The culture and class structure of Timaeus made no sense whatsoever. Well, fine, maybe I was exaggerating a little, and I admit there's still room for research into the topic, but I definitely wasn't wrong in that assessment.

"So, like, there was this abandoned office building…"

First off, the island's culture was at least possible to explain using our Narrative theory. Since the Simulacrum (or at least this corner of it) was unapologetically running on Japanese tropes, from the school system to the seasonal festivals, a lot of weird cultural discrepancies could be chalked up to the aesthetics being strewn over a generally western European framework. It was a bit of a patch-job, and the ethnic diversity sometimes made the school hallways feel like the set of a nineties sitcom, but at the very least it was possible to see the building blocks and how they fit together.

On the other hand, the social strata of the island were much harder to nail down. For a start, Critias still didn't have any homeless. Nor were there any slums, or even any visibly poorer neighborhoods. On the other end of the spectrum, you had people like the Dracis family, who were a borderline cartoonish depiction of the upper class incarnate. However, if we took them out of the picture due to narrative fiat, there really weren't any other mansions or even high-class residential areas in the capital. Sure, there was the city center with its fancy restaurants and classy shops, but even then, you couldn't really spot any kind of class divide between the people walking the streets.

"… and then 'skreeeek', Ms. Rinne cut the door in half with her sword! It was like one of those laser blades from a sci-fi movie and it was sooo bad! Like, good bad, not bad bad! Downright wicked!"

Though again, maybe any efforts spent on spotting such differences were doomed to fail from the start, considering that ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the population consisted of placeholders. With their generic yet attractive features and non-distinct fashion sense, they all looked exactly the same whether they were dockworkers from the waterside district or a presumably wealthy guest in a high-end restaurant. In other words, as far as appearances were concerned, literally every single person on this island looked and acted like the most inoffensive example of the middle-class citizenry.

"… the table and pulled out a bow, but I used my spell constructs to grab one of the lesser knights and…"

Was the world set up like this on purpose, or was it just another side-effect of this society being composed of placeholders, without any thought put into them making sense outside of the context of serving as extras in the background? And if it was the latter, then could persistent research into the topic result in something like what happened with the tech-level of the world, with the setting adapting to our expectations? Would bankers, businessmen, blue-collar workers, and the homeless pop out of the woodwork to fill out the social ladder?

Anyhow, putting those observations together told us two things: the world was most likely constructed to be like this on purpose, squashing together various tropes into a vaguely Japanese-ish pulp, and that whoever did the mashing didn't really care about large-scale world-building and focused entirely on the school and the supernatural elements, leaving everything else blank. In short, it was a sloppy job. Or efficient, if you asked Judy, but that was beside the point.

"… there was a BLAM! And a KABOOM! And a CRACKADOOM!"

By the way, I'm not just rambling; there's a very good reason why I brought up the topic in the first place, and it was due to a certain living room and its owner exemplifying the above issue. By all intents and purposes, he was supposed to be one of the most influential people on the island, possibly the most important altogether. According to Ammy, he also literally owned Blue Cherry High, building and all, and he had at least one fancy sports car he could just lend out to others, so that firmly put him into the 'filthy rich' category... yet Lord Grandpa's home didn't really reflect that. Sure it was a big two-storey building with a spacious garden, but it didn't have all the other trappings of wealth, like servants, or cooks, or an abundance of hardwood and fancy ceiling panels.

Though again, maybe my sense of scale was warped by the Dracis mansion. Sure, his living room was practically Spartan compared to the Dracis parlor, but it was way fancier than my own. Or Josh's, for that matter. It still felt too middle class though, which was both baffling and a little disappointing.

"... so he made a barrier and held up the ceiling, like that Greek god? Ow, what was his naaaame? It's totally on the tip of my tongue!"

Speaking of which, said room was currently remarkably noisy thanks to an unusual, but by no means unexpected, guest. Sahi, wildly gesticulating, was sitting on a white, leather-bound sofa facing the rectangular coffee table in the middle. On the other side of it, Lord Grandpa was sitting on an identical couch, with one hand already holding his head in exasperation.

"Atlas! That's what he looked like! But, but, but then when it looked like everything was fine, there was this huuuge rumble, kind of like a 'RABARABARABA!', and then this really horny dude broke right through a wall! There were, like, bricks flying everywhere and stuff! Like in a movie!"

