PART 1

The class rep and Mike arrived at my doorstep exactly at five in the afternoon. Just as expected, I would say, and it gave me the perfect opportunity to indulge in an old trick. As such, I waited on the other side of the entrance of the house, kept an eye on them with Far Sight, and just when Ammy was about to reach for the doorbell, I threw the door open with a smile as wide as my face could go.

"Welcome!"

The two of them jolted in unison, but after the first surprise, the class rep let her hand down and gave me a withering look.

"Could you please not dance on my nerves? I'm anxious enough already."

"There's no need to be though," I pointed out and ushered them inside. "Oh, by the way, don't take off your shoes. We'll head out right away."

"O-Okay," Mike muttered and did his best to wipe his feet on the doormat.

Meanwhile, Ammy took off her beanie and scarf, closely followed by her fogged-up glasses. She had makeup on her face, and even though her hairdo was always the same, it somehow still looked primmer and more proper than usual. Despite wearing a winter cap until a few seconds ago. As usual, the Simulacrum's dogged obsession with keeping the important people's hairstyles attractive regardless of the circumstances never ceased to amaze me. Well, except maybe for Josh, but he was the protagonist, so he had a lot of leeway with the whole spiky-bed-hair-thing aesthetic.

Anyhow, I herded the two of them into the living room, where Ammy came to an abrupt halt upon noticing the woman on the couch.

"Oh? Do we have guests?" Tajana spoke up without turning around, her eyes glued to the newest episode of her favourite series. She branched out as of late, moving on from classic, overdramatic soap operas to newfangled, overdramatic Korean historical dramas instead.

"Is she the 'guest' you told me about?"

Ammy's whispered question was aimed at Michael, and he belatedly nodded.

"Ah, yes. She's… a little odd, but mostly harmless," Mike whispered back, and the class rep dramatically put her still partially fogged-up glasses back on before scrunching up her nose.

"There's no such thing as a 'mostly harmless' Abyssal Seducer."

"Pardon?" I cut in with a frown of my own, and it took her a surprisingly long time to realize what I meant.

"Neige is different," she doubled down. "She's a statistical anomaly. The chances of two innocuous Seducers is—"

"Hush! They are just getting to the good part!" Tajana hissed on the couch and added more volume to the TV before stuffing her mouth full of popcorn.

For the record, on the screen, a pair of Asian men dressed in traditional long robes were having a rather mild argument I couldn't understand, because it was a subtitled show. However, after staring at the back of her black-and-pink head for a while, the class rep let out a defeated sigh.

"Fine. Maybe it isn't a statistical impossibility, but you still shouldn't get close to her."

Once again, that was aimed at Mike, and the guy awkwardly scratched his cheek in response. As much as it would've been amusing to see just what kind of couple-antics these two were up to, my timetable was full for the rest of the day, so I had no intention of wasting it by standing around like this.

"Come on, let's not keep your family waiting."

Upon hearing that, Mike audibly gulped.

"W-Wait. Hold on for a moment! I have to prepare myself!"

"Don't be a baby." Saying so, I pushed the couple towards the teleport closet, then turned to the spymaster lounging on the couch. "Once the girls get home, tell them I'll be late, and that they can have dinner without me."

"Sure, sure. Have fun."

She waved a lazy hand over her head without looking away from the television, and that was it. She was feeling at home as of late, wasn't she? That aside, I pushed Mike and Ammy into the teleport closet and closed the door behind us.

"Is this the teleport circle I've heard so much about?" Mike wondered as he looked at the softly glowing patterns under his feet.

"It's a fake," Ammy stated matter-of-factly, and this time, I didn't try to deny her, and simply wrapped a pair of phantom limbs around them.

"We're going to head directly to the Elysium. I recommend you close your eyes to avoid nausea and other side effects." I waited for them to follow my instructions, and then cheekily added, "Estimated time of arrival is… right now."

Just like that, we were standing inside an unfamiliar room, inside one of the suites on the higher floors of the usual tower. Since I no longer had Mountain Girl, Jaakobah, or the Praetorian Guards to serve as my anchors, I had to specifically instruct Kane to prepare a room and then stay nearby.

The layout was noticeably similar to the bedroom of the suite I used while I was staying here, including the huge windows covering much of the outer wall overlooking the late afternoon vista of the Elysium. Speaking of which, while the Celestials' little pocket realm hadn't changed much since the last time I'd been here, Angie's influence could already be felt by the drastically increased air traffic above the landscape.

"Are we really…?" Mike whispered, but when he tentatively opened one of his eyes, his words turned into an amazed "Whoooa!"

"Hm?" The class rep followed his example and sucked in an astonished breath when she looked through the window as well.

For now, I let them drink in the scenery and took a few steps, if only so that my Leoformer's activation wouldn't bother them. After successfully switching over to my Polemos outfit, I readjusted the headpiece and rolled my shoulders. It's only been a couple of days, but the toga/armour/whatever combination was already starting to feel alien again.

While I wondered whether that was a good thing or not, Mike noticed my transformation, and he looked at me with a mixture of fright and curiosity. I didn't pay him much attention, and I headed towards the nearby door. As usual, it was activated by Celestial harmonic magic, but it was nothing my phantom limbs couldn't solve, and soon it slid into the wall, revealing a living room with a bunch of nervous people sitting in a circle around a single coffee table.

"Lord Archon." Kane reacted first, as expected, and hastily jumped to his feet to salute me. He was dressed in his finest red uniform, with all the various filigrees and medals strapped on his chest. I last saw him wearing it during the ill-fated parade ending with the Colossus encounter, and it told me that he definitely wanted to look good (and/or imposing) in front of his estranged kid and his girlfriend.

Speaking of which, the two of them also approached the door, but dared not to step through until I gave them the green light. Either that, or they were intimidated by the unfamiliar faces on the other side.

"At ease, Primus," I spoke softly and lazily waved a hand in his direction. "This is a family reunion. There's no need for formalities."

"As you command," Kane responded stiffly and tried his best to relax his posture. He failed.

In the meantime, a middle-aged woman, with the same sandy-blonde hair as her husband and son, also rose from her seat. She was wearing one of the more modern outfits, a dress with only mild stylistic hints towards the folds of a toga, and she gave me a deferential bow. As if time only just resumed for them, the rest of the extended family (or so I judged from the similar features) also did their best to hastily greet me, but I only humoured them as far as a shallow nod before gesturing for the pair behind me to come forth.

"Come, you two. This occasion is all about you; for how long are you going to let me have all the limelight."

Mike let out a sheepish chuckle, while the class rep nervously clutched his elbow, and they finally entered the living room.

"H-Hello? Um… Father? Mother?"

