Chapter 203: ~Chapter 69~ Part 4

"You know," I mused a little absent-mindedly, "I originally thought that your whole obsession with the fish tank was silly, but I have to admit it now: watching them swim around like this is unexpectedly therapeutic."

Galatea let out an appreciative noise in response to my comment and continued to feed the fish in silence. I wasn't lying though. Watching the colorful fishes scurry around in the aquarium felt oddly calming, and it helped me take my mind off some troubling topics. Such as being called 'sweet bear'. Or 'honey bunch'. Or 'decaf pumpkin spice latte'. I was fairly sure that last one was a joke, but the fact that I couldn't say it for one hundred percent certainly was troubling in its own way.

Each of those nicknames was only mildly embarrassing at first, but after my girlfriends spent nearly two hours shotgunning their ideas at me, I started to feel like my face was melting from mortification. In the end they couldn't manage to reach a consensus, but it was only a matter of time, and that made me feel just a tad nervous.

After watching a low-budget sci-fi with my girlfriends and the aforementioned nickname-shenanigans were over, I took Judy home, after which I Phased over to the base. It was at this point that the oddball android invited me over to the workshop so that she could show off her new and improved fish tank, and so we reached the present, where I had no choice but to show grudging appreciation for it. Labcoat Guy was at the other end of the workshop and in the process of custom-making some metal components for our future eco-friendly generator using a CNC milling machine. It was oddly quiet, but only because there were sound dampening enchantments on the equipment or something. I didn't really look into it, but considering that I could only hear a low buzzing noise over here, I had little reason to doubt their explanation.

Anyhow, that was enough zoning out for now. I bid the sentai duo my farewells and made my way over to the main hall, where Brang was already waiting for me. I've previously made arrangements with him for a training session using Dominance, and I've already made him wait for too long.

"[I welcome thee back, Blackcloak,]" the old Faun greeted me with a small yet courteous bow, and I quickly returned the gesture with a wave of my hand.

"[I beseech you to overlook my tardiness. My conscious mind has become the battleground of many a distracting notion.]"

"[I see no reason for you to seek forgiveness; it is in thine right to come and go at thine whims.]"

"[I do so all the same.]"

Brang let out a mirthful little chuckle and shifted his stance as she leaned onto his spear like a walking stick.

"[If my memory serves right, you wished to engage in the Rite of Dominance.]"

"[Your imprints of the mind are indeed in impeccable orderliness. In light of the injury of the right frontal limb I have suffered in epochs of recent nature, I aspire to re-acquire my aptitude regarding combat of the close quarters variety utilizing my remaining functional extremity.]"

"[Aye, I understand. Are thee in need of a weapon with which to reacquaint yourself?]"

"[For the time being, I will renounce the use of cold armaments,]" I answered while theatrically limbering up my arms. "[I wish to pay complete heed to pragmatic avoidance of blows.]"

The elderly Faun nodded in understanding and, once he made sure I was ready, looked me deep in the eye. Since it was just for training, we agreed to forego the whole 'ritual' aspect of Dominance with the words of challenge and all, and instead focused on just the practical application. Once our consciousnesses 'connected' through our gazes, I decided to take it relatively easy and sent out four orange specters. Brang followed suit, but unlike the first time we did this, we had our incorporeal representations form an orderly lineup inside the ring within the training area before they squared off in one-on-one sparring matches.

Let me be perfectly honest for a moment: while training like this was definitely incredibly efficient, and I could retain and recall all the fights after we were done, the actual process was a little boring. I mean, sure, I could focus my attention on one ghostly Leo, but it made little difference in the grand scheme of things, as the auto-piloted ones and their experiences would be internalized even if I didn't pay any attention to them. In fact, as far as my conscious mind was concerned, the only thing I absolutely had to pay attention to was the eye contact with Brang.

Since I had nothing better to do, I was just about to put my focus onto one of the specters anyway, but then a new idea popped into my mind. If dominance didn't require all that much attention, at least with only so few simultaneous instances of myself doing the actual fighting, couldn't I do something else in the meantime? I mean, something that didn't require me to physically look away, such as using my Far Sight?

After some deliberation, I decided to give it a try. In the worst-case scenario, I would just have to apologize to Brang for breaking the connection without prior notice. As such, I focused my mind upon one of the familiar red dots, and a moment later I was looking down on Judy's living room, and… wow, she wasn't kidding about her mother overdoing the holiday decorations…

More importantly, after taking a long glace I returned to my body, and as far as I could tell Brang was none the wiser about what happened. So… does that mean I just found another way to multitask? Neat.

