PART 1

"No, Leo. No. Arson is bad."

Suppressing the urge to roll my eyes, I forced a smile onto my face.

"It's just a joke, princess. A joke."

For emphasis, I tried to hug her, but she held me back and continued to frown at me.

"I'm serious! I know she got you this time, but that doesn't mean you're justified to burn down anything in response."

"She didn't get me!" I protested, maybe a bit too vehemently. "She just threatened to annoy me. It doesn't take a psychology degree to recognize that I hate annoying things! Everyone does!"

"That's not it," my other girlfriend sitting on the bed cut in, looking up from her notes for the first time since I came to the princess's room in the morning to vent a little. "I'm more worried by how she accurately deduced your limits and pushed you just enough without overstepping the line." She paused, and her brows moved imperceptibly into something vaguely resembling a frown. "I don't like that she knows you so well."

"Savir apparently knew me from before my amnesia, so I guess that gives her a leg up, but I don't think she knows me that well," I argued back. In the meantime, the princess finally gave up and let me hug her, and it made me feel a little better. "Remember the second half of the conversation I told you about? She completely misread that."

"It's still annoying," my dear assistant began to sulk. "Maybe I should dust off my old Chief Observation Diary again."

"Please don't do that."/"What's that?"

Elly and I spoke at the same time, so I quickly moved the conversation along before Judy had the chance to reveal some of my shameful past from those first few confused weeks in the Simulacrum.

"A-ny-way. The point is that I'm not going to burn down any archives unless I absolutely have to. Can we move on to the main topic?"

Judy looked reluctant, but when Elly nodded, she soon followed suit.

"You're officially coming home tomorrow, right?"

"That's the plan," I answered curtly, because the princess suddenly detached herself from me and skipped over to Judy's side.

"That means you're going home too?" she cooed and trapped my other girlfriend in a hug. "I'll miss you!"

"We are still going to meet every single day," my dear assistant stated in a deadpan voice made a bit strained by the way the princess was rubbing her cheek against hers.

"But it's just not the same! My bed is going to feel so empty!"

Smiling, I couldn't help but note, "While this whole ordeal was pretty annoying, I'm glad it had some positive effects too. You two are getting along even better than before, aren't you?"

"It's just your imagination, Chief," Judy grumbled, and the girl by her side let out a tinkling giggle in response.

"Look, Leo! Look! Judy is being tsundere!"

"No, I'm not," my dear assistant continued to grumble as she used her free hand to push her away. "And it's precisely because you are acting like this that we still have those rumors about us."

"Hehe. Sorry about that," the princess apologized with a goofy smile, though she didn't sound apologetic in the slightest.

Sighing, Judy turned to me again.

"What's the plan?"

"For our return?" She nodded, so I rubbed the bridge of my nose to collect my thoughts. "Tomorrow's going to be a bit hectic, but before anything else, I'll bring the Praetorian Guards over in the morning and have them get familiar with the neighbourhood."

"Where are they going to stay?" Elly inquired, and then immediately raised a palm. "Just so you know, with all the delegates from the other families and the new trainees of the Ordo Draconis, we are running out of guest rooms here."

"Duly noted. The underground base is off-limits too, so I guess I'll buy them a house to stay at or something."

"Actually," Judy cut in, picking up her phone again. After some furious poking, she turned the screen to me.

"What is that graph about?"

"Your finances," she told me flatly and pulled the device back for some more tapping. "I looked into it last night. Chief, you are dangerously close to going into the red."

"Right!" Elly backed her up and shook her finger at me. "We already have a lot of expenses. The maintenance cost of the bases, food bills, wages, and now this new project of yours is also burning money like crazy!"

"It's necessary though," I pointed out, and the girls shared a look with each other.

"Listen, Chief. While the dividends you get from your investment into Ouroboros Music are covering most of the expenses, if you don't do something, your account is going to bottom out in three months."

"At best," Elly added.

Have I been taking money for granted for too long, I wondered as I rubbed my chin. While dealing with all the supernatural malarkey of the last couple of weeks, I admittedly didn't pay any attention to my finances.

"Any advice?"

"Demand money from the Celestials."/"Fleece the Magi."

I hastily raised my palms.

"One at a time, girls. One at a time."

My girlfriends looked each other in the eye, and through some strange and esoteric means of communication I couldn't possibly understand, they decided to let Judy speak first.

"You are still Polemos. With your authority, you should demand some funding from the Celestial Directorate."

With my hands automatically returning to the patented 'elbow in one hand, the other thoughtfully pinching the chin' position, I exhaled a shallow hum.

"Right. I could claim expenses to ensure Angie's happy school life, and—"

"Chief, don't overthink it. You're literally their boss. Just tell them you need money, and let them sort it out."

That prompted another hum from me, and seeing that neither of us was saying anything more, Elly raised her hand.

"My turn! You should make a bunch of those enchanted plaques again, and sell them! We could even put together another auction!"

"Isn't that too soon?"

"Not at all! The Eastern Clans love their auctions! They would jump to the opportunity, and you not only have a whole lot of arch-mages on the island, but all their assistant and support staff too! That's a lot of customers! Just put out a dozen of those plaques or so, and watch the money streaming in!"

"Wouldn't that devalue them though?"

"It will, but by then, you'll be rich, so it doesn't matter."

"That's very vulture capitalistic of you," Judy noted in her usual deadpan tone, and the princess let out an embarrassed giggle.

"Thanks."

"I'm not entirely sure that was a compliment, but let's run with that," I noted and redoubled my chin-pinching efforts. "Once things normalize a little, I'll tell Galatea to prepare a couple dozen base plates. She likes to gratify her artistic urges through those things anyway, so she probably wouldn't mind."

"One thing I would like to add," Judy raised her voice and showed the previous graph off to me again, "is that we only need the extra funds in the short term. Von Fraenir assured me that by the end of spring at the latest, the Draconic Federation will take over the overheads of the Ordo Draconis, including the expenses associated with the underground base. At that point, you'll only have to pay the salaries of the research division and the Fauns. The ninjas are already paid by the Kage clan, while the Knights and the Squires will be taken care of by the Ordo Draconis."

"You'll get paid too, because you're the leader!" Elly chimed in, but then frowned and added, "At least, unless being this Celestial Archon constitutes a conflict of interest, but I'm sure we'll find some loophole by the time the budget gets finalized! Dad hasn't figured out the taxation situation yet though, but it'll work out! For sure! We have lots of accountants for things like this!"

Sighing, I let my arms down and lamented, "And now we even have to consider taxes. Damn. Being the designated head of so many organizations involves way too much accounting for my liking."

"You don't have to worry about that!" the princess exclaimed and extended her arms, presenting my other girlfriend to me like an old-timey show host. "Judy's a born accountant! Grandpa Sebastian said so himself, and he even let her help with the family finance reports! He never let anyone else touch those, not even Dad!"

"He only asked me to double-check the numbers once," my dear assistant grumbled, not entirely enthused by the attention.

"And that's amazing! Right, Leo?"

