The Simulacrum

~Chapter 156~ Part 3

"Now we're talking!" Josh exclaimed with a lopsided grin when the training grounds came into view.

We arrived on foot because I still hadn't figured out that whole 'flying' business. The site wasn't that far from the beach, on purpose, so it only took us a little over fifteen minutes to get there. He had probably seen it up from the air while playing tag with Angie in the sky, but without context, it was hard to tell the purpose of this place.

Looking over the site, I smirked with mild satisfaction. Everything was more or less up to my specifications at a glance, though the proof was in the pudding, as always.

On a flat field a good distance away from both the shore and the nearest farm, surrounded by plain meadows, sat a large, circular arena paved over with large slabs of white stone. The perimeter of the tiled area, about forty meters in diameter, had a dozen or so tall structures evenly spaced out around its circumference. They were slightly curved towards the center, like huge white claws jutting out of the ground, and each of them had a large blue orb embedded in them about halfway up the outer curve.

Not too far from the arena, there were a bunch of small, domed buildings, and then the entire complex was surrounded by a tall metal fence. Only one road leading in and out, and the single gate was under guard by the usual hoplite-gear wearing Celestials. I had no idea what the point of that was. Not the guards, but the fence itself; everyone here could fly, so who was it going to keep out? Maybe it was for the wildlife?

Even as I was musing over the logistics of that, we neared the gates, and the guards hastily opened it for us, followed by a whole bunch of saluting and kneeling.

"The Second True Archon and the Justicar have arrived!" a crier announced in the back, which was getting a bit too over the top, so I waved at them to tone it down.

Meanwhile, Josh inspected the place and let out a soft hum.

"You seriously made them build this whole place here just for us? Isn't that a waste?"

"Nah, these things are portable," I responded while pointing a thumb at the nearest pylon. "Or so I've been told."

"Speaking of which, what do those things even do?"

"A big-ass barrier." He raised a brow at that, so I added, "You'll see. One thing at a time."

While I wasn't exactly familiar with this place, I knew the basic layout and led my friend to one of the smaller domed buildings, where someone was already waiting for us.

"Sir, Lord Archon, sir!" armour guy yelled and followed it with an enthusiastic salute. Josh awkwardly returned the gesture, while I just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Is everything ready?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" he bellowed, earning him a derisive sigh.

"Keep the volume down, and lead the way."

This time he only nodded and the three of us entered the building. You would think that after living in Elysium for a while, Josh would've been used to the sights, but he was still subtly gawking at the architecture all the same. I let him, and armour guy soon took us to a small room filled with the hazy glow of mana, or magic, or what have you.

More importantly, it was also filled to the brim with weapons.

"Holy crap!" Josh exclaimed, genuinely impressed by the sight.

All four walls were covered with weapon racks holding all kinds of armaments on them, from spears and swords to more exotic stuff, like morning stars and war scythes. As for the middle of the room, it had half a dozen metal tables arranged in a U-shape, with even more weapons, shields, and other related items piled on them.

"Wow! This is like a museum exhibit!" Josh continued to marvel at the collection on display, but only from the doorway, so I gestured for him to get going.

"Go ahead and look around. Try to find something that suits you, or at least piques your interest."

"Wait… These are here for me pick a weapon?" I nodded, and my friend looked even more confounded. "But all of these look old. I mean, I'm not saying they are bad or anything, but they're kinda like… relics, or something? Is it okay for me to touch them?"

"Sir, these are some of the most hallowed weapons of Elysium, wielded by the Archons and heroes of old and awaiting a worthy heir, sir!"

"What this guy's trying to say," I interjected, gesturing at the armour-clad man still standing by the doorway, "Is that all of these were held in storage until now because nobody dared to touch them, so feel free to pick any one of them. They'll do more good that way."

"Oh, okay…" Josh mumbled and started wandering in the room, closely followed by our gazes. Armour guy remained professional, but I would've been lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit excited about what Josh would pick.

