exchange, you'll have to help me practice!"
Josh grumbled something that vaguely resembled agreement. As for me, I was nominally curious about what they would come up with later. Based on Josh's performance during our impromptu training session, it was either going to be amazing, or hilarious. The latter was fine when it was only the two of us (three, after Angie joined), but the former would be certainly better from a utilitarian perspective.
I was just about to start reminiscing about the short but intense bout of misadventures we had during my attempt to recreate the magical chorus the Celestials used during combat, but before I could even get to the point where Josh sang a note wrong and caused a small electric discharge (as well as made his hair even spikier than usual), I was intercepted by my sisters.
"Brotheeer? Do I really have to stay here?" Penny whined, drawing a shallow sigh out of me.
"I already told you, kiddo. We can't risk you accidentally raising Sir Percival's alarms, so for now, you should just stay out of sight for a couple of days, until we're ready to resolve this whole situation."
"I know, but… can't I at least stay home with Snowy?"
After a beat, my Abyssal sister explained, "There's a seasonal event in the game she's playing, and she doesn't want to miss it."
Oh. So it was about the PC, huh?
"It's really not the end of the world, and you should at least try to keep your priorities straight," I rebuked her, and doggedly ignored the puppy-eyes she was giving me in return. Instead, I turned to Snowy, and told her, "Have the Fauns already left?" She nodded at once. "Good. Once they're done with the house, please tell them to sweep the Dracis mansion too, just to be safe."
"Okay!"
She sounded unusually enthusiastic, but to be fair, so were the Fauns when I gave them the orders not too long ago. Since Percival had already demonstrated that using more 'analogue' methods wasn't beneath him, I decided to put the counter surveillance kit I bought before taking Fred into our 'custody' to good use and asked Karukk and company to sweep the whole house for bugs of the electronic variety. They were the best fit for the job not only because they could turn temporarily invisible thanks to Snowy's Sigils, but also because they were literally the only ones who knew how to operate the detectors.
They were quite excited by the prospect of being useful, and left right away, without even waiting for me to leave. To be fair, from their perspective, there was nothing special about it, since they all knew that I could return any time I wanted, but some people (read: Zihao) still complained about them not being courteous enough. Naturally, such criticisms were summarily ignored.
But speaking of the Feilongs, Naoren took this opportunity to walk over to me and send me a conflicted look.
"I still think that there has to be a better alternative."
"Seconded," the class rep interjected on the side, and then immediately faded back into the crowd, apparently trying the defuse the argument between Sahi and Pascal.
"I work with what I have."
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, and let out a long breath.
"Just make sure to be careful." Pausing for a second, he turned to Mountain Girl. She was already behind me and prepared to go into my shadow at any moment, but she stepped forth when she noticed his eyes on her. "The same goes for you, Miss Rinne. Please keep not only my sworn brother safe, but also yourself."
"Naoren-san shouldn't worry about Rinne. Rinne is a professional," she declared with completely unfounded confidence.
Nodding, the Feilong patriarch turned back to me.
"I won't ask you to bring me a souvenir, because knowing you, you would bring the entire Celestial leadership to us and say something along the lines of 'I couldn't find a gift basket, but I hope this will suffice'."
"Oh, please! I would never do something like that!" I denied his grievous accusation on principle while trying not to notice the way my dear assistant clicked her tongue in annoyance. Maybe she wanted to make a similar joke?
Meanwhile, Naoren's lips widened into a thin smile, and he gave me one of those fist-cupped-in-hand salutes.
"I wish you the best of luck."
That pretty much opened the floodgates, and one after the other, everyone said their goodbyes with various levels of solemnity. The knights, squires, and ninjas all saluted, my in-laws nearly trapped me in a hug again, Josh and Angie gave me fist-bumps, the class rep nagged me about not trusting Celestials (which was still rich, considering she was dating one), and the girls kept clinging to me right until I reached the door of the teleport closet.
