Part 1

The stars looked pretty tonight. Not that I could remember a time they weren't pretty, but standing here, in front of Judy's home, and looking at the sky while caressed by the cool spring air did feel oddly nostalgic. Maybe because it reminded me of the time when I first started accompanying Judy home during the autumn. Or maybe…

"Please focus," my dear assistant told me sternly, even as she was busy tucking the ends of my scarf under my coat. "And remember: No dallying, no frolicking, and absolutely no cavorting. Got it?"

"Yes, yes, I got it," I placated my girlfriend the best I could, but she was still looking at me with unusual intensity. "Come on, Dormouse. Remember what Tajana said? She's like eighty-something years old."

"If anyone in the Simulacrum should know that age in here is just a number, it's you," she scolded me like I was a preschooler who couldn't tell a sheep apart from a goat, but then she finished arranging my outerwear and tugged on my lapels one last time. "Also, since you brought up her apparent age, pay close attention and write it down in a message to me as soon as you're able."

"… Why?"

"Because we have a bet going with Elly," she told me without any reservations. I must've had a stumped expression, as she soon let me go and elaborated. "We talked about vampire tropes earlier today and how their appearance rarely reflects their age. Even if our vampires are weird, it should apply to her, but we disagreed on the degree."

"Okay, now I'm even more curious," I admitted and pocketed my hands. "What did you bet on?"

"Lolibaba," Judy stated, and because I didn't respond right away, she added, "It's when an old, possibly immortal woman looks like a young girl or a child."

"Yes, I know the trope, but… Don't we already have Ichiko for that?"

"She doesn't count, because she also acts like a child," she insisted. "A lolibaba that doesn't act like a mellow, world-weary grandma is not a real lolibaba."

"I'm pretty sure some people would argue you on that point."

"They're welcome to be wrong," she stated bluntly, which made me wonder if she'd been spending too much time on the Hub's message boards and the Celestial netizens' style was rubbing off on her. In any case, she soon continued with, "Elly bet on her being our age in appearance, but since that would potentially require anti-harem countermeasures, I'm still backing my prediction."

"May I point out that, despite anti-harem countermeasures being evoked left, right, and center all the time, I never had the intention or the opportunity to build a harem, regardless of whether there were any pretty girls around me or not?"

"That just means the countermeasures are working," she declared firmly and then rose to her tiptoes to give me a peck on the cheek, concluding our discussion. "Don't stay out for long."

"Not planning to." I returned her gesture, though in my case it was on the top of her head. "Goodnight, Dormouse."

"Bye, Chief."

She turned on her heel and entered the house, and after one last exchange of waves, I also turned around and began strolling down the sidewalk. For once, I decided to walk to my destination. Partially because the weather was nice, but mostly just because I didn't exactly have any convenient marks in the park, so I would've only saved a few minutes by Phasing closer. At that point doing so was pretty much meaningless.

Anyhow, I was about to meet the matriarch of House Shamash, and while we didn't agree on a precise time, I figured it was only polite to show up relatively early. It was already after dark, if my previous musings about the stars didn't make that abundantly clear yet, but it wasn't exactly proper night-time yet, so quite a few placeholders were idling on the street. I liked how much livelier Timaeus felt right now, especially compared to the artificial, almost sterile atmosphere in the beginning.

My ponderings about placeholder development and the state of the Simulacrum inevitably led my thoughts towards more meta topics, and I was soon reminded of something that had been bugging me for a while: the Free Actor. I had a basic understanding of what the term meant after merging with other-me, but to be honest, it was kind of confusing. If I had to put a definition into words, it would've been something like 'someone with the ability to do otherwise'. That sounded kind of banal, and while I had lots of ideas about what it meant, I would've liked to hear a simple explanation for once.

Alas, The Girl still hasn't contacted me yet, and after her last cryptic warning about the Predator Moon doing something or the other, I didn't try to reach out to her either. That said, considering everything that happened since then, including future-me's shenanigans, I was more tempted to contact her by the day, even against my better judgment.

The outskirts of the park came into view while I was pondering, so I shelved these thoughts for the time being and headed in the direction of the familiar information board. As I passed by, I was once again stumbling upon all kinds of memories. That was the spot where I met Snowy in private for the first time, way before I adopted her. That was the vending machine where I had a long argument with Rinne about drinking too much coffee, back when we were hunting the second Chimera.

Which… now that I thought about it, we never properly figured out whether that was a separate beast or just the reanimated corpse of the one I'd slain during the school incident. Lord Grandpa had a hand in it either way, but he was pretty tight-lipped about the topic, and transplanting Ichiko into it erased all the evidence, so I couldn't properly call him out. I mean, I messed around with him in return, just to piss him off, but that wasn't the same as going through the actual official channels to demand a proper explanation, using evidence and due process against him, and…

…

Wow. Maybe I should stop doing so much official Draconic Federation work. I could practically feel myself turning into a cog in the machine. I should go and steal the arch-mage's cabinet again, just to recapture a spark of my youthful exuberance from the magical olden-times of six months ago.

Jokes aside… Ah, lookie. That tree still had the tattered remains of the poster warning against the wild animal set loose in the park. Looking at it now, the rumour probably started because someone caught a glimpse of one of the Fauns. Oh, and further down that path was where I spoke with Angie and she introduced the Celestial Hub to me.

Seriously, today was just one hit in the nostalgia-bone after the next. I usually wasn't this sentimental. Was I getting old, I wondered as I finally came to a halt in front of the information board, and… there was nobody else around. I looked left and right, then up and down, just for good measure, but this part of the park was completely deserted tonight.

I checked the time and then waited for about five minutes. There were no movements, and standing out in the open like this made me feel a bit awkward, so I honed in on the closest park bench and sat down. In retrospect, that might not have been the best idea. Not because I thought we could miss each other, but because now that I was sitting, I was immediately starting to feel restless and my thoughts were drawn to making Far Sight roll calls. I blame Pavlov.

That said, since there was still no movement, and since I was sure that I would notice if someone approached me in the open, I decided to give into my self-conditioned reflexes and Far Glance around a bit. I wasn't expecting to see anything important happening at this hour, yet the very first scene I peeked at turned out to be mildly intriguing.

"… you mean he already left the island?" Lord Grandpa growled, sitting at the coffee table in his study. Not the fortified office under Blue Cherry High, but the one inside his mini-mansion at home. "He did not notify me about this."

