The Simulacrum

"Morning!"

Angie's greeting practically exploded into my face the moment I opened my front door. It wasn't just her though; the rest of the gang was also behind her, including my girlfriends ,and yet curiously missing the class rep. Also my sister, but considering that she was still in the process of putting her shoes on behind me, that was a given. In the meantime, the guys all said their morning greetings as well, though theirs were slightly less over-the-top.

"I've heard you're ditching school again," the neighborhood Celestial sidled up to me and elbowed me in the side with an impish grin. "You delinquent, you!"

She was in high spirits. More so than usual, I mean. I wondered if something nice happened to her while I wasn't looking, a guess that was further supported by the way Josh was shuffling his feet in the back. I didn't dwell on it for long though and simply pushed her away (and back outside) instead.

"It can't be helped. You guys, on the other hand, should get going or you'll be late and Armband Guy will glare at you."

Nobody argued with that, and they also parted to let Snowy outside. Once they were all in front of me, I firmly tapped my foot to get everyone's attention and addressed them one by one.

"Angie, please tell the teacher that I had a family emergency to attend to. I'll write a note later in my parents' name."

"You mean you'll fake one," she tried to tease me, but I summarily ignored her and moved on.

"Josh, I need to talk with you. I'd appreciate it if you could come over after school."

"Sure. I'll bring snacks," my friend responded with a grin of his own, though it was just a little more strained than his childhood friend's. Suspicious, but not important at the moment.

"Snowy, if the Knight girl picks a fight with you, ignore her and stick to Judy." She nodded so I moved on. "Dormouse, please look after Snowy. Also, make sure the princess doesn't pick a fight either."

"I won't," my other girlfriend objected before my dear assistant could get a word in.

"Of course you won't, since Judy's going to be looking after you."

Despite using my most diplomatic tone, Elly was getting dangerously close to a full-blown pout, so I quickly stepped up to her and planted a quick peck onto her forehead. It immediately erased the thunderclouds forming over her head, and once I was sure she was under control, I did the same to Judy, because fairness was important.

"Awwww... You guys are so cute so early in the morning!" Angie, still sounding as mischievous as ever, commented in a voice one would use to talk to a baby. "I'm kinda jealous."

"Jealous or not, you're not getting a kiss from me," I teased her back, and her face immediately scrunched up like she just smelled something nasty.

"Ew! Gross! I don't want a kiss from you!"

"Then from whom do you want it?" Judy cut in before I could ask more or less the same question, and for the first time today, the energetic Celestial's smile faltered.

"I-It's not like I have anyone in mind! That wasn't what I meant at all!" It was at this point that our eyes met again. Honestly speaking, I thought I had a laidback smile on my face, yet based on the rate Angie's face paled the moment we made eye contact, I might've been wrong. If I had to guess, she most likely thought I was going to tease her more, or question her, or even just point out that Josh was suspiciously silent in the back, so she quickly fished her phone out from her bag and exclaimed, "Oh, look at the time! Leo's right, we should get going or we're going to be late! Come on guys, don't tarry!"

Angie didn't even give the others an opportunity to object; she turned on her heels and began marching away from my front porch without any further ado, and she even grabbed hold of Snowy with one hand and pulled my unsuspecting sister along. Since they were going, Josh also followed suit, and since I didn't want my girlfriends to lag behind, I quickly doled out the standard morning kisses and cuddles before bidding them goodbye.

Closing the door, I let out a pent-up breath and walked into the lonely living room. I already ate breakfast and made my preparations, so the only remaining agenda for the morning was the deal with the Celestial operative. A short Far Glance told me he was already on his way, and after observing him for a while, I concluded that I had more than enough time to brew a cup of tea while I waited. I was getting a little chilled by standing in the doorway while only wearing a shirt and sweatpants, so I was craving a warm drink anyway.

On my way to the kitchen, I cranked up the thermostat a little and went through the background story of Bel one more time in my head. Together with the girls, we came up with a couple of variations, so I had to make sure I was one hundred percent clear on the details we all agreed upon. It was one of the more straightforward ideas, but Judy repeatedly insisted that I shouldn't make it more complicated than necessary, so I already made my peace with it. It's not like I could change my mind at this point; we've already laid out quite a bit of groundwork in preparation after all. Well, okay, I could technically still tweak some small parts, and she'd never even know. Just some inconsequential bits. Nothing big, I swear.

Anyhow, my tea was ready, the room was balmy, and I had no choice but to wait a little longer, so after sitting down I quickly slipped into the usual routine. Once I was comfortable, I took a sip from my mug and closed my eyes. First things first, I had to check the usual suspects. The gang was still on their way to school. Angie was still energetic and Josh was still a little awkward, and my drama-senses told me there was definitely something going on with those two, so I made a mental note to keep an eye on them. Aside from that, there was nothing interesting going on there, so I moved on to my next targets.

Fred was… still sleeping. Another mental note: don't forget to threaten the guy to cut his funding if he doesn't keep up his schedule. On the other hand, Galatea was already up and running. I mean, literally. She was currently jogging in circles around the perimeter of the main hall in the company of the Fauns. Did androids even need morning exercise? Also, I didn't remember ever getting her a neon-bright skin-tight exercise outfit right out of the 80s, but she was wearing one, so… Third mental note: pay more attention to the requisition forms coming from Fred and don't just leave it up to Rinne and Ichiko to buy the household necessities.

Speaking of which, Mountain Girl was already in the faculty office at school, while Ichiko was floating in a void between spaces that looked kind of like a monochrome kaleidoscope. It was how I perceived the 'shadow dimension' or what have you where she was currently hiding, and the first time I saw it, it gave me straight-up vertigo. By this point I was already somewhat used to it, but that didn't mean it was particularly pleasant to look at, so I moved on.

Nothing on the Dracis couple, the aloof chambermaid was in the mansion kitchen, the old butler was… doing morning calisthenics. Huh. Now I've seen everything.

Next, the 'baddies.' First, Crowey. To my infinite satisfaction, the man had huge bags under his eyes thanks to a certain recent incident that I may or may not have been involved with. It comprised of breaking into the most closely guarded sanctum of the Inanna house, a bunch of missing contracts and artifacts, and someone writing a message onto the floor using ketchup. It's what I had on hand at the moment, please don't judge. Anyways, more on that later.

I checked on Lord Grandpa after that, and he was… huh? Well, I'll be damned. He was in the process of instructing a couple of subordinates to remove his liqueur cabinet from his office. Maybe he was planning to practice abstinence for a while? Good for him.

There wasn't much to see though, so I glanced at the knights next. Miss Unicorn was already at school and studying at her desk, even though she had no reason to do so. I mean, according to the Knights' original dastardly designs, she would only be staying on the island for maybe a month longer, so it wasn't like she needed to worry about grades at all. Yet, there she was, rote memorizing physics terminology. She was so single-mindedly diligent about the silliest of things, but I guess that's what made her cute.

