PART 1

So, another complication. What's new?

While the oddly friendly (but not any less irritating) director was looking for a glass to sample the wine I brought, I quickly reconsidered the situation. First off, we apparently knew each other. Or rather, she knew Leonard Pendragon. That meant we were in contact before I came to Critias, and well before I lost my memories. I doubted it was personal contact, considering she was at the very top of the Celestial food chain, while I was… well, considerably less impressive before all the craziness of the last few months forced my hand into becoming a household name in supernatural circles, but one could never know. Furthermore, she seemed to be labouring under some kind of misunderstanding about why I was here and how that related to Polemos, and I couldn't just ask her to clear things up because… Because…

…

"Why couldn't I do that?" I whispered, drawing her attention.

"Did you ask something?"

"No, I'm just thinking aloud. Carry on."

She did just that, and despite my earlier protests, she produced two pretty crystal wine glasses and a corkscrew from a nearby cabinet. I ignored her for the time being and focused inwards.

Why did I even care about what she would think about me? I was here to learn more about the inner workings of the Elysium, not to befriend them, and certainly not to befriend her in particular. My primary goal was to get that done as soon as possible, and then return home to resolve this whole kerfuffle with Percival and the Assembly. Why would I need, or want, to pussyfoot around?

This question reminded me of the advice my girlfriends gave me before I left. Judy told me to be on the lookout for Narrative influence, so… was this just that? I wasn't so sure about it, but it wasn't entirely off the table. If the nebulous Narrative needed me to play the part of Polemos, going so far as to forcefully put me in the position, it wouldn't be surprising if it tried to assert some kind of equally nebulous pressure on me to make sure I'd stay in the Elysium. Maybe not necessarily fulfil my designated role, but to at least be present for whatever alleged Angie-route shenanigans it was planning to throw into our collective face.

It was best to be on the lookout for such subconscious nudges, but I felt that this wasn't quite that. I was simply letting myself go with the flow again when I didn't need to. That was Elly's advice; I was supposed to be the big boss here, so I was allowed to be as demanding and straightforward as I needed to be. I wasn't here to reform the Celestials, or to be their friends, so what did I care for their opinion of me?

"Are you sure you don't want a taste?" Director Savir jolted me out of my thoughts with that question and shook the bottle she was holding by its neck.

Okay then. Since the opportunity presented itself, I figured might as well start here.

"I do not repeat myself," I growled at her, and it made her pause for a moment.

"I just tried to be polite," she told me flatly and filled up one of the glasses before picking it up and sitting down. "I have to say, I never expected that we would be meeting again under these circumstances. Life can truly be unpredictable."

"Couldn't have said so better myself," I grumbled. I guessed that meant we did actually meet in the flesh, which was… logistically troubling, to say the least, but pretty low on my list of problems at the moment. "Before we get down to business, I want you to clarify a few things."

"Such as?"

"Since when do I know you?"

She blinked at me in surprise, seemingly unable to parse the question right away.

"Could it be…? Have you really lost your memories? I thought it was just a ruse, wasn't it?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here," I said in as commanding of a tone I could manage. "Answer the question, 'Eris'."

She eyed me uncertainly for a second, but then she adopted an inscrutable expression and took a sip from her glass.

"We first made contact three years ago."

"Who initiated it?"

"We did. According to the records, you weren't satisfied by playing second fiddle to your mentor, and were looking for an opportunity to 'make it to the top on your own', as you put it at the time. There was no reason to turn down an eager talent like you. We were happy to have eyes on the Unorthodox directors' little pet project, and you jumped at the opportunity to step out of the shadows of the man who raised you. It was a beneficial arrangement, for both of us."

That kind of ambition did fall in line with what I'd heard about Leonard Pendragon from the Knights, and considering the relationship between pre-amnesia me and Percival, I wasn't too surprised by this revelation.

"Are you the ones wiring eighty thousand Jens to my bank account every month?"

"Naturally," she answered with a look that said she didn't understand why I even needed to ask that. "Services rendered have to be duly compensated. It is an ironclad rule. Have you truly forgotten something so elementary as well?"

Instead of responding, I considered what she just said. Apparently, I really was a Celestial double agent, working for two separate branches while also secretly being a Knight of the Brotherhood. In other words, at the time I gained consciousness on the first day of school, I was already a secret triple-agent. Wasn't that backstory too complicated for the comedic sidekick of the local protagonist, I wondered? Though again, the girls also theorized that I was planned to be a secret villain in plain sight all along, and those tended to have this kind of convoluted background. It made for some very dramatic reveals under equally dramatic circumstances. It didn't make me feel an iota better about it though.

"I think I'm starting to understand what happened," Savir suddenly raised her voice and inclined her glass towards me. "If you were meant to be the second advent of the Second True Archon all along, you must have undergone an incomplete awakening, which led you to lose your memories in the process. It would certainly explain your sudden leap in competence." She flashed a sweet smile that definitely didn't reach her eyes, and amended, "Of course, I'm not implying that you were incompetent in the past, by any means."

That wasn't far off from what Roland used to theorize a while back, but while it made internal sense from a Watsonian perspective, I was pretty sure my amnesia, headaches, and subsequent powers, had a much more Doylist explanation behind them. Of course, she didn't need to know that.

"Think what you will, it doesn't matter anymore," I said dismissively, and she nodded along.

"True. For all intents and purposes, you certainly are Polemos right now," she concluded, followed by another sip from her glass. "Speaking of which, I hope you didn't take my official stance on the matter of your identity to heart." When I raised an intrigued brow, her lips parted into another calculated smile and she explained, "When I first heard the news of the Second True Archon's sudden return, and that it involved you, in particular, I was fairly certain it was all a ruse."

"By Tsephanyah?"

"It seemed quite obvious at the time," she told me with a shrug. "As the representative of the Orthodoxy, it naturally fell on my shoulders to give a voice to everyone's skepticism, though I admit, I had my own reservations about this development."

"And so you sent me the letter to see if I could read Celestial Script," I concluded, and this time her smile was much more genuine.

"Precisely, but even more specifically, I was curious if you could read Ancient Script. There's not many of us who are fluent in it anymore, but you…" Pausing, she swirled the remaining red liquid in her glass, which was probably supposed to be meaningful, but came off as rather weird to me. "The fact you brought the wine means you're the real deal. It opens up a lot of doors for us."

I momentarily entertained the idea of indignantly declaring 'There's no 'us' in this!', but I ultimately discarded the idea. While I wasn't obliged to play nice, burning down my bridges was just as counter-productive. Instead, I exhaled a thoughtful hum and shifted into my mastermind posture, with my fingers forming a tent in my lap.

"Since you brought it up, we might as well discuss the topic. How am I viewed by the Celestial Directorate at the moment?"

"With utter confusion," she told me in a tone that sounded much more upbeat than the words would've indicated. "Your actions left most of the directors baffled. Some of them, like Tsephanyah's Reformists, seem to be true believers in your claims. Not surprising, since they must have seen you claim the mantle in person."

