Part 1

Spring break was almost over. It was essentially two weeks long due to the dates lining up, the first of which we spent in Elysium. The beach episode was a nice change of pace, even if it was followed by a predictable rush of work, but that wasn't all.

Put frankly, I wasn't sure how much time we had before the proverbial shit would hit the proverbial fan. Future-me could probably tell me, but he was still too busy running the show in the Abyss, and while the notebook he handed to me had an outline of how things should progress, it had no time table. It had to be on purpose, or at the very least I was sure I wouldn't troll myself with something like this without a reason.

Considering all that, I wanted to tie off a couple of the threads we still had hanging. I couldn't do much about Ammy's resurgent spellcasting difficulties, but I figured that once she got her third magical Grimoire Key orb, it would be resolved in due time. As for when that would happen, I didn't have the foggiest clue about it, because it was related to some internal rivalry within the Assembly, and the last Key Holder may or may not had been related to the assassination attempt on Angie too.

In other words, it was major plot material, so I was pretty sure it would come up soon whether I did anything about it or not. As such, I decided to focus on other things for the time being. 'Powerups' was the current name of the game, and while the class rep's had to be put on hold, there were plenty of others to work on.

"Hey, guys?"

Speaking of the devil, Josh poked his head into my office. It was late in the afternoon, and I was just about to finish up my paperwork, with Elly sitting in my lap and messaging Judy on her phone. My friend raised a brow at us, followed by an amused smirk.

"Hard at work, or hardly working?"

"A bit of one, a bit of the other," I told him with a shrug, eliciting a cute giggle from the girl on my lap.

"I'm providing moral support," she declared with a grin.

"You sure do, princess." In truth, trying to work around her was a bit troublesome, but there was no way I could tell her that. Skinship was also important, and sacrificing some work efficiency for it was worth it. But more importantly, I turned a questioning gaze at the guy in the doorway. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. I'm just running out of blood capsules, and Galatea told me that Elly's here, so I wanted to ask for some replenishments."

"You already used up all of them from yesterday?" I blurted out in surprise, and he finally let go of the door and scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, cut me some slack. You know that taking one of them only lasts for a few minutes now, and I still need to figure out how to mix powers properly to use that beam attack move you taught me. Without being blown away, I mean."

Ever since he had gained an epiphany during our vacation, Josh had been training hard every day. This, of course, also meant that he needed more blood capsules to mix his transformations, and said blood mainly came from the princess.

"Are you okay with that?" I asked my girlfriend, and she let out a soft whine.

"I don't like it, but… it's for the greater good, right?" She extended a hand towards Josh and shut her eyes tightly. "G-Go ahead."

I found it a bit odd that she wouldn't even flinch when getting scrapes and bruises during training, but she was always squeamish when it came to getting her finger pricked. Was it gap moe, I wondered.

"Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience," Josh apologized and took out his leather pouch. Its compartments were practically empty, attesting to the rate at which he consumed those capsules, and from the bottom of it, he retrieved a specialized tool.

We originally used lancets designed for people with diabetes to test their blood glucose levels, but Mr. Plague Doctor from the Research Department decided to improve upon it as a side-project. What Josh had between his fingers was like a bulky laser pointer or one of those newfangled 'vape' things. He loaded a small needle into the upper part, and then a transparent, gel-filled capsule into the bottom.

"Ready?" he asked, and my girlfriend reached out with his other hand to hold mine before she nodded. Without further ado, Josh pressed the tip of the device to the pad of her outstretched index finger and she shuddered in my lap when it let out a soft mechanical click.

"Owie…"

The whole process only lasted for a few seconds, and then he retrieved the gadget. He pressed on the capsule at the bottom, now tinted red, and it popped right out, only for him to replace it with another. It also got infused with just a drop of Elly's blood in a moment, and he kept repeating the process with practised motions and loading the filled ones into his pouch like a cowboy would prepare his bullets.

Meanwhile, the princess finally opened her eyes and showed me her finger. There was no trace of any injury on it; the device drew so little blood that the prick healed in a matter of seconds.

"I don't like needles," she mumbled, and continued to hold out her finger, so I did the first thing that came to mind and lightly chomped down on it. "A-Awawa! What are you doing!?"

"Disinfecting," I said with her finger still in my mouth.

"You were only supposed to kiss it!"

I had to admit, seeing her flustered like that brought back many fun memories from the past. It was getting increasingly harder to embarrass her (not that I was trying to do that on purpose or anything), but any throwbacks to her early tsundere days made me feel strangely giddy.

"Can you do the flirting after I'm gone? Geez," Josh muttered, looking a bit flustered himself.

"Sure, sure." I let go of the princess's hand, and she immediately hid it behind her back, as if afraid that I was going to eat it. Meanwhile, Josh finished loading his newly filled blood capsules and put away both the pouch and the tool. "Anything else you need help with?" I asked just to be polite, and he shook his head.

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll leave you two to do whatever you do behind closed doors and…" He abruptly trailed off and furrowed his brows, followed by a soft 'Ah, right.' "I nearly forgot, but one of the mad scientist guys wanted me to pass on a message."

"Which one? Mr. Plague Doctor?"

"Nah. It's the short guy with the top hat and the weird gear monocle."

"Oh, you mean Steampunk Kid." I was waiting for him to relay said message, but he was only looking at me funny. "What?"

"Dude, you really need to start remembering the names of your subordinates."

"Give me a break. You know I'm bad with those." He was still silently judging me, so I waved my hand to get things going. "Whatever. So, what did he say?"

"Something about the test subject arriving at six, I think."

"… When did he say that?"

"Idunno. About an hour ago?" He must've mistaken my lack of reaction to disapproval, because he hastily excused himself. "I got side-tracked before coming here, okay?"

It didn't matter, so I turned to my quietly pouting girlfriend instead.

"Elly, love? What's the time?" She didn't respond right away, but then she turned on her phone again and showed the screen to me. "Five-fifty, huh?"

I kicked my chair back and gestured for the princess to hop off before getting up myself.

"I think we can still make it in time." I offered her my arm and she automatically took it, proving that her pouting was entirely performative. "I guess I'll finish up the rest of these papers later."

"Sure but… what's this 'test-subject' thing about, anyway?" Josh inquired with a critical look in his eyes.

"Nothing major." I urged him to get going, and once we were out of the office, I locked the door behind me. "Thanks for the info; you can get back to your training now if you want. Just make sure not to blow up anything."

"Oh, come on man," he griped, arms crossed defiantly. "I accidentally break one bench, and I never hear the end of it."

"Hey. It was more than just 'one' bench, and between you and Ammy, we're starting to run out of spares," I grumbled, and he soon relented with a sigh.