There was a moment of a tense-ish silence in the air for a moment, but then Kane's wife suddenly leapt forward and, before the hapless guy could even reach, caught him in a hug, much to his and the class rep's surprise. That was an unexpectedly wholesome beginning for the occasion, so I involuntarily smiled. Then I realized that it wasn't appropriate for my Polemos persona, so I hastily cleared my throat.

"I shall leave you to your reunion then."

Saying so, I was about to return to the bedroom to Phase away, but Ammy called after me.

"W-Wait! Where are you going?"

"Home," I answered blandly. "I'm a busy man, you know, and I don't want to be a…" I paused to count the heads in the room. "… twelfth wheel."

Needless to say, she wasn't very satisfied with my response, so I subtly rolled my eyes and added.

"There's no need for you to worry. I brought you here, so you are state guests. Nothing will happen to you, so just mingle with the family."

Still unsatisfied, she wanted to argue but was silenced when Kane abruptly stepped up to me and gestured to get my attention.

"Lord Archon. Before you leave, I have something to report."

I gestured for him to follow, and then sent a reassuring smile to Ammy, who was getting lost in the tumult of the curious family members gathering around them. At last, Kane and I returned to the bedroom, and I closed the door behind us with another swipe of my phantom limb.

"Since you're postponing your reunion with your son over this, I presume your report is of great importance."

"Certainly," he answered with a solemn expression and exhaled a long breath. "As Lord Polemos commanded, I have entrusted my men with the task to investigate the circumstances of Her Grace Deus's birth and parentage."

"Oh. Did you find a solid lead already?"

"That is precisely the issue I have to report on. We didn't. Contrary, we have discovered multiple, contradictory records."

"… Is that common?"

"No, it's not," he stated sounding sourer than lemon juice. "I suspect someone had manipulated the record to hide Her Grace's relations from prying eyes, and they have done so recently."

"Savir?" I guessed.

"I'm almost certain it's as you deduced."

Humming, I tapped on my chin and considered why she would do something like that. Then, I remembered that I was busy, and I had people I could command to think for me, so I levelled a serious gaze upon the man in front of me.

"Keep looking, but also try to figure out why Savir would go through the trouble."

"With all due respect, Lord Archon," Kane responded less than enthusiastically. "I am the Primus of the Seraphic Safeguard, not a member of the Celestial Intelligence Network. My resources are limited."

"Then reach out to Moose… I mean, our new clandestine intelligence officer." I paused, internally debating whether I should reveal his identity, but ultimately decided otherwise. "I'm sure Michael already told you about him. I recently gave him a list of all the trustworthy directors, vice-directors, and other personnel I found within the Directorate. Combined with the CIN's operatives outside the Elysium, I'm sure you'll find a lead sooner or later."

"And what if we're discovered?"

"Just use my name," I told him flatly. "Unless it's Savir herself who confronts you, it should be enough to get away with anything short of murder." Pausing, I hastily added, "But if possible, don't let it come to that. Especially not to murder."

"As you command," Kane responded dutifully, followed by a salute.

"Is there anything else?" He shook his head, so I gestured towards the door. "Then shoo. Your son is waiting for you. I'll come and pick them up in the evening, so use your time wisely."

He gave me an appreciative nod and left the room, if a little reluctantly. Chances are, he was feeling just as uncertain about how to approach his son in the flesh as Mike was about the other way around, but I was sure they would work something out. In the meantime, I closed the door with another swipe of my Phantom Limb, undid my Polemos disguise, and then immediately Phased into the underground base's teleport closet.

I entered the main hall by exhaling a heavy breath and headed to the workshop. On the way, I said hello to the Knights in the training ground, observed Pip holding something akin to a presentation about interception tactics in the briefing area, and even caught a glance of Brang in the armoury, accompanied by Ichiko and Odango Girl of all people. Since the tiny dragon was here, I had a hunch that either of the Feilong brothers also had to be around, but I couldn't see them in the main hall, and I wasn't curious enough to Far Glance at them.

Like that, I soon reached the main workshop. After the repeated expansions, we had about six of them at this point, but this particular workshop was the one Fred and Galatea used the most, and in this particular case, I was looking for the latter.

"Grandmaster?" the androidess greeted me at once when I arrived, and to my surprise, I found her in the company of another familiar face.

"Hi, Leonard!" Sahi greeted me with an upbeat grin, and I couldn't help but tilt my head to the side as I took a better look at her.

Unlike her usual appearance, she was wearing a long leather smock I had previously only seen on the Fauns (and therefore it was about five sizes too big for her) and she had an upturned welder's mask on her head and an angle-grinder in one of her floating magical hand constructs. The look was completed by a pair of work gloves and an inexplicable stain of grease or soot smeared across her left cheek. I was pretty sure all of that was characteristic of a specific archetype, but I had a hard time remembering the exact term.

"Maybe 'wrench wench'?" I muttered, but not quietly enough, and the brown girl gave me a disapproving scowl.

"Like, is that an insult or a compliment?"

"Neither, just an observation," I told her with a shrug. "What are you doing?"

"Just some, like, mechanical engineering and stuff?" she answered with a cheeky smirk.

"Team Member Sahi is customizing a load-bearing component of the nutrition tank," Galatea explained in her stead and handed me a box full of nicely designed metal plaques. "My prediction algorithms indicate that Grandmaster is here to complete the configuration of these items."

"And you would be right," I confirmed and took the box from her before setting it down onto a nearby workbench. "Thanks."

"According to my system log, this constitutes twenty-seven-point-two favors done for Grandmaster."

"Point two?" Sahi butted in, and I shook my head.

"Don't encourage her. Anyhow, I'm sure you didn't tell me that for no reason."

The purple-haired android nodded and showed me her hands.

"After cross-referencing my internal database, as well as multiple inquiries towards the staff members, there is a ninety-seven-point-seven percent consensus saying that I have been, using informal terminology, a 'good girl'."

"And?"

"Good girls deserve rewards," she declared without a hint of shame, and I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. What do you want this time? A new fish tank? Or a terrarium for turtles?"

To my surprise, she shook her head, and pushed her hands forward, practically into my face.

"I request the reinstallation of my plasma disintegrator system."

"… No."

"Ninety-seven-point-seven percent consensus," she emphasized and shook her hands in front of my nose.

"The answer is still no. You don't need them."

"Grandmaster cannot know that for sure. My internal databanks indicate that there are at least seventy-two different scenarios in which plasma disintegrators could prove useful in daily life."

"Such as?"

"… Getting rid of spiderwebs?"

I gave her the flattest look that ever flatted in the history of flatness, and uttered a simple, "No."

"But Grandmaster, if only you listened to the remaining seventy-one scenarios, you would understand that, statistically speaking—"

"I'm busy right now, send them over in an e-mail, and I'll give them a read."

"Understood."

