PART 1

My sister wasn't kidding. Even now, I could hear Yseult and Naoren arguing from the other end of the hallway. And this was a bloody long hallway. Weirdly enough, it wasn't even that they were hysterical or anything; they were just yelling at each other like they were trying to have a conversation from two ends of a basketball court. It was freaking weird.

Anyhow, while I was walking over, I used the opportunity to sort out my thoughts a little, and by the time I was halfway there, I suddenly stumbled upon a realization. According to Bel/future-me, my subconscious expectations could alter the Simulacrum from within by filling in the blanks. Wasn't that how Placeholders would develop their background and everything? Was I the one who did that, or was it the Simulacrum's doing? Was there even a difference?

If so, what were the limits? One thing that immediately came to mind was the long-standing mystery of the sudden technological development of the world. If I did that, subconsciously, then why was it limited in scope? If I could fast-track the time period of the setting from the 80s to the late 2000s, then why couldn't I push it further? Why didn't we have hoverboards and flying cars and shark holograms? Maybe it had something to do with the genre, I surmised, and then promptly shelved the whole topic, as I reached the end of the hallway, where Arnwald and Duncan were standing guard in front of the last door.

"Whoa! Thes hen has a body heel ay a lung, doesnae she?" the big guy whistled after a particularly loud tirade by Yseult, about honouring one's commitments and whatnot. He followed that by a curious glance in my direction. "Guid day. Did ye catch tha' boot?"

"If you're referring to Bel, then no, he got away," I told him curtly and glanced at the other Knight by the door.

"My Liege."

Arnwald saluted sharply, since we were technically on duty, but sounded positively exhausted. No wonder; listening to this drama for the better part of half an hour must've been mentally exhausting.

"Have they been going at it this whole time?"

"Without a break," he responded with a sour grimace, but then caught himself and fixed his face. "Have you managed to discern why Bel of the Abyss would go out of his way to disrupt this banquet?"

"No. Not yet, at any rate," I told him flatly, the white lie coming to me naturally. I mean, I didn't have much choice; I couldn't exactly explain to him how this was related to genre shifts and retcons. Maybe one day, when things won't be nearly this complicated anymore.

"Mibbie he wis juist stoogied? He strikes me as th' kind o' bas wha does hings wi'oot muckle rhyme o' reason," Duncan proposed, but the other Knights shook his head.

"Quite the contrary, Brother Duncan. All of Bel of the Abyss's actions have been calculated to this day. We best not underestimate—"

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF, YOU FOOL?!"

His words were interrupted by a shout coming from inside, shaking not just the door but the very walls of the hallway, and eliciting another impressed whistle from Duncan.

"Goddamit, lassie! Ah huvnae heard 'er bein' thes bludy lood since 'at a body time she downed haf'a bottle ay whiskey. She must've sampled th' bucky at th' ceilidh, Ah bit."

"That's an understatement, and…" I responded on autopilot, but then I stopped and squinted at the big guy. "Half a bottle of whiskey?"

"Yeah. In a body gang, nae less. Hen has th' liver ay th' gods, Ah teel ye." Noticing that I was looking at him funny, Duncan self-consciously cleared his throat and added. "We're skitin' buddies. Kin' ay."

"Drinking buddies," I repeated after him and he nodded just a touch sheepishly. I was making all kinds of weird discoveries today, wasn't I?

Anyhow, that was none of my business, so I dismissed the big oaf with a wave of my hand and reached for the doorknob.

"Whatever. I'll try to put a stop to this. Wish me luck."

"We'll do," Arnwald spoke sternly and gave me another full salute, only to then remain motionless and add, "Please try to refrain from shouting though. My ears are already ringing."

That unexpected request caused the other Knight to crack up, and since I just opened the door without knocking, Duncan's hearty laughter drew everyone's attention in the room, putting an end to the ongoing argument. At least for the moment.

"Ah, Brother Leonard," Naoren greeted me with the enthusiasm of a man in the desert who just found a lemonade stand. On the other hand, I had a hard time recognizing him at first.

While he was wearing the same clothes as before, his hair was now a fiery red, and his eyes were glowing with smouldering blue light. It was kind of like when Angie went full-Deus just before the retcon, just a different colour and without any of the golden flames spilling out.

Standing opposed to him was Yseult, and while she was fully transformed into her half-draconic shape, I had no trouble recognizing her. Her cheeks and arms were covered in lustrous white scales and she had a pair of horns jutting out from the crown of her head of the same pristine milky white colour. Her fancy dress must've been designed with emergency transformations in mind, because it was cut to accommodate her tail, and her outfit was barely disturbed by her form.

Finally, there was Rinne, still sitting on the bed of this guest room and…

"A moment," I raised a finger before anyone else could get a word in and levelled the deadpannest stare I could muster at the highly visible ninja. "What are you doing?"

She blurted out a confused "What?", and it took inhuman effort not to facepalm right there and then.

"Pull your fingers out of your ears," I told her, and she kept looking at me like she couldn't comprehend what I was saying. Heck, maybe she literally couldn't, so I mimed the action, and the light of recognition finally dawned on her face.

"Oh." With that, she finally took her index fingers out of her ears and looked at me expectantly. "Rinne apologizes, Leonard-dono. Rinne had to use a secret technique of the Kage clan to defend against voice-based attacks, and Rinne couldn't hear what Leonard-dono was saying. Could Leonard-dono repeat it?"

"I…" Running out of mental resources to resist the urge, I palmed my face and decided to ignore the whole thing. "Never mind."

"Brother Leonard?" Naoren stepped between the two of us in an attempt to get my attention again. "What happened to Bel of the Abyss?"

"Hey! Don't try to weasel out of the discussion by—!" Yseult cut in, nostrils flaring and her voice steadily rising in volume, so quickly stepped in and raised a palm to forestall her.

It was only at this point that I felt a bit stumped. How should I address her? Until now, we had only interacted on a surface level, and to me, she was just another face among all the Draconian representatives in the Federation. Should I call her 'Lady'? 'Miss'?

"Aw, to hell with it," I whispered under my breath and locked gazes with the ivory Draconian. "Listen, Yseult. We just had a major incident, and I need to discuss it with Naoren over here. I would appreciate it if you could leave for now and resolve your interpersonal argument at another date."

"I'm also a Seat holder of the Draconic Council! If you want to discuss official matters, I have all the right to be here, and…"

"'Main 'en, lassie, reid th' room! Gonnae-no bein' thrawn."

I just realized that the door was still left open, and the big guy was poking his head through it.

"Shut up, Duncan! This has nothing to do with you!" Yseult snapped at him, and… wait. These two were on first-name basis? Seriously, how did I miss this?

"I'm open to discussing things with you," I told her frankly, "but you're currently not in the right emotional headspace. Take some time to cool down."

"I…" She glared at me, but when I met her stare without flinching, she soon straightened her back and adopted a more prim-and-proper posture. "Maybe you're right," she continued with a much more formal tone, and her horns slowly began to recede. I've seen this kind of thing a couple of times when Elly transformed, but the draconic features disappearing like I was watching a video recording in reverse never stopped being fascinating. "I should collect my thoughts before I make a fool of myself."

"Mair o' a gowk, ye mean."

Her de-transformation halted, and she glared at the guy in the doorway again.

"I swear to god Duncan, I'm going to punch that sodding grin off your face!"

