The Simulacrum

"Ue-sama? Are they here yet? Are they coming? Ue-sama?"

"Easy, Ichiko. Easy. They're almost here."

"Really?"

At last, the lively tiny miko stopped pestering me and returned to the nearest window overlooking the parking lot of the resort. She had been glued to it ever since I told her that Naoren was coming over for a visit, and that he would be bringing Odango Girl along.

"Are they really coming? Rinne can't see them," our resident highly visible ninja noted, seemingly absent-mindedly, yet under the nonchalant facade, she seemed just as expectant as her… Actually, we never really figured out the relationship between these two, did we? For the time being, I was inclined to go with 'sisters', though the age gap was maybe a bit too big, and not in the direction one would automatically expect.

All of that was beside the point though, and after telling them to keep looking, I turned my back on them and walked over to my dear draconic girlfriend in a fluffy white bathrobe, currently limply sprawled over one of the lobby's divans.

"Are you feeling better?"

My question made her twitch and pointedly turn her face away.

"I told you I had no problem!"

"Sure, sure." I sat down next to her and put a hand on her forehead. She was still sweaty but no longer pale as a sheet. "It seems like you're no longer overheating. Do you want me to grab you another bottle, just to be safe?"

"No need," she grumbled, but at the same time she pulled my hand down from her forehead and placed it on her cheek, meaning she was only sulking on principle.

Chuckling, I caressed her face for a while, then planted a quick peck on her forehead and stood back up.

"For now, just rest, and no more steam baths for the day."

My princess continued to huff and puff, but didn't actually argue, so I left it at that. She went into the special sauna with the rest of the girls in the morning, which turned out to be just a fairly standard Turkish bath, and while they were busy talking about all kinds of girly things, like weapons-maintenance and avoiding helmet-hair, she apparently nodded off in the corner. By the time the others noticed, she was already suffering from heat exhaustion, so I had to carry her out to get some fresh air.

She recovered fast, but I was still pretty surprised by the affair. I figured that her Draconic physiology would make her resistant to heat, but I was apparently mistaken. Either that, or she just wasn't in the right shape to enter in the first place, but was too proud not to. I mean, the girls were really evasive about it, but just the other day, Duncan and company tried to challenge me to see who could stay inside the regular sauna the longest, so it wasn't unthinkable that they were doing something similar. Back then, I refused their invitation because I was busy with observing Josh's anti-peeper side plot, but knowing Elly's personality, there was a good chance she wouldn't have shown the same prudence upon being challenged by someone. It was just a hunch, but there was at least one competitive redhead in the sauna, so I had a feeling I wasn't too far off the mark.

In any case, nothing serious happened, and if anything, 'rescuing' my disheveled girlfriend from the clutches of overheating by picking her up and taking her outside in a bridal carry was going to make a nice anecdote to reminisce about in the future.

"Morning!"

Suddenly greeted out of the blue, I glanced over to the newcomers entering the lobby. Josh and Angie, seeming unusually awkward, came over to our side while holding hands.

"Hi, guys. Did you have breakfast yet?"

"Yep!" Angie answered with gusto. "Hey? So, I heard there was a medical emergency! Do you need help?"

"No, I'm fine," Elly answered in my stead, followed by a modest smile. "Thank you for the concern."

"Don't sweat it!" She paused, then hastily added, "Or on your case, do sweat it? Also, take lots of fluids!"

While the two of them talked, I couldn't help but notice that Josh was strangely silent and kind of fidgety.

"Hey, pal. Is everything all right?"

"Y-Yeah. Everything's fine. Nothing happened. I mean, something happened, but it's nothing."

His response didn't exactly inspire confidence, but before I could press him, I was startled by Ichiko.

"Ue-sama! They're here!"

I glanced over my shoulder, then back at the sheepish guy in front of me, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Let's have a talk later. I'll go and welcome our guests first."

"Sure. You do that," he answered, as if on autopilot, and then looked over at Angie… only for the two of them to lock eyes and then immediately and very visibly avert them. Huh. Suspicious, but an issue for another time.

By the time I returned to the window, I could already see the fancy limo in the parking lot, and a quick Far Glance told me our visitors were just about to arrive at the reception desk. I gestured for Ichiko, still very excited, to follow after me, and Mountain Girl also automatically trailed behind me as we walked over to the entrance of the lobby. After less than a minute, the swinging doors opened wide by two burly martial artist types (probably bodyguards), and the young Feilong patriarch leisurely entered, closely followed by a sparkly-eyed Odango Girl and his spiky-haired younger brother. Last, and certainly least, there was also a surprise guest, in the form of Raven Boy.

Well, fine. It wasn't a 'surprising' kind of surprise, considering I had already Far Glanced their way, but him showing up uninvited was still outside of my expectations. The fact that he looked positively miserable after sharing a long ride with those three was nice to see though, so I wasn't too bothered by it.

"Hello there, Nao—"

"Xiao-chan!"

My greeting was cut short by a certain tiny miko darting past me, and she was met by another blur coming from the other direction.

"Ichi!"

For a moment it looked like the two little girls were about to tackle each other, but then they both came to a sudden halt, as if they practiced this in advance, grabbed each other's hands, and began jumping up and down. It was slightly over-the-top, as far as greetings were concerned, but it was cute, so I didn't complain.

"Good morning, Leonard," Naoren said his part, accompanied by one of those martial artist salutes, and after returning the greeting, I gave a curt nod to the two guys behind him. Needless to say, the Chinese Draconians were wearing their usual garbs, cold weather be damned, while Raven Boy was in a more sensible winter ensemble, with a black long coat that could've been straight from my closet. While my attention was on him, Naoren turned to the woman by my side and gave her a salute as well. "Lady Rinne. I'm glad to see that you are in good health."

"Rinne greets Naoren-sama, and is similarly pleased."

The bespectacled patriarch's lips bent into a pleased smile, but then he caught himself and his attention returned to me.

"I was told it is customary to bring gifts upon these occasions, so please accept this."

For a moment I didn't know what he was talking about, but then one of the bodyguards came to the forefront with an enormous gift basket.

"Erm… Thank you, but you really shouldn't have."

I meant that, and was still in the process to figure out what to do with it when someone tugged on my sleeve.

"Ue-sama? Can I show Xiao-chan around the onsen?"

"I've never been to a place like this before!" Odango Girl followed her up with an expectant look, and before long, I was on the receiving end of their combine puppy dog eyes treatment.

Glancing over at Naoren, his expression said he wouldn't mind, so I gestured for them to get going.

"Thanks, ue-sama!"/"Thank you, Elder Brother!"

After saying so, the two turned on their heels and skipped over to the massage chairs, only to be immediately replaced by Arnwald and Duncan coming over. After the customary round of greetings, the big guy solved our sudden gift-basket crisis by taking it from the bodyguard. In the meantime, Naoren was inspecting the lobby, and let out a thoughtful hum.

"The environment of this establishment appears to be remarkably pleasant."

"That's a long way to say 'cozy'," I jested, then waved for them to come along. "How are things going back at the Federation?"

"Annoyingly."

The way Naoren spat out the word made me freeze for a moment, and barely stifle a chuckle.

"So you can be direct like that, huh? What exactly seems to be the problem?"