With that, Galatea left the workshop, and I let out a relieved breath.

"Like, why are you so against her having those plasma whatsits?" the brown girl asked, apparently settling down by my side and using the other end of the same workbench.

"I've got some traumatic memories about them, and even without that, she seriously doesn't need them. They are just too much of a liability."

"But, like, doesn't everyone else have all kinds of totally wicked destructive powers too?" As if to demonstrate, she used two magical floaty hands to lift the whole workbench. "Like, if I wanted to, I could totally wreck this place, you know?"

"Yes, I know," I told her, and then dispelled her hands, making the workbench drop back down onto the ground with a loud clamour. "But I trust you that you know better than to do something silly like that."

"Hey! Don't just, like, disrupt someone else's spell! It's totally rude!" Sahi fumed, but her expression took a one-eighty-degree turn the moment I took out one of the metal plaques from the cardboard box. "Like, what are those, anyway?"

"There's going to be another Draconian auction soon, and I want to drum up some emergency funds with these."

"Ah? Like, are you going to fleecy the old dweebs of the Assembly?"

"Maybe," I told her ambivalently as I laid out the plaques one by one. "But are you sure you want to call them that? Weren't you one of them until recently?"

"Hey! I totally wasn't a dweeb, like, ever! I let you know, I was, always a choice gal!"

"Sure, sure…" I muttered and began to check the enchantments on the plaques. I had already finished installing them a couple of nights ago, but then Galatea put on some finishing touches and polished them a bit, so I was just giving them one last check before putting my signature on their back and sending them over to Naoren.

However, before I could get started, I was surprised by a question coming from the rejuvenated girl from my right.

"Hey, Leonard? Like, Valentine's is just around the corner, right?"

"… Yes," I answered, just a touch apprehensively.

"And you have, like, two gals, right? And you are doing pretty well with them, so, like, you're totally gnarly when it comes to dating and romance, right?"

"… Where is all of this coming from?"

"Oh, you know? Like, I'm just trying to ask for advice?" She flashed a smile that I was sure she thought was innocent. "About, like, good dating spots and the like?"

"You want to go on a date," I stated in a deadpan voice, and she nodded without any apprehension… and then shook her head the same way.

"It's, like, complicated! You know, I want to invite Paz, and like, have a cow, but without telling him it was a date, and then only reveal to him that it was a Valentine's Day's date at, like, the very end, and it's going to be totally wicked funny!"

"You mean Pascal, right?" I asked back, and she gave me a look that said I was stating the obvious. "Isn't he a bit too young for you?"

"Like, when did something like that ever bother you?" She let out a huff, and pointed at me, with her floaty magic hand holding the angle-grinder mimicking the motion. "I'm totally young both in body and heart, you know? And, like, Paz is very mature for his age, and totally cool to be around. Like, you wouldn't think so, but when it's only the two of us, he's so chill, and it's not like he's my boy toy or anything, and…"

"Fine, fine, whatever," I cut her short with an exasperated groan. "Just go on a movie date, or something. There's a decent romantic comedy in the cinemas at the moment, and you can reserve your seats ahead of time either online, or on the phone. Then after that, you can have dinner in the evening near the pier. Pascal strikes me as the no-nonsense type, so I recommend the family diner at the south end of Fisherman's Avenue. It's a nice place, and the shore is just a couple of minutes away on foot, so you can have a scenic walk there to work off the calories." Pausing, I wrote my name onto the first plaque and finished with, "There. Are you happy?"

"… Wow, Leonard. Wow! You really are totally good at this dating thing, aren't you?"

"No, I just already did my research, and—"

"Ue-sama!"

Just as I was about to explain myself, I was interrupted by a pair of tiny feet scurrying over to our side. Looking up, I found the tiny miko and the tiny dragon, each holding a familiar sword in their hands and presenting them to me.

"We have cleaned Brother Leonard's weapons!" Odango Girl exclaimed with a sunny smile. "Ichi taught me how to do it! It was fun!"

"Xiao-chan is a quick learner!" Ichiko proclaimed with a proud hum and passed Cal over to me.

"{Ah. Welcome back, young knight,}" they greeted me in a soft voice. They evidently enjoyed being pampered.

"{Report: Interface:Teeny's maintenance is complete. Interface:Teeny is ready for duty,}" my other weapon spoke in their usual, mechanical tone once I accepted them from Xiao, and I gave the tiny duo my heartfelt thanks.

"Thank you. You really helped me out with this one."

"Don't even mention it, ue-sama, but…" The two little girls suddenly shared a suspiciously meaningful glance. "Can we ask ue-sama for a favor in return?"

"… So long as it's not too troublesome."

"It's not!" Odango Girl insisted at once. "It's just an advice!"

"We're looking for advice!" the mini-miko doubled down and held up a finger. "Let's say that, theoretically speaking…"

"This is all theoretical," Xiao chimed in.

"Yes, very theoretical!" came the tripling down from the other girl. "Let's say that two people, a boy and a girl, would go out to patrol on a Saturday."

"Next Saturday."

"Yes, on a next Saturday, and then they would be informed that their patrol would be taken over by someone else at the last minute."

"The very last minute, so they are already out there, and there's no reason to just come straight home!"

"In that case, where does ue-sama think these two people should spend their evening together?"

"Brother Leonard should think of nice, romantic places!"

The two of them were looking at me like the fate of the entire world depended on my answer, so I let out a long sigh and told them, "First head to the central park, and have a nice walk under the trees. Not far from the southern exit, there's a nice, friendly Chinese restaurant. We ate there once, and their menu was fine."

"We?" Sahi blurted out, but I gestured for her to stay silent.

"After that, they should head to the shopping mall; the bookstores have a special Valentine Day's exhibition there, and it's open until late in the evening."

"Oooh! I like that!" Ichiko exclaimed, and dramatically put a hand on her chin. "The keikaku is coming together!"

Mirroring her pose, Odango Girl did the same, and exclaimed, "Keikaku means plan!"

The two little girls let out a giggle in unison, and waved us goodbye before dashing out of the workshop, leaving me alone with Sahi once more.

"Wow. You're, like, totally wicked at this."

"No, I'm telling you, I just did my homework," I grumbled and returned to the plaques. Seriously, compared to all the effort and prepwork I put into my Valentine's plans already, these were child's play. "Anyhow, what were we even talking about?"

"Oh, I think we're, like, done with that," the brown girl told me with an impish grin. "I totally liked your ideas. I can't wait to see the look on Paz's face at the end of the day! We're going to have such a cow!"

"Yes, yes. Good luck with that…" I grumbled as I finished inspecting the second plaque and put my name on it. "Seriously, why does everyone come to me for advice about—?"