"That's a very poetic way to put it, but yes, you're correct," I told her after a shallow nod. "What about the rest?"

"Most of the unaffiliated directors are cautiously optimistic, and so are the majority of the Unorthodoxy, but as far as we are concerned…" By 'we', I presumed she meant the Orthodox faction, and after a long beat, she admitted, "There are many skeptical voices, though as I've heard, you already managed to silence the loudest of them."

It took me a couple of seconds to unravel what she was talking about.

"Are you talking about Kane?"

"Already on a first-name basis, I see…" She flashed a Cheshire cat grin and finished up her glass before placing it on the coffee table and returning her attention to me. "Yes. The Department of Military Affairs in general, and the Primus of the Celestial Safeguard in particular, have been staunchly opposing Tsephanyah's claims about your identity. I wasn't surprised by the attitude of the old fools; they are afraid that with Polemos's return, they would lose their grasp on the military of Elysium in one fell swoop, but Primus Khurshid's adamant resistance was rather unexpected."

She was looking at me as if I was supposed to know something about that, so after a moment of consideration, I threw the first thing that came to mind at her.

"I'm acquainted with his son and he's aware of my deeds on Critias. That might've been the source of his mistrust."

"Maybe, but it's nothing to worry about now." Pausing for a beat, she looked me over from head to toe. "How did you convince him to completely change his tune?"

"I simply gave a few pointers to the 'guards' I was assigned. That's all."

She didn't seem satisfied with my answer, but didn't press the issue and moved on to the next topic.

"Speaking of this new 'Praetorian Guard' of yours, I hope you're aware that they cannot be trusted."

"Any other obvious observations you wish to share with me?" I asked back, letting my temper get the better of me for a moment before reeling it back. She didn't seem to mind though.

"Never mind then. What you need to keep in mind is that by winning the Primus over, we gained a foothold in the Department of Military Affairs."

"Aren't they already part of the Orthodox faction?"

My question made her blink in surprise.

"As far as opposing the influence of the Unorthodoxy and the Reformists? Certainly, but the factions of the Directorate aren't monolithic. Just as how some of the Unorthodox directors believe that you truly are Polemos in the flesh, some are still skeptical. Similarly, while the majority of our people are wary of you, by gaining strong supporters, such as the Primus, such sentiments can be easily turned around."

"I don't really care about their opinions though," I noted in a detached tone, surprising her once again.

"Leona— … Polemos? Which one do you prefer?"

"We're in private, so Leonard," I answered automatically, and she nodded with the same, serious expression.

"In that case, Leonard. The fact that someone like you, who's already aware of the workings of Elysium and holds considerable power in the outside world, is Polemos reborn, is nothing short of a stroke of divine fortune. We cannot waste it. The advent of the Second True Archon means that the return of Deus is close at hand, and we cannot predict when it will happen or who it will be. To avoid chaos, we absolutely need to solidify your position and consolidate as much power as possible in your hands before Deus's rebirth."

"Shouldn't that be the other way around?"

Scoffing, she shook her head and leisurely leaned back in her seat.

"I would rather trust someone I already know than to place the fate of Elysium and all Celestials in the hands of an untested and unknown individual. Be they the new advent of Deus or not."

Her comment made a new, different kind of indignation bubbling up in me, this time from the back of my mind instead of the pit of my stomach, and it took considerable willpower to beat it into submission. It was a reaction that wasn't mine, but rather, that of Polemos.

While I had discarded the vast, vast majority of the memories Teeny was designed to imprint onto me, there was still an issue of sheer quantity. As of now, I had several months' worth of memories that were unmistakably my own. On the other hand, Polemos lived for multiple centuries, so even a fraction of a fraction of those memories was quite a lot, and now that they finally settled down in my unconscious, I could sometimes feel their pull. Like just now, when I was getting indignant over Deus getting disrespected.

Fortunately, such impulses were rather easy to differentiate from my own thoughts, yet from time to time, they could still catch me off-guard. Anyhow, once I suppressed Polemos's vexation, I exhaled and levelled a flat stare at my host.

"Is this a common sentiment?"

"It's not uncommon," she answered, stressing the first syllable. "Our duty is to ensure that Elysium remains eternal and pure, maintaining the order created by Deus. It is our foremost concern, even if the one disturbing that order is the returned Deus himself."

I wondered; how would she answer if I asked what she'd do if I broke that order? In the end, I deemed it a bit too unnecessarily provocative, so I shifted the conversation by voicing another question that's been on my mind for a while.

"So, Leonard Pendragon used to work for you." Her brows already furrowed by this point, some part of that statement obviously not agreeing with her, but I didn't let her speak up. "Did my sudden plan to head to Critias have anything to do with this arrangement?"

"Yes. Following the findings of the Department of Divination, you came to our ancestral land in search of Deus." After a long beat, Savir let out a long groan. "At the time, they insisted that they had seen clear signs of the second advent of Deus, and so I had you move to Critias, just in case." Shaking her head, she leaned forward to fill up her glass again. "Instead, they completely missed the mark. Of course, it resulted in a pleasant surprise, but their divinations are worth less than the ink I used to sign their quarterly budget, as usual."

"Are you certain of that?"

"Certain is a strong word," she told me off-handedly before reclining in her seat again. "However, it may be our ancestral land, but for Polemos and Deus to appear on the same island at the same time? I wouldn't bet on those chances."

I was about to change topics, but then she abruptly emptied her glass and used the empty container to point at me, grabbing the reins of the conversation again.

"Don't we have much more important things to talk about? Such as what to do with all this power you have amassed, O Second True Archon?" I was wondering if she was getting tipsy, but before I could get a word in, she let her glass down and threw her head back with a throaty chuckle. "Oh, the possibilities!"

"Elaborate."

My terse command made her level a pair of covetous eyes at me that said she was stone-cold sober.

"I have it on good authority that, as of this moment, not a single person outside of this Migdál is aware of the fact that you are Polemos reborn. Even your dear mentor is kept in the dark; I expected nothing less of Mensah, but this time the fool played perfectly into our hands. If you were to return now, you could use your influence over the dragonbloods and their allies, with none of them being the wiser of your true allegiances."

All of a sudden, I had a bit of an epiphany. No, not about anything she said, but rather, about my unpredictable and mostly irrational negative reaction to certain people, her included. Thinking about it rationally, who were the ones for whom I had the strongest antipathy? Crowey, Lord Grandpa, the Feilong Grand Elder Xinji, Sir Percival, and then the woman sitting right in front of me.

I also felt irritation towards Sebastian, the Kage elder, and Naoren the first time we met, but in their case, it was much milder, and faded with time.

What was the commonality that tied the first group together, but was missing with the second one? One word: schemes. Not only that, schemes that were directly involving me, Josh, or both of us, and caused a domino chain of effects, or as Judy would put it, 'moved the plot'. Crowey's plans caused the focus of the Simulacrum to shift from our school lives to the supernatural. Lord Grandpa caused that whole three-way hubbub with Fred, Mountain Girl, and the undead Chimera. Xinji was responsible for both the tournament arc and also putting the whole Eastern Draconian rebellion into motion, and as for Percival, I really didn't have to explain the results of his scheming.