He responded with a devil-may-care grin and tapped his cheek with his index finger.

"If that wid mak' yer feelin' better, gie it a huv a go."

"Oh, you're sooo getting punched!"

Okay, that was official. There was some kind of chemistry going on between these two. I wasn't exactly sure of the type, but with some finagling, maybe I could use this to get Yseult out of here. Let's call it 'Plan Prince Charming'. Hell, it might even be useful for…

"Stop," I uttered and hit the side of my head with the heel of my hand, startling everyone present.

"What was that for?" Naoren blurted out in surprise, so I shook my head.

"It's nothing serious. I just had a stupid idea, and I had to dislodge it from my head," I explained, but it only made him look more confounded. "Don't worry, it doesn't happen often."

Anyhow, where was I? Oh, right. I just promised myself that I would take measures to limit my accidental genre-bending Narrative powers. The last thing I needed right now was to accidentally make this love triangle thing grow another leg. Let's just forget that I even considered pairing up these two for now, and focus on the original idea. Namely, that I could still use our Sir Minotaur to at least get her out of this room, so we could have a proper conversation.

"Sir Duncan," I raised my voice, and he involuntarily twitched and straightened his back. "Could I ask you to escort her outside instead of just pestering her?"

"I don't need any escort," the blonde draconian huffed and started walking on her own. "What I need is a stiff drink."

"Ye 'n' me baith," Duncan grumbled as he stepped inside and cleared the way for her to walk past us.

I gestured for him to pay attention, and whispered, "Can I ask you to take her out of the mansion?"

"Sure, bit... Whaur?"

"She said she wanted a drink, so get her one, or something."

"Oan wha's dosh?"

I eyed the suspiciously innocent expression on his face, and with a sigh, I undid my Leoformer, reached into my breast pocket, and after rummaging through my wallet, I pushed a couple hundred Jen bills into his palm. Duncan's eyes opened wide as he glanced between my face and the money in his palm, and after a while he blurted out, "Kin ah ca' ye boss?"

"I am your boss! Now, scram!"

I mimed kicking him in the ass, and Duncan jumped away before rushing after Yseult.

"Awright, lassie! Slow doon! Ah've juist git an advance! T'is mah treat th' nicht!"

"I told you not to call me lassie, you godforsaken muttonhead! Also, how much of an advance?"

"Enough tae git shitfaced."

"Good. Let's go."

And with that, the two of them left the scene. Arnwald was shaking his head in disapproval, and after a long, dispirited sigh, he turned to the door, gave me a polite nod, and then closed it, leaving me alone with Naoren and Rinne.

"I might get scolded for enabling Duncan's bad habits later," I muttered under my breath as I faced the two, but for the time being, I put those concerns aside. By now, Naoren also undid what counted as the Eastern-Draconians' transformation, and his hair and eyes regained their natural colours. Mountain girl, on the other hand, looked thoroughly disinterested in what was going on around her, and instead she was looking at only me, as if expecting that I was about to give her an order.

"Leonard?" the Feilong patriarch addressed me for the third time, and this time, I was all ears. "What exactly do we need to discuss in private? Have you discovered something about Bel of the Abyss or his plans?"

"Nah, it's not that," I denied with a lazy wave of my hand and grabbed a nearby fancy chair. I moved it to the middle of the room and placed it with the back facing these two, so that when I sat down on it, I could lean forward and rest my body and arms against it. "I just needed an excuse to get her out of here before you two started shouting again."

"I… admit that emotions were running high, but…"

"No buts," I cut him short and turned my attention to Mountain Girl. "And what were you doing during all of this? Just sitting there with your ears plugged?"

To my surprise (though, in retrospect, maybe I had my expectations set too high), Rinne nodded without a shred of self-awareness.

"The conversation had nothing to do with Rinne, so Rinne didn't want to interfere."

"Of course it had to do with you!" I burst out, raising my voice and visibly startling her. "This entire scene happened because of your engagement!"

"Ah, right." As if I just reminded her of something, she slightly shifted on the edge of the bed to face the other man in the room. "Naoren-san? Now that Albion-san is here, should we annul the engagement?"

That obviously took the bespectacled patriarch aback, and he hastily declared, "Lady Rinne! I told you I have no intentions to do such a thing!"

"Stop, stop!" I called out, raising both my hands. "What is this talk about engagement annulment? Haven't you already resolved that misunderstanding?" Naoren remained conspicuously silent, while Rinne only grew more confused, and the sight immediately drew a groan out of me. "Oh for the love of…! You haven't, have you? Naoren. Bro. You had one job. One. Job."

"I… I did tell Lady Rinne that I hold her in very high esteem," he told me in a hurry, and she nodded along.

"And Rinne told Naoren-san that Rinne also considers Naoren-san a precious friend."

"You've got to be fricking kidding me," I groaned again and threw my head back, only to lurch forward a second later and glare at them. "Listen up. We don't have time for this wishy-washy, will-they-won't they hogwash. You're not leaving this room until both of you are one hundred percent clear on the state of your relationship, understood?"

"But…"

"I said 'no buts'!" I pointed at Naoren, and then at Mountain Girl. "Get to it!"

Suddenly put on the spot, the young patriarch audibly gulped, but soon adjusted his posture and stepped up to the woman on the edge of the bed.

"Lady Rinne… I must admit that I'm… Lady's Rinne's most ardent admirer, and—"

"No, try again," I cut in, startling both of them. "She won't get it if you use flowery language. Just say it as it is."

Naoren looked none too pleased by my demands, but he dutifully cleared his throat and gave it another go.

"Lady Rinne?"

"Yes?"

"If I may be so blunt, please allow me to confess that I hold interest in Lady Rinne that's… romantic in nature."

I was just about to tell him he was still doing it, but she beat me to the punch.

"Oh, Rinne finally understands!"

"You do?" I asked with just a pinch of reservations. The kind of pinch you do with an industrial grabber at a junkyard.

"Yes. Naoren-san must mean Naoren-san still wishes to practice the art of romance with Rinne before accepting Albion-san's—"

"No. Stop. I'm stopping you there. Mountain Girl, say one more word, and I'll have you go back to freaking elementary school and start learning the language from the ground up all over again!"

"But… what else could Naoren-san mean?" she blurted out, seemingly running out of patience, and so was I.

"For the love of… He means he likes you, you dolt!"

"Brother Leonard, please don't—"

"No, wait. That may still not be clear enough," I ranted on, ignoring the man trying to stop me and I pointed a pair of finger guns at him instead. "This guy, right here, Naoren Feilong. He really likes you. Loves you, even. And by you, I mean you, and by love, I mean the one between a man and woman who want to start a family. Not platonic love, not familiar love, not ludus, certainly not storge, definitely not pragma, and not even freaking eros! It's love love, got it?"

I admit, I might've worked myself up a bit too much, as I was almost heaving by the end of that, but I had lots of time to catch my breath, because Rinne looked completely shocked into silence, while Naoren was rooted in place with a completely blank expression. As in, if we were in a manga, this would've been the panel where he was drawn in black-and-white line art with two dots and a crooked dash for a face.

In the end, it was Mountain Girl who managed to move first, and she turned a cautious pair of eyes at the mortified patriarch and quietly asked, "Is… what Leonard-dono said true?"

Being jolted out of his stupor, Naoren hurriedly readjusted his posture and tried to feign calmness.