While Judy still looked a bit peeved, it was a rare opportunity for positive reinforcement, so I gave her a thumbs up.

"Attagirl, Dormouse."

"Please, stop," Judy continued to grumble, but the ever-so-slight flushing of her cheeks didn't escape my notice. The same was true for Elly, and she hugged her again, much to her outward annoyance. Ignoring the princess clinging to her, she maintained a deadpan expression as she looked me in the eye and added, in a bit of a non-sequitur. "I forgot to mention, but there's a petition to give a name to the underground base."

"Erm…"

Unable to form a response right away, I only blinked in confusion, so she continued with, "As of now, the name 'Haven' is in the lead, closely followed by 'Avalon', 'New Camelot', and 'Home Base One', but everyone is waiting for you to cast your vote before the final tally."

"Well, I admit that calling it 'the underground base' all the time is getting a bit annoying, but I'm not sure about either of those options. I'll have to think about it."

"You do that," Judy nodded and put the phone down. "I believe we were talking about what to do with the Celestial guards."

That was about as blatant an attempt to move on from the whole accounting topic as I've ever seen her make, and while I was tempted to tease her a bit, this was not the right time for that.

"Yeah, about that. Since just buying a house might be a bit too much, we might have to improvise. I'm planning to personally introduce them to Lord Grandpa, just to avoid any misunderstandings, so while I'm at it, I'll ask him if he could provide housing for them. That way, the guards get a roof over their heads, and the School will have them where they can see them, and that should help their peace of mind. Win-win."

"I'm not sure they'll see it that way, but it's a plan."

"I'll also ask Dad," Elly suddenly proposed, drawing our attention to her. "We don't have space in the mansion, but some of the other families also have properties in Timaeus. Maybe we could ask them to rent out a few rooms? As a back-up plan?"

"Good idea, princess."

She smiled modestly at me, but her eyes remained expectant. At last, I noticed that she was sneaking glances at my right hand, so I gave her a thumbs up too, at which point her mood brightened even more. Who said rich girls were high-maintenance, anyway?

"In conclusion," Judy spoke up again, sounding rather serious. "Everyone is returning to their own homes, including you."

"That's the plan, yes."

"So you're going to live under the same roof with Tajana Sukkal."

She pointedly used her full name, but her expression remained neutral, so it was hard to tell what her opinion was on the matter. That said, considering her track record, she probably wasn't too happy about it.

"Snowy wants to keep her around. She wants to bring her over to her side, and I already gave her my blessing." I waited for her to respond, but she only stared at me. "Isn't this the part where you tell me not to seduce her and then say something about the anti-harem countermeasures?"

"I'm not worried about that," she stated, though she didn't sound convincing at all. "Granted, you already have a track record of accidentally seducing people. Including her, as Bel."

"But she doesn't know that," I pointed out in a hurry, and she nodded along.

"And that's why I'm telling you to keep it that way. I sincerely doubt the Angie route is going to conclude with them just returning home. We have a climax to prepare for, and the last thing we need is for you to get entangled in a multi-identity love-dodecahedron scenario on top of that."

"Oh, please, Dormouse! Like that would happen."

I tried to laugh her off, but she remained steadfast. Not only that, Elly was in agreement with her too.

"We didn't think you would get taken to the Elysium to become the leader of the Celestials either, and look how things ended up!"

"To be fair, it wasn't exactly something we could prepare for," I noted with just a hint of trepidation. "The whole thing kind of caught me off-guard."

"And then you willingly played along, because you were looking for an opportunity to gather information," Judy piled on, and I threw my hands into the air.

"Okay. Fine. I admit the situation ending up the way it did was, at least partially, on me. What can I do about it at this point?"

"Don't fall into the same hole again," Judy emphasized, her expression deadly serious.

"Exactly!" Elly backed her up and pointed a finger at me, "You are just about to shed the Polemos identity and finally come home, so no matter what happens, you are not allowed to do something like that again!"

"Such as deciding to play around with Tajana Sukkal as Bel to gather intel, take her to the Abyss, and then get stuck there for weeks on end because of the multi-gambit pileup. Again."

"That's… very specific," I muttered in a bit of a daze. "You two thought about this a lot, didn't you?"

"Well… it is something you would do," Elly pointed out.

"Face it, Chief. We know how you think and justify things to yourself. All we are asking is for you not to jump into anything like that again, and just stay within arm's reach."

The way they earnestly stared at me made me feel like the bad guy, so I forcefully cleared my throat.

"Oh, fine. I promise I won't get into any shenanigans that would take me out of town anymore. Not that I was planning to, anyway, but now I'll make extra sure it won't happen."

"Good!" Elly beamed at me, and this time I was the one on the receiving end of a thumbs-up.

"Anything else in urgent need of discussing?" I asked and glanced at the fancy grandfather clock on the far wall, wedged between a dresser holding about a third of the princess's stuffed animal collection and a huge autographed and framed group photo of her favourite metal band with her in the middle. Her room was eclectic as always, but at this point, it would've weirded me out if it was changed in any way.

"Nothing urgent," Judy said, putting extra emphasis on the last words, and the princess' face lit up.

"You know what that means!" she exclaimed and put one arm around Judy's shoulder while holding the other out to invite me in. "Cuddle time!"

This time, I unsubtly pointed at the same clock and said, "Aren't you guys going to be late for school?"

"Don't sweat the small details, Chief," my dear assistant told me, contrary to my expectations, and she put her phone away and held out a hand for me too. "Cuddling is a free action."

"In tabletop games? Maybe, but I'm not even sure about that," I wondered, but despite my best efforts to sound reasonable, the princess kept waving her arm at me. "You know that after tomorrow, we can do this any time we want, right?"

"That's what makes this special!" she proclaimed and pulled Judy even closer. "This is going to be our last secret cuddle! That's the best kind of cuddle!"

By the looks of it, she wasn't going to take no for an answer, and Judy was also unusually into the idea, so I had no choice but to give up and walk over to them. When I did, they grabbed my hands, and pulled me onto the bed. All three of us fell over, and I landed on top of them. They didn't seem to mind though. If anything, it only made Elly laugh even more.

Getting caught up in their hug, with all three of us pressed together like that, I couldn't help but say, "Remember girls: secret cuddle. We don't have time for anything more."

"Don't worry, Chief. We aren't unreasonable," Judy told me even as she was giving me a peck on my cheek. "We'll have the whole weekend for that."

"The whooole weekend!" the princess echoed her between giggles, and as much as I was starting to miss the more, so to say, intimate parts of our relationship as of late…

"Erm… Should I be worried?"

They didn't answer, but the fact that even Judy was visibly smiling meant I would be most likely forced to spend my first few days back in Timaeus joined at the hips with my neglected girlfriends, and probably in a very literal sense of the word too. Oh, the crosses I had to bear, am I right?

PART 2

"Sir! With all due respect, sir, as your guards, we should be the ones to lead the charge and secure the perimeter before you return to the—"

"For the last time: there won't be any charge," I hissed at the unusually obstinate armour-guy. "I'm heading through the portal first, and that's final."