And then, there was Director Savir, with her laidback attitude masking an ocean of greed churning under the surface, and with each word leaving her mouth, it was getting closer and closer to the surface.

"… using them, we can strike a blow against those pompous leeches with a borrowed knife. The Assembly has been considering themselves the owner of the World of Mystics for too long, just because Deus's teachings forbade us from putting them in their place, but now… now that we control this alliance of dragonbloods and oathbreakers, it is the greatest opportunity we ever had to break their stranglehold on the World of Mystics and take them down a peg."

Suppressing my indignation, I used the flattest voice I could manage to tell her, "You want me to lead the Draconic Federation to war."

"Yes," she answered as if the answer was self-evident.

"A lot of people will die," I pointed out, and she looked at me as if wondering if I was testing her.

"True, but not Celestial lives," she answered, sounding completely detached from the notion. "Much more importantly, by weakening the Magi and their Assembly, it would solidify your position as Polemos, so even if Deus were to return, we could use your influence and power to stop them from causing an upheaval and to convince him to see things our way."

"When I came here, I can't say I expected to hear such words from the mouth of the… what was your title again? The Matriarch of the Cult of Deus, I believe?"

She chuckled, as if my observation was inherently funny, and casually waved her hands.

"Maybe if I was still the starry-eyed idealist of my youth, I would even condemn myself, but idealists don't climb to the pinnacle of the Directorate. Success isn't earned through principles, but by choosing the right friends and enemies along the way."

That last bit, and the way she was looking at me, was probably supposed to convey something meaningful, but all I could think about was how well she would suit Sir Percival. They would probably stab each other in the back soon too, but that would've just been a win for everyone.

In any case, after collecting my thoughts, I straightened my back, sat straight, and directed a dispassionate gaze at my host while saying, "I have nothing to say about your personal philosophy, but as for your plans, I can't comply."

"… Why?"

"I came here to see the Elysium with my own two eyes," I told her in a stern, level voice that didn't tolerate any back-talk. "I have no wish to involve myself with the affairs of the outside world until I have observed the workings of the Celestial Directorate and listened to all of its members first."

I thought she would object to that, but instead, she narrowed her eyes and slowly nodded.

"You're right. I was getting ahead of myself." She loosened her shoulders and reclined back, suddenly looking tipsy once again. Was it an act, I wondered? "If you returned to Critias right away, it would not only raise further suspicions, but it would give free rein to the skeptics to question your legitimacy. It would be indeed better if you stayed in Elysium for the time being, and as for the other suggestion… Yes, I can certainly see how visiting every department and personally interacting with the hesitant directors could sway them to your side, just as you did with Primus Khurshid." Pausing, she turned a passionate gaze at me, and muttered, "I wonder. Was that the guile of Leonard, or the wisdom of Polemos speaking?"

Sighing, I shook my head.

"Interpret that however you want. You've already done a lot of that."

She didn't seem to get the critique, but before she could speak up again, there was a loud knock on the door. Without even waiting for her to answer, it was thrown open, and a burly man in the usual hoplite cosplay barged in.

"Director, I—!"

The man froze and his eyes opened wide as saucers behind the visor of his helmet the moment he laid eyes on me.

"What is it?" the woman still reclining in her chair asked with undisguised dissatisfaction over the sudden incursion, and after a brief pause, the hapless guard finally gathered his wits.

"G-Glory to the Second True Archon!" After spluttering that out in my direction, he hastily turned to the owner of the room and told her, in a considerably clearer voice. "Madam Director! There was an incident!"

"Don't speak in riddles," she warned him, making the guard gulp audibly.

"Pr… Praetor Jaakobah Arpachshad is in the main kitchens, along with a contingent of guards, and they are… they are arresting the staff! Something about…" He twitched and glanced at me, and when I waved him to go on, he continued, but in a much lower voice. "They say he… found poison in the Second True Archon's dinner. What… are your orders?"

Before Savir could respond, I unceremoniously stood up and told them, "What orders? He's simply doing his job. Do you have a reason to interfere?"

"N-No?" the burly guard responded in a tone that would've fit a little kid being scolded much better, but I ignored that and turn to the still-seated director.

"Let us continue this discussion at another time. Since the authority of my direct subordinate is under question, I think it's only natural that I observe the situation."

Once again, the head director surprised me with her nonchalant attitude, and she only answered with a rather genuine, "It was a pleasure to talk with you, Polemos."

The emphasis on the last word was probably meant for the guards, both the man inside and the others by the door. I didn't really care though, as I was simply happy that she didn't try to poke any holes into my excuse to leave her company. Without further ado, wordlessly nodded in her direction, and then walked out the open door, all the while the Celestials outside were trying their best not to be in my way.

In the end, as I walked down the hallway and towards the elevator, I couldn't help but conclude that I've learned many things in this short discussion, but none of them was half as important as the fact that Director Eris Savir, and consequently the Orthodox faction, probably weren't the good guys. That was one down, two more to go, but before any of that, I really had to get to the bottom of this poisoning case…

PART 2

The moment I returned to my quarters, I couldn't help but exhale a lung-rattling sigh. It was a long day, and I was feeling pretty out of it. My limbs were hurting, no doubt the result of my bout with my 'honour guard' in the morning, made worse by my head still throbbing, nearly two days after the whole memory-transfer incident. Though again, having headaches became part of my daily life at this point, so it bothered me much less than my sore feet.

It hasn't been that long since I returned from the underground base, so I was still satiated, but I was feeling a bit parched. To remedy that, I headed into the small bathroom and, after operating the magitech faucet, washed my face and took a few gulps to quench my thirst. I wasn't entirely sure how healthy that was, considering that these fancy Celestial gadgets were conjuring water out of mana instead of just regular plumbing, but Fred built a similar (if slightly less sophisticated) system in the base, and everyone was still alive after drinking the water created by that. I figured I'll live too.

Anyhow, once I returned to the main room, my shadow wavered, and Rinne jumped out of it. The way she landed made me wonder if there was a small trampoline or something in the shadow dimension that propelled people out of it, but such questions were left by the wayside by the first sentence that came out of her mouth.

"Rinne thinks Leonard-dono was too lenient."

Her muffled voice, combined with the faceless helmet she was wearing, gave her a very different atmosphere, and it caused my brain to enter into a loop that took a few seconds to break out of.

"Do you mean… the kitchen staff?"

"Of course Rinne means them!" she declared with a huff and grabbed the disguised Onikiri. On second thought, 'disguised' might've been overselling it a little, as it was literally just the purple shroud covering up the hilt combined with a makeshift scabbard to hide the blade from prying eyes, but I digress.

"They were just following orders," I told her as I made my way over to the bedroom. "I'm not here to make friends, but that doesn't mean I should antagonize some random working-class schmucks."

There was also the fact that they were obviously placeholders, which meant they had very limited agency to begin with, but I didn't spell that out to her. Following behind me, she continued to fume and tug on her sword.