"… Huh. Where did that come from?" I muttered as I took a second look. Cute? Her? I suppose being my alleged sister was starting to skew my perception of her. I quickly chased all such silly thoughts out of my mind by reminding myself that Snowy was ten times cuter than her. Well, closer to nine. Eight-and-a-half at worst.

I quickly moved on before I would start questioning my metrics for cuteness, this time focusing on my other Knight mark, and I found Sir Eagle and his merry band on renaissance-fair cosplayers holed up in their backup base, which was a warehouse in the outskirts of the city. I hoped I could catch them red-handed discussing some nefarious plans, but to my immense disappointment, they were just chilling around a table and playing cards. Sir Griffon was winning, by the way. Not that it mattered, as I quickly got bored of watching them and moved on to the last person on my list, and just in time to catch him entering my neighborhood in a familiar cab.

That was my cue to get ready, so I quickly drank the last of my (by this point lukewarm) tea, sent a pre-written message on my phone, and straightened my clothes as I made my way over to the entrance. A minute or so later I could already hear a car stopping in front of my house, and not long after it was followed up by a series of hard footsteps. That meant there were no issues with the wards this time around. When the doorbell rang, I almost automatically opened the door but held myself back. I didn't want to appear too eager, so I waited until the man on the other side pressed the button again before I reached for the doorknob.

"Good morning," the gaunt man on the other side greeted me in his usual, phlegmatic tone, and I forced a pleasantly surprised expression onto my face in return.

"Oh, good morning. I didn't expect you would be here so early."

Saying so, I stepped aside and gestured for Jaacobah to come in.

"Time is short, so let's get down to business."

With that, he entered without any reservations and I closed the door behind him. On closer look, he was dressed in a different suit than the one he wore the last time, coupled with a different, wide-brimmed hat, but the overcoat was the same. Furthermore, he now had a familiar suitcase in his right hand, which I presumed was where he kept the catalyst. So far, so good.

Following my lead, we entered the living room and he immediately put the suitcase onto the table before I could even offer him a seat. He didn't even bother to take off his shoes or his coat, which was a little rude, but nothing I couldn't put up with considering the situation. The way he wordlessly gestured for me to sit down like he owned the place was a little harder to swallow, but I did so anyway and took a seat on my usual chair.

In the meantime, he opened his case and took out a wooden box. It was small enough to snugly fit into his palm and had a simple latch on its side that he undid at once. Raising the lid revealed a pair of brightly glowing coins vertically embedded into black packaging foam. No, on closer look, they were too thin to be coins, and they had something that looked like a piece of leather on one side, so… finger cymbals? Seriously?

My guess was proven right practically immediately when the Celestial healer stuck his fingers through the leather strips and made a clear, high-pitched sound by snapping them together. The process also resulted in a wave of magical light spreading out in the room that made my skin tingle, and the man in front of me was apparently satisfied with… whatever that just did as he turned to me.

"I have to calibrate the catalyst. Please don't move."

"Can I talk?" I asked back, and he nodded right away.

"I expect you to. If my memory serves me right, you agreed upon the condition to share everything you know about this 'Bel of the Abyss' I encountered yesterday."

"I don't remember saying 'everything I know', but to be fair, I don't know much about him either," I told him a touch flatly, but he remained unflappable as ever, and he simply snapped his fingers with the magical cymbals again, resulting in another wave of magical light that stung my eyes.

"Calibrations will only take a few minutes. Stay still and speak."

I really didn't like his tone, and I was just about to voice my opinion when my phone let out a series of jingles. The timing couldn't be more perfect if I tried, so I quickly hit the iron while it was hot and took it out of my pants pocket, and after a purposefully long beat, I adopted an exasperated grimace.

"Before anything else, did you give him my phone number when the two of you met yesterday?"

The unexpected question made the Celestial pause and even his brows rose a little.

"No, I haven't."

"Really? Then where the hell did he get it?" I griped in a low whisper just loud enough for him to hear me. I pretended that I just noticed the interest on his face, and another beat later I reluctantly showed him the screen. "He's been sending me text messages since last night."

I waited for the operative to read the messages on the screen. They were, naturally, written by Judy using Snowy's old phone. Or rather, her old SIM card in a cheap backup phone I bought after my last meeting with this guy. I didn't expect I would put it to use so soon, but it came really handy.

While the Celestial was reading, there were two more incoming messages, announced by the phone vibrating in my hand, and I took the opportunity to take a look myself.

"'These mortal toys are so amusing, lololol. Tell me who invented them so I can make him my subordinate, lol.' 'Why aren't you answering? Are you shy, lol?'" I read the texts out loud as flatly as possible and capped the performance with a tired groan. "He said he got the idea to try 'mortal technology' from a guy named… give me a second…" I pretended to scroll up quite a bit and after I 'found' what I was looking for, I let out a thoughtful hum and asked, "Bob. Doesn't sound like an Abyssal name. Does it ring any bells?"

"I've no idea."

I had to give credit to the guy, he was maintaining his poker face remarkably well, but even then, the small twitch at the corner of his left eye didn't escape my notice. Meanwhile, my phone buzzed again, so I told the man, "Give me a second. I have to write something. The last thing we need right now is for him to show up to see why I'm not answering."

"You do that."

Since we were in agreement, I proceeded to sneakily tell Judy that she didn't need to write any more messages before putting my phone aside and saying, "I muted it. Sorry for the interruption. Please proceed."

"I will." Dry and professional as ever, the Celestial operative gave me a solemn nod, and then immediately ruined his own image by using his magical finger cymbals again. Sorry, I just couldn't get over that. I knew that Celestial magic was focused on harmonics and music, but why tiny little cymbals of all things? It was a question I never got the chance to ask as the stern man in front of me spoke up again. "Let's return to the initial question: what can you tell me about Bel of the Abyss?"

"Not much," I responded with a shrug. "He showed up on the island one day. I don't know where he came from or his affiliations, but I think calling himself 'of the Abyss' is quite telling. He wanted to make a deal with me and offered intelligence on the Knights in return."

"What exactly did he ask for?"

"Nothing major. The current state of the island, notable people, recent events, those kinds of things."

"Why did he look for you?"

"I guess because he needed a reputable information broker not affiliated with anyone." I tried to sound humble, and since the guy remained somber, I pretended to sigh in resignation and reluctantly added, "It was probably because of the whole Chimera Slayer thing and the incident at the local School. I presume you already know the story, and as far as I can tell, Bel wasn't on friendly terms with the Lord of House Inanna, so maybe he looked for me because we share an opinion on the guy. Oh, also, I don't know if that counts, but I apparently passed some kind of test on our first meeting."

"Test?"

