The Simulacrum - Chapter 137 - Part 3 (Patreon)

"Sunova—!"

"Evening, Raven Boy," I greeted the young Knight sitting at the table, and he glared at me in return.

"I told you to stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" I asked innocently as I sat down as well.

"Stop appearing next to me like that! It's freaking me out."

I had many a different response on the tip of my tongue, but in the end, I settled on a shrug and absent-mindedly scanned the room with my eyes.

We were inside the 'dockyard hideout', as I usually referred to it, and over time, the lot has changed considerably. It was technically an old, abandoned warehouse with a couple of rooms in the basement, and while the structure above was left untouched (lest it would draw attention), this chapter in particular was in remarkably better shape than it had been at the start.

In retrospect, I should've expected that the Fauns would go out of their way to renovate things; it had been their modus operandi, regardless of the circumstances, after all. Yet, I didn't expect them to plaster the walls, or fix the tiny windows, and now the place even had a separate corner dedicated to the fridge and kitchen appliances, the folding camping cots, and the electric heater to keep the temperatures cosy. Add in the rugs, the shelves filled with books and miscellaneous items, and the other paraphernalia, and it all felt surprisingly lived-in and comfortable. Almost like a basement apartment, or something.

"So? What are you here for this time?" Raven Boy asked, putting aside the book and notes in front of him.

"I'm here to have a chat with Percival," I answered, maybe sounding a bit dourer than I planned, but he didn't pay it any attention.

"Finally. Does that mean that I won't need to be holed up in this place anymore?"

"Depends," I told him with a shrug.

"What do you mean 'depends'? Give me a break, already!"

"What? Isn't this a cushy job?" I teased him a bit with a grin. He, naturally, didn't appreciate it, but I couldn't care less.

Or… well, maybe I could. It was true that he's been the one most often on guard duty here. Part of it was because of a lack of manpower; while some of the Fauns were always on standby, only he, Morgana, and Roland knew about this place, and my dual identity as Bel. Roland obviously couldn't waste his time on guard duty here, as he was acting like my second-in-command in my absence (read: he was stamping and signing paperwork all day), while Morgana was a senior Knight, and thus had lots of extra duties in the Ordo Draconis (read: she was helping Arnwald double-checking all the paperwork before Roland would stamp and sign them). By process of elimination, that left only this guy, and so he was stationed here for four or five days of the week.

As much as I still didn't like the cut of his jib, he did his job dutifully, and Judy wasn't holding a grudge against him either, so I had no reason to rub this under his nose. Well, aside from my antipathy, but with everything else going on, I couldn't afford to be so petty about minor things like this.

"Cushy my ass," Raven Boy objected to my previous teasing with a deep furrow between his brows. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to get stuck somewhere without being able to get anything done?"

"Well, I was stuck in the Elysium for a while."

"Where you were treated like royalty!" he exclaimed, and I couldn't really object.

"It's not like you're wasting your time though," I pointed out, with a literal finger aimed at the books and notes he shuffled aside a minute ago. "Weren't you working on something just now?"

To my sincerest surprise, his face tensed up, and he tried to draw my attention away from the pile.

"Sure, but it doesn't make the time go any faster, and while I can get things done here, it would be better if…"

I narrowed my eyes and picked up one of the books, making him twitch in apprehension. Ignoring his reaction, I took a better look at the cover, then skimmed the insides.

"A TechnoPunk rulebook?" I asked a touch incredulously, and Raven Boy responded with an indignant grunt.

"So what? I'm doing research, okay?" When I continued to squint at him, he let out a sigh. "Seriously, I am! Penelope asked me to help her with her campaign, so I was looking into the adventure modules and the rule books."

Now that he mentioned it, my Knightly sister was indeed running a separate tabletop roleplaying campaign with a hodgepodge crew in the underground base, though I wasn't paying them much mind after their first gathering.

"I couldn't even join the last session, because I was stuck here," Raven Boy continued to gripe and snatched the book out of my hand, as if afraid that I would take it.

"Everyone needs a hobby or two," I granted, and was planning to leave things here, yet he kept eyeing me with undisguised suspicion. Was he expecting that I would start nitpicking him here, I wondered.

Whatever the case might've been, it wasn't any of my business, so I folded my arms and did my best to get my thoughts in order… which only made the guy even more restless. Was I such a bad boss that my silence was enough to make him fidget? … Actually, there was probably no reason to answer that question.

"Are you going to talk to Sir Percival, or not?" he asked at last, and I had a hard time giving him an answer.

"I need to prepare myself first."

"For what?"

"To make sure I won't accidentally turn him into a black knight."

"A… what?"

"You know? Character from that comedy with the coconuts and the unladen swallows and the holy hand grenades? 'Tis but a scratch?"