" I only learned about it this evening," Lord Gulliver spoke apologetically, and from this context, I quickly figured out they were talking about Lord Ambrose. "He sent me a text message just before boarding the plane."

The rest of the arch-mages were also present, and Lord Barnabas let out an exasperated groan while massaging his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

"Please tell me he didn't go to Ottawa…"

"I don't know. He didn't write where he's going, and phones have to be turned off on planes, so I can't reach him now," the lanky arch-mage responded softly, still sounding as apologetic as if the other man's actions were somehow his responsibility.

"This is going to be a disaster," Lorg Grandpa sighed with his head thrown back. "I believe it is pertinent that I notify Lord Marzanna about this."

"Why?" Lord Taika blurted out, drawing all eyes to her. "If Ambrose chose to act on his own, it isn't our responsibility. In the best-case scenario, he might even manage to convince Marzanna to hand over the last Grimoire Key, and that would finally resolve the problems your granddaughter's facing at the moment."

"And in the worst-case scenario, he might start a fight with her," the dark-skinned arch-mage pointed out, somehow sounding even more exasperated than before. "Glasgow is already scrutinizing us due to our close ties to the new Celestial hierarchy. An inter-School fight between two arch-mages of the Assembly, nay, two Keyholders, would inevitably turn that into a full-blown investigation."

"I'm sure that Ambrose won't…" Gulliver started, but then he paused for a long beat and slumped his shoulders. "Actually, never mind. I can't guarantee that he won't pick a fight."

"If you're so worried, maybe we should ask Leonard to pick him up?" Taika proposed, and when everyone gave her sideways glances, she quickly continued in a more defensive, "Don't look at me like that. I can't be the only one to consider that."

"No." The local arch-mage sounded extra-deadpan as he patted his beard. "Even if we were to successfully convince him to intervene, it would be akin to detonating a house to stop it from burning down. While I have a hard time imagining Ambrose reaching a diplomatic resolution with Marzanna, I scarcely dare to even fathom what could happen if he was at the scene as well."

A heavy silence settled onto the room for a while, and after glancing between each other to see if anyone had a better idea, the red-headed arch-mage raised his hands.

"I can't argue with that, but… Let's not get too overdramatic just yet. I'll try to contact him first and find out what he's planning to do, and then we can act depending on what he has to say."

"I concur," Lord Barnabas said, and Lord Taika nodded along.

"Very well. In that case, I shall refrain from contacting the School of Ottawa until we are perfectly clear on the motivations of Lord Ambrose. Are we in agreement?"

Everyone nodded along, and then the impromptu meeting quickly dissolved, with Barnabas and Taika discussing making tests papers ahead of time, in case they won't be able to do so later due to any potential emergency, while Gulliver was poking his phone and muttering something about long-distance calls and roaming fees.

Since there was nothing else to see here, I Far Glanced at Ambrose as well, and… yup. He was on a plane all right. It wasn't particularly riveting either, so I quickly moved on, though not before returning to my body and looking around.

…

Nope, still no movement. Okay, next target.

I quickly skimmed through a couple of other marks, but there was nothing interesting to see with the childhood friend couple, Ammy was already in bed, and nothing was happening at the base or with my in-laws either. I caught a glimpse of Rinne and Naoren awkwardly trying to kiss (potentially for the first time, knowing those two), but while that looked funny, it was also an intimate matter, so I didn't linger.

But then…

"… not condone your slander, Dolion!" Savir exclaimed so hard it outright startled me for a moment.

She was talking to Mensah, but Tsephanyah was also in the room. As in, the 'secret' chamber where they used to hold their private meetings in the past. I had no idea why they were still using it after I showed them it wasn't as clandestine as they thought, and they had no reason to hide their collaboration from the rest of the Elysium either, but I guessed it was a force of habit. On other words, that was also Pavlov's fault.

Anyhow, the three of them were sitting around a familiar table, though at least this time the room was well-lit and they weren't wearing those silly cowls, meaning there was some progress. They were also in their usual togas, and while that should've gone without saying, considering that the blonde ex-director spent most of our vacation dressed like a stereotypical angler from a fishing reality show, I figured it was prudent to mention it.

I only caught the tail end of some kind of argument, and seeing how vehement she was about this, Mensah quickly raised his hands and relented.

"I'm only saying that she's, technically, on a biological level, still an Abyssal. You can't argue with that."

"Abyssal or not, I won't stand for this!" Savir's scowl was something to behold, but before the younger ex-director could say anything else, she folded her arms and declared, "As far as I'm concerned, she's an exemplar, and I refuse to hear any words to the contrary!"

"… So after your attempt to get close to Lord Polemos's fiancée failed, you're now aiming for his adopted sister?" Tsephanyah supposed, and for a moment, I could practically see the sparks flying between the two.

"How dare you!?" Savir cried out, but then she put her hands onto the table, took a deep breath, and started again. "No. You're correct about my attempt to befriend someone in Polemos's inner circle resulting in a… less than satisfactory results, but this has nothing to do with that." Her eyes soon returned to Mensah, and she hissed at him in a low voice. "While I agree that we must be vigilant against the movement of the Abyssals under Bel's control, I will not entertain the notion of extending that policy to her, and that's final."

"All right, I understand," the bespectacled ex-director spoke with a sigh and crossed his arms. "It was just something I thought we would all agree upon, but I guess we aren't on the same page. What were we talking about before that?"

"The redistribution of the funds set aside for road infrastructure and maintenance," Tsephanyah said in a detached, nonchalant tone, as if saying that the previous topic had nothing to do with him. "As I was saying, since Lord Polemos lifted the ban on personal flight, we're expecting the roads to lose most of their significance, so we should propose a plan to the Archon to shift that portion of the budget to hire more flight control officers and to establish an education and certification system to reduce the current prevalence of flight-etiquette violations and fall injuries."

"Ah, indeed," Mensah nodded along. "And I said that if we have a surplus of funds, we should allocate that to surveying the Abyssals instead, and—"

"Dolion, stop," the blonde ex-director cut him short, just before Savir could get a word in. "That's what started the previous tangent. We don't have all night for this, so let's stay on topic."

And that's exactly what they did. I listened to them for a bit longer, but they were only talking about air-traffic rules and whatnot, so I tuned out and returned to my body. There was still no movement around me, so I took out my phone and fired up the messaging app, because there was something about the exchange between those three that bothered me.