"Yeah. During our first meeting, he moved behind me and broke my neck the moment I looked him in the eye."

"Broke your neck," he repeated after me, and I nodded in the affirmative. "If you're not joking, then how come we are talking right now?"

"Oh, that's because I wasn't in the room at the time," I told him a touch flippantly, and purposefully waited for the confusion to set in before I clarified, "I dabble in illusions a little, and made some precautionary measures before I met with an unknown client."

"So I've heard," the Celestial stated dryly, and I nodded along. Of course he did. I don't exactly know where or how it got out, but Lord Grandpa's misunderstanding… or was it Labcoat Guy's first? Either way, it got into the ears of the Celestial Intelligence Network and was already added to my profile in the Hub's database, so there was no harm in playing into the misinformation. In the meantime, I could almost see the gears turning behind the agent's eyes, so I decided to leave it to him to draw whatever conclusions he wanted and continued my previous description of the events that really, one hundred percent certainly happened. Scout's honor.

"Apparently not dying after getting killed constituted as passing a test, and he's been considerably more civil since then. Or at least he hasn't tried the same trick again."

"He seems to hold you in high regard."

"Does he? Personally, I'd prefer if he forgot about me."

"I can understand the sentiment. Do you know why he's on the island?"

"Something about a heist of some kind. I don't know anything about the details and don't really want to get involved, to be honest."

"Heist," Jaacobah echoed the word, accentuated by another cymbal snap. At this point I was starting to feel that he was doing it on purpose. "Is he related to the recent break-in in the local Magi headquarters?"

"Nah, that was me." That strategically placed stray comment earned me another curiously raised brow that broke his stoic façade, so I rewarded him with some technical truths. "It's a long story involving a Research Society member, brightly colored robots, and a grievous lack of security. It's already resolved though, and the Arch-mage and I both agreed to pretend it never happened and stay out of each other's way. I'd tell you more, but it's not strictly related to Bel of the Abyss, so you have to buy the intel like everyone else." I waited for a beat here to let that sink in, and right after that I stretched my lips into a friendly smile. "At a discount, of course. As a fellow sufferer of Bel, that's the least I could do."

"I appreciate the sentiment. I'm going to inform my superiors of the opportunity." He said that, but I already knew they were aware of my involvement in that kerfuffle as well. Telling him about it here didn't give him anything new to work with, but it certainly made the rest of my claims more believable. More importantly, I made my smile even more amicable to signal my agreement, and another cymbal-strike later the Celestial healer's brows slowly descended into a small frown. "The calibrations are done, but I still have a few questions. Do you mind if I ask them?"

"So long as you make it short. I really want to have a working right hand, you see."

My guest acknowledged my comment with a solemn nod.

"In that case, I'll limit my inquiries to two items. First, do you have any information on his abilities? I'm particularly interested in the way he disappeared and reappeared at will."

Once again, I deliberately remained silent for several seconds even going as far as to lean forward and adopt a troubled expression as I pretended to think long and deep about the question. Deeming the scarred man sufficiently primed, I looked him in the eye and took a dramatic breath.

"Take this with a pinch of salt, but I think he can manipulate time."

"Time?" he repeated after me with overflowing skepticism.

"Yes, at least I think so. One thing I'm sure of is that he's not using illusions to mask his position. I'd notice, you see. He can't be teleporting either; I had an expert look into it, but there were no spatial distortions left in the room. No mana traces either. However, he did physically move from one place to another. I think he does so by stopping time."

"It's… an unexpected conjecture."

"Maybe, but to be fair, Lords of the Abyss are known to have some really outlandish abilities," I noted as I linked my fingers as best as I could in my lap. "Oh, don't give me that look! Who else could casually ignore the laws of magic other than an Abyssal Lord?"

"There is no Lord called 'Bel' at the moment," the Celestial stated a tad dryly, and I responded with a shrug.

"I know that, but that's my best guess. Maybe he was hiding, or exiled, or sealed away, or something. I mean, when we first met, he wasn't only looking for intel, but mundane information as well. Geopolitics, technology, cultural norms, recent history… he even went as far as to steal my history textbook! As far as I can tell, he could be the long-forgotten twin brother of the Abyssal Emperor lost in a time-warp or something, but being a secret Lord of the Abyss coming outside for the first time makes more sense."

"When you put it like that, it certainly does," Jacobaah agreed with me, if only tentatively, and with that, I considered my job of sowing the seeds of this particular deception more or less complete. I let the man ponder for a while, after which he said, "It's certainly a possibility worth considering. Let me ask just one last question: you mentioned a heist of some kind. Do you have any idea what he meant by that?"

"Not really, but…" Yet again, I paused here and made a show of thinking really hard about the question. I thought my guest would be annoyed by this, but he was still mostly stoic, and even a little expectant. At last, I exhaled hard and told him, "Listen, take this with a chunk of salt. As in, the kind of chunk that people strap the sides of donkeys in the salt mines. So, correct me if I'm wrong, but there's nothing particularly valuable on this island that would warrant a 'heist', let alone something that would make a presumed Lord of the Abyss move."

Of course, there was always the Grimoire Key, or the Dragon Slaying Spear, just to name two items, but as far as the Celestials were concerned, neither of those things was on their radar. For the former, while the information network knew that each of the keys was in the custody of senior Arch-mages, they couldn't infiltrate deep enough into the hierarchy of the Magi to learn who those seniors were, while the latter was destroyed ages ago as far as they knew. As such, Jaacobah soon nodded along, as expected.

"So, here's my theory: I already mentioned this, but Bel really seems to hate the Abyssal Houses in general and the Inannas in particular, and he showed up on the island right after their power base was cracked by a botched incursion into the local Magi headquarters. Are you following me so far?" Jaacobah nodded again, so I pretended to collect my thoughts for a while and told him, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Abyss is right under this island. Metaphysically speaking, of course. Considering that, I can't help but think that maybe Bel came here to capitalize on the chaos caused by the incident at the School to try and steal something from the Abyss."

"And what would that be?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea," I 'admitted' with a self-deprecating smile. "Considering it's a 'heist', it implies it's something closely guarded, but I don't know anything more than that, and I wasn't suicidal enough to probe Bel about it, so I'm just theorizing based on the snippets he dropped during the few times we conversed. I just tried to connect the dots as best as I could. There's a reason why I wasn't asking for compensation in return."

"Which I once again appreciate," the agent stated, his voice drier than the winds of the Sahara, and he stepped right next to me. "I have many lesser questions, but you've upheld your end of the bargain, so I believe it's time I did so as well."

Even while he was speaking, the man's appearance slowly began to change. Over his head, I could make out the outlines of a semi-transparent halo with either 'spokes', while on his back he unfurled a pair of similarly translucent wings. Moreover, it was followed by the appearance of another pair of wings, and he spread all four of them. They were completely immaterial, and they clipped into the furniture, but it did little to diminish his unexpectedly majestic appearance.