"If it was up to Rinne, Rinne would have emasculated them for daring to poison Leonard-dono's food!"

"And that's why it wasn't up to you," I pointed out as I sat down, and after a long beat (and realizing that Ichiko wasn't around), I morosely added, "Also, I'm pretty sure you meant 'eviscerated'."

"Yes. That's precisely what Rinne meant!"

I couldn't help but imagine that behind that featureless faceplate, she was sporting one of her usual slasher smiles, and it drew a tired sigh out of me. The more things change, the more they stay the same, huh?

"{Comment: I agree with the skeuophoros.}"

Blinking, I glanced down at the short sword hanging from my side and raised a finger towards Mountain Girl.

"She's not a…" It was only at this point that I realized that I had no idea what the word meant, but it felt subtly demeaning, so I doubled down and told Teeny, "Consider her a bodyguard."

"{Response: Updating database entry to somatophylax.}"

"That's better," I muttered, though I still had no idea what the word meant. My gut still told me it was more accurate, so I figured it might've been a Polemos memory fragment talking.

In any case, once that semantic argument was resolved, I turned back to Mountain Girl. While I brought her along, partially due to her own insistence, and partially just to make my girlfriends feel more at ease, I didn't know what to do with her. Sure, her Celestial disguise could probably fool people at a distance, especially considering how eclectic everyone's outfits were in the Elysium, but I couldn't just introduce her out of the blue without raising a lot of skeptical inquiries in the process. On the other hand, I couldn't exactly just keep her in my shadow all the time either.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

While pondering that, she walked over to the large window taking up the majority of the nearby wall. It was late, so the scenery outside was hard to see in the moonlight, but it must've still left an impression on her, since she let out an impressed 'Oh?'.

While she was drinking in the panorama, I decided to put her usefulness aside for the moment and focus on other issues. For a start, there was that whole 'poisoning' incident.

Since I told him to do it, Jaakobah dutifully sampled the dinner he delivered to my room, and according to him, immediately realized that something was off. In his words, there was a faint smell that reminded him of something he used to put guards out of commission during one of his missions. I didn't ask for details.

He then proceeded to apprehend and interrogate the kitchen staff in charge of my food, and by the time I got there using the old 'enter the elevator, and then Phase to the scene' trick, things have escalated to the point where threats of summary executions were thrown around. I wasn't a fan of those, and after listening to both sides of the story, I let the cooks and serving staff get away with a slap on the wrist. Or at least as much as house arrest could be considered that, but as far as I gathered, Celestial laws were on the more draconian side (as in, in relation to the lawman Draco, not my dragon-connected affiliates), so that was probably considered rather lenient.

As for why I didn't make too much of a fuss about this incident… well, maybe if it was 'real' poison, I wouldn't have been so blasé about it, but the compound used was pretty much just a fancy, partially magical tranquillizer, so I couldn't really get too worked up about it. That said, I would've been lying if I said I wasn't curious about who tried to sedate me, and since Rinne was still admiring the view, I decided to do a Far Sight roll call and see what I could find.

Between my discussion with the Orthodox director and resolving the hubbub in the kitchen, time passed in the blink of an eye. Of course, due to the lack of clocks in the room, I could only guess, but I figured it was somewhere around half past nine by the time I returned to this room. It wasn't too late, by my standards, but I didn't think I was going to catch much movement at this hour.

That said, my very first Far Glance found a rather remarkable development.

I started with the other Celestial Directors, and while I expected that Tsephanyah would at least hear about the whole poisoning incident, I didn't expect him to be discussing it in the company of the other big director. No, scratch that. It was less 'discussing' and more… well, getting yelled at, really.

"What were you thinking?!"

Mensah's voice shook the spacious room. It was about the size of the main room of my quarters, and it even had a similar décor, including a large conference table. There sat the blonde director in his usual purple toga, while across the table stood the bespectacled Unorthodox leader, his hands planted on the surface and glaring at his colleague. Besides the two of them, the room was completely empty.

"I already told you. I simply wished to make sure that Archon Polemos would remain in his accommodations for the night. Neither of us wants him to wander around."

"You tried to drug him! And got caught!" the younger man in the green toga objected, though he seemed to put more emphasis on the latter part.

"I underestimated his vigilance, that's all," Tsephanyah responded calmly and gestured for the other man to sit back down.

"I sincerely hope you covered your tracks," the green-clad director grumbled while he took his seat, and after an unnecessarily long beat, the blonde man shrugged.

"It's only natural, but in any case, the Archon's attitude towards the culprits shows that he considers the incident beneath him."

"Either that, or it's a message."

"To me?"

"To all of us," Mensah stated gravely, and after some consideration, the other man nodded in acknowledgement.

"Maybe. In any case, his actions show that he wishes to sweep the incident under the rug. Whether he knows that we're behind it or not is irrelevant."

"You. You are behind it. I wash my hands of this affair," Mensah huffed, and the other director shook his head with an exasperated grimace.

"There's no 'I' in 'league', Dolion."

"Oh, so now we are in a league," the bespectacled man huffed and placed his hands on the table again. "Were we in league when you interrupted my subordinates and took the Archon for yourself?"

"Let's not be overdramatic. You would've had to bring him to me either way to access the Spear of Destiny. I simply streamlined the process."

"And while doing that, you shifted the blame for breaking the agreement onto our side!"

"It was a necessary sacrifice," Tsephanyah stated in a disinterested tone. "At the very least, it helped maintain the illusion."

A tense silence fell in the room, and after what felt like ages, Mensah lowered his voice into a threatening growl.

"Don't be mistaken, Acacius. Our goals might align for the moment, as far as keeping Savir and her Orthodox lapdogs in check is concerned, but we aren't one. There's no illusion here, and the moment the Archon fully understands the situation surrounding Bel of the Abyss, there will be no such thing as 'our side', only mine. You better make up your mind by then."

"You take that for granted, but what if the Archon's interests don't align with yours?" Tsephanyah asked back, still collected and seemingly in control of the conversation. "Worse yet, what if he chooses to side with the Orthodoxy? One of my men reported that before his sudden appearance in the kitchens, Polemos was last seen in the company of Eris. From what I've heard, it was a private meeting, and they were rather cordial."

"What? How did you—?"

"Just placing the right man in the right place at the right time," the blonde director uttered as if stating something so self-evident was distasteful. "We can't let our guard down just yet."

"… I agree. We can sort out our differences once Director Savir and her conservative cronies are dealt with." After a brief pause, the younger director cleared his throat and continued in a softer voice. "Did you also discover what they discussed in private?"

"No. Unfortunately, my reach doesn't reach so far, but if I was a betting man, my shekels would be trying to use the Archon's connections on Critias to wage a proxy war on the Magi."

"You think?"

"I've known Eris longer than you're alive. I know how she thinks," Tsephanyah stated, and for a moment, I couldn't help but wonder how old he was. He was far from elderly, but then again, he had six wings, which meant he was one of the more 'pureblooded' Celestials, and since the Celestials of old used to live for hundreds of years, maybe he just looked young. Kind of like how Draconians operated, now that I thought about it.

