Chapter 257: ~Chapter 82~ Part 3

"Welcome home," Snowy greeted me from the living room the moment I opened the front door. She only had five classes on Mondays, and she had no club activities, so she came home ahead of me as usual. "I ordered Chinese for dinner, and—" She froze mid-sentence when she poked her head around the doorway and noticed the guest behind me. "Oh, hello."

"Hi," Mike greeted her back with an awkward smile, and my sister remained silent for a while.

"Should… I order another portion?"

"No need. Mike's only staying for a short while," I told her while vaguely gesturing in the direction of the self-conscious Celestial still in the process of wordlessly peeling himself out of his coat.

"I see. Do you need any drinks, or…?"

"Nah, we're good," I said while simultaneously signaling with my brows, and it didn't take long for her to get the message.

"Oh, okay then. I'll be in my room. Call me if you need anything."

Saying so, Snowy gracefully pulled back from the doorway, and by the time I changed my footwear, I could already hear her pattering up the stairs. Mike was unusually nervous, so I gestured for him to stop dallying around, and we sat down in the living room.

"Your sister's… not wearing a maid uniform this time," he noted, undoubtedly as a clumsy attempt at small talk.

"It's her hobby, so it's up to her when and why she would dress up," I told him with a shrug.

"Oh, I see," the hapless Celestial nodded along like I just said something profound. "So being a maid is a hobby in the Abyss…" I was about to correct his assumption, but then he glanced around in alarm, kind of like a kid who was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and he all but shrunk back in his seat as he asked, "B-By the way, is it true? Is she really a Lord of the Abyss?"

"Technically? No. She's only in the line of succession."

"And you're living under the same roof with her? That's… erm… brave?" he muttered, and I couldn't help but raise a curious brow at him.

"You're talking like you just learned about her background."

"Because I did! I mean, more like yesterday, but…"

His words trailed off again, so I exhaled a shallow sigh and moved the conversation along by directly addressing the elephant in the room.

"You mentioned something about Celestial business, didn't you?"

"Oh, right! That's what I'm here for!" the guy declared with a smile and straightened his back at once. "So, you know how Mister Jaacobah had to leave the island in a hurry, right?" I nodded, but instead of continuing, he sent a conspicuous glance at my hand, and awkwardly cleared his throat. "Speaking of which… errr… How's your hand? Is it healed?"

"Thanks for asking, it's fine." To be honest, it wasn't completely okay, as I've ended up straining it a bit during the duel with Penny. I didn't notice it at the time, and I no longer had any issues with moving my fingers, but according to Cal, I was just a hair's breadth away from injuring myself again. Since the overdramatic sword was the closest thing I had to an expert on this matter, I had no choice but to believe them, so I've been forced to rest my hand in the last couple of days. Of course, Mike didn't need to know this, so I moved on by asking, "What does Jaacobah have to do with your visit?"

"Oh, it's simple, really. Since he had to leave, and I already made some deals with you in the past, I was promoted." He flashed me a proud smile, and declared, "From this day forward, I'm your official contact. If you want to communicate with the Celestial Intelligence Network, I'm your man!"

"Really?" I blurted out in genuine surprise. While I admittedly wasn't nearly as active on the Celestial Hub as I used to be, due to being busy with the base and the new hires and everything, I was sure I would've noticed something like this.

"Certainly!" Mike exclaimed with an even wider grin. "I've even got my assignment in a locked briefcase and all, like a real secret agent. It had all kinds of top-secret intel and everything." He suddenly paused here and glanced up the stairs, then continued in a much more subdued tone. "It's also where I learned that your sister is… You know?"

"I know."

"That's good. I'm glad we're on the same page," he muttered, followed by another glance at the stairs. "You really can't judge a book by its cover." I had a feeling we might not have been on the same page after all, but before I could get a word in, Mike continued with, "To be honest, I never imagined you'd make deals with the Abyssals. You know? Being a Chimera Slayer and all that…"

"What can I say? I'm an equal opportunity information broker."

"I see, I see," he muttered, and after a short beat, he asked, "So, are the Nergals also on the island? I mean, they were the ones who helped you… erm… 'adopt' her, right?"

Oh, look at that. Someone did his homework.

