The Simulacrum

~Chapter 149~ Part 2

Saturday mornings were usually chill. They also used to be chilly, because of the season, but due to the recent warm spell, we had some really nice strolling weather, and I was trying to make the most of it.

"I'm still not convinced that this is a wise course of action."

I turned to Roland, walking next to me on the sidewalk of the neighbourhood and, after some consideration, lightly shrugged.

"It's better than letting him rot, and I did promise him that I would work him to the bone. He can't do that while cooped up in custody."

My comment elicited an indignant huff, but not from the man walking beside me.

"Didn't I teach you that it's rude to refer to someone in the third person when they are present?" Percival, no longer 'sir' in any shape or form, griped without looking at me.

"Shut up, old man, or I'll show you what it means to be rude," I responded curtly and turned back to Roland. "As I said, I'm going to squeeze some use out of him, and this is the best way to do it."

"And I'm telling you I'm not convinced that's the case," he retorted.

"Let's just give it a go, okay?" I proposed, and after a brief sharing contest, he finally relented and he started pushing Percival's wheelchair again.

It was one of Mom-in-law's spares, and since she no longer needed to use them, she didn't mind lending one to me. More importantly, I've put a lot of thought into how to deal with Percival, and after consulting with the girls, this was the best I could come up with. Because of his injuries, physical work was out of the question, and I wouldn't let him touch the paperwork of the Ordo Draconis with a standardized ten-foot pole, so I had to get a bit more creative when it came to putting him to good use.

Meanwhile, Percival clicked his tongue and muttered, "Men really have to go to great lengths for the sake of survival."

"Says mister 'I'm going to sacrifice myself to teach you a lesson rather than just surrender' over here," I countered, and he responded with a tired 'Bah!'.

He might've argued with me, but we were getting close to home, so he rolled his shoulders and adopted his kindly grandpa façade.

"Oh, Leonard. It's not good to be so cynical at your age. Why, back in my day…"

I lightly kicked his wheelchair, and he shut up with a mirthless chuckle. We soon reached our doorstep, and I didn't even bother to check if it was locked.

"We're back!" I announced, and the moment I did, Penny excitedly rushed into the vestibule.

"Brother, did you really bring…?" She faltered for a moment, and then exclaimed, "Uncle Percy!"

"Hi, beansprout," he greeted my sister with a lazy wave, and she looked more shocked than anything.

"Oh, wow! I can barely recognize you without your beard!"

He wasn't the only one. His face was cleanly shaved, and combined with the wheelchair and his legs being covered with a thick plaid blanket, he gave off a much more fragile vibe than he did in the past. In fact, I was sure he was playing it up for sympathy points.

"Do I still look handsome?" He asked with a smile, and I had to say, he kind of did, in a 'silver fox' kind of way. Though again; important secondary character, so having good looks was a given. Elderly or not.

Penny ignored his question and looked at me a touch uncertainly. Seeing that, Percival let out a soft yet audibly calculated cough.

"Ah, I see. You must feel uncomfortable with me right now," he stated in a low voice. "I understand. They said I've done some bad things recently, even if I can't remember any of them. I get it, I get it."

He followed that up with more strained coughs, cementing my impression that he really was hamming it up for the sake of pity.

"Did you really lose your memories?" Penny asked, still a bit guarded, but I was getting impatient, so I grabbed the handles of his wheelchair and pushed him inside.

"That's what he says," I spoke offhandedly and wheeled him inside, where Snowy and Tajana were eyeing us from the couch.

"Good… morning?" the listless spymaster greeted us, only to freeze and hide behind the backrest. "M-My Lady! Nobody told me he would be here too!"

Roland must've overheard her whisper, because he turned to face her, at which point she ducked even lower. I wasn't quite sure what the relationship between these two was, but it looked pretty complicated.

"Stop doing that, Tajana. You're embarrassing your mistress," Sir Griffon stated in a deadpan voice, which made her resurface from behind the couch again.

"W-Whose fault do you think that is?!"

"Certainly not mine," Roland, blasé as ever, gave her an implied shrug and continued to monitor Percival.

He was listening to Penny, who was in the process of explaining to him all of his misdeeds, and he somehow managed to look genuinely mortified by the reveal.

"And you sent Brother to the Celestials!"

"Did I? I'm sure I must've had a good reason to do that."

"I-I don't know, but… you also fought Sir Arnwald and Dame Morgana! Agrawain, too!"

"Really? All three of them at the same time? Sounds far-fetched to me."