"We can't let that happen," Mensah declared emphatically, and while at first I thought it was the good Samaritan talking in him, he immediately clarified his intentions. "We'll need them to bear the brunt of the damage during our war on the Abyssals for us! We can't waste their military power like that!"

"I'm afraid the Orthodoxy is not nearly as concerned with the threat of the Abyss as you are. If anything, they will most likely pour all their resources into the Department of Divination in order to find the Second Advent of Deus, and elevate him over Polemos as soon as possible, before the Second True Archon could entrench himself and pose a threat to them."

Ah. So… maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought, huh? While wondering whether that was ironic or not, Mensah repeatedly tapped his finger on the table, his face slowly darkening with each passing second.

"What about you then? What are you going to do about Critias?"

"Me? I can't say I care. Whether they fight each other, fight the Abyss, or waste away together, doesn't matter to me. My first priority is, and always has been, the prosperity of Elysium. The rest of the world could burn for all I care. In many ways, it would be the preferable outcome."

"You say that now, but when the Abyss marches its armies upon us, you'll—!"

"If that happens," Tsephanyah cut him short, "then, I will stand shoulder to shoulder with you and hold the gates. However, we live in the present, and right now, keeping the Orthodoxy in check is the only factor with which we should concern ourselves."

"And to do that, we need Polemos," the younger man said, and his colleague nodded in tacit approval.

"Yes. We need to make him see things our way. If he truly retained the memories of Leonard Dunning, then he should naturally recognize the plight of the Malakim, and what an affront it is to have our kinsmen live such a simple existence while the mortals get to enjoy easy lives."

"And on the same note, his experiences should tell him how much of a threat Bel of the Abyss and his co-conspirators pose to all Celestials."

"Yes, I'm certain he will share your concerns," Tsephanyah granted the younger man, though I could feel just a hint of tongue in his cheek. "We simply have to make sure his eyes are focusing on the right things; to see how wretched the Malakim truly are compared to those arrogant mortals, and guide him until he would join us of his own volition."

"Do whatever you want, so long as it does not affect the readiness of our military," Mensah noted with thinly veiled distaste. "The last thing we need right now is a peasant rebellion to create a chink in our armor for the Abyss to exploit."

"You have such a one-track mind," Tsephanyah commented with a smile that definitely didn't touch his eyes, and the two men stared daggers at each other for a while.

"As I said," the director in green spoke up again, still defiant. "As I said, I don't care what you do, so long as it doesn't undermine the Archon's trust or our defenses. Or at the very least, tell me if you are about to do something precarious, like sneaking drugs into the Archon's meals, so that I can prepare in advance."

"That much, I can promise," the older man acquiesced, and on that note, Mensah stood up.

"Now, if you excuse me, I have to leave and make my preparations for tomorrow."

"Are you still planning to use this 'Praetorian Guard' to approach the Archon?"

"Naturally. You already have one of your men in the Archon's good graces, so I can't slack off either. Not to mention, who else is better to instil the threat of the Abyss in his mind than the men and women sworn to protect him?"

"A rather orthodox strategy," the purple-clad man noted, and the other director apparently didn't appreciate the wordplay, as he left with a huff, not even saying his goodbyes.

I lingered for a little longer, but once the meeting was over, Tsephanyah didn't do anything noteworthy. Mensah, true to his word, was down in the newly constructed barracks by the time I caught up to him, and was lecturing the rather exhausted guards about how to talk to me. Only about half of them were present, and while I was nominally curious about where the others went, I had more important things to consider than to look for them.

Just to round things out, I checked on Savir, but she was already asleep, and so was Sir Percival, still pretending to be injured. Once I concluded that there was nothing else to see there, I also Far Glanced through the ranks, and the only semi-interesting things I noted were the fact that Judy ended up sleeping in the princess's king-size bed, despite her protests, that my sisters were having something reminiscent of a sleepover-party in the base with the semi-unique ninja women and Galatea, and that Josh, despite his reservations about its effects on his ability to transform, was still happy to continue 'experimenting' with his girlfriend.

That last one was their private business though, so I didn't stare. Last, but not least, I checked out Crowey, who was swamped with paperwork and burning the midnight oil late into the night, as usual, and since I was there, I also checked out my mark on his young spymaster.

I half-expected to find her sleeping in her quarters, but to my surprise, I not only found her wide awake but in a circle with a few other conspirators. At a glance, I recognized the elderly matron in the Victorian-era dress, the long-haired man in the grey navy uniform, and the balding military man with the bushy beard, though I could vaguely recognize a few others as well. It wasn't strange, considering I had been spying on Crowey's inner circle for the better part of four months, but I didn't expect all of them to be gathered in one place.

"… of Lord Bel's involvement," the young woman with the mismatched hair stated, and after a wave of murmurs ran through the group, and the old lady drew everyone's attention by tapping a fancy folding fan against her palm.

"Are you certain it wasn't the Ashurs?"

"Yes, matron," Tajana responded a touch uncertainly, but then she took a deep breath and clarified, "While the Ashur family claimed responsibility, my spies didn't report any movement within the estate that would indicate that they were holding a VIP. I think it's just a ploy trying to draw attention."

"Is it aimed at our liege?" the uniformed middle-aged man cut in; his handsome face marred by a deep frown.

"It would make sense," one of the younger members of the group spoke up in the background. "This way, they could say they dealt with someone he couldn't even touch."

"True, but it still makes little sense," the old woman mused as she continued to tap her fan against her hand. "If they weren't the ones to kidnap him, and he happened to return, it would prove their claim false and make them a laughingstock."

"It makes sense if they know for a fact that he cannot return yet," the young man argued back.

"Are you saying they are covering for the real kidnappers?" the man with the bushy beard asked, though it was obviously a rhetorical question. "But then we're back to square one! Who was the one who kidnapped our liege's arch-nemesis!?"

"A-As I was saying, I don't think that Lord Bel was involved," Tajana cut in, flustered. "He… most likely wouldn't need help to accomplish something so simple, and he would have done so in the open, in front of everyone. To assert his dominance."

The way her eyes were sparkling while talking about my Bel persona was a touch troubling, but then the conversation moved on when the man in the navy uniform let out a soft grunt and pinched his chin.

"In that case, there's only one likely culprit left."

"The Celestials?" the young man in the back blurted out, but the man in the uniform didn't seem to mind the interruption.

"Yes. Them. And they not only shifted the blame, but the Ashurs are playing into their hands as well."

"That's a troubling development," the matron noted, though, despite her words, she sounded rather disinterested. "What are we going to do about it?"

"We need to go outside and collect more information!" the young woman with the two-toned hair declared with unnecessary enthusiasm.

"And let me guess? You're nominating yourself, am I right?" the older man with the big beard guessed, and it apparently hit the mark. "You've been trying to come up with excuses to leave the Abyss ever since the day you met this Bel of the Abyss."

