The invisible ninja maids were unceasingly dutiful, as usual, and despite all the zaniness our suite experienced thanks to the previous night's truth-or-dare game going for a few too many rounds, all the incriminating evidence of it ever happening were gone without a trace. I had no idea where the empty beer cans disappeared to, or what they used to get the mustard stains out of the bearskin rug, but everything was absolutely spotless. That said, while I didn't have to care about the cleanup, there were still quite a few things I had to look after, such as packing away the fuzzy pink handcuffs under the bed. The same applied to some of Judy's underwear as well, and while normally I would've told her deal with her own things, she was currently busy being lectured by the princess, so I graciously put them away myself.

Speaking of which, my girlfriends, back in casual clothes, were currently sitting face to face on the bed, legs crossed, and while Judy was aggressively poker-faced, the princess had a pout the size of Kamchatka.

"I can't believe you did that! I thought we had an understanding!" my draconic girlfriend hissed with her arms crossed, and when my dear assistant didn't respond, she firmly poked her in the chest. "Rule number twenty-three: no individual lewding while we are both present on the same premises, yet I only take a short nap, and you immediately lewd Leo on your own!"

"Technically, I only teased him," Judy emphasized, which only caused the princess to fume even harder.

Well, to be fair, I would've rather categorized Judy's actions as 'persistent pervy pestering' myself, but I doubted my correction would've helped much, so instead I made sure all the nightly activity supplies were well-hidden by double-checking the night stand.

"That still falls under lewding!"

"Technically, but we technically weren't in the same building, so does rule twenty-three really apply?"

Instead of responding right away, Elly abruptly reached out with both her hands and grabbed Judy's cheeks between her fingers.

"Don't you try to rules-lawyer me! It's the spirit of the rule that matters, not its letters!"

For emphasis, she pulled on my dear assistant's face, and after a perplexed beat, Judy glanced over at me.

"Shief, pfease helf. Elly's dfoing that fing to me."

"I can see that," I grumbled under my breath, followed by a considerably more audible, "Princess, don't pinch her too hard. She's fragile."

"I know, but…" Elly's words trailed off, and after cocking her head to the side, she pulled on Judy's face anyway. "Were your cheeks always this soft and squishy?"

"Shief, pfease helf. I'm bfeaing shexhually harashed."

My first instinct was to point out that she sounded way too deadpan for someone in distress, but before I could raise my voice, my other girlfriend beat me to the punch.

"I'm not harassing you! This is punishment!"

Despite her words, Elly kept tugging at Judy's face with the kind of fascinated expression that said she just found her new favorite toy. While normally I loved to see the two of them horsing around, I was expecting a guest soon, so I walked over and gently separated them.

"Cut it out, you two. It's something that already happened, we can't help it now, and even so, I'm not even sure what we did properly counts as lewding to begin with, so this whole argument is silly."

"No, it's not," the princess turned to me, and gingerly pinched my cheek, though with only one hand. "We have rules in this relationship, and we must all follow them, otherwise it's not fair." Pausing, she let go of my face, balled up her fingers, and dropped the same hand into her other palm. "Ah! I've got an idea!"

"Does it involve changing the rules?" Judy muttered while massaging her cheeks, but Elly completely disregarded her and looked me in the eyes.

"The only way to make things right is by balancing the scales. It's the only fair way of doing things."

"And by balancing, you mean…?"

Beaming, my princess pointed a finger at me.

"We must also do shower-lewding!"

That was already baffling, but then the air in the room froze when the door opened and Naoren walked in.

"Leonard? Are you in there?" I glanced over, and when our eyes met, the bespectacled young patriarch casually walked across the living room of the suite and poked his head into the bedroom area. "I must apologize. My discussion with your subordinates lasted longer than expected."

I answered with a nonchalant, "No problem," doing my best to suppress my snickers at the sight of the mortified, beet-red girl by my side.

Her shock lasted for a remarkably short time, and was followed by a very rare and precious, "Ha-hauuu!" Grabbing hold of Judy's hand, she dragged my surprised assistant away with a frantic, "W-W-We should get going! Have fun!", and they disappeared the way Naoren came before I could get a word in.

"Why was Lenore in such hurry?" my guest wondered aloud, sounding entirely genuine in his bewilderment, but before answering him, I reached under the bed to retrieve Cal.