"There are currently some debates over the exact jurisdiction and scope of the Ordo Draconis, as well as the rights and obligations of the clans." Pausing, he let out a sigh and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Needless to say, things only became more heated since you left on this vacation of yours."

"How so?"

"One group believes the way you completely disregard the proceedings and do things like this shows disdain towards them. Another group considers your actions to be a show of confidence, claiming that you feel so secure in your position that you can afford not to involve yourself in these matters. The third group agrees with the second, but instead of viewing your actions as a show of force, they consider it hubris. Needless to say, the three parties have spent more time arguing about this during the past three days than getting anything done."

"Wow. They sure love to read nonexistent motivations into everything, aren't they?"

The bespectacled clan head shook his head and uttered, "They are political animals. It's what they do."

"Well, it's none of my business."

"Of course it is!" Raven Boy suddenly burst out, startling everyone. Even I was a little surprised, though considering how his head was getting redder by the second, I was half-expecting something like this. "This is the height of irresponsibility! Do you have any idea how much these… these… people are scheming behind your back!?"

"I imagine a lot," I answered offhandedly, and Raven Boy practically blew a fuse.

"You imagine?! Do you have even the faintest of clues of just how many fine prints I had to meticulously read through just to make sure they don't hide some kind of malicious clause in their legislation?! Do you have any idea how much sleep I lost over all of this?!"

"Actually, I was meaning to ask, but weren't you supposed to stay at home and do just that?" I leveled the question at him, and the guy honest-to-goodness scoffed back.

"Which I did, but guess what? I don't have the authority to actually sign any of these papers! For pity's sake, for some of them, I don't even know who has the authority to do that! What kind of irresponsible—?"

By 'these papers', I presumed he meant the contents of the paper bag he was carrying around. Cutting his tirade short, I pointed him in the direction of the second building.

"Talk to Roland, then. He should be over at the restaurant. Just follow the signs."

"Then don't mind if I do," he hissed at me, then stomped away.

"Are you sure it's wise to leave your paperwork in the hands of someone who both actively and publicly detests you?"

Naoren's question made me raise a brow, but after thinking it through, I simply shrugged.

"I've been told to delegate more, so I'm just practicing with him. It's not like he can betray me."

"Can't he?" Naoren sounded pretty skeptical, but before I could explain, Arnwald beat me to the punch.

"Naturally. Brother Agrawain might be young and brash, but he swore the Oaths in service of our liege. His loyalty is assured."

"Yeah. What he said," I hastily agreed, and decided that I probably shouldn't mention that I volunteered him to serve as my guinea pig for experimenting with the Oaths, and so I made sure he absolutely, categorically couldn't betray me. It was uncomfortably close to mind control, but to be fair, the guy was still near the top of my shit-list, so I wasn't feeling that bad about it.

Anyhow, it was around this time that Elly came over, closely followed by the still curiously intimate childhood friend couple. There was another round of greetings, and once that was done with, my princess casually linked arms with me.

"I'm glad to see that you're close as ever," Naoren noted, then theatrically glanced around. "But speaking of which, where is your other fiancée? I can't seem to find her."

"Judy's sleeping," Elly blurted out, oddly flustered, and when he turned a curious eye at her, she hastily explained, "We stayed up late last night, and so she went back to our room to take a nap after breakfast."

"Heh! It's coz ay his burds are—"

Before he could finish the sentence, Mr. Eagle firmly planted his elbow in his colleague's side, hard enough that he nearly dropped the gift basket.

"Brother Duncan, please stop. That joke stopped being funny a while ago."

"Was it ever funny?" Josh muttered, which drew Naoren's attention to him. The fact that he was holding hands with Angie also didn't escape his notice, and after an amused hum, he turned to his other side and patted his brother on the back.

"Zihao? I believe this would be a good opportunity, wouldn't you agree?"

"In… front of everyone?" the (until now suspiciously silent) guy sounded really alarmed, and for some reason, he sent a glare at me. In response, the bespectacled Draconian's eyes literally flashed with colorless light and hit him in the back another time.

"I believe it's best to show your sincerity by expressing your regrets in front of as many witnesses as possible."

"Witness? What?" Angie paused her mumbling when she noticed she was in the center of attention, then awkwardly added, "I… was zoned out for a moment. What were we talking about?"

"Good question."

Following her up, I turned to Zihao, and when our eyes met, he clicked his tongue and turned to Josh.

"Hey, you."

"Mind your manners, brother," Naoren warned him, and the younger guy stifled a long groan before unceremoniously doing a ninety degrees bow.

"… What is he doing?" our resident protagonist asked the obvious, prompting Zihao to straighten his back and yell, "I'm apologizing, you cretin! What else could I be doing!?"

"You could be looking for a coin you dropped on the floor," Elly commented absentmindedly, causing the younger brother's face to contort in barely constrained fury.

"Zihao, be more specific. Was this not the reason you came along? You should not leave any seeds for future misgivings."

Following his older brother's words, the spiky-haired guy's expression went from furious to merely annoyed, and after some further prodding by another pat on the back, he grudgingly started from the beginning all over again.

"I'm sorry for my remarks in the past."

It sounded like there was more to it, and we kept waiting, yet he remained silent.

"And?" Naoren prompted him with a precariously raised brow.

"… And I'm sorry that I attacked you during the banquet," he mumbled.

"He doesn't sound very sincere," Elly noted, earning her a red-hot glare from the guy. This, in turn, forced me to glare at him in return, and after locking eyes for only a second, he clicked his tongue again and averted his gaze.

"Fine. I'm genuinely sorry for doing that."

"And?" Naoren echoed himself, causing his brother to look downright miserable.

"And I would also like to apologize for attacking you during the tournament." This time the bespectacled clan head didn't speak up, but his eyes did the talking, and after a long groan, Zihao muttered, "And I also want to apologize for hitting on your girlfriend in public."

"Oh, that? I wasn't actually Josh's—"

Before she could finish that, my free hand reflexively lashed out and clamped over Angie's mouth.

"What she meant to say was that while your apology was overdue, it's better late than never, right?" Our resident Celestial nodded, so I removed my hand and addressed the childhood friends as one. "The better question is, do you guys accept his apology?"

"Should we?" Josh asked, and Angie shrugged like it was none of her problem, so he looked back at me in turn. "I dunno. What about you?"

"Hey, I have no horse in this race," I told him just a touch flatly. "He's your rival, not mine."

"He's no rival of mine!" Zihao burst out, but nobody gave him the time of day.

In the meantime, Josh rubbed his chin and also shrugged.

"I don't really care, to be honest. I mean, I don't like him, but we're going to be working together, so I guess we should bury the hatchet ASAP."

"What does he mean by that?" Naoren asked me, and so I briefly explained to him Josh's plan to join the Ordo Draconis. He listened to me closely, occasionally nodding along, and when I finished, it seemed like he just got an idea. "I understand now. If you were to join our fledgling organization, there would certainly be many more opportunities for the two of you to meet in the future."

"… Elder Brother? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Completely ignoring Zihao's complaints, Naoren continued to stare at his face with a thoughtful expression, which lasted exactly until a new group approached ours. Raven Boy, in the company of Morgana and Roland, was coming over with only slightly less stompy steps, completely disregarding the disapproving glances the other Knights were sending his way. Speaking of them, they had their casual clothes on, and Morgana was carrying not one, but two gyroses.

