The Simulacrum

Chapter 32:

I stifled a small yawn, which was still more out of habit than actual sleepiness, and then I silently stretched my back as well for good measure while sitting in front of my PC. It was a little after seven in the morning, so it was still quite dark outside my window, with the only source of lighting in my room being the harsh blue light of the computer screen. I made sure to move my joints, which were understandably stiff after sitting still for hours, as quietly as possible before I returned to the task at hand.

At the moment I was organizing my older notes about my closest associates, plus making some changes every here and there in light of the recent events. Actually, there were quite a lot of those that needed to be done. For example, the class rep has turned into a totally different kind of character after the incident, though I can probably chalk the change in her behavior up to stress. It showed that the people surrounding me weren't static, and while that was somewhat reassuring to know (lest I would once again have to get into existential ponderings about narrative influences, consciousnesses, and other cheerful stuff like that), I would've honestly preferred if she didn't become so snarky. I also didn't know why she seemed to have a bone to pick with me in particular, but for the time being I decided to humor her.

Once I finished annotating Ammy's parts, my eyes scanned through the pages again and stopped at Angie's entry. She didn't change much, did she? Her behavior was more or less exactly the same as before, and not even her house arrest and parole put a damper on her enthusiasm. Maybe she was a natural airhead like that? I mean, in a good way, not in a dumb way.

That aside, another entry that immediately caught my interest was Elly's. When I read through my old description of her, from even before we learned about the supernatural and her being a dragon-girl and whatnot, I couldn't help but softly chuckle in reminiscence. She used to freak out a lot, didn't she?

I kept reading, inserting addendums every here and there until I stopped at a very specific word. Near the end of her entry, there was a bolded 'Tsundere?' written there, with a question mark included. That was also a nostalgic word if there was any, and for a moment it made me think. She used to be very tense around me, with occasional outbursts of either aggression or affection, but lately all I was getting was the latter. That sounded somewhat familiar, so I minimized the text file and opened my browser instead, and after a quick search I found exactly what I was looking for exactly where I expected it to be.

According to the trusty old site about tropes I have been frequenting since day one, a 'tsundere' was an archetype where someone usually starts out aloof and irritable because of either a conflict of interest or being unable to deal with their attraction to another person, but then once those are weathered out, they become sweet and affectionate. Is it just me, or does that description fit Elly to a T? According to the site, it would mean she is currently in her 'deredere' phase?

"Deredere? Really?" I whispered almost silently as I shook my head in profound disapproval. Just who made up this terminology? Why can't these things have simple names for once?

Anyways, that once again made me think in meta-terms, much to my chagrin. Long story short, the change in her behavior more or less coincided with what a 'tsundere's' character arc looked like, at least according to my sources. So did she mellow out because she was 'designed' by something or someone to be a 'tsundere', or is it that she had a prideful and tomboyish personality that led her to follow the arc of the archetype on her own?

I mean, I don't think I've ever heard her being what was it again? 'Tsuntsun', I think? The irritable part. Anyhow, the point I was trying to make was that she was fairly 'deredere' towards Josh from the get-go, and only showed her thorny side to me. If I look at it from that direction, could it be that she wasn't supposed to be one, but I made her into a tsundere by my unwitting interference? That's kind of a scary thought.

Still, it was a distinct possibility, so I went back to the text file, and I was about to write in my newest insights when I reflexively glanced up to the previous entries and my brows involuntarily furrowed in response. At first I tried to ignore the idea that just reared its ugly head, but I couldn't, so I quickly read through the class rep's entry one more time, and by the end I had cold sweat trickling down my back.

It couldn't be that she also turned into a tsundere, right? I mean, sure, she's been pretty snarky with me lately, and so subsequently she was talking to me way more than usual to deliver her barbs, but that didn't mean she was hiding her 'dere' with that right? Oh damn, I really hoped she wasn't, or Judy would probably make my life into an embarrassing mess with her anti-harem counter-measures. I mean, even more than she already did.

Right at this moment, as if somehow detecting I was thinking about her, a certain deadpan girl made a small sound as she turned under the blankets. I held my breath for a moment, only exhaling after I was sure her breathing was slow and steady once again, and then it came out as a slightly tired sigh. Yes, that's right: Judy wasn't kidding about staying over. Furthermore, once she was tired out by our traditional discussion about the day's events, the world we lived in and random trivia about shellfish biology (don't ask why, we were random like that), she declared that, since I wasn't using my bed anyway, she will sleep there. Furthermore, she was doing so in just her underwear! Well, that plus one of my unused shirts, a la Snowy, but really, it's almost the same. In fact, in some circles that kind of getup would be considered even more erotic, so I really had to wonder if she was trying to tempt me.

No, scratch that; I was about ninety-five percent sure she was, with all the weird sighs she made when she tucked herself into my bed. Ultimately nothing happened between us, partially because we already promised Elly there would be no 'lewding' yet, and mostly because Snowy was in the next room, and knowing our luck, she would've interrupted us once again. Since, according to Judy, even being seen during our chaste tussling was considered supremely embarrassing by her standards, she really didn't want to get seen doing something considerably less chaste, and as such she settled for a good night kiss.

