Chapter 132: ~Chapter 48~ Part 1

"... and then...!" Mike's voice reached a crescendo, only to come to a sudden halt as he barely managed to stifle a chortling laugh. He raised his hand into the air, asking me to wait for a moment, and after a few measured breaths he yelled out, "And then he said, 'You fool! That's dihydrogen monoxide'!"

There was a long beat for effect, and then my merry guest burst into frenetic laughter that saw him almost falling off my couch. I also laughed, though mine was considerably less over the top. I mean, his story was funny, but it wasn't exactly a knee slapper. Maybe it was one of those 'you had to be there' kind of jokes?

Anyhow, once he finally collected himself, Mike softly cleared his throat and stated, "And that's how I passed the entrance exam."

"Very educational," I responded with a profound nod, which earned me a satisfied grin in return. I had a feeling he was about to get started on another anecdote, but time was just about up, so I raised a hand to stop the conversation. "Hold on for a moment, please."

He was looking at me attentively; I figured he probably thought it was my turn to share a story. I wasn't about to do that though, and instead I turned towards the kitchen and called out, "Snowy? How's the fake tea coming along?"

"It's just about done," came the chirping reply from the inside.

"Great." Saying so, I rose to my feet while simultaneously gesturing for my guest to remain seated.

A brief, muscle-pain-induced groan later I headed over to the front door. I stood in attention, waited for the right moment, and then I threw it open and welcomed my new guest with an enormous grin and an unnecessarily chipper, "Hi, Class Rep! What a surprise!"

Ammy stayed stock still for a while, but then she slowly un-balled the fist she raised in preparation for knocking and used the same hand to adjust her glasses instead.

"It obviously wasn't," she emphatically stated and, after a momentary pause, she asked, "This wasn't the first time you did this. Did you put trackers on us?"

"What? Me?" I showed her a suitably wounded expression before I looked just past her right shoulder and said, "I have to say, only a complete asshole would put surveillance on someone without their knowledge."

I accentuated my words with a small wink. Ammy was reasonably confused by my actions, and she even glanced over her shoulder.

"... Who were you talking to?"

"Don't worry about it; it's just a bit of hypocritical humor on my end." Saying so, I extended my hand in a gentlemanly gesture to welcome her in, a motion which may or may not have been accompanied by my phantom limb cutting through a tiny little floating eyeball that may or may not has been gently floating behind her.

The class rep was still looking at me like she thought I was weird, but she followed my lead all the same, only to come to a sudden halt the moment she noticed the unfamiliar boots and coat in the entryway. In the end, I had to push her a little so that I could close the door.

"Do you have guests?"

"Just a single guy and he should be leaving soon. He has a train to catch."

My second guest glanced back and forth between me and Mike's boots before ultimately settling on me.

"How soon? I have something very important to discuss."

"I figured you would." She looked like she was in the process of reading something into my stray comment, so I hastily clarified, "I mean, you showed up at my house this late and in your lonesome, so it's pretty obvious something must've happened."

"I see."

After that verbal equivalent of a shrug we both fell silent, yet Amelia still looked like she really, really wanted to tell me something. I couldn't beat to watch, so I decided to give her a way out.

"How about you give me the footnotes version while you take off your coat?"

She seemed doubtful of the idea at first, but then after mulling it over for a while she nodded anyway and told me, "Very well. In short, I've caught grandfather red-handed."

"You have?"

She nodded in the affirmative while she took off her outerwear and explained, "I wanted to know whether he really had anything to do with the attacks, so when I saw him secretly discussing things with Pascal, I hid around the corner and overheard their conversation about contacting Doctor Robatto."

"That's... unexpected," I muttered under my breath. I wasn't talking about the fact that he would use Armband Guy to contact our resident mad scientist; I already knew that he was their little messenger. No, the surprising part was that the old man would be this sloppy. "When did this happen?"

"Right after I got home from visiting you in the afternoon. I came here so late because I waited until grandfather returned to the School before I left."

I was curious about what exactly she overheard, and I had my doubts already, but it was too early to draw any conclusions, so I told Ammy, "That's indeed worth a discussion. Come on in."

I gestured for her to follow after me, and we entered the living room at once.

"Um… Hello?" my already present guest greeted Ammy with an awkward smile and an equally clumsy wave of his hand.