"Fine. I'll ask Brang to open a Restricted Space for me, or something." With that, he turned around and gave us a lazy wave before heading back to the main floor.

"So? What is this about?" Elly levelled the question at me the moment he was out of earshot. "Is it a new experiment?"

"Sort of. You'll see."

She wasn't too enthused by my answer (note to self: practice being less evasive and mysterious), but she gave me the benefit of the doubt and we both headed deeper into the second floor of the base. Our destination was the workshop complex. As of this moment, we had four 'departments' of the Research Division housed there.

Our 'Applied Sufficiently Advanced Science Department' was led by Fred, and he was in charge of the main workshop, where all our magitech tools and devices came from, enchanted and otherwise. Then we had the 'Astral Consciousness Investigation Subdivision' helmed by Mr Plague Doctor, and he was spending most of his time refining the soul-scanning equipment they originally hammered together during the whole Elysium and Polemos fiasco. Then there was the 'Abnormal Biology Laboratories', the place where Pudding-kun originated from, led by the weird woman with the Einstein hairdo and the swirly goggles. Last, but certainly not least, we had the 'Transcendent Reinforcement Phenomena Research Group'.

That one was officially led by Steampunk Kid, but in truth, it was more of a joint effort. Kind of like my secret homunculus project, but on an even larger scale, attested to by the fact that the department took up two of the 'segments' around the central lounge of the Research Division. On that note, we entered said circular lounge, currently occupied by a small gaggle of people.

The place was Galatea's playground, so the room was dominated by aquariums of various shapes and sizes, full of brightly coloured exotic fishes. That wasn't all though, as the place also had an eclectic mixture of colourful carpets, large bean bag chairs, and a row of shelves filled to the brim with paperback novels, comic books, and even manga volumes. This was a place for relaxation, and it certainly looked the part.

"Grandmaster is here," the previously mentioned androidess announced our arrival from the middle of the group, and all eyes turned to us.

For some entirely inexplicable reason, she was wearing a white nurse costume. Not an actual nurse uniform, but the kind someone would don for a costume party, complete with a short skirt, long white stockings, and a plain headdress. As for the rest, from left to right, we had Steampunk Kid looking the same as usual (read: a middle schooler boy in a white shirt, fancy top hat, and a monocle), Friedrich and Peabody in their usual white coats, and then the nurse-cosplaying Galatea in the middle. On her other side, we had a Naoren Feilong and Odango Girl, accompanied by an elder and two of those guards in black martial artist tunics.

That was an eclectic group all right, but I was already used to such sights, so I brushed it off and we approached them.

"Good afternoon," I greeted everyone present at once and asked the first thing that came to mind when my eyes landed on the young dragoness. "Where's Ichiko?"

"Ichi is upstairs with Big Sister Rinne!" she responded with a toothy grin. "They're talking about the bees!"

That made me stop in my tracks. Remembering the scene from the morning made Elly giggle, but Naoren obviously didn't share the sentiment.

"Brother Leonard? What exactly are you teaching Xiao Xiao while I'm not looking?"

"Don't worry about it. It makes perfect… some… modicum. Let's go with 'a modicum of sense'."

"You're not filling me with confidence," the young patriarch stated, but if you asked me, he should've been more worried about the conversation going on 'upstairs', as Odango Girl put it. But then again, considering it was Mountain Girl we were talking about, I wouldn't have been surprised if she had an even worse understanding of the birds and the bees than the little girls. It must've showed on my face, because he added, "… Why are you looking at me with sympathy?"

Naoren's question made me smile, which only put him more on guard. Ignoring him for the moment, I turned to the science group.

"Is everything ready and prepared?"

"Kihihi! Of course!" Fred rubbed his hands together, his lips set in a wild grin that befitted his original mad scientist image. "Just give us the go, and we can rock!"

"What Master meant to say was that the equipment is in prime condition and there's only a zero-point-two-one percent chance of catastrophic failure," Galatea chimed in, which then caused Peabody to laugh out loud.

"O-ho-ho? And what are the chances of a non-catastrophic failure?"

"Don't dwell on the odds," the last member, the kid with the steampunk getup, spoke sagely. He looked young, yet his voice was that of an adult's, and he turned towards us and gave me an elegant bow. "Monsieur Dunning, I implore you to disregard my esteemed colleagues' dreary predictions. I assure you, the chance of a malfunction of catastrophic proportions is only one in five-hundred and ninety-five."

"Isn't that more of less the same?" Elly commented, and I had to admit, I had no idea if they were. She was clearly much better at calculating fractions than I was.

"Negative."/"Most definitely not!" Galatea and Steampunk Kid responded in unison, and then glared at each other, forcing the portly ex-nurse to play mediator between them.

While that was going on, I turned to the other side, and finally addressed the elephant in the room staring us in the face all this time.

"It's been a long time since we last met, Grand Elder Xinji."

The elderly man in the back acknowledged me with a soft grunt. The old fellow was responsible for the tournament arc, as well as a whole lot of headaches I suffered due to his constant scheming during that time, and while he was cleared of most of the charges related to treason against the Feilong clan, he had been under house arrest since then and stripped of his official position.

The only reason he retained his 'Grand Elder' title was because it was honorary, and the Feilongs had no official way to strip him of it. That said, while I said he was in 'house arrest', if anything, he looked healthier than the last time I'd seen him, and he might've even put on a bit of weight.

Seeing that he refused to greet me back, a pouting Odango Girl unsubtly tugged on his sleeve, and the old man let out a defeated sigh. He patted down his long, wispy beard and cupped his fist in his other hand, performing one of those martial artist salutes that the Eastern Draconians were so fond of.

"Xinji Feilong greets Leonard Dunning." He sounded like he wanted to be anywhere else right now, and he soon followed that up with a soft, defeated sigh. "I had eyes, but I refused to see Mt. Tai."

Before I could ask what he meant by that (I knew the idiom, I just had no idea how it applied to this situation), Xiao proudly grinned at me, so I swallowed my objection and turned it into an inquiry.

"Are you ready to undergo the experiment?"

"If it lets me leave my estate, this elder is willing to take the risk," he responded dourly, and his words made me raise a brow at Naoren.

"I don't think that was part of the deal."

"Xiao Xiao insisted," the young patriarch admitted a touch sheepishly, and seeing the grinning child, I could already picture what happened.

"So long as you know what you're doing," I concluded the conversation with a shrug and gestured towards the nearby door. "If everything's ready, we might as well get started."

"Khihi! I couldn't have said so better myself! Follow me!"

Fred took the lead as we stepped out of the round lounge, and after just half a minute of walking, we entered the third door to the left; the one leading into the Transcendent Reinforcement Phenomena Research Group's workshop. This particular place reflected on its lead researcher's aesthetics, as the place was teeming with brass steampunk machinery, large tubes filled with brightly coloured liquids, and most importantly, a pair of metal beds with clamps on them, standing at a roughly seventy-degree angle. The only thing missing was a Frankenstein's monster or two tied to them, and we would've had the full set of an old-school horror movie.