Anyway, once I was sure she was still sleeping soundly, I turned back towards my PC, only to immediately stop and listen. Since I was already paying attention to Judy's breathing before, my ears were still perked. Without that, I doubt I would've noticed the barely audible shuffling sounds coming from downstairs. I listened even closer, and after a while I could even make out some strange sweeping noises. That was mildly distressing, to say the least.

Following this realization I immediately used the radar mode of my Far Sight, only to realize that Snowy wasn't in the room next door, but downstairs. Now, I was sure there could have been many reasonable explanations as to why she would be causing weird sounds so early in the morning, and I didn't really want to overreact or anything, but I still quickly stood up and used my teleportation ability to immediately move to the stairs with a quick hop.

Once there, I carefully inched forwards, and once I got a clear view of the living room, I almost fell over in shock and surprise, nearly exclaiming 'There are ninja maids!' in the process. Fortunately (for my dignity), I managed to avoid doing both, as once my eyes adjusted to the lighting I finally realized what, or rather who I was looking at.

"Snowy?" I asked incredulously, prompting the previously contently humming girl to twirl around in surprise.

"Oh? Good morning, Leo!" she greeted me with unusual enthusiasm as she waved at me with a duster.

I gave her a nod in greeting and I quickly walked down the stairs so that I could take a better look at her. Let's not beat around the bush though; even from the top of the stairs, I could tell that Snowy was wearing a full, black and white french-maid outfit, complete with a frilly headpiece, a half-apron, white stockings, and even a stereotypical feather duster. As I finally got next to her, I looked her over one more time and I couldn't help but ask the single most obvious question in the history of ever.

"So what exactly are you doing?"

"I'm cleaning," she answered me proudly, as if she was stating the obvious.

"I can see that, but" I began, but then I was interrupted by the sound of my door opening upstairs and a certain straight-faced girl walking towards the stairwell while rubbing one of her eyes with the hem of my half-open shirt.

Judy came to an abrupt halt at the top of the stairs, pretty much exactly where I was standing a few seconds ago, then she rubbed her eye again with a weird expression.

"Fetish?" she asked with an infuriatingly innocent tone, prompting me to immediately facepalm.

"No! Also, please put on some clothes!"

My assistant glanced down at her quite exposed appearance, and a moment later she hurriedly turned around and disappeared into my room again. I let out a small sigh as I turned back towards the other girl complicating my life at the moment, and I actually found her quite flushed. I was pretty sure she had some kind of weird misunderstanding running through her head at the moment, so I simply gestured for her to sit down.

"Take a seat. I'll make some tea and"

"Wait, let me!" she interrupted me, and before I could say anything else, she rushed into the kitchen.

Eventually, I couldn't help but sigh again as I took a seat on my usual comfy chair and waited. The first to come back was Judy, who walked down the stairs wearing her clothes from the day before. She apparently hasn't been to the bathroom yet, as her hair was still slightly disheveled. Once she arrived downstairs, she glanced around the living room and then quickly made her way over to my side.

"What was that about?" she asked with a somewhat skeptical look in her eyes, and at the moment all I could do was to shrug in return

"I don't know either."

I was just about to add 'Let's ask her when she's back', but then Snowy showed up with a tray, making my words redundant. Walking gracefully yet ramrod straight, she came over to us and placed it onto the coffee table in front of me, revealing not only the expected mugs, but also an honest-to-goodness porcelain teapot I didn't even know I had in the house. Even more curiously though, there were only two mugs beside it.

"Where's yours?" I asked reflexively, but Snowy only shook her head.

"I'm not supposed to drink at the same time you do," she responded once again like she was sharing common knowledge. I awarded her my most skeptical looks, but she didn't appear to notice, so after a small groan I stood up and wordlessly walked into the kitchen and brought her mug over.

"Now sit down," I told her while placing hers next to the rest of the mugs, and even though she appeared hesitant at first, in the end she followed my instructions and took a seat on the couch. Judy also followed suit, sitting down beside her while showing obvious interest in her costume. Speaking of which, I lightly cleared my throat to get her attention, and then asked, "So, why are you acting like a maid?"

The Abyssal girl tilted her head to the side in a very familiar fashion (so familiar, in fact, that for a moment it made me wonder if she learned it from Brang or the other way around).

"I I wasn't supposed to?" she inquired innocuously. "But I thought I was supposed to serve as one to pay my rent."

"What? No! Also, didn't we already discuss this rent-business to death?"

"But But then why did you give me all those maid outfits?" she asked as if I was somehow betraying her expectations.

"When did I ever do that?"

"You said everything in the room is mine," Snowy responded with a slight pout.

"So?" I asked back.

"The wardrobe was full of maid outfits."

" It was?!" I exclaimed as my brows rose with apprehension, and after a moment of thinking I quickly told the girls, "Give me a second," following which I jumped to my feet and hurriedly walked up the stairs, only to return a few seconds later with a confused frown, sit back down and simply state. "Well, I'll be damned. It really is full of maid outfits."

"Is it really your secret fetish?" Judy interjected a question that would've undoubtedly earned her a quick forehead-flick if she was within arm's reach, but since she wasn't, I could only give her a harrowing look, which she naturally ignored as usual.

"No, it's not," I voiced my denial aloud before her imagination would run wild. In the meantime I also gave the mystery of the wardrobe some thought, and I decided to venture a guess. "Say, Judy? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you say Melinda was staying over to take care of Elly while I was unconscious?"

