The reception room was plunged into a chilly silence. Sitting on one of the benches by the far wall, I continued to lock gazes with Mountain Girl, yet even as the tension (and awkwardness) of our staring contest caused the air to positively crackle, she refused to back down. Behind her, a combination of Ichiko, the slightly more distinct kuniochi with their fishnet garbs, and Odango Girl (for reasons I'll explain later) also stared at me in rapt silence, their eyes pleading for me to reconsider my stance.
Needless to say, I soon grew tired of this whole thing and exhaled a long, resigned groan while simultaneously pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.
"Oh, fine. You can follow me in my shadow," I ultimately relented, and the two little girls in the back looked like they were about to start celebrating before I raised a palm to forestall any cutesy noises and whatnot. "However, we can't have you do that while looking like your usual self. If you manage to put together a decently convincing Celestial disguise by the time I have to leave, you can come with me. If not, the deal's off."
"Rinne understands!" she declared with altogether too much gusto, and the tiny fox and the tiny dragon both squeed in excitement before they grabbed hold of Mountain Girl's hands.
"Come on, Rinne-san! We'll help!"
"Yes! This is going to be so much fun!" Xiao agreed with an ear-to-ear grin, not even attempting to hide the fact she was only tagging along to play around.
Before long, the small group left the room, allowing me to let out another groan, this time one of exhaustion. After my talk with Roland, I planned to return to the meeting right away. Instead, when we opened the door, we found everyone clustered in front of it all over again. Worse yet, they took my private discussion with Mr. Griffon as a precedent, and so instead of one big meeting, it turned into a long chain of individual sessions instead.
First, Fred took the opportunity to take a couple of readings of my head with his kooky devices and then ran back to his workshop to analyse them. He barely even left the room when the whole Dracis household burst in, and I had to endure a heady mixture of mom-in-law's worry-fuelled nagging, dad-in-law's love-bombing, and Melinda's teasing. The old butler was also there, but he restrained himself to a few sarcastic remarks here and there, and assuring me that if I asked nicely, he was willing to help me out. That would've been reassuring, but no matter how nicely I asked, I couldn't get him to save me from the affections of my in-laws.
Right after that, Brang, Arnwald, and Sahi came over to give me a status report on our 'military affairs' (their words, not mine), mostly concerned with maintaining the security of the secret base, the Dracis mansion, my house, and the School. Apparently, the ex-arch-mage was here as a liaison tying us to Lord Grandpa. I would've expected that he'd rather use Peabody, or even the Class Rep, for something like that, but apparently, the brown girl was really insistent about grabbing the role, at least if Pascal was to be believed.
For the record, all those 'military affairs' boiled down to 'Keep up the status quo, and have a bunch more secret patrols in the city while looking for Celestial shenanigans'. Not much to write home about.
Then, following their departure, I was caught by the Feilongs, whereas Naoren gave me an update on the political situation with both the Assembly, as well as within the Draconic Federation. Apparently this 'provocative attack on the Federation', as he put it, lit a fire under the butts of many of the more hesitant members, and due to that, Naoren could push a bunch of legislation and bills through that were previously the subjects of heated debates. It was all very dry and boring, so I had him boil it down to the simple question of 'Was that a good thing for us?', which he answered with a confident 'Yes.' That was good enough for me.
Right on their heels followed Rinne and the Kage ninjas, plus Ichiko, and they really, really wanted to follow after me, so that they could stop any future 'kidnapping' incidents. Originally all of them wanted to hide in my shadow, but after intense negotiations, I only gave permission to Mountain Girl. I still felt like I fell into their trap, and giving me such an outrageous proposal was precisely for making me accept a slightly more reasonable one down the line, but for the record, I was getting too tired to argue with them. At worst, I'd just claim that her disguise wasn't good enough, and then I'd leave before they could object, I figured.
Anyhow, after that group left, I didn't even bother getting up from my bench, and true to form, a new duo replaced the last group the moment they stepped over the threshold. The only surprising part was their identities, as I honestly didn't expect that Penny and Snowy would also make an appearance. However, before I could even get a word in, my knightly sister dashed towards me without any prior warning, leapt into the air, and then landed on the bench butt first before letting out a wail and tumbling to the side so that her head landed squarely on my lap.
"I can't believe it! It can't be true!" she yelled while hiding her face with her hands, and after a long beat, I glanced up at my other sister. When our eyes met, I could read 'Sorry, I tried to stop her,' on her face, so I flashed a reassuring smile at her and, while she closed the metal door, I turned my attention back to the overdramatic girl still resting her head on my thighs.
