Was it normal to feel completely exhausted after coming home from a vacation?

I mean, I had a relatively good time, didn't have to use my special abilities at all, and while the girls certainly kept me busy (in more ways than one), I had plenty of time to relax. With all that combined, I should've been feeling completely refreshed and ready to bat at whatever curveballs the Simulacrum was about to throw my way, yet the moment I sat down in my usual comfy chair, I felt like I never wanted to stand up again.

"[Hey, boss? Do you need anything else?]" Karukk inquired from the direction of the stairs.

"Nah. Carrying my luggage upstairs was help enough," I answered, not even bothering to use Faunish.

While we were at the resort, the Fauns took turns looking after the house in our absence, and it was Karukk's turn. He already gave me a sitrep when I arrived back home, and he just finished taking all our bags to the rooms on the first floor. My sisters weren't home yet; Snowy was kidnapped by Angie the moment the bus arrived back at the Dracis mansion, while Penny returned to the base with the rest of the Ordo Draconis members, meaning it was only the two of us in the house. Or rather, us and four iterations of the mini-shoggoth scattered around the premises, disguised as household objects, but that was beside the point.

"Thanks for the hard work."

"[Don't mention it, boss. It's our duty.]"

I was ready to leave it at that, but then I got a sudden idea.

"Do you guys have any plans for your paid leave?"

Karukk reeled back like he was hit in the nose by the question, and after his ears stopped twitching left and right, he tentatively said, "[Not really. To be honest with you, the concept itself is new to us, so we don't really know what to do with it.]"

"Just go somewhere and relax," I told him off-handedly, but since he still looked troubled, I proposed, "How about we take all of you along the next time we go somewhere? Then you can learn by experience."

"[I… don't know if that's a good idea. I think we would stand out too much.]"

As much as I would've liked to deny it, he did have a point.

"Well, maybe not to the beach then, but how about a place where you could hide in plain sight? For example, at a ski resort, we could just have you wear overalls and masks all the time, and tell people you're a professional wrestling team from abroad or something. It should work fairly well."

"[I'm… not entirely convinced, but if you say so…]"

Shrugging, I told him, "That's the best I could think of on the spot. The Kage ninjas would have an easier time, for obvious reasons, but we can't have you guys out in the open without some kind of cover story. The horns are too hard to hide."

Karukk was just about to agree, but then I could see the moment an idea crossed his mind, and the mischievous glint in his eyes told me it wasn't a good one.

"[Boss? You know that the Abyss has the same topography as this island, right?]"

"… Yes," I granted him, failing to hide the foreboding sense of suspicion in my voice.

"[That means it has the same slopes and ranges too. If you were to take it over, we could have one of these 'day off' things in the open any time you want.]"

He crowned his suggestion with an innocent smile that looked downright goofy on his wide face, and after the customary beat of silence, I uttered a curt, "No."

"[Too bad.]" I thought that was the end of it, but after a few more seconds, he timidly asked, "[Are you sure?]"

"Yes Karukk, I'm sure I'm not planning to conquer the Abyss," I told him, my voice deadpanner than an entire parliament of Judys, yet he still didn't get the memo.

"[It's a shame. You would make a great Lord.]"

"Can we drop this topic, please? I'm not going to become an Abyssal Lord, and that's final."

The big Faun looked disappointed, like an oversized puppy whose chew toy was taken away, but I was already tired of this whole argument. For one reason or another, the Fauns openly tried to goad me into officially announcing that I was Snowy's regent and lay claim on the position of the Lord of House Inanna on multiple occasions, much to my annoyance. Between being a founder of the Draconic Federation, the de-facto leader of the Ordo Draconis, and the head of the Kage clan, I was starting to feel like the player character in one of those open-world RPGs. The kind where doing a side-quest for a faction somehow leads the player to become their leader, and by the end of the game, they have like half a dozen completely useless titles and leadership positions under their belt.

Anyhow, despite my final word on the topic, Karukk still didn't seem completely convinced, so I wearily stood up and declared, "I'm going to unpack now. When you get back to the base, tell Brang I'll pay him a visit in the evening."

 The Faun was about to nod and/or salute by reflex, but then we were both startled by the sound of the doorbell.

"[… Were you expecting a guest?]"

"No."

"[Should I let them in?]"

"A moment."

Closing my eyes, I Far Glanced in the direction of the door. While the fact they could pass through Snowy's wards meant they couldn't be a stranger, it was better to be safe than sorry, and once I focused on the red dot, I raised a hand and vaguely gestured in the direction of the entrance.

"It's safe. Please let her in."

"[As you command.]"

While the Faun walked over, I took the opportunity to straighten my clothes and get myself in presentable condition. When the door opened, I could hear a stifled yelp, followed by an awkward groan.