Before I could finish, I noticed a new face entering the workshop. For a moment, I was worried I was getting hit by one of those 'rule of three' situations, but thankfully, it was only Sir Arnwald. Dressed in his full armour instead of his Uniformer, and visibly perspiring, he must've just finished training with the rest of the Knights, and based on his serious expression, I was sure he wasn't going to bother me by requesting any superfluous dating advice.

"My Liege," he greeted me with a salute as he walked over, and then gave a simple greeting to the girl by my side. "Lady Sahi. I didn't know you were in New Camelot."

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"Oh, I was, like, working as usual," she answered with a modest smile.

By the way, Arnwald was one of the staunchest supporters of calling the underground base New Camelot, and he had been using the term to refer to the place at any chance he got. Go figure.

"Can I help you?"

"I'm only here to pay my respects," he solemnly told me. "Ever since your return, the morale of the subjects of New Camelot has risen considerably."

"I'm glad to hear that. Anything else to report?"

"Not as such, no," he said, still sounding stoic, but I couldn't help but notice that he wasn't meeting my eyes. At last, he took a deep breath, as if to resolve himself to something, and uttered, "However, since you have offered help, may I ask you about something that has been on my mind for the longest time?"

"… Go on."

"You see, My Liege, I have noticed that Sister Morgana has been often out of New Camelot. I presume it's due to the secret mission you have entrusted to her, as well as Brother Agrawain?"

"… That's correct."

"I see." He nodded, and then, after a long beat, he blurted out, "I've been worried about her overstretching herself as of late, so I wish to invite her out to relax this Saturday, but I have no experience in such matters, and… My Liege? Why are you holding your head?"

"Don't mind me," I grumbled, trying to ignore the chuckling rejuvenated arch-mage by my side. "I should've known that I wouldn't be able to avoid the rule of three… Please, proceed."

PART 2

Minutes trickled into hours as I finished inspecting the plaques and did some other miscellaneous enchanting tasks around the headquarters. After Arnwald, no one else bothered me with any additional requests, so I could finish up everything faster than expected. It was too early to pick up the class rep and Mike, so I decided to catch my breath and headed over to the lounge.

For the record, it wasn't the main hall's lounge area, with the bar counter and the mini fridge and the air hockey table, but a separate chamber. How should I explain this? Okay, so, the main hall, the reception room, the barracks, the training room, and the cafeteria were on the 'first floor', along with a few minor facilities, like storage rooms and toilets. We called it the 'first floor', even though it was underground, and it was mainly just the repurposed rooms and halls of the original bomb shelter.

Then, we had the 'second floor' under that. That's where Fred's fancy new generator was, as well as more storage areas, individual rooms for the research society members and guests, as well as all the workshops. The latter were new constructions, starting from the original 'main workshop', and then each additional one built next to the previous one as an angle. To make an analogy, if one could look at it from above, it would've kind of looked like a big cart wheel, with the spokes being the corridors, and the empty spaces between them being the workshops themselves.

Now, it wasn't complete yet, because the chambers didn't make a full circle, but to stay with the analogy, the center of the 'cart wheel' where the hub would've been, there was a smaller, circular room, with a hallway running around it. This design was, according to Fred, highly efficient for getting from point A to point B, though I personally thought a normal checkerboard floor plan would've been simpler.

Anyhow, the point I was getting at was in this circular room. Namely, that it was the research division's dedicated lounge, and it was arranged and designed by Galatea. In other words, it was a nice little room full of aquariums, beanbag chairs, and vending machines, and it had soft jazz playing all the time. Usually, there were a couple of Research Society members hanging around here at this hour, so I was surprised when I walked in and had the whole place for myself.

Not that I really minded though. I could use some peace and quiet, and while low-fidelity jazz was never my thing, it was a nice novelty every once in a while. As such, after sparing a few glances at the colourful exotic fishes careening around in the tank on my left, I walked over to a vending machine and typed in the override code (boss privilege) to get a free soda. Once it was delivered, I propped my swords against the wall, sat down in one of the beanbag chairs, and then promptly deflated like a punctured water balloon. The kind with the square taped on the side and used to demonstrate lamellar flow.

Exhaling hard, I shook the weird analogy out of my head and sunk even deeper into the chair. It wasn't the most dignified of displays, but I didn't really care at the moment. I was alone, and even if I wasn't, when compared to how weird and rowdy the average resident mad scientist was, I doubt any of them would've given half a damn about me.

In any case, now that I was comfortable, I sipped from my soda can and closed my eyes for a while. Unfortunately, that instinctively made me start searching for my Far Sight marks on the edge of my vision.

"Damn you, Pavlov," I whispered under my breath, but since I started, I figured I might as well do a quick round of the usual suspects. Going by my mental priority list, I started with the Celestial top brass, and to my surprise, I found them conspiring. Oddly enough, it wasn't in one of their blatantly clandestine meeting rooms, with the harsh shadows and the silly cowls, but one held in a well-lit parlour kind of setting.

The rest of my Elysian anchors and their red dots were quite far away from the trio, so I figured this was taking place in another tower entirely, and the longer I listened, the more it sounded like they were interacting out of obligation. Maybe this was some kind of PR stunt, I wondered? While there was no such thing as news media in the Elysium, their entire society (or at the very least, the higher echelons) seemed to operate on rumour-mongering, so the three of them having a 'polite' and 'cordial' meeting in the open like this would make the rounds within the day.

As for what they were discussing…

"What do you mean you don't have any reports on what Polemos and Deus are doing on the ancestral land?" Director Mensah cried out in audible disbelief.

"It is exactly as I said," Savir, lounging in her seat like this whole situation was none of her business, answered with disinterest and picked up a grape from the bowl offered to her by a young boy. Some kind of domestic servant, by the looks of it, though he was dressed in the same fancy Greco-Roman style outfits as the bigwigs.

"To be fair," Tsephanyah, wearing his usual ensemble and lightly swirling some red wine in his glass cup, "The Praetorian Guards are directly under Polemos himself, so they would only report to him and no one else."

"I know that! I'm not daft!" the bespectacled director fumed and picked up a tall glass from the nearby table, then emptied it in one go. "I'm talking about the rest of the CIN! Why aren't there any reports from them?"

"The number of active and trustworthy assets on the island is… not what it used to be," Savir noted a touch sourly.

"And whose fault is that?" Mensah growled. "You wrestled control away from me, and you can't even keep the intelligence network functioning?"

"Well, maybe someone left the Agency in a sorry state and I had to pick up the pieces," Savir hissed back, and Tsephanyah hastily cleared his throat.

"My friends, please remain civil. We are here to show unity; please don't let such petty arguments sour the image we seek to project."

"It's not a 'petty' disagreement," the youngest director argued back, though in a noticeably quieter voice. "We can't allow ourselves to be blind to the Archons' actions at a crucial time like this, and yet the CIN, our first line of defense, is left completely useless under your leadership."