"But it happened! Brother was there too, and… and you also tried to use your Mantle on Snowy!"

That last one overcame her fidgety awkwardness and made her direct a real, vicious glare at the old man, but he took it in stride.

"What? Rubbish! There's no way I would do something like that! That's just preposterous!"

I had to give it to him, he sounded so genuinely offended by the accusations that, if I lacked context, I might've been tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Since I knew the context, however, I was tempted to give him a smack upside his head instead. I refrained, using so much self-control, even the Buddha would've been proud of me.

"B-But everyone saw it! Mom said you even threatened Brother and—!"

"Mom?" he interrupted her, and my sister immediately flushed red.

"A-A-Awawa! I-I'm talking about Dame Morgana! It's for reasons!"

Percival smiled with just a hint of smugness, seeing that he managed to successfully shift the conversation. Ignoring them I turned my attention to Snowy, who was eyeing the old man with apprehension. Before I would get to her, I needed a semblance of privacy, so I subtly gestured to Roland. He got my message and addressed the peculiar woman on the couch in with just a hint of trepidation.

"Tajana? Can you show me where I can find the hot chocolate in the kitchen?"

She sprung up, and I swear to god, one of the pink locks of her hair on the top of her head shook and settled into the upper half of a question mark. Was this the legendary 'ahoge hair' I've read about?

"You want to drink hot chocolate? You?"

"I'm in the mood for it."

She hesitated for a moment, but then she rose from the couch and declared… no, that's a bit strong of a word for this. Stated? No, let's go with 'mumbled'.

"W-What a coincidence… I-I-I also w-wanted to have some h-h-hot c-chocolate!"

With those rather stuttery words, she headed into the kitchen, but before he could follow, I sent Roland a look that said 'Remember what I told you the other day?'. He responded with a roll of his eyes saying 'Of course, stop worrying about dumb things like that', to which I replied with a frown holding the meaning 'It's not dumb. I tell you it's a thing'. He concluded our non-verbal conversation with a sigh that told me, 'Please, Leonard. I'm an adult. I can take care of myself', and then left after Tajana.

Oh well. I tried. Just the other day, I sat Roland down and explained to him how Abyssal Seducers had trouble processing any signs of affection that wasn't created by their powers, real or imagined, and that he should be careful about how he interacted with the hapless spymaster, lest he would raise some flags he wasn't meaning to. As such, I officially washed my hands of this whole affair; if he would end up in some kind of silly romcom development because of his carelessness, he couldn't blame anyone else but himself.

Anyhow, since they left, and Penny was currently completely wrapped up in a conversation that somehow wandered all the way over to discussing the old bastard's mobile gaming accounts, and how she should take them over until he'd get a new phone, I turned to Snowy. It was time to address the elephant in the room.

"Is he going to live with us again?" she asked, pointing at said pachyderm without missing a beat, and I shook my head.

"No, of course not. I don't think he's dangerous anymore, but because of his injuries, he requires nursing care, and I'm not planning to hire a live-in one just for his sake."

"Then… why did you bring him here?"

It was obvious that she was still holding more than a token grudge against the old weasel. Considering he tried to magically poison her, she had all the right in the world to do so.

"Mostly so you could talk. Also, Penny."

Her eyes glided over to my other sister, and despite her earlier sour disposition, she was no noticeably brighter. Seeing that, Snowy exhaled a solemn breath and turned back to me.

"I… don't mind talking to him, if it makes Penny feel better, but… Why?"

That was the crucial question, but before answering, I reached out and held her hand.

"Listen, sis. Let us be perfectly honest here: You're not cut out for politics. Especially not the kind of cutthroat politics they have in the Abyss."

"Um… And that's… bad?"

"More like dangerous." I squeezed her hand, and added, "Maybe it's not going to be today or tomorrow, but the day may come when you'd have to return to the Abyss to reclaim your House. Heck, even if you decide that you don't want to have anything to do with the people of the Abyss in the future, you're still the little sis of the man with the most over-the-top titles in the World of Mystics. I doubt you can fully escape politics, even if you stay on Critias." I looked her in the eye. "The world is full of snakes who would like nothing more than to try to take advantage of you. You'll need the experience to learn how to deal with them, so I brought him here." I jerked my head toward Percival. "I might have defanged him, but that bastard is the biggest, snakiest snake who ever snaked in the history of snaking. I want you to use him, learn from him, and wring him dry so, that when you have to face the real deal in the wild, you'll know how to do the same to them."