Utilizing this new discovery, I immediately proceeded to do a quick roll call on the usual suspects. There was nothing going on at Judy's place; same for Elly. Angie was doing her homework, while Josh was… Oh? What's this? Instead of the usual sight of Joshua's remarkably untidy room, I was welcomed by the dark skies over the city the moment I Far Glanced at him. Not only that, but he was actually riding his moped, and with the class rep sitting on the back!

Oh my? Were the two of them having an adventure? How intriguing. This was certainly something worth keeping an eye on… later. I mean, I could certainly watch them as they wordlessly drove through the night, but it wasn't entirely optimal, so I made a mental note and quickly focused on my next target while intending to return to the duo once I was done with everyone else.

Now then, Lord Grandpa was drinking his sorrows away at home, which was just depressing, so I moved on. Crowey… was currently sleeping in another room after the previous one was completely covered in itching powder by some dashing rogue, so there was nothing to see there. Fred and Galatea were just in the other room, so there was no point looking at them, while my sister was already at home and watching a documentary about penguins on the TV. How wholesome.

Anyhow, I was just about to get back to Josh and Ammy's secret adventure when I noted that there was another marked person fairly close to Snowy's location, and a quick glance later I couldn't help but let out a curious sound.

"[I'm afraid we must put a temporal halt on the proceedings, general,]" I called out without further ado, and Brang immediately cut the connection between the two of us by repeatedly blinking his eyes. I also followed his example, because mine were getting pretty dry as well, then I explained, "[It appears an unforeseen visitor is closing in upon my domicile.]"

"[Are they hostile?]" the old Faun inquired, his hands tensing on the shaft of his spear, only for his fingers to ease up a moment later when I shook my head.

"[No, he is not, yet he certainly demands my attention. I shall return once I extracted his intentions from his mouth.]"

"[Aye. Take care.]"

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and Phased home without any further ado. As if by clockwork, it wasn't even a second after I appeared in my living room that the doorbell rang, startling my sister immersed in the enchanting voice of the narrator describing the arduous yet beautiful lives of a pair of emperor penguins.

"You don't have to get up, I'll take it," I told her, and to her credit, Snowy only blinked at me once before deciding to take the situation in stride and she returned to the show without a word.

In the meantime I quickly made my way over to the front door, and before he could press the doorbell again, I opened it wide and greeted the slightly startled Celestial on the other side.

"Hello, Mike. What brings you here?"

Honestly speaking, if I didn't know for sure that it was him due to having a mark on him, I might not have recognized the guy. At the moment, he was dressed like an eskimo, his oversized blue winter coat completely hiding his body shape, and I could barely make out his eyes under the fur-rimmed hood he had on his head plus the thick scarf around his mouth. Sure, it was getting pretty chilly, but it definitely wasn't that cold.

"Good evening, Leonard," he greeted me by pulling his scarf down a little. I stepped back to invite him in, but he immediately shook his head. "I'm on my way to a meeting, but since I was in the neighborhood, I felt that I really had to visit you in person."

"I understand, but are you sure you don't want to come in? You look cold."

"Oh, you mean this?" He glanced down and patted his thick coat. "I'm only wearing this to hide my identity, just in case."

"I see," I granted him, though I didn't really see the point. Though again, I just said that I would have had a hard time recognizing him without foreknowledge, so it arguably worked. "What brings you to my neck of the woods then?"

"Ah, that…" His friendly smile faltered for a second, and he even averted his eyes in the perfect image of someone having a guilty conscience. "I… never really thanked you for saving me back then."

"Don't sweat it."

Neither my words nor my reassuring smile seemed to have an effect, as he somehow became even more restless.

"No, I really have to thank you, and that's why I came in person. You literally saved my life."

"The situation wasn't that bad though."

My attempt to dampen things fell on deaf ears, as Michael immediately continued with, "But it was! And you rescued me without asking for anything in return. I wanted to thank you ever since then, but I couldn't show my face before I found a way to repay my debt."

"Okay Mike, slow down. There is no reason to talk about debts here."

"But there is," he stressed with a frantic expression. "I mean, I made sure to keep the details of what happened a secret, but I don't think that was enough to repay the favor."

"So, if you are here, I guess you figured out a way?"

The undercover Celestial nodded with a determined look in his eyes and he pointed at my right hand.

