The Simulacrum ~Chapter 105~ Part 1

"Why did our room beco the dedicated hang-out spot in the resort?"

My dearest assistant's question sounded entirely rhetorical at first, but when I didn't answer, she looked over her shoulder with expectant eyes, forcing to shrug.

"Beats ."

Still sitting in my lap, my girlfriend let out a thoughtful hum and faced forward again, and not a second later, the princess draped herself over from behind, accompanied by a mirthful little giggle.

"It must be because everyone's feeling safe and relaxed around you," my draconic girlfriend whispered into my ear, and followed it up with a peck on my cheek. "Either that, or the mahjong table."

As of in cue, Mountain Girl yelled "Gang!" and snatched up a tile from the middle of the square table, eliciting a frustrated "Tch!" from Galatea. I had no idea what that ant, or who was winning… in fact, I was about as clueless about the rules as it gets. I kind of understood that it was sort of like poker, in that you were trying to make pairs or sets of matching tiles, and you could either draw new tiles from the deck or snatch up the tiles discarded by another player, but that was as far as I got. The whole thing with the dice and the bamboo sticks and the various sets just left profoundly confused, and while Naoren offered to teach , I respectfully declined.

Speaking of him, the bespectacled patriarch was also sitting at the table, along with Mountain Girl, Galatea, and Ichiko. As for where the mahjong table even ca from… well, it's a short yet long story, so before we get into that, let's just establish the scene, shall we?

First off, it was a little after seven in the evening, well after dark, and my room was once again filled to the brim with people. The living room side had the usual suspects, with the Knights and Fred clustered around the kotatsu, except that Raven Boy was also added to the list. Unlike the rest, he wasn't allowed to drink, though to be fair, the others were keeping things mostly alcohol-free as well. It was probably because Naoren was still around, and they were trying to be on their best behavior around him. Sothing about respecting their allies or whatnot, I believe?

Now, I think I would've been fully justified to question them why they didn't show the sa courtesy to their boss, but I digress. Let's just presu that the princess was correct and they were just relaxed around because they thought I was a nice, reasonable boss, and leave it at that. But speaking of her, Elly was still clinging onto from behind, while my other girlfriend was still sitting in my lap. No changes there.

The three of us occupied one of the beds, while the other was reserved for Angie and Xiao. The little dragon was the main reason why we were all piled up in our room, as it was because of her insistence that our guests decided to stay the night after all. Or rather, Zihao was the one who wanted to stay behind to catch the peeper, just to one-up Josh, and then Odango Girl wanted to stay as well to have a sleepover with the girls, and then Naoren decided he might as well take the rest of the day off and stay over as well. After all, we had the whole resort to ourselves, and there were still a couple of empty rooms.

As for the mahjong table, it was sothing Naoren brought over on a whim. As in, he asked Mountain Girl if she wanted to play, and when she nodded, he just handed his bodyguards a blank check and ordered them to get a mahjong set within the hour. Considering that none of them even raised a brow at the sudden request, I wondered if such impulse purchases were a common occurrence with him.

"I don't get rich people," I muttered under my breath, prompting my dear assistant to glance back at again with an incredulous frown.

"Chief, you are rich."

"Yeah, yeah, but not 'secret owner of a Chinese tech company who buys a master-crafted mahogany mahjong table and gets it delivered via helicopter' rich."

"But… couldn't you?" Elly whispered behind . "Don't you own shares in that online marketplace company?"

"That doesn't an I can just have them airdrop anything I want," I told her in return, and she didn't argue.

"Chi!"

Our side-track was interrupted by Ichiko excitedly throwing her fists into the air, followed by Odango Girl clapping to congratulate her. Was she winning? I still had no idea, but she looked happy, so she probably was.

"Ah, careful," our resident Celestial chided the little dragon, and after she quieted down, she continued to absent-mindedly braid her hair.

After the two little girls had a soak in the morning, Xiao's hair was left undone for the rest of the day, and Angie was in the process of giving her twin braids. This, naturally, ant that she no longer had her ox-horn hair buns, so… what am I going to call her from now on?

This question, along with many other equally important ones, had to be soon put aside when my sisters entered the room, followed by the unlikely pair of Josh and Zihao. The younger Feilong brother was wearing the sa form-fitting martial artist tunic as usual, while our resident protagonist, curiously enough, donned his Magiforr, with a dark blue jacket over it. The girls, on the other hand, looked like they were about to head to the baths, with towels and bathrobes in hand, and after glancing around in the chaotic room, Penny's eyes settled on .