I wanted to get ahead of any unnecessary pauses, so I stepped forward and introduced the two of them to each other.

"Ammy, this is Michael. He is here to do business with me."

"What… kind of business?" she interjected, and to my surprise, she wasn't only forgetting to do her menacing thing with the glasses, but she sounded downright bashful compared to her usual tone with me. Actually, was it just my imagination, or was she really hiding behind me too?

Anyhow, it was rude to keep her waiting, so I told her, "It's nothing important, I'll explain later. But back to the original topic: Michael, this is my classmate, Amelia."

"Nice to meet you?"

For some reason, the guy's greeting came out as a question. Odd.

"I'm equally pleased to make your acquaintance."

And now the class rep was getting super-polite and reserved. I mean, the latter part wasn't that surprising, as she used to be pretty awkward when I first met her, but I didn't expect her to revert to her introverted self out of the blue.

"The pleasure is mine."

Aaaaand now the usually hapless Celestial agent was trying to give her a charming smile. What is this I don't even…

Anyways, I rubbed my face for a moment to get my thoughts in order and ultimately addressed the guy on my couch.

"Ammy is here to discuss something personal. What did you say, when does your train leave the station?"

"It's…" he started, only to stop, glance at his wristwatch, and then finish with, "It's still a little more than three-quarters of an hour."

"I see. And how long would it take for you to get to the train station?"

"With a taxi? About fifteen minutes, twenty at worst. … Why? Do you… want me to leave early?"

That was kind of the thing I was getting at, but before I could state it in no uncertain terms, Ammy suddenly wedged herself into the conversation.

"I don't want to inconvenience you two. I'll wait."

Oh well, there went my plan to get rid of Mike early. I mean, I didn't hate the guy or anything, but being constantly mindful of my comments and even word choices, lest he would somehow draw a connection between me and Admin, was mentally exhausting, and I was tired enough already, thank you very much. But alas, the class rep already sealed off my opportunity to send him home, so I had to work with what I had.

"If you say so." I shrugged my shoulders in an open display of disinterests and gestured towards the couch. "Please take a seat."

Ammy glanced between me and the empty spot I was pointing at, and after a brief moment of hesitation, she nodded and warily walked over to sit down. Normally this would've been the point where I also took a seat and maybe engaged in some of my patented brand of small talk, but I had something else in mind at the moment, so I called out to the kitchen again.

"Snowy! Ammy is here!"

"I'm coming!" my dear sister responded in a fairly upbeat voice, and a blink of an eye later she also entered the living room with a small, round tray in hand. On top of it stood one of our spare cups filled to the brim with that unholy brew that the class rep for some ungodly reason preferred over proper tea. But then again, it was her choice, even if she was objectively wrong, so I wasn't going to judge her absolute heresy too harshly.

I watched as Snowy placed the beverage onto the table, next to the already present drinks and snacks, and then she instantly assumed her attentive maid posture. The class rep looked at the hot drink on the table as if it was a white raven covered in black wool, but before she could ask any more uncomfortable questions about how I knew she was coming over ahead of time, I pointedly cleared my throat to get everyone's attention.

"Please excuse me, but I have to take my cold medicine. I will be back in a couple of minutes. Snowy, please see to it that our guests have all their needs met."

"Understood!"

I couldn't help but smile in the face of her unusually enthusiastic reply. Was she really so happy about her maid role-play, or did she think I was depending on her? Whichever was the reason behind her good mood, it made the cold cockles of my heart tremble with just a tinge of warmth.

Anatomically inaccurate analogies aside, I directed a polite smile towards my guests, after which I quickly turned on my heels and headed up the stairs with unhurried, measured steps. It was only when I reached the first floor and entered my room that I let out a pent-up breath and hastily sat down on the corner of my bed.

To be honest, I was just a teensy bit rattled by the class rep's declaration of catching Lord Grandpa 'red-handed'. As far as my understanding of the current events was concerned, practically every single thing messing with our peaceful days tied back to him in one way or another. More importantly, if not for my out-of-context ability to observe people from afar, we should've had no reason to suspect, let alone know for a fact, that he was behind both the sentai attacks and Rinne's involvement. The only thing I couldn't tie to him yet was the appearance of the mini-Chimeras (and the alleged big Chimera), but with his track record, I was pretty sure he also had a hand in that as well.