"I'm afraid not." When I said that, my Celestial guest let out a pent-up breath, as if I just took a huge weight off his shoulders. He still looked expectant, so I elaborated, "It was a mutually beneficial arrangement, but soon after that, the Assembly locked down the island, and so they retreated before they'd be caught up in the crossfire."

Of course, there were no Abyssals from house Nergal on the island to begin with; it was just the cover identity I used when dealing with the document forger to get Snowy's ID. The Celestials probably got the info out of the guy, which was just a touch alarming. It meant I was being investigated, which could spell trouble, especially if they started suspecting that I infiltrated the Celestial Hub.

I didn't let the apprehension show on my face though, and Mike accepted my explanation without question.

"That's good to hear. There are way too many Abyssals in Critias for my liking."

"There's only one of them, and she's upstairs," I pointed out, and my guest immediately backpedaled like I just hit him on the nose.

"No no no! I don't mean her, of course! It's the other Abyssals, like that… erm… Bel, I think?" He paused here, apparently recalling something. "By the way, who exactly is this 'Bel' anyway?"

"Didn't the contents of your top-secret suitcase brief you on him?" I teased him a little, and he vehemently shook his head, like I just accused him of some nefarious deed.

"No! I mean, they really gave me intel, and it's really secret, but it had nothing to do with this 'Bel' person." I was just about to ask where he heard the name then, but Mike voluntarily explained by saying, "Before Mister Jaacobah left, he called me on the phone and told me that I should avoid him, but didn't tell me the details. Is he… maybe one of the Nergals?"

I was about to reflexively answer, but I bit back the words before they could leave my mouth and narrowed my eyes. At this point, Mike was already promoted from asset to a full-fledged field agent, so… could it be that he was fishing for information? Honestly, while the guy was about as guileless as they come, I couldn't rule out the possibility, so I ordered my thoughts and slowly shook my head.

"I can't say for sure, but I doubt it. My contact with the Nergal House was brief and solely for business, so I don't know much about them either."

"Ah, that's good. Or rather… it's bad? I-I mean, you really shouldn't make deals with Abyssals, but if you have to, it's better to keep them at arm's length."

"Is that so?" I mused as I scrutinized the suddenly flustered guy. "Why do you think that?"

"It's because they're evil?" he answered with a question, only to realize what he just said and defensively raise his hands. "I-I mean, not all of them, obviously, but… most of them, I think?"

"I would advise against blanket statements like that," I said in a level voice.

"So… you're saying they're not evil?"

"'Evil' is such a silly word." Mike looked at me funny, so I exhaled a sigh and told him, "Have you heard of the idiom, 'Everyone is the hero of their own story'? Most people have their own circumstances and they're trying to do what they consider to be good, or at least the best thing to do at the moment." He was still giving me a confused stare, so I decided to be a bit more direct. "Okay, here's an example. You know that I'm on bad terms with the current Lord of House Inanna, right?"

"Yes. I think everyone knows that."

"So, let's take things from his perspective. I can't look into his head to see his motivations, but I think it's safe to say he probably had some kind of plan in mind when he caused that big ruckus a couple of months ago. To reach his end goal, conspiring, infiltrating a School, kidnapping, and sending assassins to deal with loose variables probably sounded reasonable to him at the time. Something like 'The end justifies the means', I reckon. With all that in mind, would you call him evil?"

"I—"

"Before you answer, I'd like to remind you that you're part of a clandestine arm of a supernatural organization that regularly conspires, infiltrates other organizations, kidnaps people, and occasionally even sends out assassination orders in the name of the greater good."

"I… think I understand what you're trying to say, but… If you don't think he's evil, then why are you opposing him?"

That… was such a naïve question that for a moment I had to pause and silently stare at the guy's mug, just to make sure he wasn't pulling my leg.

"It's because good and evil are irrelevant. He's a threat to me, my friends, and my family, and if he shows his face again, I'll act with that in mind. Morals have nothing to do with it."

It took a while for Mike to digest my words. To be honest though, I wasn't entirely truthful with him, or at least about the reason why I tried to avoid looking at the world through a black and white lens. The real culprit was, as usual, the Narrative.

This world operated on tropes and narrative conventions. One of these was the protagonist/antagonist dichotomy. An engaging plot usually required some kind of conflict, and for conflict to arise, there had to be at least two opposing sides. In our specific case, the problem arose from the fact that the roles were already set in stone the first day I woke up in this Simulacrum thing. In particular, bad guys already had their part designated to them by default.