I dismissed the man with a frown, and he didn't argue back, much to my relief. This day was tiresome enough as-is, so I wasn't in the mood for quarrelling over something so stupid on top of that.

"Lord Archon," Kane addressed me next, apparently waiting for armour-guy to leave first before approaching me. "I'm still of the opinion that we should deploy the Seraphic Safeguard to secure the perimeter before you return to—"

"Oh, for the love of…"

I groaned, and turned on my heel, leaving the confused man behind as I walked over to the other end of the large balcony. This was the place where I first officially entered the Elysium, so I found it fitting that it would also serve as the spot from whence I would officially depart. Of course, I would've preferred it if it was without any fanfare, let alone a small banquet, but I had long since realized that in this place, I had to pick my battles. This was… within acceptable limits.

The terrace was filled to the brim with Celestial bigwigs, standing around and mingling in their fanciest outfits, and some of them were even holding champagne glasses between their fingers. Probably to complete the 'fancy, high-class party' vibe. The décor was also back, including the carpets and the hanging banners, though this time at least they mixed them up a little. About half of them were still the familiar blue pennants with the winged spear crest in the middle, but the other half were replaced by bright cyan ones depicting an open golden book with a sword piercing through its spine and surrounded by stylized light rays. It was meant to represent Deus, but I never delved into its symbolism, so I had no idea why.

The rose-petal throwing girls also made a reappearance, and I deftly dodged their most recent bombing run even as I beelined towards Josh and Angie. The two of them were flanked by Mountain Girl and Jaakobah, on my request, and were engaged in an outwardly courteous conversation with Director Tsephanyah.

"It's almost time to leave," I told them, and the blonde director exhaled a long sigh.

"I have to admit, I'm still not entirely convinced of the sensibility of your decision, but if it's the will of Deus, then it shall be done."

"That's right!" Angie declared with a confident grin, and the people idling around us all turned generally cordial gazes her way.

Even putting her political and metaphysical position as the second advent of everyone's favourite totally-not-cult-leader, over the last couple of days, and its various conferences, receptions, and banquets, she left a favourable impression on practically everyone she met. I say 'practically', because there were inevitable a few outliers.

Some were showing their displeasure with the situation more blatantly than others though, just like the bespectacled Director standing two steps away from Tsephanyah. He had been holding the same half-empty champagne glass for the better part of half an hour, and with the exact same sour expression. He might have been waiting for me to be in earshot to voice his opinion, but as soon as I came closer, he let out a melodramatic sigh.

"For the record, I still consider this course of action unnecessary and borderline foolish," he huffed and dramatically sloshed his fancy, if already de-carbonated, drink around. "This is all backwards. If Her Grace Deus wishes to receive education, we should just take the all teachers and materials necessary and deliver them here!" He dramatically turned to Angie. "I implore you, O Deus. Consider your options one last time before you commit to this—"

"Dolion, please," Tsephanyah, visibly running out of patience, cut him short with an ambivalent sigh. "I do not recommend questioning Her Grace's decisions. I have learned its consequences on my own skin."

"Now, now, gentlemen," a new voice joined the fray as Director Savir sauntered over, followed by about half a dozen flunkies from the Cult of Deus.

It was easy to recognize them, since they were all wearing silly rimless hats. It was probably ceremonial, but if anything, it made them look like a flock of flight attendants. Savir herself went all out, and she spiced up her already exquisite red toga-robe-thing with extra jewellery, a huge green brooch in the front, as well as some proper makeup and a pretty elaborate hairdo. She was certainly giving off some 'side character who desperately wants to be the main character' vibes, and truth be told, in terms of presence and appearance, she was certainly beating Angie.

Not that our friendly neighbourhood Celestial didn't look fine though. Although she went through a bunch of outfit designs the night before, she ultimately settled on not wearing a Magiformer at all and showing off her default Deus outfit. It wasn't exactly a gala dress, and its design was a touch too busy for my tastes, with the shoulder shield and the asymmetric cape and all, but it certainly made an impression, even if not as big as Savir's appearance. I supposed that was the insurmountable difference between a mature woman going all out and a high schooler winging it.

In any case, the Orthodox director targeted me and stopped right next to me before flashing a modest smile at Angie.

"I beseech you, O Deus, to overlook Director Mensah's insistence. As the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Acquisition, arranging your return to our ancestral land, and all the required logistics, fell on his shoulders. I'm sure he's simply exhausted."

"I didn't take offense. Not at all," Angie insisted. To my ears, she was sincere, but as usual, these wily foxes were reading into her words.

"Maybe you should apologize?" Tsephanyah proposed, and the Unorthodox director's nostrils flared up with barely contained outrage.

"I'm not apologizing for my sincerely held opinion! I do consider this whole excursion a waste of time and resources, and it's opening Her Grace Deus up to danger by placing her in the open, and you can't convince me otherwise!"

"There's no need for you to worry, Dolion," Savir spoke with the same, calculated smile plastered on her face. "I'm certain Lord Archon Polemos will do his utmost to ensure Her Grace's safety." She then turned to me, and added, "We all have to do our best to allow Her Grace to complete her studies safely and freely, without ever having to concern herself over the affairs of Elysium."

She waited for me to respond, but before I had the chance, Mensah emptied his glass and stared daggers at me.

"Lord Polemos," he began in a grave voice. "I made no secret of my opinion on the company you keep, so I will disperse with the courtesies and cut at the heart of the issue. Can Her Grace's safety be guaranteed on Critias? Can you say it, without a shadow of a doubt, that no harm would befall her?"

"If you're worried about Bel of the Abyss," I responded in a level voice and then paused for a dramatic beat before stating, "If he had any designs about her, he would have already made his move. He never struck me as the restrained type."

"Is the fact you know him well enough to say such a thing supposed to fill me with confidence?" Mensah glared at me, but Tsephanyah stepped between us to stall him.

"Dolion. Please restrain yourself."

The younger chief director huffed and puffed, but didn't say anything else. Capitalizing on the silence, Savir stepped even closer to me.

"Lord Archon? Isn't it about time you prepare for your departure?"

There were no clocks on the balcony, nor did I have my phone to check the time, but if it got me away from these three, I was ready to agree to practically anything at this point.

"Indeed. We should go."

"Elysium will miss you, but rest assured; even in your absence, I will ensure the laws of Elysium will be upheld, both in their letter and in their spirit."

Detecting an unspoken nudge-nudge, wink-wink in her words, I subtly rolled my eyes.

"Just remember, director, that no law is immutable. Sometimes, the rules of old must be discarded to welcome the new."

"Oh, certainly, O Archon. But I'm sure you wouldn't want to be burdened by overseeing such a slow and incommodious process?"

"Power comes not only with privileges, but duties. Sometimes it even requires one to use it to open new gates and shortcuts to fulfil those duties."

"Such is the fate of those with power, but being willing and being able to use it are two different matters."

"Where there's a will, there's a way."