Her gaze told me that she understood what I was getting at, but she was still uncertain.

"What… am I supposed to learn from him?"

"Anything you can. Lying, manipulation, espionage tactics, the whole nine yards."

"In that case… would it be okay if Tajana joined?"

I wasn't expecting that question, and it threw me on a loop for a moment.

"It… might not be a bad idea? I mean, if you ever wanted to reclaim House Inanna, I presume she would remain your spymaster, and golly, she definitely needs the experience, but… Can she be trusted?"

"Of course," she proclaimed, flashing a rare, proud grin. "She's already with us. Or, almost. She didn't officially say it yet, but… um… s-she's been badmouthing Noir a lot lately when we talk, so I think she's close."

I thought about it and ultimately nodded along.

"It's fine, then. I promised that I would leave her to you, so go ahead and do what you think works best."

"Thank you, I will."

Seeing her so enthusiastic, my head-patting instincts were just about to kick in, but Roland and Tajana chose this moment to return with a tray full of mugs.

"Hot chocolate?" he asked, and Snowy immediately got up to grab one. As for me, I politely declined and rose to my feet as well.

"Thanks, but not right now. I have places to be."

Glancing at Roland, we shared a knowing look. We already agreed that he would stay until the afternoon and keep an eye on Percival, just in case. As for me…

"Places? What places?" Penny asked from the old man's side, but I waved at her to stay put before she would come over. "I thought we were going to go to the park today."

"I have some Celestial business to quickly take care of. I should be done in an hour or so, and then we can head out after lunch."

"Oh, okay then," she nodded with a hint of relief and her attention returned to the old bastard, whose eyes were glued to my every move. I purposefully ignored him and headed towards the teleport closet, but then I got a sudden idea and turned around.

"Tajana?"

"Y-Yes?" The Abyssal woman yelped in surprise and automatically hid herself behind Roland, only to yelp again and scamper over to Snowy's side instead. And she was supposed to be a seasoned spymaster my sister wanted to recruit, huh? Putting my repeated disappointments in her aside, I locked gazes with her, and she stuttered a somewhat respectful, "H-How can I help you?"

"You've been behaving yourself lately, haven't you?"

"Yes, she has," Snowy responded at once in her stead, looking mildly confused about why I would bring that up at this moment.

"Since that's the case… Would you like to visit your Fauns in the afternoon?"

"I… I can?"

"Sure," I told her with a reassuring smile. "If it's just a quick visit, I can squeeze that into my timetable, and good behaviour has to be rewarded."

She didn't respond right away but glanced at Snowy for support, and when my sister nodded in encouragement, she squeezed out, "Then… please?"

"It's a done deal then." I flashed a smile, and then looked around the living room. "Anyhow, I'll be back in a bit. Everyone, play nice."

"Brother! We aren't kids anymore!" Penny pouted on the side, drawing a chuckle out of me. I wasn't lying when I said I had places to be, so I waved my goodbyes and hopped into the teleport closet. Everyone else was already used to it, so only Percival was giving me a weird look, which made me wonder: was it because he genuinely found the way I left the conversation odd, or was he just sticking to his amnesiac cover story and pretending he didn't know about the teleport circle inside?

Whatever the answer might've been, I didn't give it much thought, because I soon reappeared in Mike's empty, silent kitchen. It didn't stay that way for long though.

"Ack! L-Leonard! What… How are you…?"

Michael stammered in confusion when he walked in and found me standing in the corner.

"Waiting for you to let me in through the balcony door was getting tiresome, so I let myself it."

"B-But… But when? And…"

"Is Admin here already?" a different voice called out from the living room, and I could hear Moose's footsteps. "Oh, there you are," he said when our eyes met. For once, he had his hair and beard groomed, and his outfit was, if not exactly fancy, at least relatively formal. "Come, please. The meeting is about to begin."

"But… what…" the blonde Celestial looked at me, then at the balcony door in the living room, then back at the kitchen, and yelled, "I have so many questions!"

"Pipe down."

"Yessir."

With that concluded, I followed Moose to the corner of the living room. It was now dominated by an L-shaped table with cheap plastic step-stools on top, arranged to form something resembling a semi-circle, like an extremely low-budget miniature model of an ancient Greek amphitheatre. On top of those steps were neatly arranged wooden boxes, their lids open, with softly glowing crystal balls set on velvet cushions inside.