"Yes," she responded with an affirmative nod while sneakily filling her mug with tea.

"And she was staying in Snowy's current room, right?"

"I believe so, yes," she readily agreed.

"So what conclusion can we draw from that?"

Judy raised a thoughtful finger to her lips, then stated, "You asked her to leave her uniform behind so that you can indulge in your fetish?"

"Stop that!" I reprimanded her. "Also, come closer."

"Why?"

"So that I can flick your forehead."

"I graciously refuse your invitation," she answered before taking a sip from her mug.

I shook my head at her reaction and then grabbed my own mug, after which I directed my attention at the quietly fidgeting Abyssal girl beside her.

"Now that we established where the maid uniforms likely came from, could you tell me why you are wearing one?"

At first Snowy gave me a blank stare, but then she began to speak in a reserved voice.

"I I thought you gave them to me because you wanted me to work here. You said you didn't want me to find a job to pay for the rent, so I thought you meant this."

" Just how did you come to that conclusion?" came my next incredulous question. "And why did you just put on these clothes without asking?"

Snowy fell silent for a short time, but then she grabbed hold of the hem of her frilly skirt and said, "I I actually like cleaning."

" You do?"

"Yes," she nodded with the same kind of adorably misplaced determination as when we discussed apple pies in the past. "I liked to help the servants back home ever since I was little. They were nice, and they gave me sweets when no one was looking."

"Really?"

"Yes," she answered with a huge nod. "Brother didn't like when I did it though, so it was a secret."

"So let me see if I get this straight," I began as I massaged my temple. "You liked to help the maids at home, so now that you had a chance, you conveniently misunderstood my gestures so that you can dress up like one?"

"I always thought maid uniforms are cute," Snowy mumbled in response with downcast eyes.

I took a deep breath and decided to tell her, "I grant you that this maid outfit suits you so well it's kind of disconcerting. However, as we've already established, I didn't know it was in your room, and it probably belongs to Elly's chambermaid to begin with. As such, I think we should ask her whether she wants them back before you get too attached to them."

"Okay," Snowy agreed after some thinking, though based on her expression, she wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the idea.

"Now, I'm not saying you are not allowed to wear one, or to clean up in the living room, or to pretend to be a maid in general if that's what you want. This is going to be your home as much as mine for the foreseeable future, so it's perfectly fine to indulge in your hobbies here."

"It's not really a hobby," she protested ineffectually, made all the more comical by the care with which she was straightening her apron while saying so. "I just don't want to be a freeloader, so I thought I would help in any way I can."

"That's commendable, and I have no problem with that, but you don't have to constantly worry about earning your rent like that. Just do what you want, right, Judy?" I finished by throwing the ball into my assistant's court, hoping she could help me convince her.

"The Chief is right," she readily agreed with me while habitually extending a hand to ruffle her hair whilst making sure she wouldn't disturb her headdress. "You should do what you like. If you want to dress up as a maid, the chief will definitely support you for the sake of his"

"If you dare to say 'fetish' one more time, I swear to god I will cancel today's cuddling quota!" I interrupted her with a raised voice and an exasperated glare.

" I was going to say 'peace of mind'," my girlfriend corrected herself while acting suspiciously innocent once again.

I shook my head at her and faced Snowy again, saying, "In short, if you really want to help out around the house, I'm definitely not going to stop you, you just don't have to be all subservient about it. Unless you really want to roleplay as a maid. As I said, I'm not going to judge." With that said, I filled my mug again and told her, with a knowing smile, "Also, after breakfast, we are going on a little trip."

"We are?" Judy asked on the side, and I responded with a big old nod.

"Yeah. We are going to look at some real estate," I began, then I flashed another smile at Snowy and then added, in my best effort to sound mysterious, "Plus there will be a nice surprise for you."

"Surprise?" Snowy asked with another Brang-esque tilt of the head. "What kind of surprise?"

"It wouldn't be one if I told you," I told her jokingly, already trying to imagine how she will react once I reunite her with a certain someone...

"All right, let's try it again!" I exclaimed while readjusting my grip on the metal shaft in my hands. "When I give you the signal, turn the knob!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Snowy responded with mountains of enthusiasm ineffectually hiding behind her professional words.

"Ready?" I called out while flexing my muscles, then I began turning the crank sticking out of the front of the large, antiquated generator with all my might. Once I felt like I built up enough momentum I gave it one last push and yelled out, "Go!"

"Roger!" Came the similarly spirited reply from my helper as she turned the ignition knob once, twice, and on the third try the old (yet inexplicably pristine) machine came to life with a stutter, then there was a slow yet steady ramp-up of the engine, followed by the magical sight of all the several decades-old light bulbs in their wall sockets slowly coming to life, filling the otherwise drab environment with enough light to make our flashlights pointless.

"I can't believe it actually worked!" I exclaimed in exhilaration as I did a small fist pump. "They sure as hell knew how to make things last back in those days, right?"

"They sure did!" Snowy readily agreed with me with a feisty grin that immediately made me want to pinch her cheek.