In metanarrative terms, all of this made me consider him as our current 'antagonist'. Furthermore, since he was a 'The Man Behind the Man' type, I took it for granted that until Labcoat Guy got caught, he would stay in the back, and only swoop in to reveal his involvement and the nitty-gritty details of his motivations in the very last second. Because of this, I was under the impression I still had a lot of time to prepare for his sudden but inevitable betrayal, but if he really slipped up in front of Amelia, then things might've been moving along faster than I expected.

Therefore, using what little time I had at the moment, I figured it was imperative that I quickly checked on the two most important players in this tempest of excrement. I closed my eyes, and a quick Far Sight leap later I was already inside observing Labcoat Guy… in an elevator. A familiar elevator, if I might add.

Let me paint a picture for a moment: Labcoat Guy was standing right in the middle of the metal box, still clad in his baffling outfit (including the exceedingly unwieldy shoulder guard), and he was fidgeting like crazy. This time he didn't have his souped-up welder's mask over his face, and while on a cursory glance it looked like he was calm, his smaller gestures told me he was either on the brink of a mental meltdown or he really, really needed to use the toilet.

His hypothetical biological needs aside, he wasn't the only person in the elevator; the android woman and, surprisingly enough, the school nurse were standing right behind him, and they looked considerably calmer than the guy in the front.

"Master?" the funkily dressed android spoke up, drawing everyone's attention to her, only to stay silent right until Labcoat Guy began to gesture exaggeratedly for her to continue, at which point she declared, "My analysis is complete. The results are negative."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she reaffirmed with a small nod, which made Labcoat Guy start fidgeting again. It thankfully didn't stop her from elaborating, so that I would at least know what they were talking about. "After re-analyzing my sensory data regarding both his biometric and manametric readings, I concluded that none of them show any sign of tampering."

"Damn." Labcoat Guy did that thing where it looked like he was biting onto the fingernail of his left thumb while he cursed under his breath. "No one told me he was an expert illusionist!"

"Correction: An expert illusionist wouldn't have been able to fool my sensors."

"Then a master illusionist! I don't care about semantics right now!"

"Calm down, Friedrich," Peabody chided his maybe-nephew while theatrically wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.

"I'm perfectly calm!" he exclaimed while stomping his feet, a picture-perfect image of a composed and unruffled person if I've ever seen one.

"I'm detecting elevated heart rate," the androidess interjected while scrutinizing the man in front of her. "Conclusion: master is not perfectly calm."

"Thank you, Galatea, but I already noticed," the old nurse stated with an unexpectedly deadpan voice.

"I tell you, I'm—!"

Without any prior warning, the fembot let out an odd beeping noise, and the glassy parts of her built-in earphones or what have you on her head also flashed with a green light, prompting Labcoat Guy to abruptly close his mouth with an audible clatter of teeth.

"Master, I have something to report. After reviewing my auxiliary sensor data, I believe I have detected a minute disturbance in the fabric of space-time upon the target's departure. It could indicate long-range teleportation instead of the use of perception-altering magic."

"… Galatea…" The panda-eyed mad scientist much less said than groaned her name while simultaneously rubbing his forehead. "Did you see any building-sized magic array on his back?"

"Parsing memory… Negative. No record indicating such structure was detected by my sensors."

"Then how exactly do you think he teleported away!?"

It was at this very moment that the whole elevator shuddered as the cabin came to a halt and the automatic doors opened in the company of a stereotypical little 'ping' noise, revealing a stoic Pascal, better known as Armband Guy in certain circles, on the other side.

"Who teleported?"

There was an uncertain glance shared between Labcoat Guy and the old nurse following the straight-laced question coming from the bespectacled connoisseur of upper-arm fashion (seriously, the guy was wearing his student council band even now), and at the end of the day, it was Peabody who let out an embarrassed noise as he stepped forth to answer.

"Oh-ho-ho… Don't mind us, my nephew and his aide were only discussing hypotheticals."

Armband Guy gave the man a sidelong glance but didn't comment. Instead, he turned on his heel and wordlessly gestured for the three to follow after him. I'm not going to lie; if I had lungs at the moment, I would've probably let out a content little chuckle, as I apparently choose to use Far Sight at just the right time to catch a rare opportunity.