"It…" Then he noticed that I was glaring at him with the kind of glare that made water boil faster, and he cleared his throat before starting again. "Yes. Yes, I do like Lady Rinne in that way."

That confession was followed by a long beat of silence, suitable for a dramatic situation like this, and then as if a switch was flipped, Mountain Girl's entire face flushed lobster-red, up to the tips of her ears.

"Ah… Um… Ah… T-This is too sudden!"

"How is this sudden!" I butted in again, barely stopping myself from hitting my head against the backrest. "He has been courting you for the better part of two months, you dense idiot!"

"But… Um…" Her eyes darted between me and Naoren, "Rinne doesn't know what to say!"

"Just yes or no," I growled, massaging my temple. "Do you like him back, or not?"

"Y-Yes, Rinne likes Naoren-san a lot, it's just that—"

I was just about to exclaim a relieved 'Finally! We're getting somewhere!', but then we were all started by the sound of party poppers and paper horns.

"Yaaay! They did it!"

"Double-yaaay!"

From nowhere, a pair of familiar little girls appeared, decked out in those conical paper hats and blowing confetti everywhere. It took me a second to realize that they came from Rinne's and Naoren's shadows respectively. Wait, since when can Xiao do that?

Whatever, questions for later.

For now, the kids were celebrating so loudly that even Arnwald opened the door again to see what the sudden commotion was about before rolling his eyes and backing out again.

"What are you two doing here?" I muttered, still a bit shocked, and suddenly Ichiko jumped up to hug my head.

"I know Ue-sama could do it! Victory!"

"Party! Party!" Odango Girl chanted in the back shaking an eminently confounded Naoren's hands.

"Since when have you been in their shadows?" I asked, my voice muffled by the little miko's torso, and hearing that she finally let me go.

"Since the beginning!" She declared with a grin. "We wanted to surprise Rinne-san and Naoren-sama during the banquet, and we really thought that everything was lost when that woman interrupted them, but then Ue-sama managed to come in clutch at the last second!"

"Brother Leonard is the best!" the tiny dragoness exclaimed between giggles as she made the newly minted couple hold hands. How lewd.

Stupid jokes aside, hopefully this particular thing was done and over with for good. Now, I would only have to resolve the whole thing with Yseult, and then I could hopefully focus on more important things. Like another version of me running around, and doing who knew what while I wasn't looking.

Speaking of which, he said he was just going to do 'Bel things', but what did that even…

"Leonard!" Before I could reach the end of that though, everyone was startled by the door suddenly being thrown open by Roland, much to the disapproval of Arnwald standing at his side.

"What is it this time?" I half asked and half groaned as I stood up from the chair.

"I was just called by the arch-mage's office," he told me in a grave voice, completely ignoring the delicate atmosphere in the room (or the fact we were covered in confetti and party streamers). "Bel of the Abyss just broke the assassins out of their custody."

"He did what?" I blurted out by reflex, but then immediately facepalmed and whispered. "Right. Bel things…" and exhaled a long breath.

Why did I have a feeling this was going to be another one of those long days…?

PART 2

Twenty minutes later, inside the same Constable Inc. minivan Duncan used all the time.

"So it wasn't you."

Roland wasn't looking at me (which was for the better, because he was driving), but I could practically feel his deadpan critical stare on my skin all the same. We've already made the rounds and delivered my sisters and girlfriends home, and now we were on the way to the School.

Since I didn't respond to him, he let out a soft sigh.

"That means we have someone out there acting like Bel of the Abyss while possessing your abilities and knowledge, but we don't know where he is, we don't know his agenda, and we can't do anything about him."

Needless to say, I didn't explain the whole timey-wimey retcon business to Roland, but I shared all the other essential details, and he had a good grasp on the situation.

"More or less, though as far as his agenda is concerned, I think we're safe."

Without warning, Roland stepped on the brake pedal to slow down the car and his head snapped to the side to face me. Luckily there was nobody else on the road, or we might've caused a commotion. More importantly though, he was practically glaring at me.

"He just helped the people who tried to assassinate Joshua and Angeline out of Magi custody," he stated emphatically, and I couldn't help but awkwardly rub my forehead.

"Yes, I know that looks bad, but there's probably a good reason for why he did that." Or, at the very least, I was sure that if I ever decided to do something like that, I wouldn't do it without a good reason. Roland still looked eminently skeptical of my claim, so I added, "Trust me on this."

He didn't relent, and after staring me down for a few seconds, he finally turned back to the road and accelerated, accompanied by the words, "The more you say that, the harder people will find it to trust you."

I wanted to argue, but I really couldn't. With how many secrets within secrets I have been keeping all this time, it was a small miracle that those chickens hadn't come home to roost yet, but hearing this from Roland of all people hit especially hard.

"Listen, I'm not saying I know exactly what's going on either, or why this Bel is doing the things he does, but I can swear that he's probably not an enemy."

"Probably?" he echoed me with a brow raised, and I hastily amended myself.

"Certainly. He's certainly not an enemy, just… method-acting the role. Let's go with that."

"Fine. Let's say I accept that. What are we going to do about him?"

"I don't know yet. Our first meeting was short, and we mostly talked about difficult metaphysical things. Hopefully, I can give you a clearer answer after the next time we meet."

Roland let out an ambivalent grunt that could be interpreted either as a sign of disapproval or agreement, and for the time being, that was the end of the conversation. Which was then followed by an awkward silence. Oh joy, that's my favourite kind!

Seriously though, trying to insist more than that would've felt a touch too desperate, so I decided to wisely shut up and focus my attention elsewhere. That meant Far Sight, but first I had to overcome a dilemma. We were only a few minutes away from the school, so I had to pick my target carefully. I've already checked on the 'escaped' assassin wannabes, and while I was a little bit curious about how things were developing between Mountain Girl and Naoren now that we weren't around, I decided to give them some privacy.

By process of elimination, I settled on Duncan, and after a quick shift of my perspective, the scenery around me changed into that of a fairly unremarkable British-style pub. Not too shady, exuding some class with the hardwood barstools and fancy ceiling lamps, yet also a bit rowdy, with a large TV screen showing the replay of some football match over the bar counter.

"Argh! He's such an ass!" Lady Yseult grumbled while absent-mindedly stirring the ice in the huge, layered cocktail in front of her. I was pretty sure that was usually meant for multiple people to drink together, potentially involving a couple of those fancy twisty plastic straws, but I was no drinker, so I could be wrong.

"Tae be fair, ye didne agree tae marry each other, did ye?" Duncan commented by her side, his nose already turning red even though his beer mug was only half-empty.

"Oh, shut up!" she barked back and took a swig from her drink. By the way, she was still wearing her fancy dress from the banquet, with one long lacy elbow glove missing, so she stuck out of the environment like a sore thumb.

Nobody seemed to pay her any attention though, and there were two possible explanations that came to mind: either the placeholders here were still underdeveloped, or they were familiar faces and people were used to their antics. At this point, I couldn't tell.

Meanwhile, she finished downing half her drink and put the cocktail glass down with an audible clank before pointing a finger at the guy sitting on the barstool next to hers.

"I'm telling you, we had a deal! I thought that once Dunning wrapped the Dracis girl around his finger, he would finally stop pining after her just so that he could enact his whole 'Grand Unification Plan', or whatever he called it, but nooo! Just when I thought we were getting along fine enough to remind him about our promise and get our respective families off our backs, he goes ahead and gets into another goddamn arranged marriage!"

