The Simulacrum

~Chapter 153~ Part 3

Standing under the extended roof over the main entrance of the pagoda-hotel, I pointed a finger at the woman in front of me, standing by the side of our host, who felt obligated to send us off personally.

"You've got the day off." After stressing that, I paused for a long beat and soon changed my mind. "No, actually, you've got the rest of the week off."

"But Leonard-dono…"

"Don't even try to argue," I cut Mountain Girl's protests short and pointed at the man standing next to her. "And you. Make sure you properly sit down and properly discuss they state of your relationship. Properly."

Naoren stared back at me with a pair of unenthused eyes, but I didn't relent until he gave me a nod.

Yseult has already left the way she came to 'make some last-minute calls', as she put it. There was a non-insignificant chance that she already put some kind of clichéd villainess ploy into motion, like setting some other Draconian ladies up to heckle Mountain Girl or something. Hopefully that whole thing was now fully nipped in the bud.

"No more misunderstandings. Got it?" Naoren morosely nodded again, and Rinne also followed his example, though looking more stumped than anything. "Good. Now, off you go, and off we go."

With those final words in tow, we waved our farewells and we headed back to the cover of the same alley where we had come from, the girls taking one of my arms each. While the cat was mostly out of the bag about my teleporting ability, I didn't need to advertise that I could do it all willy-nilly, now did I?

We were just about to round a corner, between the weirdly out-of-place sushi restaurant and the traditional Chinese food place, when Judy unsubtly tugged at my sleeve, followed by a dramatic sigh.

"Why can't you resolve every situation diplomatically like that?"

"Because most situations aren't so low-stakes," I responded reflexively. "In terms of it being just a whole bunch of trope-driven misunderstandings, I mean. There was no kidnapping, no betrayal, no assault and battery, and definitely no military action. When it's something simple like that, it's easy to resolve things with just words."

"And Miss Yseult was reasonable as well," Elly pointed out and I hummed in agreement.

"That, too. If she was more obstinate or strongly married to her conspiracy theories…" 'Like some Celestials better left unmentioned,' I whispered under my breath. "Anyhow, it was just fortunate that she could be reasoned with."

"We should try doing that more," Judy insisted.

"I've been doing that since the beginning, but the results are spotty at best."

"Also, we need conflict for the drama," Elly added with considerable enthusiasm. "By the way, are we really going to have another tournament?"

"Not 'we', 'they'. We'll let Naoren sort that out. That'll keep them and the whole sub-plot busy while we do our own thing."

"And what is that?"

Debating whether I should tell Elly now or later, I ultimately opted for the latter.

"I have plans."

"Should we be worried?" my other girlfriend asked, sounding extra-deadpan.

"No. What I meant to say is that I'm still working on the details, and I don't want to overhype it."

"Overhype?" Judy echoed me, her eyes narrowed and brows furrowed. "So it's something we would be excited about."

"Hopefully," I granted to her, and the princess let out a tinkling giggle.

"Now I can't wait to find out!"

"No, please stop being excited," I told her half seriously, just as we reached the same spot in the alley where we had Phased in. After a quick Far Sight check (or considering the situation, Near Sight check) in a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree circle, to make sure nobody was watching, we promptly disappeared from the backstreet and arrived back to the base's reception room. "By the by, I just got reminded, but can you ask your Dad-in-law if they can free up their schedule for spring break?"

"Sure!"

Elly responded with unbridled enthusiasm, so I turned to Judy next.

"My family too?" When I nodded, she squinted so hard I wasn't sure she could see me anymore. "Chief, this plan of yours is getting more suspicious by the second."

"It's not though. It's just a surprise, I promise."

In the meantime we arrived at the main hall, and as soon as we came into view, a certain Celestial girl beelined towards us like she wanted to tackle all three of us at once. She managed to come to a screeching halt just before we could collide, and she looked at me with a mixture of worry and excitement.

"What happened? Is everyone okay? Was it Bel?"

"Was what Bel?" I blurted out, but she wasn't the one who answered. On her heels, the rest of the gang also arrived, led by a rather out-of-it Josh.

"Ms Yamako showed up looking like she just tumbled down a mountain, and then you immediately left without telling anyone anything." He sounded dry yet exasperated at the same time and concluded it with a flat look in my direction. "We figured it was an emergency."