Anyhow, after about a minute of following my targets down the corridors of the underground School facility, I found myself inside a familiar study.

The Arch-mage's place, which looked exactly the same as the time when we visited it in person (except for the different doors, of course) was still completely silent even though there were five people inside. Well, four people and an android, to be exact, but let's not get bogged down by semantics.

Lord Endymonion, anachronistically dressed (including the silly Panama-hat) and inexplicably infuriating as always, was sitting behind his desk and was in the process of reading through the contents of a thin manilla folder, the kind you would see in a spy drama with TOP SECRET stamped on it in bold, red letters. On said desk, there were stacks of various documents, a few magical trinkets, and an open liqueur bottle with an already half-filled glass in tow. Or maybe it was half empty. I was never any good with these philosophical litmus tests.

While I observed that, Pascal closed the doors, and I'm not going to lie; the eclectic group of a student in uniform, a mad scientist type wearing oversized shoulder pads, a portly old man, and a fembot in a skin-tight suit matched the overall aesthetic of the place about as well as the Dalai Lama wearing a Wehrmacht helmet. Once the group more or less lined up, the owner of the room lazily folded his reading material and placed it onto his desk, his brows already in the process of furrowing into a troubled frown.

"I have to say, I most definitely did not expect to meet you again so soon."

"And we didn't expect that you would withhold vital information from us," Labcoat Guy quipped back, which made Peabody take a sharp breath and nervously glance around for a moment.

"Not one for small talk, as usual," the Arch-mage noted with a troubled smile partially hidden by his beard. "But let us put your lack of etiquette aside for a moment. Would you elaborate on the reason behind your previous statement?"

"I meant—!" The resident mad scientist raised his voice, only to halt when the school nurse let out a strained cough by his side, and after locking eyes for a moment, he also cleared his throat and spoke up again, this time in a decidedly more subdued fashion. "We've engaged Leonard Dunning, as we agreed before."

"Have you now?" the old man responded with a curiously raised brow in tow. "Did he finally reveal some of his depth?"

"He didn't," Labcoat Guy spat out the words in a huff. "He wasn't even there."

Hearing that, Lord Grandpa slowly straightened his posture in his seat and stated, "I am afraid I have to ask you to further elaborate on that statement."

"He wasn't there," the mad-ish scientist repeated his words once more. "It was an illusion the whole time! Why didn't you tell us he was an expert illusionist?!"

"A master illusionist," the android corrected, but no one seemed to care the least bit.

"I find your statement quite unlikely." The old coot fell silent for a second as he stroked his beard, then asked, "May I ask you if you have any proof of your assertion?"

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"Well, he disappeared right in front of my eyes. Not only that, but Galatea was with me as well, and she didn't notice anything until he was gone. He has to be at least an expert to fool her sensors," Labcoat Guy declared as he pointed at his android companion.

"Can I trust the senses of your creation?"

"Can you trust his senses?" Labcoat Guy jabbed back, this time while pointing at Armband Guy.

Lord Grandpa fell silent once again, and then he shook his head, seemingly in defeat, and said, "I shall concede the point. However, even if I were to grant you the possibility of the young mister Dunning having access to high-level illusions, I fail to see how it would be more than yet another entry in his impressively diverse lists of capabilities."

"Are you serious?" Labcoat Guy all but glowered as he glared at the old man on the other side of the desk. "Expert illusionists don't grow on trees! Are you telling me that you, the freaking Arch-mage of the island, didn't know he was one!?"

"Friedrich, please…" Peabody muttered under his breath, but his words bounced off their target like a BB pellet off the popemobile.

"Your accusation hurts me," the old mage stated with a wounded expression, which only lasted for a moment before he took a carefree sip from the liqueur on his desk and stated, "I believe we both swore to perfect transparency in our contract. I staked my name and station as a guarantee upon the signing of it. Why do you take my word so lightly?"

"Are you trying to tell me you really didn't know?" Labcoat Guy asked back, his tone just a smidgen less combative than before."

"I believe we have already established beyond any reasonable doubt that our young friend is a box of mysteries, to say it mildly. While I personally still find it hard to believe that he could be a practitioner of the Arts, it would not be the first time he surprised me." For some reason the old man let out an amused chuckle and added, "For example, did you know that he already established a romantic relationship with the scion of the Dracises? Not only that, but they accepted him with open arms! Most peculiar, I must say!"