"I've heard from little Annie that you got injured that night and you need a healer." I presumed 'little Annie' was supposed to be Angie, so I gestured for him to continue. "I… um… You see, I called my father about it."

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"You did what?" I blurted out in a mixture of shock and apprehension, and he hastily raised his hands.

"I didn't tell him any of the details, only that you were looking for a healer, and that I was indebted to you, and asked him if he could connect me to a professional."

"And he did," I guessed, and he responded with a huge nod and an ear-to-ear smile.

"Yes! Father called in one of the specialists working with one of the CIEL teams, and he will come to the island to take a look at your injury."

I had to jog the gears of my memory a little, but I finally remembered what he was referring to just now. CIEL was an acronym that stood for 'Counter-Intelligence, Enforcement, and Liquidation', with emphasis on the last bit. They were pretty much analogous to the spec-ops divisions of mundane government agencies that are sent in to mop up a mess by any means necessary once every other avenue was exhausted. In other words, they were the last thing I needed in my life at the moment.

"You really shouldn't have," I told Mike through clenched teeth, but he didn't seem to be able to detect the sarcasm, and he only continued to smile at me.

"I just want to help. Don't worry; if anyone can help you with an injury, it's one of those guys! I've heard they can even fully regenerate lost fingers and in some cases entire limbs over time, so you are going to be in good hands."

"Yeah, I bet," I grumbled, but before I could add anything else, there was a muffled ringing noise coming from Mike.

He gave me a surprised look, following which he hastily unzipped his coat and took out his old-school dumb-phone, and after glancing at the small screen, he let out a small gasp.

"Oh no, I'm already late!" He pressed the big red button on the phone and quickly pocketed it before he zipped back up and gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry, but I really have to go! Once again, thanks for everything!"

Saying so, he waved his hands and literally ran away (though, on second thought, 'jogged away' might have been more accurate) without waiting for my reaction. I watched him leave, and once he was out of sight, I closed the door in the company of a pent-up groan.

"Bloody frickin' meddler," I muttered under my breath, and I was just about to temporarily put him out of mind and focus on Josh and Ammy when a new realization reared its ugly head in my mind.

Even if Mike used the tried and true method of nepotism to get things done, there was no way in hell there would be no traces of in on the Hub. Now I admit that I wasn't paying a lot of attention to the site in the past couple of days, but I was pretty sure I would have immediately noticed if my name came up on the forums. That meant that I either really wasn't mentioned, or that it was in one of the priority documents I haven't checked recently. I couldn't really leave it at that, so after just a moment of hesitation I threw off my shoes and dashed up the stairs.

I burst into my room and turned on the PC. While it booted, I used the opportunity to Far Glance at Josh, and while they were no longer on the road, there was nothing noteworthy happening yet. Good. In the meantime the desktop loaded in, and I immediately plopped down in front of the monitor and opened the browser. A few seconds passed, and I was already on the login page of the Celestial Hub.

Once I was inside, I reflexively checked the new topics and additions, but there was nothing suspicious. Regrettably, the site didn't allow searching among the intelligence files (I was still working on implementing that feature), so the best I could do was to bring up all the new field reports, briefings, and general notices from the past couple of days, sort them by the time of upload, and then manually browse them. I wasn't expecting much, but what I found made me question my eyes for a second.

"The fu—? In the orange priority reports? Seriously?"

A little explanation: reports on the Hub were categorized into four categories: white were just daily reports from operatives around the world, usually containing nothing more than some rumors that may or may not interest the higher-ups. Blue reports were stuff that were pinned for review by senior members, as they either contained intel, or required further verification. Orange reports were the type that, if we were still running on filing cabinets and manila envelopes, would get a big, red CLASSIFIED stamp and would only be accessed by the actual regional directors and their workgroups, and it naturally held either important data, or operation plans. Then there were the red reports, which pertained to huge incidents, such as the infamous Cardhouse debacle where an entire Celestial cell got busted while trying to infiltrate a School of the Magi.

Are we clear on that? Good. Then could someone tell me why I was mentioned in an orange report? Hell, not even that! Even a surface skimming of the text told me that it was entirely about me! Or rather, Leonard 'Blackcloak' Dunning, famous Chimera Slayer and enigmatic information broker. According to this, I was just recently put on the Celestial Information Network's VIP list, and… let me see…

"'Building a cordial relationship with the target is of vital importance'," I whispered as I read. "'Primary contact'… yada yada… 'determine the nature and value of intelligence he may possess'… blah blah… Ah, here it is. 'According to recent reports, the target is searching for an internal injury specialist. Establish contact via the standard protocols and make sure that our agent is the one to accomplish his request by any means necessary.'"