"Come on, kiddo. Don't be like that," I chided her while simultaneously patting her frazzled hair, but it did little good.
After another whimper, she parted her fingers so that she could look at me, and asked, "Brother, are you sure Uncle Percy betrayed us? Maybe it was someone else disguised as him? There's no way he would've done something like that, right? It has to be some kind of misunderstanding!"
"… No, I'm two hundred percent sure it was him all right."
That made her pause for a moment, then she abruptly sat up and let her hands down and balled her fingers into fists.
"Argh! I'm sooo mad! How could he do something like that!? He raised us! We trusted him! I trusted him! I just wanna grab him, and squeeze him, and make him explain himself, right now!"
"Penny, calm down." This time, it was Snowy's turn to chide her, and she held her raised fists in her own hands. "Weren't you listening to Leo? We can't let him know that we know yet. We have to make him think that we fell for his plan, right?"
"That's no longer a core part of the plan, so you don't have to worry about that," I responded to my Abyssal sister's questioning gaze and turned back to Penny. "We're going to do something about Percival in a day or two at worst, so maybe it would be for the best if you didn't meet with him until then. Just to be sure."
"Right. I understand," Penny mumbled, not sounding very convinced at all. "But… I mean, what if he had a really good reason to do what he did? Maybe we could try talking to him first? It's possible that he genuinely thought that it was for the best, and he was doing it for you? I mean, he might've been mistaken, but maybe he wasn't malicious about it. Wouldn't that mean that he's not a bad guy?"
"Kiddo, please. Don't make up excuses for him. Sir Percival was a Celestial mole from the beginning. Whatever his intentions were, he had already made his bed a long time ago, and now, it's time for him to lie in it."
"I… I know…" Penny muttered, suddenly sniffling, and then before I could react, she tumbled over again, her head impacting on my thighs once more, and then started softly sobbing while hiding her face. Since my right hand was still in its previous position, I absently resumed stroking her head and turned my attention to the other girl in the room.
"Can I help in any way?" Snowy asked, looking curiously determined. "I could try to question him? Maybe he'd let his guard down around me."
"No, that's not going to happen," I rebuked her on the spot and shook my head for extra emphasis. "He has a massive hate-boner for Abyssals and was only pretending to be nice to you. If anything, I'd like to ask you to avoid him as much as possible." Pausing, I glanced at the silent girl on my lap, and added, "That said, if you want to help, can I ask you to keep a watch on Penny, so that she wouldn't do anything stupid?"
"I won't do any such thing!" the frazzled redhead exclaimed and sat up again, her resolute exclamation made only slightly less convincing by her puffed-up eyes and the tear stains on my pants. "I'm a proud Knight of the Ordo Draconis! I won't let my emotions sway me from fulfilling my duty! If brother tells me Uncle Percy is a baddy, then I'll treat him as such!"
"… Wow, kiddo. You speed-ran the five stages of grief in record time, didn't you?"
"Argh! Don't tease me! I'm serious!"
Chuckling, I tousled my pouting sister's hair for the third time today, and the atmosphere between the three of us was getting pleasantly cozy… right until the nearby metal door opened with a metallic creak that told me it needed more lubrication.
"Hey, boss? Are you free?" Fred asked, his head poking through the gap, and while my initial reaction was to tell him that we still had some heart-to-heart stuff to do, Penny beat me to the punch.
"I feel much better now," she declared and sprung to her feet. "Thanks, brother."
"I did nothing," I said a touch flatly, as I really didn't.
She didn't mind though, and grabbed hold of Snowy's hand.
"Come, s-sis…" She stuttered, but then she steeled her resolve and squeezed her hand even harder. "General Brang said he's going to barbecue some patties for the guests! Let's go and help him!"
"Really? It's been a while," Snowy muttered and allowed herself to be pulled out of the room.
"Have fun!" I called after them, accompanied by a wave of my hand, but even before they left, I couldn't help but wonder just what gave the old Faun the idea.
It wasn't a bad one, mind you, but a sudden barbecue party felt oddly laid-back, considering the circumstances. Though again, if I asked Roland, he would've probably told me my attitude rubbed off on them, so I figured I probably shouldn't dwell on the issue.
Meanwhile, Fred, Galatea, and one of the other senior Research Society members (the guy with the high-tech plague doctor mask, whose face I'd yet to see in person) replaced my sisters in front of me.