Savir chuckled, apparently finding our exchange amusing. I didn't, and neither did the other two head directors, who were giving us odd looks. They were still better off than Angie, whose eyes were swimming with confusion. The woman by my side was gearing up for round two, so before she could get started, I dramatically gazed off the balcony, at the rising sun over the horizon, raised my voice, and used a sombre, uncompromising tone I saved for occasions like this.

"Let us not delay the inevitable any longer."

For further emphasis, I held out a hand to Angie, and she automatically took it. Following my lead, the directors and their hangers-on all parted before us like the Red Sea. After a surprised beat, Josh and Rinne followed after us, with Jaakobah joining our procession a bit later. Our destination was in the middle of the balcony.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

For this occasion, the organizers of this event (read: Tsephanyah and the Reformers) constructed a small, round pedestal, and upon noticing our approach, the man standing next to it shuddered like a leaf in the storm and hastily fell to one knee.

"I greet the True Archons, may your grace be forever—"

"At ease," I told him in the same tone, and he quickly rose to his feet again.

Surprisingly enough, he was a familiar face. I didn't know his name, but back when I was originally 'invited' here, he was a member of Jaakoba's squad and the one who opened the portal to the Elysium. Speaking of which, while he was wearing a tidy white dress uniform and looked surprisingly refined, he was still lugging the same large instrument around his neck. It was a magitech crossbreed of about three different string instruments, a bagpipe, and a vuvuzela, and no matter how hard he tried to look dignified, it alone made him look comical.

"We're ready to leave. Please open the portal," I instructed him, but he only nervously tugged at his collar.

"Are you certain, O Archon? F-Far be it from me to question your wisdom, but without an operative on site to lock in the coordinates of the destination, hostile parties may block or even intercept you en route, and then…"

"I appreciate your concerns, but there's no need for you to worry about such possibilities," I told him in a slightly more amicable tone. "I have arranged for everything. You only need to perform your task, just like the last time."

"As you command, O Archon…"

He still didn't sound entirely convinced, but nevertheless, he still turned to his right and began to simultaneously pluck, blow, and tap his instrument. If the last time was any indication, I imagined this would take a while, but we've only been waiting for a few short seconds before Angie started tugging at my hand.

At first, I thought it was because she didn't like how I was still holding onto her, but even when I loosened my fingers, she kept pulling, and gesturing for me to lean closer. We were in the center of attention, and while the rest of the Directorate gave us a large berth and formed a wide circle around us, I still didn't feel entirely comfortable with sharing whispers with her in public. She didn't seem to take no for an answer though, so I lowered my head a little to signal that I was listening.

"How are you so good at this?" she whispered in a low voice, and for a moment, I couldn't quite grasp what she was talking about.

"Good at what?"

"Dealing with all of these people," she told me, followed by an unsubtle glance at the three chief directors clustered on our far left. "It's so weird! When we're in private, you sound like yourself, but when you talk with them, you sound like Polemos." She suddenly frowned, and then mumbled, "Did I just say the same thing twice?"

"No, but it's beside the point," I answered with an implied shrug.

"Right!" She nodded, and then her frown was washed away by a smile. "Hey? Once we are back home, do you think you can teach me your special technique?"

"I don't think there's anything special about what I'm doing though," I pointed out, but she didn't get the message and doubled down with a tiny pout.

"But there is! I mean, if I tried to say, 'Where there's a will, there's a way', it just comes off cheesy, but when you do it, it has this… Idunno… It's like a sense of gravitas, I guess? It was giving me goosebumps on my sides. I wanna learn how to do that too!"

I wanted to point out that she, or at least her inner Deus, had a much more consistent track record at giving people goosebumps, but before I could get a word in, her expression changed again, this time into a suspicious squint, and she lowered her voice even more.

"What's going between you and Director Savir, anyway?"

"Just the usual," I told her, but she wasn't satisfied by that.

"No, it's not! It's like… there was this strange tension between you two, and the way she was smiling at you was…" Her words trailed off and she narrowed her eyes even further. "Is there something going on between you two? You're not cheating on Judy and Elly, are you?"

"… I'm not even going to dignify that with a proper response, but I want you to know that once we're out of here, you're going get your forehead flicked for even thinking of something that dumb. Be prepared."

Despite what I just told her, Angie's eyes opened wide, and she finally let go of my hand, but only to cover up her forehead. Rolling my eyes, I glanced around. While we were talking, our little group was joined by the Praetorian Guards, with Jaakobah and Kane giving them a last-minute briefing even as we continued to wait. Noticing my gaze, Mike's father locked eyes with me, and after some hesitation, he walked over to us.

"I wish you uneventful days, O Archons," he said in a deferential tone, and while it was a peculiar way to wish me farewell, I couldn't say I disagreed with the sentiment.

"Don't act like you won't see me soon, Primus," I told him with just the barest hint of a smile, and he twitched like I just stepped on his feet.

"I'm… still not sure how I feel about the Lord Archon's proposal. While I would cherish the opportunity to meet my son in person, on Elysium's soil, the laws are rather…" Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and he whispered, "Could it be…? Was this the meaning behind your previous discussion with Director Savir?"

It wasn't, but as usual, I wasn't above taking undue credit.

"Think of it as you will," I told him, and the man gave me a shallow bow in return.

In the meantime, the portal was almost ready to open, and just as I was thinking that, the agent with the weird musical instrument announced the same.

"Please stand back. The gateway is opening momentarily."

As if waiting for these words, Kane stepped away, while the Praetorian Guards formed a tight circle around Angie and me. Then, the non-numeric countdown of the portal reached the equivalent of zero, and out popped a familiar hole into space, followed by a small gust of wind.

"Before you leave," Savir raised her voice all of a sudden, and when I looked her way, I saw that one of her flunkies, a short and rather familiar woman, was pointing one of those oval crystal balls I'd last seen during the Colossus incident our way. "Would the Hallowed True Archons say a few words in parting?"

I wasn't a fan of getting something like this sprung on me in the very last second, and based on Savir's expression, it only made her feel all the more delighted. Stilling my facial muscles, I turned to the magitech broadcast device, and simply stated, "We'll leave now, but we shall be back."

Figuring that it was more than enough, wanted to leave right away, but caught up in the moment, Angie decided to speak up as well.

"I'll come back soon! I promise I'll learn everything I can, and then when I return, I'll be the best leader ever!"

Her voice was a little unsteady, and her choice of words was anything but regal, yet she somehow got a standing ovation for that. I'd like to say Celestials were easily impressed, but it felt like she would've gotten the same reaction even if she said 'The sky is blue!', just because she was Deus. But I digress.

I glanced around one last time. On my left, Primus Kane fell on one knee. On my right, Tsephanyah, Savir, and Mensah waved with a friendly smile, bowed in a dignified manner, and nodded curtly, respectively. And beyond them, all around us, cheering Celestials, both on the balcony floor and in the air. We even had trumpets, and as much as I hated to admit it, the moment was powerful enough that I got careless and somehow got hit by the flying flower-basket girls' latest bombing run.