"For the record, did you hear any part of our previous conversation?"

Still looking more than a little confused, he adjusted his glasses and told me, "Something about taking a shower? Was that why they left so suddenly?"

"Not exactly, but I think it's best we leave the topic at that." I hefted Cal over my shoulder and added, "Also, you probably shouldn't ask Elly about it either. She'd probably punch you."

"I will keep that in mind." After that dry remark, he looked around and gestured at the tatami-matted floor near the kotatsu table. "Let's get started."

"Should I grab some pillows?"

"It's not necessary. This shouldn't take too long."

"Okay then. You're the expert."

Following Naoren's urging, I sat down on the floor, and he also took a seat in front of me and crossed his legs. I followed his example as best as I could, and only when I laid Cal across on my lap did they finally decide to speak up in a low voice.

"{I am still opposed to dabbling with such esoteric methods, young knight.}"

"Don't be like that."

"Hm?"

Seeing Naoren's startled look, I hastily explained myself.

"I was talking to Cal over here."

"Oh, that's right. You have mentioned that your sword is capable of communicating with you." He paused here, then ever-so-slightly tilted his head to the side. "I always thought talking swords only existed in myths and children's tales, yet somehow when you are so indifferent about it, I can't seem to muster up any wonder either."

"Hey, don't blame it on me."

"I'm not blaming you, I'm only noting that being acquainted with you has made me considerably more accepting of the seemingly strange and unusual."

"Says the Draconian with an actual dragon for a cousin," I jabbed back, and it caused him to twitch in apprehension.

"Please do not bring up Xiao Xiao right now. I already have my hands full with managing the fallout after her reveal, I do not require any reminders."

"Well, since we already brought her up, you might as well explain what kind of fallout you're talking about."

Naoren gave me a sideways glance, so I flashed my most innocent smile in return, and after a short stalemate, he exhaled a shallow sigh and waved at me.

"First, let's find get started with our practice, and if it works, we can talk."

"You can talk while meditating?" I blurted out, and my guest gave me a funny look.

"Of course. I'm only planning to teach you our methods to remedy physical and mental exhaustion. It's not so complicated you would need your full attention."

"If you say so." My words were followed by a long beat, so I pointedly cleared my throat and added, "How about we find out if I can emulate this thing of yours first?"

"Let's do that," he agreed and shifted his posture.

This situation might've looked odd on the surface, but it was something I was looking forward to ever since Naoren offered to teach me how to meditate. As in, properly, with all the faux-lotus poses and breathing exercises and everything. I wasn't sure where his idea came from, but since he first mentioned it while we were watching our internal tournament, it probably had something to do with the events surrounding it. I had no idea exactly which one was the trigger, but I had my own reasons to agree.

Frankly speaking, I was downright itching to see how the Eastern Draconians' powers worked in a controlled environment. As far as I understood from the snippets I gathered, they were running on Chinese cultivation-novel tropes, and it had to do with circulating all kinds of energies through meridians and acupoints and other scientifically vacuous but fancy-sounding stuff. While I wasn't particularly hyped up about whatever health benefits the practice may or may not have had, I was at least nominally curious about the process, and since Naoren said they would be staying over until dinnertime, I figured I might as well ask him to give me a demonstration.

"Assume this position," he instructed me, and after a few tries, he finally found my posture good enough. "First, let us begin by practicing the proper form of breathing. This is a simplified version of the first half of our clan's most basic cultivation manual, and it mainly serves to calm our blood, but its principles should translate into non-Draconian physiology as well."

"I'm all ears."

Naoren nodded, and over the span of about ten minutes, he explained the concept of 'slowly breathe in deeply, hold it for two seconds, slowly breathe out' like it was some kind of super-special-awesome technique. I patiently followed his instructions, and only when I managed to keep the routine up for a solid minute did he nod in satisfaction and move on to the meaty part of this whole exercise.

"You're doing well. If you only wish to relax, repeating these steps and emptying your mind for a short time should already be sufficient. Now, I'll demonstrate the next step."

He closed his eyes, and in turn, I focused my full attention on him. In a few short seconds, the air around him was filled with the colorless, shapeless light of magic, or mana, or what have you. My extra-sensory perception didn't really differentiate between the sources of supernatural shenanigans, so it was hard to tell. Anyhow, after a couple of slow breaths, Naoren raised a finger without opening his eyes and pointed at his chest.

