The Simulacrum - Chapter 74~ Part 3

“Continue as you were,” I said offhandedly, and the Fauns (plus Rinne) all nodded in unison and returned to their hand-eye coordination training with renewed vigor. That was, of course, still the code-word for playing air hockey, and the increasingly less annoying huntress integrated into their group well enough where she was invited to ‘train’ with them as well. Galatea also tried to play the game once, but according to her she needed ‘calibrations’, so for the time being she was only watching the rest of the group from the sidelines. As for Fred, he still had some reservations about the Fauns, and last time I checked, he was cooped up in his workshop inventing stuff.

But putting my eclectic group of alleged underlings and their hobbies aside, it was getting late, and it was about time I did something productive. Now, I’m not saying that putting my little sister’s PC together, hooking it up to the internet, and then marveling as she took to the software and her new drawing tools like a duck to water was wasted time, but it didn’t really help with the currently brewing Knight situation or ‘move the plot along’, as my dear assistant would put it. Speaking of which, after playing around with my girlfriends in the afternoon, I took them home, and only then did I come over to the secret base, where I was roped into a few rounds of ‘training’ by Karukk and Rinne. However, that was all behind us, so it was time to stop delaying the inevitable.

My destination was the cramped main storage room of the base. It was, over the past couple of weeks, filled up with all kinds of raw materials, tools, and other miscellaneous items by the Fauns. It had old furniture in one corner, spare parts hidden under bags full of dirty smocks, half-empty paint cans, and one side was entirely dominated by the metal bars and welding equipment I bought in preparation for making some impromptu holding cells for potential future guests.

Lost among this random collection odds and ends, in the furthest corner, stood a single, inconspicuous item lazily covered by the green tarp strewn over it. Honestly speaking, I felt a little tense as I walked up to it, but I still pulled the cover off without hesitation… and then I almost put it back on when the sudden bright light made an involuntary hiss escape my mouth.

I rationally knew that the magical glow I was seeing wasn’t actual light comprised of actual photons hitting my actual retina, but it didn’t help to reign in the impulse to shield my eyes one bit.  Mercifully, I was getting really experienced with ignoring things like this, so after a few seconds of concentration, I managed to mostly filter out the eye-watering glow surrounding the fancy sword still embedded in a considerably less fancy stone in front of me.

Caledfwlch, the very literal ‘sword in the stone’ expy, looked fairly imposing when bathed in the mystic glow around it, but once I forcefully made my brain ignore that, it… remained fairly imposing even without it. I still preferred spears as my weapon of choice, and its cross guard was just a touch too ornate for my liking, but I had to admit that it was still a fine sword.

Now, I could’ve just grabbed the handle, yank it out of the rock, and then proceed with the interrogation, but I was at least trying to pretend that I was a cautious person every now and then, so instead of that, I gingerly extended one of my Phantom Limbs at the weapon in question and lightly tapped on the blade.

A short yet subjectively pretty long moment later I let out a pent-up breath and clicked my tongue. It was just as I expected: the sword was, without a shadow of a doubt, a plot device easily on the level of the dragon-slaying spear. That wasn’t the only trait they shared either. While I could only ‘read’ the enchantment arrays layered on the weapon, no modifications allowed, they looked about as over-complicated and badly debugged as its pointy stick counterpart, including the copious amounts of superfluous elements existing for the sole purpose of creating various flashy light effects during the sword’s intended use.

However, beyond all the similarities, there was one absolutely glaring difference between the two enchanted weapons, and one that I was half-expecting ever since my metaphysical encounter with Onikiri: it had a soul. Or rather something very, very similar. It wasn’t inside a protective enclosure, let alone in its own little illusionary pocket dimension, but instead it was woven into the enchantment itself. In fact, on second look it kind of looked like it grew out of the arrays, so maybe it was some kind of emergent effect? Maybe it was originally supposed to be a rudimentary artificial intelligence, but then once it developed over the centuries, the Simulacrum ‘acknowledged’ it as a character, and it got a soul? Or maybe so long as something was sentient enough, it automatically got a soul assigned to it? I mean, the weapon in front of me was certainly more well-spoken than some placeholders I knew, and I presumed those guys had souls. Probably. I never checked.

It was something I should look into in the future, I concluded, but for the time being, I had bigger fish to fry. Once I finished my cursory analysis of the enchantment, I made note of another commonality between the knightly weapons I’ve encountered so far: the spear, Mr. Minotaur’s sword, my own ‘Lion Knight’ sword, and now even Caledfwlch had a set of ‘connectors’, for the lack of better words. Originally I figured they existed to literally connect them to the interlocking arrays of the Knight’s armor, but while the rest of the weapons had identical ‘plugs’, the ones on this sword were functionally the same, yet subtly different in a way I couldn’t pinpoint, because plot device and no tinkering allowed and such.