"'Onestly, Ah dornt gie whit yoo're seein' in 'at bloke. Ah pure techt, he's only handsome, rich, an' influential. Naethin' special."

"Stop joking, you damn muttonhead. I'm not in the mood," Yseult griped and began chewing on some peanuts. They were just… there. In a bowl on the counter, apparently for public consumption. I didn't get it; maybe it was a pub culture thing? In any case, after a few seconds, she let out a groan and muttered, "I swear, Dunning must be behind this all. It's the only reasonable explanation."

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Nah, lassie. Yoo're overthinkin' thes. Leonard isnae th' schemin' type," Duncan spoke flippantly, once and for all cementing himself in my mind as a terrible judge of character. "Hink abit it; when he wanted tae ref'rm th' Brotherhuid, he jist sat us doon an' did it. Sam hin' wi' th' Draconic Federation tay. He's jist tay frenk an' forceful fur thes political marriage guff."

"Maybe, but… What's the alternative, huh? That Naoren just happened to fall in love with Dunning's right-hand woman out of sheer coincidence."

"Th' workin' ay th' heart ur mysterioos indeed."

"Oh, shut up, you muppet!" She groaned and downed the rest of her drink in one go. "If you're such an expert about romance, then why are you single, huh?"

"Aam workin' oan it, okay?" he answered off-handedly and took a sip from his beer.

"Oh, really? You want to tell me there's a woman out there who would give you the time of day? Like I'd fall for that."

"Nae, it's true. There's thes a burd aam gettin' alang wi' bonnie weel. She's funay, an' ye coods grate cheese oan 'er abs."

The draconic noble lady eyed the knight in tipsy armour and blurted out, "My foot, you are! I'm not listening to any of this bullcrap, you big phoney!"

"Aam nae haverin'. Ah swear, aam hittin' it aff wi' 'er."

"Suuure. And next time you're telling me you have a brand-new bridge to sell me." She rolled her eyes and got onto her feet. She needed to grab onto the bar to steady herself, and after taking a few deep breaths, (and a handful of peanuts), he flashed a lop-sided grin at the guy still sitting and used her head to gesture towards the nearby snooker table. "Hey, Duncan? Do you want to bet? One game; if you win, I'll believe you, but if you lose, you'll have to introduce me to this 'bird' of yours. Deal?"

The big guy unsubtly rolled his eyes, then downed the rest of his beer and wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

"Ye an' yer one-sided deals ur th' reason yoo're gettin' screwed ower aw th' time. Ye ken 'at, reit?"

"Is that a no? Is the big, bad Knight too chicken to take on me?"

"Ne'er said aam nae gam." Duncan flashed a wolfish grin and added, "Winner pays fur th' next roon."

"Oooh? Someone's confident."

With that, the two of them headed over to the snooker table, and the timing couldn't have been better, as I was shaken out of my Far Sight by my body jerking forward as the car came to a sudden stop. Opening my eyes, I could see the main building of Blue Cherry High on our right. Roland was still silent, and I was also lost in my thoughts for the moment, so we wordlessly walked around the outer fence of the campus, towards the back gate.

Based on what I saw just now, there certainly was some chemistry between Duncan and Yseult, but it lacked something. Was it sexual tension? Probably. Their interaction really did feel more like a pair of drinking buddies shooting the shit, rather than some kind of 'we're totally not on a date on the town' development. Could it be that I was witnessing the mythical platonic male/female friendship, without any strings attached? And more importantly, was their relationship a natural one, or another one of those 'blank spots' the Simulacrum filled in due to my Narrativistic subconscious reality-warpery?

I needed a second opinion, and since we had some time until we reached the basement entrance with the elevator leading into the School complex, I figured I might as well just quickly get it. As such, much to Roland's surprise, I fished out my phone from my back pocket and dialled a number even as we walked.

"Yes, Chief? Is there a new emergency?" Judy picked it up in a second as if she was expecting something like this, and she sounded pretty deadpan. That would've been normal, but she was always a bit more animated when we talked on the phone, which told me she was probably still mad at me for postponing our discussion about future-me and the implications of his presence.

"No, there's nothing of the sort. I just had a free minute, and I wanted to ask you something."

"I'm all ears."

"You're still part of that shady underground shipping circle, right?"

"You mean the Potential Romance Appreciation Association," she corrected me right away.

"Potahto, potayto. The point is, are you still up to date with that?"

"Yes." She sounded unusually guarded. Maybe she thought it was a trick question. "Why?"

"I'm just curious if you have heard of any prior hints about some kind of development between Duncan and Lady Yseult."

"What?" Roland blurted out next to me, but I raised a finger to forestall him while I waited for Judy's response.

"Those two? Yes, there have been rumors about the two of them having a good relationship, but Sir Duncan's main ships involve the Danzo Squad, and a potentially scandalous love triangle with—"

"The what squad?" I blurted out, but then my brain finally caught up with my mouth and I hastily added, "Oh, wait. Do you mean the four ninja girls directly working under Mountain Girl?"

"Yes. Also, there's the love triangle involving Mister Androcles and—"

"Stop. I don't need to hear about that," I cut her off before she could plant more seeds of potential relationships into my head. I promised myself (literally) that I would keep a tight rein on my conjectures about this subject, lest I would start accidentally triggering even more clichéd shoujo manga developments, and Judy telling me about in-universe shipping wasn't helping with that. "Can you tell me when those rumours have started?"

"Not long after the first official meeting of the Draconic Council," she responded blandly, as if she had the answer sheet in front of her all along. "If you want a more specific date, I can contact our secretary and ask her to search the database."

"You have a database…? Now, wait. You have a secretary?" She didn't respond. "You really are running a secret society at this point, aren't you?"

"Hush, Chief. Every girl needs a hobby."

I wanted to retort, but I couldn't come up with anything witty on short notice, and we were almost in front of the elevator at this point, so I decided this wasn't a hill worth dying for.

"Fair enough. I have to put it down now; I'll call you once I'm back home and we can go through today's events before you go to bed."

"Okay. Try not to cause too much havoc."

"… Is it just me, or you're having unusually little faith in me today?"

Instead of answering the question, my dear assistant uttered a cutesy (and clearly fake) "Luv yuu!" and cut the line. Yep, she was definitely holding a grudge.

"What was that about Duncan and Lady Albion?" Roland levelled the question at me the moment I put my phone away, and after some hesitation, I shrugged.

"Nothing major. I was just curious if Judy heard anything going on between those two."

"Why would anything be going on between them?"

"Well, I didn't know anything was going on between Yseult and Naoren, and look how that turned out," I deflected, and Roland accepted that at face value. Then the arrival of the elevator cut the topic short, and we both stepped inside.

By the way, for the longest time, I've been wondering why there were no guards, and anyone could just enter the School complex all willy-nilly, but apparently the elevator itself was a security measure, and it only opened to people who were allowed to go down. This meant that we were both already given the green light in the past, and it didn't even need any silly magical laser scanners or whatnot. Very convenient. Maybe I should copy it for the entrance of our own base, I mused.

It took until I finished that line of thought for us to arrive at our destination, and when the sliding doors opened, we were welcomed by an impatient class rep, along with a considerably more indifferent armband guy.