"The circulation starts at the heart. This is the path it must follow for a minor completion."

I could practically feel my eyes bulging as I stared at his finger unblinking, and soon I was able to faintly see an indistinct glow behind his sternum. From it, numerous, barely visible lines branched out in something similar to blood vessels, but kind of all over the place, looping around each other and making weird twists and turns. Based on what I've learned from Fred, I figured this was what most people of magical persuasion referred to as an 'Astral Body', and it was my first time seeing one without using my phantom limbs and interacting with the owner's soul directly. Needless to say, it was bloody hard to see the details, as to even perceive these mana vessels or what have you, I had to forcefully 'tune out' my normal sight and focus entirely on my magic vision, which was easier said than done.

In the meantime, Naoren used his finger to lightly poke at certain points on his body, starting from the chest, then going up his neck to his temple, then down the other side. After that, he made a detour to his abdomen, and finally, he poked his chest over his heart again.

"Do you need me to demonstrate again?"

"Yes. A bit slower, please," I answered while doing my best to figure out what he was trying to show me.

It took three repetitions, but at last, I noticed that the line that was intersecting the spots he was pointing at was just a smidgen thicker than the rest of the tangled mess. This time, I focused my full attention on just that one line, tuning out all the others, and before long, what I got was a thin, slowly undulating loop going around half of Naoren's body before returning to his heart.

"Holy crap. How the hell am I supposed to imitate that?"

The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it, and it made Naoren open one of his eyes in surprise.

"Can you perceive a minor completion already?" When I nodded, he flashed an impressed smile and told me, "It might look intimidating at first, but it's an innate channel everyone possesses. So long as you direct your internal energies well, they will naturally flow with it."

"If you say so…"

Honestly, I wasn't exactly keen on trying this after what I saw, but Naoren was giving me such an expectant look I felt obligated to give it a go. In any case, I have at least partially satisfied my original question about the Eastern Draconians' methodology: on the base level, it was surprisingly similar to how the Knights circulated their mana in their body, but with two major caveats.

First, it was the energy source. One side used an internal reservoir in the form of their draconic bloodline, while the other used the mana refined by the Knightly equipment and injected into the wielder through the Oath-receptacles.

Secondly, based on what I just saw, Naoren had an incredibly complicated and twisting set of channels in his body. Whether they were entirely natural or created through training, I had no idea. In stark contrast, the Knights, including myself, had uniform, straightforward mana vessels more reminiscent of electric circuitry. They were created by the same process that carved the Oaths into their souls, with the armors and weapons serving as extensions to these channels and creating the closed loop required for the circulation to even begin.

In conclusion, the way they operated was probably based on the same principle, but it was using a completely different methodology. However, this gave me at least a tiny sliver of possibility to emulate what Naoren was doing, and if I could, it would potentially open the door for not only a better understanding of how these abilities worked, but even to optimize, combine, or even merge them. Of course, that was all based on a pretty big 'if', so it was about time I stopped thinking about potential possibilities and focus on the present hurdles.

"I'm starting. Ready, Cal?"

"{I still believe this is a foolish idea, but yes, I'm prepared to assist you, young knight,}" my grumpy sword answered in my head, and after a deep breath, I made my first attempt.

Right off the bat, I had to improvise, as unlike with Naoren, my 'energy source' was sitting on my lap. Because of this, the first step required me to circulate my mana, and then slowly guide it out of the usual channels and into my heart. That part was actually much easier than expected, and while the mana I dumped into my chest cavity simply dissipated and returned into the air around me (while giving me a tickling, warm sensation around my sternum), the fact that it could be done with relative ease was still a pleasant surprise.

"I never had the opportunity to observe one of your kin use their powers under peaceful circumstances before, but I have to say, I'm astonished by how similar the way you handle your internal energies is to our techniques."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," I responded with a frown, which Naoren probably mistook for him bothering me, so he fell silent and only observed my efforts.

As for his remark, I had two ideas about it. One Doylist, and one Watsonian, as usual.

The Doylist one was playing the usual 'the Simulacrum is a lazy simulation with even lazier world-building' card, reusing metaphysics between different factions because it was, well, lazy. It was uncomfortably possible, but at the same time, it was also a deeply unsatisfying answer. As always, I liked the Watsonian explanation better, which was that it all tied back to the Knights being created as a Celestial black-ops faction. Based on what I knew, it was entirely possible that they directly copied this whole mana-circulation thing from the Eastern Draconians of old, and nobody knew or cared, because the two sides were much more interested in beating the snot out of each other than trying to explore the common roots of their abilities.

