Gazing through the large windows in front of , I watched the sun slowly rise above the horizon of the Elysium. It wasn't just the beginning of a new day, but a new month as well. If I wanted to be cheeky, I could've even added 'a new era' to that list, lampooning this whole Deus situation, but I was way too tired for that. My eyes lazily swept the landscape in front of , and I let my mind wander and ask obvious questions. Such as, was that a real Sun?
For all intents and purposes, it couldn't have been, considering that this was an artificial pocket dinsion. But then again, was the 'real' Sun of Critias real, considering that it was inside so kind of giant simulation? Considering that Naoren and company literally ca from China, and all the stories of globe-trotting the Knights often reminisced about, I beca fairly convinced that the rest of the world had to exist outside of the island in so shape or form. Still, I sincerely doubted the Simulacrum had an actual big ball of nuclear fusion eight-point-three light minutes away from us simulated as well.
Whatever the truth might have been, the 'suns' inside and outside the Elysium were synced up perfectly, and as the first day of February arrived, I couldn't help but wonder about the seasons next. Logically speaking, the Elysium was an artificial space, a bubble of facsimile reality floating in a sea of imaginary numbers of what have you. While its shape mirrored the island of Critias, it was all created artificially, and as far as I understood, the whole system was maintained by the Mana Wells.
But if so, then why did this place have a winter? Wouldn't it have been way more efficient to maintain pleasant spring weather all year round, with regularly scheduled rainfall and all that? Kind of like one of those dod cities one would find in so sci-fi stories.
…
Actually, on second thought, the weather in here had been considerably milder than on the 'outside'. Sure, the air was cold, but there wasn't a speck of snow, and I wasn't sure the temperature ever fell under the freezing point. Was that intentional? If so, why didn't they go the whole mile? Alternatively, was it a side-effect of copying the day-night cycle of 'realspace'? Was the temperature drop due to the shorter days? But if so, it once again brought into question why the designers of the Elysium wouldn't 'fix' this by tweaking the ti the artificial sun would stay over the horizon.
Unless, of course, they couldn't do that, and it was one of those Purple Zone kind of restrictions, like how the lighting in them always reflected the real world. Now that I thought about it, Snowy did ntion that in order to move in or out of the Abyss, they had to tunnel in from a Purple Zone, because it was 'closer' to the Abyss. Did the sa apply to the Elysium as well? And if so, could it be that the sun I was looking at was the real one sohow shining into the pocket space the sa way light and radio waves could travel into a Purple Zone unless it was specifically restricted?
That was a lot of things to consider, but I could hear so movent from the bedroom, so I reined in my wandering thoughts, though not before pinning another ntal note on my ntal notice board about looking into whether we had an observatory on Critias. Failing that, I figured I could probably order a fancy backyard telescope. Using it might even serve as a good date with the girls, so it would kill two birds with one stone.
anwhile, the door opened, and Angie cautiously stuck her head through the gap. Once she noticed by the window, her lips bent into an insecure smile and she waved to get my attention.
"Morning, Leo. Where's the toilet?"
"Over there." I pointed at the other side of the living room with my thumb. "You can flush by touching the orb over the toilet bowl."
"Thanksies!"
Without any further ado, she rushed over to the bathroom, before I could even ask her about how she was faring. She was still acting like herself, which was a little reassuring, but it was best to be vigilant. I still wasn't sure if her 'inner Deus' was going to be a body-snatcher, a second persona, or more of a personality-bleedthrough affair, so I resolved myself to watch her closely in the coming days. It would inevitably cause the Polemos fragnts in the dark recesses of my mind to act up, but if anything, that just helped pinpoint and suppress them even better, so I didn't mind it.
"Hey there," Josh's voice also greeted as he shuffled out of the bedroom, with an especially bad case of the bed-hair, and after covering up a yawn with his hand, he rubbed his eye and added, "Good morning."
"Sa to you." I stepped away from the window and walked over to him. "Did you sleep well?"
"As well as I could," he responded just a touch sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. "Angie fidgets a lot in her sleep."
Since I had no use for it, the two of them had spent the night in my bed. They were hugging each other even while they slept, and they were bloody adorable, though I wasn't going to say that out loud. That said, despite his complaints, his complexion looked much better than it used to be the day before.