For some odd reason, it was the school nurse who let out a surprised noise and said, "O-ho-ho? Doesn't that mean he already allied himself with the Winged Ones?" Seeing that he was suddenly in the center of attention, he paused to theatrically wipe his sweaty forehead, after which he added, "To be honest, it's not an unexpected development."

"True, yet potentially troubling nonetheless." After saying his piece, Lord Grandpa fell silent for a few long moments, his fingers quietly yet irritatingly drumming on the wooden top of his desk.

Likely seeing this as an opportunity to interject, Pascal made a small noise to draw his attention before he suggested, "I believe that conclusion might be somewhat hasty."

"You truly think so?" the head of the School spoke with a surprisingly attentive look in his eyes.

"Yes. Based on my assessment, he is the fiercely independent type, the kind who would not subordinate himself so easily."

"Hmm..." the arch-mage mused aloud while theatrically stroking his beard, completely ignoring the other people in the room. "That is true. He also gave me an impression most similar to what you described, especially in the form of his dogged determination to foil my every attempt to keep track of the well-being of him and his cohorts." For some curious reason, the old man absent-mindedly rubbed his left eye as he said that, but then he noticed what he was doing and subsequently he closed his eyes. "That said, while he is definitely a young man of numerous talents, I would think he should be already aware of the dangers of pioneering a new path for himself. After all, knowing the limits of oneself is also a talent in and of itself."

"O-ho-ho. True, but just because he has other talents, it doesn't mean he has that particular one," Peabody elbowed his way back into the conversation, earning him another thoughtful sound from the old mage and a disapproving glare from yours truly. Or at least he would've if I had eyes at the moment, but I think everyone gets that by now.

"A perceptive observation, exactly the kind I expected from you, old friend." After saying so, Lord Grandpa reached over to the shot glass on the corner of his desk and took another sip from the brown liqueur in it. "It is always prudent to listen to multiple points of view before reaching a conclusion." Saying so, the annoying old man pushed the manila folder on the desk back and forth for a moment while thinking, and at last he inquired, "Speaking of points of view; since you are already here, would you care to discuss what we have learned so far? It is a rare opportunity, after all."

"Only if you swear you won't hold back any information from us," Labcoat Guy stated without a moment of thinking, earning him yet another disapproving look from his uncle.

"I believe I have already made such an agreement, but very well. If it puts your heart at ease, I once again swear that we shall be transparent in our dealings. That said, Pascal?"

"Yes, sir?"

"For a start, would you care to recount your assessment of the young man in question?"

"Understood," Armband Guy responded as he stepped forth, put his hands behind his back, and continued with a tone reminiscent of a foot soldier giving a report to his superior. "My evaluation of the target is as follows: in our daily interactions over the span of the current school year, Leonard Dunning had shown consistent awareness of my presence, yet avoided direct contact."

"What about that one time?" Labcoat Guy cut in with a frown. "Didn't you complain about how he suddenly walked up to you the other day and demanded to shake your hand?"

Pascal gave him a flat look and amended, "He avoided direct contact, except for that one time he demanded to shake my hand. I believe it was some sort of power-play, but he did not engage in any further discourse and left right away."

"How curious," Lord Grandpa mused, his eyes alight with poorly concealed interest. "Please, continue."

"Yes, sir." After a solid nod and a short but intensely aggravated glance sent at the mad scientist, Armband Guy took a huge breath and continued. "Over the same time period, he made contact with the representatives of each member of the Winged Races on campus while maintaining his cover as a mundane student, including the Celestial sleeper agent even we were unaware of. He also does not seem to discriminate against the denizens of the Abyss. At the same time, he recently clashed with—"

"For the love of Sophia, Pascal… I asked for your assessment, not his entire history," the old man grumbled, and Armband Guy immediately nodded like a good little soldier.

"Understood. To avoid further redundancy, I will now strive to share my conclusions regarding the subject. He shows outstanding awareness, and he either possesses superb intuition, or he truly has access to a source of up-to-date intelligence. He doesn't discriminate based on racial origins, yet at the same time his hostility towards personages with political power shows that he is not willing to work with any of the currently established authorities. As such, I find it reasonable to conclude that he is unlikely to subordinate himself; I believe he is aiming to create his own, separate power base."