Judy, on the other hand, only gave me a non-committal shrug as she walked over to my side as well. I gave her a curious look, but she didn't respond in any way, so I ventured a guess and asked her, "Are you still mad at me because I left you two here for five minutes when I went home to get gas?"

"No," she replied while simultaneously delivering a light kick to my shin.

" Your words and your actions give me mixed messages."

"It's just your imagination," she deadpanned at me again, followed by yet another entirely harmless kick.

Since she didn't seem to want to engage in any kind of constructive dialog, I proceeded to ignore the aggressively sulking girl by my side and instead turned to Snowy, who was currently looking at me with expectant puppy-eyes. I looked her in the eyes, raised a hand balled into a fist to about my chest level, and after a tense moment I flashed a toothy smile and gave her and thumbs up.

"You can go and explore now," I told her, and her eyes gave off an excited sparkle as she immediately turned on her heel and rushed up the stairs leading to the upper level of our new prospective secret base.

"It's unsafe to leave a young girl run around in a bomb shelter all alone," Judy grumbled by my side, but I only shrugged in response.

"Unsafe? Come on, Dormouse! She's easily the single most dangerous thing in this entire complex! In fact, now that you mention it, I almost feel a little insecure now that she isn't here anymore."

"Then let's follow after her," Judy immediately decided on her own, grabbed hold of my arm, and began to desperately try to drag me along. It wasn't as if there was anything else to be done in the generator room now, so I simply allowed her to haul me out of the place, and as we reached the top of the stairs I could finally see the large, domed central area of the place under proper lighting conditions, and I couldn't help but whistle in approval.

At the moment we were inside the bowels of a decommissioned bomb shelter a couple of kilometers from the northern outskirts of Timaeus, in the side of the mountain in the middle of the island. After spending some time narrowing down the options last night, this was the last of the three candidates for the site of our future secret base, and so far is was easily the most impressive of them all.

According to what I read, the shelter was built more than forty years ago, though, considering the nature of this world, it only meant that the place's design looked old, yet it was still as impeccably clean as usual and everything was in working order. The thing that made this particular shelter special was the fact that apparently there used to be some kind of secret radar base on the other side of the mountain, and this is where the high-ranking military personnel and their families were supposed to hide when the early detection sirens went off over there.

Because of this, the whole complex was specifically designed to allow just a handful of people to weather out a nuclear fallout scenario instead of the masses, and to do so in relative comfort to boot. The dark grey concrete corridors and the green, solid steel blast doors granted the place a sense of sturdiness and security, and I would go as far as to say that its bare utilitarian plainness gave it a strange charm I couldn't really put my finger on yet silently approved of.

The main entrance was easily accessible, only a couple hundred meters away from a highway, and as for security (or lack thereof), it only had a flimsy padlock on the front entrance, which we easily got rid of by first freezing it via Abyssal magic, and then I simply smashed it up with a rock I found nearby. It didn't shatter like in the movies, but it still gave way in just a couple of swings.

Anyways, once inside, we found a gently sloping hallway with an arched ceiling ending in a large central hall, with numerous doors leading into smaller chambers forming a ring around it, plus a set of stairs leading into the already mentioned generator room. Seeing the place now, in a more well-lit condition, I was beginning to understand Snowy, who had been unusually energetic ever since she first heard the words 'secret base'. When you combined that word with actual, military-grade constructions like this, it certainly tickled one's sense of adventure. As such, I decided to follow in her footsteps and I began to explore the insides of the underground shelter with renewed vigor.

"Leo, look what I found!" the Abyssal girl excitedly called out to me the moment she noticed us, and she gestured for us to follow her. "That door leads to a kitchen. There's no water, but it has utensils and everything else. There are a lot of showers over there, and I found some toilets too, but look here!"

Following her instructions, we entered into one of the side-chambers, which turned out to be a large room filled with rows of uniform beds with metal frames and matching sets of white bedding on top, apparently designed to be communal bunks. By my estimate, about fifty people could be comfortably housed here, a number which also coincided with my intel on the place.

When I looked around, I couldn't help but nod with satisfaction. While the beds looked somewhat flimsy, and the lack of water was something I had to solve, with some effort and investment, I was pretty sure this place could be renovated to the point where Brang could live there, while the rest of the rooms could be used for storage and training.

The site only had two major issues. First off, it was originally one of the Celestials' secret safehouses, so it was sneakily removed from the registers and most of its written records have been erased or changed, presumably so that the mundane authorities wouldn't try to reclaim it and turn it into a novelty amusement park or something. On the other hand, this still meant that the actual Celestials were very much aware of it. Hell, we learned about its location because of the Celestial Hub. I already had a few plans in mind to have them abandon this place, along with a few red herrings to make things harder to trace, but it was still a work in progress.

The other significant problem was the fact that, while it was close to a highway, and thus allowed us to get to within spitting distance of it by using the needlessly fancy public transportation system of Critias, the actual shelter was unfortunately still way outside of the city borders of Timaeus, let alone the suburbs where our merry little band of magical misfits was living. This, of course, meant that getting here and back wasn't only time-consuming, but also very conspicuous, especially since I was about 101% sure we were still under at least loose surveillance.