"Then you do something about it," Savir countered in a dangerous contralto. "I have more important things to worry about."

"What could be more important than our eyes and ears in the outside world being hampered?"

"Dolion, please," Tsephanyah cut in again, sounding downright exasperated. "Why don't you just take Eris up on her offer? As you have pointed out, the Celestial Intelligence Network was under your sphere of influence until recently, so I'm sure you have the means to whip them into action once again. For example, isn't your brother working directly under the Deputy Director of Clandestine Service?"

"He's the vice director now," Mensah noted, and for a moment I had to wonder when Admin got promoted. Not that there was much of a difference between the two posts, but still, it was unexpected. "And as for that man, he's my brother in name only, and an unsightly withered branch on our golden family tree. You will not find me stooping so low as to contact him."

"In that case, it might be more prudent to contact the vice-director directly. He is one of your men, is he not?"

Mensah was about to open his mouth to argue back, but then he looked stumped for a second, and his face went from an angry scowl to a confused scowl. The difference was small but evident.

"No, he's most definitely not. He was originally installed as the Deputy Director of Intelligence Community Coordination by Eris. I had nothing to do with him."

"Hold your horses, gentlemen," Director Savir cut in as she lurched to a proper sitting posture in her seat. "I have nothing to do with the man in question. I was under the impression he was a double agent you installed into the position a while ago to spy on Dolion's activities."

He was pointing at Tsephanyah, and the blonde man looked positively bamboozled by this development.

"No, I have not. He was promoted based on Dolion's recommendation, was he not?"

"I tell you; I have nothing to do with him!"

In short order, the discussion devolved into a heated argument, where everyone was convinced that Admin was secretly working for someone else, and then when one of them remembered that I (as Polemos) gave me (as Admin) amnesty when I (as Admin) couldn't attend either my (as Polemos) parade or the party when I (as Leonard) returned to the island, suddenly everyone started throwing accusations around, and the whole meeting dissolved as Mensah and Savir left Tsephanyah at the table.

So much for a 'show of unity', eh? Still, this showed me two things (three, if we counted the fact that these three weren't getting along all that well anymore): Mensah's relationship with Moose was rocky, to put it mildly, and sooner or later, I could be looking forward to some or all of them looking into Admin's whereabouts. It took them a while, but it didn't matter much; I already made a bunch of sock-puppet accounts, so that we could access the Hub in case my Admin guise got busted, and even then, I still had Moose and Mike to rely on, so at this point, it would've been just a mild inconvenience at worst.

But speaking of him, I glanced at our hapless Celestial agent and his family reunion, and I found them sitting in a circle around the table in the same room where I left them. The atmosphere was laidback, as expected, though it didn't have the same kind of wholesome warmth as the family dinners I had at my girlfriends' homes. It probably had something to do with this being their first meeting and the awkwardly fidgeting class rep.

"… the Lord Archon values you greatly, so you need not worry," Kane stated in a solemn yet at the same time oddly heartfelt voice.

"He does?"

The one who blurted that out was a woman the same age as the guy's mother, so probably an aunt or something along those lines, and Kane nodded in the affirmative.

"The Lord Archon was unusually talkative today, and he even smiled," he responded and pointedly glanced over to the stars of the meeting, where both of them were acting like a pair of rabbits in an unfamiliar pen.

The class rep was bad with groups, as usual, while Mike was acting a bit awkwardly because he had a young, golden-haired boy sitting on his lap, about three or four years old. A little brother, perhaps? Or a cousin? In any case, once they noticed Kane was looking at them, Ammy automatically grabbed onto the guy's hand.

"In fact, the last time I've seen him smile, it was in the company of Her Grace Deus and her Justicar," Kane continued the previous thought, and it earned the two of them a couple of impressed, or even envious glances from the extended family.

"W-Well… Leonard… I-I mean, Lord Polemos did say he considered me a friend?" Michael spoke up in a mousy voice, but it still caused an uproar.

"Really?" The middle-aged lady I presumed was Mike's mother exclaimed in a mixture of disbelief and exultation, and when he nodded, the whole family was acting like they hit the jackpot.

"Y-Yes, and… I think he also said he considered father one of his few friends in Elysium too…" Mike added, emboldened by the reaction, and this time, everyone fell silent and glanced at the man at the head of the table.

"Hm. Well, yes. I suppose," Kane muttered while stroking his non-existent beard on his chin, and tried as he might, he couldn't hide the smug grin creeping onto his face. However, once he realized this, he forcefully cleared his throat. "This only reinforces my previous point. If the Lord Archon truly considers our family his friends…" he said, putting extra emphasis on the 'family' part, "… it means you have nothing to fear! The Lord Archon's word is law in Elysium, and no one would dare touch you for breaking the rules by coming here."

"And why should we care about those laws, anyway?" Mike's mother doubled down. She was much more straightforward and strong-minded than her soft, feminine appearance made me presume.

"Sister, not so loud! You can't question the laws!" a grumpy-looking man interjected, but the lady in the middle only scoffed at him.

"To the Abyss with the laws! They took my son from me for nineteen years!"

"A-Auntie!" One of the younger family members nearly jumped to her feet when she heard that and tried to calm Mike's mother… whose name I still didn't know. Maybe I should ask when I pick them up. In any case, she waved her hands and said, "You can't say that! Those laws were put in place by Father Deus himself!"

"Yes, and she walks with us once again, doesn't she? Has anyone asked her about them? If they still make sense today?" Mike's mom argued back with a defiant huff. "She's already wise beyond her years, so I'm sure she would see the folly of these archaic laws! Isn't that right, Amelia, dear?"

Suddenly finding herself in the limelight, the class rep tensed up like a piano wire.

"Ah… um… E-Excuse me, what was the question?"

"You knew Her Grace back on the ancestral land, didn't you?" she pressed on, and when Ammy nodded, she continued with, "Don't you think she would agree with me?"

Stumped, the class rep remained silent, but at last, she readjusted her glasses and answered with, "I think she's very… practical, with modern sensibilities, so… she most likely wouldn't agree with this practice."

"Now that you mention it," a portly middle-aged man with an impeccable dad-moustache spoke up, his round face alight with a pleasant realization. "Can you tell us more about Her Grace? Since you have known each other for so long, I'm sure you can tell us much about her. We're all terribly curious, you see?"

"Uncle," Mike cut in all of a sudden. "Don't pressure Amelia like that."

"That's right," Kane backed up his son with a mild frown. "We're not here to gossip about Her Grace, but to welcome my son back into the family."

"R-Right!" Mike doubled down and roughly rubbed the head of the little kid still in his lap. He didn't seem to mind though. "Not to mention, little Annie wouldn't like us to talk behind her back, anyway!"