As she ca over, she was closely followed by my Abyssal sister. They looked slightly odd, and it took until they were right next to the bed to realize that they put on so light makeup. That was odd enough, but then my knightly sister stopped in front of and declared, "We are off to the big pool, brother! We're going to be bait!"

I didn't really know what to say to that, but thankfully my dear assistant ca to the rescue and spoke my mind in my stead.

"Can you please elaborate?"

"We… are going to try and draw out the peeper," Snowy explained with a perplexed look that said she couldn't believe she got roped into this.

"We investigated the area around the public hot springs, and found a lot of footprints around the outer wall!" my redhead sister further elucidated with a proud smirk. "That ans the peeper is still prowling around! We can't just leave such a nace to society be, so we're going to catch him."

"By taking a bath," I stated a touch flatly, at which Penny nodded with an even prouder smirk and pulled my other sister to the front.

"Yes! We need a cute girl to draw the pervert into the open, so I enlisted Snowy's help!"

"What about you then?" the natural question popped out of my mouth before I knew it, and this ti Penny even puffed out her chest.

"I'll be there to guard her, just to be safe."

I was pretty sure that, without her equipnt, Snowy was head and shoulders above her in raw combat power, but I didn't want to rain on her parade, so instead I asked, "Okay, I get it so far, but why are you telling us about this?"

Penny looked at like I just asked sothing weird, but thankfully Snowy was much more forthcoming with her answer.

"Um… Joshua says that if there are too many people present, it might scare the peeper off."

"That's right," my knightly sister followed her up with a daredevil grin. "And that's why we're taking only Snowy to act as bait."

"And we wanted to tell you about it so that you knew where we were."

"Yes, that too! We also need to ask everyone to avoid the baths for a while," Penny added in a hurry.

"So you're going to pretend to be oblivious, while Josh and Zihao are going to catch the perv?" Elly summarized things, and my sisters nodded in unison. Even though I couldn't see her eyes, I could practically feel the sparkles bouncing off my neck when she leaned closer to and whispered, "It's one of those event-things, right? Right?"

"It certainly looks like one," I whispered back, then gestured for the girls to co closer. When I extended a hand, Snowy automatically bowed forward so that I could give her a head pat, and I told them, "Don't overdo it, don't cause any collateral damage, and if you're overheating in the water or feeling cold in the air, just forget about this whole peeper thing and co inside."

"Okay."

My Abyssal sister agreed on the spot, but when I turned to Penny, I found her standing behind her and protecting her own head with both of her hands.

"Kiddo? What are you doing?"

"N-No head pats in public!" she declared, and after a short standoff, I simply shrugged and retracted my hand.

In the anti, Snowy turned to face her.

"We should tell the others about it, too."

"Y-Yes, you're right!" my knightly sister declared while still guarding the top of her head. "I'll go tell Rinne and—" She got that far before her eyes landed on Ichiko by the mahjong table, at which point she imdiately backpedaled. "On second thought, I'll go talk to Morgana first. How about you talk to them instead?"

Snowy followed her gaze and walked over to the players, yet before Penny could start moving as well, my dead assistant delivered an armor-piercing question her way.

"Are you still afraid of Ichiko?"

"W-What? No, I'm not afraid!" she declared with an indignant pout like the re suggestion was offensive. "I'm just getting goosebumps when I get too close to her, and my palms get all sweaty! It must be sothing about her!"

"Nobody else seems to have a problem with her though," I pointed out, and my redhead sister directed a wounded glare at in return.

"Whatever! I'm still not afraid of her, okay?"

"Sure, kiddo. Sure." Taking the opportunity presented by her getting upset over sothing so insignificant, I reached out again, and by leaning forward a little, I managed to land a hand on the top of her head. She froze up in surprise and gave one of those deer-in-the-headlight looks, so I smiled and tousled her hair a little. "Nobody is making fun of you, there's no reason to get so worked up over this."

Following those words, there was a nice, peaceful atmosphere of familial love and care blooming around us… lasting for exactly two seconds before my sister threw my hand off with a high-pitched "A-Awawa!" and ran away with the words, "Brother, you idiot! I told you, not in public!" trailing behind her.

I tried to stifle the chuckles tickling my throat, but my draconian girlfriend didn't share my resolve and let out a long string of amused chuckles at my sister's expense.

"Those noises she makes when she's embarrassed are so funny," she said between giggles, and I had to agree.

"Yep. That kind of thing is kind of cute all right."

For emphasis, I decided I might as well go for a full round, and gave a couple of head pats to my still giggling girlfriend.