What followed was, naturally, another round of greetings, during which Ms. Gorgon handed one of her gyroses over to Agrawain, and Roland checked out the contents of the basket Duncan was still carrying along. Once we were done with the pleasantries, Mr. Griffon lightly cleared his throat and motioned at me to get my attention.

"Leonard? If you have some time, I'd like to borrow you for a moment."

"Is there a problem?"

"Not a problem, no. It's just that Agrawain brought over some documents that require your signature. They're well-organized, so it shouldn't take more than a few minutes."

"Of course they are well-organized," Raven Bow scoffed. "I spent all morning gathering up the most essential papers!"

"Yes, yes, you're veeery diligent. I like that about you," I told him, then after a pause I added, "Well, technically that's the only thing I found so far, but hey, at least the list is growing."

He naturally didn't appreciate my jab, but before I could heckle him some more, Roland impatiently cleared his throat again, so I turned back to him.

"Give me ten minutes, then I'll meet you in the library."

"Why the library?" Elly mumbled while leaning over my shoulder, practically half-asleep.

"It has proper tables," I answered her reflexively, but when she responded with a huge yawn, I decided to pick her up again, much to her surprise, and tell Roland, "Make that twenty minutes. I'll go and tuck her in first."

"I'm not that sleepy," my princess protested, if feebly, as she was too busy trying to keep her bathrobe from slipping off her chest. Not that it would've mattered, considering she was wearing a one-piece swimsuit underneath, but the nuances of modesty always confused me, so what did I know?

"Is Lenore sick?" Naoren inquired, though he sounded more curious than worried.

"No. I just couldn't sleep last night, and so the girls stayed up with me."

Duncan, naturally, let out a guffaw in the background, but was summarily ignored. That said, this time, he was wrong about the situation; we were on a lewding break last night, but because I didn't need to sleep, the girls decided to take turns staying awake and keeping me company, so that I wouldn't get bored. It was a fun night, but they didn't sleep a lot the night before either, so it obviously took its toll on them.

Anyhow, my explanation was apparently sufficient enough for Naoren, so I concluded with, "Now if you excuse me, I'll get a few things done and be back with you in about half an hour." I didn't plan to say anything else and get going, but then I noticed the intent stare Mountain Girl was giving me, so on a whim I added, "Rinne will show you around until then, if that's all right with you."

"Sounds delightful," the young patriarch's face lit up with a pleased smile. "We have much to discuss."

"Do you?" I asked back, by reflex, and this time it was Mountain Girl who spoke up first.

"Certainly! We couldn't finish our debate about whether or not Song Jiang lost the blessing of the heavenly lady due to failing the prophecy or not!"

"Even after reconsidering it over and over again since the last time we talked, I still believe your reading of the story is too textual," Naoren noted in a thoughtful tone, completely ignoring me.

"Yes. That is how a book works," she responded, and before long, the two of them started talking about how the 'one-hundred-and-eight heroes' were fighting something called a 'Fang La', and how that was them failing their destiny by mistaking one internal threat for another, and something about some books handed out by some heavenly lady… Honestly, I had no idea what they were talking about, but I was exposed to enough similar arguments through Josh and Angie to infer that it was probably about the plot of some novel or something.

I wasn't the only one who tuned out, and I was getting ready to start moving again… when I was interrupted once more, this time by a pair of small girls weaving between the legs of our group of come to a screeching halt in front of me.

"Ue-sama? Can I take a bath with Xiao-chan?"

"I've heard the springs here are full of yang energy!" Odango Girl followed her up with sparkling eyes.

At first, I wanted to point them in Naoren's direction, but he was already in a heated argument about whether a 'Wu Song' was better than a 'Lu Zhishen', whatever the heck those were, so I decided to leave him be and asked, "Do you have a swimsuit?"

"I can lend one of mine!" the tiny miko offered on the spot, and raised the edge of her hand to her forehead, then did the same to Odango Girl. "We are about the same height, so it should fit, right?"

As a matter of fact, Odango Girl was a touch shorter, but I didn't point that out, and instead just gave them the go.

"In that case, go ahead. Just make sure you wash up properly, play responsibly, and if you see a peeper, don't throw any rocks at them and call an adult."

"What did you just say?" Zihao butted in, but before I could explain anything, Ichiko beat me to the punch.

"There's a creepy man who peeped on the bath, but Elly-ue chased him away by throwing a stone at him, so now we're on the lookout to see if he comes back!"

"You had something like that happen, and you didn't track him down yet!?"

"Josh already put together a team to catch him," I pointed out, and after I did, I could see the gears slowly turning in his head.

Before long, he turned on his heel, and after finding Josh and Angie, already in the process of trying to slip away, he dashed after them. That sounded like a recipe for some shenanigans, but I had other things to worry about, so I gestured for the still-present little girls to get going.

"Have fun."

"Thanks, ue-sama!"/"Thank you, Elder Brother!"

The words barely even left their mouths by the time they were already running up the stairs, no doubt to get one of the tiny miko's spare swimwear. Looking around in the lobby, I couldn't help but shake my head. On my left, Rinne and Naoren were still lost in their own little world and arguing about a dynasty of songs and black whirlwinds being poisoned or whatever. On my right, the Knights were having a pleasant chat while discussing what to do with the bottle of whiskey they found at the bottom of the gift basket. In the back, Josh and Zihao were glaring at each other, while Angie was holding her head behind them.

Then, at last, I glanced down at the quietly snoozing princess in my hands. At some point, she even put her arm around my neck and was holding onto me even in her sleep, which was just plain damn cute. However, as much as I would've loved to stare at my lovely girlfriend's face, I had things to do, so I headed to our room with light steps, all the while mentally preparing for the loud day this one was promising to be.

On this day, I learned something new once again. Before I had the opportunity to try one, I thought hot springs were nothing special, but then I was pleasantly surprised by them. Conversely, after being repeatedly encouraged by the men of our little group to give it a go, I finally gave in and entered the sauna, and it turned out to be a disappointing experience. I mean, it was just hot, and it made me sweaty, and while I knew it was more or less the point, I still found it mildly aggravating.

But then again, the others seemed to enjoy it, so maybe it was just me? Or could it be an acquired taste? I didn't really know and didn't really care either, and I just waited until the others had their fill and we could all leave instead. Not that I couldn't have left any time I wanted, but I just didn't want to be the odd man out.

The sauna itself was relatively small. Its wood-paneled walls were simple, and so were the wooden benches along the longer sides of the room. It had enough space for about eight people to sit comfortably, so we more or less completely filled out the place. I was sitting in the far corner, furthest from the entrance, and Fred was sitting across me. Then we had the three Knights, with Josh and, curiously enough, Zihao sitting face to face at the other end of the bench. Needless to say, everyone was wearing the patented 'single towel wrapped around the waist' style that was a staple of onsen episodes.

This was Roland and Duncan's second time in the sauna, and they were obviously acclimated, enjoying themselves while chatting about various things. Arnwald was slightly more reserved, still in the process of getting accustomed to the head, while Fred was outright silent, and I figured he was also pestered into coming here like I was. He didn't look too uncomfortable though, so I ignored him for the time being and did my best to relax, as much as possible.

"Is the heat getting to you after all?"

I was just about to rest my eyes, but they popped right open upon hearing Josh's sudden question, and it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize it wasn't aimed at me.