"Excuse me?" his mom spoke up again, suddenly sounding rather apprehensive. "Who is this 'little Annie' we are talking about?"

"Oh, that's just Angie… Ah, I mean, H-Her Grace Deus. I've been calling her that for ages, so it just slipped out without me noticing." Seeing the confused looks on the family's faces, Mike let out an awkward chuckle and muttered, "Um… Haha… Did I forget to tell you that she's my cousin?"

"Your what!?" the relative who was previously trying to calm his mother down suddenly exclaimed from the top of her lungs.

"I-I mean, on Critias! My adoptive family and hers are related, so we are cousins on paper."

"Does she think of my son the same way?" Mike's mom levelled that question at Ammy, for some odd reason, and once again, she froze up like a deer in the headlights.

"I… think she does, yes," the class rep squeezed out, and the whole family fell silent.

"So," Kane whispered, yet his voice was loud in the room, "you're both friends of Lord Polemos, close to Her Grace Deus, and also technically speaking, related to her."

"That's… accurate, yes," Mike mumbled between weak nods, and once again, silence reigned in the room. At least, until one of the uncles suddenly stood up.

"Where's the sparkling wine?" Seeing that nobody answered, he threw his hands into the air and exclaimed. "Come on, Kane! Don't hold out on me like this!"

"Right!" another member joined the fray, her face flushed red and her eyes practically glowing with excitement. "This is no longer just a family reunion! We're celebrating!"

"Yes! It's a party!" another voice joined the fray, and before long, everyone in the room worked themselves up into a festive frenzy. Well, except for Mike, Ammy, and the little kid on his lap, who was now playing with the class rep's hair, blissfully ignorant of the sudden shift in the mood.

So, what did I learn on this front? There was apparently a sort of middle-class in Celestial society I hadn't interacted with until now, who were unsatisfied with the old laws of their society, including the whole 'demote your two-winged kids into serfs or send them out for adoption, never to return' system, but were afraid to act out against it. In retrospect, I felt a little silly missing them, but to be fair, I was isolated into only interacting with the top brass of the Celestial hierarchy, and outside of seeing the Malakim living around the towers, I never had much of a chance to even meet the average… what was their name again? Ishim? No, those were the Malakim who were sent outside, like Mike and Moose. Then what was the one for the four-winged guys?

…

Whatever, it didn't really matter. The point was that there was a whole segment of the Celestial caste system I kind of ignored because they were trapped between the most powerful to whom I had to pay attention and the least powerful to whom I couldn't help but pay attention. Still, now that I was reminded of them, I could see how they could play a crucial role in the near future.

After all, I was using the Celestial Hub to recruit people. The majority of the users of the Hub were the aforementioned Ishims; Celestials practically exiled from the Elysium and turned into spies and intelligence assets. A good chunk of them, if not the majority, had to come from this 'Celestial middle class', so if I got them on my side, I could use them to get their estranged parents and relatives by proxy, and use them as leverage for…

"Crap. I'm starting to sound like a Celestial," I grumbled as I emptied my soda can and stood up.

Since they just started their impromptu party, it was too early to pick up Mike and Ammy (not to mention, by heading over now, I would've risked getting roped into the celebrations), and I wasn't in the mood for any further Far Seeing. As such, I quickly skimmed through the rest of the important marks, and when I reached Sir Percival in his cell, next to his steadily growing book collection, I was once again reminded that I should really do something about him one of these days. Except I couldn't because I didn't want to create a chain reaction by removing him from the table and accidentally bumping some of the other dominos standing around. But I had to because I couldn't just leave him on the table either. But I couldn't, because something-something Pandora's Box and unforeseen consequences and so on. In the end, I gave up and jumped to my feet.

Between all the plans and schemes and ploys and whatnot, shared among Critias, the Elysium, and the Abyss, the situation was like a giant Gordian Knot, and my problem wasn't that I couldn't cut it, but that I had only one opportunity to make the cut, and I wanted it to be perfect, severing all loose ends at once. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe I was setting the bar too high, and I should just cut my losses and get it over with.

But not yet. I still had time, and I was still looking for that perfect cut. I still had some time before my secret meeting with Dad-in-law in the evening (part of my not-at-all grandiose Valentine's date plans), so I figured I should clear my mind first. As such, I threw the empty can into the thrash bit, picked up my swords again, waved goodbye to the fishes, and then headed outside, wondering if any of the Knights were up to getting roughed up a bit.

…

Sparring. I meant sparring. Definitely.

PART 3

Where did my peaceful school life go? The place where I could temporarily escape all the magical, supernatural, and mystical malarkey, and focus on ordinary problems? Like grades. Or avoiding romance-comedy tropes. Or getting back at Josh for beating me in table tennis.

Well, fine, that last one might've been a bit too specific, and I was still in the lead when it came to our little competitions during PE, but it was about the principle, dammit. Not to mention, he was clearly cheating by abusing his higher base stats due to being constantly transformed.

Ack, dammit! Now we were back to the supernatural again! Seriously, why couldn't we have just a normal school life, without any of these magical power-ups, mystical spy operations…

"How about this one?"

… or after-school illusion magic demonstrations.

I was currently in the arts-and-crafts classroom of the school, ostensibly for remedial classes. In reality, I was only indulging Lord Taika's curiosity about my ability to see through magic, which naturally included her illusionary spells as well.

"Wow! That's so pretty!" Penny exclaimed by my side, and my other sister was also mesmerized by the tiny, lifelike buildings with a series of bridges and stairs connecting them, seemingly made of pure alabaster.

The two of them were with me by chance at the time when I was hijacked by the arch-mage, but I had a feeling they were tagging along just to ensure that there wouldn't be any misunderstandings about me being alone in a room with an attractive adult woman. Not that my girlfriends would've cared; I sent them a message about where I was, and even Judy, famous for her anti-harem counter-measures, had mellowed out a lot lately and didn't seem to mind it at all.

That said, while my sisters might've come with me out of a sense of consideration, they stayed for the pretty light shows and illusionary objects Lord Taika conjured up with seemingly no effort whatsoever. The cute, fuzzy yellow duckling she showed previously was a big winner, and while the building illusion was much less adorable, it was admittedly pretty impressive.

"Oh? Is this like an Escher-painting?" I blurted out as I leaned left and right, and as I did, the various aqueducts and stairs shimmered and moved around to maintain a seemingly impossible structure. It was pretty tame compared to all the non-Euclidian lunacy I regularly dived into whenever I was doing enchanting, but maybe because of that, it had a kind of quaint charm to it.