"Ki-hi-hi! We're done, boss!" my chief mad scientist declared, his bloodshot eyes looking rather unnerving. He apparently didn't sleep at all since my disappearance, trying to figure out a way to find me, which would've been pretty heartening, except it made him look and act even more erratically than usual.
"These readings are truly fascinating! I can't believe Robatto kept all of this for himself for so long!" Mr. Plague Doctor echoed him, if not in words, then in enthusiasm.
Out of the three of them, only Galatea looked normal, or at least as 'normal' as a busty android with glowing metallic fins for ears could be. She was carrying a clipboard with a handful of freshly printed pages on them, and when our eyes met, she lightly knocked against it with her finger.
"We would like to report that the analysis of Grandmaster's most recent manametric readings is complete. My logic engines indicate a zero-point-two percent margin of error, deemed insignificant."
"I'm listening."
After a prompted them, Fred let out another grating chuckle and began to animatedly gesture with his hands, causing his crumpled white coat to billow left and right.
"Guess what, boss? Do you remember all those really weird and inconclusive data we got a couple of weeks ago?"
"When you were trying to analyse my soul?"
It was one of the smaller experiments we did a while back, mostly just out of curiosity. One of the weirder quirks of my powers was that, while I could interact with the souls of other people using my phantom limbs, when I tried to do the same to myself, instead of a multicolour yarn-ball, I was always greeted with the space-between-spaces of absolute nonexistence, a few not-dark not-rooms notwithstanding.
Unfortunately, when Fred tried to use his cutting-edge equipment to shed some light on this mystery, all we got was a bunch of gibberish. Or, at the very least, that's what he told me; to me, even the control test we did on his soul looked just as nonsensical, but hey, Galatea confirmed it, and she was at least marginally more trustworthy than our resident mad scientist, and not necessarily because of her insistence that she wasn't programmed to be able to lie.
"Soul is such an unscientific term…" Mr. Plague Doctor scoffed, but Fred didn't mind and continued his explanation completely unabated.
"Yes! Yes, that one! We thought that it was inconclusive because of your inherent anti-mystic properties interfering with the procedure, but when we compared the new readings to the old ones, we made an amazing discovery!"
"I'm still listening."
The two mad scientists shared an excited glance (or at least I presumed, but it was hard to tell with the beaked mask and all), and Mr. Plague Doctor stepped forth.
"Upon perusing the data Robatto shared with me, I came to the sudden and enlightening realization that your consciousness… has holes in it!"
I must've looked skeptical, because Galatea soon added, "In layman's terms, the reason behind compilation errors during Grandmaster's first analysis was caused by several missing sections within the records. We presumed they were caused by faulty equipment or phasic interference, but with the new data, we can say with eighty-one-point-two percent certainty that Grandmaster's soul… has holes in it."
Before I could get a word in, Fred got in front of me and clapped to get my attention, making me completely forget to chew Galatea out for that non-explanation.
"Listen, boss! The gist of it is that you don't just have run-of-the-mill amnesia, but parts of your soul were carved out! As in, imagine that your soul was made of ice cream, and someone grabbed a scoop and just took whole chunks out of it! It's crazy, but do you know what's crazier!?" Once again, I didn't get a chance to react, as Fred snatched the clipboard out of Galatea's hands and put it in front of my face as if the lines of variously coloured numbers and symbols were speaking for themselves. "Look at this!"
"… I'm looking at it, but all I'm seeing is my patience getting tried."
My grumbles caused Mr. Plague Doctor to yank the clipboard away from Fred and clear his throat.
"Let me explain. The reason why we realized that your consciousness has gaps in it was due to the new memories you absorbed." He paused to turn the page, and then repeatedly tapped his finger against the clipboard. "Such as right here. These new records helped to delineate the extent of the gaps."
"And not only that!" Fred elbowed his way back into the forefront with a frantic grin on his face, "But the strangest part is that these aren't alien records! They could be absorbed so easily into you because they fit right into the holes in your soul!"
"What Master is trying to say…" Stepping in, Galatea grabbed Fred by the back of his collar and pulled him away from me, "… is that Grandmaster's soul was a perfect match."
"Indeed," Mr. Plague Mask declared with a triumphant note in his voice. "It is to say, your consciousness seemingly had these gaps in it precisely so that it could accept the stored memories of this 'Polemos' person! It's truly fascinating, and…" He paused tilting his head down before asking, "Could I borrow the vessel that stored those memories for a few weeks? No, a single week should suffice! It would push my research ahead by decades!"