"God of Grilled Cheese: Hey, sis? Are you awake?"

She apparently was, because I got a reply after just a few short seconds.

"Best Little Sister: Is everything all right?"

"God of Grilled Cheese: Yes. I just wanted to ask you something."

"God of Grilled Cheese: Did you talk with Savir during our vacation?"

I could see her type, then stop, then type again, so she apparently had a hard time deciding how to respond.

"Best Little Sister: Yes. We talked for a while when I set the Camouflage Sigils around her."

"Best Little Sister: I also"

"Best Little Sister: put a parasol over her so she wouldn't get a sunburn."

"Best Little Sister: And I gave her something to drink too."

"Best Little Sister: I shouldn't have?"

"God of Grilled Cheese: No, it's fine. You didn't do anything wrong."

"God of Grilled Cheese: What did you talk about?"

There was another quiet spell, during which I could see her type a lot, yet the resulting response was surprisingly short.

"Best Little Sister: Just about life. Looking on the bright side of things and trying to be happy. Those kinds of things."

"Best Little Sister: Did I cause a problem?"

"God of Grilled Cheese: Don't be so nervous. I told you; you did nothing wrong."

After some thinking, I added another line.

"God of Grilled Cheese: I'll tell you the details tomorrow. Don't stay up late."

"Best Little Sister: Okay. Did you already meet with Lady Fidèle?"

"God of Grilled Cheese: Not yet, but she should better show up soon. My butt is getting cold."

"Best Little Sister: XD"

"Best Little Sister: Penny's calling. Goodnight."

"God of Grilled Cheese: Goodnight."

"God of Grilled Cheese: And tell her not to play her mobile game under the blankets and go to sleep properly, or I'll give her lots of head pats tomorrow."

"Best Little Sister: XD XD XD"

That was the end of our texting, and so I put my phone away, looked around, and…

…

Still nothing.

Seriously, was I that early? Or maybe when our local flavour of vampires said 'after dark', they meant 'waaay after dark'. Like, after midnight, or something. Speaking of 'vamps', I still knew very little about them. According to Judy's refresher course, Abyssal vampires were an exceedingly rare breed. The same applied to most other Abyssal sub-species as well (for example, the entirety of House Inanna had exactly two Seducers, namely Snowy and Tajana), but vampires were especially so. They also had a mixed reputation, both in- and out-of-Abyss, because of the whole body-snatching business, so it was hard to tell the truth apart from the exaggerated rumours.

As far as I knew, it could've been that she literally couldn't come out until after midnight and she just thought I would know about that. I hoped that wasn't the case; I wasn't joking when I said my butt was freezing. We had mild spring weather, sure, but it was still getting late and the temperature wasn't exactly balmy.

Hoping that I wouldn't need to sit here for half the night, I searched for a distraction, and my mind soon reached for my Far Sight again. Once again: it's Pavlov's fault.

Since I was thinking about Abyssal stuff, I figured I might as well give them a peek, and to my surprise, I found Crowy in his study, surrounded by his usual cronies, and… wow. Did I miss the announcement that today was declared 'international impromptu meeting day', or something?

Joking aside, the atmosphere in the room was more tense than usual, and at least part of the reason probably had to do with the bandages covering the left side of Crowy's exposed upper body.

"House Gula reinforced the defensive perimeter around their castle, My Liege," an older man stated gravely. He had a bushy, greying beard, a receding hairline, and a prominent gut that couldn't be fully restrained by the wide belt of his dark army uniform.

I didn't know his name, but I've seen him enough times to recognize him. From what I gathered, he was something of a military advisor and someone directly in charge of the Fauns of House Inanna. His expression was bleak, and he nervously gulped when looking at the injured patriarch.

"I don't think we'll get another opportunity to wrestle control of their Mana Well away from them any time soon," Crowy's right-hand man, the guy wearing a grey navy uniform, stated with a sense of grave finality, and another member of the entourage let out a low huff.

"What happened?" the old woman in the back asked, sounding rather accusatory compared to the tone of the others. She wore a black gothic dress and her hair was done up into a wide, elaborate bun on the back of her head. She was also holding one of those long pipes and she used its stem to point at the man behind the desk. "You said you could do it. What went wrong?"

"Matron…" One of the less significant underlings tried to calm her down, but a single withering glare made him slink back.

As for Crowy, he let out a heavy breath and pulled his coat over his bandaged shoulder.

"Getting to the Gulas' Mana Well was simple. It's simply that taking control of it took much longer than expected, and it allowed Manchot to regroup. He hit me while my guard was down, together with Éclair and her sons."

"And why was your guard down?" the old woman kept drilling him, and the bastard let out an uncomfortable groan.

"Because taking control of another Mana Well, while also keeping my grip on the others firm, was more difficult than expected." He paused and he rubbed the side of his head, as if recalling a painful memory. "As a matter of fact, it was much harder than taking over the Ashurs' Mana Well. I believed my experience would let me dominate it much faster, but it turned out that each additional Mana Well increases the difficulty of the process."

"'More difficult than expected'. 'You believed'. 'It seems'," the woman they called 'the matron' echoed him with a squint. "Meaning you rushed in without being certain."

"I couldn't be sure," he answered impatiently. "No one has done something like this before me."

"Then why didn't you ask the 'Emperor' for advice?" she continued to question him relentlessly, prompting Crowy to groan in exasperation.

"I did. He told me it was something I would have to experience myself."

"So it was a test?" Dimas, the guy in the grey uniform, blurted out seemingly without meaning to, and after a long beat, Crowy shrugged.

"Maybe."

"But if taking the third Mana Well is already so difficult, then how is our liege expected to conquer all of them?" the bearded old man asked the question on everyone's mind, but Crowy silenced him with a gesture.

"I don't know. Not yet." As he said that, both his eyes and his hair lit up with an eery purple light, and as he raised his hand, a ball of crackling purple ball of light manifested over his palm. "There has to be something, some way, to control them other than brute force. Something with more finesse. I just have to figure out how, or what I'm missing to achieve it."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to think about it while you recuperate," the old matron stated dryly. "We can't push our luck while you're injured, so I propose we halt our offensive for the time being and focus on reinforcing the front lines."