"Evening," I greeted the two of them, and Pascal returned the gesture with a nod, while Ammy immediately walked up to my and grabbed my arm.

"Come, quick. Grandfather is already waiting for you!"

I let myself be led through the facility to a different elevator, which led to the lower layers, home of the Nexus Room, the holding cells, and way too many utility closets. On a side note though, I knew that we've gotten pretty close recently, thanks to the regular meta-discussions, but the unbridled way by which the class rep grabbed hold of me was still a bit surprising.

Come to think of it, we were fairly intimate, helping each other as much as getting on each other's nerves, and yet we had no UST. Could it be that the mythical platonic male/female friendship was right next to me all along?

While I was pondering such deep and significant matters, Pascal was giving a situation report to us (or maybe just Roland). To sum it up, right after the incident at the Lotan estate, the School went on high alert, and all of the arch-mages were summoned to Lord Grandpa's house for an emergency meeting. Then, just as they got started, they received a report that the prisoners had gone missing, so they all rushed back here, only to find…

"Oh, bonsoir, messieurs."

Everyone gone, except for this clown.

"Leonard," Lord Amadeus, looking slightly haggard, greeted me while being surrounded by the four guest arch-mages. The five of them stood in the middle of the spacious holding area filled with the quiet yet insistent thrumming of the magical force fields separating the individual cells, all of them empty except for one.

Lord Gulliver, the resident magic ward expert (or so I presumed, based on his track record) was down on one knee and busy analysing the cells, while Lord Ambrose was fuming about something. In contrast, Lord Taika looked like she would fall asleep at any moment, while Lord Barnabas stood a bit further back from the rest and was currently interviewing a thoroughly frightened placeholder Magi. The warden, I presumed.

"I came as quickly as I could," I said after giving a quick nod to the Assembly mages present and turned to face the only occupied cell. "So Bel broke everyone out of jail, save for him?"

"That seems to be the case," Lord Grandpa told me sourly, and Ammy behind him gave me a look that said 'See? I told you we should've done something about that guy already!'.

"There aren't any signs of foul play," the lanky arch-mage noted as he stood up and flashed a smile at me. "Ah. Evening, Leonard. We're in quite a pickle here."

"He can see that himself, you fool!" Ambrose snapped at him and then looked over at me. "I assure you, if it was my School, there's no way some masked idiot could've just waltzed in and out with a bunch of vile criminals like it's nothing! Shameful!"

"Lord Ambrose," Barnabas hissed in the back, one finger already on his temple. "Tensions are already high. Could you please not antagonize Lord Endymonion for no reason."

"I'm just telling it as it is," the bearded arch-mage huffed and puffed, but I ignored him in favour of Lord Grandpa.

"I don't think you called me over just to show me the empty cells," I prompted him, and the old man exhaled a heavy breath

"You are indeed correct in your deduction." He gestured at the solitary French mad scientist patiently waiting behind the magical barrier. "According to him, Bel of the Abyss left a message for you."

"Has he?" I blurted out, genuinely surprised.

"Très certainement, my young friend!" Arnaud whatshisface, aka the man who shot Josh with his magitech sniper rifle, flashed a harmless grin at me and opened his palms in a show of non-hostility. "It was quite a surprise, je vous le dis."

"What is it?"

I thought Arnaud would tell me himself, but Lord Grandpa turned to the sleepy woman on our left instead.

"Lord Taika? The message?"

"Hm? Oh, right." She stifled a yawn and retrieved a folded-up piece of paper from her sleeve. "My apologies. I didn't quite get enough sleep."

"No problem. What does it say?"

She handed it over to me, but before I could unfold it, the local arch-mage answered my inquiry with an irritated, "We do not know yet."

That made me raise a brow, but then it all became clear when I took a look at the letter.

"Oh? Ancient Celestial Script."

Lord Taika smiled at me proudly, as if my assessment vindicated her in some way, and after speed-reading the page, my brows descended into a deep frown. Everyone waited patiently for me to finish, and it was Ammy who couldn't hold back her curiosity first and she called out to me with a finger on her glasses.

"What does it say? Is it important?"

"Whatever it may say," the man behind the metaphorical bars raised his voice, still trying to look and sound as harmless as possible. "Considering that I've shown my cooperation by refusing to escape with that vil fléau, could we maybe renégocier my situation? S'il vous plait?"

"No, no we're not doing that," I denied him flatly and sucked in a deep breath. I skimmed the text a second time, and when I was sure I read it right (Celestial Script was notoriously hard to peruse), I exhaled a soft "Damn."

"What is it?" Lord Grandpa echoed his granddaughter's previous question a touch impatiently, and so I folded the page and looked him in the eye.

"We need to check the Grimoire Keys."

The moment my words sunk in, the old man's eyes darkened and he rushed out of the holding facility, closely followed by an equally startled Lord Ambrose. The others followed after a bit of a lag, soon leaving me in the company of just Roland, Ammy, Pascal, and the mad scientist trying to give me his best 'innocent puppy dog in the rain' impression.

Ignoring that last bit, I didn't know how to feel at this moment. Sure, future-me said he would be doing 'Bel things', but I didn't think he would be doing them this hard and this quickly.

"Oh well." I pocked the message, and gestured for the others to follow after me before whispering, "I guess we're speed-running the plot today…"

PART 3

During the ride to the upper-levels of the School complex, I couldn't help but notice that Roland was giving me a very distinct 'What is going on this time?' kind of stare, but for the time being I ignored him. Not just because we were squeezed into the elevator like sardines, but also because I wasn't one hundred percent sure about it either.

Once we arrived and everyone burst forth from the lift like their lives depended on it, I lagged a bit behind and took out the message to give it another look-over. The moment I did so, the class rep immediately sidled up to my side and tried to take a look as well.

"What exactly does this say? Did Bel steal Grandfather's Grimoire Key? What's going on?"

"It would take too long to explain it here."

That wasn't just me deflecting, as even as we spoke, I was trying not to lose sight of the hectic group of arch-mages at the front. Even so, she stuck to me like my shadow and continued to gripe in hissy whispers.

"I knew this would happen! Even though Grandfather finally agreed to let me try his Grimoire Key, we kept putting it off because you were busy!" She let out a groan and grabbed onto my arm. "If Bel of the Abyss took it, I'm telling Judy it was your fault!"

"Amelia, please do not harass Dunning in the open," Pascal commented on the side, earning himself a glare.

I, for one, was more confused by the second half of what he said.

"In public? So it's fine if she harasses me in private?"

"Leonard, this is not the time for joking," Roland politely chided me, and I had no choice but to defend myself.

"No, I'm serious. Is that how we're seen from an outsider's perspective?"

"Can we discuss this later?" Ammy grumbled and tugged on my arm to get me to walk faster. "Hurry up! My fireballs are at stake here!"

Due to her urging, we got ahead of Pascal and Roland, and when we settled down somewhere halfway between the arch-mages and their duo, I gestured for her to listen.

"You know, I can't decide if you're taking this situation too seriously, or not seriously at all."

"That's rich coming from you," she snapped back, but after making sure the others wouldn't overhear, she quietly added, "I mean, I'm not afraid of things going too badly. You're destiny, so I trust that everything will turn out fine, but it's still my future at stake here!"

"Your future of being able to throw fireballs," I noted a touch flatly, and she nodded without a hint of shame. "How about we get back to this after we see what's going on with the Grimoire Keys?"