The Celestial communicators were alight with magical activity, and all of them had familiar faces floating over them in all their low-res, old-school sci-fi hologram glory, with scanlines and everything. I glanced at Moose, and he pointedly tugged at the collar of his suit, so I belatedly turned on my Leoformer and donned my Polemos outfit.

"Are we ready to get started?"

"It's a bit early," he answered with an implied shrug. "But everyone's already here, so let's not waste time."

"Took the words right out of my mouth."

Mike was tinkering with some of the crystal balls in the back, softly humming and poking them with his fingers. Was he tuning the reception, I wondered. The images did look a bit sharper over the communicators he touched, but the difference was so small it was hard to be sure.

When he noticed my gaze, he hastily moved away and stood next to the slightly larger crystal ball sitting on the shorter side of the L-shaped table.

"I'm turning on the sound first," he warned us, and a moment later, there was a popping noise, followed by…

"… telling you that Polemos wouldn't be interested in something like that!" the familiar (if currently a little echoing) voice of Eris declared indignantly, followed by a somehow even more heated female voice.

"With all due respect, Matriarch. I know you may feel a sense of familiarity with the Second True Archon, Lord Polemos, hallowed be his name, but I would advise you not to address him so… so frivolously!"

"How dare you? I'm not being frivolous!" The ex-chief-director was fuming, and it showed on her low-res representation as well. "Who do you think you are to lecture me?"

"I'm the one His Grace, the Second True Archon, has chosen to be his voice within Elysium! I have the right to warn you about unbecoming behavior, Matriarch!"

The owner of the second voice, the dark-haired middle-aged Celestial whose communicator was placed right in the middle, let out a huff.

That was Adva Tira. And yes, I have picked her to be our Speaker, working with Moose and Mike to communicate between me and the members of the newly formed Elysian Congregation (name still pending). And also yes, I have picked her because she was the only mid-level Director whose name I could recall on the spot. And even further yes, as the representative of our 'advisors', Eris also got a seat at the table.

"Oh, really?" Speaking of her, she scoffed at the other woman and presumably glared at her. I couldn't be sure thanks to how these communicator things worked, because all of them were facing our way and so it looked like she was glaring directly at us. "I let you know, Polemos and I aren't just familiar with each other. We have developed quite a close relationship since our first meeting."

"I just warned you not to use the Second True Archon's name in vain!"

"Why? Are you feeling inferior for not holding such a personal connection with him, I wonder?"

"Savir, please," the voice of our brand-new Minister of Homeland Defence interjected as his communicator lit up at the same time. "Can you just stop this?"

"I wasn't the one who started it, Gideon!" Eris hissed in return.

"I did not start anything!" Adva argued back just as vehemently, and was it just me, or her inflections were getting more and more like Savir's?

Putting all of that aside, I tapped my feet to signal my impatience, and Mike hurriedly started singing something. Then, after about ten more seconds, he let out a startled breath and said, "We've got a connection! Going live in three, two, one…!"

All of the holographic faces in front of me flickered, and I let out a disappointed sigh.

"Are you quite finished?"

"L-L-Lord Archon Polemos!" our Speaker stuttered and tried to bow, only to realize that by doing so, she wouldn't be visible on the communicator, so she hastily stood up straight again. "Glory to thy name!"

"Yes, yes. I'm happy to see you all too," I said with a disinterested voice. "We don't have all day, so speak up."

To put it simply, this meeting was something of a stop-gap. I couldn't be expected to routinely go back to the Elysium to check on the proceedings of the new government, but I also couldn't leave these guys completely to their own devices, because that was just asking for a disaster. As a compromise, we agreed on this: every few days, we would hold a meeting like this, where the newly appointed ministers, department heads, and Eris would voice their proposals that they felt required the oversight or approval of an Archon.

"First off," an older gentleman with a rather sad hairline spoke up. I tried my best to memorize the names and faces of all of them, but it was a work in process. If my memory served right, he was the Minister of Agri— "I would like to request the Lord Archon's permission to perform a comprehensive census among the population of Elysium."

Minister of the Interior. Yes, that's what I was going to say. I could totally remember seeing him in Tsephanyah's entourage, so it only made sense. Yes.

"Permission granted, next."

"Lord Polemos, may your clemency befall upon all of us," a decidedly weasely looking man sputtered in a hurry, and he was the… "When can we expect the return of Her Grace Deus?"

"Not a relevant question, next."