Now granted, this was a problem with a readily available solution, and one I had already discussed with Judy: by stationing someone with a 'red dot' over here, I could move absolutely unhindered between this place and my home, or anywhere else for that matter. I could also take people with me on the trip, which unfortunately provided its own issue: if I were to take them along for the ride, I would obviously need to reveal my teleportation ability to them. The cat was already out of the bag with Snowy, and Brang would inevitably learn about it too, but if at all possible, I wanted to keep it a secret from the others, at least for the time being.

Of course, the option to have the whole group conspicuously take a bus ride to the back end of nowhere for every training session was still open, but that was an even less than ideal solution. For the time being, I decided to stop worrying about the transportation of my friends and have a round of brainstorming about it with Judy later. Maybe we could create a fake teleportation circle between this place and my home, and then make them think it was only usable by me plus one person at a time? It was an idea worth considering, but for the moment I shelved it and focused on another, closely related issue: the transportation of material goods.

I haven't experimented nearly enough with the limits of my teleportation ability when it came to the volume or nature of inanimate matter I could take along with me for the ride, but I already knew that small things were no problem. Clothes, bags, cans filled with gasoline; practically anything I could pick up and carry around was fair game. That opened up a lot of possibilities regarding supplying this prospective secret base of ours, but it also limited them at the same time. For example, bringing food, water, gas and other amenities over should be no problem, but things like furniture were out of the picture.

Still, after I measured all the pros and cons of the site, I ultimately concluded that there was no way I could find a more suitable secret base than this, so I turned towards Judy and told her, "Honey, I think this is the place for us."

At first she gave me a weird look, but then she blinked in realization and asked, "Are you doing a newlywed thing now?"

"Well, I was, but now you spoiled it."

"You can't expect me to react to every one of your nonsequiturs on the spot," she pouted for a moment, but then she abruptly added, "Say your line again."

"What's the point now?" I responded with a melodramatic sigh.

"I want to do a newlywed thing too."

"Which one?"

"The one where I ask what you want to have first; dinner, bath or"

"That's a terrible clich and you should feel bad for keeping it alive. Shame on you," I interrupted her, earning me a click of the tongue and a brand new sulky 'spoilsport' comment to add to my steadily growing collection. I ignored both with practiced grace and instead waved for my other companion, who was crouching nearby and inspecting something on the ground at the moment, to come over. "Hey, Snowy! We decided to make this our secret base!"

"Really?" the Abyssal girl stood up in a hurry, dusted off the bottom of her white long coat, and then she pattered over to us with a curious expression. "This place is amazing! I can't believe they could make it without any mystic arts!"

"It probably wasn't easy, but that's military engineers for you." I paused for a moment as I glanced over the place again, silently agreeing with Snowy in my head, but then I focused my attention and asked, "Do you remember that I promised you a surprise?"

"Yes," she nodded. "Was it the base?"

"No-no-no. I promised a surprise to you in particular, not something surprising in general."

"Chief, are you thinking what I think you are thinking?"

"Depends," I replied with a smile. "Are you thinking that I'm thinking about bringing Snowy's surprise over?"

"So it's a yes," Judy spoke with resignation as she stepped away from me. "I'll be over here, just in case."

"Come on, Dormouse. I told you he is perfectly safe," I protested, but my assistant only took another step back, so I gave up on persuading her.

"Who are you talking about?" Snowy inquired in the meantime, her interest obviously piqued.

"Your surprise," I answered with a (hopefully) mysterious smile, and then added, "But it won't be a surprise if you watch. Close your eyes for a moment."

"Okay."

Contrary to my expectations, she not only followed my request without any question or complaints, she even used her hands to cover her eyes. I was a little taken aback by her reaction, but in the end I simply stifled an amused chuckle and then closed my own eyes in preparation for Far Sight, though to be honest, with practice I found that I didn't really need to do so. That said, it helped with the nausea, which was useful. Anyhow, I quickly focused on Brang's dot, and after a long moment of pause, what I saw caused my eyebrows to furrow against my will.

"This might take a bit longer than expected," I told the girls with an ever so slightly annoyed voice. "Don't go anywhere."

After saying so, and before they could react, I immediately used my teleportation ability to break through the mostly impenetrable barrier and headed into the bowels of the Abyss. That actually sounded way more epic than what actually happened though, as my teleportation was more or less the same as before; slightly stomach-turning, but otherwise quick and harmless.

When I arrived at my destination, I found myself standing in a large room. At first glance, it actually looked surprisingly similar to the bunks in the shelter I just came from, except that the large wooden beds inside were piled into makeshift barricades in front of the only entrance and the windows. Manning those barricades stood seven large, imposing Fauns, and since I could feel that at least half of them had their own 'red dots' at the edge of my senses, it wasn't hard to figure out that these guys had to be the group I encountered during the incident at the School.

However, unlike that time, now all of them were wearing matching sets of armors. They kind of reminded me of the segmented armors Roman legionnaires were using, except a deep, dark green in color and with a matte surface that made me think it was not made of metal. Even more impressively, the one familiar Faun with an equally familiar spear in front of the barricades was also dressed in a similar fashion, except he appeared downright majestic.

His armor plates all had elaborate, baroque silver filigree on them, their fine detail creating an interesting contrast with his hulking frame, and he even had an honest to goodness cape on his back adorned with similarly refined embroidery surrounding a large crest in the middle. It was in the shape of a rounded shield surrounded by stylized flames and featuring a lightly dressed woman with one feathery and one leathery wing spread wide open as if ready to take off into the skies.