"That's why we should hurry up," she argued back, and seeing that I wasn't getting anywhere with her, I unfolded the letter again.

We were getting close to Lord Grandpa's study, so I only had time for a quick skim, but the contents remained the same, and just as confusing.

To paraphrase it, the message went something like this:

Hi, Polemos,

Sorry about the mess. I wish I didn't have to rush things like this, but this had to be done to arrange the board. I'll put the pawns from the basement to good use, so don't worry about them. Here's today's keyword: Grimoire Keys. That should be enough to tell you what's coming next, but remember to keep your friends close!

Don't worry. After this, I'll be laying low for a while; an Axis of Evil won't just build itself on its own after all. Just sit back, relax, and focus on training. Also, the Elysium has nice beaches. Just saying.

Yours,

Bel of the Abyss

P.S.: Don't hire the French guy, I didn't take him with me for a reason.

That was definitely, one hundred percent certainly written by future-me. Of course, the exact verbiage was very different on the paper; Celestial script was a bit ambiguous and flowery even at the best of times, but that was the gist of it. I had… so many questions.

Why did he have to rush things? What good use was there for a bunch of wannabe assassins? What did he do to the Endymonion's Key? What was an 'axis of evil', and what did it have to do with a training arc? Or beaches?

…

Actually, that last bit was ingenious. I've been joking about having a beach episode for weeks now, but travelling off the island was tricky due to it being the center of the universe (or at the very least the Simulacrum's current scenario), and due to geography we probably wouldn't be getting beach weather even in July. However, due to their artificial climate, the Elysium had a much warmer climate which better fit its Mediterranean agriculture.

On second thought, didn't the same apply to the Abyss as well? The pocked dimension magitech was literally the same, down to being fueled by the Mana Wells, so I figured they would have the same kind of climate control. Maybe next time I'm there, I should check to see if there are any nice beach-side spots for a weekend home or something.

Joking about turning the prison-dimension of the Abyssals into a vacation destination aside, we just reached the door of the study, and the whole group bunched up again while waiting for Lord Grandpa to turn off the security wards one by one.

"You have fortified this chamber quite thoroughly," Lord Barnabas noted, trying to make small talk. Lord Ambrose must've mistaken it for sarcasm, as he stifled a guffaw, prompting the lanky man behind him to lightly kick him.

"Be civil," Lord Gulliver whispered, but it only made the bearded man more furious.

"Civil?! Since when is kicking someone considered civil, you hypocritical lout!" He crossed his arms and let out a harrumph. "I keep saying that none of this aetheric magical construct malarkey is worth a damn! If you listened to me, you would invest in proper defenses, like mine. Good, solid steel with cold iron inserts to thwart mystic art attacks, plus some more 'mundane' surprises to deter the would-be burglars! For the rest of their life! Which would be short! It's the way to go, I tell you!"

Nobody stopped his yapping, mainly because it only served as background noise while the tension in the hallway slowly rose to a crescendo, triggered when the owner of the study finally took out a key and turned it in the lock with a solid click. There was a rush of air as the last of the enchantments disengaged, and when the huge wings of the door automatically opened wide…

"Ah, finally! I was just about to get bored!"

There was an unmistakable voice on the other side, and when I finally managed to elbow myself to the front, I saw Bel sitting on Lord Grandpa's desk, his legs crossed and his chin resting on his knuckle, like that famous statue. It was called 'The Thinker', I think? Unimportant.

"See, I told you! I told you aetheric defenses are— Mfff!"

Thankfully Lord Gulliver was quick on the uptake and swiftly covered Lord Ambrose's mouth. Meanwhile, Endymonion, Taika, and Barnabas lined up next to me, almost like we were presenting a united front or something, and after a brief moment of hesitation, I turned on my Leoformer, settling on the school uniform mode. It felt fitting, and I needed it to be online in case future-me wanted to message me.

"But where are my manners!" Bel exclaimed and hopped off the desk, followed by a customary scraping bow. "Bel of the Abyss, at your service." He paused and then struck a flamboyant pose, one finger pointed right at me. "Come now, Polemos! Don't look at me like that! Can't you say a few nice words after not seeing each other for so long?"

That… was mildly confusing, but before I could squeeze in a comment, Roland spoke up in the back, where the rest were grouped up behind a magical barrier hastily erected by Armband Guy.

"Haven't you already met today at the banquet?"

Bel abruptly teleported to the other side of the room and started walking up and down with arms crossed and an index finger tapping on his mask.

"Hmm? No, I don't think so. I would've remembered if we met. Unless…" Without warning, he suddenly appeared in front of us and snapped his finger, startling everyone and disrupting whatever spell Lord Taika was sneakily trying to prepare on my left. Dear god, was I also this disorienting when I played the character, I wondered. Not for long though, as he suddenly declared. "Oh, wait! I get it! He must've met future me! I apologize, it's hard to keep up with myself sometimes."

Blinking, I hurriedly extended a phantom limb towards his gear, and I quickly found the communication arrays.

"{Hold on. Are you serious?}"

After a brief moment of static, I received an answer.

"{No, of course not. I'm just acting, as usual.}"

"{Don't scare me like that. One temporally displaced version of myself is bad enough.}"

Bel let out a chuckle. Whether that was in reaction to my message, or part of the act, I couldn't tell. Then, before anyone else could respond, he was suddenly sitting on the desk again. Wow, that was smooth. I guess all my time spent practising the 'land seated right after Phasing' routine wasn't for nought.

"What are you doing in my office, interloper?" Lord Grandpa cut in with a low hiss, the air around him roiling with accumulated mana and practically crackling with power, to the point Lord Barnabas had to take a step away from him and summon his semi-transparent armour plates for safety. "Depending on your answer, I may have to evict you by force."

"Oh, Endy, Endy, Endy! Don't be like that!" the Bel on the desk responded with a chuckle and carelessly waved his hand. "You shouldn't say embarrassing things in front of your friends like that, or they'll think you have dementia. What's next? 'If the tide doesn't listen what I say, I'll beat up the ocean!'? Please…"

Seeing that the taunting was only causing the old man to get more fired up (and consequently, for the air to get even heavier with his magic), I took a step forward. While I was sure future-me was more than capable of running verbal circles around the people here, I still had to get back home and do a debriefing with Judy, so I couldn't waste much time on the usual song and dance routine.

"What are you up to this time?"

I tried to sound deadpan, with just a hint of aggressiveness. Bel let out an appreciative hum and opened his arms wide.

"You see, my dear Polemos, I just recently remembered that the Wingless Ones have this really fun toy, but I couldn't play with it because it's all locked up. They are such spoilsports, aren't they?"

"So you're after the Grimoire of the Last Truth," Lord Barnabas stated blandly, also drawing in power.

"Ah, such a wonderfully silly name it has!" Bel sighed wistfully and reached behind his back. Nobody seemed to have noticed it before, because everyone was focused on the masked man (me included), but there was a small wooden box on the desk all along, and he presented it like a magician would show off a prop before he would use it. "Lookie! The Key of the Grimoire! One of them, at the very least! How mysterious! How majestic!" He paused and lightly shook the box. "How light! Seriously, this is some cheap craftsmanship here. Was it made in China?"

That made the arch-mages stop in their tracks, only to be startled by a voice from the back.