"Sorry, but I kind of need Teeny to keep up my disguise in the Elysium."
"Then how about after your return?"
"I'll think about it."
"Please do! This could lead to the breakthrough of the century!"
"Ignore him, boss, and listen to me!" Fred practically pushed his colleague to the side and locked eyes with me. "The really important thing you have to consider is that, normally, absorbing partial memories like that would drive someone mad on the spot! The only reason you came out of it unscathed was because of the perfect compatibility you had with them, but there's no telling if they wouldn't cause any problems in the future!"
"I understand. So?"
"So we need to continue to monitor the process! Ideally, you should come back every day for a checkup, so that we can hook you up to the manametrics system and can compare and contrast your readings! Of course, this would require some investment…"
"What Master is trying to say is that we request extra funding for equipment," Galatea cut in, and Mr. Plague Doctor nodded along so hard, I was afraid his beak would fall off.
Sighing, and waved them away and muttered, "Sure, do whatever you want."
"Yesss!"
Ignoring Fred's fist-pumping, my eyes were drawn to the masked mad scientist.
"We'll strive to thoroughly document every development and to make sure your consciousness remains stable, of course. That said, if you could just sign this waiver while you still possess all your mental faculties, it would certainly help our peace of mind, and—"
"I don't really have the patience for this right now," I growled, and after a momentary pause, he hid the clipboard behind his back and backed away.
"I'll assemble the requisition form," Galatea stated a touch laconically and followed after the retreating weirdo, and without support, Fred also followed after them.
Needless to say, I could barely get a sigh through my teeth before someone new stepped through the doorway, though this time the people in question were a sight for sore eyes.
"Hi, Chief," Judy greeted me while Elly closed the door behind them, and once she got closer, she casually handed over a bratwurst on a skewer.
"Thanks. Brang's already at it?"
"It's from the first batch," my dear assistant explained, and then blew on her own barbecued goodness. "Be careful, it's still hot. Elly already burned her tongue."
"I just wanted to finish it before we came in here," my draconic girlfriend sulked as she made her way over to my side and sat down next to me. I gently pushed her away a bit, so that I could move and make space for Judy on my other side, and once we settled down, the princess rested her head against my shoulder.
In the meantime, Judy also sat down, followed by a quiet moment filled with delighted sighs on my left and incessant blowing on my right. It didn't last long though, as the princess soon poked my side to get my attention.
"Hey, Leo? Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, I'm just an ever-so-tiny-bit totally mentally exhausted."
"Be careful with your skewer," Judy warned me and readjusted the way I was holding it. "You'll get grease on your clothes. White stains easily."
"Thanks, Dormouse." For emphasis, I planted a quick peck on the top of her head, and then mirrored the action on the princess as well, in the name of equality.
"So, what now?" Elly inquired after a delighted chuckle. "Are we going to talk about the Narrative?"
"That's the plan." Judy very carefully touched the bratwurst she was carrying with the tip of her tongue, but it was apparently still too hot, as she proceeded to blow on it a few more times before she added, "We had a whole morning to consider things, and I think I have a good idea of the current plot."
"That makes one of us," I grumbled as I bit into my treat, and while it was definitely still very hot, after my recent vegetarian meals, I was starving for some meat protein.
"Then let's get started!" Elly exclaimed and tried to entwine her fingers with mine on my free hand, but before we could get anywhere, the door suddenly opened again, revealing.
"Ue-sama! Look!"
Ichiko burst into the reception room and fell to one knee, her arms pointing towards the open doorway, like a showman presenting a new attraction. A second or two later Odango Girl also rushed in, trying to do her best to mirror her pose, except on the other side of the doorframe.
"Look, Brother Leonard! We did it!"
Just as she said that, a third person appeared at the entrance. Mountain Girl (based on the context, I was pretty sure it was her) was wearing a literal white bed sheet tied around her waist and shoulder to vaguely resemble a toga, a pair of steel-insert work boots, and a featureless silver helmet without a visor that completely hid her face, which I recognized as one of the prototypes Fred made in the process of trying to replicate the enchantments of the Knights' gear. Its completely featureless, matte white surface was a little disconcerting, but not nearly as much as the fact that this was all she was wearing at the moment.
Then, as if to explain what happened, a certain Celestial girl stuck her head through the door and declared, "I helped too!"