Anyhow, while I was pondering this, I was also doing my best to guide the mana streaming into my chest out through the right 'innate channel', as Naoren called it, which was pretty tricky, considering that I couldn't focus on looking at my own mana-veins and circulating Cal's output at the same time.

"{Do you require help, young knight?}"

"Well, if you can help, I'm not going to turn it down," I answered in a whisper, and this time Naoren quickly realized I wasn't talking to him.

"{Of course I can help. It is my duty to help and guide! Something like this is child play for one such as I!}"

"Yes, yes. You're very impressive. So? What should I do?"

"{I've been observing your efforts, young knight. Allow me to aid you in channeling your power.}"

"Sure, be my—"

Before I could say 'guest', a sudden torrent of mana was pushed into my chest cavity, and after a few long seconds, during which I felt like was about to puke, it started streaming out through the mana vessel I was aiming at all this time. Capitalizing on the opportunity, I did tried direct all the mana in my system that way while doing my best to follow Naoren's example, and it turned out he wasn't kidding. Once the flow started, it automatically followed the same path he showed me, with minimal input required on my end, and before long, it all connected into a single loop.

In a long yet infinitesimally short moment, I felt like my whole body and mind were washed over by a warm breeze. The sensation was both peculiar yet familiar, much like the first time I donned my Knight gear. Back then, it felt as if I took my very first breath, while this… this was more like I had been standing all my life, and suddenly I was allowed to lay down in a bed. All the tension I never knew about tricked out of my body and all my bones and muscles felt like they turned into jelly.

It only lasted for a moment, and after a recovered my wits, the first thing that welcomed me was Naoren's astonished face.

"I… did not expect that you would be able to reach a full circulation of the minor completion so soon, let alone on your first attempt."

Feeling a little bashful, I raised the sword on my lap and told him, "It's all thanks to Cal's support, really."

"{It wasn't even worth a mention, young knight. It is quite a fascinating way to channel power, and… Don't take me wrong, though! I still consider this kind of esoteric practice wholly unbecoming of you, and I only helped you to make sure you would cause no harm to yourself! Not that I was worried about you or anything…}"

"Awww… You tsundere sword, you."

"{Wha—? Y-Young knight! Stop rubbing my crossguard! I told you it tickles!}"

Putting aside the question of how (or why) a magical sword would be ticklish, I could no longer ignore the look on Naoren's face and turned back to him. When our eyes met, he let out a soft hum and looked me over from top to bottom.

"Your circulation appears stable. How do you feel?"

"Refreshed," I answered reflexively, and even after looking for better words, I couldn't find any.

"Do you feel an accumulation of energy around either of these areas?" First, he pointed at his chest, then at his lower abdomen, and after carefully feeling around inside myself, I shook my head. "How about a pulsing, itching sensation in your bones? It should be most noticeable in your thigh and upper arm."

"No, I don't really feel anything like that."

Naoren pinched his chin, then after looking me over again, he concluded, "It appears your lack of Draconian lineage means you cannot draw power from your blood. It is more or less as expected."

"Well, obviously. I'm not a Draconian," I told him flatly, and he only hummed again. We remained in silence for a while, right until he lightly shrugged his shoulders, like it couldn't be helped, and he linked his fingers in his lap.

"Since you're familiar with the basics now, I recommend you practice the circulation of the minor completion for a while. If you feel dizzy, or experience any other side effects, please stop and inform me. While your talent is considerable, you must always be on the lookout for deviation."

"I'll keep that in mind." Following his advice, I checked again, but the stream of mana was flowing smoothly inside my body, and with each full circulation, it caused warm waves to spread through my body over and over again, simultaneously making me feel extremely relaxed and yet giving me goosebumps. On average, it was still a pleasant experience, so I let the quiet sword on my lap regulate my internal valves and I turned to my guest again. "So, what were we talking about before we started meditating? Something about Xiao, I think?"

"I believe you're correct," the young patriarch answered in a sour voice, followed by a long sigh. "She is giving me endless headaches these days."