"Remember, Leo: Don't let them look down on you!" the princess instructed me with an unusually severe bearing. "Remind them that you're their boss, and if they get uppity, beat them down! Only when they are completely subservient can we safely integrate them into the Federation!"
"Are you still going on about that?"
My question fell on deaf ears, and she would've probably continued to drill me if not for Judy cutting in.
"Whatever happens, make sure you stay safe, and that you don't cause too much chaos. Also, be on the lookout for any Narrative influences."
"It's kind of hard to catch those until after-the-fact analysis," I noted, but she remained steadfast. "Fine. I'll try to be introspective."
"Good. Also, don't forget that we're waiting for you at home, so no flirting around."
"Judy!"
The princess tried to protest, but my dear assistant shut her down.
"The Chief is going to be living in a new environment, with new temptations. It had to be said at least once."
"Don't worry, Judy-sama. Rinne will make sure no seductress could approach Leonard-dono!"
The two of them nodded, as if sharing an understanding, and then the moment my girlfriends let go of my arms, our non-angel cosplaying highly visible monster slayer ninja PE teacher seemingly fell through the floor and into my shadow.
"Well, I guess that's it for today," whispered under my breath and opened the door to the fake teleport circle, and then turned around to face the crowd again. "Until next time, everyone!"
Before it could've started another round of send-offs, I dove into the small room, closed the door behind me, and after pinpointing Jaakobah's location, I immediately Phased right into my own specially arranged room in the tower, and let out a pent-up breath. I didn't expect to be this overwhelmed by everyone, and while I had to admit that all of them caring for me and being worried about my well-being filled my chest with all kinds of warm and fuzzy emotions, I would've been lying if I said that all the attention wasn't also absolutely exhausting. Not that I had much time to rest, as less than half a minute later, there were three heavy knocks on the door. Did I nail the timing or what?
Joking aside, I inhaled deeply, straightened my clothes, and once I was sure I was in perfectly presentable condition, I walked over to the stone conference table and picked up the long paper bag on it. Only after that did I turn to the main entrance, and clear my throat.
"Come in."
Before I even uttered the last syllable, the door swung open, and Jaakobah walked in while pushing a simple serving cart.
"Your dinner is ready," he told me flatly, only to pause and give me an odd look when I walked past him and stopped in front of the open door.
"Much appreciated."
"Are you… leaving?"
"I have an appointment," I told him flatly, and then added, "Feel free to sample the food. At least that way we'll know it's not poisoned for sure."
Before the phlegmatic man could respond, I closed the door behind myself and walked down the corridor. I was supposed to meet Director Savir on the seventy… something-something floor. It didn't really matter, considering I had a mark on her, but for the sake of appearances, I called the elevator and stepped into the empty cabin before Phasing over to her location.
My target was currently inside the bedroom of one of the countless empty apartments of the tower. This one was slightly smaller than mine, but just as plain. The living room area was currently bathed in a warm golden light, emanating from the crystal ball hanging from the ceiling, and that kind of miffed me. My room had cold white light that made my eyes sting after a while, when they had lights like this? Were they messing with me, or was this another one of those 'this is what Polemos would want' things, as with the vegetarian dishes?
I didn't have much time to think about this, as my target was about to return to the living room, so I hurriedly made my way over to the nearest padded chair by a coffee table, sat down, crossed my legs, and adopted my best aloof, 'fully in control of the situation and dare you to say otherwise' expression.
"Good evening, director."
She froze in the doorway when I casually greeted her and repeatedly blinked at me in disbelief. She was in more casual clothes than the last time I'd seen her, at least as much as a multi-layered, modest Grecian long dress could be considered 'casual'. Her auburn hair, let down and its wavy locks loosely framing her face, made her look a couple years younger, but more importantly, her stunned expression would've been priceless, if only it wasn't accompanied by a wave of irritation.