"Huh? What are you talking about? This sauna is barely lukewarm!" Zihao bit back in a growly voice and continued to stare daggers at the guy in front of him. "What about you? Are you thinking about giving up yet?"

"In your dream, flamehead," Josh scoffed back, and while his insult wasn't exactly original, I could certainly see where he got the inspiration, as Zihao's hair was softly flickering with orange light. I asked Naoren about it, and it had something to do with their cultivation and the circulation of inner energies manifesting through some acupoints aaand that was the point where I tuned out of the conversation and just concluded that the younger Feilong brother had glowy hair because metaphysics sometimes just had to obey the rule of cool.

Anyhow, those two were apparently doing some kind of bet, or maybe a dare of sorts, and for a while, I was torn on whether I should warn them about doing things in moderation, but in the end, I decided against it. They were on the other side of the sauna, and with the Knights between us, and considering how loudly they were talking, I would've had to raise my voice to get my point across, and it just wasn't worth the hassle.

Speaking of the knightly trio on my left, I really wished I could join in on their conversation, if only to make time pass a little faster, but I simply couldn't. Ever since we had entered the sauna, they had been reminiscing about their own little misadventures. First, it was something about Arnwald and Duncan getting caught between a Draconian family and some crime boss fighting over territory in Albania, then Roland followed it up with an anecdote about Penny getting lost in Istanbul and him running all over the place to find her, which was then followed up by Duncan talking about how he once accompanied Morgana and Arnwald on a mission to Sydney, Australia, and was bed-ridden for a week after getting bitten by a snake.

I couldn't really add anything to any of that, considering they were shared memories that had nothing to do with me, and I wasn't learning anything useful either, beyond the fact that they either had no such common stories with me, or that they were still trying to avoid talking about my past. Whether that was because they were still worried that doing so would bring back my memories, or simply because they found it awkward to discuss them in front of me, I had no idea, and I didn't care enough to dwell on the question either. After all, by this point I was half-convinced I didn't just lose my memories, but I never had them to begin with, and by breaking out of my programming I accidentally prevented the Simulacrum from back-filling my backstory as it did with, say, Judy's. In other words, the whole thing was moot, and kind of meaningless beyond academic curiosity.

But enough about me, let's focus on someone else. Like the mad scientist in front of me.

Unsurprisingly enough, Fred was sweating buckets, and it caused his hair to stick to his forehead, yet even so, he was still looking halfway decent. It was probably thanks to a decent diet and having a better work/life balance, but he came across considerably healthier than the first time I saw him. In fact…

Why was he so toned?

No, I'm serious. While Fred was definitely looking healthier, I knew from experience that at least half of his diet consisted of junk food, and I had never seen him exercise, ever. Sure, he wasn't anywhere close to, say, Duncan (not that many people were), but just the fact that he had defined muscles made me confused all the same. Was it some kind of magitech, or… Wait. Hold on.

Maybe I overlooked something.

Pausing my thoughts, I glanced around the room, starting from the far left. Zihao was a martial artist type, so he was naturally well-built. Josh, despite never really working out, also had well-defined muscles, probably because of protagonist-privileges or something equally asinine. The Knights were also a given, and the less said about our Mr. Muscletaur, the better. This was a small sample size, but… could it be that this was the 'default' body type of the Simulacrum?

I mean, there was a similar thing going on with the girls, with all of them having good proportions, narrow waists, and attractive faces, traits that applied not only to our little circle of friends and family, but also to the generic placeholders as well. Similarly, all the guys were slim with wide shoulders, and the only two overweight people I've met so far were the school nurse and that otaku stereotype guy from the class the next door over to ours.

Q.E.D: The majority of young men in the Simulacrum had athletic builds by default, and that applied even to Fred, who probably never lifted a single dumbbell in his entire life. This, in turn, also meant that I wasn't especially fit or muscular either, but just followed the same template.

"Well, that sucks…" I grumbled under my nose, yet somehow I was still overheard.

"Hm? Did you say something, boss?"

"Nah, just talking to myself," I responded with a wave, and Fred gave me an odd look in return.

"Are you having a heat-stroke?"

"Still nah. Just thinking about all kinds of annoying things. Business as usual."

"If you say so." For a second or two it seemed like that was the end of the conversation, but then Fred clicked his tongue and waved at me. "Hey, boss? Speaking of business, can we talk for a moment?"

"I don't think we can do anything else," I answered in the company of a shrug, eliciting a cackle from the man.

"Kihihi! Right, stupid question."

"So? Do you want to re-negotiate the workshop's budget again?"

"Oh, no-no-no! It's perfectly fine." After backpedaling like that, Fred cleared his throat and tentatively asked, "So, here's the thing: I was wondering if you could maybe hire my uncle."

"Peabody?" I asked back in surprise, and he nodded in confirmation. "Why? Did he have a fallout with Lord Grandpa?"

"Ah, no, nothing of the like. It's just that I thought it would be nice to have his expertise. It's always good to have more specialists, and uncle was a respected member of the Non-Causative Science Research Society in his youth, so you definitely wouldn't regret hiring him!"

"You're talking as if we were short on hands in base."

"Ah, well, not right now, but with the Assembly embargo going on, it's going to become harder to find able research personnel in the future."

"Wait, go back," I cut in with a hand raised. "What was that? An embargo?"

"Huh? Didn't I tell you about that?" He looked genuinely confused, but in the end he shook his head with a helpless expression. "Maybe I didn't. Oh well. You know that the Research Society and the Assembly aren't on great terms, right? It's mostly because of some old regulations and laws and disagreements over ethical research subjects and things like that, but even so, when there's a big project going on in a School, it's not uncommon for the Magi to hire some Research Society members. I mean, we're a loose group and mostly work alone, but some of us are more like freelancers."

"Okay, I get that. Your point is?"

"Kihihi! Guess what, boss! We pretty much nabbed all the non-affiliated members in one fell swoop! The only members who aren't working for us are either small-timers, or already working on some project under the supervision of one of the Schools, but even if we're a loose group, news still travel through the grapevine."

"The point, Fred. Please get to the point," I urged him, the heat making me less tolerant of his rambling than usual.

"The point is that now everyone knows that we have the sweetest gig, and if given the opportunity, every semi-competent researcher and semi-incompetent hedge-artificer would run to this island to join us! Of course, the Assembly didn't like that, so we literally can't hire anyone, either from the Artificers' Lodge or the Research Society, without those old fogeys raising a fuss." He paused here, and then tried his best to flash a winning smile. "And that's why you should hire my uncle instead."

"So what you're telling me is that the people in the research division are hyped to work under me, they went bragging about it to others, and now the Assembly is unofficially sanctioning us to prevent us from hiring their own researchers out of under them?"

"It's not hype! We made more breakthroughs in one month than all the Schools combined do in a whole year! We have all the resources and security we could ask for, and whenever there's some kind of problem we can't solve, you just saunter in, poke it with your fingers, and suddenly it works! It's absolutely maddening!"

"…And that's a good thing?"

"Kihihi! Of course! The whole reason why the Non-Causative Science Research Society formed was to explore and explain the unexplainable and to push the limits of what's considered possible! You aren't just our boss, you're our muse!"