We talked about this with the girls concerning my potential slide into designated villain territory, but at least one part of Judy's observations was rock solid: I've been, without question, collecting the designated baddies under my wings since the beginning. It wasn't exactly a deliberate plan on my end, but I guess in retrospect I could say that I might've been unconsciously going out of my way to do it. As for the 'why', the reason was quite prosaic: it's because none of it was their fault.

Snowy was literal mind-controlled into kidnapping Josh, the Fauns were just doing their job, Fred was caught up in a conspiracy, Rinne was under the influence of a crazy sword that was under the influence of an enchantment oversight, while the Knights were simply trapped in a blood-feud they couldn't get out of even if they tried. More importantly though, all of them were very obviously set on their collision course with us by the Narrative. In a way, they had their agency taken away for the sake of whatever Plot this Simulacrum world was supposed to play out. Blaming them for their actions would be about as puerile as blaming an actor for playing the bad guy in a movie.

However, I made exactly one exception to this rule. Or, to be more precise, I didn't really make him an exception, but rather instead my normal modus operandi was overridden by more immediate concern. I never blamed Crowey for his role as the bad guy, just like I would not blame a hungry tiger for trying to eat someone. However, if said tiger tried to eat me or my friends, I wouldn't think about whether it was good or evil or had its reasons; if it's a threat, it gets put down. End of story.

Really, the only reason why I restrained myself to only annoying and subtly sabotaging Crowey all this time was because I was afraid that if I crossed the line, it couldn't be taken back. Not just because it would make justifying any such future actions easier, but because it could affect the world in unpredictable ways. The last thing I needed right now was to accidentally cause the Simulacrum to slip into a Cerebus Syndrome.

"So somebody is either a threat or not?"

"That's a very simplified way to put it, but it's not incorrect. I generally try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but if they cross certain lines…" I purposefully paused here, and my guest let out an audible gulp. He was always a bit jumpy, but the way he was reacting to my words was even worse than usual. Anyhow, we went off the track a bit, so I figured it was time I re-railed the conversation. "But enough about my personal moral philosophy. You said you're designated to be my liaison, right? That means your higher-ups expect that I would want to contact them."

"P-Probably, yes?"

I sent the guy a flat stare, which he refused to meet, so I had no choice but to be blunt.

"The Celestial Intelligence Network wouldn't have sent you to my doorstep if they didn't have something in mind. What exactly do they want?"

The newbie Celestial agent remained nervously silent, but he soon cracked under my stare and let out a defeated groan.

"I… was told to ask you something, but after the conversation we just had…"

"Just spit it out. I promise I won't be mad at you."

"Oh, okay." Mike took a deep breath to collect himself and approached the topic from an unexpected angle. "So, I imagine you know that there was a significant Oathbreaker presence on Timaeus. Oh, right, you probably know them as the Brotherhood of the—"

"I'm familiar with your terminology, please continue."

"U-Understood. So, the thing is, we had people monitoring them, but then one night they all just vanished."

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"The surveillance team, or the Knights?" I asked to keep up appearances, and he hastily corrected himself.

"I meant the Oathbreakers. Sorry, I should've been more precise. My bad." He took another deep breath to collect himself, then continued with, "When our people investigated the area, they found traces of a Restricted Space, but no signs of battle. It's quite mysterious, really."

"So your bosses want to know if I know where they are now."

"Not really. I-I mean, there was a commotion at the Dracis estate the same night, so it wasn't hard to figure out what happened. The thing that really bothers us is the timing." I raised a brow here, and he hastily clarified, "So, we all know that the Draconians are about to hold a big conference, right? They didn't even try to hide it. That's why the Oathbreakers were on the island, right? But then they got eliminated or captured or something, so now the higher-ups are worried about the conference. I mean, if the Draconians formed a united front and they weren't opposed by the Oathbreakers, it would seriously upset the political landscape of the Mystics."

"I get that. What does this have to do with me?" I asked, trying to feign ignorance about how literally everything had to do with me.