"But… But listen! Based on the pattern, he's much more likely to show up on Critias again! This way, I could collect information, while also having a much higher chance to meet him and ask him about his… um… intentions."

"Speaking of intentions, you should keep yours closer to your heart, my dear," the old woman commented a tad derisively, and the young spymaster fell silent right away.

"All of this discussion is pointless," the long-haired man noted with a shake of his head. "So long as our liege doesn't allow it, you can't leave the Abyss, and I doubt any of us could convince him otherwise."

"I'll try!"

"You do that then," he concluded dryly before addressing the others. "We should focus on the more immediate concerns, such as how our liege would react once he learns of Leonard Dunning's disappearance."

After this, the discussion slowly devolved into a back-and-forth argument about how they should break the news to Crowey, and as much as I tried, I couldn't quite get rid of the image of a group of kids arguing about how they should explain the broken window to their teacher. The whole thing had about the same energy.

Anyhow, once I was sure I wasn't missing anything pivotal, I exited Far Sight and let out a shallow sigh.

So, what did I learn today? Apparently, Savir and the Orthodox are opportunistic bastards, Mensah and the Unorthodox were not only single-minded warmongers, but also in cahoots with the Reformists, while Tsephanyah was jealous of humanity's toys and wouldn't mind watching the world burn so long as the Celestials got to play with them too. In other words, so far, all three of them were pretty high on the bastardry-scale, and it put my plan of 'find the good guy' on shaky legs.

Oh, and apparently Tajana was planning to come to Critias to look for Bel. Because why not?

All in all, things weren't getting any simpler, but for the time being, I gestured for Rinne to get back into my shadow, I stretched my legs and then sprung to my feet before immediately Phasing into the village. I doubted I could learn anything new about the Celestial agrarian idyllic life, but if Tsephanyah wanted to keep me from exploring, I felt duty-bound to do it anyway. If nothing else, I figured the fresh air should help me clear my mind and figure out how to cut through this whole Celestial Onion come the next morning.

PART 3

"What's your impression so far?"

Mountain Girl considered my throwaway question way too seriously, seemingly paying little attention to where she was walking. Unlike with my girlfriends, I didn't bother with her safety, but to be fair, there weren't any lampposts she could bonk into here.

The two of us wandered through the rustic Celestial settlement all night, this time starting from the outskirts, but despite my best efforts, I didn't make any new discoveries. On this occasion, I didn't bother any of the inhabitants, and since we didn't find anything significant, I expected that Rinne would be bored by our excursion.

"Rinne likes this place," she declared after mulling over my question for a long while. "It reminds Rinne of Rinne's childhood."

"Let me guess: you grew up in some rural Japanese hidden ninja village."

My companion twitched, and if I could see her face, I was sure she would've been blinking at me.

"Did Rinne already tell Leonard-dono about it?"

"No, it was just an educated guess," I told her with a shrug, and she smoothly accepted it.

Seriously though, her backstory was somehow getting weirder the more I learned about her. Apparently, she grew up in a ninja village, then went to high school, was part of both the handicrafts and the literature club, all the while hunting monsters, and then after that she somehow got a freaking teaching license of all things. I knew little about the time between that and the moment she showed up to complicate my life, but considering the rest of her background, I wouldn't have been surprised if she told me she spent a year crab-fishing in the Pacific or something.

"Rinne really likes this place," she suddenly echoed her previous sentiment, drawing my attention back to her. "Rinne didn't expect the Celestials to live this way, but it's very serene."

"Maybe you can retire here, or something," I noted a touch absently and gestured for her to follow closely. Daybreak was just around the corner, and we were heading back to the tower on foot for a reason, namely so that I could organically introduce her to everyone else.

There was no deeper meaning behind my comment, yet Mountain Girl momentarily froze up before she hastily caught up to me.

"Retirement? Rinne had never considered such a thing…"

"Because of the whole monster-hunting business?" I asked just to keep the conversation going, and she nodded at once.

"Yes. Rinne was supposed to keep fighting vile beasts of corruption and savagery until Rinne drew her last breath and Onikiri could be passed over to the next generation, but now that Leonard-dono freed Ichiko-neesan…"

Her words trailed off into silence, and the way the rising sun glinted off her helmet gave her a kind of forlorn impression. It was definitely different from the usual Mountain Girl I knew, though to be fair, I only knew her for a few months. More importantly, her words reminded me of something.

"We already talked about this in the past, but for the record, are you still okay with how I'm keeping you from hunting monsters and whatnot?"

"Of course. What Leonard-dono is doing is more important." The speed and ease with which she answered me were a little surprising, but then she also dropped, "Once Leonard-dono unites everyone, we'll have all the time to spill the blood of the abhorrent creatures investigating the dark underbelly of the world!"

"… It's 'infesting', I'm not really uniting everyone, and most importantly, by 'we', do you mean you and the Kage clan, or…?"

"Rinne naturally means Rinne and Leonard-dono," she declared matter-of-factly. "Leonard-dono promised to accompany Rinne on the hunt for the mokele-mbembe!"

"Did I…?" My perfectly reasonable question made her direct a stare at me I could feel it on my skin even through the visorless visage. "Erm… Let's get back to this discussion around the summer break, shall we?"

"Sounds good to Rinne!" Sounding genuinely excited, which only made me feel more apprehensive. "Ichiko-neesan will be coming too, so we should invite Naoren-san and Xiao-chan. Duncan-san also said he wanted to wrestle a mokele-mbembe, and Rinne's sure that Leonard-dono's sisters would also…"

"We're going to invite everyone, all right?" I grumbled, but she ignored my tone and nodded with the same enthusiasm.

Trying to ignore how I was supposed to introduce the idea of spending our vacation jungle-trotting in search of some cryptid in the middle of Africa to the girls, I increased the pace, and in about half an hour, we successfully reached the precipice of the central tower. As expected, there was a small crowd of guards, their polished bronze armours glinting in the morning light, running all over the place like a whole flock of headless chickens. It all looked plenty hectic, yet somehow things seemed considerably less chaotic than the morning before.

Once we got closer, I whispered, "Stay silent, no matter what."

Mountain Girl nodded and stood tall, and if I didn't know her already, I might've even considered her imposing and reliable at a glance. In the meantime, a squad of guards noticed our approach and rushed over to our side. It took me until they got closer to realize that they weren't just random placeholders either.

"Lord Archon, sir!" the armour-clad man in the front raised a hand and then clenched it into a fist, causing the rest behind him to form an orderly line. They were all sweating like they had been running a marathon. "We were waiting for your return."

"Were you?" I asked back, adopting my aloof persona, and he gave me a curt nod.

"Prefect Arpachshad informed us that you would most likely leave for the night and return in the morning," he explained, and after a long beat, he turned a pair of questioning eyes at the hastily disguised woman standing by my side. "Who is this?"

"She's with me," I told him curtly and began walking. Mountain Girl automatically followed behind me, while the rest of them quickly formed a loose formation around us, with armour-man falling in line on my other side.

"Lord Archon, sir? With all due respect, you can't just let anyone—"

"That's not something you need to concern yourself with," I told him on no uncertain terms.