I had two theories at the moment: either the rest of the Knights’ equipment was designed to be modular and used the supernatural equivalent of a USB port across all of them, while this blade was designed to be used with one particular armor set in mind, or it had something to do with the whole ‘King of Knights’ thing. My money was on the latter, but with my track record, I could be completely mistaken and it was something completely different. I wasn’t giving any silly hypothetical examples though, because the world might just make them true just to mess with me.

That said, I figured I stalled long enough. By the looks of it, the sword was safe to use, so it was high time I got around to interrogating it. I flexed the fingers on my good left hand, reached out, and simply yanked the sword out of its lithic holder without any effort.

I was half expecting that it would start yelling at me like the last time I grabbed it, but even as I held the blade at eye level, the sword remained suspiciously silent. I waited for a few seconds, but when there was still no reaction, I waved the blade back and forth to wake it up. Just a little.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

“{Stop shaking me!}” the fancy sword finally called out, and so I did and raised it to eye level again. “{What have I done to deserve such disrespect? What kind of dark era have I awakened to?}”

The voice in my head sounded strangely androgynous, even through all the booming and echoing post-processing effects, and it had a strange cadence to it that wasn’t really an accent, but it was still very noticeable. It was also really mopey, and if it was a human, I imagined it would be sulking in a corner while holding onto their legs in the fetal position.

“It’s not that dark, really,” I noted to ease into the conversation, but when I got no answer, I decided to be just a little bit more courteous. It was worth a try. “I think we’ve got off on the wrong foot, so let’s start from the beginning. I’m Leonard Dunning, and I was the one who pulled you the last time.”

“{And then you put me back,}” the sword’s dry words echoed in my head, and if it had brows, I was sure it would’ve been giving me the grandfather of all glares. “{Since we’re having this conversation, I presume you changed your mind.}”

“You could certainly say that,” responded, and the sword let out an honest to goodness sigh in response to my words. How can a sword even sigh? Swords don’t have lungs. That’s just silly.

While I internally grumbled, the blade in question let out another noise that gave me the mental image of an old man shaking his head.

“{To think that I’d meet someone willfully refusing to take up the mantle. I’ve awoken in a truly dark time.}”

“There’s no need to be so melodramatic about it. In retrospect, my reaction at the time might’ve been a little… rash. After some further consideration, I decided we could at least have a talk, like responsible adults, and reach a compromise.”

“{You talk of compromise. Are you still unwilling to take up the mantle, young knight?}”

“It’s a bit complicated, but before we discuss things, I’d like to sit down.” Saying so, I picked a spot next to the class rep’s secret box she entrusted me with, and once I was seated, I spoke up again with, “So, Cal? By that way, do you mind if I call you Cal? Caledfwlch is a mouthful.”

“{Do as you wish,}” it responded a tad wearily, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t take it on its word.

Also, wow. Contrary to how it sounded, the sword was surprisingly agreeable. I expected at least five minutes of arguing about the name issue, so I was so pleasantly surprised I was almost disappointed. But putting my conflicting feelings aside, I quickly cleared my throat and addressed the weapon in my hand again.

“So, Cal. I have a bunch of questions I’d like to ask you, if you don’t mind. First and foremost: by pulling you from the rock over there, I’m now the ‘King of Knights’, right?”

“{That’s correct,}” the sword confirmed with a somewhat perplexed voice.

“Good. Does that mean that now I’m the leader of the Knights of the exasperatingly long name?”

“{If you mean the Brotherhood, then yes?}” it answered me, this time audibly confused. “{Why do you ask something so obvious?}”

“Long story short, I have amnesia,” I told it without any reservations, only to meet with an even more baffled silence.

“{I’ve never heard of such a disease. Is it a new plague of some kind?}”

“No, it means I’ve lost my memories,” I clarified, and the blade in my hand let out a long ‘Ooooh’ in realization. “That’s why I want you to tell me everything you know. How this whole ‘King’ business works, exactly how much authority I have now, what are the Oaths and what do they do, these kinds of things.”

The sword remained conspicuously silent for a while, but then it asked, “{Young knight, why don’t you ask your fellow brothers and sisters about these things?}”

“Because of certain circumstances, I can’t,” I told it in the company of a shallow sigh. I wanted to leave this for later, but I might as well rip off the band-aid right away and get it over with. “You see, I can’t really talk with them, because I’m dating a Draconian at the moment, and so I don’t think they would be open to a discussion.”

My explanation was followed by another expected silence, yet it culminated in an unexpected question.

“{I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with the term. Does it mean you’re counting his days? Are you stalking him in secret and waiting for the opportunity to strike?}”

“No-no, nothing of the like. It’s a she, and I’m… well, in short, we’re lovers.”