"Nah, nothing of the sort. Just some interpersonal drama."

"Oh, good." Angie let out a relieved breath, only to quickly catch herself and add, "I-I mean, it's not good good, but better than Bel causing chaos, mayhem and destruction again!"

"Does that mean there's no reason to be on alert?" the class rep asked in the back, and when I shook my head, she leaned on her staff and let the tension drain from her shoulders.

"So? Back to training?" Josh asked, but the girls shook their heads in unison.

"It's late! If there's no Bel to attack, let's go home!" Angie's response almost sounded like a whine and she theatrically stretched and yawned to show how exhausted she was. "How about we continue our monster movie marathon tonight?"

"Weren't we supposed to study for the upcoming exams?" he asked back, and it made his girlfriend twitch uncomfortably.

"Nah, it'll be fine! Let's skip it today. I'll be fine." She pointed at her head and added, "Did I tell you that Grandpa Deus is really good at math? I'll be fine."

"You just repeated yourself," Elly noted, and she doubled down.

"Because I'll be fine! Third time's the charm!"

Shaking my head at her conduct, I pulled Josh aside.

"The studying spree only lasted so long, huh?"

"Give her a break," my friend came to his lover's defence with a huff and crossed his arms. "She's still doing her best to read those academic books about statecraft and whatever. It's just that…" He trailed off, and let out a despondent sigh. "Nobody likes cramming for exams."

"Speaking of which, we'll have them starting next week, right?" He nodded with some trepidation. "And then, it's spring break." He nodded again, this time with slightly more energy. "Do you have any plans yet?"

"No, not really," he said, but his eyes instinctively moved to Angie. I figured he was planning to spend all his time with her. Oh, youth!

"Try not to make any either. In fact, it would be best if you could free up yourselves for the entire spring break."

"Hm?" He turned back to me, his eyes suddenly gaining an impassioned glint. "Are we finally going receive that special training you talked about?"

"Training?" Angie jumped back into the conversation and looked just as excited as his boyfriend. "What kind? Are we gonna sit under waterfalls and balance on poles and punch sand and stuff?"

"We aren't in a Hong Kong martial arts movie," Josh pointed out, only to receive a scoff for his trouble.

"It's still training, so they could work! You never tried them, so you can't just dismiss them like that, right, Leo?"

She was looking at me for support, but I had to disappoint her.

"Sorry, but that's not in the cards."

"Boo!"

Ignoring the girl sticking her tongue out at me, I addressed the class rep next.

"What about you, Ammy?"

"What about me?"

She was visibly stumped by the question, so I tried again.

"Are you free during spring break?"

"I had some plans with Mike, but…"

"Oh, that works out then," I interjected with a nod. "Try not to make any plans, and if Lord Grandpa wants to shunt some paperwork on you, tell him you're already reserved for the week."

"W-Wait!" She stood ramrod straight and tweaked her glasses at me. "This is too sudden! Am I also going to train with you?"

"Among other things, yes." She was waiting for me to elaborate, but I just put a finger in front of my mouth. "It's going to be a surprise."

"The suspiciousness levels are off the chart," Judy deadpanned at me, and even Elly agreed with her for once.

"Come on, girls. Give me some benefit of the doubt. It's going to be fun."

"So it's a scheme, there was a stray mention of a training camp, it will involve our parents, and it's going to be 'fun'…" my dear assistant recounted without her expression wavering for a moment. "Chief? Just what exactly are you plotting?"

"Not telling. It's a surprise." I added a playful wink at the end of it, but it did little to unfreeze her expression. As such, I did what I'd always done in situations like this, and changed the topic. "Anyhow, Josh brought up a good point. Should we make another study group before the exams, like last time?"

"Is that also part of the scheme?"

"Come on, Dormouse. Don't be so paranoid."

I patted her on the back, but she remained focused. Should I just tell her, I wondered.

Nah. There was still a solid chance that the whole thing wouldn't work out, so let's keep the cards close to my chest a while longer. Thinking so, I got reminded of something else, so I stepped away from the group.

"I'll go and check the Workshop. If you need me to Phase you home, you can find me downstairs."