"So your independent judgment parallels mine." After saying that, the Arch-mage glanced at the rest of the group. "How about yours?"

Labcoat Guy and Peabody glanced at each other, and after a momentary beat of silence, it was the portly school nurse who stepped forth to speak.

"O-ho-ho. Academically speaking, the young man is not particularly outstanding, yet firmly above average. As for his capabilities, due to our approach, we, unfortunately, weren't able to collect any observations besides the one my nephew already shared with you."

"I see." the Arch-mage whispered, followed by a chuckle. "Very well. I believe it is not unreasonable to adopt a patient approach for the time being. Even if the young man truly desires to create his own path, it does not mean that we will not be able to make use of him. As for his capabilities…"

"If I may speak," Armband guy raised his voice and looked at the resident mad scientist. "I believe last time we talked, I emphasized the need for direct engagement, and I was promised a swift and upfront resolution."

"And we have done so, just as we promised," Labcoat Guy countered just a smidgen defensively.

"Speaking of which," Lord Grandpa spoke up again, his bushy eyebrows already drawn into a small frown. "How exactly did you attempt to test his capabilities?"

"Well," Labcoat Guy began a little awkwardly, but he quickly firmed up his voice and stated, "We had enough trouble with the rest of the group, so we tried to make contact with him when he was alone."

"I thought the contract explicitly stated that you cannot engage the targets individually," Armband Guy commented in yet another obvious attempt at heckling.

"Yes, but he's the big Chimera-slayer, right? Not to mention, considering we still have no idea about his capabilities, I thought I can cut myself some slack and make sure that we had the advantage without any other variables present. You know? So that we could see how he reacts without the chance of being slain in the process."

"Oh? And how did he react?" Lord Grandpa inquired with an amicable expression hiding his intrigued eyes.

"I already told you: he disappeared. Poof. Just like that."

"Is that so? Would that not mean that, were we to consider it a given that you ambushed an illusionary body double, he knew about your actions ahead of time and prepared accordingly?"

"Erm… I suppose it does?" the scientist with the panda eyes nodded, if just a wee bit hesitantly, and the old man's eyes all but sparkled with mirth.

"Truly curious, is it not?"

Honestly, this part of the conversation made me curious as well. Apparently the ambush was not only an unsanctioned one, but Labcoat Guy didn't mention a single thing about his offer to me in front of Lord Grandpa. Could it be that he really planned on stabbing the Arch-mage in the back? Based on the discussion I currently observed, they didn't seem to be on the best of terms, so it was a possibility. On the other hand, I've never seen anything hinting at any kind of foul play during the previous times I used Far Sight on him; not a single mention of rebellion or playing the old man behind his back.

In fact, for a moment I even entertained the thought that they might've been putting up a play in front of me, but I quickly dismissed the idea. Now, I admit I might've been a little too careless with the information I gained through Far Sight, but even if they figured out I had access to inside knowledge, their first guess should've been a leak, not that I could listen in on their conversation while inside the Arch-mage's sealed off study. Either way, I figured I should try and be just a tiny bit more conservative with the way I used the intel I gained like this, just in case.

That said, there was another thing that roused my interest in the discussion so far: the mention of a contract of some sort. Now, I couldn't be sure if it was a written one, or one of those fancy-pants, swear-upon-a-golden-chalice-filled-with-virgin-blood-mixed-with-the-petals-of-blue-roses kinds of contracts (which was actually a thing, if the entry about it on the Celestial Hub was to be believed), but just in case it was, it gave me yet another reason to find an opportunity to snoop around in the old man's office.

Regrettably enough, there was a single obstacle in my way: I couldn't tag him yet. I have, after being reminded by Judy, placed a mark on Armband Guy, and if the mad science team wasn't having this meeting here, I would've probably used his mark to see if I could take a look at the old man. However, while Armband Guy had seemingly free rein over going back and forth in the School facilities, I never found the right opportunity to teleport over without anyone else being present. Or rather, I had that one opportunity, but I didn't take it because I was enchantment-sick.

Putting that aside, I made a mental note about the contract and focused my attention back on the scene at hand, just in time to catch Lord Grandpa refilling his glass.