After a bit of brainstorming over the night, I concluded that the simplest way to deal with Mountain Girl's identity was to simply ignore it. Sure, I could've come up with some elaborate and internally consistent backstory, but dammit, I was the Second True Archon, wasn't I? That kind of authority gave me Refuge for Audacity fuel for days, so it was about time I started using it. After all, who would have the balls to call Polemos out on being unreasonable?

"Sir, that's unreasonable."

… Huh. Would you look at that? That didn't take long to be subverted.

"She's my…" I began, then froze for a moment a whispered, "Teeny? What did you call her?"

"{Response: If Archon Polemos is referring to the individual designated as 'Rinne' and 'Mountain Girl', then her current classification is somatophylax.}"

"Thanks." I cleared my throat to mask my impromptu conversation with my weapon, and then I told armour-man, "She's my somatophylax, and she has my full confidence. That's all you need to know."

"Sir, yes sir."

While we talked, our little group reached the entrance of the tower, and as we encountered more guards and the news of my return spread, things became progressively less chaotic over time. It was only when we crossed the threshold of the entrance hall that I noticed something peculiar.

"Where's the rest of the squad?"

"They quit," midriff-woman, previously hovering a bit behind us, butted into our conversation with audible distaste.

"Sir. After yesterday's spar, some members of the Praetorian Guard found themselves wanting, and turned in their resignation, sir."

"So, it's only…" I glanced around, and besides armour-guy and midriff-woman, I could recognize sci-fi-dude, tunic-man and wetsuit-chap on the left, while on the right, we had hammer-lad, uniform-bloke, and… damn, I was running out of synonyms… Ah, got it! Facemask-fella, the sneaky one! That meant there were… "Eight left."

"Sir, yes sir."

In retrospect, the four that left didn't make much of an impression on me, so it wasn't much of a loss, though I had to wonder whether they really left because they felt inadequate, or because of a more nefarious reason. For example, maybe those four were sent here by Savir, but since she was now under the impression that I was working with her, she no longer needed eyes on me. Alternatively, there might've been some kind of Narrative-related reason, like that introducing twelve new side characters at once was too much. Or maybe, just maybe, I was overthinking this.

In any case, I figured we would be headed to the elevator, or at the very least to one of the displeased Directors. Instead, my little gaggle of bodyguards led me to their barracks-cum-mustering-grounds. We were already halfway there by the time I noticed, so I decided to just go with the flow.

The newly renovated area changed a lot since the last time I'd been here. The half-finished walls had been smoothed out, the area in the middle got turned into a small gymnasium where people could train, and based on the signs, the lodgings of these guys were behind a door at the far end. However, that wasn't the surprising part.

"Who are all of these people?"

I gestured at the hundred or so similarly dressed men and women filling the place. Some of them were running laps, others were doing push-ups, while a separate group in the back were standing in a line and shooting energy arrows at stereotypical red-and-white targets. The moment I came into view, everyone stopped in their tracks and turned in our direction to salute.

"They're volunteers," hammer-lad answered my previous question in a surprisingly androgynous voice, and he was followed up by tunic-man's considerably more masculine baritone.

"The Department of Military Affairs didn't approve at first, but Primus Khurshid convinced them to allow the formation of a new guard regiment."

"I think I was clear when I told you that I have no need of guards, let alone this many." It was at this point that I noticed that everyone was still frozen in position and saluting, so I raised my voice with a wave of my hand. "All of you continue as you were."

"Sir, let me clarify, sir!" Armour-guy interjected while the small crowd resumed their activities in the background. "They are not part of the Praetorian Guard. Only we are duty-bound to protect—"

"Support!" midriff-woman cut in, practically knocking the armoured man over in her hurry. "We're to support you and ensure that you remain unhindered in case of an emergency."

At this point, Mountain Girl drew everyone's attention by nodding and letting out an approving hum, but before anyone could start questioning her again, I let out a dramatic sigh and shook my head.

"Very well. Did you lead me here to show them to me?"

"Partially."

The terse response came from facemask-fellow, his voice sounding raspier than sandpaper, yet before I could ask him to clarify, midriff-woman was pushed out of the way by armour-guy reasserting his position.

"We hoped you could provide us with guidance, Lord Archon, sir!"

"Guidance," I repeated after him a touch flatly, and he nodded with full solemnity.

"Yes, sir. Primus Khurshid assured us of your intent to do so, sir."

I couldn't remember explicitly promising anything like that, which meant Mike's father either took something I said out of context, or he was trying to use this excuse to make sure I would keep these guys around. Either way, I was soon knocked out of my train of thought by a pair of familiar voices in my head.

"{No, young knight! You cannot train with these warriors! Think of your injuries!}"

"{Assent: I agree with Interface:Cal's assessment. I advise against any activity requiring mana-usage until Archon Polemos made a full recovery.}"

"I get it," I murmured under my breath, followed by a melodramatic sigh. "As yesterday's test had already proven, you do not possess the capability to face me. I cannot teach you to run before you even learned how to crawl, but fortunately, I have an opponent here who's slightly closer to your level."

I turned to Rinne, and it took her an embarrassingly long time to realize I was talking about her. Once she did, she stood ramrod straight, at which point I turned back to my alleged honour guards.

"She'll serve as your opponent for today, while I'll observe you from the sidelines. Once I have fully gauged your individual abilities, I'll provide you with a few words of advice."

They looked slightly skeptical, as expected, but as far as Rinne was concerned, she took my suggestion in stride and unsheathed Onikiri.

Leaving them to figure out the rest on their own, I adopted an aloof expression and walked over to the nearby training field, and wordlessly watched as uniform-bloke and wetsuit-chap… or was it wetsuit-dude? Damn, keeping their nicknames consistent was going to be a pain in the neck…

Anyhow, the two of them cleared out the area, and all the 'volunteer guards' formed a circle around the field, with one big gap. That's where I was standing, and for some reason, nobody dared to get closer than three steps away from me. I didn't mind it much; it just meant I wouldn't be bothered by any bystanders. Not that I was afraid I would get distracted from watching the sparring matches, since I wasn't planning to do that to begin with.

Since I'd already gauged their levels earlier, I knew for a fact that none of them posed any real threat to Mountain Girl individually, and it wasn't like I could give them any meaningful advice even if I paid full attention to them. Instead, I was going to use the opportunity to do some Far Sighting, to keep staying on top of things as much as possible.

As such, the moment midriff-woman took center stage in front of Rinne, I immediately tuned out and turned my attention to distant targets. First off, I checked on the three chief directors, though there was nothing much to see this time. Savir was in something resembling a church building near the top of the spire, giving a sermon to a whole lot of starry-eyed Celestials of various ages. Tsephanyah just received news that I returned, and directed his subordinates to pay closer attention to my comings and goings. Mensah was… building one of those miniature boats in a bottle. I'm not going to lie, I wasn't expecting that of all things, but hey, everyone needed a hobby.