"You might feel numb for a while. It is a completely natural reaction and part of the process of reconstructing your Astral Body. Please don't be alarmed."

I nodded, but to be perfectly honest, I was still a little guarded, so I already had Brang primed for a quick Phasing target in case the guy did something suspicious. Speaking of him, Jaacobah grabbed hold of my injured arm with his free hand and used his tiny cymbals one more time. Compared to before, the sound itself was much quieter, yet at the same time my whole body felt like it was resonating along with the waves it was sending out. That was slightly alarming, but not enough to make me call the whole thing off.

Since I remained unfazed, the Celestial healer began to work in earnest by letting out a deep, guttural hum, followed by the rhythmic beating of his 'catalyst'. I'm not going to lie, the combination of the two reminded me of a clip of a tribal exorcism I saw on the net, which wasn't exactly promising, but I gave the benefit of the doubt for now and remained still.

The beat of the cymbals was about to build up to a crescendo, and the man's humming rose in volume as well, and I was silently anticipating some kind of climax, when…

"Are you perchance affiliated with the Oathbreakers?"

The question came out of the blue, interrupting the beat and turning my brain blank for a moment. I had no idea where that came from, but since the agent looked a little perplexed, I told him, "I used to be. Why?"

"I'm detecting some scars on your Astral Body," he told me matter of factly, and after a long beat, I attempted to shrug it off without moving too much.

"Just ignore them. It's another long story that doesn't come free."

"I understand." Saying so, the clear sound of the catalyst filled the room again, but instead of resuming his humming, Jaacobah whispered, "Your astral body is very strange. It's as if there's…"

All of a sudden, the man's eyes opened wide, a reaction that sent seven different kinds of chills down my spine. This was pretty much the supernatural equivalent of a brain surgeon asking 'Wait, is that supposed to be there?' in the middle of an operation, and I doubted it meant anything good.

"It's as if there's what?" I prompted him, but he remained silent for several torturously long seconds, ultimately culminating in an ambivalent grunt.

"It's just slightly unusual. There's nothing for you to worry about."

That didn't make me worry any less, but I lost my chance to ask anything else once he began humming again. He didn't start from the beginning either, but right where he left off, and in a matter of seconds, we reached some kind of crescendo. Then, with one last strike, the tiny cymbals let out one last, impossibly clear sound, followed by a blinding light that made me involuntarily close my eyes. By the time I forced them open again, the Celestial already let go of my hand and took a step back.

His breathing was audibly heavier than when we started, and based on the beads of sweat covering his face, this might have taken more out of him than I expected. More surprisingly, the cymbals were nowhere to be seen, leaving only a pair of loose leather straps on his fingers. Does this mean they were single-use items? Who would've thought?

"Are we done?" I inquired, and this time I didn't have to pretend to be nervous. The man still in the process of catching his breath gave me a curt nod, so I raised my injured hands and wiggled my fingers a little. "Oh? It was rather effective."

I balled my hand into a fist, then opened it as wide as I could, and I even interlinked my fingers with my other hand's and forcefully stretched them until they made some oddly satisfying popping noises. Maybe because I subconsciously got used to the weakness and lack of sense, but my right hand almost felt too vivid and sensitive to my brain. I was about to thank my healer for services rendered, as courtesy dictates, only to realize that I focused so much on my newly renewed extremity that I didn't even register that he already packed up his suitcase and was raring to go.

"With this, my contract is complete. Please don't get up, I'll let myself out. It may take a few minutes for your senses to readjust, so I recommend staying still for the time being. Rest as much as possibly, take plenty of fluids, and don't overexert your hand for the next couple of days. Now, if you excuse me, I have to go. I don't want to miss the extraction window."

"Well, okay then. Take care of yourself."

Jaacobah gave me an unusually deep nod that almost felt like a shallow bow and, without any further ado, turned on his heels and left the house, leaving me all alone. That guy really moved at his own pace, didn't he? More importantly, what was this nagging feeling about potentially tripping an annoying flag just now?

"One thing at a time," I whispered as I stood up and looked at my newly repaired hand. "First, let's go and see if you're playing nice with my armor now…"

The sword in my hands felt weightless and yet simultaneously heavy as a mountain as I slowly raised it over my head. My hands tensed, and the breath trapped in my chest burned like a bonfire. It only lasted for an instant, and then I stepped forth and swung Cal. It was a simple, diagonal overhead strike, and the motion felt very familiar, as if I've already repeated it countless times. In a way, I have, just not in the real world.

More importantly, the pent-up heat scattered through my whole body all at once. It was like a stream of warm water that spread out inside me like a rushing river through a broken dam. The process was so quick it was hard to quantify, or even tell the direction of the flow. Nevertheless, its effects were abundantly visible, as Cal's blade hummed with power and cut through the air with a roar. It sounded, for the lack of better descriptive terms, powerful. It was the simplest of practice swings, yet it had all the weight of the mana I could safely muster at the moment, and it wasn't an idle boast to say that it could divide a man with a single stroke, cutting muscle, sinew, and bone as easily as soft tofu.

That wasn't just my conjecture either. I've already tested it with Brang, though obviously only in the context of a Domination fight. It wasn't pretty, but then again, it wasn't like the old Faun was especially gentle with my specters during practice, so I didn't feel too bad about bisecting one of his copies. Either way, the raw power behind my sword stroke was undeniable, though a part of me couldn't help but wonder where such strength came from. Did the mana temporarily increase the weight and density of the blade? Or was it some kind of power field that encased the edge and multiplied it cutting power? Or was it something else entirely? These questions always reared their ugly heads whenever I swung the sword, but I wasn't any closer to solving them even now.

Meanwhile the blade came to a stop while pointing at the ground, and it was accompanied by an inexplicable yet certainly cinematic gust of wind that spread out around me as its epicenter. As I've learned, this was a small and entirely useless side-effect of leveraging the mana provided by the armor. I couldn't do anything about, but on the bright side, it certainly gave a satisfying 'oompf' to the move that gave me a bit of a rush.

"Showoff."

The feeling lasted exactly until a certain friend of mine let out a sudden, yet by no means unexpected, remark. I took a deep breath and exhaled it to expel the excess mana from my system and relaxed my posture before glancing over at Josh. The guy was sitting on one of the bar-stools near the minibar of the secret base, with a cold can of coke in his hand. He wasn't alone either, as three Fauns, including the general, Fred, and Galatea were all clustered around him and watching me go through the motions.