"Please, come this way," Steampunk Kid guided the Grand Elder to one of the beds, while xiao, who was more familiar with the setting, already picked up a stool from the corner of the room and brought it to the other bed, so that by standing on it she would be at the right height.

"Is this entirely safe?" Naoren whispered by my side, suddenly sounding a bit apprehensive, and the weird electric globes with plasma arcing in them descending from the ceiling didn't fill him with more confidence either.

"You've heard them in the lounge. When mad science is involved, the chance of something, or someone, exploding is never zero."

"We prefer the term, 'Unconventional Science'," Steampunk Kid corrected me without looking up from his work, which currently involved attaching electrodes to the old Draconian's temples while Peabody locked him in place with the previously mentioned clamps.

On the other side, Xiao giggled as Galatea did the same to her. In retrospect, maybe she was dressed in the nurse outfit to put the child at ease. It was probably a good call; nobody wanted her to lose her cool and transform indoors. Things would get really stuffy really fast like that.

Anyhow, I turned back to the still eminently worried Naoren and insisted, "Don't worry. If anyone explodes, it won't be her."

"I… still don't know how to feel about that."

I couldn't add anything to that, so I just observed the process of getting our test subjects ready for the first Draconian bloodline reinforcement experiment in the history of ever. One might look at this and say, 'Wait. Why are you powering up the Grand Elder of all people?', and it would be a valid question.

Long story short, we had three reasons. Number one being that, for the experiment to work, we needed a Draconian and a full-blooded dragon of matching bloodlines. Since I couldn't ask Sebastian (as he was technically still incognito), that left us with Xiao, meaning we needed an Eastern Draconian to be the recipient of the treatment. Since there was a small yet not zero chance of something going awry, the test subject couldn't have been anyone from our 'main cast', and we couldn't just order some placeholder Draconian to do it, because that would've been just plain unethical.

By process of elimination, we settled on the Grand Elder, and he willingly 'volunteered' to be our lab rat in exchange for dropping some of the charges against him and, apparently, for lifting his house arrest. He stoically accepted being locked onto the bed, and after getting a few more electrodes attached, the science crew gestured for me to come to the large, boxy machinery at the far end of the room.

"Kihihi! Boss, you do the honors!" Fred presented a large sliding handle to me, once again right out of a Frankenstein movie. "Go ahead! Pull the lever!"

"Am I also required to yell 'It's alive!' after the experiment is done?" I jested, yet Galatea responded with perfect seriousness.

"Don't be silly, Grandmaster. That's Master's job. As well as being struck by lightning and getting destroyed by his own hubris."

"No, it isn't!" Fred snapped at her, while Peabody chuckled and muttered, "It always warms my heart to see you get along."

Ignoring the peculiar shenanigans of that trio, Elly tugged at my arm with unconcealed excitement.

"Can I do it?"

"Sure, be my guest."

My draconic girlfriend let out a soft squee and grabbed the lever with both hands, and then tugged on it so hard I was afraid that he would wrench it off the machine. That was followed by a loud hum, the lights dimmed, and… not much else.

"Hehe. It tickles," Xiao squirmed on the bed, while the Grand Elder closed his eyes and remained stone-faced throughout the whole endeavour.

"Well, at least nothing exploded," Naoren noted on the side, and I couldn't help but chime in with a jaunty, "Yet."

"Is it done?" Elly asked, her gaze jumping between the two beds and the mad scientists.

"My fair lady, I'm afraid the process just began," Steampunk Kid responded without taking his eyes off the readings on the large CRT screen embedded in the side of the machine. "According to my conservative estimates, the full procedure will take at least an hour."

"Oh. That's longer than expected…" she whispered, trying not to sound too disappointed. "Do we just… wait?"

"We don't have much of a choice." I said that, but then I recalled something and added, "Actually, there's one more thing I just remembered. Is Penny still down here?"

"Hm? Your sister should be undergoing treatment in the other workshop," Peabody told me absently, and seeing that not much else was happening here, I turned to the princess.

"Since we have some time, I'll go and check on her. Do you want to come along?"

My princess was unexpectedly hesitant and ultimately shook her head.

"I… think I'll stay here. I'm curious about this experiment and want to see it through. Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine." I gave her a peck on the top of her head for emphasis before addressing the rest. "I'll step out for a moment. If there's an emergency, shout."

"Will do," Fred nodded, apparently not paying much attention to me, his eyes being focused on some kind of readout another machine was spitting out on a long strip of paper.

With the experiment firmly underway, I left this workshop and circled half the Research Division before stopping in front of the door leading to the Astral Consciousness Investigation Subdivision, aka the place with the soul-scanning machine and all other related equipment. Over here, we were doing a different kind of research that was just as important as the Draconian bloodline revivification. I was assured that things were going fine, but since I had nothing better to do, I figured I might as well see it for myself and stepped through the door.

"Hi, Kiddo. How are things—?"

"Kyaa!"

Before I could even respond, I was hit on the head by a breastplate flung at me by my Knightly sister. Why didn't my danger sense warn me, I wondered as it bounced off my forehead and landed in the hallway outside. Was it because it wasn't dangerous? Or because it didn't have any intent behind it? Or maybe because it counted as slapstick comedy and the universe decided it would be funny if I got hit?

"Awawawaaa! B-Brother, c-close your eyes! D-Don't look at my butt!"

Whatever the case might've been, this surprise checkup was off to a rough start…

Part 2

"Uuu…"

"Are you sure you don't need an ice pack?" Mr Plague Doctor asked with undisguised worry in his muffled voice, but I shook my head and waved for him to get back to work.

"Don't worry, something like this is nothing."

"Uuuuuu…"

"If you say so…"

That topic concluded, I casually brought the breastplate over and placed it onto one of the many large machines lining the walls of the room, out of reach of my fidgeting sister. Penny, apparently still mortified by my sudden appearance, was lying on her stomach on top of the odd bed in the middle. It was shaped like a large stick figure, or maybe more like one of those chalk outlines you'd see drawn around the victims in crime shows. It was also generously padded with thick white leather cushions, and if not for the machinery and the large scanning arm looking like an enormous retro-futuristic ray gun, it wouldn't have looked out of place in a massage parlour.

"Uuuuuuuuu…."

With a sigh, I turned to the fidgeting girl, currently only wearing socks and a sporty set of underwear, still trying her best to cover up her butt with her hands.

"Kiddo, would you please stop moaning? It's distracting."