The guy's face lit up and he nodded knowingly.

"Ah, right. That black knight." He crossed his arms to mirror me, and concluded, "A classic."

I wasn't entirely sure he got the reference, but he was a tabletop gamer, so there was no chance in hell he wasn't exposed to the pre-internet memes about it. In any case, I wordlessly considered the comparison again, and I had to conclude it was more apt than intended.

I mean, we were talking about a knight with unchecked overconfidence and a staunch inability to recognize when they are outclassed, butting heads with a 'king' leading a bunch of other knights. Who was I talking about here?

Contrasts aside, Raven Boy remained silent, while I wasn't in the mood to engage with Percival yet, so I did my best to drag my feet… I mean, to collect myself, and while doing so, I figured a quick Far Sight roll call wouldn't hurt.

"Today was the best!" Penny exclaimed while lying on her stomach while hugging a pillow on her bed, her face practically glowing with a blissful smile.

"Mm. It felt like we were a real family," my Abyssal sister responded from in front of the PC, and the other girl stopped grinning and sent a stern glance at her.

"Don't be silly, Snowy! We arefamily!"

"… I guess we are," she answered with a smile, and they both giggled.

Ah. Just what I needed to heal my mind. Little sisters were a treasure, even if occasionally a handful.

Sadly, I couldn't spend much time watching them, as habit made me shift over to others. I glanced at Josh's scrapes being treated by his girlfriend, Elly practising her singing, Judy and the class rep having a discussion over the phone, and then I watched Mike and Moose arguing about who ate the last doughnut in the fridge before finally resolving myself to take a look at the three head directors again.

"As per the Archon's instructions, we must maintain full readiness!" Mensah declared while holding a small meeting with his fell Unorthodox faction members.

"But if he really is affiliated with the Abyssal…" someone tried to object, but he browbeat them with a glare.

"It doesn't matter. It's best to have all our forces at the ready. Get all the Colossi out of storage and prep them. Even the mothballed experimental ones," he ordered, then linked his fingers in front of his face as his glasses glinted like one of those old-school anime villains. "Whether we'll have to use them against the forces of the Abyss, or someone else, so long as we hold control over the weapons, we'll have a much stronger foundation for the future. Now, get to it."

Shaking my head, I shifted over to the second target, and I found Savir in an extra-clandestine meeting outside the tower.

"… this under wraps. No one must learn their identities, or how they are related," she instructed a Celestial, and then man nodded. He was a fairly unremarkable placeholder-type, but his fancy clothes and the large amulet hanging around his neck, depicting a sword piercing a book while surrounded by burning wings (aka, Deus's insignia, as far as I gathered) reminded me more of a clergyman than an agent.

"As you wish, Matriarch," the man proclaimed and backed away after a deep bow.

Meanwhile, Savir chuckled as she looked at the evening sky, and whispered, "You might think you have everything under your thumb, but I still have an ace up my sleeve," followed by a series of chuckles just a hair away from megalomaniacal laughter.

I had no idea why people did that. I mean, making dramatic declarations like that without anyone around. It was just weird. I was okay with the laughter though; everyone needed to let out some steam every once in a while, and over-the-top cackling was an underrated stress-relief method.

Anyhow, I moved on to the third target, and found him in the company of his faction's top dogs and their subordinates, their meeting taking place over a nice dinner table.

"… and that's why I'm saying that we need to ensure we are ready to enact wide-ranging reforms," he stated while everyone was paying rapt attention to him, and he swirled his wine, probably for dramatic effect.

"Are you certain?" a familiar director whose name I couldn't recall inquired, and the blonde man nodded before taking a sip.

"The Lord Archon has shown to upend the traditional status quo on the ancestral land, and he'd done that through both force, subterfuge, as well as legislation and regulation. I believe our ultimate goals are not incompatible, so as long as we step up and help enact and enforce his edicts, I'm sure we can greatly benefit in the process."

"And what about Her Grace Deus?" another voice called out. "What if she disagrees?"

"So long as we have Lord Polemos's back, he'll have ours," he declared with unfounded coincidence. "It's clear that the Lord Archon doesn't respond well to provocation, so all we have to do is to earn his favor, and then later use that as leverage to sway him towards our cause." He emptied his glass and added, "It might be a slow and ponderous route to achieve our goals, but it is the safest and least likely to put us in conflict with the Archons. That, in and of itself, is the greatest benefit. As the saying goes, slow and steady wins the race."

There was widespread agreement around the table, while I let out a low groan.

So, what did I learn? Mensah still had tunnel vision, Savir was still a scheming chronic backstabber who refused to learn her lessons, while Tsephanyah was still the sanest of the three, but he was still too much of a career politician for my liking. Same old, same old.