Not that it mattered. Once I stepped through that portal, I could finally put this place out of my mind for a while. No more watching my every word in public. No more constant vigilance about the incessant schemers around me. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, no more parades, banquets, or receptions full of stuffy politicians and social power-monger types. If I never had to attend another one of those, it would be too soon.

Without further ado, I marched up to the shimmering hole over the pedestal, and with a waving Angie in tow, we unceremoniously stepped through… only to find myself in the big ballroom of the Dracis mansion. Surrounded by all the draconian family heads, the Ordo Draconis members, and the five arch-mages and their entourage, all of them decked out in fancy suits and gowns. And holding champagne glasses, while live classical music was playing in the background.

"Me and my big mouth…" I grumbled under my breath, only to have the rest of it knocked out of me by my redhead sister, dressed in an adorable, frilly green evening dress, nearly tackled me off my feet in a situation that gave me a strange sense of déjà vu.

Of course, once the Praetorian Guards arrived, her clinging onto me caused quite a bit of a stir, though not nearly as much as when Snowy and my girlfriends joined the fray on top of Penny, but that was a story for another time. For now, I simply buried my face in my hand, lamenting the fact that while I certainly told Naoren and Dad-in-law that they shouldn't make a big deal out of our return, I once again forgot who I was talking to and their rather skewed perception of what a 'big deal' was. At least I took solace in the fact that there weren't any fireworks. Not much of a silver lining, but I took what I got.

Part 3

As far as fancy dinner parties were concerned, this was…

Wait. It was still in the morning, so was it more of a 'breakfast party'? Was that even a thing? It didn't really matter either way, but now it was bothering me, and…

"Chief? What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, you know? Important stuff?" I told my dear assistant, currently glued to my side.

"Sir, Lord Archon, sir?" Armour-guy tried to get my attention, so I let out a sigh and faced the eight Celestial guards clustered behind me, and cut in before he could say something silly and embarrass himself.

"The greetings may take a while, so use this opportunity to mingle a little. You're going to be seeing these people a lot from now on, so show your faces and introduce yourselves."

"Sir, that would be a gross display of negligence, sir! We're here to protect you and—"

"Just follow the Prefect's example," I cut him off again and pointed at Jaakobah and Arnwald. The two of them were standing not far from us, and exchanging outwardly polite words.

"… of the Lord Archon's Praetorian Guard."

"I have heard much about you," our Eagle Knight responded amicably and the two of them shook hands. "Once the reception is over, I would like to invite you to discuss the logistics of your mission and your accommodations."

"I was just about to suggest the same."

Seeing the two of them get along, at least on the surface, made the rest of my alleged honour guards relax a bit, and after some further urging, they finally stopped following after me like a bunch of ducklings. With that particular issue out of my hair, I glanced around, and my eyes met with many a familiar face. Sebastian was standing some distance away from us and was keeping an eye on the newcomers, but when our eyes met, the corners of his lips lifted a little and he gave me a shallow nod.

As I returned the gesture, I also noticed that, not far from the incognito dragon, stood a bald man wearing a colourful robe with huge wooden beads around his neck. It's been a while since I've last seen the Kage elder, but at the moment, he was distracted by having a discussion with one of the Western Draconian matriarchs, so the greetings had to wait.

As my gaze continued to wander, I noticed that Lord Grandpa was staring intently at me, but he couldn't approach me due to being trapped in conversation with my draconic in-laws. As for the Feilongs, Zihao was nowhere to be seen, while Naoren was currently chatting with Mountain Girl.

"… glad to see that Lady Rinne is in good health."

Rinne nodded.

"Were there any complications during your mission with Brother Leonard?"

This time, she shook her head.

"You are… unusually taciturn today. Is everything all right?"

She nodded again, and so I rolled my eyes and called out to her.

"We're no longer in the Elysium, so you can take off your helmet and talk, you know?"

Her head snapped to me, and when I nodded for emphasis, she hurriedly began to unbuckle her headgear, much to the amusement of the Feilong patriarch and the undisguised interest of the Praetorian Guards. However, she wasn't the only one who heard my words.

"Oh, feaking finally!" Josh exclaimed and started fiddling with the buckles as well. "I'm so sick of this stupid stuffy piece of—"

"Wait, I'll help," Snowy proposed, but since she wasn't too familiar with how these things worked, my other sister, more versed in this kind of bootleg knightly gear, had to help as well.

The guy, befitting his protagonist status, was currently surrounded by his girlfriend, my sisters, Ammy, Sahi, the mini-moe pair of Xiao and Ichiko, and even Elly was there. To be fair though, most of them seemed to be way more interested in Angie and her Deus outfit than anything else.

"Ah! You have helmet hair!" Angie exclaimed, drawing the Praetorian Guards' attention to her in turn, and their faces went slack when she raised her arms and used her fingers to comb her boyfriend's head into a halfway presentable shape. "Here you go, you silly-goose."

Even as I looked at them, from the corner of my eye, I could see Lord Grandpa trying to make his way over to me, but then he was intercepted by the rest of the Assembly delegation. They were probably having a last-minute strategy meeting, I reckoned, but I couldn't use Far Sight to listen in on them, as I was approached by my in-laws instead.

"Haha! Welcome back, son!" Papa Dracis greeted me in his customary lack of an indoor voice.

"Honey, can you keep it down?" Mama Dracis followed him up with a moan and massaged her forehead.

"Is there a problem?" Judy, defiantly attached to me still, inquired with a voice ever-so-slightly tinged by worry, but Emese shook her head.

"No, it's nothing serious. There are just too many unfamiliar scents, and it's making my head hurt." Then, as if on a whim, she leaned closer to me and gave me a sniff. "You are also smelling remarkably more like those people than you used to."

I followed the way her thumb was pointing and found Rinne, Naoren, and Jaakobah there, surrounded by all eight of the Praetorian Guards.

"So you could talk all along?" the phlegmatic Celestial inquired with a brow raised. When she nodded, it turned into a frown. "Then why did you keep silent?"

"Rinne was ordered by Leonard-dono," she explained, and it caused the rest of the Celestial honour guards to animatedly whisper among each other.

"Lady Rinne? Why is this man addressing you so discourteously?" Naroen cut in with a frown of his own.

"Jaakobah-san is Rinne's colleague. Jaakobah-san is also Leonard-dono's retainer, so there's nothing strange about Jaakobah-san speaking to Rinne like that."

The bespectacled patriarch's face practically screamed 'I still don't like it though', but as much as I would've liked to spectate, my attention was drawn back to Mom-in-law when she blatantly looked me over from head to toe.

"Is this how you always dress in the Elysium?"

"Only when I'm Polemos," I answered a touch apprehensively. "Why? Is there a problem with it?"

"Are you this 'Polemos' right now?"

"Officially, yes, but…" Pausing, I considered her words for a moment and let out a soft hum. "I still have to figure out how to marry all my official titles together, so it's a pretty complicated issue."

"Then can you return to being just Leonard Dunning for now?"

Before I could answer, the princess ambushed me by attaching herself to my free arm, and she exclaimed, "Mom! Don't bother Leo! He just came back!"