Now, I would've loved to spend some time analyzing the symbolism behind said crest, but the angry yells coming from the outside reminded me that I came here for a reason, so I hastily cleared my throat. It might have been too soft, as the Faun in front of me didn't react at all, so I raised my voice and directly called out to the overly decorated guy in the middle.

"[Brang.]"

His large body flinched in surprise, though not as much as the rest of the group did, who were over-reacting about as much as you would expect a bunch of tense, muscle-bound warriors to do when someone appeared behind them seemingly out of thin air.

As they scattered while talking about ambushes and formations, Brang lazily turned towards me with his usual toothy grin that showed up all his ivories and then he calmly spoke, "[Blackcloak. You are a sight for sore eyes in our hour of need.]

I awarded the anachronistically chill Faun a tired sigh and told him, "[I insist that we shall, nay, we must cease to rendezvous under circumstances such as this. Also, I once again request you remedy your habit of addressing me by that moniker.]"

Brang predictably cocked his head to the side a little, then he casually leaned on his spear while simultaneously patting his beard and responded by telling me, in a forlorn voice, "[Names are a sacred thing, my friend. It's unbecoming of you to deny thine.]"

"[But it is not my]" I began, only to be interrupted by another series of furious roars coming from the outside, followed by a large impact on the door that made the barricade in front of it dangerously lurch forward, so I swallowed back my original retort and instead told him, "[We shall discuss this at a later opportunity. For the current moment, I would not so humbly request that you enlighten me about the nature of the present predicament you and your kin are facing.]"

"[Aye. In but a moment, I shall endeavor to do so.]"

After saying that, Brang made a couple of hand gestures, and like a well-oiled machine, the rest of the previously wary group immediately dispersed and began to man and reinforce the makeshift barricades. Meanwhile, the big Faun walked up to me and began to speak in a relaxed tone that was in total opposition to the tense surroundings.

"[Where shall I begin the telling of the events that lead to the unfortunate reality before thine eyes? After our ways have parted inside the Chasm of Desolation, I ventured forth from my captivity to recover this weapon of mine, just as we agreed upon]." Saying so, he lightly tapped on his spear for emphasis. "[To make so, I have sought out my brood siblings, and by means of the gifts I received from the heiress, I was able to reach their abode without being perceived by my captors. Upon our meeting, I shared the contents of our agreement with them. Suspecting that we may require additional hands during our flight from the land of the Abyss, as overpowering the guards at the Well of Power Inanna is no simple feat, I offered them the same terms you have conferred to me, which they readily accepted.]"

I gave the Faun a good, hard look, but since he didn't seem to get the clue just from that, I subsequently palmed my face and told him, through clenched teeth, "[While I applaud your forethought, the gesture was absolutely unnecessary, bordering on outright detrimental.]" I paused for a moment to calm my nerves, and once I did so, I groaned aloud and added, "[Alas, you shall scarcely mind my dissatisfaction, as it is likely my fault that I have failed to clarify our venue of departure.]"

My comment made Brang furrow his brows, but before he could say anything, the main barricade lurched one more time. He glanced at it over his shoulder, then after a moment of consideration, he simply shrugged it like it was only a minor nuisance.

"[Where was I? Aye, my discussion with my fellows.]" He gave a small nod to no one in particular and continued with, "[Upon attaining our covenant, we all embarked towards the armory of the Faun Inanna so that we would adorn ourselves with arms fit for swearing new fealty, as it is tradition. For reasons unbeknownst to all, let alone us, the head of house Inanna you liken to black birds of carrion burst with rage during our preparations, rallying all the forces of the house and its vassals, and in their frantic pursuit of a threat unknown, they regrettably discovered the vacant state of my cell. Upon attempting to send the Faun Inanna to discover my whereabouts, they instead exposed the gathering of my brood siblings. The rest you can readily see with thine eyes.]"

"[Aye, that I can see,]" I grumbled as I stifled another groan. "[What is the number of foes you face?]"

"[Just about two hundred or so retainers of house Inanna, and roughly a dozen of my brethren loyal to the head of the house.]"

"[ You appear to be remarkably serene considering the odds you and your kin face.]"

"[How can I not be so?]" the ex-general responded with a self-assured smirk. "[You have made thine entry into our midst, have you not? Would you do so without a way to depart from this location?]"

I was about to award the Faun a skeptical look, but I quickly realized those don't really work on him, so instead I told him, "[It would do you good not to trust my prudence as such in the future, else you shall be sorely disappointed in me and your judgment of character both.]"

"[Mayhap, yet your mention of the future speaks otherwise,]" he retorted, and I had no choice but to shrug my shoulders in resignation.

"[So be it. I admit I do possess the means to deliver you from your predicament.]" Brang gave me another toothy smile that I didn't need any kind of magical language ability to understand meant 'I knew it'. I decided to ignore his smug face, and instead I cleared my throat and then bellowed, ["All of you! Gather around!"]