"I-I-I'm not moaning!" She looked up, but when our eyes met, she let out a stifled "Hauhauuu!" kind of noise and buried her face back into the cushions.

"Is she always like this during the procedure?" I asked the only other man in the room, and Mr Plague Doctor exhaled a nonchalant 'Nah,' in response. "Am I the problem then?"

"Of course you are!" Penny yelled into the cushions and tried even harder to cover her butt. "Uuu… I can't get married anymore!"

"You're weird," I noted with just a hint of exasperation as I walked around her. "You do realize that there's no difference between seeing you in your undies and your swimsuit, right?"

"There's a huge difference! A girl can't show her underwear to a man! It's improper!"

"Then what about him?" I gestured at the man currently busy making coffee, seemingly not even caring about our conversation.

"That's different! He's a doctor, and it's fine to undress in front of one!"

That made me stop in my tracks and fully turn to the odd researcher.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

"Are you a doctor?"

"In a manner of speaking," he answered indifferently and raised an empty cup in my direction. "Coffee?"

"I refrain, but thank you." He lightly shrugged and returned to his infernal beverage (I don't judge, I'm just stating the facts), and so I also focused on my sister again. "Kiddo, would you please stop making a mountain out of a molehill? I came here to check your progress, and it's hard to do it when you're fidgeting like that."

It took a couple of seconds, but she finally stopped wriggling her butt and removed her hands, putting them on the designated armrests.

"O-Okay, but… promise that you don't stare."

"Oh, cut it out. There are exactly two butts in this universe I even remotely care about, and yours isn't one of them."

I got a slightly more defiant huff in response, which meant she was already getting over her weird bout of embarrassment. Or so I hoped. Anyhow, I turned to the scientist in the room again.

"How's the progress on the Oaths?"

"Within expectations." He paused for a breath to put down his cup and readjust the large round glasses perched on his mask's beak. He then continued in a more professional tone. "We've managed to isolate the channels used to integrate the mana input/output interface into the subject's astral body, and the mapping of the Oath receptacles' base architecture is essentially complete, only requiring secondary verifications."

"And what's the bad news?" I asked half-seriously, yet the man's shoulders drooped as if he was dreading this question from the start.

"I'm afraid that we still don't have the appropriate mechanism required to remove or reinstall the broken receptacles. In other words, the procedure still requires your… personal touch."

That made Penny shiver on the table, but I ignored her for the time being.

"Should I reach out to Mensah after all?"

"Not yet," Mr Plague Doctor declared on no uncertain terms. "I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet. Please, give me a few more weeks, and I'll figure out something."

We locked gazes (or as much as we could do through his mask's darkened goggles), and he remained completely adamant.

"Fine. I'll still call up the Celestials and have them prepare to hand over the…" I paused, suddenly feeling unsure of myself. Was 'technology' the right word to use? Or was it more like a 'ritual'? In the end, I just side-stepped the whole 'sufficiently-advanced-science-or-sufficiently-analysed-magic' dilemma. "The method. It'll probably take a while anyway, so do your best until then."

"An acceptable compromise." The masked mad scientist nodded and returned to his machinery.

My eyes drifted back to the stock-still girl on the table and I exhaled a shallow breath. If everything worked out as planned, then she would be receiving the first set of replacement Oaths, which was essentially an instant power-up in preparation for our final arc. We knew it could be done; Percival demonstrated it thoroughly for everyone to see, and we also learned that the Celestials already perfected the procedure.

The most logical thing would've been to just take their research and magitech and whatever else it involved and use it for our own benefit. At this point I'd completely cemented my position at the top of the Elysium's hierarchy, so if I gave the order, I could absolutely get my hands on that, but Mr Plague Doctor here had other ideas. According to him, it was pivotal that we first attempted to do it our way and reverse-engineer the procedure using Percival's armour and Oaths (or at least what remained of them).

His logic was as follows: if we just took the Celestials' work, then we would be locked into their methodology, and there was no guarantee we could even replicate it without relying on their magitech and expertise. However, if we developed our own system first, then we could compare and contrast it with theirs and potentially come up with an even better and/or more efficient solution to the broken Oath problem.

I half suspected there was also some professional pride in there, and that he really wanted to be the one to figure it out, but since we weren't strapped for time (yet), and because his arguments made sense, I decided to leave it up to him. Also, while it was only a small thing, I didn't want to disappoint Penny either. Sure, I occasionally teased her a little, as all good older brothers ought to do, but she was still family and I didn't want to make her feel like all the time and discomfort she put into these reverse-engineering experiments was for nought.

But speaking of her, I stepped up to the bed and my eyes skimmed over her back. While the Oaths had no physical presence, they were roughly lined up with her spinal column on her astral body, with the first one being at the base of the neck, and the last one just over the tailbone. I was just about to inspect her, but then my eyes caught something.

"What's that?" I asked as I cocked my head to the side and carefully reached out to lift the back of her sports bra a little.

"A-Awawa! Brother, what are you doing!?"

"Just checking, but…" I squinted at the hazy colourless light seeping out of under the cloth. "Is that one of Snowy's Sigils?"

"Y-Yeah."

I squinted a bit harder, and I was almost tempted to poke it with my phantom limbs, but I restrained the urge. Unlike with enchantments, my Abyssal sister's magical markings were more like self-sustaining magical effects, so they were much more susceptible to disruption, and I didn't want to accidentally dispel it. I leaned closer to take a better look, and while I wasn't clear on Abyssal iconography or anything, I found it surprisingly familiar.

"It kind of looks like the invisibility Sigil Brang and the Fauns use." Penny didn't respond, so I pulled her bra strap back over the marking and lightly patted it. "Does it work?"

"It does, it's just that…" Penny's words trailed off into a whisper. "I-I can't turn it on by myself yet. I-If I could, I would've done it before you could look at my undies!"

Even if she did, I could see through that spell with ease, so it wouldn't have made a difference. She didn't need to know that though, and it didn't really matter anyway. But staying on the topic of seeing magic, I took a deep breath, focused all my attention on her back, and tried to 'see' past it. I've done this a few times before, but it was still a relatively finicky process. Kind of like trying to read the contents of a closed book with a scanning X-ray machine. The fact it made me feel I was going cross-eyed also didn't help with my concentration.

With time and effort, I could feel my vision slowly 'tune out' the material world, transforming everything into churning outlines formed by colourless waves of mana. It wasn't quite like when I was interacting with someone's metaphysical yarn-ball with my phantom limbs; that was akin to tunnelling my consciousness into the deepest layer of the Simulacrum, while this was more like peeling off the top layer of the world to peek underneath.

Soon, Penny's astral body came into a vague view and I could quickly make out the Oath receptacles, like small light bulbs embedded into her along the spine. There were seven of them in total, each corresponding to a different Oath, and they were connected by multiple strands of wispy, pulsing strands of mana.