"I'm not bothering him; I'm just trying to hint that everyone would feel better if he didn't look so… Celestial."

"It's the color, isn't it?" Abram butted in with a cheeky grin, and his wife exhaled a soft groan.

"White doesn't suit him. It looks strange."

"Ah! So I wasn't the only one who thought so!" Dad-in-law exclaimed with a toothy grin, and under their ministrations, I had no choice but to turn off the Leoformer. Once I did, my outfit was immediately replaced by the clothes I was wearing during the 'kidnapping incident'. I put them on ahead of time, because these were my own clothes, and I didn't want to bring any of the ones prepared by the directors with me, and while the casual jeans and shirt combo didn't fit the ballroom's ambience at all, Mom-in-law was happy all the same.

"Much better," she told me with a satisfied smile. "These suit you. And also, your scent changed again. So strange."

"The Chief looks good in anything," Judy noted.

"Even in a diving suit?" Elly chimed in, and it made my dear assistant consider her response carefully.

"I think he could make it work."

"I'm glad you think that, but if anything, you two are the ones who look unreasonably great today," I cut in, feeling the need to pass the compliment ball back before I would start getting embarrassed.

I wasn't speaking nonsense though. Elly was always pretty, but this time she went above and beyond, wearing a dark blue ball gown with semi-transparent long gloves, and a pretty necklace with lots of blue gems in it. Judy was no slouch either, and her long, frilly white dress, combined with her hair bow, a pair of clip-on earrings, and a touch of make-up, made her look cuter than I'd ever seen her. Honestly speaking, standing between these two made me feel even more under-dressed, but they didn't seem to mind it at all.

"Distance does make the heart grow fonder," Papa Dracis stated in an unusually subdued voice, only to immediately turn on the volume again by adding, "But I have to say, our girls do look amazing tonight, don't they, honey?"

"They certainly do. And contrary to that, closeness can also make relationships grow. Isn't that right, girls?"

Emese flashed a knowing smile, and the way she was looking at my girlfriends was slightly troubling, but before she could drop any more thinly veiled hints at the ubiquitous rumours about the two, we were all surprised by Lord Grandpa elbowing himself into our circle.

"My sincerest apologies for interrupting your long-awaited reunion," he said the moment he arrived, his eyes practically glued onto me. "May I borrow Leonard for but a short moment?"

"It's hardly appropriate to monopolize the party's guest of honor," Abram noted, but the old man remained steadfast.

"I once again apologize, but I must absolutely discuss something in private. It is of the utmost importance."

The way Lord Grandpa was practically pleading with me with his eyes gave me goosebumps, but at last, I exhaled a long breath and nodded.

"If it's that important, then sure. I'll just greet everyone a bit later." After a beat, I turned to Dad-in-law. "Can I borrow the secluded parlour room for a while?"

"This is our house, son!" Abram exclaimed with a grin. "Why do you even ask?"

"Force of habit, I guess?" I said a tad sheepishly as I carefully slipped out of the arms of my girlfriends. I was just about to tell the old Magi to follow after me when I suddenly remembered something. "Hold on. I have to do something first. I'll be right back."

Saying so, I turned on my heels and headed to the group crowding around Josh.

"… and then I called him my Joshticar!" Angie exclaimed between giggles.

"Ahaha! That's, like, totally wicked!" Sahi laughed along, apparently finding it genuinely hilarious.

"I don't get it," Ammy frowned, as if it was a complicated match problem she had to figure out.

"And you slept in the s-same bed!?" My knightly sister was apparently focused on a part of the conversation that I didn't hear, and her face was flushed red from imagining it. "T-That's lewd!"

"I don't think so," Snowy countered with a contemplative look on her face. "We sleep in the same bed too."

"B-But we're sisters! It's completely different!"

It was nice to see all the girls getting along like that. As for Josh, he was too distracted by midriff-woman and tunic-man, who were trying to drill him about his relationship with Angie.

"I tell you, we're dating," he grumbled with audible distaste.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" midriff-woman hissed, as if she couldn't believe her ears. "Then what about Polemos?!"

"What about him?" Josh argued back quite vehemently and pointed a finger in my general direction. "Can't you see that he has—" It was at this point that he realized I came over, and he let his hand down. "Oh. Is there a problem?"

"Nah, continue as you were," I told him with a wave of my hand. "I have a promise to keep. I'll do it, and then I'll leave you to your discussion."

"What promise?" Angie chimed in, and before she could respond, I extended a hand and flicked her on her forehead in one smooth motion. "O-Owie!"

She reeled back to a comical degree, like a community theatre actor pantomiming getting hit by a bat, and after a beat, she backed away with both hands on her forehead and hid behind her startled boyfriend. With my purpose fulfilled, I gave a small wave to the flabbergasted onlookers and returned to the equally stumped Lord Grandpa.

"Sorry for the intermezzo; I had to do it before I completely forgot about it." I paused for a beat and then gestured for the old man. "Follow me. I'll lead the way."

PART 4

I might have been just a touch too cheeky back there.

I said I would lead the way, but it's been a while since I've been in this ballroom, and only once at that, so tried as I might, I couldn't recall where the door to the tucked-away parlour room was. Luckily for me, my lovely draconic girlfriend quickly recognized my dilemma, and she stealthily pointed me in the right direction.

After making a mental note about giving her some extra kisses later, I gestured for Lord Grandpa to follow after me, and I was glad to see that I wouldn't need to make another detour on the way, as I found Roland idling right about halfway between our starting point and our destination. Since we were in public, he gave me a curt salute when I approached him and stood attentively.

"Welcome back, Leonard. It feels like it's been ages since we last met," he told me in a perfectly natural, level voice, but I couldn't help but feel that he was still overdoing the act a little.

"I feel the same. We'll catch up later, but for now, can I ask you something?"

"Do you have any orders?"

"No, not an order, more of a request," I told him and glanced over my shoulder. Lord Grandpa frowned, as if unsure whether or not it was fine for him to hear what we were talking about, so I purposefully avoided his eyes and scanned the whole ballroom for potential troublemakers. Alas, there were too many of them to count, so I exhaled a shallow groan as I faced Roland again. "Keep an eye out for trouble, and if there's a conflict, do your best to break it up, or at least hold it in bay until I'm back."

He raised a critical brow at me and responded in a low, uneasy voice.

"Are you expecting a fight to break out?"

"Not necessarily a 'fight' per se, but something," I told him with a shrug. "Call it a hunch."

While he still looked skeptical on the surface, Roland gave me another salute all the same.

"Understood. I'll go and inform the rest of the Ordo Draconis members."

"Please do."

That was the end of our discussion, and once I moved on, the old arch-mage followed behind me like my very own shadow. We turned a few heads as we made our way through idling guests. Most of them were Draconians of various families and ethnicities, but I could see the odd Kage elder and Ordo Draconis Squire here and there. In comparison, both the Assembly delegation and the Celestials kept to themselves, forming isolated islands in the sea of attendants, with only my inner circle and friends serving as something of a bridge between them.