I considered whether or not I should ask Cal to start the mana circulation, but this time it wasn't that bad, and I figured that, sooner or later, I really had to learn how to deal with this stupid gut reaction of mine. In the meantime, she finally recovered from her first shock and took a step forward.
"When did you arrive?"
Her question was rather plain, considering the situation, so I matched her tone by flatly telling her, "Just now."
"I didn't hear you come in."
"I was afraid I would be late, so I let myself in."
"What about the guards?"
"I didn't bother them." Seeing that she raised a curious brow, I added, "Security is rather lax here. Didn't even have to use spatial manipulation; a simple illusion was enough."
"Is that so?" She accepted my explanation with startling ease, and casually walked over to the other padded chair in the room, all the while looking at me expectantly. When I didn't respond, she gave me a thin-lipped smile and asked, "Did you bring me something?"
"Just this."
Saying so, I casually place the bag with the wine onto the coffee table, and it caused her eyes to light up with… something. Pleasant surprise? Greed? Nostalgia? It was hard to tell.
"So you could read it after all." Her voice was filled with mirth as she reached for the bottle and pulled it out to inspect the label on it. "Ah? That's a great vintage. Thank you."
Blinking, I tentatively asked, "Is it? I'm not familiar with wine culture."
"It's one of my favorites," she told me with a modest smile and inclined the bottle my way. "Would you like a taste?"
"No, I'm good."
She lightly shrugged, as if telling me it was my loss, and put the bottle aside with a satisfied expression. Okay, first off; Jaakobah? You had one job. One damn job, and you blew it.
Second of all, contrary to the unbending and antagonistic 'iron lady' impression Savir gave me the first time we met, this time she was much more laid back. No, scratch that; it was much deeper than just 'laidback'. She had zero apprehensions about someone materializing in her room and wasn't treating me like an intruder, or even as an official guest. Her relaxed posture, small gestures, and the casual tone she used all pointed in one direction; she wasn't entertaining Polemos, the returned Second True Archon, but an old friend she hadn't met in a long time. It was a preposterous suspicion, but one that didn't take long to be proven right.
"I'm getting ahead of myself, but I was dying to ask this all day long: Are you Leonard with Polemos's memories or Polemos with Leonard's memories?"
"Does it make a difference?" I asked back on autopilot, just to keep the conversation going while my poor brain was trying its best to make sense of this development.
In the meantime, the previously stern woman's façade completely melted away as a knowing smile conquered her face.
"That's definitely something Leonard Pendragon would say."
"How can you be so sure, Director Savir?" I asked back, trying my best to maintain my poker face, and this time, Savir hid her mouth with her hand while trying her best not to laugh.
"Just call me Eris, as usual. We've known each other for ages; calling me that in public is a necessary evil, but when you do that in private, you're giving me goosebumps."
After a long beat, spent frantically trying to come to a conclusion, I ultimately let out a long breath and loosened my posture with a faux-reluctant 'Oh, fine.', which elicited another stifled chuckle from my host.
Of course, things weren't fine. Not by a long shot.
By the sound of it, Leonard Pendragon used to work with Savir, and they were close enough to be on a first-name basis. She's the head of the Orthodox faction, while Sir Percival, my alleged mentor, was on the payroll of the Unorthodox faction, who infiltrated the Knights, who planned to infiltrate the Dracis family, which meant… Was I a triple agent? Or quadruple one? Argh, dammit! Just when I thought things were going to get simpler!
…
Maybe Ammy was right after all. Maybe Celestials really were like onions. Unfortunately for me, I had no choice now but to sit back, play along, and peel things back one layer of conspiracy and deception at a time.
Comments
Drasta Septim
It is like Leo was supposed to become the universal antagonist. Every Faction that could be an enemy was paying him and if the Narrativ needed an antagonist within any faction the groundwork was already done, Leo would only need to slot it in.
carebear90
Do we finally get to find out where all his mysterious money comes from? :O I have to say, though, I didn't expect that. But it makes so much sense!