He came over after-school as planned, and a brief (and not entirely all-inclusive) description of the events later we moved to the secret base to discuss the nitty-gritty details of my upcoming duel with Miss Unicorn. To my surprise, he agreed to become my witness more or less on the spot, and call me crazy, but he almost looked like he was craving the opportunity for some action. Whether it was because of his pent up frustration after his loss at Sahi's hands (no pun intended) or just the first inklings of a hot-blooded trait slowly coming to the forefront, it helped the plans we conspicuously didn't talk about proceed even smoother, so I didn't mind.

"Kihihi. Seeing the performance of a complete set of authentic External Mana Injection Equipment firsthand is something I never expected to experience," Labcoat Guy commented with a delighted grin on his face. "Or rather, not in a controlled scenario where we can gather precious, delicious data! I've got goosebumps all over!"

"Careful, master. You're drooling."

"No, I'm not!" Fred snapped at the androidess before wiping his mouth with the hem of his white coat anyway.

"It only looked impressive, I'm afraid. I still couldn't bring out the full potential of the gear," I told the peanut gallery while using my feet to scrape at the conical spot on the concrete in front of me. Even though the sword didn't touch it, I somehow still left a mark on the floor. It wasn't exactly a gash, but more like the top layer was scraped off with sandpaper. It probably wasn't caused by wind pressure, but figuring out the exact mechanism behind it was so far down my priority list I forgot about it right away the moment Cal spoke up in my mind.

"{Don't put yourself down, young knight! The fact that you could utilize nearly two-thirds of my power in your current condition is already laudable!}

Even though Cal definitely meant that as encouragement, I couldn't help but let out a dejected groan in response anyway. Sure, 'nearly' two-thirds. In more realistic terms, that was probably closer to sixty percent. Before I donned my full armor for the first time in the morning, right after the Celestial agent left, I naively thought that with my hand fixed, I no longer had to worry about the duel. Reality, as usual, found a way to disappoint me.

For a start, now that I could properly wear my armor, Cal could 'plug into' its magical operating system or whatever, and after running a few diagnostics, we discovered a startling (and in retrospect quite obvious) problem: I had three broken Oaths. One was the Oath of Fealty that was broken for everyone by default, but the other two were still an issue, and they hampered the efficiency of the entire set. That was already bad, but then on top of that, while my injured hand was technically fixed, it soon became apparent that it wasn't fully healed yet.

The best way I could explain it is that it was like a dislocated shoulder that was popped back into place. Sure, it was no longer disjointed, but it still suffered trauma that needed time to recover from, and so one couldn't just start bench pressing with it right away. Now, that didn't mean I couldn't use my hand until it was fully healed, but it took the entire morning to figure out the safe limit of 'weight' (read: mana) I could work with at the moment, and even that was only possible due to the help of Dominance. Speaking of which, I spent the morning training with Brang and company, and I had to once again conclude that taking the Fauns in was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Without free and unlimited access to Dominance, I reckon I would've crippled my hand again before I even managed to get used to the Knight gear and the mana it provided.

Ah, right. Mana. I keep talking about it, but to be perfectly honest, I still didn't exactly know what it was. If anything, the only thing I gained after using it all morning was a 'feel' for it. Beforehand, I only understood it as a kind of fuel for enchantments, and Fred still couldn't give me a proper explanation for where it came from or how it functioned, but now I had a more intuitive sense for it. First off, taking it in through the armor felt kind of like drinking a hot cup of tea after getting chilled to the bone; even after I emptied the cup, I could feel the warmth in the pit of my stomach, and it slowly spread through my inside. However, that was as far as the similarities went. It wasn't a tangible material, like a liquid, nor was it really moving around, like some kind of nebulous chi flowing inside some nebulous channels; it was closer to something like an electric current coursing through a conductor.

In fact, that was a fairly good analogy. When it came to an electric current, the number of electrons that were moving through the wire was the amperage, while the amount of 'pressure' pushing those electrons to move was the voltage. The Knight gear worked by taking a relatively small amount of mana and cycling it around the whole body. In a sense, it was like an electric current using high voltage to get the same amount of work out of less amperage. However, for this to work, the 'circuit' had to be complete, otherwise it would result in damage to the whole 'circuitry'.

It was also because of this that my hand was still an issue. While it no longer acted as a short in the circuit, it also wasn't letting mana through without any resistance. According to Cal, this resistance would disappear over time on its own, and the process could be sped up even further now that the Celestial healer took care of the heavy lifting, but it would still take at least a week for a full, one hundred percent recovery. Considering that the duel was only two days away, that was still less than ideal, so I was stuck with 'less than two-thirds of maximum output' to work with for the time being.

Oh, and let's not forget that this number only applied while I was wielding Cal. When I was using the sword that came with the armor set, my 'magical wattage' was reduced even further. To be fair, even with all of these handicaps, the power boost I received was quite significant, but it was nowhere near what a 'proper' knight could wield. It was a good thing I wasn't relying entirely on my own fighting prowess during the upcoming duel, or I'd be in deep shit right now. As things stand, it was only knee-high at worst.

"That was about as much power as I can safely put into one strike," I said as I walked over to the onlookers. "Sustained performance is lower, but so far it looks like I can maintain it near-indefinitely,"

"What about the ramping?" Fred inquired with unusual zeal, and he even got a clipboard out to take notes. When I didn't answer right away, he tapped his pencil against the board and clarified, "According to the reports provided by your assistant, based on testimonies and records from the Dracis family, the Knights of the Brotherhood can temporarily increase their peak performance."

"That's something I can't do yet," I told him while I took my helmet off. "Last time I tried it, my hand exploded. Not literally, of course, but I think you get the idea."

"Last time...? Oh, right! During that 'Domination' thing you were talking about!"

"Master, it's Dominance."

"That's what I said," Labcoat Guy retorted before facing me again. "One of these days, you really have to let me take a look at you while you're doing it. The ability to fully simulate your body, including the mana-injection mechanism, sounds absolutely fascinating!"

"Maybe later," I told him a tad morosely and raised my hand to the nape of my neck. Right there, just under where my skull connected to my spine, there was a small, bumpy patch attached to my skin. I carefully got a fingernail under it and peeled it off, and then handed it over to the excited alleged scientist. He received it with eager eyes and another 'Kihihi'. It was annoying, but I was getting used to it, so I calmly told him, "How about we get back to this topic once the whole duel-business was behind us?"

Fred was a little reluctant to agree, but it didn't matter, as he was beaten to the punch by Josh before he even had a chance to respond to me.

"Right, that Arbitration thing. I was under the impression we came here to discuss that."

"Yep, we did. Also, to make some last-minute preparations."

"Can we start with talking about what exactly I was supposed to be doing? As a witness, I mean?"

Josh sounded a little skeptical, but I could understand his concerns.

"Mostly just watch out for foul play," I told him while circling my shoulders.

"And what constitutes foul play?"

"Outside interference, traps, and the other witness getting involved, mostly." I paused to see if Cal wanted to add anything, but they remained silent, so I capped my answer with a shrug.