"Yes," our undercover mage, dressed in her usual teacher outfit, smiled proudly and made the illusory buildings rotate over her palm with a twirl of her finger. "One of the more advanced applications of the School of Illusion is to create semblances such as this. While we are better known for realistic constructs used to deceive the senses, a master of the Arts of Illusion can create anything they can imagine to fool and bamboozle the minds of the onlookers."

"A-Awawa! Why is the water going up? Did the waterfall change direction? Why is everything spinning?"

Seeing that my Knightly sister was definitely getting bamboozled, I glanced at Snowy, and she covered Penny's eyes with her palm. In the meantime, I looked closely at the illusionary structure and had to admit that, just like a good old optical illusion, the magical kind also had a sort of draw to it. Then, just as I nodded with approval, came the sales pitch again.

"So, Leonard? Would you like to learn more? I would be happy to welcome you as a guest to our School, you know?"

"Here we go again," I whispered. "I'm sorry, Lord Taika, but as I've told you already, I'm too busy with everything else going on already to just frivolously visit your School."

"It would be anything but frivolous," a new voice interjected, and we all turned to the door. We locked it ahead of time, to avoid anyone else accidentally catching a glimpse of the magical show she was giving us, yet before we knew it, Lord Barnabas was with us in the room. The dark-skinned man flashed a harmless smile and politely added, "Please excuse the interruption."

"Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Walker," Snowy blurted out in surprise and removed her hand from the confused Penny's eyes. I tended to forget it, but for everyone other than me (with the exceptions of the class rep and Saahira), these people were considered to be teachers first, night-all-mighty mystical powerhouses second.

"Yes, good afternoon!" my other sister followed suit and waited to see how I would react.

"Could you explain that in detail?" I asked, without bothering to greet him again, as if I hadn't already met him a bunch of times during the day.

"You see," he began as he walked over with his hands behind his back, "You're currently not just a student, or a momentarily famous Chimera Slayer, but the representative of multiple major organizations." He paused as he reached our side and gave me a meaningful glance. "You speak for both the Ordo Draconis, the Draconic Federation, as well as the governing body of the Celestials."

"You're sort of correct on the first two, but I'm about as far as you can get for a spokesperson of the Directorate," I grumbled. "I'm also not exactly great at diplomacy."

"Yes, I have noticed," Lord Barnabas told me, and it made me pause. It sounded like a snide comment on paper, yet when he said it out loud, it became a neutral observation. "As a matter of fact, I would heavily recommend educating yourself in the matters of etiquette and diplomatic conduct, as they would serve you well in the future."

"Are you volunteering?" I jested, yet he looked at me like he didn't expect the question at all and had to consider it first.

"It might not be a terrible idea at all."

"Lord Barnabas!" Lord Taika cut in, dismissing the three-dimensional Escher painting in the process. "I've invited Leonard first. Don't try to cut ahead in line."

"I assure you, that wasn't my intention at all," the other arch-mage relented with an amused smile. "In truth, it was quite the opposite; I was just about to recommend that he should accept your offer as part of a diplomatic gesture."

"Truly?"

"Indeed," he nodded and faced me again. "Doing so would serve as a highly visible gesture of goodwill and trust, and would tighten the bonds between our organizations. Any personal benefits would be but a cherry on top, so to say."

"Ah! Maybe you could bring your family along as well," Taika proposed, as if I had already agreed to what Barnabas said, and turned to Snowy. "Your Sigils, especially the ones that grant persistent visual obfuscation, are a fascinating subject, and I'm sure that the scholars of my School would be enthralled to listen to a lecture on them."

"I… um…" My Abyssal sister, not expecting the attention, completely froze up, causing Penny to leap to the rescue, though without much thought put into the method.

"W-What about me?"

The alleged arts teacher with the fake glasses was visibly stumped by the sudden interjection, but the other arch-mage took it in stride and let out a low, melodic chuckle.

"Well, well… While I cannot speak for Lord Taika, the young lady certainly has a knack for foreign languages." That was the first time I've heard about that, though it made some sense, considering she was a globe-trotting Knight until very recently. However, while I might've started out surprised, I was outright bewildered by his next words. "Who knows? Maybe you could put your talents to good use in the field of diplomacy?"

"That's never going to work out," I blurted out, earning me a sudden glare from both of my sisters, for some reason. Penny was one thing, but I couldn't remember Snowy ever getting mad at me before, so I hastily explained, "Listen kiddo. You might be my cute little sister, and you're many things, but 'diplomat' just isn't one of them."

I expected them to argue back, but instead, Penny's eyes opened wide and she excitedly grabbed my other sister's arm.

"Snowy! Did you hear that? Brother called me cute for the first time!"

"Y-Yes," she responded a touch sheepishly. I was also taken aback, as I was pretty sure this wasn't the first time I told her that, yet as if to further my confusion, Lord Barnabas let out an impressed hum by my side.

"A quite elegant way to turn the conversation around."

"I didn't do that on purpose though," I admitted, and it only made him hum even harder.

"In any case, there might be hope for you yet."

"Wait, we're forgetting about the original topic," Lord Taika interjected, and pointed at me to get me to face her again. "Since we agreed on everything, when can I expect your visit?"

"I… don't think we agreed on anything, but even if we did, it doesn't change the fact that I'm extremely busy right now." She looked downright dejected at my refusal, so after some mulling over, I gave in and extended a small olive branch. "Let's wait a bit until everything calms down a bit in Timaeus, and then ask me again."

"I will!" she declared triumphantly, as if she scored a victory, and I couldn't help but sigh.

"Why do you even want to have me as a guest so much? I'm more of an enchanting kind of guy, so I don't know how much I can contribute to the conversation in an academic setting."

"But you have your amazing illusions, don't you?" Lord Taika pressed me. "You also have the Eyes of Tr—" Without warning, Lord Barnabas loudly cleared his throat, and if just realizing that she made a faux pas, she put a finger on her lips and then shielded her mouth before whispering, "You know what I mean."

I wasn't sure I did, but the term sounded vaguely familiar, so I was sure it was yet another misunderstanding I'd overheard during a Far Sight session or another. In any case, before I had the chance to formulate a proper answer, Lord Barnabas let out another soft hum.

"Now that you mention it, I've heard about your amazing talent in the Art of Illusion, but I have yet to see it in person.

"Actually, neither have I," Taika joined in and to my surprise, even my sisters looked intrigued by the prospect.

"Now that I think about it, when did you learn about illusions? I'd never seen you use any of those when we were young. Is it something you learned after you came here? Or were you hiding it from me? Brother? Why aren't you answering?"

Seeing Penny's questions hovering between curious and accusative, and even Snowy seeming expectant, I decided to fall back on my latest standard excuse and told them, "It's a Polemos thing I awakened to recently."