"First off, take a couple of deep breaths and calm down." Fred looked at me funny, but automatically did that I told him anyway. "So in conclusion, the Assembly has control over the freelancer Research Society folks, they are not allowed to leave their current jobs and join us, and so you want me to hire Peabody while I can. Was that the gist of it?"

"Ah, right! We were talking about uncle!" Fred exclaimed like he actually forgot the original topic, and pointed a finger at me. "Here's the deal, boss: I told uncle about what kind of work we're doing the last time I visited him, and it looked like he might be interested in picking up his old research again!"

"I imagined he didn't want to join as a nurse," I whispered under my breath. "What kind of research are we talking about?"

"Kihihi… Believe it or not, when he was young, uncle was one of the most respected experts in the field of artificial life forms! Sadly, he hit a roadblock a couple of decades ago, and he gave up on his research, but after I told him about the things you could do and the new breakthroughs we made, he looked genuinely interested!"

"Did he want to be hired?"

"Well… he didn't exactly say that no. But…" When he finally noticed the brow I raised at him, Fred hastily showed his palms. "Please hear me out, boss. Uncle was completely devastated when his work didn't bear fruit, and after he retired to this island, he cut himself off from hid old Research Society buddies. I was the only one who reached out to him, and I even tried to continue his research, but I ran into the same bottleneck he did. I did my best anyway, but even after that, I couldn't fulfill his dream."

So the portly nurse was researching artificial life forms, abandoned the project, then Fred came in and tried to complete it, and his expertise is in robotics, so…

"Galatea?"

"Ah, yes." Fred paused to swipe a tuft of hair off his forehead and then awkwardly scratched his temple. "I used uncle's methodology, and filled in the blanks with my own know-how, and… it kind of worked, but it wasn't what uncle was looking for. He never said it outright, but I think I might've done more harm than good to his dream, but I can't exactly stuff that cat back into the bag, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I got it. In other words, you want me get him a position in the research division, so that he could have another go at his dream project. Did I get that right?"

"That's the gist of it!" Fred flashed a toothy grin, but after a long second, he tentatively added, "As long as it's okay with you, of course."

To be honest, I wasn't against the idea on principle, but trying to keep the weirdoes in the research division on track already felt like herding cats, so I wasn't sure adding Peabody to the mix was a great idea, especially considering he still had that bloody wooden mallet on his desk to this day. On the other hand though, Fred was right about the fact that having an extra pair of hands in the workshops wasn't a bad thing, and I imagined recruiting the portly nurse from under Lord Grandpa's nose would probably annoying him, which was another argument for going through with it.

"For the record, what exactly does Peabody bring to the table again? Since it's related to Galatea, I guess it was related to robotics? Artificial intelligence?"

"Hm? Oh, not that. Uncle is an expert in the study of homunculi," Fred told me like it was obvious, and it suddenly reminded me of another thing that kept slipping my mind.

"Right. Homunculi. Artificial humans that live and behave completely like humans."

"Erm… Yes."

"Just for the record, how are they different from regular humans again?"

"You mean, in appearance, or…?"

"In general."

Fred pondered for a while, almost as if he considered this a trick question. It, of course, wasn't, but to this day I never got a straight answer about why the class rep being a homunculus was such a big deal, and I hoped that he would shed some light on the issue. Of course, I could've probably asked this a lot sooner, but I just never had the right opportunity like this, and with everything else going on, minor stuff like this tends to fall through the cracks.

"I guess the biggest difference is that they don't have souls?"

I very nearly asked why he sounded so uncertain, but I forced myself to stay on topic.

"And that's important?"

"Of course it's important!" Realizing that it wasn't the answer I was looking for, he crossed his arms and explained, "Having a soul is the thing that differentiates between 'people' and 'not people'."

"Could you elaborate?"

Fred looked at me like he couldn't believe he had to explain something so basic to someone, but it only lasted for a second.

"Okay, let's start with some common ground. You know that in biology, a species is defined by its members being able to reproduce with each other, right?" I kind of wanted to point out that some species could technically crossbreed, but I was sure it wasn't his point, so I just nodded. "Good. Now, look at what we consider 'people'. We have humans, Magi, Draconians, Celestials, Abyssals, and a whole lot of phantasmal creatures that can assume human forms, like the dragons or those foxes in Ichiko's ancestry. It should've been impossible to interbreed between them, yet they still do, and the thing that explains this is that all of them have souls. It doesn't matter how different they may seem, so long as they have souls, they can have offspring with each other. Therefore, the Assembly legally acknowledged everyone who fit those criteria as 'people', and in turn, anyone who doesn't fit it is, by definition, 'not people'."

"That sounds all kinds of arbitrary," I noted with a frown. "And who are the Assembly to declare whether someone's a person or not?"

"Well, boss, you have to admit that the criteria is self-explanatory."

"Really? Then do you think a Chimera is a person? They have souls."

"Erm…"

"And what about Cal? They have a soul. Sorta. Doesn't that throw a monkey-wrench into the whole 'can reproduce with each other' thing?"

"To be fair, until very recently, souls were only theoretical and used to explain why humans, old-blooded people, and phantasmal species could have children together, and I don't think there's anyone else other than you in the entire world who can directly interact with them and confirm their existence, so…"

"Bah, humbug. Nobody is unpersoning anyone under my watch, and if the Assembly keeps insisting that homunculi aren't people, I'll just use the opportunity to beat some sense into them."

"Ki… hihi… Sure, boss. Whatever you say, boss." After that, he fell silent for a while, but after glancing aside, Fred soon gestured for my attention. "Errr… Speaking of beating people up, don't you want to do something about those two?"

Blinking, I followed the way his finger was pointing and found Josh and Zihao, still staring daggers at each other… while one of them had their hair glowing like it was actually on fire, and their whole body was surrounded by surging streams of red light, while the other was transformed into a draconic form, with beads of sweat glistening on his white scales. The first thing that came to mind was to wonder just why did Josh have a blood capsule on him, or where he even kept it until now, but I shook the idea out of my head and stood up.

"Are you ready to give up yet?" Josh hissed between clenched teeth, and the younger Feilong brother responded with a cocky grin.

"What? Is the heat getting to—"

Before he could finish whatever taunt he had in mind, I reached their side, and slapped the back of both of their heads at the same time.

"You two apparently need to cool your heads a little. Three laps around the men's pool."

"What? Why?" Zihao whined while holding his head, so directed my most severe glare at him and lowered my voice by an octave.

"Now."

The two nuisances shared an uncertain glance, but when I dramatically cracked my knuckles, Josh's self-preservation instincts finally kicked in, and before long, Zihao followed after him in a hurry. Satisfied, I turned back to the four men still inside the sauna and said, "I'll go and make sure they behave themselves. Continue as you were."

With that, I also stepped outside and closed the door behind me, successfully escaping the heat.

"Hi, Chief." Glancing over, I found my dear assistant in a polka-dot bikini, with a pair of bottles in her hands, and she unceremoniously handed one over the moment our eyes met. "You've been in there for a while, so I was about to check on you."

"Thanks, Dormouse."

"Don't mention it." She paused, then glanced to the corridor leading to the outdoor baths. "Why are Josh and Zihao racing each other around the pool?"

"Just the usual rivalry stuff," I told her between two gulps from the room-temperature ice tea. "More importantly, once we're home please remind me to write a sternly worded official letter to the Assembly about interbreeding, people, and souls."