"I can't decide if that counts as hypocritical humor or oblivious humor," my other girlfriend mused on the front, and her comnt finally made Elly pause.

"I think I missed sothing. What are we talking about?"

"Oblivious it is," Judy concluded, then glanced up at the princess's face, then at mine, and added, "Chief? I can't help but notice that you have two hands?"

"… Do you also want head pats?" Instead of answering, she tilted her head to the side a little, presumably for easier reach, so I disguised a shallow sigh under a chuckle and used my free hand to tousle her noggin in turn. "You're kind of needy today, aren't you, Dormouse?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. It was only an observation."

While we were ssing around, my sisters finished explaining their plans to the rest of the people in the room, under the impatient watch of the two guys by the door (I didn't know why they didn't co inside; maybe there was dirt on their shoes?), and soon afterward the four of them left the suite. In the anti, the mahjong match also reached its end (apparently), and Naoren collected and shuffled all the tiles in the middle of the table.

"I must withdraw," Galatea stated and stood up, followed by the words, "I must refuel my reactor. I request liquid fuel consisting of at least two-hundred-and-seventy kilocalories, one-hundred-and-seventy milligrams of sodium, sixty-seven grams of carbohydrates, three grams of protein, and so calcium, iron, and potassium."

"Hey, swatch at 'at!" Duncan responded from the other table, as if he was waiting for his cue all along, and waved a beer can over his head. "Thes can ay swally has exactly whit yoo're lookin' fur! Whit a coincidence, eh?"

Seeing that the android was about to leave, Naoren looked over at , so I quickly shook my head.

"Sorry, but I have my hands full, so I can't join."

"Can I try, then?" Glancing over, I found Angie raising one hand over her head. "We're just about done here, and I think I understand the gist of the ga now."

"Don't worry, Angie-san. I'll help you!" the little miko offered with an ear-to-ear grin, and before long, our resident Celestial moved over to the mahjong table, leaving No Longer Odango Girl by herself on the bed. I thought she was going to follow after her, or maybe even join in, but instead, she hopped off and climbed onto the bed we were currently occupying before tugging on my shirt.

"Brother Leonard? How do I look?"

I figured she was asking about her hairdo, but before I could answer, Elly beat to the punch by flashing a huge grin and proclaiming, "Cute, as usual!"

"I concur," my dear assistant followed her up, so in the end I was the last one to answer.

"What they said. It suits you."

To be perfectly honest, the hair buns looked considerably more iconic, but at the end of the day, the twin braids fit her just as well. She seed to be satisfied with the answer, and after sidling closer, she timidly asked, "Brother Leonard? I don't want to co across as presumptuous, but… when are you going to introduce to the other dragon you know? You promised."

"As soon as things around the Draconic Federation calm down a little," I told her, but even as I said that, I could feel my brows descend on their own and I glanced over at Elly. "Say, princess? Now that the whole thing with the Knights was resolved, do you think we should announce that the old man's a dragon too? I guess it's about ti he'd stop hiding in plain sight and dropped his charade too."

"You an…?" She paused while thinking, then shook her head. "I don't think so. He's been acting as a steward for so long, I think he actually likes it."

"Not to ntion, it should be his decision whether he wants to co out of hiding or not," Judy pointed out in turn, and couldn't really argue with that.

"Well, next ti we're at the mansion, I'm still going to at least introduce him to Xiao."

"That should be fine," Judy conceded, and when I turned back to the mini-dragon, she was beaming with excitent and held out a pinky finger at .

"Pinky-promise!" I was a little slow on the uptake, as she hastily explained, "Ichi taught that when you make a promise, you must link your fingers like this, and swear on it."

I knew what it was, but nodded along like this was the first ti I'd ever heard of this, and extended a pinky finger of my own. She happily captured it with her own, and after three shakes, she let out a tinkling laugh.

"Now you really have to keep your promise!"

"I was going to anyway," I told her, and my hand reflexively moved into a head patting position. I stopped myself just before it landed on her noggin, suddenly realizing I wasn't entirely sure if this was appropriate to do to a girl who wasn't part of my family (whether she called 'brother' or not was kind of irrelevant), but before I could make up my mind, he solved the issue for by pushing her head forward and rubbing it against my palm. Oh well.

After another giggle, No Longer Odango Girl withdrew her head and proclaid, "Thank you, Brother Leonard. You're my second favorite brother!"

"Second?" Judy blurted out before I could, and Xiao solemnly nodded.

"Yes. Brother Naoren is the first."

"I can live with that." That comnt drew a smile onto her face again, which was soon replaced by a frown when I asked, "What about Zihao then?"