"What was that?" Raven Boy asked with a brow raised, and I waved him off.

"Nah, I'm just silently lamenting my troubles."

I stood up and took one last deep breath to steel my nerves, but before heading to the holding area, I turned to the guy still sitting at the table. We locked eyes for a while, and while he didn't glare at me the way he used to, he wasn't avoiding my gaze either.

"You've been working hard lately, haven't you?" I said, and somehow that put him on guard.

"… I'd say so."

"Hm." I hummed to myself for a few seconds. "Agrawain?"

"W-What?"

And now he looked startled. I had no idea why, but then again, I wasn't a mind reader. It would've made my life easier if I was. But then again, the same could be said about all my other out-of-context powers, but if I didn't have them, my life would've been much simpler, wouldn't it?

I didn't ponder that for long, and simply told him, "Congratulations. I'm officially placing you at the bottom of my shit list."

"Gee, thanks," he sniped back with a sour grimace.

"Don't look at me like that," I told him with a smirk. "My shit list is full of arch-mages, Draconian elders, and Celestial bigwigs. You're in good company."

"Yeah, I'm feeling much better already."

I allowed myself a soft chuckle at his expense and waved him goodbye, then headed to the cells. On my way there, I greeted Vurrok, who was on guard duty outside, and after I entered, I waved to Pip to leave me alone with the old man. Then, it was time to face him one-on-one.

Despite his captivity, Percival looked mostly fine. His injuries from my impromptu beatdown have mostly healed, and while his cell was still mostly bare, he managed to weasel himself into the possession of a small library's worth of old books, courtesy of Snowy. I didn't know if he was taking pity on him, or if it was part of some kind of deal, but whenever I used Far Sight on him, he'd been perusing them to alleviate his boredom, and while I still hated his guts, I was okay with a small comfort like that.

Speaking of which, he was dressed in casual clothes, and while his hair and beard were unkempt, his eyes were just as sharp as on the first day I met him.

"Leonard," he greeted me like one would welcome an old friend they haven't seen in ages. "I was wondering when you'd pay me a visit."

He put his book aside and walked up to the bars, his lips bent in a jovial smile that made my stomach turn. Maybe I should've taken Cal with me after all, I mused. I could really use that calming technique right now, but then again, recalling him nonchalantly talking about how he wanted to poison Snowy made me afraid I would 'accidentally' cut him to ribbons if I did.

"Cut the friendly grandpa act, old man. I'm not in the mood," I told him firmly, and his expression took a turn for the neutral.

"You know, after all of this, I was expecting at least a hint of empathy," he complained, gesturing at the cell. "You're breaking my heart."

My first reaction was to tell him he's lucky I'm not breaking anything else, but I swallowed my words and tempered my, well, temper.

"You ended up here due to your own actions. Don't expect sympathy from me."

"And pray tell, what were those 'actions'?" he asked, and he made the question sound genuine. When I didn't respond right away, he shook his head and leaned against the bars. "No, I'm serious. Can you tell me exactly what I did wrong?"

"You sold me out to the Celestials."

"Sold you out? Who sold you out? I certainly didn't." He looked sincerely offended by my accusation and shook his head. "No, Leonard. I've merely cooperated with the only people who could recover your memories, in hopes of curing your amnesia. And look how well it turned out! If not for me, you would've never become this 'Polemos'!" He suddenly narrowed his eyes and looked me over from head to toe. "Now that it came up, what was that all about? Did you seriously manage to fool everyone into thinking you're this ancient Celestial hero or what have you?"

"What if I didn't?" I asked back, and he let out a chuckle, as if it was a good joke.

"Oh, don't be like that. I've known you since you were just a wee pup. Amnesiac or not, I can recognize your mannerisms and reactions in a heartbeat." He fell silent for a moment and tapped his beard. "Actually, does your amnesia have something to do with this 'Polemos' business?"

"No, and we're getting off-topic," I told him, but he immediately raised a finger.

"No, we aren't. My point still stands; while I wasn't aware of all the facts, I didn't betray you, and my actions led to you now possessing more political clout than any one man in the history of the World of Mystics. I should get a damn medal, not a cell like this!"

"None of that changes the fact that you colluded with the Celestials behind everyone's back."

"So did you!" He pointed at the empty cell next to his. "If it's that big of a deal, how come you're on the other side of these bars, and not locked up over there?" He let his hand down and leaned against the metal rods again with a grin. "And really, does it even matter anymore, when the whole world now knows that you're with the Celestial Directorate? Your Draconic Federation already fully accepted you, despite that, didn't it? Then what makes my so-called 'crime' such a big deal?"

I squinted at him, a certain detail in his words catching me off-guard.

"You're well-informed about the outside world."