Setting up this situation took some time and I had to pull a couple of strings to make it happen on short notice, but there was a good reason for it. First off, Josh was seriously lacking in a defining characteristic in combat, which was a problem for a battle harem protagonist.

Now, one could argue that this scenario's genre has undergone so many twists and turns that it didn't matter anymore, but I preferred to be orthodox in this regard. There was a good chance that our planned finale would include lots of fighting, and since Josh and Angie would be playing a pivotal role in it, they both needed to be able to fulfil their roles. The Celestial girl unironically had it better, since her archery was established really early on, and her Deus-ness only overcharged that with even more devastating magic arrows and some actual spells.

Josh, on the other hand, was always in an ambiguous place because of his unique ability. He had good instincts, and he was a bit of a combat prodigy, but he had no specialization. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but he was also the protagonist, and a protagonist without something eye-catching wasn't good for the optics. It could be anything; a unique weapon, a fancy technique only they would use, or if all else failed, a beam attack.

The special technique was something we may or may not be able to do something about at this stage, while beam attacks were a bit dime-a-dozen at this point, so for now, I decided to go for the first option. Hence the scene unfolding in front of me, where Josh just picked up an oversized scythe, and after swinging it a few times, put it back on the rack and moved on.

This situation was a trope in and of itself. While it was best if the protagonist's weaponry had some kind of meaning, or something wholly unique to them, I didn't have the time or energy to set up something like that. Not to mention, I kind of already cornered that market due to the Cal and Teeny, so I opted for the next best trope.

Okay, so stop me if you've already heard this one: The protagonist of some flavour of action series lacks a weapon, so they get the opportunity to choose one. Maybe it's in a big weapons shop, or from an armoury of a big organization, or maybe even the secret stash of some long-deceased magical martial artist expert.

They look at all the super-fancy stuff, but then for some reason, they end up choosing some unassuming or seemingly impractical weapon. Maybe it's a sword covered in rust among all the epic blades, or a seemingly simple spear carelessly discarded in the corner, or even one of those unwieldy buster swords that nobody would choose because of their weight. Yet, he picks them up, much to everyone's confusion and/or dismay, because the protagonist's gut tells them it's the right choice.

"Huh? What's this?"

Like clockwork, Josh muttered in confusion tinged with just a hint of curiosity. In his hands he held a short sword in a plain faded leather scabbard, some of its gilding already flaking off from the metal clasps. He gingerly wrapped his fingers around the hilt and pulled it out with a scraping sound, revealing a black blade with an odd, jagged grey pattern on its flat. The sword itself had an elongated leaf shape, slightly narrower in the middle and then flaring out before coming to a sharp stabbing point, and while its edges hadn't seen a whetstone in ages and looked just a bit dull, there were no nicks or other visible damage on them.

"Sir, that sword is one of the few items in the armory without a clear history, sir!" Armour Guy provided the necessary exposition, sounding as humourless as always. "It most likely belonged to a forgotten retainer of the Archons of old, sir!"

"Really?" Josh mused as he traced the edge of the blade with his finger, only to pull it away with a hiss. "Ow. It's still sharp."

Oh! Attaboy!

If I didn't have to worry about my image, I would've given two thumbs up to the guy's performance, right then and there! This kind of stereotypical development was exactly what I was expecting from him!

In the meantime, he swung the blade a few times and then sheathed it again with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

"I think I'll take this."

"Sir, are you sure, sir? You still haven't looked at the weapons on this side, sir."

"Nah, this sword's good, I think. I just…" He was hard-pressed to find the right words, ultimately settling on a shrug and an ambivalent, "Call it a gut feeling."

Ah! He said it! In the end, I couldn't stop myself from flashing a double thumbs up, but only for a moment before I raised a hand in front of my mouth and cleared my throat.

"It's fine. Is there anything else that caught your eye?"

"Erm… Since I've been practicing with shields as of late, I guess I should pick something like… this?" True to his words, he picked up a small, round brass shield from the nearby table. It didn't look anything special, and even had a few marks on its rim, but once he hefted it a few times, a hint of bewilderment spread on his face. "Huh? Weird. It's somehow lighter than the one I've been using before, but… also feels sturdier? Does that make any sense?"