"You see… The problem is that we don't really have that many agents in the Draconian families. They are too focused on bloodlines and some of them can even smell them. As in, literally. They take a whiff, and they can tell you're a Celestial, and then you're done for!" At this point, Mike realized he was using his hands to wildly gesticulate, so he crossed his arms and cleared his throat in embarrassment. "A-Anyways, the problem is that the meeting is going to be held behind closed doors, and we can't get in, but since you're dating the Dracis heir, the higher-ups thought that you might be able to, and so… well… you know?"

"… You want me to spy and report on the conference," I stated flatly, and the guy immediately uncrossed his arms and began waving them like he was attacked by a swarm of angry bees.

"No-no! I don't want you to! It's my boss' boss who thinks you might be able to maybe do it if you wanted to… but I don't think you would, right?" I remained silent, so he finally let his hands down in the company of a long sigh and added, "You see? This is why I didn't even want to bring this up anymore. I mean, I know you're an information broker, but I doubt you'd consider selling out your in-laws, especially after that whole discussion about morality."

"You're right on that point," I told him in a level voice. "Just for the record though, next time you try to negotiate with an information broker, you might want to abstain from giving out so many details about your operations."

"I… I'm still new to this field agent thing, so… Thank you for the advice?"

"You're welcome." I paused here to collect my thoughts, and then said, "By the way, tell your superiors that I would consider their offer."

"You would?" Mike all but exclaimed in surprise, so I gave him a serious nod.

"Certainly. It would naturally depend on the nature and conclusion of the negotiations, but so long as it doesn't endanger me and my inner circle, and you can make it worth my time, I would be foolish to categorically deny their offer."

"Is… that so?"

Of course, the main reason why I wanted to play along, for now, was so that I could sneak in some fake intel if necessary. Forming the new united Draconic/Knight faction was already a tricky undertaking, and the last thing I needed was the Celestials in the mix. If I refused to cooperate, they would just try to use other means, which could potentially lead to them interfering in my plans. However, if they thought they already had a spy inside, it would hopefully make them complacent, and delivering a few fake reports could potentially buy us the time we needed to consolidate things.

"In conclusion, I'll contact you in case I hear anything that might interest your superiors. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing related to Celestial business, I think, but…" Mike scratched the back of his head, and after some vacillation, he came out with, "I… have a more personal request, but I don't know how to say it after all of this."

"Is it about Ammy?" I inquired, and he stared at me like he thought I could read his mind. "Don't give me that look. What other personal topic could you want to talk about with me?"

"I… guess you're right," he mumbled. I waited for him to collect his thoughts, or courage, and at last he said, "I don't know if she told you about it, but we're… well, we're not quite dating, but I think we hit it off. I mean, I think I like her, and I don't think she dislikes me, and… and I'm rambling. Give me a second." At this point, he took several quick breaths, then sharply exhaled and told me, "It's just that I think something happened recently, and she's been keeping her distance, and I wanted to ask you if you could maybe tell me, or just have an idea, or… I don't know. Something."

I adopted a critical stare, but no matter how I looked, Mike appeared completely sincere. At last, I simply asked, "When did this start?"

"It's been a little over two weeks now," the hapless Celestial answered with equal measures of apprehension and expectation. "I think it started after Mister Jaacobah came to the island and I couldn't go with her to do… well, you know what we did, right?"

"You burglarized School property for sensitive documents. Yes, I'm aware."

He wasn't very happy with my choice of words, but couldn't refute me either, so he just continued.

"At first I thought she was mad at me because I couldn't accompany her, and I've heard that she ran into some trouble and they were almost captured, but when I asked her about it, she said it wasn't my fault and that she wasn't angry. But then, when I tried to invite her to the cinema, she said she wasn't feeling well, and she avoided meeting with me ever since."

"To be fair, our mid-terms just ended, so she might've been just busy."

"I know, but… I just feel that something's off, but I can't figure out what it is. I thought about asking Joshua, but that would've been awkward, so I figured I'd ask you for advice. Did I do something wrong? Did I mess up?"

"No, I wouldn't say so," I answered while the gears in my head were already turning.

So if this started after the fight with Sahi. In other words, it was either because she was down after nearly being caught, or… Dammit, this has something to do with the whole 'homunculus' thing, doesn't it? One of these days, I seriously had to sit down with the class rep and pry this mystery out of her, or it will drive me crazy. But that's for later, now back to the conversation at hand.

"Let's just say that Amelia has a secret that got revealed around that time, so she was probably just stressed out."

"Secret? What kind of secret?"