"I presume you don't mean her in particular," I guessed, and he confirmed it with a grunt.

"Xiao Xiao being a true dragon used to be a closely guarded secret within the clan. We hoped to keep her safe and hidden from prying eyes until she grew up. While the clans certainly celebrated her revealing herself, it was still too early, and it led to an endless stream of appeals delivered to our doorstep. While I understand their excitement, they are also quite insufferable."

"… Don't tell me they are marriage proposals," I muttered, yet the look in his eyes told me I was right on the mark. "Bloody hell! She's still a kid!"

"Indeed, yet even so, most of the clans are desperately trying to court her. If she were to marry another family's heir, she could immediately elevate their bloodline, and with it, both their power and influence would rise by leaps and bounds."

"Yep, that's how the cliché goes. I guess they're trying to put her in the bag as soon as possible, before their political rivals would have the chance to do the same." Naoren nodded, so I pushed my deduction a little further. "In that case, should we be on the lookout for assassination attempts?" This time, the bespectacled patriarch's brows descended into a baffled frown, so I clarified, "I mean, if they are so desperate they are willing to send marriage proposals to a kid just to keep her out of the hands of their rivals, wouldn't that be the next logical step? That way, they wouldn't win, but they wouldn't be losing either."

"That is nonsensical," Naoren told me flatly, followed by a long groan. "Listen to me, Leonard. Xiao Xiao is a true dragon. For the other clans, she's a revered ancestor. The idea of causing any harm to her wouldn't even cross their minds!"

"Says you, but there aren't only the clans in the Federation to worry about," I countered in a low voice. "There are probably going to be clans who wouldn't want to abandon their current 'businesses', or others that would rebel just on principle. You really shouldn't blindly trust the other Draconians' common sense like that, and then we didn't even consider the other power blocs in the supernatural playground. What I'm trying to say is that we absolutely should make sure she's protected well from any and all assassination attempts."

"We?"

"Of course," I told him with a confident grin. "The Ordo Draconis not only has our Knights but a whole group of ninjas too. Who else should be better at foiling assassinations than the people who are the most versed in them?"

"That… makes almost too much sense." After relenting so, Naoren let out an amused hum, and added, "Once again, you are not only envisioning the worst-case scenario, but instead of dwelling on it, you immediately work on a way to mitigate it. Your positive nihilism is truly reassuring."

"And that's why pessimism always wins the day," I responded with another grin, yet my guest soon started frowning again.

"While I agree that keeping Xiao Xiao safe should be of paramount importance, the original problem remains a persistent thorn in my side."

"The proposals? Just turn them down. What are they going to do about it?"

"There was at least one suggestion during the last meeting about sharing her among the clans." I must have looked dumbfounded, as he soon clarified, "I believe the rationale is that, so long as Xiao provides heirs to every clan and elevates their bloodlines equally, the problem would be peacefully resolved."

"Uh-huh. Sure. By the way, who was the one to propose this solution?"

"There's no need to concern yourself over the matter. I had already talked with them in private and they withdrew their proposal."

"They were still able to talk after that? You're too soft," I grumbled, and my comment drew a rare chuckle from the man. There was a beat of silence after that, and on a whim, I decided to tell him, "You know, we're probably going to have a very similar situation on our hands soon with Josh."

"I believe you're correct in your assessment. I have already received a fair number of thinly veiled probing questions about him. The representatives of the Albion family seemed especially interested, and I'm certain they aren't the only ones." He paused for a moment, then gave me a smile that said he had a good idea. "Why don't we solve our problems with a single move by marrying Xiao Xiao to young Joshua?"

That was such an out-of-left-field comment, the surprise nearly made me screw up the whole circulation business, and once I centered myself, I gave the still-grinning man my most deadpan of stares.

"That was a terrible joke."

"Truly? I personally found it quite amusing."

"In that case, I'm afraid you have a terrible sense of humor."

"Is that so?" Despite sounding concerned, Naoren's eyes were still smiling. "You're the first person to ever tell me that."

"I recommend you get better friends then."

"I believe I already have."

After blinking in surprise, I took a closer look at his face, but he seemed entirely serious, so in the end all I could do was shrug and say, "Fair enough."

I would've probably listed 'political allies' and 'co-conspirators' ahead of 'friends', but I had to admit, I didn't hate the sound it, and by the smile on his face, neither did my bespectacled friend.