On closer look, three of them were visibly different from the rest. The first one, right at the base of the neck, was dim, like a candlelight that was just about to burn out. It was the Oath of Loyalty, which originally tied the Brotherhood to the Celestials, and the reason why the original implanting of the Oaths was such a long and arduous process. Since it was pretty much 'broken by default', and since it was the first one that had to be implanted, it was quite painful. Worse yet, even after it was integrated, it would flare up every time a subsequent Oath was installed, which was the main reason why the Entitled Knights had to recuperate between each Oath, dragging the procedure out for months, or even years.

Conversely, I figured that once we could figure out how to remove this one and replace it with a different Oath (like switching out 'Your Celestial Masters' to 'The Ordo Draconis' in a contract), it would make the creation of new Knights way easier and faster.

The other dim one was the second from the bottom, and while it looked slightly brighter than the top one, it was clearly inactive, with the strands of mana going around it. That was the Oath of Integrity, which was apparently the Oath that got broken the most, either on accident or by deliberate choice. It was also the 'don't hurt the innocent' rule, which made me wonder how Penny broke hers. I never asked though. I had a faint feeling it might've been a touchy subject, so I figured I wouldn't bring it up unless she wanted to talk about it.

In any case, this Oath didn't need replacement, but repair, which posed a different challenge altogether. In a way, it might've been even more difficult; kind of like the difference between replacing a faulty motherboard, or trying to fix it by finding the broken component and re-soldering all the connections.

Last, but not least, we had the third Oath receptacle at the very bottom, right over Penny's tailbone. That was, for lack of better terms, flickering, and it wasn't hard to figure out why. It was the Oath of Legacy, which demanded that the Knight would uphold the rules, traditions, and legacy of the Brotherhood. Except, I dissolved the Brotherhood and turned it into the Ordo Draconis, effectively subverting its original purpose, but at the same time its mission of 'keep the Draconians in check' effectively remained the same. As such, this particular Oath was in an ambiguous situation, where it was caught in a kind of logic loop and was barely functioning, requiring an update.

In short, we had one part that needed replacing, one part that needed repair, and one part that needed a firmware update. It almost felt like I was running a computer repair shop or something…

Anyhow, I took a closer look at the faulty Oaths but saw minimal progress. Mr Plague Doctor and his crew didn't want to break anything, so they only enacted the safest of changes using the upgraded soul-scanning machine and some other fancy retro-futuristic equipment lying around. Because of that, all the changes were safe, but conversely, their progress was quite glacial.

I knew from experience that, if push came to shove, I could just pluck them out with my phantom limbs, modify them the same way I would tweak an enchanted artefact, and then plug them back in, but that wasn't exactly a surgical procedure. As for modifications, I have tested those one Percival and Raven Boy (back when he was still on my shit-list), and I was fairly confident that I could fix both the Oath of Legacy and Integrity, given enough time and some intact examples to work with.

However, that wasn't my job. As I had said numerous times in the past, I wasn't funding our Research Division for fun. Both the homunculus project and the draconic bloodline revivification one were already near the finish line, so it was damn time this investment would start paying dividends as well.

But speaking of the other projects, I metaphorically uncrossed my eyes, so that my vision was once again beholding the 'surface level' of the world, and I walked back to the mad scientist's side.

"I see you've done some work on receptacle number six."

"Yes. How does it look?"

"You might want to reinforce the outer layer a bit, but otherwise looks solid."

He picked up a clipboard and a pen.

"What do you mean by 'outer layer'?"

"The interaction zone between the mana channels and the conversion arrays."

"Oh, I see. What about the reverse-flow restriction valves? I theorized that they might be responsible for the…"

For the next half an hour or so, we discussed the Oaths in detail. While our terminology didn't exactly line up, we could more or less understand each other, and I told him about what I'd seen to the best of my ability. At last, it was time to return to the other workshop, so I raised my hand to cut the conversation short.

"I'll better head back. Do you need anything else?"

"No, thank you. If anything, I think you just gave me some inspiration about how to circumvent the stuck locking mechanism on the equipment interface and—"

"Glad to head it," I interjected and took a step back. "Keep up the good work. As for you, Kiddo…" I was about to say goodbye, and I just noticed that she'd been suspiciously silent for a while now, and when I walked over, I couldn't stop myself from looking stumped and whispering, "Is she asleep?"

"Ah, yes. She often does that during the examination," the beak-masked man told me with a chipper voice.

"Isn't she going to catch a cold at this rate?"

"I usually turn up the thermostat whenever she's here, but if you feel it's not enough, I can raise the ambient temperature even more."

Maybe because I was already used to it, but I didn't notice that the air was particularly warmer in here. I couldn't hurt though, so I whispered, "Please do so."

"Understood."

With that, he headed to the other end of the room (presumably to the location of the thermostat), while I quietly left the workshop, trying not to wake my sister. As soon as I was outside…

"Huh. It really was much warmer in there."

I quickly closed the door behind me and returned to the Transcendent Reinforcement Phenomena Research Group's workshop, where the experiment was just about to reach its crescendo. Not that you could tell at a glance. Grand Elder Xinji was still tied to his standing metal bed, with all kinds of esoteric energies swirling about him, and the Research Society members were sitting at a nearby table and poring over some graphs, yet at the same time Naoren and Rinne were standing in a corner and animatedly discussing something, while Oadango girl was… playing Uno with the princess, Galatea, and Ichiko. With the foxy Miko holding her cards, as the little dragon had to remain stationary.

Not exactly the epic, nail-biting scene one would expect from a historical breakthrough experiment, but maybe I just set my expectations too high.

"Kihihi! Welcome back boss," Fred greeted me first, so I headed over to their side.

"Hey. Is it okay for Xiao to play around during the procedure?"

"There is no need to be concerned about such things," Steampunk Kid responded in his stead and vaguely gestured towards the girls around the experimental apparatus. "The device is only reading the girl's manametric signature during the treatment and imposes it upon the recipient. She merely needs to remain in place until the process has successfully run its course."

"O-ho-ho. In retrospect, we should have considered providing entertainment for the child ahead of time. Thank goodness for Galatea's quick thinking."

"Never mind that," Fred interjected and got up from his chair. "You're just in time, boss! We're on the cusp of the penultimate moment! It's any minute now!" He walked over to my side, and then conspicuously stood behind me. "It should be perfectly safe, but I'm still glad that you're here, boss! I feel much safer already!"

Was… he pulling my leg, I wondered. However, before I could ask, my attention was suddenly grabbed by a different situation unfolding. And no, it wasn't the lights around the old Eastern Draconian building up for a dramatic finish.

"Leonard-dono!"

"Wait, Lady Rinne! Listen to me!"