Blinking slowly, I exhaled a shallow breath, and after counting to ten, I handed my half-eaten bratwurst over to the princess, and grumbled, in a low voice, "Let's put the discussion on hold for a minute. This won't take long…"
The reception room was plunged into a chilly silence. Sitting on one of the benches by the far wall, I continued to lock gazes with Mountain Girl, yet even as the tension (and awkwardness) of our staring contest caused the air to positively crackle, she refused to back down. Behind her, a combination of Ichiko, the slightly more distinct kuniochi with their fishnet garbs, and Odango Girl (for reasons I'll explain later) also stared at me in rapt silence, their eyes pleading for me to reconsider my stance.
Needless to say, I soon grew tired of this whole thing and exhaled a long, resigned groan while simultaneously pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger.
"Oh, fine. You can follow me in my shadow," I ultimately relented, and the two little girls in the back looked like they were about to start celebrating before I raised a palm to forestall any cutesy noises and whatnot. "However, we can't have you do that while looking like your usual self. If you manage to put together a decently convincing Celestial disguise by the time I have to leave, you can come with me. If not, the deal's off."
"Rinne understands!" she declared with altogether too much gusto, and the tiny fox and the tiny dragon both squeed in excitement before they grabbed hold of Mountain Girl's hands.
"Come on, Rinne-san! We'll help!"
"Yes! This is going to be so much fun!" Xiao agreed with an ear-to-ear grin, not even attempting to hide the fact she was only tagging along to play around.
Before long, the small group left the room, allowing me to let out another groan, this time one of exhaustion. After my talk with Roland, I planned to return to the meeting right away. Instead, when we opened the door, we found everyone clustered in front of it all over again. Worse yet, they took my private discussion with Mr. Griffon as a precedent, and so instead of one big meeting, it turned into a long chain of individual sessions instead.
First, Fred took the opportunity to take a couple of readings of my head with his kooky devices and then ran back to his workshop to analyse them. He barely even left the room when the whole Dracis household burst in, and I had to endure a heady mixture of mom-in-law's worry-fuelled nagging, dad-in-law's love-bombing, and Melinda's teasing. The old butler was also there, but he restrained himself to a few sarcastic remarks here and there, and assuring me that if I asked nicely, he was willing to help me out. That would've been reassuring, but no matter how nicely I asked, I couldn't get him to save me from the affections of my in-laws.
Right after that, Brang, Arnwald, and Sahi came over to give me a status report on our 'military affairs' (their words, not mine), mostly concerned with maintaining the security of the secret base, the Dracis mansion, my house, and the School. Apparently, the ex-arch-mage was here as a liaison tying us to Lord Grandpa. I would've expected that he'd rather use Peabody, or even the Class Rep, for something like that, but apparently, the brown girl was really insistent about grabbing the role, at least if Pascal was to be believed.
For the record, all those 'military affairs' boiled down to 'Keep up the status quo, and have a bunch more secret patrols in the city while looking for Celestial shenanigans'. Not much to write home about.
Then, following their departure, I was caught by the Feilongs, whereas Naoren gave me an update on the political situation with both the Assembly, as well as within the Draconic Federation. Apparently this 'provocative attack on the Federation', as he put it, lit a fire under the butts of many of the more hesitant members, and due to that, Naoren could push a bunch of legislation and bills through that were previously the subjects of heated debates. It was all very dry and boring, so I had him boil it down to the simple question of 'Was that a good thing for us?', which he answered with a confident 'Yes.' That was good enough for me.
Right on their heels followed Rinne and the Kage ninjas, plus Ichiko, and they really, really wanted to follow after me, so that they could stop any future 'kidnapping' incidents. Originally all of them wanted to hide in my shadow, but after intense negotiations, I only gave permission to Mountain Girl. I still felt like I fell into their trap, and giving me such an outrageous proposal was precisely for making me accept a slightly more reasonable one down the line, but for the record, I was getting too tired to argue with them. At worst, I'd just claim that her disguise wasn't good enough, and then I'd leave before they could object, I figured.
Anyhow, after that group left, I didn't even bother getting up from my bench, and true to form, a new duo replaced the last group the moment they stepped over the threshold. The only surprising part was their identities, as I honestly didn't expect that Penny and Snowy would also make an appearance. However, before I could even get a word in, my knightly sister dashed towards me without any prior warning, leapt into the air, and then landed on the bench butt first before letting out a wail and tumbling to the side so that her head landed squarely on my lap.
"I can't believe it! It can't be true!" she yelled while hiding her face with her hands, and after a long beat, I glanced up at my other sister. When our eyes met, I could read 'Sorry, I tried to stop her,' on her face, so I flashed a reassuring smile at her and, while she closed the metal door, I turned my attention back to the overdramatic girl still resting her head on my thighs.
