The thing about conspiracies was that the less people knew about them, the better. The bigger the net, the higher the chances that someone, somewhere, would spill the beans. Maybe not intentionally, but when drunk or otherwise compromised. Heck, the 'deathbed confession' was a trope for a reason as well, so there were a whole lot of reasons why it was best to keep a conspiracy small, whether it was for nefarious reasons or not. "Holy crap, you were serious… How many of these hideouts do you even have?" came a half-astonished half-outraged outcry from Raven Boy, currently carrying some boxes and staring in full-blown bafflement at the interior of the abandoned factory where future-me set up shop. The casual answer made Agrawain turn to the masked man standing near a bunch of broken crates and he stopped dead in his tracks. "Erm… Leonard?" he asked a touch nervously, prompting future-me to let out a chuckle. "Wait… are you back in your disguise again?" "Nostalgia," he answered off-handedly and spread his arms. "Hiding behind a mask is oddly liberating. It hides your identity, so you could be anyone, anywhere. For example, I could be right behind you." "Don't confuse him like that," I grumbled as I Phased in, making Raven Boy nearly drop his box. "Goddamit, Leonard! Do you want to give me a freaking heart attack!?" I didn't respond, just gestured at him while meeting future-me's eyes. "Oh, come on. We both know you will do the exact same thing in this situation." I could've denied his accusation, but I didn't. Instead, I gestured for Raven Boy to follow after me and we walked over to future-me's side. Agrawain continued to eye him suspiciously but kept his grievances to himself. For about ten seconds. "Okay, when are you going to explain to me what exactly is going on here?" "That's the best part," my other version chuckled and pointed a pair of finger-guns at him. "We don't need to, so we won't!" "Your character's slipping," I warned him, but he just shrugged, and I got a gruff "I'm method acting!" in response. In the meantime, Raven Boy put down his package and kept staring at us with clear exasperation, yet didn't raise his voice or object to his treatment. It wasn't because of a sense of loyalty, or any other kind of silly notion like that. He just couldn't, because my old tweaks to his Oaths made him unable to betray me. I put those in place after he tried to kidnap Judy, so I was pretty pissed (and maybe a bit judgmental) at the time, and since he was then recruited into my schemes, I never removed those restrictions. It did make me feel a bit iffy in retrospect, but in my defence, those restrictions made him the perfect co-conspirator for times . After all, he literally couldn't tell anyone about me playing the role of Bel, or any of my other ploys, so there was no danger in involving him in my plans. In fact, it was practically an honour. However, that didn't mean I would carelessly tell him about all the murky little details. After all, the less he knew about them, the more genuine his future reactions would be, and the less likely it was that someone would suspect him of foul play. It was for his own good, really. He kept looking around the place, interest clearly written on his face. The lighting wasn't the best, as we made sure to board up the windows, but the afternoon light seeping in still gave form to a site of destruction. The thick cement tiles of the floor were cracked and pulverized at places, with literal footprints embedded in them as if they were made of soft clay. The columns and abandoned machinery didn't fare much better; scattered components and flaked-off plaster surrounded the relatively clear central area next to the broken crates. This was an old but sturdy building made of concrete and bricks, and while the damage was extensive, none of it compromised the structural integrity of the walls or the roof over our heads. We might've gotten caught up in the heat of the moment from time to time, but we weren't savages. On closer look, Raven Boy probably didn't share my assessment. "What were you doing here?" His question was more confounded than curious, and he traced a sharp sword mark left on the nearest brick column. "Rehearsing," I answered without much care, and it only made him more baffled. "Vigorous rehearsing," future-me added, sitting on a precariously balanced crate and clearly enjoying the situation. This time Agrawain narrowed his eyes and glanced back and forth between the two of us with the kind of skeptical expression a jaded teenager would have when the adults talked about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, or stable retirement plans in front of their kids. "When exactly were you doing that?" He touched the gash on the column again, his fingers running over the ridge as if he was the star of one of those forensic investigation shows. "This is fresh. Just when did you have the time to spar—" "Rehearse," future-me corrected him with a finger raised, but he was ignored. "— while you've been busy playing this cat-and-mouse game for… how many days has it been now?" "We're mostly doing it during the night," I told him off-the-cuff while focusing on unpacking the boxes. "Do you even sleep?!" When we both looked at him like he just asked the dumbest question in the history of dumb questions, he immediately pivoted and pointed at the column again. "And why are you sparring in the open ? How are you planning to explain the sword-marks to the owners of this place?" "Oh, that's a funny story, actually," I responded absently as I laid out the