"There were no bricks involved. It was a drywall," an especially deadpan Pascal noted on the side, but Sahi didn't pay him any heed.

"He had this totally cool battle-ax and everything, and when he noticed me, he started screaming in some foreign language! Oh, oh! Now that I think about it, maybe he was, like, a Viking Knight? I get it! He must've been using an ancient rune language!"

"I already told you, that was just his accent," came the next futile attempt at injecting some common sense into the conversation by Armband Guy.

"That's, like, your opinion, Paz. Oh, but then, but then, I tried to bring out my spells, but I couldn't move! Like, not even a finger! That's when I realized what he was doing; I tell you, he totally cursed me! Runes are sooo bogus!"

"No, it wasn't..." Pascal tried to correct her, but in the end, he exhaled a resigned sigh and muttered, "Never mind."

"So, there I was, immobilized and unable to move, and this really, really horny guy totally came after me, but then... Guess what?" A long beat later the old man let out an exasperated groan and gestured for his rejuvenated colleague to get on with it. "No, seriously! Guess!"

Lord Grandpa returned his hand to his temple and grumbled out an impatient, "What?"

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"Ninjas!" the overly excited girl exclaimed with her arms in the air. "This one ninja, like, appeared out of thin air, and tackled the horny dude! And he was biiig! Like, bigger than the Viking Knight!" She paused and raised a finger to her chin. "He also had a mask and a big headgear. It must've been ceremonial."

Lord Grandpa sent a questioning glance at Armband Guy, and he stepped forth at once.

"Yes, there really were warriors who could be, colloquially, described as ninjas," the younger man confirmed, causing the arch-mage to rub his temple even harder.

"How many?"

"I counted ten, not including Miss Rinne. Six men. All of them had muscular statures and wore black clothes covering their bodies. They had stylized horned masks—"

"It's called a 'hannya mask'," the ex-arch-mage pointed out, but he continued without acknowledging her addendum.

"—that completely covered their heads. It was impossible to tell their identities, but their leader was favoring one leg. There were also four uniformly dressed women with face masks. They operated independently from the men, and took orders from Ms. Rinne. From this, I inferred that at least two factions were working together."

"They were kuniochi! They even had kunais and stuff! They were totally grody!"

Lord Grandpa also completely ignored the hyper girl bouncing in her seat and focused his attention on his protégé.

"I appreciate your insight and observations, but before we discuss this 'incident' any further, would you kindly explain to me exactly how you got involved in it?"

"My Lord ordered me to keep an eye on Lord Saahira," Armband Guy stated matter-of-factly, one hand pointing at the girl in question. "Since she insisted on taking part in the raid, and I deemed that I had neither the authority nor the ability to restrain her, I concluded that the most optimal course of action was for me to accompany her as a bodyguard."

Sahi let out a girlish giggle, and the arch-mage's eyes narrowed into a glare.

"You should have prevented her from getting entangled with this affair in the first place."

"With all due respect, My Lord, I was made aware of the situation too late, so I did the best I could with my limited capabilities."

"Oh, Paz, don't put yourself down like that! You did awesome! Like, you totally blocked that arrow when the wingy dude took a potshot at me! And you held up the roof too! You were wicked!"

"'Paz'?" the old man echoed her with a raised brow.

"She keeps calling me that. I believe she thinks it is endearing," Pascal explained in the company of a shrug. "I suspect her newfound youth has affected her personality in strange and unexpected ways."

"No, I am afraid it did not. This is how she acted in private for as long as I have known her." Lord Grandpa responded, followed by taking a sip from the bottle of mineral water on the table. In fact, I haven't seen him drink any alcohol in the past couple of days, so maybe he was going cold turkey? How commendable. Now, back to the conversation. "Some people just never grow up."

"Oh, geez, Endy! Why are you trying to flatter me?"

"That was most definitely not a compliment," Armband Guy pointed out, but it went in one ear and out through the other.

"Like, seriously though? I've never expected to see a real ninja. And I've never seen any of the Knights of the Brotherhood either. Now that I think about it, I think this was the first time I've seen a Draconian in battle too!" Saying so, Sahi stretched her back like a cat. "It was a little hairy at times, but moving my new body felt sooo nice. Like, it was totally refreshing! I can't believe I've spent so many years cooped up in my School and missed out on all of this! Like, if I knew there were so many new things to experience on your island, I would've totally come here years ago!"