"The important part is that you got so rest." I gestured for him to follow after , and we moved over to the table in the middle of the living room. "We're going to be busy for the next couple of days, so try to make the best of every breather you get."
"Oh, joy," he grumbled, but then his eyes opened wide when he finally noticed the items on the table. "Hey? Are those our Magiforrs?"
"Yeah. I had Agrawain collect them."
He looked like he had many questions in mind, but before he could ask any of them, his girlfriend returned from the bathroom and raised her arms over her head, stretching her back while simultaneously yawning without covering up her mouth. His Deus outfit, while not as flimsy as her 'baseline' Celestial transformation, still hugged her curves, and I could hear the guy by my side gulp by reflex. I had no idea why though; until five minutes ago, they were literally sleeping under the sa blanket, so it felt a little silly to be titillated like that.
More importantly, this whole interzzo reminded of sothing, so I asked, "Still can't undo your transformation?"
The Celestial girl froze mid-yawn, and a montary pause later she let her arms down and shook her head.
"Nope. It's still stuck," she admitted a tad sheepishly, but then her face brightened up. "I don't mind it though! I think it looks cool! Do I look cool?"
"Yep," Josh responded without thinking, drawing a delighted chuckle out of her. She even spun around in place to give us a better look, but as much as a certain corner of my mind was urging to point out she was more 'cute' than 'cool', I had more important things to talk about.
"Do you feel anything out of the ordinary? Discomfort, strange urges?"
She put her index finger on her lower lip, and after thinking for a while, she let out an ambivalent sound.
"It's… eh, I guess? I an, my head still hurts a little, but it's not that bad. As for discomfort…" She paused here, considering her words carefully. "I do feel a little strange. It's like… I'm constantly feeling like I'm forgetting sothing, but I can't rember what it is about. Also, when I look at you, there's this strange sensation. It's not bad, but… It's weird."
"That's probably the Deus part of your brain," I noted, doing my best to sound detached. "Try to ignore it for now."
"Okie-dokie."
Her response was way too easy-going, considering the circumstances… but then again, it was Angie we were talking about, so I would've been more worried if she started acting solemnly.
She walked over to our side by the table, and by the looks of it, she was also about to comnt on the Magiforrs when my shadow rippled and Rinne jumped out of it. Since the bed was occupied by these two, and she found the couch too uncomfortable, she slept in my shadow, all the while wearing her full gear, including the helt. Speaking of which, she took it off, revealing a case of helt-hair that put Josh's cowlick to sha and gave a shallow bow.
"Good morning."
"Good morning, Ms. Yamako," the childhood friend couple greeted her back at once.
It was most likely conditioned into them by her serving as their PE teacher for the past couple of months, but their polite attitude towards her never ceased to be strange to . Or was I the strange one for treating her so casually? Maybe they just weren't exposed to her kookiness enough to know better, I surmised as I nodded at Mountain Girl and gestured towards the table, drawing everyone's attention to the Magiforrs for the third ti.
"Let's get things rolling, shall we?" I picked up the first Magiforr and gestured for Angie to give her hand. "I spend half the night working on these, so let's find out if they work."
The mont I clasped the oversized magitech watch around her wrist, Angie's whole body shone with a bright light, and after a mont, her Deus outfit got replaced by a simple white dress partially patterned after the forr. It wasn't anything fancy, but I figured she would have an easier ti moving around without the weird shoulder plate and the half-cape. I had no idea how she even managed to sleep with those on her…
"Oh, wow!"
She sounded genuinely delighted by her appearance, and lifted her skirt to look at the heelless knee-high boots I added, replacing the sandals of the Deus outfit.
"These first-generation Magiforrs don't exactly have a lot of mory, but I also jury-rigged a nightgown into it. I'll show you how to switch them later."
"Really? That's sooo aweso!"
While she was busy with her new clothes, I handed the other Magiforr over to Josh.
"Did you change mine too?"
"Yeah. Yours was by far the biggest headache," I admitted, and once the guy put it on, his outfit automatically transford.
"Whoa! Hey, I haven't even taken any capsules yet! Why did it activate?" he complained, sounding disoriented and muffled at the sa ti. The latter was caused by the helt on his head, and it took him a second to realize he was wearing it. "What's this?"