Everyone went along with what she said without resistance, including Crowy, which made me wonder just who she truly was. 'Matrons' were distinguished older women in high social positions, often widows of men of high esteem who still had lots of influence in a family, so… maybe she was Crowy's grandmother? No, that would've made her Snowy's grandma too, and she would've told me about her.

I returned to my body and was just about to send one more message to my sister to ask, but then I noticed a lone figure on a nearby footpath, so I stood up and quickly walked over to the information board. As expected, the newcomer was heading this way, and once she got closer, I could finally make out her features.

She was a pale woman in her mid-to-late thirties, with long, flowing silver hair and piercing red eyes that seemed to softly glow whenever she wasn't under the direct light of one of the lampposts. She was wearing an elaborately laced black gown with matching elbow gloves, and if that wasn't enough, she was also holding a similarly coloured parasol in her hands. Even more peculiarly, she had a kind of incorporeal, hazy black mist following in her wake, as if she was gliding on top of it.

"Good evening, Lord Dunning," she greeted me without much change in her expression. Her voice was deep and melodious, and it was worth pointing out that she had no audible accent to speak of. "Or should I call you Lord Polemos? Lord Archon? Which one of your titles do you prefer?"

"Neither. Just Leonard will do," I responded laconically and her lips bent into a mildly amused smile, which was… wow.

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Okay, so, I didn't want to overstate this or anything, but even ignoring the fact that her appearance was suspiciously similar to an older Snowy's, she was also damn pretty. As in, I was used to people in the Simulacrum being unreasonably attractive, but she in particular was straight up main character level beautiful, and if she showed up earlier (and was a little younger), I would've instantly pegged her as an eleventh-hour addition to Josh's harem. However, since that boat had already sailed, it only made me feel all the more confused.

Thankfully it must not have shown on my face, because she gracefully nodded and told me, "In that case, you may address me by my given name as well."

"Fair enough."

"Come, Lord Leonard. Walk with me. We have much to discuss."

"Indeed, just… Give me a second."

While saying that, I was busy typing on my phone, and she gave me a curious look in reaction.

"May I ask what you're doing?"

"Nothing major," I reassured her and I pocketed my phone with a smile. "I just informed my fiancées that they both lost a bet."

And also reassured them that the anti-harem countermeasures were firmly in place, as always, but she didn't need to know that.

Part 2

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

That was an odd line, so I couldn't help but glance curiously at the Abyssal woman by my side. Was she referring to the budding flowers down the path, the moon hanging over our heads in the clear sky, or the city park as a whole? Actually, hold that thought. I've read a bunch of Judy's 'research material', and based on that, this situation was eerily familiar to one of those clichéd romantic scenes. The kind where the female lead would go 'Pretty!' while looking at something, and then the male lead would start furiously blushing and gormlessly gawking at her as bishi sparkles fill the panels, or something.

"Is there something on my face?"

Goddamit…

"No," I responded in a neutral voice. "I was just wondering what you're referring to."

The head of House Shamash flashed a demure smile and tilted her parasol backwards so that she could look directly up through the gap between the treetops.

"I always found the night sky of the outside world so fascinating. The stars, the moon…" She let out a soft chuckle. "I'm not particularly fond of the sun, but it's still a captivating sight. The skies of the Abyss are very plain in comparison." She turned back to me with a meaningful glint in her ruby-red eyes. "But I presume that's something you already know."

I did, but the way she was saying it as if it was common knowledge still made me raise a brow.

"What makes you think that?"

"Didn't you see it during your visit to the Abyss?" I had to make some effort to maintain my poker face, and seeing that I didn't react, she soon clarified. "On the occasion Lord Tracas mentioned during our dinner meeting. I believe it was the time you took some of House Inanna's Fauns out of the Abyss."

"Oh. You're talking about that…" I murmured with just a hint of relief. For a split second, I was worried someone noticed my latest visit to the Abyss and she was playing mind games with me. More importantly though… "I find it odd that you keep presuming that I personally rescued them back then."

"Did you not?" She asked back, but before I could respond, we stopped at a branch in the paths and she turned to face me. "Based on what I know, back then you didn't possess the kind of backing you do today. Even if you did, you have a long and storied record of taking decisive action in person. It's also an open secret that you were in some kind of mutually beneficial relationship with Bel of the Abyss before you ascended to the throne of Elysium, and knowing that he possesses the ability to carry people between realms, those individual strokes paint a complete picture." She didn't wait for me to respond and gestured towards the fork in the paved path. "Which way shall we proceed?"

"The left," I responded reflexively. "That one goes around most of the park, and it'll lead back to the information board after we make a full circle."

She inclined her head in agreement and the two of us started walking again. The silence didn't last long.

"You appear to be familiar with the roads of this park."

"I patrolled this place a lot a couple of months ago." She was looking at me attentively, so I added, "We were hunting an undead Chimera. It's a long story."

"Sounds like a fascinating tale. Once the war is over, please remind me to invite you over, so that I could listen to it under more relaxed circumstances."

"Aren't you thinking ahead a bit too much? I think resolving the civil war situation takes precedence over planning any tea parties."

"I was thinking more along the lines of a wine tasting, but that sounds lovely as well." She let out a soft chuckle, finding the conversation mildly amusing. "If you ask me, thinking of a pleasant future makes the hardships of the present feel much less daunting."

"I don't necessarily disagree in principle, but it's a bit too optimistic for my tastes."

"I'm an optimist," she freely admitted.

"You struck me more as a political realist the last time we talked."

She let out an amused hum and told me, "Optimism and naiveté are not synonyms."

"I suppose. I'm more of a professional pessimist myself."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Her tone was conclusive, and she consequently steered the conversation in a different direction. "Since the topic of the civil war came up, I believe we might as well address the true subject of our clandestine meeting."

"Clandestine," I repeated after her a touch incredulously, and she inclined her head a bit. Was I supposed to keep our meeting a secret? It didn't really matter at this point, since the girls and the rest of the family already knew about it, so decided to gloss over it. "Never mind. I'm listening."

She didn't respond right away. She absent-mindedly swirled her parasol a few times, as if to build tension, then began to speak in a firm voice.

"The last time I could only briefly touch upon the greatest setback we're suffering in the face of the Lord of Inanna's aggression. On the surface, the Houses are joined in shared purpose, but in reality, our alliance is a tenuous one, with everyone involved still weighing their own gain over the common good." She exhaled a sharp breath and looked me in the eye. "You've already seen what I'm referring to with your own eyes."