Well, duh. This was an ancient piece of gear. It was pretty much an unwritten law of storytelling that ancient mystical stuff was always better than modern magical doohickies, so of course the Simulacrum would follow it. Did it make sense? No, but it was a convention, so it wasn't surprising at all. At least to me.

"All right, bring them over," I told him and quickly inspected Josh's picks.

The shield had a sensible set of enchantments. Good, robust stuff; nothing much to add there. As for the sword.

"Oh? Now that's curious…" I uttered the moment I put my hand on the hilt.

"What? Is there a problem?" Josh asked in mild alarm, but I shook my head.

"Nah, it's fine."

Even without poking it with my phantom limbs, I could tell that this thing was more than met the eye. The way its enchantment tried to immediately connect to me was very similar to how Teeny operated, and a cursory inspection told me it was suffused with immensely complex arrays. While it didn't have a personality like my swords, I seriously wouldn't have been surprised if it did, and as for the enchantment itself, a slightly deeper dive made me want to give another double thumbs up to the guy.

"I shouldn't have expected any less from you," I told him mysteriously and handed the sword back to him, much to his annoyance. "Take good care of it."

"Oookay. I guess that means it's a good sword."

I was tempted to spoil him, but I forced the urge down and smiled mysteriously instead.

"Every weapon's as good as the one wielding them." That sagely bit of wisdom made my friend roll his eyes, so I followed it up with a chuckle. "All right. Let's head out and try out your new toys… but first, I have a gift for you."

"Gift," he repeated after me, sounding skeptical, and showed off his spoils. "Then what do you call these?"

"Those are your official equipment," I responded glibly. "You're Deus's Justicar, so you could probably have this whole armoury for yourself and nobody would bat an eye."

"Sir, with all due respect, sir," armour guy interjected, sounding mildly alarmed all of a sudden. "That would put many dedicated archivists and reliquaries out of jobs."

"I'm not planning to do that!" Josh's fervent denial made the big guy relax a bit. After that, he turned to me with a gaze no less skeptical than before. "Okay, so what is this 'gift' you're talking about?"

Without further ado, I reached into my pocket at handed him a bulky sports watch.

"Your updated Magiformer two-point-zero, with some extra quirks."

He eyed it for a moment, but then gingerly accepted it. Seeing that I was expecting him to put it on right away, he handed his sword and shield over to armour guy, and then took off his Magiformer. As soon as it came off, there was a bright magical flash, and he was suddenly in his half-Deus garbs. To this day, we still couldn't figure out how to suppress their permanent transformations, so both he and Angie had to wear these all the time. Luckily, unlike the Uniformers and my Leoformer, which relied on the Oath receptacles for energy, the OG Magiformers were designed to draw on the user's natural mana, so wearing them for long periods of time wasn't nearly as exhausting.

In the meantime, he strapped the new Magiformer onto his wrist, and after a long beat and another flash, he was back in his school uniform.

"Huh. This doesn't feel that different."

"It's mostly the same, just with some streamlining. I managed to cram in a few more outfits, so you can give them a look later, but most importantly, I added a separate storage enchantment to the base structure." I took the sword and shield from armour guy and handed them back to him. "You can access it the same way as the outfit switcher."

"Really?" He closed his eyes for a second, and after making a few strained noises, his equipment vanished from his hands. "Wow!" After a few more groans, they returned and he swung the sheathed sword a few times before making it disappear again. "This is handy. Can I put anything else in there?"

"Maybe a few small items, but nothing big. Enchanted stuff already takes up a lot of virtual space."

"Got it."

In the meantime, he made his shield disappear and reappear a few more times with a goofy grin on his face, like a kid who was having fun with a brand-new toy. Which… wasn't that off the mark, really. After a while, he finally realized that he was holding us up, and stored his equipment for the time being.

"Thanks, pal." That was followed by a frown and him drawing the corner of his mouth to the side. "But now I feel like I should reciprocate the gift somehow."