"It's your disguise," I told him, and tapped on the forehead area of the faceless helm, a carbon copy of the one Mountain Girl was wearing just a minute ago.
As of now, his 'costu' consisted of a pair of trousers, a segnted light cuirass over a dress shirt, a long cape, combat boots, and an assortnt of vambraces and greaves. All of it was white, as usual, and in practice it was just a more refined and form-fitted version of Mountain Girl's outfit, which had also gone through so minor tweaks and refinent compared to the initial version Ichiko and Odango Girl made for her.
"Do I really have to wear this?" Josh complained while trying to find the latches securing the helt to his head, and I nodded without the slightest shred of hesitation.
"In public? Absolutely. While the top brass of the Celestial Directorate will probably realize that it's you under it, I doubt they would try to advertise it. It's also important to stay on brand."
"On what?" he blurted out the mont he finally got the helt off and gulped in so fresh air.
"Rinne's cover story is that she's my Arbiter, and as far as everyone's concerned, she's just a loyal subordinate who appeared out of thin air after my arrival to the Elysium. We are going to do the sa thing with you, and then claim that this kind of thing is normal. Deus is back; therefore she automatically gets a faceless, silent guardian as well."
"I like the sound of that!" Angie chirped in, apparently done admiring her own clothes and she moved on to inspecting Josh. "Wow! This actually looks super cool!"
"You… think so?" The guy's response was unexpectedly bashful, and he followed it up with an equally awkward, "You're also pretty. Ah, I an, your dress is pretty!"
"Oh… erm… Thanks."
While the two of them were flirting like I wasn't even there, my eyes were drawn to the fourth person in the room, despite her relative lack of presence.
"… Are you pouting?"
My question made the obviously pouting young woman let out a huff.
"Rinne isn't pouting. Rinne is only pursing her lips in dissatisfaction."
"That's the sa th—" I automatically retorted, but swallowed the second half and took a deep breath instead. "Let's ignore that. Why are you dissatisfied?"
"Leonard-dono shouldn't mind."
"… You can't say that while glaring at like that. It tells it's sothing I really should mind." She didn't say anything else, so I had no choice but to guess. "Are you mad because his outfit is based on yours?"
I still got no answer, though based on how she was now extra-pouty, that apparently wasn't it. However, before I could try again, my attention was drawn back to Josh.
"Hey, Leo? I've got a bit of a problem."
"What is it?"
He pointed at his armpits.
"This breast-plate thing is digging into my side here and chafing a bit. Can I take it off?"
"No need. Give a second."
Before he could respond, one of my phantom limbs already entered the arrays of his Magiforr. Honestly speaking, the enchantnt beca a bit of a ss, and it was all due to the helt. As I have already ntioned, these original Magiforrs were relatively simple devices compared to the later Uniforr and Leoforr iterations, with much less 'mory' in them, so to speak. The magically enhanced school uniform, with its wards and secondary functions, was already about as much as it could contain, so adding the helt, with its see-trough enchantnts and its built-in links to the rest of the Knights' equipnt system, was too much for it to handle at the sa ti.
I didn't have the luxury to deconstruct and rebuild the whole enchantnt from the ground up either, since I had only a single night to get it done, so I had no choice but to fit everything together as best as I could. Thankfully, once the 'technical' part of the process was done, things like modifying the shape and design of the already existing outfit were easy as pie, and after so phantom limb wriggling, I exited the enchantnt space.
At the very sa mont, the guy's whole body flashed with colourless light, and he let out a startled gasp as the outfit reset, aning the helt disappeared from his hands and was back on his head again.
"Oh, co on, man!"
Ignoring his protests, I asked, "How's the fitting now?"
"Are you talking about the…?" He swung his arms a few tis, even going as far as to twist his torso left and right, and let out a surprised hum. "Huh. It's actually much more comfortable now."
"Wow!" Angie exclaid and patted Josh down with visible excitent. "This is so aweso! Penelope and the others already told you could change how their uniforms looked, but I didn't know you could do it on the fly like this! It's so convenient!"
"Yes. It is very convenient," Rinne noted, and after registering the sulkiness in her voice, my brain finally made the connection.
"Are you pouting because you have no Uniforr?"
"Rinne wasn't pouting," she insisted, but didn't deny my deduction.