I couldn't say I was surprised by that; the Draconians and the Knights mingling like they had been close allies for ages was an unnatural development entirely based on my identity and the insistent support of Naoren and Dad-in-law. It would've been downright uncanny if the same thing happened with the rest of the factions, considering they had been at each other's throats just as much as the Draconians and the Brotherhood used to be, but without a linchpin to tie them together now.

It was something we still had to work on, but just the fact that members of all three of the biggest supernatural power players were here and associating in the open was a step in the right direction.

In any case, we soon reached our destination, and after I signalled to the maid on duty that I'd have liked to use the so-called 'private meeting room' directly adjacent to the big hall. The inside of it was exactly how I remembered it, thought in retrospect, I didn't know what I was expecting. It's only been a few months since the last time I'd been here, after all.

The windowless room was lit by a series of wall-mounted light fixtures styled after old-timey mantled gas lamps, and with the leather-bound armchairs and the fairly no-nonsense décor, the place gave off a high-class yet at the same time surprisingly cosy atmosphere. It was also surprisingly well-insulated, and the moment the placeholder maid closed the door behind us, all the buzz and the music of the ballroom disappeared like someone cut a record, and the silence immediately gave the chamber a more clandestine feel.

My 'guest' might not have shared my sentiment though, as after a moment of hesitation, Lord Grandpa spoke about five sentences in one breath, so fast it put the micro machines man to shame, and the walls were immediately enveloped with a faintly shining sheen of light.

"Soundproofing?" I ventured a guess, and the old man nodded with a solemn expression.

"It is a necessity," he stated and sat down on one of the armchairs without waiting for me to do so first.

I didn't mind it though (I was never big on etiquette anyway), so I just followed his example, and waited for him to get started.

"Leonard," he said, still sounding unnecessarily sombre. "Or should I refer to you as Polemos from now on?"

"Nah, Leonard will do," I told him and leaned back in my seat. It made me recall the last time I was here, and the green tea Naoren brewed at the time. It didn't even happen that long ago, yet I was still feeling nostalgic about it. The human mind was so weird.

"In that case, Leonard," the arch-mage opened the discussion with a deep, resounding voice. For once, he wasn't trying to project authority, but it rather felt like he was trying to get the gravity of the situation across. "At the conclusion of your last, unannounced visit to my home, you left abruptly, without giving us the opportunity to discuss the grand implications of the information you revealed to us. I would like to continue this discussion right now."

"Is that all?" The old man frowned at me, so I clarified, "Considering how agitated you looked, I expected something more pressing."

"I am most certainly not agitated," the old coot objected under a deepening frown. "However, the subject is definitely of the utmost importance, and calling it pressing would be entirely appropriate."

"Fine, fine. I'm listening."

Lord Grandpa let out a gruff noise and placed his hands on his thighs.

"Before anything else, I would like to make sure there is no misunderstanding persisting between us. The Dionne girl is, contrary to all common sense, the corporeal embodiment of Deus, the legendary sovereign of the Celestial race. Am I correct so far?"

"Calling her a 'sovereign' is not entirely accurate. She's more of a cross between a messianic archetype, with a bit of an Arthurian 'return of the king' kind of thing going on as well, but otherwise, it's mostly correct."

"And you are Polemos, the consort of this 'messianic archetype', as you called her."

"Oh, no no no," I cut in before the misunderstanding could gain a foothold. "You've got some weird intel it seems, so let me put this straight: I'm currently holding the mantle of an Archon. Both Polemos and Deus were Archons, and I inherited the title because of some shenanigans that would take too long to explain in detail, while Angie houses the soul of the original Deus inside of her. In short, we're both considered to be ceremonial leaders with lots of vaguely defined authority, but neither the Polemos and Deus of old, nor Angie and me have an intimate relationship with each other. Did that clear it up?"

"Yes, but it is not the crux of the discussion we need to have," he insisted. "However, you have touched upon a very important detail, and I would request that you clarify it beyond the shadow of a doubt: are you entirely certain that the Celestials are correct in assuming she is their old ceremonial leader reborn?"

"Indeed. I checked her soul myself, and I can guarantee that it's the case."

"You have inspected her…" the old man muttered after me, and following a long beat, his shoulders slouched in defeat. "Of course. I should have expected at least this much from someone of your extensive track record of performing impossible deeds."

"I don't think it's that impossible. My research division can also check souls, and we both know that Saahira's entire research was about reading soul information and translating it to another body… but I digress. Staying on topic, from what I could gather so far, you want to talk about Angie being Deus."

"Yes. Or to be more precise, the global implications of the fact and how it would inevitably affect not only the whole World of Mystics but also the mundane human civilization."

"Is it that big of a—" 'deal?' is what I wanted to ask, but then, I had another one of those moments, where my brain made a connection, and I suddenly had about ten minutes' worth of thoughts in the span of about half a second, and it left me momentarily disoriented. To buy myself some time to let the realization set in, I lowered my voice and whispered, "No, never mind. Please continue."

Noticing the sudden shift in my behaviour, Lord Grandpa sat straighter in his armchair and softly cleared his throat.

"To put it into straightforward terms, the World of Mystics exists solely due to the Celestials. For as long as the written history of the Assembly existed, the Celestial agenda had never changed or veered off its single-minded course. Every ploy, every incident, everything they had ever done, was in service of one, singular goal: to maintain the separation between the World of Mystics and the rest of humanity while awaiting the return of their Deus."

I nodded along. Indeed, one of the main premises of the Simulacrum had been the masquerade from the very beginning, and it was maintained by the Celestial Directorate following the prophecy Polemos left behind. Of course, as it turned out, that whole thing was hogwash, like most prophecies were. To be fair though, it went through quite a bit of the telephone game across the ages, and I could vaguely recall that Angie thought Deus sacrificed himself to seal the Abyssals away, and that he would explicitly return as a 'human'. The thing was, neither of those were in the original prophecy.

In fact, I had Jaakobah look it up for me, and there were only three things about Deus's rebirth in the Celestials' big bundle of holy books: Deus would be reborn in the future, he would show up in a different body on Earth, and the stars would announce his return. While the last one explained the role the Department of Divination played in this whole farce, it didn't take a PhD in literary analysis to notice that Deus being a human wasn't mentioned anywhere.

As it turns out, all of this was some kind of Divine Comedy style situation, where later works insisted that, since the Celestials would remain in Elysium, the Abyssals in the Abyss, and Deus would obviously not reincarnate as a stinky dragon-blooded person, by process of elimination, Deus could only return as a pure human. Then their theology just ran with it, even after the rise of the Magi and after they started sending their unwanted two-winged brethren down in recent times.

Hell, in retrospect, not even the 'comes back on Earth' part was true, since Angie awakened in the Elysium after her kidnapping! Just shows how much these stupid prophecies were worth, I supposed.

"For the longest time," Lord Grandpa continued in the same grave tone as before, "For the longest time, fear of Celestial intervention kept the World of Mystics separated from the wider civilization," he reiterated one of his previous points, and after a melodramatic beat, he added, "But we fear that this may change, and soon."