"… Are you going to explain that?"

"Later. I'll go take a shower first."

"Good idea," she noted and handed me the other bottle as well. "I'll go get some towels and be with you in a minute."

And just like that, she practically stormed off and left me alone in the hallway. I couldn't help but wonder what she meant by that, but not for long, and I soon turned on my heels and walked past the door leading to the outdoor bath where the two troublemakers were still running in circles.

For the record, it took me until Judy barged in on me in the shower to realize that our non-lewding period ended last midnight. I blame the heat exhaustion.

The invisible ninja maids were unceasingly dutiful, as usual, and despite all the zaniness our suite experienced thanks to the previous night's truth-or-dare game going for a few too many rounds, all the incriminating evidence of it ever happening were gone without a trace. I had no idea where the empty beer cans disappeared to, or what they used to get the mustard stains out of the bearskin rug, but everything was absolutely spotless. That said, while I didn't have to care about the cleanup, there were still quite a few things I had to look after, such as packing away the fuzzy pink handcuffs under the bed. The same applied to some of Judy's underwear as well, and while normally I would've told her deal with her own things, she was currently busy being lectured by the princess, so I graciously put them away myself.

Speaking of which, my girlfriends, back in casual clothes, were currently sitting face to face on the bed, legs crossed, and while Judy was aggressively poker-faced, the princess had a pout the size of Kamchatka.

"I can't believe you did that! I thought we had an understanding!" my draconic girlfriend hissed with her arms crossed, and when my dear assistant didn't respond, she firmly poked her in the chest. "Rule number twenty-three: no individual lewding while we are both present on the same premises, yet I only take a short nap, and you immediately lewd Leo on your own!"

"Technically, I only teased him," Judy emphasized, which only caused the princess to fume even harder.

Well, to be fair, I would've rather categorized Judy's actions as 'persistent pervy pestering' myself, but I doubted my correction would've helped much, so instead I made sure all the nightly activity supplies were well-hidden by double-checking the night stand.

"That still falls under lewding!"

"Technically, but we technically weren't in the same building, so does rule twenty-three really apply?"

Instead of responding right away, Elly abruptly reached out with both her hands and grabbed Judy's cheeks between her fingers.

"Don't you try to rules-lawyer me! It's the spirit of the rule that matters, not its letters!"

For emphasis, she pulled on my dear assistant's face, and after a perplexed beat, Judy glanced over at me.

"Shief, pfease helf. Elly's dfoing that fing to me."

"I can see that," I grumbled under my breath, followed by a considerably more audible, "Princess, don't pinch her too hard. She's fragile."

"I know, but…" Elly's words trailed off, and after cocking her head to the side, she pulled on Judy's face anyway. "Were your cheeks always this soft and squishy?"

"Shief, pfease helf. I'm bfeaing shexhually harashed."

My first instinct was to point out that she sounded way too deadpan for someone in distress, but before I could raise my voice, my other girlfriend beat me to the punch.

"I'm not harassing you! This is punishment!"

Despite her words, Elly kept tugging at Judy's face with the kind of fascinated expression that said she just found her new favorite toy. While normally I loved to see the two of them horsing around, I was expecting a guest soon, so I walked over and gently separated them.

"Cut it out, you two. It's something that already happened, we can't help it now, and even so, I'm not even sure what we did properly counts as lewding to begin with, so this whole argument is silly."

"No, it's not," the princess turned to me, and gingerly pinched my cheek, though with only one hand. "We have rules in this relationship, and we must all follow them, otherwise it's not fair." Pausing, she let go of my face, balled up her fingers, and dropped the same hand into her other palm. "Ah! I've got an idea!"

"Does it involve changing the rules?" Judy muttered while massaging her cheeks, but Elly completely disregarded her and looked me in the eyes.

"The only way to make things right is by balancing the scales. It's the only fair way of doing things."

"And by balancing, you mean…?"

Beaming, my princess pointed a finger at me.

"We must also do shower-lewding!"

That was already baffling, but then the air in the room froze when the door opened and Naoren walked in.

"Leonard? Are you in there?" I glanced over, and when our eyes met, the bespectacled young patriarch casually walked across the living room of the suite and poked his head into the bedroom area. "I must apologize. My discussion with your subordinates lasted longer than expected."

I answered with a nonchalant, "No problem," doing my best to suppress my snickers at the sight of the mortified, beet-red girl by my side.

Her shock lasted for a remarkably short time, and was followed by a very rare and precious, "Ha-hauuu!" Grabbing hold of Judy's hand, she dragged my surprised assistant away with a frantic, "W-W-We should get going! Have fun!", and they disappeared the way Naoren came before I could get a word in.

"Why was Lenore in such hurry?" my guest wondered aloud, sounding entirely genuine in his bewilderment, but before answering him, I reached under the bed to retrieve Cal.

"For the record, did you hear any part of our previous conversation?"

Still looking more than a little confused, he adjusted his glasses and told me, "Something about taking a shower? Was that why they left so suddenly?"

"Not exactly, but I think it's best we leave the topic at that." I hefted Cal over my shoulder and added, "Also, you probably shouldn't ask Elly about it either. She'd probably punch you."

"I will keep that in mind." After that dry remark, he looked around and gestured at the tatami-matted floor near the kotatsu table. "Let's get started."

"Should I grab some pillows?"

"It's not necessary. This shouldn't take too long."

"Okay then. You're the expert."

Following Naoren's urging, I sat down on the floor, and he also took a seat in front of me and crossed his legs. I followed his example as best as I could, and only when I laid Cal across on my lap did they finally decide to speak up in a low voice.

"{I am still opposed to dabbling with such esoteric methods, young knight.}"

"Don't be like that."

"Hm?"

Seeing Naoren's startled look, I hastily explained myself.

"I was talking to Cal over here."

"Oh, that's right. You have mentioned that your sword is capable of communicating with you." He paused here, then ever-so-slightly tilted his head to the side. "I always thought talking swords only existed in myths and children's tales, yet somehow when you are so indifferent about it, I can't seem to muster up any wonder either."

"Hey, don't blame it on me."

"I'm not blaming you, I'm only noting that being acquainted with you has made me considerably more accepting of the seemingly strange and unusual."

"Says the Draconian with an actual dragon for a cousin," I jabbed back, and it caused him to twitch in apprehension.

"Please do not bring up Xiao Xiao right now. I already have my hands full with managing the fallout after her reveal, I do not require any reminders."

"Well, since we already brought her up, you might as well explain what kind of fallout you're talking about."

Naoren gave me a sideways glance, so I flashed my most innocent smile in return, and after a short stalemate, he exhaled a shallow sigh and waved at me.

"First, let's find get started with our practice, and if it works, we can talk."

"You can talk while meditating?" I blurted out, and my guest gave me a funny look.

"Of course. I'm only planning to teach you our methods to remedy physical and mental exhaustion. It's not so complicated you would need your full attention."

"If you say so." My words were followed by a long beat, so I pointedly cleared my throat and added, "How about we find out if I can emulate this thing of yours first?"

"Let's do that," he agreed and shifted his posture.

This situation might've looked odd on the surface, but it was something I was looking forward to ever since Naoren offered to teach me how to meditate. As in, properly, with all the faux-lotus poses and breathing exercises and everything. I wasn't sure where his idea came from, but since he first mentioned it while we were watching our internal tournament, it probably had something to do with the events surrounding it. I had no idea exactly which one was the trigger, but I had my own reasons to agree.