Naoren tried to stop her, but she ducked out of his grasp and skipped over to my side. She was back to her usual ensemble of the purple pantsuit and her sword, Onikiri, hanging from her shoulder, but her features were also unusually flustered.

"Leonard-dono, please tell Rinne about the bees!" she practically shouted the moment she arrived at my side, startling Fred so hard he nearly fell over.

"The what now?"

"The bees!" she insistent with pure desperation. "Ichiko-neesan said that they have something to do with babies and Rinne… Rinne already held hands with Naoren-san! Is Rinne pregnant?"

I narrowed my eyes at her, then at the thoroughly mortified Feilong patriarch, and finally back at her.

"Mountain Girl? How old are you?"

"L-Leonard-dono! It's not proper to ask a maiden about her age!"

"… Okay, then let's put it this way: You finished high school. You went to college. You have a freaking teaching license, and you don't know how babies are made?"

"But… that has nothing to do with bees," she insisted, sounding vaguely sulky. "Is there really a bee yokai Rinne doesn't know about that gives people babies? Or was it a stork yokai? Maybe both. Ichiko-neesan said it's how it works, so it must be something that Rinne just doesn't know about, but if it's true, then Rinne could already be pregnant out of weld-lock! It would be a great dishonor, and…"

"Calm down. Just calm down, okay?" I chided her, and she finally fell silent. "It's just a misunderstanding. I'll…" I took a deep breath, unable to believe I was about to say this. "Once we're done here, let's all sit down with Ichiko and Xiao in tow, and I'll explain the birds and the bees, okay?"

"Understood." She let out a long breath, as if I just took a great weight off her shoulder, and then suddenly reached for the hilt of Onikiri. "And then, we'll hunt down those dishonorable yokai, right?"

I didn't deem that worthy of an answer, but instead I turned to Naoren and sent him a 'Your taste in women is weird, man…' kind of look, to which he responded with a 'Hey, don't put this on me!' type of squint. Yet, before we could continue our non-verbal communications, there was a sudden ding. The kind you would hear when the microwave oven was done heating your food, and it was followed by a series of clanks as the restraints around the Grand Elder automatically opened and he floated down.

The long sleeves of his robe and his beard both fluttered as his whole body was buffeted by swirling purple gusts of smoke infused by blue sparks of electricity. Then, he opened his eyes, aglow with a bright blue light, and let out an ear-piercing cackle.

"Hahaha! This is truly a miraculous effect! I have broken through my bottleneck, and my cultivation has soared by leaps and bounds! I have become the carp that leapt over the dragon's gate! My dantian is brimming with the awesome fury of our ancestors' true eternal fire! I am invincible! I am indomitable! I am—"

"Tone it down, you muppet! You're scaring the kids!" I cut in with a strategic slap at the back of his head, and the old man stumbled forward.

"You dare!?" he responded reflexively, only to turn around and immediately freeze when he saw my eyes. Or rather, when he didn't, because I activated my Leoformer and donned my Lion Knight armour.

"I dare. So, are you calm yet, or should I dare again?" He remained silent, and then soon the lightning-infused smoke around him dissipated and he awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Ah, yes. This senior might have been a bit—"

"Wild Card!" Ichiko exclaimed in the back.

"Can I get down now? My legs are tired," Odango Girl whimpered, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Leo, help! Should I play a reverse card here?" the princess pleaded, while Galatea stoically continued to play the game.

As far as historically significant moments were concerned, this wasn't exactly as monumental as expected, but… maybe it was for the better. God as my witness, I have experienced more dramatic moments than I even wanted already, so I was fine with some bathos every now and then.

Part 3

My day at the base was drawing to its end, and it was a… Ugh. As much as I would've liked to say 'a remarkably hectic one', it really wasn't. It was pretty average, all things considered, which once again made me wonder just when my life would ever be normal again. I mean, as normal as it used to be before all the magic and prophecies and shounen battle harem shenanigans.

"Can I do it? Pretty please?"

I was just about to head to the teleport closet of the base (I kept using it out of habit) when I was intercepted by my girlfriend, literally latching onto me by holding my arm in a grip and giving me the upturned, puppy-dog gaze treatment.

"No, you can't." I tried to slip out of her grip, but her hands were firm like a pair of vices. "Princess? Please let go. You know I have places to be."

"But it worked! And he didn't explode!" she argued with an adorable (if currently slightly peevish) pout.

"Yet," I pointed out and gestured towards the door leading into the main hall. "It's why he's going to stay here under surveillance for the next couple of days."

My princess continued to pout with the intensity of a thousand exploding stars, but I remained steadfast and didn't budge at all. As I just said, Grand Elder Xinji didn't show any adverse reactions to the bloodline revivification procedure yet, but I wasn't going to gamble Elly's health (or worse) on it until we were one hundred thousand percent sure it was safe in the long term.

"But there shouldn't be any problems," she insisted. "Since we're related, doing it with gramps would be even safer, and if something goes wrong, you can just retcon it, right?"

"No." I stated sternly, drawing my proverbial line in the sand, "We're not going to rely on that. Ever."

That was something I couldn't compromise on. Not just because altering the Simulacrum like that was bloody dangerous, but because I wasn't supposed to draw the attention of the Emergents, and it was the one sure-fire way I knew would get them breathing down my neck. Not to mention, technically were already in the middle of a retcon, done by future-me-as-Bel, so how would that even work? A retcon in a retcon? Retconception?

"Uuu… But I really want to try it," Elly whined, and since she still wasn't letting go of me, and I was already running late, I decided to be a bit cheeky. I bent down with practised movements and reached under her knees. "Eeep!"

Before she could react, I lifted her up into a princess carry and she automatically grabbed onto the back of my neck. I flashed a smirk at her, and then walked into the teleport closet (again, just out of habit) and then Phased right home.

"Welcome back, Chief," Judy greeted me from the living room. She was wearing an apron and bunny slippers, and when she noticed the girl in my hands, she cocked her head to the side. "Hi, Elly. I didn't expect you."

"I-I didn't expect myself either!" Flustered, my draconic girlfriend kicked the air. "I wasn't planning to come over today!"

"Those who hold onto the Leonard must bear the unforeseen consequences," I stated sagely and let her down, at which point she poked my side with her pinkie finger. That probably sounded cute, but it was the princess we were talking about, and so it stung quite a bit.

"Ah! I have to call the chauffeur! I told him to pick me up at the base!" She fished out her phone from one of her pockets and started furiously swiping at it. "I also have to message Melinda and tell her that I'll be late!"

While she was busy with that, and I was still rubbing my side, Judy sidled over and automatically attached herself to my free arm like we were magnetically coupled.

"You have plans with Melinda?" she inquired with a hint of mischief in her voice (it was hard to pinpoint, but I swear, it was there), and Elly responded off the cuff without turning our way.