The Fauns seemed to be surprised by my unexpected outburst, yet for some reason (maybe some form of conditioning regarding military doctrine) they immediately stopped manning the barricades and formed a more or less tidy line in front of me. Now that I could see them side by side, I realized they were all significantly shorter than Brang. That, of course, didn't mean they were short in the colloquial sense, as they were still slightly taller than me, and when you consider their bulk and the armor and weapons they had strapped onto their backs, they still looked really imposing by themselves.

Out of the six smaller Fauns, five had ram-like heads like Brang did, with horns of various lengths and curls, while the last and shortest one had an elongated, gaunt face, a pair of triangular ears on the top of his head, and a misshapen nose. When I put all of those together, he kind of vaguely reminded me of a wolf or a german shepherd, and considering how different he looked from the rest, he left a fairly deep impression on me.

My observations didn't last long though, as one of the ram-Fauns glanced over to Brang and tried to sneakily ask, "[Hey, Elder? Is this really that Blackcloak fellow you talked about?]"

I am going to be honest here: for a moment I was so taken aback by the apparent fact that the Faun language could be used without all the purple prose that I even forgot to glare at the guy. In my stead, Bang told him, "[Thine manners are once again deficient, young Karukk.]"

"[Sorry, I just expected someone bigger?]" he mumbled after looking me over. "[Is he really Lady Neige's servant?]"

"[Nay, he]" Brang began speaking, but I cut him off.

"[First and foremost, I would advise you to take your hackneyed words and insert them up your excrement hole. Secondly, she-whose-name-is-snow is my beneficiary, so no, I am most certainly not. Third of all, if you refuse to cease speaking about me in the third person, I shall let you have an honorable final standoff against the retainers of your craven liege whilst the rest of us shall have a nice dinner in your memory. Did I make myself clear, or shall we continue to have this discussion until your crude barriers fail you?]"

The offending Faun blinked at me for a moment, then he hastily told me, "[My apologies, sir Blackcloak.]"

"[For the love of all that may be holy, why can't you folk stop referring to me by such titles?!]" I exploded, and when I glanced at the chief offender, Brang only chuckled at my reaction. "[Cease your merriment, ex-general! It is a fault of no other than yours that such moniker exists on the first place, and I shall share a piece of my mind with you about it once your current predicament shall be resolved.]" That comment finally made him stop grinning, and with that, I also calmed down a little, so I continued with a slightly less infuriated voice, "[Before all else, let me ask you one last time: are you all ready to leave the employ of he-whose-hair-is-the-color-of-crows?]"

The younger Fauns glanced at each other, and after a moment they all nodded and replied in some variation of 'aye'.

"[Very well. Under a less calamitous state of affairs, I would've likely interrogated you further, but since your barriers might fall at any moment, I shall trust the judgment of your former general and reunite you with your heiress. To do so, I only require one act from you all.]" I briefly paused as the barricade in the back lurched again from an impact so heavy I could feel it reverberate in my guts, splintering the massive wooden door and actually pushing the pile of beds back a little. "[Excrement. I believe that shall be our cue to leave this place post-haste. Close your eyes, cover them with your hands, and don't open them until I instruct you so,]" I gave my rushed commands, and to their credit, the Faun quickly followed them without any further backtalk.

Once I was sure all of them had their vision completely blocked, I stepped up to the first one of them, who by the way happened to be the wolfish guy, and began to enact my makeshift plan. Without further ado, I placed a hand on his chest, which made him flinch back for a second, but in the meantime I've already wrapped my Phantom Limb around him and connected to Judy with my Far Sight.

A mere moment later the world twisted around me and both the Faun and I reappeared inside the abandoned bomb shelter. I thought I could hear my assistant draw in a surprised breath, but I couldn't be sure, as the second I confirmed my passenger arrived safe and sound, I immediately headed back to the Abyss for the second guy. This process repeated itself six more times, with Brang being the last in line, and just in the nick of time as well, since when I arrived to pick him up, I could already see a thick, muscular arm reaching through the cracked open door in an attempt to move the stacked up beds in the way. I had no idea if its owner managed to do so, as once I left with Brang in tow, there was no one else with a 'red dot' inside the room, and therefore I could no longer see what was going on over there.

Not that I would've done so even if I had the opportunity, as when I finally finished with my last ferry, my legs almost gave out on me and so I quickly stumbled over to a nearby bed and pretty much fell on my butt. The motion sickness accompanying the teleportation to and from the Abyss was already magnitudes worse than usual, but doing so rapidly and so many times in a row made it reach a point where I was amazed I haven't emptied my stomach onto the floor yet. In a matter of fact, I was about to do so when I certain deadpan girl (who, by the way, looked considerably less poker-faced than usual) grabbed hold of my hand and whispered to me, "Chief, care to explain what's going on?!"

"It's kind of a long story" I answered while struggling with my churning stomach.

Judy seemed to be less than satisfied by my answer, but once she saw how sick I was, she gave up on drilling me any further, and instead she began rubbing my back in circles. It didn't help much, but I appreciated the sentiment all the same. In the meantime, another voice joined the fray in the form of Snowy as she innocently asked, "Can I open my eyes now?"

I glanced over her, and I found Snowy at exactly the same place where she stood when I left, with her hands still over her eyes. That was weird enough, but due to a freak coincidence, the seven Fauns I just delivered from the Abyss were standing right in front of her, and they were also covering their eyes. The sight was surreal, to say the least.