"Soooo... Why exactly did I have to come here right away?"

"To train, of course. Speaking of which..." The meaningful pause didn't escape the Fauns' notice, and they immediately jumped to their feet and began busying themselves by cleaning up the training grounds, as per my instructions in the morning. Galatea also stood up and headed to the armory area. That left only Josh and Labcoat Guy, so I pointedly cleared my throat to get the latter's attention.

"Oh, right. I should prepare the undersuit, shouldn't I?"

"I still need to familiarize myself with it, so yes, I'd like it if you finished it ASAP."

"Kihihi! Got it, boss! I'll get it prepped right away!"

"What undersuit?"

"Just a side-project," I told Josh as we watched the resident mad scientist leave post-haste. "I'm trying to squeeze out every drop of advantage I can from my resources before the battle."

My friend let out a quiet grunt that I figured was a form of acknowledgment, and then fell silent with a vacant look on his face. I waited for a while to see if he had a more eloquent response in the waiting, but when he remained silent, I couldn't help but poke him a little.

"Are you having second thoughts about this, or is there something else bothering you?"

"Huh? What?" He blinked in surprise, but once the question finally fully registered with him, he hastily shook his head. "Nah, man. I'm with you on this one. I owe you one… or a few, so it would make me a colossal asshat if I refused to help."

"Then what's the problem? You're spacing out an awful lot today."

"There's no problem, just..." He faltered, but after glancing around and making sure that nobody was paying attention to us, he gestured for me to come closer. "Listen, Leo. Do you remember that thing we talked about the other day? About Angie and Lili and everything?"

"Yes, I do. Did something happen?"

"Kinda. I... I think I messed up."

The way my brows rose in doubt was something that Josh obviously didn't appreciate, so I hastily explained myself.

"You weren't in a cold war with Angie this morning, so I don't think you messed up 'that' badly."

"No, you don't get it," Josh hissed in a whisper and waved for me to come even closer. "Listen, after that time, I tried to carefully probe her a little. Just to see if there was any basis to what you said, you see?"

"So?"

"So I asked her if she had anyone she liked."

"... Dude, that's not careful at all."

"Hey, I know Angie. If I was any subtler than that, she would've realized that I was trying to probe her, so I had to make it look like I was oblivious to how my question sounded. I thought this through, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I get it. So, where did things go south?"

"It was after she told me she had someone she likes, but when I tried to ask who it was, she asked back if I liked anyone, so I had to answer her so that she wouldn't get suspicious, and then she kept asking about what kind of girl I liked, but then when I told her I'd prefer someone I had lots of common things to talk about, she joked about how that almost sounded like her but couldn't be her because I don't consider her a girl, so I panicked and told her that I did consider her one, and then she started teasing me, and I was too surprised to brush her off, and now she thinks I have a crush on her."

"... Okay Josh. Before anything else, breathe." Since I refused to say anything else until he calmed down a little, my friend took several forceful breaths. Once his face was no longer on the verge of going purple, I let out a measured breath on my own and told him, "So in short, you became conscious of Angie because of what I said, and now she also knows about this. Where's the problem?"

"The problem is that she knows!" Josh hissed in the company of a deep, troubled frown. "If she thinks I like her, it's going to make talking with her super-awkward."

"Do you actually like her now?" I asked the pivotal question, and the guy fell silent for quite a while before he managed to formulate an answer.

"I... I don't know, man. That's the problem. I can't just stuff the cat back into the bag now and pretend that we're still just friends, but I can't just move forward either just to avoid things staying awkward..."

"Well, if you want my advice, I'd say that's a bridge that you have to cross yourself, and the sooner you do it, the better."

"I know, just... Can't you at least give me some advice on how to actually do that? I mean, come on, man! You're the one with experience in these things!"

"Not really. Last time I tried to turn a girl down, she ended up becoming my girlfriend, so you probably shouldn't listen to me. As you said, you know Angie better than I do, and I can't tell your feelings apart for you. You just have to figure this out on your own."

"Well, thanks for nothing," Josh grumbled, and since Galatea's been standing around and waiting for us to finish for a while now, I roughly patted his shoulder with a cheeky 'You're welcome!' before taking a step back and gesturing for the androidess to come closer.

When she did, Josh's brows immediately rose in surprise. I couldn't blame him; at the moment she was wearing a homemade (by magical injection molding, no less) plastic armor strapped over her casual clothes, and in her hands she had two training swords. One was a long sword, while the other was a cavalry saber, and they were both made of wood and inscribed with some very simple enchantment arrays.

"Preparations are complete," she stated, and Josh looked downright nervous for a moment.

"Preparations for what?"

He sounded a touch meek at the moment, but it didn't bother Galatea one bit, as she matter-of-factly told him, "I've recorded and integrated grandmaster Leonard's techniques. Using my replication subroutines, I can now reproduce his movements with 98.76% accuracy."

"… Grandmaster?"

"I'm the boss of her 'master', so she calls me that. Don't mind her; the moment you start reacting to her is the first step on the road of becoming Fred."

"Oooookay." Despite saying so, Josh still looked more than a little baffled. "And what was that thing about replicating your moves?"

"Oh, those aren't mine," I told him with a reassuring smile. "I've been spying on the Knight girl and her sparring partner. I tried my best to copy the way they used their swords so that Galatea could record them. They're two generations removed from the originals, but experiencing them should still be helpful in case things break down during the Arbitration and you'd have to intervene."

"Wait, hold on! You want me to fight her while she's mimicking you who are mimicking someone else?"

"Yep, that's what I just said."

"That… sounds incredibly overcomplicated to me."

"No, it's only a little overcomplicated. Now then, let's not waste any more time. Off you go."

"Hey, you can't just—"

Josh's protests came to an abrupt end when he, along with the eager androidess, suddenly disappeared with a loud thud. The source of the noise was Brang, who was waiting for my signal on the side and sent the two of them into a pre-set Purple Zone the moment I gave him the signal. Once they were gone, I faced the old Faun and gave him a thankful little nod.

"[I thank you for your cooperation, general.]"

"[You are most welcome, Blackcloak,]" he answered with a mischievous smile that was soon replaced by a thoughtful frown. "[I trust thine judgement, but are you most certain that this course of action was warranted?]"

"[Certainly. My companion requires martial guidance, and the manmade woman of metal and wire also requested an opportunity to exercise her physical frame. Acting thus resulted in eviscerating two avians with the use of a single piece of mineral.]" He still didn't look convinced, so I shook my head and put my helmet back on. "[Worry not your head over such minor matters. My companion suffers from troubles of the heart, so enforcing activities of the mortal coil upon him shall help him clear the recesses of his mind.]"

"[If you claim so…]"

"[I do so. Now come, time's a-wasting! We shall start with four specters of the mind, as I wish to implement new procedures and techniques!]"