"Putting such matters aside, I believe we still have to discuss the capabilities of the rest of the younglings. I am particularly curious about the discovery regarding young Joshua Bernstein." After he said that, the arch-mage gingerly picked up the folder on the desk and opened it up right in the middle. "It appears this ordinary young man might be in the possession of an unexpectedly impressive heritage."

"I have also seen it with my own eyes," the guy with the fancy armband interjected. "It might have been just a glance before the rest of his group hid him from my sight, but I can definitely confirm that he must be the descendant of a strong Abyssal bloodline, possibly even a bastard of one of the Lords."

"Ki-hi-hi." Labcoat Guy, for maybe the first time since he entered the room, let out one of his grating chuckles and then stated, "I don't know about bloodlines, but as much as it pains me, Galatea's scans agree with mister 'collect the information we want or I' ll break your arms' here."

Lord Grandpa's eyes narrowed in annoyance and he glanced over to the alleged arm-breaker in question.

"Pascal? Did you really threaten our collaborator with physical violence?"

"Certainly," he responded without a shred of guilt or self-awareness.

"… Well, at the very least you are honest," the arch-mage stated a little dourly after somehow stifling a groan and taking another sip of his drink. "Sometimes I wonder where I have gone wrong in your education. Nevertheless, see to it that you apologize later."

"Why can't he apologize now?" Labcoat Guy interjected, only to be dismissed with a single, disinterested glance.

"Now, back to the issue of the youth in question," Lord Grandpa mused while absent-mindedly leafing back and forth between a few pages. "If your intuition and your 'scans' are correct, it would definitely explain why the Lord of Inanna would be willing to sacrifice what little goodwill I had remaining towards his House. A Winged One of the Abyss with a strong yet unknown bloodline would definitely serve as a powerful pawn in his hands… yet I can not help but feel that we are missing something."

There was a long pause in the conversation here while Armband Guy and company patiently waited for his… boss, I suppose? Now that I think about it, just how were these two related anyway? And how were the rest related? Apparently, Peabody was his old friend, and Labcoat Guy was that guy's nephew, but then… ugh, these were questions for later, I supposed, as the old man all of a sudden stood up and walked over to the cabinet in the corner.

"Once again, it is made obvious that we must observe them further. Speaking of observations, I believe we were talking about the individual prowess of the group centered around the young mister Bernstein."

I continued to watch for a minute longer, but aside from being able to take a better look at the eclectic contents of the old arch-mage's liquor cabinet, I didn't learn anything new after this point. I mean, if there was one person on this island who knew the ins and outs of the abilities of every single member of our group down to the tiniest details… it was probably Judy, but I was a close second!

Anyhow, since listening to them any further was pointless, I ultimately returned to my room. After taking a moment to collect myself, I had to conclude that, while this Far Sight session raised about as many questions as it answered, it still provided me with yet another solid, indisputable piece of evidence about the collaboration between Lord Grandpa and Labcoat Guy. Furthermore, based on the content of their discussion, it was hinted that he was trying to find out about our capabilities and it somehow tied into him trying to make use of us. Or was it just me? Either way, while his methods weren't particularly dangerous, they weren't completely harmless either, so as far as I was concerned, he was still firmly in the 'antagonist' category.

That said, I checked the time on my phone, and to my shock, I realized that I've spent a bit more time spying than I thought. I pocketed the phone, jumped to my feet, and immediately headed downstairs, only to stop a moment after I exited my room. I held my breath for a moment to better focus on my hearing and… was that laughter just now? I expected a lot of things after leaving those three alone for a while, but merriment wasn't among the options.

Now granted, it would've taken me zero effort to just use Far Sight to look at what was going on, but I figured I might as well snoop around the proper way every once in a while, so I continued to hold my breath and slowly inched towards the stairs until I could finally overhear the discussion downstairs.

"I can soooo understand!" This exclamation was the first sliver of the conversation I could understand, and as I came closer, I could also hear a soft sound that I could identify as Ammy giggling. "My father always told me 'Son, you have to be the best amongst the best amongst the best!' I seriously grew sick and tired of that line!"

"I can imagine," the class rep agreed in an unexpectedly friendly voice. "Grandfather once told me that the military and academia are not so different once you get high enough in the hierarchy. His favorite line is a little different though, it's 'Publish or perish'."

