The Simulacrum ~Chapter 111~ Part 1

"Why the fifty-second floor in particular, anyway?" I grumbled out loud, and I got two different answers.

"{Explanation: Fifty-two is the holy number of Deus.}"

"It's at the center of the Migdál, making it the best protected against outside intrusion."

I had a lot of questions about each of those answers, but I couldn't be bothered to ask them at the mont, especially since we just reached our destination. The elevator doors opened with a pinging noise, and contrary to my expectations, my eyes were t by the sight of a completely normal, plain corridor. Exactly the sa as all the others I'd seen in the tower so far. It even had a cute little flying Roomba in it that scampered over to our side and dusted off the Celestial agent's shoes.

Speaking of which, I gestured for Jaakobah to lead the way, and after what felt like circling half the floor, he stopped in front of a large double door.

"This is the room the Elders and the Director of Internal Affairs had prepared for the arrival of the—"

"I don't care."

Without waiting for him to finish his sentence, I forcefully opened the door by bisecting the locking enchantnt with my phantom limb and walked in. The room itself was rather plain, but still more ornantal than the ones I'd encountered during my scouting trips. For a start, while the walls were still pure white, it had so décor in the form of a couple of familiar banners and simple stuccos, as well as a large eting table set in the middle, surrounded by stools and one sizable throne on one end, all of them seemingly carved from white marble.

All of that looked rather uncomfortable, so I skipped this room and headed into the bedroom visible through an open doorway. It was also fairly plain, with only a few pieces of ordinary white furniture, a blue carpet sporting the familiar crest with the spear and wings, and a bunch of windows overlooking the sunset skies of the Elysium. More importantly than any of that though, it also had a rather soft king sized bed, upon which I could finally rest my aching legs. Sure, my right arm had it the worst, but I had also been standing around for thirty hours straight, so of course my legs were tired.

Jaakobah followed after and looked rather stumped by the relieved sigh escaping my mouth as I could finally stretch my limbs, but before he could speak up, I pointed at a nearby chair.

"Bring that over and sit down. Don't talk until I ask."

The stoic agent nodded and followed my instructions. In the anti, I glanced at the spear still in my hand. I laid it across the bed, and now that I could take a closer look, I had to admit that it was a nice piece of equipnt. The whole shaft looked and felt like it was made of matte green jade, yet it was very light and felt quite sturdy to the touch. The spearhead had an elongated leaf shape, reaching about thirty centiters in length, and had a completely spotless mirror-shined surface, save for the intricate, interweaved patterns carved into the flat of the blade. More curiously, it had no socket, but it gave the impression that it organically grew out of the green material of the pole instead.

Overall, it was a surprisingly well-balanced weapon, but was also rather cumberso to carry around indoors.

"Hey, spear?" I attempted to call out to it, but got no response, so I tried again. "Teeny?"

"{Response: Yes, Archon Polemos?}"

"Can you get small again?"

"{Response: Negative. Returning to standby mode is not possible at this ti.}"

Honestly, I was getting a little annoyed by how much it was responding like an AI from a sci-fi movie, using terms like 'standby mode' as if it was natural, and while I considered how to call it out on it, I was startled by my right palm getting hot all of a sudden. Before I could even react, the spear shaft in my hand began to shrink, while the blade at the end of it elongated and grew a guard, morphing into a short sword in front of my eyes.

"{Inquiry: Light Armant mode initialized. Is this satisfactory?}"

"… Yes. Much better," I muttered as I raised the weapon to eye level. Strangely enough, its weight didn't change much, but it was still easier to use.

The first thing I did was to switch it over to my left hand, and after limbering up my fingers a little, I reached down to where my belt buckle used to be on my original outfit.

"{—in that enchanted space again!?}" Cal exclaid, probably following up on the last words we shared before I stored them away, and their outburst was followed by a long beat of awkward silence. "{Young knight? Where exactly are we?}"

"In the Elysium," I told him matter-of-factly.

"{What? Why are we here? How did we get here? And… did you put in that enchantnt of yours without my consent again?!}"

Before I could say anything in response, the sword in my other hand let out a low buzz.

"{Observation: Another Interface Entity is detected. Attempting to make contact. I'm designated as Interface:Teeny, Archon Polemos's primary weapon. Please, identify yourself.}"

"{What? Who was that? Young knight! Did you get another sword after you stashed away?! Without even asking first?! How could you?!}"

"… Why are you sounding like a jilted lover?" I mumbled under my breath, but Cal wasn't paying attention to , as they were too busy arguing with the other sword.

"{Reminder: Please, identify yourself.}"

"{If anyone has to identify herself, it's you, knave! Who are you, and what have you done to my young knight?!}"

"{Observation: The Interface uses archaic syntax and is deed uncooperative. Recomndation: Since he's defective, he should be discarded at the earliest convenience.}"

"{Who are you calling defective, you lout?! And who do you think you are to order my young knight around like that! Young knight, dispose of her, right now!}"

"Cut it out, you two," I groaned and lightly tapped the guards of the two swords against one another.