"Believe me, things have been considerably more peaceful on Timaeus until very recently. Or rather, to be precise, until the appearance of a certain young mister Dunning turned the island on its head." The old man rubbed his forehead and took another sip before he continued with, "So, to summarize, Leonard Dunning has proven to be capable of mobilizing not only the Dracis family, but the Kage clan as well, and as of now, he successfully captured two Entitled Knights of the Brotherhood and their operatives."

"Four," Sahi uttered, and seeing the uncomprehending look on the arch-mage's face, she clarified, "There were four of them. We only had to capture the two in the building and, like, the inconsequential ones."

"So there are four Entitled ones on my island," the old man whispered in utter trepidation. "At least I can take solace in the fact that our young 'friend' cannot add them to his forces."

"He can't?" Sahi blurted out in surprise, and her host gave her a dubious look in return.

"Of course he cannot," Pascal noted on the side. "He is currently in a relationship with Eleanor Dracis. That fact alone makes negotiations with the Brotherhood highly implausible."

"But what if he can? Like, what if he had some way to make them listen to him?" the brown girl proposed. There was a deep silence following in the wake of her words.

"If that were the case, Dunning would be able to completely upset the power balance of the island," Pascal commented with a serious expression. "In the worst-case scenario, they might be able to overthrow the School as the dominant power."

"Pss! Like he'd do that!" Sahi dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "Why would he want to take over when, like, he already has you to take care of all the boring paperwork and politics? He'd be totally out of his mind to even think about it!"

"I am afraid not everybody treats authority and power in such as carefree manner as you do," the local arch-mage stated, but she just shrugged.

"Yeah? And which one of us has it right? The guy stuck behind an office desk all day long, or the gal who regained her youth and had tubular adventures with ninjas? I totally got a point, right, Paz?"

"I would not know. I never regained my youth before."

"Was… Was that a joke just now?"

"No. I am entirely serious."

Despite his protest, she kept mirthfully giggling like it was the funniest thing in the world. It only lasted until Lord Grandpa loosened his tense shoulders and spoke up in a weary voice.

"I believe I have understood the gist of the situation. Pascal, I expect a full, detailed report on the incident by tomorrow." Armband Guy sternly nodded, at which point the old man looked Sahi in the eye. "As for you, I would kindly ask you to stop participating in cases where your safety is jeopardized."

"Aaaw~ Are you worried about me?" the brown girl cooed and fluttered her eyelashes, while the old coot rolled his eyes in return.

"In a way. You are a precious asset of my school now, and I cannot have you die with your research unfinished."

"Wow. That's, like, the closest you've ever come to say something nice to me. Must be that darn age catching up with you! Your kindly grandfather instincts must be totally kicking in!"

The arch-mage sent a flat look her way, and a sigh later said, "As expected, it is impossible to have a constructive discussion with you. You may leave now, as I have a lot of things to consider."

"In that case, I will escort her back to her lodgings," Pascal offered at once. Neither he, nor the girl noticed it, but there was a suspicious glint in Lord Grandpa's eye. It disappeared just as quickly as it surfaced, and before long, the two left the premises even though Sahi apparently wanted to stay and pester the old man a little longer. Based on how unnecessarily hyperactive she was, there was a good chance she was still high on adrenaline. I figured she'd crash sooner or later, and I was getting a headache from her chirping, so I stayed with the arch-mage.

The moment they were out of the building, he stood up and marched into his study. It was, unexpectedly enough, a carbon copy of his underground office in the School, if a little smaller. He closed the door and sat down behind his desk, then took out a sheet of paper.

"This should be impossible, but…" his whispers trailed off as he wrote a header at the top of the page. "However, he already made a habit out of accomplishing the impossible. I should definitely expect the worst."

And with those barely audible words, Lord Grandpa officially joined the pessimist club, with his paper saying, 'Countermeasures in case Leonard Dunning subordinates the Brotherhood'. His confidence in me was quite flattering, really. As for what those countermeasures were… well, let's just say the old coot still had a long way to go to reach what I considered to be professional pessimism, and leave it at that.