"Because Deus is back," I noted, and he nodded along.

"Precisely. As the legendary ruler of the Celestials walks among us once again, however improbable the shape he took may be, there are many who question what the Celestials will do now. Would they still uphold the constant pressure upon all the practitioners of mystic phenomena and bearers of non-human bloodlines? Would they unite behind their messiah and pose a new threat to all of us? Or would they do… nothing?"

Out of those three options, it was the last one that seemed to disturb the old man the most, and it wasn't hard to see why. Since Deus was found, there was no reason for the Celestial high command to maintain their costly efforts to maintain the masquerade. Without this threat, it was only a question of time before some bad actors would try to push their luck, and if the masquerade broke, it would inevitably and permanently change the whole world.

It would not only remove the inhibitions placed on the Draconians and the Magi, but we also had to consider how the wider humanity would respond once they realized that they were secretly manipulated by a high society of dragons, wizards, mad scientists, and definitely-not-angels. It would lead to abject chaos, widespread mistrust of all authority figures, witch-hunts (both in the metaphorical and possibly the literal sense), and the impact of the existence of these people on the world religions would be immeasurable, to say the least. All of that sounded really, truly, absolutely…

"Annoying."

"It is a very mild way to put it," Lord Grandpa responded sourly. "Were the World of Mystics abruptly to merge with human society, it would lead to untold pandemonium and chaos. It is something that has to be avoided at all costs, and I am afraid some may resort to the most forthright method they could see to avoid the future they dread."

"As in?"

The old man inhaled hard, and braced himself, as if afraid that I would jump at him at any moment.

"If Deus were to be removed from the picture, things would return the way they were, would they not?"

He was still eyeing me, doing his best to hide his nervousness, but I already came to more-or-less the same deduction on my own.

"That would lead to war," I told him dryly, and he didn't argue.

"Indeed. Yet, for some, the certainty of a war is preferable to an uncertain and unpredictable upheaval."

"Have you heard anything specific?" I levelled the crucial question at him, but he shook his head.

"No, nothing truly concrete. Hushed whispers and open-ended questions? Yes, but no clear, unambiguous word on the matter. Nevertheless, I felt that I had to inform you of this." He paused here, and looked me in the eye, looking and sounding as earnest as I'd ever seen him. "No matter the cost, it is something we have to avoid. I do not want to fight you."

"At least you're honest," I grumbled and leaned back in my seat.

This was something that completely flew under my radar until this point. In my defence, I was busy with a lot of personal matters and dealing with one minor crisis after the other, but the old man's words were a wake-up call.

He was right, in more ways than one. On a Watsonian level, the whole supernatural world had been locked in a cold war for the better part of two and a half millennia. For untold generations, 'Don't dick around with the humans, or the Celestials will get pissed' was deeply ingrained into them on a fundamental level. While outwardly the situation of the supernatural folks was of tense antagonism on the verge of all-out hostility, it was also the only status quo they had ever known. People in general hate anything that upsets that, so it made sense that they would do anything, no matter how abjectly moronic, to maintain it.

However, on a Doylist level, things didn't look any better either. Because the Simulacrum we lived in was entirely based on the premise of the masquerade, and the supernatural being sequestered away from the everyday school life of our resident protagonist, we only had two potential ways this could go down: either the masquerade would be artificially upheld, to maintain the integrity of the setting… or we were nearing the end of whatever 'plot' was allotted to Josh, and so the finale could completely flip the table, since said integrity no longer mattered.

No matter how I looked at it, I didn't like any of those options.

"We still have time," I told the arch-mage, and he raised an uncomprehending brow in return. "Angie hasn't assumed her place as Deus yet. Things are a little chaotic in the Elysium, but for the time being, the leadership generally tries to maintain the existing state of affairs. So long as I send in a word or two, we can buy some time."

"How much?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "In the best-case scenario, until Angie gets a degree in economics, or political theory, or whatever strikes her fancy. Until then, the Directorate will keep running the show, and I can exert some pressure to have them keep at what they've been doing for ages a little longer."

"If that is her aim, then we would have six years at most."

"She probably won't go for a master's degree, so more like four."

"Too short," Lorg Grandpa whispered. "Yet, it is better than the alternative."

"Meaning, an immediate outbreak of chaos, with rogue Magi and Draconians enslaving countries?"

"The Assembly would not let such an event pass unopposed, but as for the part about chaos, it is something we can hardly avoid, only lessen with meticulous preparations." After a deep breath, he also added, "As for the safety of Angeline Dionne, aka Deus, I would like to offer the full and unconditional support of myself and my colleagues currently on the island."

"And I'm not nearly pigheaded enough not to accept it without any reservations," I told him with a smile, and for the first time, the old man seemed to relax. We couldn't have that, so I quickly added, "Just for the record though, I know you just love your schemes, but I would appreciate it if you could refrain from messing around too much. I think neither of us wants a repeat of the liquor cabinet incident."

The old coot's face twitched, but he maintained an amicable smile.

"I will keep your words close to my heart."

"Make sure you do."

With that, the main conversation was over, and for a few seconds, I had no idea how to move things along. In the end, I decided to try some small talk, sink or swim, but I barely got as far as, "So, the weather is—" before someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," I called out by reflex, and before I got to the second syllable, Sebastian was already inside.

"Please excuse the interruption," he stated in a dry voice as he glanced between the two of us. "I would like to inquire about how long your discussion would take."

"We're finished with the important part, I think," I responded on autopilot, and the elderly steward exhaled a pleased hum.

"In that case, we might still make it," he whispered under his breath and gestured for someone outside.

"Make what? Was there an incident?" Lord Grandpa asked, visibly confused by this development, and Sebastian lightly shrugged.

"There was a minor altercation between the Bernstein boy and the younger Feilong brother." I circled a finger to signal him to go on. "The latter was late to join the festivities, and after a series of unfortunate misunderstandings, he challenged Joshua Bernstein to a duel. By sheer chance, the members of the Ordo Draconis were already at the scene, and they managed to escort him out of the premises before he could cause a scene. Even now, the Feilong patriarch is in the process of apologizing to the guests."

"Hah! Called it!" I exclaimed with a satisfied grin, but then my brows automatically descended into a frown. "But if that was resolved, then why are you here."

As if to answer in his stead, Melinda entered the room, pushing a four-wheeled clothes rack with a whole lot of fancy outfits hanging from it.

"The first dance of today's breakfast party is commencing soon, and we can't have you accompany your fiancées looking like that."

Before I could protest, or even just comment, the braided maid was already pulling me out of the arm-chair and, under the ministrations of the incognito dragon, she began to rummage through the clothes she brought, completely disregarding the arch-mage in the room and the increasingly confounded look on his face.

Truth be told though; I didn't really mind this that much. Dancing with the girls sounded like just the kind of light exercise I needed to clear my head of stray thoughts and digest all of the new developments and revelations I just heard about. Such as that there apparently is such a thing as a 'breakfast party'. Who would have thought, am I right?