"Brother Zihao is gross!" the little girl declared with a huff, causing Elly to start snickering again. She was in pretty high spirits this evening, and whether that had anything with us doing sothing or the other in the shower before this gathering was entirely incidental and probably not all that relevant. anwhile, Xiao continued to fu. "He's constantly bothering the female disciples back ho, and he's always getting into fights over girls! It's gross!"

I figured she was at that age when children found romance and attraction between the sexes weird and incomprehensible, but as if she just read my mind, she switched gears and looked over at the mahjong table in turn.

"I wish Brother Zihao would grow up and learn how to court girls like Brother Naoren does."

Blinking, I followed her gaze.

"… so Rinne still thinks that Nanso Satomi Hakkenden was more influential than Suikoden outside Chinese literature."

"Lady Rinne, I respect your opinion, but I don't understand how you can claim that when the Tale of Eight Dogs was very clearly inspired by the Water Margin. Wouldn't that an that it is the more influential by right of primacy?"

"Nonsense! Oh, and pong!" Mountain Girl exclaid and snatched up a tile Angie just discarded before turning back to the Feilong clan head. "Rinne asked Leonard-dono if he had ever heard of Lu Zhishen or Song Jiang, and Leonard-dono didn't know either of them!"

"My sworn brother, while certainly quick-witted and knowledgeable, is not exactly well-versed in classical literature," Naoren responded and readjusted his glasses for emphasis. "I believe that if Lady Rinne were to ask him about Princess Fuse or any of the Eight Dog Warriors, he would've most likely given the sa answer."

"Rinne… can't deny that," Mountain Girl was forced to admit, but then she defiantly added, "Rinne still prefers Nanso Satomi Hakkenden over Suikoden, because Suikoden had a disappointing ending."

"I believe we have already discussed this, but it simply follows the traditional Qi-Cheng-Zhuan-He story structure. Also, pong."

"Rinne doesn't care if it's because of Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu or not, Rinne still finds the ending sad and disappointing."

"To be honest, on a purely emotional level, I think I have to agree with Lady Rinne, as Song Jiang's death definitely upset the first ti I read the Water Margin as a child, yet when you look at it in the broader cultural context, I believe it's self-evident that…"

And on and on and on. Suddenly, I kind of understood why Galatea decided to throw in the towel and moved over to the Knights' table; I couldn't make heads or tails of this whole conversation. I gathered it was about a book, or books, or sothing, but it felt like they were talking about multiple different things simultaneously, and it just made my head spin.

The little girl, on the other hand, apparently found their literary disagreent more than just amusing, and she was looking at them with dreamy eyes, like she was seeing sothing beautiful. Either way, I had no idea about what was going on anymore, and after checking the clock, I figured it was about ti for shenanigans to start happening outside, so tapped Judy on the shoulder.

"Pst. Dormouse? I'm going to check on the peeper-hunters. Please cover for ."

"Sure."

After I got her agreent, I sneakily closed my eyes and used my Far Sight. I purposefully wasn't using it while at the resort until now, because if our theories about the Narrative were in the right ballpark, there was a chance that just being aware of other plots would drag them to the forefront while we were still busy observing our artificial onsen-arc. Since that would've caused contamination, we decided that the easiest way to avoid was by simply refraining from using it while at the resort, but this situation called for at least so oversight, so I decided to lift the embargo for a minute or five.

In a mont, my 'radar' activated, and I beca acutely aware of the red dots in the distance, signifying the marks on my sisters, Josh, Zihao, and…

… Wait. Why were there five dots?

Opening my eyes, I glanced around, but aside from those four, everyone else was still here. Curious, I quickly far-glanced at the fifth dot, and after my vision got adjusted to the darkness, I reflexively clicked my tongue.

"Crap. I need to get involved after all."

"Hm?" Elly looked at funny as I straightened my back and unceremoniously lifted my dear assistant off my lap. "Where are you going?"

"Is there an incident?" Judy, seemingly unbothered by the way I moved her aside, turned a questioning look at , and I shook my head.

"Not yet. I'm going to see what this is about before it turns into one." By this point, so of the other people in the room also noticed that I started moving, so I raised my voice, loud enough for everyone to 'overhear' what I was saying to Judy. "I think I left it in the lobby. I'll be back in a minute."

"Take care," my dear assistant responded on the spot, and our exchange was apparently enough to satisfy the curious gazes around us. For good asure, I gave a peck to each of my girlfriends and then left the room with unhurried steps. However, once I was through the door, I exhaled a shallow breath, and after making sure nobody could see , I unceremoniously Phased away.