gloves, shoes, and other pre-enchanted articles of clothing onto one of the less-damaged crates. "After this factory was abandoned, it was used as a Celestial safe house for a while, so it's taken off all the registries. It's kind of like what happened to the underground base." "New Camelot," Raven Boy insisted, as if by reflex. Despite my initial expectations, the whole 'New Camelot vs. Haven' debate still hadn't reached its conclusion, and so the name of the base remained in limbo. I had half a mind to just cut that Gordian Knot and call it 'The Haven of New Camelot', but I had a bigger fish to fry at the moment, so that declaration had to wait. "Sure, whatever." I waved my hand dismissively, much to Agrawain's continued annoyance. "The point is that this place is technically owned by Elysium, so nobody will mind." "But then that means it belongs to you," he stated like it was obvious, but before I could correct him, he tapped on the damaged column again. "Then it should've been all the more reason to take better care of this place! You should've sparred in a Restricted Space, at the very least!" In the meantime, I finished unpacking and turned to face him, one hand absently rubbing my nose. "To be honest with you, I'm not very good at opening those." "Hah! Something the great Leonard S. Dunning isn't good at? Color me shocked." Seeing that I had no reaction to his sarcasm, Raven Boy eventually crossed his arms and asked, "Whatever. Do you actually need me for anything?" "Of course we do!" future-me exclaimed as he hopped off his perch on the large crate and pointed at the startled guy. "You're our extra! Or… well, more of a 'prop' really, but that sounds a bit demeaning, so let's not go there." "Oookay, that's already a bit concerning…" Agrawain looked at me, and when I didn't say a peep, he frowned at future-me again. "What exactly do I need to do?" "First off, put these on." My masked second self walked over to my side and picked up the actual, honest-to-goodness props I laid out on the crate. "Then I'll explain the details while this guy has an appointment to attend." "Do I?" I blurted out first, then checked my phone and let out a soft groan. "I do. Damn, I hate this stupid strict timetable." Once I pocketed my phone again, I addressed Raven Boy with a forefinger pointed at future-me. "While I'm gone, pay attention to him like you're listening to me. I'll be back in about ten minutes, and then we—" "Half an hour," future-me corrected me, so I promptly raised a confounded brow at him, at which point he continued in a jovial tone. "You'll get sidetracked." "Will I?" Future-me only let out an amused chuckle, so I rolled my eyes with a quiet,"… Stupid spoilers." With that, I waved farewell to Raven Boy and Phased out of the abandoned building. I was sure he wasn't thrilled about it, but it's not like future-me was going to eat him. I didn't even dislike him anymore (or at least not that much), and he earned a lot of brownie points as of late by helping Penny with her technopunk TRPG campaign. Speaking of which, maybe I should give him a reward one of these days. Custom D20 dice with some funny enchantments, maybe? I shelved the idea for now because I was already running a bit late. Not from any official business or anything like that (I wouldn't have been this worried about that), but from a meeting with the class rep back at her home. Of course, I could've just Phased in and arrived just in the nick of time, but she repeatedly warned me against doing that, so I would be polite this time and use the front door. After reappearing in the neighbourhood, using one of the many placeholder-marks to Phase to an out-of-sight spot, I walked the rest of the distance and soon reached the front porch of the large yet not especially lavish mini-mansion of Lord Grandpa. I passed through the wards surrounding the property without any trouble; they were similar to the ones Snowy put around our house, and from the looks of it they had been reinforced not too long ago (probably because of the whole Conduit of the Grimoire business). I was already keyed in, so they provided no resistance. Once I cleared the wards I walked up to the front entrance and pressed the doorbell… or at least I would've if the door didn't swing open before I could even touch the button. Wow. It was weird to be on the receiving end of this trope… "I'm glad you could make it," the class rep, dressed in a surprisingly cute blue and white dress, greeted me with just a hint of a sulk, and it didn't take me long to realize why. "Hi, Ammy. Hi, Mike," I greeted both the girl in front of me and the guy further in the back of the foyer. "Did I interrupt something?" "N-No, not at all!" the blonde Celestial denied with a luminescent blush usually reserved for tsundere draconic girlfriends and silly knightly little sisters, and he tried his best to avoid meeting my eyes. "Come inside," the class rep urged me, and I did as I was told. "I didn't expect to see you here," I noted absently as I slipped out of my shoes, and the target of my observation lightly cleared his throat. "I'm… here as a liaison… and to guard Amelia," Michael insisted, and while I had no idea just how much protection he could provide (I was pretty sure that Ammy was way stronger than him), I wasn't going to heckle him over that. If anything, I was impressed that he managed to convince Lord Grandpa to let him come over to his house. "That's neat." With that acknowledged, I turned back to the class rep, wondering how exactly I was about to be side-tracked here. But first, the pivotal