For a split-second, I once again thought she was referring to me visiting the Abyss, but I was pretty sure I was just being paranoid, and she was talking about something else. I didn't need to think long to realize what she truly meant, and then I felt a bit foolish.

"Tracas and the remains of House Ashur being more preoccupied with 'fixing' the succession than fighting Noir, I presume."

"Along with House Nergal urging him on, yes." Her expression grew weary, and as she glanced up at the sky again, she suddenly looked a decade older. Or maybe just felt so. "As I've said before, I'm not nearly young and idealistic enough to believe that people, let alone the Houses of the Abyss, would willingly come together for the sake of the greater good, even when their utter destruction is looming over their heads. In a way, the other Lords are as optimistic as I am." She glanced back at me and flashed a thin-lipped smile. "They are so busy planning how they would re-draw the political landscape of the Abyss, they neglect the war we must win in the present."

"I'm quite familiar with self-destructive leaders living in their own little world, so I can relate," I spoke in a casual tone, and my comment drew a soft chuckle from her.

"I assumed that you have experience with such matters, and it's part of the reason why I sought you out in person, going as far as to insert myself into Lord Tracas's negotiations as a witness. I'll be frank with you, Lord Leonard. We need you."

"I've got that much from the part where you promised me that you would give me anything I asked for in exchange for my support. What I've yet to hear is exactly what you're expecting from me." I narrowed my eyes and added, "I imagine it's not something as straightforward as jailbreaking someone."

My words were followed by a long beat, and then she nearly stumbled when she couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into laughter.

"I've… never thought that breaking in and out of the most infamous prison of the Abyss would be ever described as 'straightforward', but I suppose there's a first time for everything." She flashed an absent-minded smile at me, but then she caught herself and cleared her throat before she continued in a more subdued tone. "While my request might not be as 'simple', it is in many ways just as outrageous: please lend us your name."

I had a feeling she didn't mean that literally (though in a world with magic, one could never be too careful), so I interpreted it as its 'normal' meaning.

"Wouldn't my open support hurt your side? I was under the impression that many in the Abyss were already convinced that Bel of the Abyss was just a Celestial false flag operation."

"Is he?"

"No."

"Then it should be fine, shouldn't it?" She sounded a touch provocative, and I could see a hint of a smile dancing at the edge of her lips. "Your rivalry with the Lord of House Inanna is well-known, as well as your penchant for involving yourself with others' conflicts. Just voicing your support of our cause would bolster the resistance against the aggressors."

"I'm not entirely convinced about that, but even if we presume that my name would somehow command enough respect, wouldn't the current acting Archon of Elysium denouncing Noir and Bel just strengthen their claims?"

"Allow me to allay your doubts one by one," she responded lightly and… was she enjoying this discussion a bit too much? In any case, she twirled her parasol again and told me, "You might not know this, but your name has been on many lips in the Abyss. Not as the Archon Polemos, but as the Peacebringer."

"The what now?"

The skin on the back of my neck immediately broke out into goosebumps. When the heck did I gain another embarrassing title like that?

"Tales of your exploits spread amongst the populace like wildfire, and even those in the castle halls of the great Houses can't help themselves but share them in hushed whispers." She must've realized that I was feeling uncomfortable, because her whole face bloomed into a smile at my expense. "The great unifier, who not only united the disparate Dragonblooded clans, but also brought the dreaded Knighthood into the fold, and even ended the centuries-old cold war between the Wingless Ones and our Celestial cousins. You can easily see that such feats would ignite hope in the hearts of many. After all, if those ancient hatreds can be set aside, then can't the Abyss also benefit from the same?"

That was overstating things a bit, as usual, but let's ignore that for the moment and focus on the more baffling aspect of this conversation.

"Where are those rumours coming from?"

"I'm not entirely sure. They seem to have cropped up naturally, in response to your deeds."

"No, I meant to say that it makes no sense that such rumours would organically spread to the Abyss of all places. On Critias, sure, but the Abyss is… Wait."

I felt a bit stupid at this moment, but I had to double-check, so I gestured for her to stop and then I activated my Leoformer. I didn't switch outfits, but accessed the leftover storage space in the array housing Cal and Teeny and retrieved the small handwritten notebook I stashed in there.

"What is that?"

"Don't mind me, I just have to check something," I said as I took half a step to the side to make sure she couldn't see the writing.

"What a curious sight. From whence did that booklet appear? Was it one of your fabled enchantments?"

"Yes, but that's beside the point. Please give me a second." She nodded and quietly waited for me to flip the pages until I found what I was looking for, and I involuntarily hissed out a quiet, "Goddamit, future-me," through clenched teeth.

"Pardon?"

"Never mind!" I exclaimed and stashed the notebook away, followed by a reassuring smile. "Let's ignore those pesky rumours for now. It's not like we can do anything about them."

Her intrigued gaze told me she wanted to ask, but her better judgment made her nod along.

"As you wish. Now, for your other doubt, about Bel of the Abyss's legitimacy." She paused meaningfully and then turned on her heel, which I understood as a gesture to keep moving, so we started walking again as I listened to her. "To put it in blunt terms, whether he's truly Bel of the Tenebrous Flames or not is entirely irrelevant."

"Is it?"

"Yes." She didn't as much insist as simply stated a brute fact. "Let us presume that he truly is, as both Elysium and your Draconic Federation proclaimed, the second coming of the Emperor of the Abyss. What does that mean?" She shook her head, as if the question itself was silly. "It's nothing. True Emperor or not, he chose to wage war on the Noble Houses that inherited his land, without attempting to publicly proclaim himself and gain our support and allegiance. None of us will follow a man like that, whether his claims to the empty throne are legitimate or not."

"What about the neutral House?"

"House Ninhursag? They're a wild card. They refused to join the alliance of Noble Houses, but they never acknowledged the Lord of Inanna's claims either, and they isolated themselves on the Eastern coast of the Abyss. To be perfectly honest with you, I'm secretly hoping that your involvement might finally break them out of their self-imposed isolation."

"You're already presuming that I'd support you."

"Won't you?" she asked back, sounding almost playful. "Why else would you have listened to me for this long, unless you were already inclined to help us?"

I didn't have a good comeback to that, so I let the silence answer for me.