"Apologies," Karukk muttered in a low voice, but the girl, already inside and in the process of taking off his coat, hurriedly explained herself.

"There's no need for that. I just wasn't expecting you. I thought Leo would be…" It was at this point that the class rep poked the head into the living room and our eyes met. "Hello."

"Hi, Amelia."

"I'm in a hurry, so I let myself in. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all."

She didn't even wait for my answer before she returned to the entryway, most likely to take off her boots, and then she marched into the living room with a hand already on her glasses. That didn't bode well.

As far as appearances were concerned, Ammy was looking the same as usual, including the single small braid tucked behind her ear. Her clothes were modest, as always, and while at first glance she looked like a mild-mannered girl-next-door type, I had ended up on her bad side enough times to know she had a bit of temper, and by the looks of it, I might've been about to end up on the receiving end of it again.

I offered her a seat, and while we sat down, Karukk wordlessly slinked away to give us privacy, and based on the direction he left, I figured he was planning to leave through the back door and head back to base. Since we were left alone, I figured I'd start with some small talk, but Ammy beat me to the punch and cut the chase.

"Leo, I have bad news."

Sighing, I bit back the impulse to answer with 'Couldn't you at least wait until I unpacked after our vacation to say that?', but after taking a few measured breaths, I tempered my complaint into a flat, "What is it this time?"

"The Assembly is coming to the island."

I didn't quite get why there was so much gravitas behind her words, and it must've shown on my face, as the class rep exhaled an exhausted breath and tweaked her glasses at me.

"I meant that literally. In response to the Draconic Federation forming on the island, the whole Assembly is coming here."

"Yes, I've heard you the first time."

"No, you still don't understand," she stressed as she leaned forward in her seat. "The Assembly only moves as a whole when they are preparing for war. I don't think things are that bad yet, but it is an obvious show of force aimed at you."

"… Do you mean me, or the Draconic Federation?"

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes, of course there is," I objected with just a hint of indignation.

"You might think that, but as far as the outside world is concerned, it's all about you." I didn't respond, only leveled a skeptical look at her, and after a short stalemate, the class rep exhaled a long groan and straightened her back. "Listen, Leo. You have to look at the big picture here. In the span of a few months, you shook the entire world of the mystics with your actions. As far as the Assembly is concerned, you're an unpredictable variable that appeared out of nowhere, completely subverted the control of the Critias School of Magic on the island, soaked up nearly half of the Non-Causative Science Research Society, have connections to an Abyssal house through Neige, and then on top of all that, you suddenly revealed that you're not only the leader of the Brotherhood of the Most Heroic Bloodlines, but you single-handedly united the fractured Draconian families practically overnight."

"I wouldn't call that single-handedly, and you forgot about the ninjas," I pointed out, which earned me a scowl in return.

"Leo, I'm dead serious here. This kind of sudden rise is both unprecedented and unnatural, to the point it caused the Assembly to panic and start moving. There are already all kinds of crazy rumors going about you, with being a genius Machiavellian mastermind dead set on challenging the Assembly's authority being by far the most benign of them."

"Really? What's the worst then?"

She gave me a flat look, but when I gestured for her to just say it, she sighed again and flatly stated, "Some say you're the centerpiece of some enormous joint Abyssal-Celestial secret operation designed to destabilize and weaken the Assembly."

"I can't help but notice that both of those are all about the Assembly. Quite self-centered, aren't they?"

"Leonard Dunning," Ammy suddenly burst out, one hand mechanically tweaking the temples of her glasses so hard I was afraid she was going to break them. "This is deadly serious business. Don't joke about it."

"Fine, fine," I relented with a roll of my eyes and straightened my back as well. "So, what exactly am I supposed to do about these rumors?"

"You can't do anything about them, but there's something else you can do. Please talk to grandfather. Come up with a way to reassure the Assembly before this whole powder keg of an island blows sky-high."

"You want me to work together with the old man?" She nodded. "You know that after that whole Robatto-incident, we aren't exactly on the best of terms, right?"

"Can you put that aside for the greater good? Nobody wants a conflict to erupt, so as long as you can show the Assembly that you're not a threat to them, grandfather can convince them to stand down. Please."

The pleading gaze she was giving me was making me all kinds of uncomfortable, so I gave up in record time and threw my hands into the air.

"Oh, fine! I'll go and discuss things with the old coot."

"Thank you."

Ammy looked like I just took a huge weight off her chest, and she visibly deflated as she leaned back in her seat.

"So, I figure this wouldn't be the best time to ask the Assembly for concessions and to revise some of their policies, huh?"