Since it currently wasn't in use, the smaller of the two hot spring pools were completely dark, with only the stars and the small sliver of the moon providing any light. My target was on the other side of the tall wooden wall surrounding the bath, but since the whole place was built into the side of a steep hill, and I had no idea just how rough the footing was on the outside, I played it safe and appeared on the flat pavent by the periter. The air was cold, and I really wasn't dressed appropriately, but I wasn't planning to stay out here for long, so it toughed it out.

To be sure, I made another Far Glance, and once I was sure what (or rather, who) I was dealing with, I lightly knocked on the wood panels in front of .

"It's Leonard Dunning," I said in a low voice, and after a short beat, I could hear frantic shuffling from the other side.

Soon, a black figure push himself over the fence, and after a few clumsy attempts, he successfully managed to fling his legs over and he landed in front of , heaving like he just ran a marathon.

"H-Hello Leonard. It's , Mike," the newcor announced between labored breaths.

"Yes, I know," I told him, though to be fair, if not for my Far Sight, I probably wouldn't have recognized him at all. The wayward Celestial was not only wearing a dark trench coat and military boots, but his face was hidden by a three-holed black balaclava worn with a knit cap of the sa color. All things considered, the guy was a crowbar away from looking like the world's most conspicuous robber. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for you, actually," he said in a hurry without looking in the eye, too busy searching for sothing in his inner pockets. At last, he pulled out a small white envelope and presented it to . "Quickly, take it."

"… What is this?"

"I have no idea!" the guy told , his voice filled with indignation. "All of a sudden my father contacted and gave an order. It ca from high. As in, Celestial leadership high. I was told to secretly deliver this letter to you as soon as possible. Very secretly. I swear, half the briefing was about how I had to do this secretly and absolutely nobody should learn that you got this letter, or that I was the one who delivered it! Half the briefing! And then when I tried to contact you, I was chased away from your house by freaking ninjas, and then when I asked Ammy about where you are, she told you were here, so I had to cancel our date and I had to spend half a day hiking to get here in secret, but then when I tried to find you in secret, soone threw a freaking stone the size of a basketball at my head, and then I had to retreat, and then I had to camp outside in the cold for two days because this had to be done in secret, and just… fuck!"

After blurting all of that out, I waited for him to catch his breath, then carefully asked, "Is that all?"

"Yeah," he muttered, then held out the letter again. "Yeah, that's it. Please take this, and please don't tell anyone you saw . Especially not Ammy."

"Sure, whatever."

Saying so, I snatched the envelope out of his hands, and he let out a sigh like I just took a huge stone off his back.

"Finally! Thank you!"

With that, Mike turned around and started climbing the wall while whispering sothing about how being a secret agent was much less glamorous than he imagined. I ignored him for the ti being and took a closer look at the parcel in my hand.

On the surface, it was a fairly ordinary envelope. Clean white paper, no fancy border art or wax seal. However, when I turned it around, my eyes were imdiately drawn to the letters in the middle. They were softly glowing in the dark, and after raising the letter to eye level, I could read them with little trouble. The line in the middle said, 'To Leonard of Dunning, with hope/expectation/reverence', and under it there was a hard-to-read signature that said sothing along the lines of 'Ruler/Advocate/Foreseer Tsephanyah', followed by 'Glory/Exaltation to Deus and the Second True Archon'.

If that seed like a ss, it's because it was. The whole thing was written in Celestial Script, which was pretty annoying to interpret even under good lighting, let alone in these circumstances. Still whoever this 'Tsephanyah' person was, I had a feeling he was probably pretty high in the Celestial hierarchy, and the fact they were trying to contact like this didn't bode well.

I was tempted to open the envelope and take a look before returning to the VIP suite, but then the whole hillside trembled from a huge impact.

"He ran that way!" Josh's voice from sowhere on the other side of the periter wall exclaid, followed by another thump.

"You low-life! You tripped on purpose!" Zihao's voice followed after him, then there was a crash that sounded like a tree fell down.

"I told you I didn't trip you, you crazy bastard! He's getting away!"

"He's getting away because of you, you wretch!"

"Who are you calling a wretch, you son of a bitch?"

Instead of an answer, there was another impact that shook the ground under my feet and made ripples on the surface of the hot spring pool by my side. Sighing, I carefully pocketed the letter. I'll have plenty of ti to read it with the girls during the night. For the mont, there were more important things to focus on. Such as beating so bloody discipline into the heads of a pair of troublemakers…