"{Report: Superficial damage detected. Initiating repair protocols.}"

"All right, I officially ran out of patience," I cut in and raised the short sword up to eye-level. "Why are you talking like that?"

"{Request: Please clarify your inquiry.}"

"Why are you prefacing your sentences and peppering everything with technical jargon?"

"{Answer: This Interface's transmission systems rely on the user's vocabulary for simulating verbal communication.}"

"{Hah! You see, young knight? She can't even talk on her own! She's useless!}"

Since my curiosity was quenched for the mont, I let the short sword down and raised Cal instead, though since it was heavier, I didn't quite manage to get it to eye level.

"Listen up, Cal. I need you to focus on sothing else, so ignore… 'her' for now." Even as I said that, it felt weird to assign gender to a transforming sword-spear-knife-whatever-thing like that, but in the grand sche of things, it was such a minor issue that I only spent a second or two pondering it before exiling the concern from my mind and focusing on Cal again. "Please check my arm for any internal damage, and do your thing."

"{Statent: I would like to inform the Archon that Artifact:Teeny also possesses bio-diagnostic and regenerative functions.}"

"{Silence you… you temptress! My knight asked for my help, so remain quiet, or face the consequences!}"

"{Response: I urge the Archon to reconsider discarding this newfound Interface on grounds of irreconcilable differences.}"

"{I'm no 'newfound'! You're the laggard here, and…} Before he could reach the end of his sentence, Cal's words trailed off into silence. "{Hm? You are indeed suffering from so internal injuries, young knight.}"

"How bad is it?"

"{It is but a minor injury, far from maiming, yet because it is the sa hand that had already suffered a crippling wound in the past, recovery might take as much as a handful of days.}"

"Was that a pun?" Cal didn't answer, so I let it go. "Whatever. That's not too bad. Please look after it."

"{Naturally. After all, you are my destined wielder, and as your one true sword, it is my duty to take good care of you!}"

"{Observation: The interface designated as 'Cal' employs unconventional inflections, which is a sign of instability. I strongly recomnd discarding him before further systematic errors could lead to…}"

"Things are going to get noisy in my head for a while, aren't they?" I whispered under my breath, but since the room was so quiet, it still caught the attention of the motionlessly sitting agent in front of .

"Was that a rhetorical question?" he asked with a completely straight face.

"No, unfortunately not," I told him with a sigh and laid the two swords onto my thighs as I straightened my back and took a deep breath. "I guess we might as well get started. Please explain everything."

The indifferent man's expression didn't change much, yet the way his eyes moved told didn't understand the question.

"Let's try this again, with a narrower question: Why did I end up becoming the Second True Archon?"

"It's because you are the Second True Archon," he answered without even the barest hint of a pretence.

"We'll get back to that, but first, can you explain why in particular? What was the criteria? Is it another prophecy, or…?"

"It was the characteristics of your Astral Body. I recognized the signs while I treated your injury, but I admit I only beca certain when you disard yesterday."

"Okay, I get the first part, but what does the—?"

"For he is the Sovereign of the Spear, the master of war, and all that is made of magic and tal are beholden to his every word," he interrupted , his words carrying a strange cadence. "Second Book of Hymnos, verse thirty-seven."

"… All right, apparently we're still not on the sa page," I spoke with an underlying groan and readjusted my posture on the bed. "Third ti's the charm, so let's try it again, from the very beginning: Tell all about the Second True Archon, why it's all of a sudden, and why everyone was so desperate to get their hands on and worm their way into my good graces."

Jaakobah's eyes shook again, and after another long beat, he tentatively asked, "You wield the Spear of Destiny. I do not want to offend you, but shouldn't you already be aware of that much already?"

For the first ti, I could see a hint of skepticism, and even caution, in his gaze, so I exhaled a dramatic sigh and pointed at my forehead.

"Listen, Jaakobah. As of this mont, my mind is a ss. Imagine… Yes, imagine the entire LotMFL trilogy, and not even the theatrical releases, but the director's cut that's like twelve hours long. You got that?"

Despite my oddball request, the gaunt agent nodded at once.

"Okay, now imagine that instead of having the full movies, you have about ten thousand still fras from across the entire trilogy, completely out of order, and you had to reconstruct the original story from that. Do you see what I'm getting at?"

"Yes, I understand perfectly."

I… was honestly taken aback by his forthcoming attitude, but I'd be lying if it didn't feel like a breath of fresh air.

"Good. Now, with that in mind, let's return to the first question again: I want you to explain everything to , from top to bottom, beginning to end. Are we clear on that?"

"Absolutely," he responded with military decorum and then took a deep breath. "All things considered, I judge we must start by reminding you of who Polemos, the Second True Archon was, and is, in you."

The way he put that was slightly ominous, but it was information I desperately craved, so I wasn't going to let him out of this room even if the explanation lasted until the morning, and considering we were about to cover millennia of history, I had a feeling we'd be eating both dinner and breakfast in here…