"While you would not be able to gain much, I can tell you with perfect certainty that aiding us will lose you one thing," she pressed on, her voice full of confidence and conviction. "An old enemy. Aid the Abyss in our time of need, and you will gain the goodwill of both the Noble Houses and the populace. It might not be enough to immediately erase the millennia of bad blood between the Abyss and Elysium, but I swear on my name that in this generation, both of our people will have peace and prosperity." She fell silent for a long beat, and then added, "Also, it would be your crowning achievement; the final notch on the belt of the Peacemaker that will go down in history. Doesn't that sound nice?"

"I don't care much about that, but…" I hesitated for a second, but after mulling over it a few times, I eventually gave in. "Fine. Let's just say that I tentatively accept that."

"Oh? That was quicker than expected." She sounded surprised. She must've thought I would need more buttering up. "Very well. I'm listening."

"To what?"

"Your terms," she responded off-the-cuff. "I've stated our part of the deal, now it's your turn to state your terms and conditions."

"I thought we were already done with that." My answer made her stop in her tracks, so I took one last step and turned around to face her. "I give you support, I get peace and prosperity. Sounds fair."

Her eyes went wide as saucers, but a moment later she broke into laughter again, and it took her several seconds to rein in the impulse.

"You truly are a strange man, Lord Leonard," she uttered while theatrically wiping the corners of her eyes. I ignored both her comment and her acting and changed the subject.

"I can't promise military support, but I can give you supplies and humanitarian aid. If you want anything specific, please send a proper written request through the official channels."

"The website with the adorable cartoon dragon. Yes, I was told about it." She flashed a smile, and added, "I promise to do so, yet there's an already pending request that I would urge you to take upon yourself."

"The Ashur kid?"

"Indeed." She nodded along and dramatically closed her parasol before tapping its end against the pavement like it was a fancy walking cane. "While I don't endorse Lord Tracas's motives or House Nergal's meddling, I have to say that there are scarcely any better ways to publicly announce your support of our cause than rescuing the young Lord of a fallen House from the clutches of Bel of the Abyss and his Herald. Don't you agree?"

"So we're back to square one," I grumbled, but then I followed it up with a more distinct, "Why, yes. It would have quite the theatrical flair."

"I'm glad we're in agreement." The head of House Shamash flashed a delighted smile at me, and I saw that the faint mist around her body was starting to billow and roil, as if whipped up by a strong wind. "I won't take any of your precious time today, Lord Leonard. The next time we meet, let it be in an official capacity and in front of credible witnesses, so that our alliance may be enshrined in writing. And who knows?" As she spoke, her outlines became more and more hazy, her pale skin was turning the same black as her clothes, along with the sclera of her eyes, and her red irises gained an otherworldly orange glow. Then, just as her appearance was becoming truly uncanny… she flashed a warm smile and added, "Maybe we could have that tea party sooner than expected?"

Not a second after she said that, she winked and her whole body collapsed into a black mist with a dull orange-red light at its center, only to then disappear with a loud 'whoosh'.

So… she was also a fan of dramatic exits, huh? Birds of a feather, I guess.

More importantly though, while I had my reservations about this whole alliance business, knowing that future-me's handiwork was in play, I could kind of see the outlines of a plot in the making, and if I read the instructions in the notebook right, having allies within the Abyss was part of the plan. Probably.

I mean, the instructions weren't exactly clear on that, most likely as part of some spoiler/paradox prevention measure, but I was still pretty sure I was on the right track.

…

Buuut just to be sure, I quickly completed the circle around the park, hopped into the public toilets near the info board, and then donned a familiar outfit. Making sure my lapels were in order and my top hat was sitting on my head firmly, I gave myself one last look in the mirror and then disappeared for a quick reconnaissance mission. Just to be safe.

Part 3

"Seriously, what's wrong with me?"

"Come on, Leo. Don't be so hard on yourself," Elly said while trying to calm me down by gently rubbing my back, but it only helped a little.

"I'm serious. If this keeps going on, I swear to god I'll strangle myself one of these days!"

"Self-harm is bad!" she declared, and this time she hit my back, so I wisely shut up and only continued to gripe in my head.

Luckily enough, Melinda chose this moment to come in, pushing a fancy service trolley.

"Master Leonard, please don't make milady angry."

"I'm not angry, just…" the princess started, but then she suddenly jumped off her bed and exclaimed, "Cookies! You're the best!"

"You're welcome, milady, but only eat in moderation. It's late."

"I know, I know," my girlfriend grinned and picked up a fresh pastry from the tray.

Meanwhile, I remained sitting on the edge of the bed. The chamber-maid was right; it was pretty late already, and normally I wouldn't have bothered Elly at this hour, but a long chain of events led me to this point and I couldn't do much about it.

Let's rewind the clock by about an hour or so. After I met with Fidèle Shamash, I immediately took a trip to the Abyss to try to find future-me, or failing that, to find out more about my newly spreading reputation amongst the Abyssals. Needless to say, the first half of that plan was entirely fruitless, though it made sense in retrospect. Future-me, by definition, knew exactly where I would be looking for him in the present, so he just had to make sure he wasn't there, and there was no way to outmanoeuvre him, because you can't play mind games with yourself. It was one of those 'by definition' things, so as much as it annoyed me to do so, I gave up on seeking him out and moved on to the second half of the plan.

Except that bit turned out to be just as aggravating, since the first place I hit up while looking for intel was the pub in the main shopping street of Eanna (which was the name of the town surrounding Castle Inanna, by the way). It was already late, so there were fewer patrons, yet the ones present not only immediately recognised me, but the bartender just straight up told me that my 'friend', Antonio, already cleared my tab and gave me a note he left behind.

I know this is going to be absolutely, incredibly, in-con-ceivably shocking, but said note was bloody useless as well! It just told me to relax and talk to Elly! The first half was meaningless, because who had time to do that, and the second half was pointless, because why wouldn't I want to talk to my girlfriend? Seriously now, was I trying to piss myself off on purpose? Was I enacting some kind of psycho-social experiment on myself? Was my goal to make me strangle myself and cause a time paradox?

…

No, wait. It would only cause one of those if future-me strangled me, not the other way around. My bad, but my point still stands.