My girlfriends acquiesced quickly, and soon beelined towards my sisters in the longue area, no doubt to brainstorm exactly what my not-at-all nefarious ploy was about (and this time, I wasn't even facetious about it; it truly was entirely benign). Josh only nodded in my general direction and returned to the conversation with Angie, who was trying her best to convince him to watch some martial arts movies. The previous discussion apparently shifted her preferences. Finally, the class rep…

"I don't think you've ever properly explained how this 'Phasing' ability of yours works," she started the moment she stepped up to me. As if in reaction to her reaching for her glasses, the orbs around her head started circling extra-fast, like a pair of excited small birds. "Oh, stop it!"

She lightly hit one of the marbles, and they both slowed down.

"Wow. I never figured you were the abusive type."

"You can't abuse an inanimate object," she retorted, and this time she did adjust her glasses. "So?"

"So what?" I replied off-handedly and started to walk, and she quickly caught up to me.

"How do you teleport like it's no big deal? Now everyone knows about it, so there's no point trying to be coy with the details."

"I'm not doing that. It's just something I do naturally, so it's hard to explain."

"But it works like your Far Sight, right?" She lowered her voice into a hush and moved even closer to me. "You said that costs you no mana or any catalysts, right?"

"Right…"

Meanwhile, we passed by a couple of Squires-in-training and remained silent until we reached the stairs.

"Angie said that it's a 'Polemos-thing', but she also said she saw you use it in the past, not long after Bel first appeared, so which is it? Or is it just another inexplicable ability that you have because you're 'destiny'?"

"It's kind of complicated, and I don't have the time to explain the nitty-gritty details right now, so how about we don't dig into this topic right now?" I proposed but got shot down immediately.

"Even if we don't talk about it, others will. The arch-mages, especially Lord Taika, are already planning to question you about it, and I'm sure the people in the Draconic Federation are also worried about it."

"Worried?" I echoed the unexpected word, and she looked at me like I was missing the forest for the trees.

"Of course. Bel being able to teleport around at will is already bad enough, but he's an enigma that nobody can do anything about. You, on the other hand, are a public figure. You were already a powerful individual in their eyes, but now that they know you can also teleport, they're naturally worried about your limits and what you could do." She paused and, after shooing the circling orbs back again, massaged her temple. "Imagine how terrifying it is to know that someone who slayed a Chimera and routinely duels arch-mages could also just teleport behind you."

"And say 'Nothing personal, kid'?" I joked, but she only stared at me blankly. Judy would've got it.

"I don't know what that means, but you have to understand the problem."

"Yes, and that's why I was trying to keep it a secret." Until I got caught in the heat of the moment because I encountered future-me, but that was beside the point. "What am I supposed to do about it now?"

"Press conference," she stated bluntly, making me blink in surprise.

"What?"

"Hold a press conference, and tell the people about the limits of your ability. Or make up limits. Anything. The important thing is to give them some information, because the longer they remain uninformed, the more worked up they get over worst-case scenarios."

"That… sounds reasonable." We were just about to reach the main labs with the homunculus project and all, so I tried to come up with something that sounded reasonable before we got there. "How's this: I can teleport and carry things and people between locations I mark, but there's a cooldown period, and I can also use this power to interfere with Bel's ability to do the same and follow his tracks if necessary, but I have to be right next to him to do it. Sounds good?"

"It's a start." She thought for a moment, and added, "You might want to keep the part about being able to transport goods to yourself though."

"Why?"

I wasn't asking just to keep the conversation going, but because I was genuinely baffled by how she singled out this one detail out of everything. Ammy remained adamant.

"Because it's a game-changer. If the arch-mages and others learn about this aspect of your ability, they would absolutely want to take advantage of it. Being able to transport personnel, volatile materials, or other goods instantly and securely is an enormous deal, especially in the World of Mystics. Even if you only do it as a favor for a chosen few, you could end up viewed as a convenient errand boy."

"But it would make people less afraid of me."

"Certainly, but go too far, and they won't take you seriously, and that could prove disastrous in the long run. You are a prominent faction leader in the World of Mystics. You need to have some gravitas, and you can't do that when you run errands for others."