The old Faun let out an amused snort, potentially at my expense, but I didn't really let it get to me and readied myself for another round of Dominance. Miss Unicorn was confident in her chances to the point she already took her victory for granted. After watching her train, I had to admit that her confidence was well-warranted. However, that didn't mean I would give up. Not that it was an option, to begin with.

But first, I had to get used to utilizing mana, step by step. The first goal: achieving a fifty percent win-rate against Brang without Phasing or hurting my hand in the process! Yeah, I know that didn't sound like a high bar, but then again, I never said those weren't baby steps.

"Hello, Melinda."

"Welcome, future young master."

The braided maid greeted us the moment we entered the foyer of the Dracis mansion, and she held out her hands towards us. Josh looked a little confused behind me, but this wasn't my first rodeo, so I naturally knew that she was asking for our umbrellas. When I handed mine over, he awkwardly followed suit.

"Milady and the rest of the guests are already in the parlor. Let me show the way."

Considering I've been visiting the place every other day, I was more than familiar with the layout of the mansion by this point, but since it was her job, I let her do it and the two of us followed after her. Or rather I did, as Josh was lagging behind.

"Is there a problem?"

"Nah," my friend grunted, and at first I thought he was still sulking about our previous training session, but when I observed him a little longer, I noticed that he looked rather nervous. He probably noticed the curiosity written all over my face, as he cleared his throat and muttered, "I can't get used to this place. I'm always afraid that I accidentally break something worth more than our entire house."

"Don't worry about that. Dad-in-law isn't petty enough that he would make you pay for it. At worst you'd just get dressed down by Sebastian."

"... I honestly can't decide what's worse."

"Ah, stop being such a scaredy-cat. We're already late."

"Yeah, yeah, I know..." Josh grumbled, yet followed after me with careful steps.

The weather was still crap, so even though it wasn't that late by the time we finished training in the secret base, it was already dark outside. Combine that with the sound of the rain and the old-fashioned lighting fixtures illuminating the walls, and the mansion's corridors gained a haunting, borderline creepy atmosphere. I can't say it bothered me too much, but it probably didn't help Josh's already high-strung nerves.

That said, we reached our destination without meeting a single spooky ghost (which I wasn't disappointed about at all), and the chambermaid leading us graciously opened the door leading into a large and very familiar room. When I stepped in, I couldn't help but recall the first time I came here with the girls, and especially their impromptu fashion show as they tried half the princess' dresses with the excuse of preparing for the coming Christmas ball. Actually, now that I thought about it, said ball was just around the corner. Not only that, there was another particular deadline that was coming with it, and while I was no longer as opposed to it as in the past, just thinking about it still made me just a little nervous. It's going to be a memorable day, that's for sure...

Anyhow, I exiled any and all such thoughts from my mind for the moment and headed towards the group of girls gathered around the table near the big brick hearth, the centerpiece of the parlor. On one side, we had the class rep and Elly doing their best to tutor Angie, while the other side had Judy explaining things to Snowy and Sahi. In-between those two groups, there was a mountain of textbooks surrounded by a slightly smaller mountain of opened, half-empty bags of chips and completely empty mugs, plus the occasional can of soda here and there.

All things considered, it would've been a really cozy sight if not for a certain Celestial girl grimacing in agony like she was a demon at the midnight mass.

"Hi, guys. Sorry we're late," Josh greeted our group and hurriedly made his way over to their side, obviously happy to finally leave the atmospheric corridor. Before following after him, I made sure to give an appreciative nod to Melinda. While we weren't getting perfectly along, it was basic courtesy, and she gave me a small yet impeccable curtsy in exchange.

"You're not that late. We only just started geometry," the princess said with a happy little smile, and she unsubtly patted the seat next to her. I sent a glance to Judy, but she was too busy with Snowy to care, so I accepted Elly's offer and took a seat next to her.

"Only geometry!" Angie cried out all of a sudden, and then she dramatically head-butted the table. Well, fine, she technically slowed down the last moment and only lightly put her forehead onto it, but I was fairly sure that was her intent. "We still have literature, algebra, geography, and biology left! Just kill me already!"

"Stop making a scene and pay attention," Ammy chided her and pushed a notebook in front of her. "Calculating the area of a parallelogram is almost guaranteed to be in the test, so you should memorize the formula."

The melodramatic Celestial groaned like she was on the rack, but in the end she obediently took the notes and began reviewing its contents all the same.

"Is she, like, always like that?" the incognito Arch-mage inquired in a fascinated tone, and the class rep nodded without a shred of subtlety.

"Getting her to study has always been a chore," she noted, and Josh promptly agreed with her.

"Once in middle school, she even escaped through the window in the middle of us cramming for an English test."

"Boo! Why do you keep bringing that up? It was ages ago!" Angie protested, but it only earned her a few giggles for her trouble.

"Don't worry. Our windows are warded, so she's not getting away any time soon," my draconic girlfriend teased her, eliciting another, albeit slightly weaker, 'Boo' from the troublesome Celestial. Or, at the very least, I hoped she was only teasing her. With the princess, you could never know.

In the meantime, my other girlfriend and sister reached a good point for a break, and Judy gestured for me to get my attention.

"How's the state of the preparations?"

"Adequate." My short answer was still enough to satisfy her curiosity, though it was expected, considering that I've already given her a status upgrade over the phone. "How's the study group coming along?"

"Also adequate," my dearest assistant told me matter-of-factly before handing me one of her notebooks. "These are the parts we already covered."

"Thanks, Dormouse. You're the best, as always"

"I know."

"Now, wait just a minute!" Sahi suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Did you just call her 'dormouse'?"

"I sure did."

"Like, I don't want to be nosy or anything, but aren't you going out with Eleanor over there?"

"I sure do."

"Then why are you totally flirting with another girl in front of her?" Whatever reaction she was looking for, she apparently didn't expect that everyone would be giving her a combination of amused and pitiful looks, so she quickly shrunk back and uttered a baffled, "What?"

"I'm also dating Judy," I told her, and she absent-mindedly nodded along.

"Ah, that makes sense… No, wait, that, like, doesn't make any sense at all!"

"If anyone isn't making any sense, it's you," I jabbed back, and of all people, it was Ammy who came to her rescue.

"Leo, you really can't fault her for not understanding right away. Also, she's an Arch-mage, so please be civil."

"No, she's not," I pointed out just a touch indignantly. "She's an ex-Arch-mage at best. Big difference."

"What does that have to do with Leo's love life," Josh interjected on the side, and Sahi nodded along.

"Right, that's the important question! Like, how are you going out with two girls at the same time? Isn't that totally cheating? Or is it that 'cuckoldry' thing I've read about on the internet?"

Ah, yes. The good old internet. Corrupting grandmas in teen bodies since 20XX.