Frankly speaking, I was downright itching to see how the Eastern Draconians' powers worked in a controlled environment. As far as I understood from the snippets I gathered, they were running on Chinese cultivation-novel tropes, and it had to do with circulating all kinds of energies through meridians and acupoints and other scientifically vacuous but fancy-sounding stuff. While I wasn't particularly hyped up about whatever health benefits the practice may or may not have had, I was at least nominally curious about the process, and since Naoren said they would be staying over until dinnertime, I figured I might as well ask him to give me a demonstration.

"Assume this position," he instructed me, and after a few tries, he finally found my posture good enough. "First, let us begin by practicing the proper form of breathing. This is a simplified version of the first half of our clan's most basic cultivation manual, and it mainly serves to calm our blood, but its principles should translate into non-Draconian physiology as well."

"I'm all ears."

Naoren nodded, and over the span of about ten minutes, he explained the concept of 'slowly breathe in deeply, hold it for two seconds, slowly breathe out' like it was some kind of super-special-awesome technique. I patiently followed his instructions, and only when I managed to keep the routine up for a solid minute did he nod in satisfaction and move on to the meaty part of this whole exercise.

"You're doing well. If you only wish to relax, repeating these steps and emptying your mind for a short time should already be sufficient. Now, I'll demonstrate the next step."

He closed his eyes, and in turn, I focused my full attention on him. In a few short seconds, the air around him was filled with the colorless, shapeless light of magic, or mana, or what have you. My extra-sensory perception didn't really differentiate between the sources of supernatural shenanigans, so it was hard to tell. Anyhow, after a couple of slow breaths, Naoren raised a finger without opening his eyes and pointed at his chest.

"The circulation starts at the heart. This is the path it must follow for a minor completion."

I could practically feel my eyes bulging as I stared at his finger unblinking, and soon I was able to faintly see an indistinct glow behind his sternum. From it, numerous, barely visible lines branched out in something similar to blood vessels, but kind of all over the place, looping around each other and making weird twists and turns. Based on what I've learned from Fred, I figured this was what most people of magical persuasion referred to as an 'Astral Body', and it was my first time seeing one without using my phantom limbs and interacting with the owner's soul directly. Needless to say, it was bloody hard to see the details, as to even perceive these mana vessels or what have you, I had to forcefully 'tune out' my normal sight and focus entirely on my magic vision, which was easier said than done.

In the meantime, Naoren used his finger to lightly poke at certain points on his body, starting from the chest, then going up his neck to his temple, then down the other side. After that, he made a detour to his abdomen, and finally, he poked his chest over his heart again.

"Do you need me to demonstrate again?"

"Yes. A bit slower, please," I answered while doing my best to figure out what he was trying to show me.

It took three repetitions, but at last, I noticed that the line that was intersecting the spots he was pointing at was just a smidgen thicker than the rest of the tangled mess. This time, I focused my full attention on just that one line, tuning out all the others, and before long, what I got was a thin, slowly undulating loop going around half of Naoren's body before returning to his heart.

"Holy crap. How the hell am I supposed to imitate that?"

The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it, and it made Naoren open one of his eyes in surprise.

"Can you perceive a minor completion already?" When I nodded, he flashed an impressed smile and told me, "It might look intimidating at first, but it's an innate channel everyone possesses. So long as you direct your internal energies well, they will naturally flow with it."

"If you say so…"

Honestly, I wasn't exactly keen on trying this after what I saw, but Naoren was giving me such an expectant look I felt obligated to give it a go. In any case, I have at least partially satisfied my original question about the Eastern Draconians' methodology: on the base level, it was surprisingly similar to how the Knights circulated their mana in their body, but with two major caveats.

First, it was the energy source. One side used an internal reservoir in the form of their draconic bloodline, while the other used the mana refined by the Knightly equipment and injected into the wielder through the Oath-receptacles.

Secondly, based on what I just saw, Naoren had an incredibly complicated and twisting set of channels in his body. Whether they were entirely natural or created through training, I had no idea. In stark contrast, the Knights, including myself, had uniform, straightforward mana vessels more reminiscent of electric circuitry. They were created by the same process that carved the Oaths into their souls, with the armors and weapons serving as extensions to these channels and creating the closed loop required for the circulation to even begin.

In conclusion, the way they operated was probably based on the same principle, but it was using a completely different methodology. However, this gave me at least a tiny sliver of possibility to emulate what Naoren was doing, and if I could, it would potentially open the door for not only a better understanding of how these abilities worked, but even to optimize, combine, or even merge them. Of course, that was all based on a pretty big 'if', so it was about time I stopped thinking about potential possibilities and focus on the present hurdles.

"I'm starting. Ready, Cal?"

"{I still believe this is a foolish idea, but yes, I'm prepared to assist you, young knight,}" my grumpy sword answered in my head, and after a deep breath, I made my first attempt.

Right off the bat, I had to improvise, as unlike with Naoren, my 'energy source' was sitting on my lap. Because of this, the first step required me to circulate my mana, and then slowly guide it out of the usual channels and into my heart. That part was actually much easier than expected, and while the mana I dumped into my chest cavity simply dissipated and returned into the air around me (while giving me a tickling, warm sensation around my sternum), the fact that it could be done with relative ease was still a pleasant surprise.

"I never had the opportunity to observe one of your kin use their powers under peaceful circumstances before, but I have to say, I'm astonished by how similar the way you handle your internal energies is to our techniques."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," I responded with a frown, which Naoren probably mistook for him bothering me, so he fell silent and only observed my efforts.

As for his remark, I had two ideas about it. One Doylist, and one Watsonian, as usual.

The Doylist one was playing the usual 'the Simulacrum is a lazy simulation with even lazier world-building' card, reusing metaphysics between different factions because it was, well, lazy. It was uncomfortably possible, but at the same time, it was also a deeply unsatisfying answer. As always, I liked the Watsonian explanation better, which was that it all tied back to the Knights being created as a Celestial black-ops faction. Based on what I knew, it was entirely possible that they directly copied this whole mana-circulation thing from the Eastern Draconians of old, and nobody knew or cared, because the two sides were much more interested in beating the snot out of each other than trying to explore the common roots of their abilities.

Anyhow, while I was pondering this, I was also doing my best to guide the mana streaming into my chest out through the right 'innate channel', as Naoren called it, which was pretty tricky, considering that I couldn't focus on looking at my own mana-veins and circulating Cal's output at the same time.

"{Do you require help, young knight?}"

"Well, if you can help, I'm not going to turn it down," I answered in a whisper, and this time Naoren quickly realized I wasn't talking to him.

"{Of course I can help. It is my duty to help and guide! Something like this is child play for one such as I!}"

"Yes, yes. You're very impressive. So? What should I do?"

"{I've been observing your efforts, young knight. Allow me to aid you in channeling your power.}"

"Sure, be my—"

Before I could say 'guest', a sudden torrent of mana was pushed into my chest cavity, and after a few long seconds, during which I felt like was about to puke, it started streaming out through the mana vessel I was aiming at all this time. Capitalizing on the opportunity, I did tried direct all the mana in my system that way while doing my best to follow Naoren's example, and it turned out he wasn't kidding. Once the flow started, it automatically followed the same path he showed me, with minimal input required on my end, and before long, it all connected into a single loop.