"Fine, fine. I get it." By this point we were standing in front of the entrance of the workshop, but I stopped before entering and turned to face Ammy. "I'll consider your advice, but to be perfectly honest with you, I think you're making a mountain out of a molehill."

"Leo, please take me seriously."

"I do. I really do, trust me. It's just that…" I scratched the back of my head. "I just don't think it's a concern worth fretting over."

"Your 'Phasing' ability is one of a kind, so yes, it's—"

"No, I'm specifically talking about the whole 'transportation' bit." She looked at me funny, so I had no choice but to elaborate. "I mean, the Celestials have been doing it for who knows how long, so it's not that special."

"… Excuse me? What do you mean… Celestials can teleport?"

"No, but they have their portals." Now she looked at me even funnier, so I stifled a groan and clarified, "You know, those holes they create to move in and out of Elysium? Sure, they take a professional brass-theremin-synthetizer-balalaika player to make them, but they can be opened anywhere, even remotely, and you can move anything through them as long as they're operational, no problem."

"But… you can only take things in and out of Elysium with those."

Actually, they had special one-use portals that allowed Celestial operatives to quickly move between locations outside Elysium, but they required expensive catalysts, and were kind of beside the point here.

"True, but then you just open another stable portal to the end destination right next to the first one, and haul stuff through there. I even had this idea for something like a train system with two portals, where you pack the containers on one side, go through the portal into Elysium, go through the other portal to the destination, and then unload." I scratched the back of my head, and added, "It seems so obvious, I wonder why no one else had thought of this before?"

"… Leo. You do remember that the Celestials were our sworn enemies until two months ago and any portal activity would be immediately investigated by the local School of Magi?"

"Oh, right. That was a thing," I noted with a shrug and opened the door to the workshop. "The point is, there are already existing and more convenient ways to transport goods instantaneously, so I'm not worried about getting turned into a pack mule any time soon."

"No, you should be worried about someone else also realizing that this could be done now and disrupting the World of Mystics all over again!" Ammy pushed her glasses up her nose with a soft groan. "No, something of this scale would disrupt even the mundane world as well."

"Then I guess I'll have to keep it under control."

Walking next to me, the class rep levelled a critical gaze at me and asked, "Is this related to that 'scheme' Judy was talking about?"

"Maybe. Tangentially." I remained silent for a long beat, then amended, "You'll see."

"I can't decide to look forward to it, or dread the day."

"Ah, hi guys!" Our discussion came to a close when we were greeted by Sahi, wearing her usual dishevelled white coat and her hair done up in a half-bun. "Have you, like, come to check our progress?"

"Yeah. I didn't have the time to take a look in the past couple of days." We stopped in front of the huge tube with the balled-up body floating in its amniotic fluid. "Is everything in order?"

"Totally!" the brown girl declared with a thumbs up. "Like, even when you weren't around, we totally did what you asked, and it worked out wicked well!"

"Hm? What I asked?"

"Yeah." She acted like it was a rhetorical question, and tapped on the glass tube. "Like, Ol' Archie wasn't sure about the stuff you wrote about in the note, but we gave it a go, and like, it totally worked."

"Slow down. What note?"

She finally turned to me and cocked her head to the side.

"Like, the one you wrote, duh?" Seeing that I was still in the dark, she raised a hand. "Wait a sec. Like, I'll be right back."

With that, she skipped to the back of the workshop and soon returned with a single piece of white paper.

"You see? Like, I can totally recognize your handwriting, you know?" She presented the page to me, and on it, there was a hand-written message that was, without a doubt, in my handwriting. "Did you, like, forget about it? Or was this a prank? I'm totally not into that kind of cheezy stuff, you know?"

"No, it's…"

Before I could formulate an answer, I noticed something else at the bottom of the page. It was faint, but after staring at it for a while, I soon realized that it was Celestial Script. It wasn't written as much as it was scratched into the paper, and it read something along the lines of 'Don't worry about this, it's just part of the plan. I'll explain the next time we meet.'

Was this written by future-me? No, that much was obvious. The better question was this: did I sound this annoying to Judy when I was talking about my ploys?

"What is it? Is there something wrong?" Ammy asked, trying to steal a glance at the message in my hand.

"It's nothing," I muttered and handed the page back to Sahi. "I just suddenly feel like I should apologize to someone and do some self-reflection…"