Putting my gripes with my future version aside, I still managed to get some info out of the locals. I had to order and drink half a glass of cheap wine to get them in the mood (they drank the rest of the bottle), and that just reinforced my earlier opinion on alcoholic drinks just not being for me. More importantly, they confirmed what the head of House Shamash told me.

Nobody knew the origins of the rumours, yet they were ubiquitous even in the heart of Crowy's seat of power. He allegedly tried to stem them once, owing to the fact that he vocally hated my guts (meaning the sentiment was mutual), but it only drew more ears to the existence of such rumours, so it backfired on him. Wasn't there a name for when that happened? The Streisand Effect, was it?

So yeah, I was the beneficiary (or victim, depending on the point of view) of that effect, and now most of the Abyss was aware of the deeds of the 'Peacemaker'. Because I obviously needed more titles. The worst part was that I could only blame myself for this one, and I was planning to do just that as soon as I could meet him again. With optional strangling in tow, depending on his reasoning.

I mean, I had some ideas. Based on the combination of the notebook's clues and what we discussed with future-me before, our main cast (read: Josh and his original entourage) had to come down to the Abyss at one point or another. That required some groundwork, and giving Leonard S. Dunning an inflated reputation would invariably help them when mounting some kind of rescue mission or whatever.

"Master Leonard?"

My extended musings were interrupted when Melinda addressed me from the door.

"Yes?"

"Please do not keep Milady up for too long. It's a weekday, and both of you will have school tomorrow."

"I know, I know."

She gave me a long, deadpan stare, and then she curtsied and left Elly's room, leaving the food trolley behind.

"Here, try some," my princess insisted the moment she returned to my side and placed the tray of chocolate chip cookies onto the bed next to me.

"Maybe later. I'm not hungry."

Despite my polite refusal, she kept insisting.

"Come on, just one! Melinda made them for us, you know?"

"I do, but…" She kept staring at me intently, so I surrendered and picked up a cookie. It was crumbly, sweet, and still lukewarm. I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't hungry, yet I still finished it in just a few quick bites. "It was good. Happy?"

"Not sure yet, give me a second…"

I wasn't sure what she meant at first, but then she suddenly leaned in and kissed me on the mouth. Not only that, but it was an unusually aggressive one, doing the tongue-stuff and all, and when we finally parted, she let out a satisfied him paired with a goofy grin.

"Much better!"

"Compared to what?" I blurted out, and she pointed at my face.

"Compared to when you came home! Your mouth tasted weird."

Oh. She was probably still tasting the wine I had then. I had no experience with the beverage, so I had no idea if the taste was objectively weird or not, but it must've been uncanny for her either way.

"And now I taste like chocolate chip cookies."

"Yes. And it's much better," she echoed herself and sat down at the other side of the tray and picked up another pastry. "Where were we before Melinda interrupted us?" she mused, then her brows descended into a frown and she used her cookie to point at me. "Right! No self-strangling! It's weird!"

"I got it, I got it. It was just a figure of speech."

"Good." Thus placated, my girlfriend bit her cookie in half and fell silent for a couple of long seconds. "Going back on what we talked about before that, I think you don't need to tell Judy about this Fidèle woman. Or at least you shouldn't talk about how pretty she is."

"But it's kind of an important data point," I emphasized with a frown of my own. "You know that physical attractiveness is directly tied to narrative importance in the Simulacrum. Or at the very least it's a clear and recognizable pattern."

"Yes, true, but I don't think that you should be the one to tell her about it," she argued back. "Let me tell her. That way, she won't be as stressed about it. She still takes the anti-harem countermeasures seriously, you know?"

"A fair point," I granted her, remembering that she was even concerned about Savir because she was (according to her, at least) a MILF, followed by a shallow sigh. "I have a feeling we'll have a lot of things to worry about in the near future anyway, so let's not unnecessarily add to her mental workload."

"Will we?"

Elly's innocent-sounding question made me raise a brow.

"Of course. We'll have to cobble together a finale with future-me, but before that, we'll have to resolve Ammy's subplot, and Lord Ambrose already started that one, so I have a feeling that it's going to be one thing after another for a while."

"Ah, that reminds me!" She suddenly jumped to her feet out of the blue and turned on her heel to point a finger at me. "Don't go anywhere! I'll be right back!"

"What are you…?"

I didn't have the chance to finish the question, because she stormed out of her room without looking back. That was odd, but Elly was kind of impulsive like that, so I was used to it. More importantly, since I was reminded of him, I quickly cast a Far Glance in Lord Ambrose's direction, but despite my expectations, he wasn't up to anything yet. Ottawa was about five hours behind us in terms of time zones, but by the looks of it, it hadn't been long since his plane landed and he was busy settling down in some kind of hotel room.

To be honest, I was kind of expecting that he'd try to immediately kick down the local School's doors, but maybe he was just tired after the flight. Curiously enough, the environment around him looked… how should I put this? Plain? Not in terms of décor (in fact, his hotel room was rather fancy), but in general appearance. The colours were oddly muted and the lighting felt flat, as if I was looking at a badly colour-corrected footage of an old sitcom filmed on a cheap sound stage.

I was just about to move my point of view around a bit more and try to take a look outside when my attention was drawn back to Elly's room.

"Leo! Help!"

I reflexively jumped to my feet, thinking that it was an emergency, but my girlfriend was just stuck in the doorway while trying to carry in some kind of large, boxy machine with a wooden body.

"What's that?"

"A record player," she answered without a hint of hesitation, and once I grabbed hold of a corner of it, we managed to turn it sideways and bring it into the room.

"Okay, I bite: Why do you have an old-school record player?" She was giving me an odd look, and considering that she was the heiress of a record label, it was definitely a silly question to ask. "Wait, let me rephrase that: what do you need with this right now?"

"You'll see!" she declared with a confident smirk but didn't elaborate, and even after we placed the bulky machine onto her desk, she only asked, "Were you Far Seeing?"

"What gave you that idea?"

"You had your eyes closed," she responded in a tone that was only missing a dismissive 'Duh?', but she had a point.

"I just checked on Ambrose," I explained as I watched her set up the record player. "He's yet to do anything."

"Is that surprising?" she asked without looking up. I think she was looking for an electric outlet behind her desk. "He only left the island today."

"Yes, but with his personality, I expected that there would be something happening around him by this point."

My princess shook her head.

"You're just too used to cutting through red tape, but things like securing an audience with an arch-mage usually take time."