"I obviously can't tell, but… Let's just say I personally don't think it's a big deal. She does though, so you probably shouldn't ask directly."

Mike nodded along, but then asked, "Sooo… should I say it indirectly? Or should I tell her I don't mind if she keeps some secrets? Or… maybe I should ask if she had a secret, and then tell her it doesn't matter? Would that be more natural?"

"It's a question for you to figure out," I said with a shrug. "Just remember that she's not keeping her distance because of you. I mean, probably. I'm not a mind reader, but she certainly doesn't seem to be mad at you."

"You have no idea how happy that makes me," he responded with a toothy grin, but then the expression on his face withered into a troubled frown. "But… when should I tell her all that? Doing it through the phone feels wrong somehow…"

For a second or five, I hesitated, but I ultimately figured I was already embroiled in the topic, so I might as well go the extra mile and give him some proper advice.

"If you're worried about that, I recommend asking her out on a date during our school festival. It's apparently a prime date venue."

"You mean, like… a proper date?"

"Sure. You already had a few of those, right?"

"I… I'm not sure. We watched a few movies and hung out in the city, but we never had a proper date. At least I don't think so."

"It's your call, but if you want to clear the air, it's definitely the best opportunity. You can also come and watch her performance." He was giving me an uncomprehending look, so I clarified, "Our class is putting up an idol concert, and Ammy is part of the group."

"She's going to sing? On a stage? In one of those frilly uniforms?"

Last I checked, she was only doing the dance and some background humming, but I nodded anyway, and the guy's eyes opened wide in alarm.

"Is something wrong?"

"N-No, it's just that… I wonder how popular she'll be after that…"

"She's already one of the most popular girls in school," I told him off-handedly.

"She is?"

"That's half the reason why she was elected to perform," I told him, and Mike's expression went through about five different flavors of anxiety. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, nothing," he denied in a hurry. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll definitely, definitely ask her out!"

"Do as you will. I have no horse in this race," I said with another shrug, but then added, "Just be sure you know what you're getting into."

Hearing my stray words made the guy freeze up like I just dumped a bucket of cold water over his head.

"What do you mean?"

"Do I have to spell this out?" He was still confused, so I rolled my eyes and said, "You're a Celestial agent now. She's the granddaughter of the local Arch-mage. If anyone gets a whiff of this, they are going to assume you're trying to get close to her as part of some spy operation."

"But… I'm not."

"I'm inclined to believe you, but that's just me. Endymonion certainly won't let this slide, and your superiors will surely want you to capitalize on your position. Either way, the day might come when you'll have to choose a side. Just make sure you're aware of this before you take a dive."

"I'll…" Mike wrestled with his thoughts for a while, and ultimately told me, "Thank you for the warning."

"Don't mention it."

After this, we remained silent for a couple of minutes, but whatever my guest was thinking, he didn't say. At the end of the day, he let out a heavy breath and rose to his feet.

"I think I should leave. I have to think this through." I didn't hold him back, but simply led him to the entrance and waited for him to put on his coat. It was only when he was fully dressed that he turned back to me and said, "If you want to contact the Intelligence Network, just call me."

Under normal circumstances, I would've simply nodded and let the guy go on his merry way, but looking at his conflicted expression tickled the unrepentant meddler in me.

"I'll do that. Also, in case you can't resolve your loyalties, you're also free to contact me."

"… What do you mean?"

"Let's just say I'm someone who's a bit of an expert at putting a third option into binary dilemmas. In other words, don't sweat it too much, and you can consider me your backup."

"I…" He hesitated, but then the tension slowly left his shoulders and he gave me a thin-lipped smile. "Thanks, Leonard. I owe you one. I mean, another one."

"Again, don't mention it."

With that, we said our goodbyes, and Mike left the premises with heavy, yet steady steps.

As for me, I locked the door behind me and closed my eyes. Honestly speaking, I knew that supporting the budding relationship between Mike and the class rep would probably lead to troubles, hijinks, and potentially even shenanigans. While they weren't at each other's throats like the Draconians and the Knights, the Mages and the Celestials had about as much bad blood between them. There was no way in hell it would work out without any issues, but if the guy was willing to jump into the deep end, I figured I should at least throw him a lifebelt.

It was the least I could do as a fellow victim of the Romeo & Juliet archetype…

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