I read the rest of the document, just to be sure, but as far as I could tell, their goal was to have me in their debt for services rendered. That… was considerably less alarming than what I feared, so I allowed myself a relieved (and very much pent up) breath. I expected that I would show up on the Celestial Intelligence Network's radar sooner or later, and while the way I did was unexpected, at the very least they weren't hostile. I'd call that a silver lining.

Still, it didn't hurt to be careful, so I made sure to pin the report and to keep an eye out for any future updates or mentions of my name. With that I finally let the tension drain out of me and I slacked back in my chair. It was time to finally get back to my original plan and check on the adventurous duo, and when I finally looked at them with Far Sight, I was surprised to find that their numbers have swelled into a trio.

"— sure? We can still turn back?" Josh asked the girl standing next to him, and the class rep promptly shook her head.

"No, we've come this far," she said while glancing around the corner and at an unremarkable office building on the other side of the road. Or at the very least I figured she was looking at that, as there was nothing even remotely interesting on the street around it.

"I'm with you. I still owe you one for helping me," the third voice stated, apparently still out of breath, and even though I couldn't see his face, I would've had to be either blind or a certified idiot not to recognize the guy, especially considering I just spoke with him.

"So you are along to repay your debt?" Josh inquired, and his skeptical glance made the bumbling Celestial conspicuously avert his eyes.

"I-I mean, I would have helped anyway, but—" Mike mumbled with the awkwardness of a nun in a striptease bar, but before he could explain himself, he was cut short by a hiss.

"Hush," Ammy warned the two of them and gestured towards the building. "They are coming out. Once they leave, we use the back entrance and—"

I was really curious about their plan, and what they were doing in general, but just before we would've gotten to the good part, I was shaken out of my Far Sight by a heavy knock on my window. I was startled for a moment, but then I jumped to my feet and looked outside, and the moment I did, my brows immediately and without my consent descended into an exasperated frown.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!"

While I really wanted to ignore the people outside, I had a strong suspicion that they wouldn't leave, now that they have seen me in the window, so I suppressed the urge to punch the nearest wall and exited my room, made my way down the stairs, crossed the living room, rubbed my sister's head to calm me down a little on the way, and then finally arrived at the door again. I took a deep breath to steel my nerves, and then opened it wide.

"Hello, Leonard-san!"

For a long moment I didn't know how I should even react. Mountain Girl, along with bald monk guy, were standing on the sidewalk, and she was waving towards me with one hand while the other was holding onto the wrapped-up Onikiri.

"What are you doing here?" I asked with exasperation bubbling up from the pit of my stomach.

"We can't come closer because we are being repelled by some sort of onmyoudo technique," the elder told me, apparently misunderstanding my question.

"That's why Rinne threw an empty soda can to get Leonard-san's attention," Rinne clarified, yet it only made my rapid onset of headache even worse.

"You better pick that up later. No littering on my property," I told them off-handedly to gain time to think, yet they both nodded as if what I said was somehow really profound.

In the meantime Snowy noticed the commotion and called out from the living room.

"Are we having guests?"

"Not if I can help it," I called back. "They apparently can't come in anyway."

"Oh? It's probably because I reworked the outer wards yesterday. Unregistered people can only enter if someone from the inside invites them in."

There were a couple of questions I wanted to ask about that, such as why she registered Mike so that he could get close enough to ring the bell, or how this would affect the postman and the pizza delivery guy, but before I could voice any of them, Rinne called out to me again.

"Leonard-san, we really need to talk. Please allow us in."

I wanted to give her a withering look, but contrary to my expectations, she looked so earnest that I couldn't bring myself to keep glaring at her.

"You know, I was in the middle of something really important," I tried to excuse myself, but then the annoying huntress somehow managed to give me the puppy eyes, which was simultaneously unexpected and disturbing.

"This is also important. Please let us in."

I paused here for an uncomfortably long time, glancing between the stoic bald man and the sincerely pleading huntress, and in the end I couldn't stop myself from exhaling a defeated groan. Apparently I would have to ask Josh and Ammy about what they were doing tomorrow.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this, but…" I paused here, as I knew this was the point of no return, but at last I forced my face into something resembling a neutral expression, and squeezed out a curt, "Come inside."

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