"Come on, kiddo. Don't be like that," I chided her while simultaneously patting her frazzled hair, but it did little good.
After another whimper, she parted her fingers so that she could look at me, and asked, "Brother, are you sure Uncle Percy betrayed us? Maybe it was someone else disguised as him? There's no way he would've done something like that, right? It has to be some kind of misunderstanding!"
"… No, I'm two hundred percent sure it was him all right."
That made her pause for a moment, then she abruptly sat up and let her hands down and balled her fingers into fists.
"Argh! I'm sooo mad! How could he do something like that!? He raised us! We trusted him! I trusted him! I just wanna grab him, and squeeze him, and make him explain himself, right now!"
"Penny, calm down." This time, it was Snowy's turn to chide her, and she held her raised fists in her own hands. "Weren't you listening to Leo? We can't let him know that we know yet. We have to make him think that we fell for his plan, right?"
"That's no longer a core part of the plan, so you don't have to worry about that," I responded to my Abyssal sister's questioning gaze and turned back to Penny. "We're going to do something about Percival in a day or two at worst, so maybe it would be for the best if you didn't meet with him until then. Just to be sure."
"Right. I understand," Penny mumbled, not sounding very convinced at all. "But… I mean, what if he had a really good reason to do what he did? Maybe we could try talking to him first? It's possible that he genuinely thought that it was for the best, and he was doing it for you? I mean, he might've been mistaken, but maybe he wasn't malicious about it. Wouldn't that mean that he's not a bad guy?"
"Kiddo, please. Don't make up excuses for him. Sir Percival was a Celestial mole from the beginning. Whatever his intentions were, he had already made his bed a long time ago, and now, it's time for him to lie in it."
"I… I know…" Penny muttered, suddenly sniffling, and then before I could react, she tumbled over again, her head impacting on my thighs once more, and then started softly sobbing while hiding her face. Since my right hand was still in its previous position, I absently resumed stroking her head and turned my attention to the other girl in the room.
"Can I help in any way?" Snowy asked, looking curiously determined. "I could try to question him? Maybe he'd let his guard down around me."
"No, that's not going to happen," I rebuked her on the spot and shook my head for extra emphasis. "He has a massive hate-boner for Abyssals and was only pretending to be nice to you. If anything, I'd like to ask you to avoid him as much as possible." Pausing, I glanced at the silent girl on my lap, and added, "That said, if you want to help, can I ask you to keep a watch on Penny, so that she wouldn't do anything stupid?"
"I won't do any such thing!" the frazzled redhead exclaimed and sat up again, her resolute exclamation made only slightly less convincing by her puffed-up eyes and the tear stains on my pants. "I'm a proud Knight of the Ordo Draconis! I won't let my emotions sway me from fulfilling my duty! If brother tells me Uncle Percy is a baddy, then I'll treat him as such!"
"… Wow, kiddo. You speed-ran the five stages of grief in record time, didn't you?"
"Argh! Don't tease me! I'm serious!"
Chuckling, I tousled my pouting sister's hair for the third time today, and the atmosphere between the three of us was getting pleasantly cozy… right until the nearby metal door opened with a metallic creak that told me it needed more lubrication.
"Hey, boss? Are you free?" Fred asked, his head poking through the gap, and while my initial reaction was to tell him that we still had some heart-to-heart stuff to do, Penny beat me to the punch.
"I feel much better now," she declared and sprung to her feet. "Thanks, brother."
"I did nothing," I said a touch flatly, as I really didn't.
She didn't mind though, and grabbed hold of Snowy's hand.
"Come, s-sis…" She stuttered, but then she steeled her resolve and squeezed her hand even harder. "General Brang said he's going to barbecue some patties for the guests! Let's go and help him!"
"Really? It's been a while," Snowy muttered and allowed herself to be pulled out of the room.
"Have fun!" I called after them, accompanied by a wave of my hand, but even before they left, I couldn't help but wonder just what gave the old Faun the idea.
It wasn't a bad one, mind you, but a sudden barbecue party felt oddly laid-back, considering the circumstances. Though again, if I asked Roland, he would've probably told me my attitude rubbed off on them, so I figured I probably shouldn't dwell on the issue.
Meanwhile, Fred, Galatea, and one of the other senior Research Society members (the guy with the high-tech plague doctor mask, whose face I'd yet to see in person) replaced my sisters in front of me.