"Well, what can I say?" His tone was carefree and his expression smug enough that it made me want to punch him. "It was child's play to get the Abyssal missy to dribble a couple of interesting nuggets of information here and there. I just had to praise you a little bit, then drop a few insinuations, and she would tell me all kinds of news." When I didn't respond, his expression hardened, and he added, "Let's not kid ourselves here, Leonard. You have no reason to keep me here, do you?"

"You mean beyond the fact that you were planning to poison my sister?"

"Did you hear that from that Bel of the Abyss fellow? Bah! Think for a moment, you rascal! I was only pushing his buttons!" When I didn't respond, he let out a disappointed sigh. "Listen, it's simple. I knew that he was on bad terms with the Abyssal houses, so I figured that my best way to ingratiate myself with him was to say what he wanted to hear. How was I supposed to know that you were working together, or that he would fly off the handle like that? It was just a… minor miscalculation due to incomplete information."

"I still don't hear you denying that you tried to use Udug Blood Amalgam on her."

"As a last resort, if he tried to betray you!" He was insistent, and when he saw that I wasn't receptive to his words, he immediately shifted his tone. "But more importantly, did Bel tell you how it even came up in conversation?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Oh, just you wait," Percival spoke with a wolfish grin. "I bet he didn't tell you that he was immune to the effects of the Blood Amalgam." When I didn't respond right away, he must've misunderstood my silence for surprise, as he immediately doubled down. "You know what that means, don't you? Just how much do you even know about that man, huh?"

"You're changing the subject," I pointed out. "This conversation is about you, not him."

"Oh, but it is still relevant," he insisted with a thin-lipped smile. "Tell me, Leonard. For how long have you known this 'Bel of the Abyss'? For how long have you been working together? I thought he was manipulating you from behind the curtain, but it turns out you've been in cahoots with him for a while, haven't you? I wonder; you call me out for 'betraying' you and the Brotherhood for the Celestials, something you're just as guilty of, and then you turn around and collude with some shady powerhouse claiming to be from the Abyss. Sure, you can say it was 'For the greater good', and 'For the benefit of everyone', all you like, but how is that any different from what I did? Bloody hell, how is that not worse?"

"Do you have a point or goal behind this tangent," I hissed at him, cutting in before he could continue. "Beyond making me unreasonably irritated."

"Don't let your emotions lead you astray, Leonard. Wasn't it one of the first lessons I hammered into you, way back when? When you were just a wee boy under my wings?" he insisted, making an emotional appeal in the process, the hypocrite. Though again, maybe I shouldn't throw stones while living in a glass house, I guessed. "You must look at the situation objectively, and realize the unquestionable truth."

"Which is?"

"That I'm not guilty of anything you yourself haven't committed, that I pose no real threat to you, and that you're wasting my talents by keeping me locked up here." He paused, and when I didn't budge, he added, in an impassioned voice, "Come on, son! You know that I'm right!"

I closed my eyes for a moment, clenched and unclenched my fist a couple of times, and then exhaled softly. Once I got my temper under control, I levelled a flat gaze at his pleading face hiding a pair of cold, calculating eyes.

"Is that all? Do you have anything else to say?"

"I think I've made my point, and you're too smart not to realize that I've got it," he insisted, maintaining eye contact. "Just let me out of here, so we can sit down properly, and we can have a proper talk. Not like this."

He gestured at the bars, while I was deep in thought, and after a couple of long seconds, I turned around.

"I'll sleep on it," I said, and walked out, letting Pip back in to keep an eye on him, and once when the door closed behind me did I relax my shoulders and exhaled a pent-up breath.

"[Are you all right?]" Vurrok asked at once, and I gestured with my hand to tell him I was fine before I rubbed my temple with it.

In conclusion, Percival was convinced he didn't do anything bad, that I should be thankful to him, and that I was a hypocrite for keeping him locked up, concluded with a plea both emotional and rational, leaning on our alleged connection as mentor and protegee as well as his potential usefulness for our organization. Was I convinced?

Hell no. This man was, in many ways, worse than the Celestials. At least those guys were consistent with their scheming and beliefs, while Percival was just a straight-up turncoat, ready and willing to switch sides, backstab others, and pretend that he was doing the morally upright thing all the while.

So yes, while his arguments weren't completely wrong, and releasing him while keeping him on a short leash would've technically resolved this situation, I would've had to be mad to do so, but as I'd discussed with Roland beforehand, keeping him locked up was a waste of resources, while killing him off… I once joked about him being my personal Knight of Cerebus, and I seriously didn't want to test if that was a jest of a hypothesis.

In the end, I concluded today's interview with a tired, "I need a second opinion," and disappeared from the basement, none the clearer on what to do.