"Listen, Mountain Girl. I would be the happiest if we could put a Uniforr on you, but it's not that simple. These two have their barriers acting as a power source, while the Knights have their Oaths to create the mana circulation necessary to operate their uniforms. You have neither of those, so we would either have to carve so Oaths into you, or adapt the system to your weird yin-yang energy thingie, and we don't have the ti for either of those right now."
"Rinne understands. That's why Rinne isn't pouting."
I had many a retort right on the tip of my tongue, but I once again swallowed them and told her, "Once things calm down a little, I promise I'll figure sothing out for you, okay?"
That imdiately made her perk up, as much as she tried to hide it under a stony façade, but then my attention was grabbed by my friend waving his hand at .
"You forgot to answer my first question."
"Your first question?" I repeated after him, and just like with Rinne, I could feel his frown on my skin despite the helt covering his whole face. "I'm drawing a blank. Could you repeat it?"
"Why did this thing activate when I didn't take any blood capsules?"
"Oh, that? It's… actually a good question." Pausing, I took a closer look at the guy, then at Angie, and shrugged. "I can't say for sure yet, but if I had to make an educated guess, it's because you two are sharing the sa power source. Since her barrier is active, it's probably stimulating yours as well."
"But… that would an I'm still transford?"
"Most likely. You're just lacking the Deus guise, but you're probably still a Celestial."
"Maaan… That's ssed up."
I had no idea what was so ssed up about it, but I didn't bother to argue, especially since Angie's eyes were practically boring into at the mont. I turned to her, yet even before I could ask her what it was about, she beat to the punch with an excited glint in her eyes.
"Hey, Leo! Listen! You can use your super-special-aweso enchantnt savant powers to change how Josh looks on the fly, right?"
"… Yes, but—"
Before I could object to the whole 'enchantnt savant' thing, she barrelled on.
"And you said my Uniforr now has multiple outfits, right?"
"Yes, though the nightgown has no enchantnts. That was the only way I could fit—"
"That's not important!" she cut off, sounding more thrilled by the second. "This is super-amazing! Think about it! We can revolutionize the fashion industry with this!"
"We?" I blurted out, and she nodded repeatedly, completely oblivious to the nature of my response.
"Yeah! Just imagine! Instead of buying new clothes, you could just modify your outfit in your magical doodad, and bam! Feeling like a little bit country today? Just have a cowboy hat! A little bit rock-and-roll? You can instantly have a leather jacket and a cool band T-shirt! People would love it!"
"Are you talking about the Celestials?"
"Sure! And everyone else too!" Lost in her own hype, she suddenly let out a loud 'A-ha!', as if just realizing sothing obvious, and snapped her fingers. "Do you know how you can download stuff from the internet? What if we made sothing like that, but with magic, and then people could download new outfits into their Magiforrs instead?"
"Slow down." I mid a karate chop on the top of her head, and she let out a distressed sound even though I didn't even touch her. "You do rember that regular people have no access to magic, right?"
"We can just ask the Magi to help with that!" she insisted, apparently too attached to her pet idea.
"And you think the Celestials would just let that happen," I uttered with a small mountain of incredulity, but she shrugged off.
"What do you an? I'm Deus! They will do what I say!"
There was a long silence hanging in the air after her declaration, and after taking a long breath, I lowered my voice and asked, "Where did that co from?"
"It's… um…" She fidgeted for a while, only to finally utter, "I'm not sure. I think I just got too caught up in the mont, and… you know?"
Sighing, I sternly told her, "Pay closer attention to your thought processes, please. As for what you just said…"
I glanced at Mountain Girl, and then my shadow on the floor, and without any need for words, she put her helt on and lded into it at once. Once the ripples on the floor disappeared, I turned to Josh and Angie and carefully wrapped them up in my phantom limbs.
"I'm afraid Celestial politics aren't as simple and straightforward as you'd like to believe."
"But isn't Angie sothing like their ssiah?" Josh interjected, sounding genuinely baffled. "Are you saying they wouldn't listen to her?"
"As I just said, it's more complicated. You two should learn a bit more about how things work around here before hatching any grandiose sches." I stared at Angie when I said that, and she let out an embarrassed chuckle in return. Rolling my eyes, I put my hands on their shoulders. "Let's start by giving you a tour outside the tower, shall we?"
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