"If you say so," I muttered, and seeing that she had nothing to add to that, I let my curiosity get the better of me. "Let's just ignore him. Can you tell me what this is about?"

She didn't respond right away. First, she propped up the lid covering the turning mechanism at the top of the machine, and only when she was sure that it was working did she face me with one of those slightly smug yet endlessly adorable smirks of hers.

"Do you remember what we talked about this morning?"

"… You have to be a bit more precise."

"After the squirrel," she clarified, and while that did jog my memory, she also immediately followed it up with, "I had this idea, you know? If being the Narrative means that things get more dramatic and interesting whenever you focus on them, then could we turn that around?"

"How do you 'turn around' something like that?"

I was genuinely stumped by both her choice of words and her enthusiasm, and she tapped on the record player in response.

"We'll hypnotize you!"

"… Excuse me?"

"Erm… actually, it's a bit more involved than that, but…" She pulled out one of her drawers and, after rummaging around a bit, produced an old-timed black vinyl record and placed it onto the turntable. "This is an ambient soundtrack. We'll use it to help you relax, and then we'll try some self-suggestion techniques!"

"Okay, but that still doesn't explain why it had to be a gramophone record," I blurted out, though to be fair, this was probably the least weird part of this whole situation.

"It's because they have a more tactile and complex soundscape, so it should help you calm down and relax!"

Before I could even question whether my girlfriend was a vinyl record snob, the first track started playing and I finally got an explanation for why this machine was so big: it had its speakers built into the main body, and the sound coming out of them was a slow instrumental song that sounded like it was underscored by the waves of the ocean.

"Come on, let's give it a try!"

Elly grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the bed. She put the half-empty cookie tray onto her nightstand, then guided me to lie down and she sat cross-legged at my head. I played along, but to be honest, I had no idea where this was going.

"Rest your head here, and… Okay, so I've read this in a book, and I never tried it before, but it should go something like this." She put her hand on my forehead. "Close your eyes, and listen to the music."

I did as I was told, and the princess continued to rub my head.

"Don't use Far Sight, okay? Just relax, and empty your mind."

"Is this like meditation?" I asked without opening my eyes, and I had a feeling that she reflexively nodded.

"Kind of. The book said it's more like self-hypnosis, or self-suggestion." Her hand stopped, so I opened one eye. She poked my forehead and I closed it again. "Pay attention. The idea is to make you not think and worry about any developments, just like how you purposefully avoided the Spring Tournament of the Draconic Federation. If we're right, then it proceeded smoothly and nothing interesting happened during it because you actively put it out of your mind, which means that the same could be applied elsewhere. You know? Like those other sub-plot things you and Judy always talk about."

"I get the theory, but how am I supposed to do that?"

"It's simple! Or… maybe not that simple, but…" I could feel Elly fidget for a while, but then she put her hand on my face to cover my eyes and resolutely declared, "It's all about your state of mind! Let's get you relaxed first!"

That was easier said than done. I mean, I was lying on my girlfriend's bed, with her crossed legs under my head and her hand on my eyes. My sex drive might've been lower than usual, but this kind of situation was still a bit distracting, no small part thanks to all the eighteen-plus rated memories it evoked. Yet, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Trying to ignore my troubles and worries was kind of like playing The Game. The one where you lost if you thought about The Game. It was impossible not to think about all the plot-malarkey related to future-me and Ammy and Ambrose and Josh and so on, because I needed to think about them in order to know what not to think about, and…

"No, no, no! You're doing it wrong!" Elly interrupted me by poking my chin with her free hand.

"How can you tell?"

"Of course I can! I can read your expressions like an open book, you know? Just how long do you think we've been dating at this point?" I reflexively wanted to point out that it's been a little over half a year, which actually wasn't that much in the grand scheme of things, but I felt that doing so would've been counter-productive. "Let's try to move on to the next step, and come back to the relaxing part later. You need to come up with a mantra."

"A what now? This is getting more complicated."

"No. I mean, a little, but that's not important." Elly cupped both of my cheeks in her hands and took a deep breath. "The first step is to relax, listen to the music, and shut out everything else. Then repeat something like 'All of my troubles are meaningless' or 'There are no such things as insurmountable obstacles'."

"… Was the book that you read some kind of self-help pamphlet?" She didn't respond, but I could practically feel her scowl on my skin, so I hastily amended, "I'll try, give me a second."

Inhaling a deep breath, I tried to empty my mind as much as I could and repeated 'The side-plots are unimportant. I don't need to think about them', over and over again.

"How long do we need to do this?" I asked after a few minutes, just as the track changed.

"Until you fully internalize the self-suggestion, and then we'll repeat it daily to reinforce it."

I still wasn't convinced, but since Elly was into this, I decided to play along and continued to meditate. In fact, I even went as far as to use the mana-circulation meditation technique I learned from Naoren. I never had much of a use for it, ever since I merged with other-me and I no longer had an instinctive, volatile antipathy towards certain people, but this felt like a good opportunity to dust it off.

Since I didn't have my Magiformer on, I had only a trace amount of Mana in my system (I blame my partial merging with Polemos making me a fraction Celestial for that), and without Cal's help the circulation's effects were much less pronounced, but it still helped me clear my mind. I combined that with Elly's self-suggestion idea, and before I knew it, I settled down into a shallow, meditative trance.

It only lasted until the vinyl record in the background reached its end, but I was still shocked to see how half an hour just disappeared like that, and when I opened my eyes, I found Elly affectionately gazing at my face. That was a nice note on which to end our session.

"How do you feel?"

It took me a few long seconds to formulate an answer, and I ultimately settled on the pithy (but not inaccurate), "Lighter."

"That's good!" She said, but then a long beat later she also added, "… I think!"

"What now?"

"We'll keep practicing, and then we'll see if it has any effects on those side-plot things! We could do it during lunch breaks, or…" She glanced at the turntable and shook her head. "Wait, no. We can't bring this to school, but I'll think of something!"

"Whatever you say, princess."

My girlfriend let out a confident hum, and while I adored her attitude, I didn't share her enthusiasm. I mean, sure. My mind felt clearer and my worries about the immediate future felt less pressing, but there was no way something as corny as 'self-hypnosis' could have any effects on the scenario, right? So, let's just ignore that, and view it as just another nice recreational way to spend some quality time with my girlfriend. That way, nobody will be disappointed.

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