"No, it's called polyamory," the princess pointed out, only to pause when Judy shook her head. "Wait, it isn't?"

"It is, but what we have is closer to polyfidelity," Judy explained, and seeing that the princess looked quite confused by the term, she added, "I'll explain it later."

"Please do. I just can't keep up with the terminology…"

"… You guys are totally weird," Sahi commented, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at her.

"Says you, miss legal-loli."

"Oh, I've totally read about that too on the internet!"

"And thus, the internet strikes again," I muttered under my breath, but it didn't escape Judy's notice.

"The Chief is right. It's all the internet's fault. For how much longer must we bear its corrupting influence?"

Now it was my turn to double down, so I added, "Yes! We must overthrow its iron grasp on our culture! Let's form a committee for the eradication of the internet!"

"We must rally our followers on social media and start collecting signatures on petition dot com," Judy tripled down, and so I decided to continue with a horrified gasp.

"But wait! Aren't those all things on the internet? Oh no! The internet has already infiltrated our movement!"

"You're right. Resistance seems to be futile. We have no choice but to submit to our benevolent lolcat overlords."

"Oh no! Not the lolcats! We're doomed!"

I intended to leave it at that, but then out of the blue Elly meekly added, "Oh the humanity?"

"Oh the humanity indeed," Judy concluded with a sneaky thumb up, and with that, the skit reached its expiration date, leaving a moment of silence in its wake.

"… What just happened?" Sahi muttered while glancing between the three of us.

"It's just a thing they do. Hang out with us long enough, and you'll get used to it," Josh noted with a shrug and picked up a textbook. "Can we actually get started with the study group now? At this rate, we'll be here till midnight."

"Maybe not that late, but I don't think we can finish everything before curfew," Ammy noted, and the rest more-or-less agreed.

"Sleepover?" my sister suddenly proposed, but after some thinking, I shook my head.

"Nah, we can just have another session tomorrow."

"I don't think mom and dad would mind if you stayed over though," Elly commented, and as if by clockwork, the Dracis couple entered the room with their usual gusto.

"Of course I wouldn't mind!" Abram declared with an ear-to-ear grin, though I couldn't help but wonder how much he could even hear from the other side of the door. He was dressed in his usual business casual, complete with a fancy bolo-tie (he apparently really liked those). Emese, on the other hand, was wearing an unusually fancy dress and even had her hair done up in a neat bun.

"Good evening, children," mama Dracis greeted us with a demure smile as she scanned the group, only to cock her head to the side and add, "Where's the little one?"

The words barely even left her mouth by the time a tinkling "Heeeere!" rang out, and a small, rotund fox dashed out of under the table, eliciting a small 'Eeep!' from Sahi… which then turned into a big 'Eeep!' when said fox suddenly morphed into a child wearing a red and white ceremonial garment. Note to self: the custom collar with the modified Magiformer enchantment was working as intended. Ask Judy to remind me to pat myself on the back for a job well done.

"W-What is she?!" the brown girl exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to her. Well, except for mom-in-law's, as she was too busy patting Ichiko's head.

"She's just a several hundred years old sword spirit in a Chimera," I told her like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and the incognito Arch-mage looked at me like I was a madman.

"Like, a 'Chimera' Chimera?"

"Sure. Is there any other kind?"

Sahi opened and closed her mouth a few times while trying to figure out how to react to that, but before she could formulate a response, Josh reiterated himself by saying, "You'll get used to it," with just a hint of schadenfreude in his voice.

In the meantime, Abram came over to me and patted me on the shoulder before leaning closer and whispering, "So, son? I think I more or less know the rest, but who's the noisy girl with the big nose?"

"New transfer student. Used to be an Arch-mage. I helped her body-swap, now she's indebted to me and sticking around. Kind of annoying and nosy but mostly harmless."

The Dracis patriarch sent a not at all sneaky glance at the subject in question, and when he looked back at me, he let out a jaunty whisper, followed by, "Son, you really get around."

"That's a very odd way of putting it," I whispered back, but then took a deep breath and spoke up. "Listen, guys, I have something to discuss with Abram here, so how about we take a break?"

"Aren't we already taking one?" Snowy noted on the side, and when I directed a glance at her, she hastily added, "I-I mean, we aren't studying now."

"You… are technically correct. In that case, let's just say we make the break a little longer."

"I'm for it!" Angie, obviously, agreed with me on the spot.

As for the rest, they either picked up some snacks, or as in the case of the class rep and my girlfriends, they went to the restroom. Emese, in the meantime, flagged down my sister and they were discussing something girly while simultaneously spoiling Ichiko. That left me with…

"Hey? What are you going to discuss?"

… a nosy ex-Arch-mage refusing to get a clue.

"It's about a confidential operation," I told her, but the clue still completely eluded her as she nodded along in complete obliviousness.

"Oh, I'm totally good at those! Do you want me to lend a hand?"

I eyed her for a second to see if that was a pun, but she looked entirely serious. My gut reaction was to tell her no, but then again, she did promise me unconditional support, and having an extra pair of hands wouldn't help. Also, for the record, that wasn't a pun either.

"What are you talking about?" came the next question from Abram, and after a long moment of consideration, I took out two pieces of paper from my bag and handed them over to these two.

"Just read it, but don't speak any of this aloud. Once you get to the end of it, just tell me whether you're in. Yes or no."

Sahi looked a little taken aback at first, but when the big guy took it from me without any reservations, she also received her copy. Or rather, the backup copy I had which I originally didn't intend to give to anyone, but that's beside the point. The further she read, the more baffled she looked, but in contrast to her, Abram's expression became more excited and vicious the further he got.

"I'm in," he declared the moment he reached the end of the page, but then he leaned closer to whisper, "But son, are you sure about the last part? About the prisoners?"

"Yes. It's very important."

Papa Dracis didn't look entirely happy about it, but he probably concluded that it couldn't be helped and nodded along anyway. Meanwhile, Sahi also finished reading and handed her paper back to me with a difficult expression.

"Like, this all sounds really weird, but I wanted to test the limits of this body anyway, so I'll help."

"That's good to hear. Also, let me stress this again: keep this a secret, and don't talk about it with anyone."

The two of them nodded in unison, and before long the girls returned, the Dracis couple pestered us a bit more, and we eventually started studying for real. More importantly, while I originally didn't plan on getting Sahi involved with my business more than necessary, leaving a useful asset like her unexploited was also a bit wasteful, so maybe her elbowing her way into my plan was a good thing. I mean, as unassuming as the girl was on the surface, she had the soul, experience, and expertise of an actual Arch-mage in her. If nothing else, she should be handy to have around during a brawl.

…

Okay, I admit, that was an actual pun. Cut me some slack; this was a long day, and it was far from over. I haven't even reviewed my algebra notes yet…