"Yes. We couldn't even message during our stay in Elysium, so I promised her that we would spend some time together today." She finally looked up and flashed a guileless smile. "I told her about this comedy we watched in the cinema the other week, and we're going to watch it together. I wonder if it's going to be as funny the second time around…"

"U-huh." Judy hummed along, and then innocently asked, "So it's a movie date?"

"Yes, it's a—" Elly caught herself at the last second and frowned at my other girlfriend. "No, it's not!"

"Good. Anti-harem countermeasures are in effect, so make sure it stays an outing."

"Yes, it's obviously a…" The princess's words trailed into silence, followed by a soft grunt. "Actually, we called dates that weren't explicitly 'dates' that, right? But then everyone who went on 'outings' ended up dating, so maybe we shouldn't use that term either."

"That only applies to people who have UST."

"Right! And we don't have that… trope thing with Melinda, so it's completely fine," Elly insisted, but my dear assistant was relentless.

"Are you sure? They say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, so be ever vigilant. Make sure that when you watch the movie in the dark theater, side by side, your kokoro won't suddenly go doki-doki."

Elly blinked repeatedly and ultimately let out a desperate whine.

"Leooo! Judy is bullying me with tropes I don't know about again!"

In response, I put my hand on Judy's noggin and forcefully rubbed it.

"Easy there, Dormouse. Don't tease her like that."

"Ah. I'm feeling conflicted," she said without her expression changing at all. "I'm being scolded, but getting a head pat is still making my kokoro go doki-doki."

"Translation! I still don't understand!"

I retracted my hand with a sigh and offered it to Elly.

"How about we just ignore all that, and I'll Phase you over so you can get there on time?"

"Oh, that would be nice." My ever-sunny draconic girlfriend turned on a dime and picked up her phone again. "In that case, I'll tell Melinda we should meet back home and then have a drink on the way there. There was this café we tried out once, you know the one, and I wanted to take Melinda there one of these days."

Judy tugged on my sleeve, gesturing me to lean over, and when I did, she whispered directly into my ear.

"I still think that sounds like a date."

"Cut it out, Dormouse." I poked her forehead for emphasis, but she was undeterred, so I switched tactics. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you also watch a movie with the princess a while ago?"

"That didn't count." For a few seconds, she tried her best to coyly bat her eyelids at me, but when it didn't work, she added, "My kokoro only goes doki-doki for you, so it's fine."

"The same goes for Elly, so it should be fine too," I countered, and she immediately clicked her tongue.

"Hoisted by my own petard. How humiliating."

Blissfully aware of our conversation, the princess finished texting and turned back to us.

"I told Melinda that I'll be home by eight. Is that fine?"

"Yeah, that works with our timetable," Judy responded in my stead and then glanced at the clock on the wall. "Actually, we're running a bit late. I need to get ready. Chief, can you check Neige and Tajana?"

"Sure."

With that, she let go of my arm and, after rising to her tiptoes and giving me a peck on my cheek, went upstairs, leaving me along with the princess.

"They're going with you too?"

"Snowy insisted," I told her with a verbal shrug. "It's Abyssal business, so she wanted to be a part of it, and Tajana's coming along as her new vassal."

"I'm still not entirely clear on the political structure of the Abyss," Elly admitted, sounding just a touch sheepish. "Does that mean that she's no longer working for that bastard?"

It was easy to figure out that she was talking about Crowy, but the answer was a bit more complicated.

"It's more like she's still the official spymaster of House Inanna, but she now backs Snowy as the legitimate head of the house. From Crowy's perspective, she's rebelling against him, but from Tajana's perspective, she's still loyal to the House, and opposing an illegitimate usurper. Or something. Honestly, this whole self-justification business is gobbledygook to me, but as long as Snowy vouches for her, she should be good."

"I hope so."

I waited a bit longer, to see if she had anything else to add, but then her phone buzzed (probably got a response from the chamber-maid), so used the opportunity to slip away and knock on the guest room's door.

"It's open!" came Snowy's surprisingly energetic response from inside, and when I poked my head in, I found her and the hapless spymaster, sitting cross-legged on the bed facing each other.

There were a whole lot of hand-written notes spread out between the two of them. I didn't have to guess their contents; I knew for a fact that they had been planning for today's meeting ever since we came back from Elysium, using Tajana's insider information, the Celestial Hub's intel, and the snippets I provided to analyse the currently ongoing Abyssal civil war and to try and predict the motivations and arrangements of the Ashur envoy we were about to meet.

"We should be heading out in a few minutes. Are you two ready?" I inquired out of a sense of formality, as the answer was clear as day.

Tajana was already wearing her gothic dress (which made her look really weird, sitting on the bed like that), and my sister was also dressed up, though in the other direction, so to speak. She opted for a pantsuit similar to Mountain Girl's usual attire, except in bright red, complete with a black shirt and a red business tie. Her usual twin tails were also gone, replaced by a low ponytail tied off just behind her neck, and while she was way too cute to pass for an effeminate boy, the whole ensemble was probably meant to do just that.

I was no mind reader, but if I had to guess, she most likely chose this attire on purpose, to distance herself from the usual Seducer imagery and look a bit more mature and businesslike. It was a valiant effort, but then again, she was still cute, and I was pretty sure there were a whole lot of people who were specifically attracted to this kind of not-quite-androgynous appearance, but I wasn't going to rain on her parade by pointing that out.

"Almost! Give us ten minutes!"

Snowy sounded unusually fired up, so I told them, "Okay. Come to the living room when you're ready."

My little sister clenched her fists, while Tajana only nodded, looking way more nervous than the younger girl. Since I delivered the message, I figured it was time for me to get ready as well, so I also headed upstairs. Judy was occupying the bathroom, so I walked into my bedroom and considered my options.

"Actually…" I whispered under my breath the moment I opened my wardrobe and beheld the black long coats lined up therein. "It's been a while since I last wore one of these, hasn't it?"

It was a rhetorical question if there ever was one. Feeling just a tad nostalgic, I picked up one, along with a pair of matching black jeans and a grey turtleneck sweater. Once I was done changing, I took a look at myself in the mirror and found my reflection satisfactory.

"Oooh?"

The princess let out a surprised gasp as soon as I walked down the stairs, and hopped around me to take a better look.

"This feels so nostalgic!"

"I know, right?" I blurted out, feeling vindicated.

"Right! It's just that…" She looked me over, and then suddenly snapped her finger. "I've got an idea! Don't go anywhere!"

I wasn't planning to, so I obediently waited for her as she skipped over to the entranceway and returned with a long grey scarf matching my sweater, with big fluffy fringe tassels. She wound it around my neck and then let out an impressed whistle.