"Stop worrying about useless things, and come along."

With those words, we exited the makeshift armoury and returned to the training field. At the moment, Josh was both pensive and yet subtly excited, with the balance slowly turning towards the latter the closer we got to the middle of the field.

"Sooo…" he finally addressed me and jerked his head towards armour guy. "I guess he's here to help me train?"

"He's our shield expert," I responded curtly, and the big guy stood a bit taller in response.

"Sir, I'm flattered, sir!"

Trying not to smirk at him, I pointed at the pylons at the perimeter of the arena, and he nodded at once. Turning around to face the closest one, armour guy broke into a sonorous song reminiscent of a Gregorian chant. Maybe because of all the faux-Greek and faux-Latin words he was using?

The structures surrounding us came to life, and the air began to distort with a low hum. Before long, the entire arena was enclosed in a transparent dome, like an enormous bubble. The scenery outside became blurred, and the outlines of the pylons shimmered with the colours of the rainbow, as if the whole world was run through a strong chromatic aberration filter.

"Sir, the field is set up, sir!" he declared, and I gave him a satisfied nod in return.

"Good man." I addressed Josh next. "For now, listen to what he says, and practice using a sword and shield. Once you're done, we'll do a few sparring matches to help you find your sea legs, and once you've got your fundamentals down pat, we'll start working on the specifics."

"Sounds good," my friend declared with a grin and turned to armour guy. "I'll be in your care."

"Sir, yes, sir!" he responded enthusiastically and, with a crackling sound, the bracers on his arms unfolded into a familiar pair of sword and shield made of bluish force fields stretched between flimsy-looking metal scaffolds.

Seeing that they were eager to get started, I retreated to the edge and absentmindedly watched their training, considering the next steps. For a start, I had to decide whether we should add some kind of diegetic music here. The kind of thing that's shown during training montages.

I had no idea whether that would have any positive effects, but it was worth a shot, and it wouldn't really cost me anything. Besides the portable speakers, I mean. In the best-case scenario, it could maybe trick the Simulacrum into thinking that a lot of progress was being made, and it would reflect in Josh's training.

 In any case, the step afterwards was more straightforward: I had to make sure that, by the time we were ready to head home, Josh had a clear identity; specifically as far as personal combat was concerned. I still wasn't one hundred percent sure what that identity would be, but it was out of necessity. I didn't want to be too heavy-handed, as the protagonist discovering their own talent and special moves/attacks was a pivotal part of a training arc. With some luck, he might even unlock a super-mode or something, and then we'll be in the clear.

For the moment though, I could only watch over armour guy drill the basics into him and polish his technique with a shield, which… wasn't all that exciting. They weren't sparring, just doing rote exercises, stances, and basic manoeuvres. Because of that, I couldn't help but let my attention wander, and due to habit, I soon found myself automatically slipping into Far Sight. The very first target I was drawn to already made me raise my brow in apprehension.

Since Savir was the most volatile element present at the scene, I automatically honed in on her, and to my mild bamboozlement, I found her skulking around the public toilets set up at the edge of our private beach. As in, literally hiding behind a corner and peeking at the small building from a distance like some inept spy from a movie.

What was she up to? And why was she doing it by herself? If she wanted to observe someone or something, didn't she have people for that? I mean, I demoted her, and she had no official authority, but I doubted she didn't have a few patsies she could call upon for something like this.

Then, as if to answer my question, Judy came out of the restroom and Savir hurriedly walked towards her, pretending that she was just passing by.

"Oh, what an unexpected coincidence," she called out to my dear assistant as soon as she was in earshot, and Judy turned to her with her usual deadpan expression dialled up to eleven.

"Can I help you?"

"Maybe," the ex-director responded slyly, her mouth set in a clearly fake smile. "I've been meaning to talk with you in private."

"So have I," Judy responded without missing a beat. She wasn't intimidated by Savir in the slightest, and if anything, she looked… gleeful? Like she just caught a big fish with a bait.

…

Okay, this was either going to be infuriating, or hilarious. Let's keep watching and find out, shall we?