As if a lightning bolt struck her, the class rep sat ramrod straight again and her hand was ready to reach up to her glasses at any moment.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Ah, you know? I was thinking about doing something about this whole 'homunculus are not properly recognized as people' thing, but I guess I'll wait until things would calm down a little."

"Something like that…" she muttered as her arm returned to her side, and then she exhaled a long sigh that was equal part relieved and exasperated. "It's really not something you should worry about, you know?"

"Sounds plenty important to me, considering it concerns one of my friends. Well, one and a half, I suppose." She was looking at me funny, so I clarified, "Pascal is only an acquaintance at best."

"Oh. So you know about him, too." Before I could make my usual response, she hastily added, "Yes, yes. Information broker. I know."

"Yep." I smiled and was about to move the conversation along when I noticed that Ammy's expression suddenly turned pensive. "What? Did you remember something?"

"You could say that, yes." She paused for a while, and I patiently waited for her to collect her thoughts. "So, you told me that you have this clairvoyance spell. I think you called it Far Sight? I presume that's what you use to learn about all the secrets you really shouldn't know about."

Thinking about it, Ammy was indeed one of the very few people who knew about this ability of mine. Keeping track of who knew what was starting to become a bit of a headache, but since she was already in on this particular secret of mine, I saw no point in being coy about it.

"Guilty as charged. What of it?"

"Can you use that power on Mike?" That question came right out of the left field, and after some hesitation, I tentatively nodded. "In that case, can you tell me what he had been doing the past couple of days?"

It took me a long time to properly respond to that, and in the meantime, Ammy was getting steadily more fidgety, right until she cut me off before I could answer her.

"It's not just idle curiosity. I'm worried about him. We were supposed to have a movie date the other day, but he canceled it at the last second and said he had some business to take care of. After that, I couldn't reach him for two whole days, and the next time we met, he was covered in scratches and bruises. When I asked what happened, he changed the subject, and I don't know what to think, so I thought I should ask you about it."

"Oh, so that's what you meant," I whispered as I nodded along.

Sure, it made sense that she would be worried after seeing him like that. While Josh and Zihao weren't even close to catching him, the sounds of their clash still caused the unlucky Celestial to lose his footing and tumble down the side of the mountain, then he was chased around by a herd of reindeer he spooked on his way down, and then when he climbed over a fence to avoid getting trampled, someone mistook him for a robber and called the police on him. All in all, the guy had a rough night, and I wasn't surprised he didn't want to talk about it.

"Don't worry, class rep. He just got into a bit of an accident while on Celestial business, but it was nothing serious."

"Did you say 'Celestial business'? It wasn't sabotage, was it? Or assassination?"

"Oh, please! Does Mike strike you as the kind of guy who could even do something like that? Don't worry, it wasn't anything particularly nefarious at all."

"You're right. What was I thinking?" she whispered and forcefully shook her head. "Michael isn't suited for such things; he's far too gentle and considerate. He's like a big, fluffy teddy bear you could hug all night long and he listens to all your troubles without—"

"Class rep? You're getting off-topic."

"R-Right. Sorry." She quickly apologized, then put a hand on her chest and exhaled. "I'm just relieved it wasn't anything serious." I attempted my best warm smile to reassure her, and after a long beat, she forcefully cleared her throat. "All right. Those were the things I really wanted to discuss with you. So? How was your vacation with Judy and Eleanor?"

With how she set that up, I was half expecting her to say 'Since we're done, I better leave,' but instead she launched into another topic right away.

"Isn't that what we should've started with the ease us into the heavier topics?"

"No. It is of absolutely paramount importance that you talk with grandfather and defuse the situation as soon as possible. It couldn't wait."

"Okay. If you say so."

Ammy let out a content hum and returned to the previous subject without the slightest shred of reservation.

"So? What did you do? Did things work out well between the three of you? You shared a room, right? I've heard you didn't sleep much..."

"… Aren't you a touch too well-informed?"

"We texted a lot with Angie," she told me matter-of-factly, then her eyes lit up like she just remembered something, and added, "Also, did something happen between Angie and Josh? Did they have a fight? She didn't want to talk about it, so I don't know the details, but I'm sure something must have happened."

"You know, I never pegged you as the type who likes to gossip."

"This isn't gossip, I'm just worried about my friends," she stated solemnly, but the curious glint in her eyes said me she wouldn't leave me alone until I told her what happened.

Moral of the day: next time, I should take her along so that she could experience everything first-hand instead of pestering me about it.

…

I kid, of course. While it wasn't how I planned to spend this early afternoon, just having small talk and sharing definitely-not-gossip with a good friend, without any mention of the Narrative, tropes, or meta-elements, was admittedly quite refreshing every once in a while. Even if it came front-loaded with news of a boatload of troubles on the horizon, but to be fair, that was nothing new in my life.