question. "Did you get it?" "Grandfather did, yes," she confirmed, still a little sulky, but because Mike was around, she was still mellower than usual. Love did weird things to a person like that. "Come to the living room, and I'll get it for you." "Thanks, I appreciate that." With that, the three of us entered into the building's living room, though it was more of a small parlour. There was no television or other entertainment devices in sight, but there were lots of spaces to sit, bookcases full of leather-bound tomes that probably no one read, ever, and only existed to set the scholarly mood, and the walls were covered in portraits and landscape paintings to drive home that 'sophisticated upper-middle-class' décor aesthetic. Before long, I was sitting on one of the sofas, and once Ammy left the room, it was only the two of us with Mike. That called for some small talk. "V-Very well! I've got my first paycheck as a Draconic Federation liaison!" "Y-Yes! I'm planning to use it as a deposit and move out of the apartment, so Raz would have more space and I could have some privacy with Amelia." "N-Not for thatkind of stuff, of course! I-I mean, once all of this blows over, and she starts college, I'm planning to ask her to live together, but that's for later!" "Y-Yes! Our relationship is very proper and courteous! I told so to Lord Endymonion, and he even gave us his blessing!" "T-That's right! I-It was a little scary at first, but he accepted our relationship! We even had a talk! About casual things, I mean, not CIN business, and he was… maybe not 'friendly', but… u-um… agreeable?" "Was he now? How fascinating." "It is! And just the other day…!" ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NovelHub(.)net I listened to Michael prattle on for a while longer while occasionally nodding along. Being a good listener was a skill, and an important one when one had to deal with two significant others, so I took every opportunity I could to hone it. A couple of minutes passed by until the class rep returned with an apologetic bend on her lips and a standard A4 page densely packed with lines and lines of text in her hands. She walked over to my side and handed it over to me with a quiet, "Sorry it took so long. I was still in Grandfather's study, and I couldn't find it right away." "Don't sweat it." Saying so, I took the document from her and couldn't help but smile. "Ah! This is exactly what I needed! Thanks!" "You should thank Grandfather," she told me firmly, and I could see that she was holding back from tweaking her glasses at me. "And to be frank with you, I'm not entirely happy about it." "But why? This is super convenient. And necessary," I argued, but she remained unconvinced. "Just make sure you don't abuse it." "Oh, come on, class rep. Who do you take me for?" "What's that?" Mike chimed in, so I flashed the document in his direction. Not that he could read it from the other sofa; the letters were quite tiny. "It's an exemption from school attendance," I explained with a grin. "I've missed so many schooldays that I would normally need to repeat a year, so I asked Lord Grandpa to pull some strings for me at the Department of Education. So long as I still pass all the tests and the end-of-the-year exams, the holes in my attendance record will be overlooked." I held the page in front of me and let out a soft huff. "I wonder why I didn't think of doing this sooner." "Because it's legally gray," the class rep told me flatly. "Blue Cherry High's minimum attendance limits are mandated by the government, and arranging a special exemption like that took a lot of effort from Grandfather. You better appreciate it." "I do. I absolutely do," I reassured her with a smile and waved the page again. "I'll thank him in person later, but for now, I'm just happy that this will stop Judy from worrying about my attendance and grades. I'll just have Arnwald or Morgana sign this here, and then…" It was at this moment that my smile withered as I noticed a blatant problem. "Huh. Ammy?" "Yes?" she blurted out, clearly alarmed. "Was this the only copy you found?" I poked the bottom of the page. "Your grandpa forgot to sign it." She blinked at me and took the document back, and once she also confirmed what I said, her shoulders drooped in disappointment. "You're right. Maybe this is just a duplicate. I'll go and search the study again, and…" "Nah, don't worry about it." I yoinked the paper from her hand again and flashed a reassuring smile. "I said I'll thank Lord Grandpa in person, so I might as well just have him sign it at the same time. Where is he, anyway?" I got no immediate answer, so I did my thing and Far Glanced in his direction, only to pause and put the page down with a rather stumped 'Huh?' and a frown. "What? What did you see?" Ammy was quick on the uptake and recognized that I was using Far Sight right away, while Michael was getting visibly confused by the abrupt shift in our conversation. "Something potentially interesting," I answered ambivalently and raised a finger. "Don't mind me, this might take a while." With that, I closed my eyes and cast my perception across Timaeus again to behold a rather… odd gathering. "Ladies and gentlemen," spoke a familiar face sitting at the head of the round table, installed inside a half-finished 'Ordo Draconis Hall of Honour' (name pending) within the bowels of the underground base. Arnwald's eyes swept over the dozen or so participants of the meeting. "Let us pool our wisdom and discover… the secrets of Bel of the Abyss." Oh, boy. This was going to be silly, wasn't it?