"You're looking good!"

"Thanks."

I wanted to make a joke about how it was only fair I get to look nice every once in a while, with her and Judy being pretty all the time, but before I could figure out how to say it in a way that didn't sound too cheesy, another impressed hum drew my attention away.

"I'm suddenly feeling sentimental," Judy noted with just a hint of pink colouring her cheeks (though it could've been just the makeup) as she walked down the stairs.

"I just said that too!" Elly agreed wholeheartedly, but my attention was already fully grabbed by my dear assistant.

I presumed that she would dress up a bit for the occasion, but I didn't expect her to assemble a classic secretary outfit, complete with a knee-length black skirt, a white shirt, stockings, and she even put on high heels. Not stiletto heels (thank god; those are a danger to everyone involved), but they were still noticeable compared to her usual footwear choices.

"You're looking fine yourself," I noted with a hand on my chin. "Going for a no-nonsense female boss vibe?"

"That's the plan," she admitted and came to a stop next to me.

"Ah! Now I'm the only one who sticks out like a sore thumb…" Elly groused, clearly fishing for a compliment, and who was I to deny her one?

"Don't worry, princess. You're looking fine all the time, no matter the circumstances."

That put a goofy smile on her face, but then Judy unsubtly gestured at the clock, and so I stepped up to my draconic girlfriend and wrapped her up in my Phantom limbs. After some curt goodbyes, I Phased her home, where the usual limo was already waiting for her. Presumably with Melinda inside.

"Have fun," I told her and planted a peck on her forehead.

"Hehe. You… too?" she responded automatically, only realizing it wasn't quite the right thing to say under the circumstances. I didn't really mind though, and just gave her another kiss.

"I'll try."

With a smirk and a wink, I Phased back home, where Snowy and Tajana were also ready to move out. I stepped out of the teleport closet (yes, still a habit) and looked over everyone present.

"Ready to go?" I didn't do it on purpose, yet the honk of a car horn sounded outside just as I said that, so I added, "Our ride's here."

"Timing," Judy exclaimed(?) with fake enthusiasm, drawing a giggle out of Snowy and a confused look from Tajana.

Seeing that there were no objections, we all left the house and piled into the usual Constable LLC minivan, driven by by our Sir Minotaur in his slacks, like he was a college fratboy giving his friends a ride in his own car. Of course, I could've just Phased everyone over, but our destination was in the downtown area of Timaeus, without any convenient marks in the neighbourhood, so I decided to go with the mundane option for once.

The ride there was mostly uneventful, and it was almost dark by the time we arrived at the upscale restaurant in the heart of the city. We had sampled most of the establishments around these parts during our early dating spree with the girls, but this restaurant was one of the few that we never tried. Not because we missed it, but because it was one of those fancy-pants high-class restaurants, with dress codes, tiny portions, and a wine list that was longer than the rest of the menu.

Of course, I wasn't the one who chose this location. It was our 'envoy' who decided on the time and place, and from what I had gathered, conducting meetings like this in public was a common thing in the World of Mystics. It was probably just the trope being enforced; this was technically a clandestine meeting at a neutral location, and that was a staple of all kinds of political thrillers and spy stories. We had diplomatic figures and spymasters here, so I figured what we were doing was at least nominally adjacent to one or both of those genres.

"We have a table under 'Leonard S. Dunning'," I announced the moment we reached the counter, and the snooty-looking middle-aged placeholder, wearing a formal suit complete with white gloves and a bow tie, looked it up in a large book.

"Ah, yes. I see that you indeed have a reservation," he spoke in a nasal voice with a vaguely French accent, and he picked up a small silver bell. After ringing it twice, a young waitress came over and did a curtsy, which would've probably had more of an impact if I wasn't already used to such things. "The rest of your coterie arrived nine minutes ago. Please, follow the staff to your table."

"Got it."

My casual response earned me a sideways look from the man at the counter, but I didn't mind, and we followed the waitress to the back of the restaurant. The place was about as posh as expected; round tables standing on red a marble floor, with impeccably white tablecloths and silver tableware illuminated by giant hanging crystal chandeliers. It also had live music in the form of a flute quartet performing on the small stage in the corner, and again, I was made a bit uncomfortable by the realization that I was so used to this kind of opulence, party due to my various political positions and mainly because of my in-laws, that I found all of this borderline dull.

Or maybe these things were always boring, I mused as we reached our destination. There was no room for idle thoughts now, so I took a deep breath to focus my attention and levelled my gaze upon the people sitting at the table.

There were three of them in total, though I could quickly write off two of them. One was clearly just a bodyguard; he had the same kind of placeholder appearance and muscular build as one of our Squires, meaning he almost certainly wasn't our envoy.

I also knew that said envoy was a man, so the woman wearing a low-cut red dress, her shiny blonde hair arranged into an updo that wasn't quite a beehive yet was puffier than just a simple hair bun. She was busy refilling her wine glass, and combined with her somewhat vacant expression, I imagined she was also a placeholder.

Now, as for the thin man in the middle… Where do I even begin? By eye, I would've said he was in his late forties. His medium-length black hair was slicked back with gel, with a prominent hairless streak on the left side of his head. The result of an old scar, I reckoned. His face was neatly shaved, except for the pencil moustache over his upper lip, and he was wearing a dark grey striped suit with a matching fedora hat perched on the standing coat hanger behind him. His outfit was impeccable, and his dark eyes scanned each one of us one by one as we walked over.

Yep. Whoever this man was, he was definitely at least side character grade, which filled me with a mild sense of apprehension.

When our gazes met, his lips automatically bent into a thin-lipped smile that didn't touch his eyes and he gestured towards the empty chairs.

"Ah, the great Leonard Dunning. In the flesh." He had a sonorous baritone, with just a hint of an Italian accent, which was… odd, to say the least. Did Abyssals have accents? And if they did, why Italian?

Oh, wait. Stupid question. This guy was pretty much screaming 'I'm a fan of the prohibition-era mafia'. Whether that was by choice, or by the Simulacrum's arrangement, was an academic question I wasn't going to solve right now.

Meanwhile, his eyes landed on Snowy, and his lips parted even further.

"And the young heiress of House Inanna! It's been so long; I could hardly recognize you!"

Snowy remained stoic, but I could see that she was a bit uncomfortable, so to break up the situation I wordlessly pulled out a chair and sat down, drawing the man's attention back to me.

"Let's leave the pleasantries for later. I'm a busy man, and I imagine so are you." I linked my fingers on the table and continued in a low voice. "Let's talk business."

The man was taken aback for a moment, but then he smiled at me. This time, it was genuine and more than a little wolfish.

"A man after my own heart!" He let out a chuckle, followed by a long breath and considerably more serious, "Yes. Let's do just that."

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