"Ki-hi-hi! We're done, boss!" my chief mad scientist declared, his bloodshot eyes looking rather unnerving. He apparently didn't sleep at all since my disappearance, trying to figure out a way to find me, which would've been pretty heartening, except it made him look and act even more erratically than usual.
"These readings are truly fascinating! I can't believe Robatto kept all of this for himself for so long!" Mr. Plague Doctor echoed him, if not in words, then in enthusiasm.
Out of the three of them, only Galatea looked normal, or at least as 'normal' as a busty android with glowing metallic fins for ears could be. She was carrying a clipboard with a handful of freshly printed pages on them, and when our eyes met, she lightly knocked against it with her finger.
"We would like to report that the analysis of Grandmaster's most recent manametric readings is complete. My logic engines indicate a zero-point-two percent margin of error, deemed insignificant."
"I'm listening."
After a prompted them, Fred let out another grating chuckle and began to animatedly gesture with his hands, causing his crumpled white coat to billow left and right.
"Guess what, boss? Do you remember all those really weird and inconclusive data we got a couple of weeks ago?"
"When you were trying to analyse my soul?"
It was one of the smaller experiments we did a while back, mostly just out of curiosity. One of the weirder quirks of my powers was that, while I could interact with the souls of other people using my phantom limbs, when I tried to do the same to myself, instead of a multicolour yarn-ball, I was always greeted with the space-between-spaces of absolute nonexistence, a few not-dark not-rooms notwithstanding.
Unfortunately, when Fred tried to use his cutting-edge equipment to shed some light on this mystery, all we got was a bunch of gibberish. Or, at the very least, that's what he told me; to me, even the control test we did on his soul looked just as nonsensical, but hey, Galatea confirmed it, and she was at least marginally more trustworthy than our resident mad scientist, and not necessarily because of her insistence that she wasn't programmed to be able to lie.
"Soul is such an unscientific term…" Mr. Plague Doctor scoffed, but Fred didn't mind and continued his explanation completely unabated.
"Yes! Yes, that one! We thought that it was inconclusive because of your inherent anti-mystic properties interfering with the procedure, but when we compared the new readings to the old ones, we made an amazing discovery!"
"I'm still listening."
The two mad scientists shared an excited glance (or at least I presumed, but it was hard to tell with the beaked mask and all), and Mr. Plague Doctor stepped forth.
"Upon perusing the data Robatto shared with me, I came to the sudden and enlightening realization that your consciousness… has holes in it!"
I must've looked skeptical, because Galatea soon added, "In layman's terms, the reason behind compilation errors during Grandmaster's first analysis was caused by several missing sections within the records. We presumed they were caused by faulty equipment or phasic interference, but with the new data, we can say with eighty-one-point-two percent certainty that Grandmaster's soul… has holes in it."
Before I could get a word in, Fred got in front of me and clapped to get my attention, making me completely forget to chew Galatea out for that non-explanation.
"Listen, boss! The gist of it is that you don't just have run-of-the-mill amnesia, but parts of your soul were carved out! As in, imagine that your soul was made of ice cream, and someone grabbed a scoop and just took whole chunks out of it! It's crazy, but do you know what's crazier!?" Once again, I didn't get a chance to react, as Fred snatched the clipboard out of Galatea's hands and put it in front of my face as if the lines of variously coloured numbers and symbols were speaking for themselves. "Look at this!"
"… I'm looking at it, but all I'm seeing is my patience getting tried."
My grumbles caused Mr. Plague Doctor to yank the clipboard away from Fred and clear his throat.
"Let me explain. The reason why we realized that your consciousness has gaps in it was due to the new memories you absorbed." He paused to turn the page, and then repeatedly tapped his finger against the clipboard. "Such as right here. These new records helped to delineate the extent of the gaps."
"And not only that!" Fred elbowed his way back into the forefront with a frantic grin on his face, "But the strangest part is that these aren't alien records! They could be absorbed so easily into you because they fit right into the holes in your soul!"
"What Master is trying to say…" Stepping in, Galatea grabbed Fred by the back of his collar and pulled him away from me, "… is that Grandmaster's soul was a perfect match."
"Indeed," Mr. Plague Mask declared with a triumphant note in his voice. "It is to say, your consciousness seemingly had these gaps in it precisely so that it could accept the stored memories of this 'Polemos' person! It's truly fascinating, and…" He paused tilting his head down before asking, "Could I borrow the vessel that stored those memories for a few weeks? No, a single week should suffice! It would push my research ahead by decades!"
"Sorry, but I kind of need Teeny to keep up my disguise in the Elysium."