Moving on, I checked on the gang, but there was nothing interesting happening, aside from my girlfriends taking a morning shower together. Insert snippy comment about how Judy was doing a terrible job at dissuading the baseless gossip spreading among the Dracis servants here. Anyways, ignoring that distraction, I proceeded to my next target, and the difference between the previous scene and watching Lord Grandpa doing callisthenics in his bedroom gave me a bit of a whiplash. Apparently, it was too early to catch anything interesting on that front.

Next, I checked on Crowey, but pretty much the same applied there. I made a mental note to keep a closer eye on the guy, since I really wanted to catch the moment when he finally learned that I was allegedly kidnapped by a rival Abyssal family. After that, I Far Glanced at the people in the secret base, and when I didn't find anything particularly captivating, I swiftly moved on to the Knights.

To my surprise, I found all of them up and about. Duncan was drilling the squires, Morgana and Agrawain were already in the back-up extra-secret hideout in the dock district and preparing the place, and as for Roland, I found him in the guest room of the Dracis mansion of all places.

"I tell you, I'm fine already!" Sir Percival professed while striking a pose, pretending to show off his biceps through his pyjamas. Our one and only Mr. Griffon, currently in a casual attire including a genuine red-and-black plaid lumberjack shirt, remained unimpressed and shook his head.

"I still think you should rest for a few more days."

"Nonsense! Even if just temporarily, I'm the leader of the Ordo Draconis! We must show the world that the chain of command is intact!"

"We already made the announcement, and your well-being is much more important than the optics of the organization."

Getting stonewalled like that made the old man's expression waver, but he maintained his kindly façade with a disappointed sigh.

"Roland, please. We can't put my health above the smooth operation of the organization, especially at a time like this."

"There's no need to worry about that," the Griffon Knight reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. "Leonard was rather hands-off with his authority, and we're already used to operating with tacit approval. There's no need for you to prematurely return to duty over such concerns."

"I… But…"

Before he could object anymore, Roland gently but firmly pushed him towards the bed.

"Just rest up. Knowing Leonard, it's only a matter of time until his captors will be begging us to take him back before he completely destabilizes their entire realm." Pausing, he allowed himself a cheeky little grin and added, "Who knows? He might've already escaped for all we know."

"It's not so simple to escape the Abyss," Percival muttered with barely disguised irritation, but before I could listen to Roland's response, I was jolted out of my Far Sight by a round of loud applause.

Blinking, I gazed at the middle of the training field, where wetsuit-chap was sitting on the ground with Rinne standing over him and Onikiri pointed at his jugular. Wasn't she fighting midriff-woman just now? She was going through them pretty fast.

"Just as expected," I whispered, and to my shock, someone actually responded to me.

"Yes. Your somatophylax is remarkable." Glancing over, I found Mike's father standing by my side. I had no idea when he showed up, or for how long he'd been there. He was wearing a different set of uniform than the day before, but his well-trimmed beard and piercing gaze remained the same. "If I may be so bold to ask, who is she?"

"Do not poke your nose into matters that aren't yours, Primus."

My warning was rather harsh, but he accepted it without any pushback.

"I understand, O Archon. Please forgive my impertinence."

I acknowledged his reply with a shallow nod, and glanced back at the field, where Rinne was about to engage armour-guy next. I paid close attention to her movements, but she seemed none the worse for wear. As expected, these guys weren't quite at her level, and while I was a little worried that she would get tired out before long, the power nap she took in my shadow around midnight was apparently enough to keep her going.

Meanwhile, Kane continued to scrutinize my face, and after an agonizingly long time, he cleared his throat and addressed me.

"O Archon, if I may be so audacious to ask…"

"Yes?"

I prompted him without looking away from the fight, and he took a deep breath before he continued.

"You still possess the memories of Leonard Dunning, do you not?"

"I'm sure that is already common knowledge," I responded in my best disinterested tone, but truth be told, I was getting a little curious.

"Does that mean you remember my son?"

"Michael? Why wouldn't I?"

The Primus blinked, apparently not expecting me to answer so casually.

"In that case, are you also aware of his relationship?"

After some consideration, I took this opportunity to dramatically turn my face towards him and raise my brows a notch, which outright startled the man.

"Oh? He told you about her?"

"Yes, O Archon."

"Good for him. So?"

"So… Erm…" Stumped, the normally hardened military man looked rather lost as he vacillated. He first stroked his beard, then scratched the back of his neck, and tried to say something, but then thought better of it and instead put his hand down and straightened his back. During all of this, I kept eyeing him, and when he couldn't bear it any longer, he blurted out, "She's the granddaughter of the arch-mage of Critias… is she not?"

"Yes," I granted him and gestured with my hand for him to get on with it.

"Director Savir told me you shared her vision of the future, but if so… Is a conflict between the Draconic Federation and Assembly truly inevitable?"

Ah? So that's what this was about.

"You're worried that your son and his sweetheart would have to choose their allegiances and could get caught in the crossfire."

"I admit, that is precisely the case," he told me in a low voice, and for a moment, I didn't know how to respond.

Considering what he knew, his worries weren't unfounded. In Savir's grand design, I was going to use my authority to lead the Draconic Federation to war on the Assembly. Since Mike was associated with me, he would be torn between joining my side and sticking with Ammy. Similarly, she would have to choose between following her grandfather and forsaking her family to join Mike's side.

That was all veeery dramatic, all kind of star-crossed-lovers stuff and whatnot, but only so long as we ignored a few loose variables. Such as the fact that Lord Grandpa was already on my side, at least nominally. Or that if Mike was okay with that whole senseless homunculus business, he obviously wouldn't have much trouble picking sides in this scenario. Or that, well, I was a variable here.

"Primus." Upon getting addressed all of a sudden, he looked downright startled, so I softened my voice a bit. "Know that I do not condone meaningless bloodshed. What you fear will not come to pass."

"But then… what about Director Savir and her—?"

"Have you ever heard the idiom 'The frog in the well knows nothing of the sea'?" I gave him a second to think, but then quickly continued before he could get a word in. "I think it describes the Directorate rather succinctly, and I do not wish to engage in their narrow-minded games when there's a much bigger world outside."

"… Can I trust your word on this?"

That was a weird question, but since I was on the faux-profound roll, I tried my best to keep going.

"Would you, if I simply told you that you can?"

Kane didn't respond right away, but after mulling things over for a while, he sombrely uttered, "I am also reminded of a saying. Do not trust all men, but trust men of worth; the former course is foolish, the latter a mark of prudence."

Trying my best not to frown, I was still wracking my head over how to follow that up with some similarly sagacious-sounding bullcrap when I was saved by Rinne finally beating the last Praetorian Guard. She looked a little tired, but otherwise perfectly fine, and I took the opportunity she presented without any hesitation by flashing a meaningful smile at the man by my side.

"Wise words to live by, Primus."

And with those final words, I walked towards Rinne and the eight Celestial bodyguards, only just realizing that I was supposed to give them pointers now. Which was pretty hard, considering I was barely paying any attention to their bouts. Staying on the theme of idioms, this was definitely one of those 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' moments, wasn't it?