"Uh… right. I admit that sounds a little less overbearing, but 'perish' in the military is sliiiigtly more literal than in the academic circles, so I think I will stick to my father's line after all."

Amelia honest to goodness giggled in response to that. Was that supposed to be funny?

Anyhow, this whole situation felt really fishy, so I decided to show myself by simply walking down the stairs. The two in the living room fell dead silent the moment I came into view… which begged a certain question right out of the gate.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had something to take care of." With the lead-up done, I stopped at the foot of the stairs and exaggeratedly looked around. "Where did Snowy go?"

"She said she had to go to the toilet," Ammy responded with a modest smile, the kind I haven't seen on her face for ages. "Didn't you meet on the way?"

"I can't say I have," I spoke softly as I walked over to their side and pointedly glanced at the clock on the wall. "So, Mike? I'm sorry to interrupt your talk, but weren't you supposed to catch a cab right around now?"

The unlikely Celestial followed my gaze and he quickly jumped to his feet.

"Oh snap, you're right! My ride should be here at any moment now!"

"Then I suppose I better see you out so you won't miss your train."

"I… I suppose you better do?" he mumbled a little awkwardly before catching himself. He was still dragging his feet though, so I was just about to egg him on a little when he sneaked a glance at the class rep and, after a conspicuously long beat he told her, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Amelia."

"I assure you, the pleasure was mine," she responded with the same demure expression, and a choice of words that sounded like it came out of her old man's mouth. Things were getting fishier by the moment, I say.

It was around this time that I had enough of their little interplay, so I simply stood behind Michael and began to forcefully push him out of the room.

"All right, let's get going. I'll be back in a moment."

With that, I successfully removed the guy from my living room, and I patiently watched over him as he put on his coat before I politely opened the front door for him. However, despite my best efforts to expedite his departure, he turned around in the doorway and looked me in the eye.

"Hey, can I bother you for one second longer?"

I honestly wanted to tell him 'No, go away.', but by the time the words left my mouth they somehow morphed into, "Feel free to do so."

My answer made the Celestial field agent oddly fidgety for a moment. He glanced behind me, and then he leaned closer for a conspiratorial huddle.

"You see, I couldn't help but wonder if you and Amelia were a..." His words trailed off by the end with an implicit, 'You know? Like that?' tagged on in a whisper.

I raised a slightly baffled bow and asked, "... Are you trying to ask me if we are a couple?"

"Um... more or less?"

Mike flashed me the perfect image of a harmless smile, and I couldn't help but groan in return.

"No, we are not," I stated on no uncertain terms. "Why?"

"Oh, nothing, I was just a little curious," he hastily stated while still maintaining his impeccable smile, and at this point I was fairly certain it was much less innocent than it appeared on the surface. The suspicion might've shown on my face, as he abruptly declared, "Never mind. I'm going to get in touch with some old acquaintances and gather as many artifacts as possible and then... Errr... how should I contact you?"

"You don't have to; I'll contact you in time," I responded in my most enigmatic voice.

"Oh. Okay then." He stared me in the eye for a couple of seconds, but when he saw I didn't have anything else to say, he awkwardly added, "Should I... give you my phone number or something?"

"No need," I responded while employing an inscrutable smile of my own. I wasn't kidding either, I literally had the guy's mobile number already in the Hub's contact list, and I imagined acting like I knew everything would help to solidify my image as an information broker.

I figured we were done, so before I forgot it, I peeled off my gloves and offered my hand to the Celestial in the doorway. He quickly mirrored my gesture by taking off his own glove and he firmly shook my hand.

"I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Erm... Yes, the feeling is mutual," he stated after a momentary stutter.

With that, I now had another mark. Sometimes I wondered if I had a limit to the number of people I could tag like this, and considering how absurdly useful this particular ability of mine has proved to be so far, I sincerely hoped I didn't.

Anyhow, it was just around this time that I noticed a familiar taxi turning the corner into our street. I pointed at it, and after following my finger, Michael hurriedly said his goodbyes and rushed over to the roadside.

I was a little curious to see if it was the usual cab driver this time as well, but not curious enough to go out into the cold, so I waved to him and closed the door without further ado. It was only then that I let out a tired sigh, put my gloves back on, and headed back to the living room and to what promised to be a fairly heavy conversation.

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