"You see? You see it now?! I told you that the Keys need better protection!"

Lord Ambrose finally managed to get into the room, despite Lord Gulliver trying his best to restrain him. He was probably afraid that the volatile old arch-mage would burn down Endymonion's office if left unchecked. He let out a loud harrumph and pointed a finger at the box in Bel's hand.

"The joke's on you, fiend! You might've put your dirty hands on Amadeus's Key, but you can never get the rest! Give it up now, while we're—"

He abruptly bit back his words, eyes bulging, and Lord Gulliver behind him also let out a mildly distressed, "Oh dear."

Following their gazes, I returned my attention to Bel, and lo and behold, he now had two boxes in his hands. The second one was identical to the first, except its hinges and the decorative metal plating were a slightly different colour.

"Oh, look at that! Where did this come from? What a mystery! It surely cannot be one of those things I can't get my hands on, right?"

Bel mimed shock, and then casually started juggling the boxes like they were balls and… Wait. Wait just a minute. I can't juggle!

Do… Do I have to learn how to juggle for this? But if I do so because I now learned that I would need it here, then wouldn't that cause a temporal paradox? A bootstrap-paradox, to be precise? Why would I even do this?

"{Don't overthink this, and focus,}" future-me warned me through the communicator.

He must've remembered that he had also been confused by this situation because he was really quick on the uptake… but wait. If he could remember being confused here, then doesn't that mean that he also didn't know how to juggle at this point in time, and learned how to do it because of this? But then we're back to the paradox again! Goddamit, I knew it! I knew this bloody timey-wimey crap is going to lead to something like this eventually!

Ignoring my inner turmoil, Bel snatched the boxes out of the air and lightly shook both of them before hopping off the desk again.

"My, my. Such a fancy way to safeguard your secret little toy, but do you know?" He cocked his head to the side a little, and added, "I wonder what happens to a lock once its keys are broken?"

"No! Stop him!" Lord Grandpa roared, but he was too late.

In a moment, the room was filled with the blinding magical flare of a dozen spells being cast at once. None of them reached Bel in time, and with a loud crunching sound, both boxes were crushed simultaneously. It happened so fast that I couldn't even properly react, too busy trying to untangle what just happened.

The arch-mages fell dead silent as the wooden fragments of the boxes fell to the floor, but… that was all. There were no magical marbles, either in whole or pieces, and the sight made everyone freeze in confusion. Including myself.

"Oh. Oooh?" Suddenly, Bel's attention snapped to me, and he exclaimed, "Polemos, you naughty boy! You tricked me, didn't you?" Before I even had the time to feel any more baffled, he amended it with an outwardly silent, "{Just play along.}"

"Did I?" I responded on autopilot while simultaneously messaging, "{What do you mean 'play along'? Why didn't you warn me?}"

"{Spoilers. Now, pay attention,}" the impassive voice in the communication array spoke curtly while Bel dusted his palms and squared up in front of me. "You didn't even try to stop me just now, did you? It's almost as if you knew the boxes were empty all along…"

In the end, I resigned myself to figuring out what all of this was about after-the-fact, and turned my full attention to the conversation. From what I understood, future-me set this up to look like I tricked him into stealing a pair of empty boxes. Let's improvise from there.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to realize," I responded, doing my best to maintain my calm and collected Polemos persona. "I expected that you would try something like this, so I took some precautionary steps in advance."

"Hey! That's unfair!" Bel exclaimed, acting like a child throwing a tantrum. "It's the second time you did this! Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, still shame on you, you dirty, dirty magpie!"

"What… is going on?" Lord Taika muttered nearby, so caught up in the proceedings she forgot to prepare any spells. The other arch-mages weren't so passive, and while their first salvo was neutralized by future-me's phantom limbs (even if I couldn't see them), I didn't want to further escalate things, especially when I still wasn't entirely sure about the plan.

"Polemos just stole my fanfare!" Bel cried out in response to her murmurs while waving his hands around, fingers pointing at me from different angles. After a while, he let his arms down and exhaled a regretful sigh. "And I worked so hard to get those silly things and set up this whole scene! … Well, okay. Maybe not that hard." He glanced at Lord Ambrose. "You just put your precious Grimoire Key into a mini-safe! Even a child could open those with a crowbar!"

"But… what about the explosives!?"

I'm not going to lie, I didn't expect that response from the bearded arch-mage, but Bel just shrugged.

"I said a child could open it, not live afterwards." He turned his attention back to me, and added, "Seriously, Polemos, old chap? When did you take them? Did you also take the third one? Wait, don't tell me, I'll check!"

He didn't go anywhere, and I had a feeling he was waiting for me to respond, so I hastily said, "Do you want to make an even bigger fool of yourself? Be my guest."

"Aw, dammit," he hissed and crossed his arms. "You're playing me, aren't you? If I go and check, I'll be walking into a trap, but if I don't, it's going annoy the living bejeezus out of me for the rest of the day! Ah, you diabolical bastard!" Suddenly, his demeanour and body language changed, and he levelled a chilling glare at me. "I'm almost tempted to twist that smart little head of yours off your shoulder, right here and now, but…"

He trailed off, so I assumed an aggressive posture and growled, "But what?"

"But it's not time yet," he responded offhandedly and then threw up his hands. "Fine. I'll be the bigger man, and accept my loss today. Maybe you won't be so lucky next time." This time, his hands moved to the lapels of his tailcoat, and after tugging on them, he added, "Now, if you excuse me, I better let off some steam before someone dies. You said we met at some banquet today, right? That sounds fun. See you a few hours ago!"

And with that, future-me bowed out, leaving me with this whole mess on my hands. He didn't even send me a final message, or tell me what this was all about! God damn. Was I also this infuriating?

"Is he gone?" Lord Grandpa asked in a quiet voice, his eyes locked on the remains of the wooden boxes on the floor. They were nothing more than some broken wood, warped metal, and torn velvet padding, with all of the original enchantments completely wrecked. At last, he turned to me. "What did he mean?"

"By what?" I blurted out by reflex, and Lord Barnabas quickly wedged himself between the two of us.

"From your exchange with Bel of the Abyss just now, it almost sounded like you have taken the Grimoire Keys in Lord Amadeus's and Lord Ambrose's custody before he could get his hands on them."

While it was a statement, there was a very clear implicit question in his words, and once again, I couldn't help but curse future me for leaving me behind without explaining anything. The least he could've done was to write it into the letter!

"It was… a reasonable precaution," I squeezed out, and this time Lord Ambrose hopped between me and Lord Grandpa, nearly knocking Barnabas open.

"Did you take my Grimoire Key, Leonard?! How could you?! I mean, literally! How did you take it? I need to know to perfect my countermeasures. Was the pressure sensor not sensitive enough? Or are the plastic explosives too old? Or…"

"That is not important right now," Lord Grandpa cut in with thundering eyes. "Leonard, I thought we have already developed an understanding regarding the Keys."

"Yes, but… It was an important preventive measure," I said the first thing that came to mind, and I've got support from an unlikely place.

"It isn't the first time he's done something like this," Roland noted with just a hint of distaste. "The same thing happened with Ascalon."

"The famous dragon slaying spear?" Gulliver asked on the side. "I've heard the story of that from the Dracis patriarch during last week's party. Let's hope our Grimoire Keys won't meet the same fate."