Penny let out a soft "Oh!", which, when unpacked, have probably meant 'Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.' Snowy, on the other hand, didn't seem one hundred percent convinced, probably because she already knew I was hiding a lot of things (and powers) in my closet, both literally and figuratively, and so she learned to not accept everything I said at face value. It hurt me a little, but to be fair, it was a bed I made, so I had to lie in it.

"Can you give us a demonstration?" Lord Barnabas asked, and for a second, I froze up.

"Pardon?"

"Yes! You've already seen mine, so let me see yours!" Lord Taika exclaimed a very easily misunderstood stock sentence, but that was the last thing I had to worry about at this moment.

As much as I loved to blame everything on my inexplicable ability to use crazy illusions to retroactively explain my Phasing shenanigans, and it was certainly a very convenient excuse, when put on the spot like this, their request for me to demonstrate it left me completely flummoxed. Should I pull the classic 'I'm not even in the room anymore' trick?

No. That was getting really old at this point, and I couldn't shake the feeling that one of these days, someone would call me out on the trick, and that would put all the previous times I used it into question. It was better to shelve it until it was absolutely unavoidable… but if not that, then what else could I do to pull the wool over their eyes?

Luckily, the answer came to me quickly, and I drooped my shoulders in theatrical resignation, to set the stage.

"Oh, fine. But just a small exhibition. I'm quite tired, you see…"

Saying so, with my every movement followed by expectant eyes, I picked up a pen from the teacher's desk and presented it to everyone. After showing it off, like a stage magician trying to prove that their props were completely normal, I lightly tapped it against the corner of the desk. Then, I raised it to eye level and flicked my wrist.

At the very same moment, I plunged one phantom limb into it, and then immediately used the rest to anchor myself into the rapidly expanding pen-fractal. While attempting a full-on retcon would've been foolish (not to mention, counter-intuitive for my current goal), I still had the other aspect of this power, where I only replaced the original 'asset' with a variant, resulting in a temporal, non-retroactive change in the item. In the past, I haven't even tried to do this outside of a controlled environment, because just attempting it gave me the mother of all headaches, but as my forced encounter with other-me had demonstrated, after increasing the number of my phantom limbs yet again, previously strenuous uses of my abilities, such as repeated Phasing or extensive enchantment-tweaking, became infinitely more manageable, with barely any side effect.

I'd been thinking about dusting off this particular ability and finding a practical application for it, and since this situation provided the opportunity on a silver platter, and shamelessly took it. But anyhow, back to the pen-fractal.

In this case, my goal was to fake a super-convincing illusion. For that, I needed to replace the pen with something reasonably different, and do so 'lightly', for lack of better words, to ensure I wouldn't accidentally do a retcon and get other-me all pissy again. As such, after a quick search, I found a suitable replacement, on one of the many, many branches, and then hastily overlaid it on the image of the original pen.

When I succeeded, I was immediately sucked back into reality, and with an odd popping noise, the standard plastic pen in my hand morphed into a long goose-feather quill. I did all that while flicking my wrist, to hide the exact moment of the change with the motion, kind of like how a stage magician would flick their magic wand to hide the moment it 'transformed' into a small bouquet of flowers. Unfortunately, I didn't consider the difference in diameter, so I almost ended up flinging the feather across the classroom.

Grabbing hold of it in the last millisecond, I let out a satisfied hum, followed by a stifled hiss as the backlash hit me and gave me a sudden headache. It wasn't too bad, but it just showed that, eight phantom limbs or not, this kind of Simulacrum-hackery still wasn't exactly hassle-free.

In any case, once I was done, I presented the feather to the astonished Lord Taika, and the moment she took it from me her eyes opened so wide they threatened to fall out of their sockets.

"Le-Leonard? What is this?"

"An illusion," I told her with a modest smile, trying to ignore the throbbing pain just behind my forehead.

"But… I can touch the…" She paused and after poking the downy parts of the feather, she somehow became even more astounded. "Amadeus was speaking the truth. You truly are capable of fooling all the senses."

"It's only temporary though," I told her, but she was already lost in her own world, and soon my sisters also joined her, handing the quill back and forth between each other with amazed expressions.

"Truly extraordinary," Lord Barnabas noted with a brow raised high, but then it soon descended and he added, "Now I understand why someone as old and world-wise as Lord Amadeus would speak so highly of your ability."

"It's just a small parlour trick, really," I responded with false modesty.

"Can I keep this?" Lord Taika cut between us, holding onto the quill as if she was afraid it would fly away if she didn't grasp it in her fist.

"Of course. It was your pen, to begin with," I told her, and she let out a relieved breath.

"Thank you! I'll have to take this home and analyze it right away, before—"

"Actually," the other arch-mage interjected with a troubled frown on his brows. "I'm afraid that has to wait. I got caught up in the discussion, but the Lord of the island requested our presence for a meeting, and I originally came here to tell you about it."

"But… But look!"

She presented the quill to him, and he shook his head.

"I'm sure Leonard's spell would remain in effect until after the meeting is adjourned. Right?"

That last question was aimed at me, and I nodded, though the truth was that I had no idea how long the transformation would last. When we experimented with this ability the last time using mugs, they held out for a couple of hours, but knowing the old man's penchant for long speeches (it must've come with the territory of moonlighting as a school principal), I wasn't sure that was enough. In the worst-case scenario, I would just make her another one. I needed to practice, and who knew? Maybe she would discover something useful in the process. Win-win.

"Let us not tarry then," Lord Barnabas spoke softly but firmly and glanced at the girls. "I'm sure the rest of your friends are also waiting for you."

That was… actually not far off from reality. While we were here, Angie and Elly were doing some tennis practice. They were accompanied by Josh and Judy, respectively, which meant that Ammy also tagged along, so all of them were still on school grounds. However, this was a last-minute arrangement, spurred on by Angie complaining about missing the morning practice because she overslept (officially because she was studying late into the night, unofficially because her parents were away and Josh was staying over), so… was Lord Barnabas keeping tabs on us?

…

What a silly question. Of course he was; it was half the reason why he was here, masquerading as a teacher. I just didn't expect him to admit it so openly.

Meanwhile, Penny and Snowy got their bags, so I followed their example, and we all left the classroom. On the way out, we even learned how Lord Barnabas got inside, as instead of turning the key like a normal person, he muttered a few words under his breath, pointed at the door, and it obediently unlocked itself. Based on the glow, it must have been some kind of Alteration School spell. Or maybe Transmutation? I still wasn't entirely clear on the minutia of the terminology, but it did make me think.

Could I do the same? Not with magic, but with my phantom limbs; replacing a locked door with an open one, for instance? It could work, and while I still got a headache, it wasn't the same 'knocks me off my feet with a fever for two days' kind of headache as before. Who knew? Maybe getting called out on my self-ascribed illusions today would, in the long term, open up more than just a few avenues in the future…