In a long yet infinitesimally short moment, I felt like my whole body and mind were washed over by a warm breeze. The sensation was both peculiar yet familiar, much like the first time I donned my Knight gear. Back then, it felt as if I took my very first breath, while this… this was more like I had been standing all my life, and suddenly I was allowed to lay down in a bed. All the tension I never knew about tricked out of my body and all my bones and muscles felt like they turned into jelly.

It only lasted for a moment, and after a recovered my wits, the first thing that welcomed me was Naoren's astonished face.

"I… did not expect that you would be able to reach a full circulation of the minor completion so soon, let alone on your first attempt."

Feeling a little bashful, I raised the sword on my lap and told him, "It's all thanks to Cal's support, really."

"{It wasn't even worth a mention, young knight. It is quite a fascinating way to channel power, and… Don't take me wrong, though! I still consider this kind of esoteric practice wholly unbecoming of you, and I only helped you to make sure you would cause no harm to yourself! Not that I was worried about you or anything…}"

"Awww… You tsundere sword, you."

"{Wha—? Y-Young knight! Stop rubbing my crossguard! I told you it tickles!}"

Putting aside the question of how (or why) a magical sword would be ticklish, I could no longer ignore the look on Naoren's face and turned back to him. When our eyes met, he let out a soft hum and looked me over from top to bottom.

"Your circulation appears stable. How do you feel?"

"Refreshed," I answered reflexively, and even after looking for better words, I couldn't find any.

"Do you feel an accumulation of energy around either of these areas?" First, he pointed at his chest, then at his lower abdomen, and after carefully feeling around inside myself, I shook my head. "How about a pulsing, itching sensation in your bones? It should be most noticeable in your thigh and upper arm."

"No, I don't really feel anything like that."

Naoren pinched his chin, then after looking me over again, he concluded, "It appears your lack of Draconian lineage means you cannot draw power from your blood. It is more or less as expected."

"Well, obviously. I'm not a Draconian," I told him flatly, and he only hummed again. We remained in silence for a while, right until he lightly shrugged his shoulders, like it couldn't be helped, and he linked his fingers in his lap.

"Since you're familiar with the basics now, I recommend you practice the circulation of the minor completion for a while. If you feel dizzy, or experience any other side effects, please stop and inform me. While your talent is considerable, you must always be on the lookout for deviation."

"I'll keep that in mind." Following his advice, I checked again, but the stream of mana was flowing smoothly inside my body, and with each full circulation, it caused warm waves to spread through my body over and over again, simultaneously making me feel extremely relaxed and yet giving me goosebumps. On average, it was still a pleasant experience, so I let the quiet sword on my lap regulate my internal valves and I turned to my guest again. "So, what were we talking about before we started meditating? Something about Xiao, I think?"

"I believe you're correct," the young patriarch answered in a sour voice, followed by a long sigh. "She is giving me endless headaches these days."

"I presume you don't mean her in particular," I guessed, and he confirmed it with a grunt.

"Xiao Xiao being a true dragon used to be a closely guarded secret within the clan. We hoped to keep her safe and hidden from prying eyes until she grew up. While the clans certainly celebrated her revealing herself, it was still too early, and it led to an endless stream of appeals delivered to our doorstep. While I understand their excitement, they are also quite insufferable."

"… Don't tell me they are marriage proposals," I muttered, yet the look in his eyes told me I was right on the mark. "Bloody hell! She's still a kid!"

"Indeed, yet even so, most of the clans are desperately trying to court her. If she were to marry another family's heir, she could immediately elevate their bloodline, and with it, both their power and influence would rise by leaps and bounds."

"Yep, that's how the cliché goes. I guess they're trying to put her in the bag as soon as possible, before their political rivals would have the chance to do the same." Naoren nodded, so I pushed my deduction a little further. "In that case, should we be on the lookout for assassination attempts?" This time, the bespectacled patriarch's brows descended into a baffled frown, so I clarified, "I mean, if they are so desperate they are willing to send marriage proposals to a kid just to keep her out of the hands of their rivals, wouldn't that be the next logical step? That way, they wouldn't win, but they wouldn't be losing either."

"That is nonsensical," Naoren told me flatly, followed by a long groan. "Listen to me, Leonard. Xiao Xiao is a true dragon. For the other clans, she's a revered ancestor. The idea of causing any harm to her wouldn't even cross their minds!"

"Says you, but there aren't only the clans in the Federation to worry about," I countered in a low voice. "There are probably going to be clans who wouldn't want to abandon their current 'businesses', or others that would rebel just on principle. You really shouldn't blindly trust the other Draconians' common sense like that, and then we didn't even consider the other power blocs in the supernatural playground. What I'm trying to say is that we absolutely should make sure she's protected well from any and all assassination attempts."

"We?"

"Of course," I told him with a confident grin. "The Ordo Draconis not only has our Knights but a whole group of ninjas too. Who else should be better at foiling assassinations than the people who are the most versed in them?"

"That… makes almost too much sense." After relenting so, Naoren let out an amused hum, and added, "Once again, you are not only envisioning the worst-case scenario, but instead of dwelling on it, you immediately work on a way to mitigate it. Your positive nihilism is truly reassuring."

"And that's why pessimism always wins the day," I responded with another grin, yet my guest soon started frowning again.

"While I agree that keeping Xiao Xiao safe should be of paramount importance, the original problem remains a persistent thorn in my side."

"The proposals? Just turn them down. What are they going to do about it?"

"There was at least one suggestion during the last meeting about sharing her among the clans." I must have looked dumbfounded, as he soon clarified, "I believe the rationale is that, so long as Xiao provides heirs to every clan and elevates their bloodlines equally, the problem would be peacefully resolved."

"Uh-huh. Sure. By the way, who was the one to propose this solution?"

"There's no need to concern yourself over the matter. I had already talked with them in private and they withdrew their proposal."

"They were still able to talk after that? You're too soft," I grumbled, and my comment drew a rare chuckle from the man. There was a beat of silence after that, and on a whim, I decided to tell him, "You know, we're probably going to have a very similar situation on our hands soon with Josh."

"I believe you're correct in your assessment. I have already received a fair number of thinly veiled probing questions about him. The representatives of the Albion family seemed especially interested, and I'm certain they aren't the only ones." He paused for a moment, then gave me a smile that said he had a good idea. "Why don't we solve our problems with a single move by marrying Xiao Xiao to young Joshua?"

That was such an out-of-left-field comment, the surprise nearly made me screw up the whole circulation business, and once I centered myself, I gave the still-grinning man my most deadpan of stares.

"That was a terrible joke."

"Truly? I personally found it quite amusing."

"In that case, I'm afraid you have a terrible sense of humor."

"Is that so?" Despite sounding concerned, Naoren's eyes were still smiling. "You're the first person to ever tell me that."

"I recommend you get better friends then."

"I believe I already have."

After blinking in surprise, I took a closer look at his face, but he seemed entirely serious, so in the end all I could do was shrug and say, "Fair enough."

I would've probably listed 'political allies' and 'co-conspirators' ahead of 'friends', but I had to admit, I didn't hate the sound it, and by the smile on his face, neither did my bespectacled friend.