"Please don't joke about that!" Ammy suddenly burst out, drawing everyone's attention to her. "I-I mean… It would be terrible if the Keys were destroyed, right?"

"Indeed," Barnabas spoke with extra gravitas. "While it is possible to recreate a Key, were it misplaced or destroyed, it's a time- and resource-consuming process that requires the remaining, intact Keys. If two of the Keys are lost, it would render the Grimoire of the Last Truth fundamentally impossible to operate, even if the Conduit were to be found. It would be a catastrophic loss for the Assembly, and the World of Mystics as a whole."

"Meaning," Lord Grandpa hissed, unusually worked up. Maybe because the situation reopened some old wounds. "Meaning we all sincerely hope that the Keys you have taken for safekeeping are safe."

"They are."

I said that with as much confidence as I could muster, but they clearly weren't convinced. I couldn't blame them.

"Where are they right now?" Ammy pressed me, not reading the room at all.

"Safe. Somewhere where Bel wouldn't look for them."

"Specifically?" Endymonion joined his granddaughter in pestering me, and I really wanted to scream 'How the hell should I know!?' at them.

This whole situation just made me want to punch future-me the next time we met. How could he leave me hanging like this!? We even had the communication arrays to sneakily exchange info, so he had no excuse… unless he literally couldn't tell me.

I mean, I pretty much understood that when he said 'spoilers', he meant 'me telling you this would cause a paradox' (as if the juggling didn't already do that, but I digress). If I presumed that was the case, it meant that this exact scenario had to play out for whatever retconned state of the world he was working towards. So… was I meant to be confused right now?

Let's look at this objectively: the letter said two things regarding this situation. One was the Keys, and the other was a warning to keep my friends close. In this case, that probably meant Ammy. Maybe Pascal too, though we weren't close enough to be called 'friends'. Let's just go with Ammy.

If future-me wanted me to keep her close, it meant that her presence here was necessary. Why? Well, our working hypothesis was that she was related to the Grimoire, potentially as a plot device in her own route that never came to be, so it meant she would be relevant to the Keys. For that, the Keys had to be here, but they weren't in the boxes. Now, if I was future-me, and I wanted to make sure I would find them here without any further information, where would I hide them?

My eyes scanned across the arch-mage's office, and before long, I locked onto the liquor cabinet in the corner. After my first stint here, which ironically also involved Lord Grandpa's Grimoire Key, the cabinet was taken away and completely dissected, looking for an explanation of how it could've disappeared and reappeared like that.

It was not long before the day of the Angie-retcon that it was finally returned to the room, though at the moment it didn't hold any alcohol and was filled with just various decorative bottles and glasses. Under the watchful eyes of the small crowd, I followed my instincts and walked over to it.

The moment I opened the door, my gaze was drawn to the back of the middle shelf. There was a bright magical glow there, clearly visible even in the magically overcharged room, and when I reached behind the rows of shot glasses, my fingers traced across something round. While everyone was holding their breaths, I pulled my hand back and opened my palm to show its contents to everyone.

"Here."

The silence was broken by a whistle from Lord Gulliver and an impressed, "Well, I'll be damned."

"Hiding them in plain sight, instead of trying to lock away or disguise them," Lord Taika followed him up, sounding just as impressed. "The thought process of a true Illusionist."

I presumed that was supposed to be a compliment. Meanwhile, everyone took a good look at the orbs in my hand and were visibly relieved. The Keys were round, white marbles; each one the size of an eyeball, and faintly glowing with otherworldly light. The last time I had seen one of these, it was embedded in a hexagonal amulet, but future-me chose to extract them from their socket for some reason.

In any case, I offered the Keys to Lord Grandpa, and he gingerly reached out to touch them.

"There is no mistaking it. These are the Grimoire Keys, yet… their glow appears to be rather unusual, considering the circumstances."

Now that he mentioned it, the two marbles weren't only letting off the usual, normally invisible light of magic, but they were also pulsing with an eerie purplish glow. They were not only synchronized, but the visible light was getting brighter with each cycle, like a heartbeat that was gradually getting stronger.

"Is… everything all right? They aren't broken, are they?" Ammy inquired, and when I was just about to present them to her to take a look, the two marbles began trembling in my palm.

"Amelia, look out!" Pascal jumped in front of her, just in time when the Key abruptly flared up and flew right at her.

I was so startled that I almost reflexively swatted at them with my phantom limbs, but I managed to stop myself in time. Instead, I watched as the two orbs not only avoided Pascal, but also the barrier made of small hexagonal shields he erected, and after going almost full circle, they whizzed right up to the class rep's ears.

Their lightly died down as silence enveloped the room, and then, like a supernova, they flared up so hard I had to guard my eyes with my hand, and Ammy let out a startled yelp. She would've most likely fallen over from the shock, if not for Roland grabbing her at the last second, and once the light died down, she found herself in the crossfire of all eyes on her. Or rather, the pair of marble balls, covered in glowing purple arcane symbols lazily circling her head like planets orbiting around a star.

"W-What's going on?"

Surprised out of her wits, Ammy looked left and right in search of support.

"Well, I'll be damned," Lord Ambrose muttered, his hand absently tugging at his beard. "I'll very well be damned! Amadeus, you old fool! You had the Conduit in your family the whole damn time!"

"Now, now. Calm down," Lord Gulliver tried to rein in the old guy, but he had none of it.

"Calm down my foot! Look at that! There's no mistaking it!"

"It… really does seem to fit the descriptions I've heard, but…" Lord Barnabas tried to interject, but he was out-shouted by Ambrose.

"Argh! I can't believe if it wasn't for what happened today, we might've never learned about this!"

Meanwhile, Lord Taika grabbed the hands of Ammy and gently squeezed her fingers.

"Congratulations are in order, Amelia."

"Wha…? What just happened?" She looked out of it and seemed to be more bothered by the marble balls going in and out of her field of view than anything else.

"The Keys have recognized you," she told her with a smile. "You're the Conduit of the Grimoire."

"Really?" The class rep finally stopped trying to get the orbs to stop orbiting and stared at Taika and wide-eyed disbelief. "J-Just like this?"

"There's no question about it," Lord Barnabas joined in after he gave up on the attempt to calm Ambrose. "We should quickly send a message to the Tower of Restoration in Ottawa and ask Lord Marzanna whether the Key in her custody has also responded."

After saying that, the dark-skinned arch-mage politely turned to the still-studded Lord Grandpa, waiting for his approval. When he nodded, Barnabas immediately turned on his heel and headed outside, not even bothering to dispel his magical armour first.

In the meantime, now that he was finally shaken out of his stupor, Endymonion looked me in the eye. We held eye contact for a few seconds. He might've been searching for something in my gaze, though it was a futile effort, as I was just as taken aback by the suddenness of this development as he was.

"Did you know this would happen?" he asked at least, and after a long beat, I nodded.

"I had a strong inkling, yes."

He didn't respond right away. Instead, he glanced at his granddaughter, who was still in the process of accepting what just happened (and trying to halt the circling marbles even as we were speaking) and then back at me.

"Why does everything keep happening on my island?" he blurted out at last, sounding almost pitiful in the process.

I gave it some thought, and the best I could say was, "I could tell you, but you wouldn't believe me anyway." That wasn't exactly an uplifting note to end things on, so after mulling it over a bit, I added, "Just roll with the punches, and don't look the gift horse in the mouth. It's easier that way."