After drinking in the scene for a few seconds, I ultimately let out a small sigh, both as a sign of my exhaustion and that the nausea finally subsided a little, and told her, "Sure, you can open them." I paused for a beat, and then added, "[You may unblock your vision as well,]" in Faunish.

My words were a little redundant, as Brang was already blinking in disbelief as he realized he was in a completely different place. He didn't have much time to be thunderstruck though, as a moment later he unceremoniously discarded his spear to the side and extended his hands towards a certain white-haired girl running headlong in his direction as if she was about to give him a full-body tackle. As hilarious as that image would've been considering the sheer size difference between the two of them, the resulting sight wasn't half bad either.

"Uncle Brang!" Snowy exclaimed with childlike joy as she jumped into the arms of the oafishly grinning burly Faun.

"Tiny heir. Be careful," Brang chided her, yet at the same time he was grabbing her under the arms and swinging her around as you would do to a little kid. Not only that, after he finished doing that, he carefully raised her high up and set her sitting down on his broad shoulder.

So, there they stood, a giant muscle-bound warrior with a young, white-haired girl perched on his shoulder. That image actually reminded me of something I've seen on the net once, but I couldn't really remember, so it couldn't have been that important.

While the touching reunion proceeded in the front, the Fauns in the background were also beginning to get over their first shock and started to curiously observe their environment, which for some reason made Judy even more skittish than before. It was to the point where she looked like she wanted to hide behind me, a prospect made somewhat difficult by the fact that I was sitting on a bed.

"What exactly are you doing?" I asked her with a critically raised brow, but she only huffed in return.

"That's my question," she finally declared after some more nudging. "Didn't we recently discuss that you should consider your actions a little more carefully?"

"We did," I readily admitted.

"Then what is a herd of angry goat people doing here?"

"Angry?" I asked with genuine confusion before I glanced over at the group of Fauns huddled together behind Brang and Snowy and tried to listen to what they were talking about, and after a few seconds I concluded, "They aren't angry."

"Then why are they growling?"

"They aren't. They are discussing how they can sense that they are underground yet the ventilation of the area is still very good and they are simultaneously praising the architect who designed this place and wonder about how they got here in the first place. Oh, and one of them is complaining that he forgot his favorite knife in the Abyss. Nobody's angry."

" Did they really say all that?" my assistant glanced between me and the Fauns with increasingly incredulous eyes.

"Yes, and more."

After a long moment, Judy let out a small groan and stated, "The Faun language is weird."

"Tell me about it!" I began to agree, but then I suddenly became aware of a large body getting closer to me, and when I glanced up, I found Brang towering over me. Even more alarmingly though, the girl on his shoulder suddenly jumped off right in my direction, and before I knew what happened, I got staggered by an impact on my chest. Once I gathered my wits and glanced down, I found the culprit with her arms clasped around my neck with a brilliant smile plastered on her face.

"Easy there," I said while hiding my wince of discomfort under an affectionate smile.

Snowy glanced up and with a tinkling voice she told me, "Thank you, Leo! I love the present! It's the best one ever!"

For a moment I was completely taken aback by her innocent elation, and if I wasnt currently holding her in my arms, I would have probably reflexively patted her on the head, but since I was, I ultimately had to do with just giving her my warmest smile and telling her, "You're welcome."

She let out a happy little giggle and tried to hug my neck, but since I was still a little out of it, I decided to politely peel her away and then told her, "I think Introductions are in order, plus we should show your new retainers around our base."

"My retainers?" Snowy asked, her angelic smile finally giving way to a slightly more confused one.

"Leave old liege. Serve you now. Long story," Brang summed things up nicely.

"I get it," Snowy immediately responded, only to tack on a less confident " or maybe not?" at the end.

I let out an amused little chuckle and then told her, "I will explain. But first" I paused for a moment and turned to Judy. "Could you help me get up, please? My legs are a little wobbly at the moment. Too many round-trips with passengers."

In place of an answer, my dearest assistant wordlessly linked her arm with mine and helped me onto my feet. She didn't let go even after I was upright, which I didn't really mind, though I couldn't get rid of the suspicion that she was trying to use me as a shield to hide behind so that she didn't need to interact with the Fauns.

Speaking of which, once I was nominally stable, I hastily cleared my throat and then raised my voice to say, "[Hear me, warriors of the Faun Inanna! You shall now discuss the terms of your fealty to your new liege, and once we have done so, you shall be allowed to make your inquiries! All queries shall be answered! Let us head forth to the next chamber!]"

The Fauns gave me puzzled looks for a moment, but then Brang added, "[Have thine ears fallen aslumber?]" and then he casually picked up Snowy once again and immediately headed towards the only exit.

Without further prompting, the rest of the Fauns followed suit. I was about to do so as well, but then I noticed the curious glint in my girlfriend's eyes, so I gestured for her to speak her mind.

"What did you do?" she asked while eyeing the group trickling out of the room.

"I told them that we should go to the central chamber so that they can swear loyalty to Snowy and then we can explain to them what's going on."

"And you said all that with just a few growls?"

"Yes," I answered with a nod. "Is there a problem?"

"No," Judy shook her head as she began leading me out of the room, and maybe it was because of this proximity that I could hear her whisper, "The Faun language is really, really, really weird"