He looked a bit disappointed by my blunt refusal, but his place was immediately taken by the next questioner, and I tried my best to rush through them as fast as possible. Most of them were simple inquiries, like asking for permission to move the offices of the Ministry of Finances to Migdál Glaukós, or whether I agreed to sell our agricultural products outside of Elysium. I gave them straightforward answers, and occasionally berated them whenever they came to me with something so simple they should've just solved it on their own ages ago.

Then, at last, Eris spoke up. It felt like she was waiting for everyone else to finish first, and so I gestured for her to speak her mind.

"Since you have proclaimed that flight within Elysium is now permitted to all citizens…"

"Address the Lord Archon properly!" Adva hissed at her, and Eris rolled her eyes before starting over.

"Since you, the Second True Archon, have allowed it, the increasing air traffic in Elysium has become a rather problematic matter. Without regulations in place, the number of accidents has reached triple digits over the past week."

"Yes. And?"

"What is your view on the issue?" Eris asked directly and ignored the fuming woman over the middle communicator. "As someone who lived in the era before the initial prohibition, I'm sure you must recall the rules in place at the time."

Before I knew it, my brows descended into a frown. Was she trying to heckle me? Maybe she was suspecting that I didn't have Polemos's memories after all, and she was trying to get me to slip up? Or was she serious? When I turned that frown into a glare, she seemed genuinely flustered for a moment, so it was possible.

"Did I say something wrong… O Archon?" she tagged on the end and looked rather confused by my reaction. She could've been pretending, but she never struck me as a good actress, so for the moment, I let go of my suspicions.

"Eris. You should know best of all that those rules and regulations regarding flight safety should still be written down in the archives," I told her flatly, yet she not only didn't respond, she outright froze up for a second.

"Lord Archon," another voice, an elderly woman, joined the conversation. She was the Minister of Culture, and she looked rather apologetic. "I'm afraid many of the parchments of Hymnos from your age were lost in the recent fire in the archives. While it is possible the tomes you refer to may have been rescued in time, we are still in the process of assessing the damage, and thus finding them in their temporary storage may prove to be prohibitively time-consuming."

Now it was my turn to freeze up, but it only lasted for a moment before I forced a poker face and rubbed my chin.

"I see. I did not consider that." I nodded to myself a few times, for show. "In that case, I will consult with Deus, and we'll write down everything we remember."

"Thank you, O benevolent Archon!" the old Celestial lady bowed, and I turned back to Eris.

"I'll bring the notes to you the next time I'm in Elysium."

"Ah. Lord Archon!" Adva called out to me. "The Matriarch might have brought up the topic, but since this has nothing to do with the Cult of Deus, I recommend that Your Grace contact Minister Anophalakros instead."

"You little—!"

Eris's hiss was cut short by the aforementioned Minister of the Interior butting in.

"Why, yes, that would be most agreeable, O Lord Archon."

"We'll discuss the details later," I stated hurriedly. "If there aren't any other topics to discuss, I recommend we conclude the meeting right now."

"As the Second True Archon wishes," the young-ish Minister of Justice agreed on the spot, meaning nobody else could bring up anything new anymore, and after some customary farewells, Mike cut the connection on our side. Just before Eris and Adva started quarrelling again.

Normally I would've been annoyed by how it felt less like I was talking to seasoned politicians and leaders, and more like a bunch of headstrong kids, but this time, there was something else that was sending shivers down my spine.

"Raz?"

"Hm? Yes?" Moose had a stack of notes, and I interrupted him just as he was about to square them on the table. "Was there a problem?"

"Maybe. What was that bit about the fire in the archives?"

"Oh, that?" Michael chimed in, seemingly waiting for the opportunity to contribute. "Don't you remember? Bel of the Abyss set the place ablaze a while ago."

"It was not long after you returned from Elysium," Moose added and tucked his notes under his arm. "No one knows how he did it, or why, but I guess that's just how Bel of the Abyss operates in general."

"Oh, okay," I whispered, feeling a little light-headed.

I definitely didn't do that, and I didn't remember the event ever coming up in the past, so… was this detail changed by the retcon? Why? What would be the point? And even more importantly…

"For the record, how widespread is this?"

"The news about the arson?" Mike pondered for a while. "I don't think many people know about it outside of Elysium. I mean, it was a big deal, but then bigger things happened, so people kinda forgot about it."

"Even you did," Moose joked (I hoped).

"Good. The less people know about it on the island, the better," I muttered, and while they didn't get it, the two Celestial intelligence agents in my employ nodded along anyway. It didn't make me feel much better though.

Oh god… I can't let Elly learn about this, or I'll never hear the end of it…