"Then how about after your return?"
"I'll think about it."
"Please do! This could lead to the breakthrough of the century!"
"Ignore him, boss, and listen to me!" Fred practically pushed his colleague to the side and locked eyes with me. "The really important thing you have to consider is that, normally, absorbing partial memories like that would drive someone mad on the spot! The only reason you came out of it unscathed was because of the perfect compatibility you had with them, but there's no telling if they wouldn't cause any problems in the future!"
"I understand. So?"
"So we need to continue to monitor the process! Ideally, you should come back every day for a checkup, so that we can hook you up to the manametrics system and can compare and contrast your readings! Of course, this would require some investment…"
"What Master is trying to say is that we request extra funding for equipment," Galatea cut in, and Mr. Plague Doctor nodded along so hard, I was afraid his beak would fall off.
Sighing, and waved them away and muttered, "Sure, do whatever you want."
"Yesss!"
Ignoring Fred's fist-pumping, my eyes were drawn to the masked mad scientist.
"We'll strive to thoroughly document every development and to make sure your consciousness remains stable, of course. That said, if you could just sign this waiver while you still possess all your mental faculties, it would certainly help our peace of mind, and—"
"I don't really have the patience for this right now," I growled, and after a momentary pause, he hid the clipboard behind his back and backed away.
"I'll assemble the requisition form," Galatea stated a touch laconically and followed after the retreating weirdo, and without support, Fred also followed after them.
Needless to say, I could barely get a sigh through my teeth before someone new stepped through the doorway, though this time the people in question were a sight for sore eyes.
"Hi, Chief," Judy greeted me while Elly closed the door behind them, and once she got closer, she casually handed over a bratwurst on a skewer.
"Thanks. Brang's already at it?"
"It's from the first batch," my dear assistant explained, and then blew on her own barbecued goodness. "Be careful, it's still hot. Elly already burned her tongue."
"I just wanted to finish it before we came in here," my draconic girlfriend sulked as she made her way over to my side and sat down next to me. I gently pushed her away a bit, so that I could move and make space for Judy on my other side, and once we settled down, the princess rested her head against my shoulder.
In the meantime, Judy also sat down, followed by a quiet moment filled with delighted sighs on my left and incessant blowing on my right. It didn't last long though, as the princess soon poked my side to get my attention.
"Hey, Leo? Is everything all right?"
"Yeah, I'm just an ever-so-tiny-bit totally mentally exhausted."
"Be careful with your skewer," Judy warned me and readjusted the way I was holding it. "You'll get grease on your clothes. White stains easily."
"Thanks, Dormouse." For emphasis, I planted a quick peck on the top of her head, and then mirrored the action on the princess as well, in the name of equality.
"So, what now?" Elly inquired after a delighted chuckle. "Are we going to talk about the Narrative?"
"That's the plan." Judy very carefully touched the bratwurst she was carrying with the tip of her tongue, but it was apparently still too hot, as she proceeded to blow on it a few more times before she added, "We had a whole morning to consider things, and I think I have a good idea of the current plot."
"That makes one of us," I grumbled as I bit into my treat, and while it was definitely still very hot, after my recent vegetarian meals, I was starving for some meat protein.
"Then let's get started!" Elly exclaimed and tried to entwine her fingers with mine on my free hand, but before we could get anywhere, the door suddenly opened again, revealing.
"Ue-sama! Look!"
Ichiko burst into the reception room and fell to one knee, her arms pointing towards the open doorway, like a showman presenting a new attraction. A second or two later Odango Girl also rushed in, trying to do her best to mirror her pose, except on the other side of the doorframe.
"Look, Brother Leonard! We did it!"
Just as she said that, a third person appeared at the entrance. Mountain Girl (based on the context, I was pretty sure it was her) was wearing a literal white bed sheet tied around her waist and shoulder to vaguely resemble a toga, a pair of steel-insert work boots, and a featureless silver helmet without a visor that completely hid her face, which I recognized as one of the prototypes Fred made in the process of trying to replicate the enchantments of the Knights' gear. Its completely featureless, matte white surface was a little disconcerting, but not nearly as much as the fact that this was all she was wearing at the moment.
Then, as if to explain what happened, a certain Celestial girl stuck her head through the door and declared, "I helped too!"
Blinking slowly, I exhaled a shallow breath, and after counting to ten, I handed my half-eaten bratwurst over to the princess, and grumbled, in a low voice, "Let's put the discussion on hold for a minute. This won't take long…"