“{What!?}” Cal suddenly exclaimed so hard in my head I almost dropped the sword in surprise. “{A Knight of the Brotherhood engaged to one of the dragonbloods?! There should be a limit to the deviancy of even the darkest of days!}”

“I told you to stop being so melodramatic. Also, we’re not engaged, at least not on paper, and it’s kind of beside the point anyway, now that I think about it. Listen, Cal. The point is that I’m planning to broker a peace treaty between the Knights and the Draconians, because this whole feud is silly and counter-productive. I think I have enough clout to get the latter to the table, but I need to know if being this King of Knights thing would allow me to make the other Knights stand down and listen to reason.”

“{It’s the height of foolishness, young knight! You must reconsider!}”

“I’m not reconsidering anything until you give me a straight answer,” I told it in a firm voice, and after a long second of tension, the sword let out a decidedly defeated sigh.

“{By the laws of the Brotherhood and its Oaths, you certainly have the authority to make such a demand. However, every single member of the Brotherhood has the right to challenge another to Arbitration if they feel their differences are irreconcilable.}”

“Hold on. What’s that?” I interrupted with a frown. “What’s an ‘Arbitration’?”

Cal made a noise that sounded like it couldn’t believe it had to explain this to someone, but obediently did so anyway.

“{An Arbitration is a duel held in front of one’s peers, so that disputes can be resolved in a swift and unbiased manner. Even as the King, you’re not absolved of such laws, so I’m afraid that if you tried to use your newfound authority to enforce something so preposterous, you’d have to best your fellow brothers and sisters in combat first. In your current state, it would be a foolish thing to attempt.}”

“My current— You can tell that I’m injured?” I blurted out in surprise, and I was given an almost smug huff in return.

“{Of course I can. The fates chose you as my wielder, so as long as we’re connected, I can assess your condition and help maintain it.}” The suddenly smug sword paused for a moment, then added, in a considerably less confident voice, “{Unfortunately, your injured hand may take a long time to heal, even with my help.}”

“Wait, hold on! One thing at a time!” I interjected it with a frown. “Does that mean you can heal my hand?”

“{Certainly,}” the sword declared, with confidence surging in its voice once again. “{The power of regeneration is but one of the powers I bestow upon my wielder. In the case of an injury like yours however, it may take months to fully recover.}”

“That’s… still better than my other prospects,” I muttered with barely disguised relief, but then I followed it up with the important question of, “And you say my hand can be healed just by ‘being connected’? As in, just by holding you like this? I don’t have to do anything beyond that?”

To punctuate the point, I waved the sword around once again, though this time it didn’t seem to mind.

“{No. The moment you retrieved me from my pedestal, we were bonded for life. However, direct contact does help the process.}”

“Bonded for life,” I mirrored his words a tad more flatly, and if Cal had a head, I had a feeling it would be nodding.

“{Yes. It was formed between you and me, and it will last until the day you perish.}”

“Okay, so it’s like a contract of some sort? And for life? You’d think there would be at least a question for confirmation before something like this,” I grumbled, and for a moment I could once again feel a palpable sense of confusion coming from the blade in my hand.

“{But you have agreed the day you took your Oaths, young knight. How else would you— Oh, that’s right. You suffer from lost memories. I don’t sense any head injuries though, so could it be a curse?}”

“No, it’s… kind of difficult to fully explain, but more importantly, let’s back-track a little. What was that part about the Oaths?”

The sword let out a gratingly long sigh, followed by a barely audible whisper of ‘dark times’. I had no idea how a sword directly talking into my head could whisper, but apparently it could.

“{Since you lost your memories, I believe it would be best if I explained everything from the very beginning.}”

“Great idea! Can you start with—?” I began, only to get interrupted when the door to the storeroom opened and Karukk poked his head in.

“[Hey, Boss?]”

“{Look out, young knight! A beast of the Abyss! To arms!}”

I pointedly ignored the suddenly fired-up sword in my hand and turned to the Faun with the words, “Yes. Is there a problem?”

“[No, not a problem. The General just told me to ask you if you’re eating with us, because if you do, then he’s going to need more bratwurst for the barbecue.]”

My gut reaction was to ask how he wanted to have a barbecue underground, but I swallowed it down because the sword was still screaming at me, so instead I told him, “I didn’t plan to, but tell him that if there are any leftovers, then I’ll take a taster.”

My answer was apparently satisfying enough, as Karukk flashed a smile, did a regulation salute, and then left the room, closing the door behind him in the process.

“{Young knight! Why did you converse with the creature?!}”

I ignored the overly excited blade’s accusatory tone, and simply told him, “His name is Karukk, and he’s my… well, I guess you could say ‘subordinate’, but technically he’s part of my sister’s retinue.”

“{Your sister?}” it repeated after me in a daze, so I nodded in the affirmative.

“She’s the heiress of the Inanna house in the Abyss, or at least used to be, but then stuff happened, and so I adopted her, and the Fauns came with her,” I gave my extremely truncated description of the events.

“{There are more of them?! And you did what to her?!}” Cal exclaimed in borderline panic, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at it.

“I adopted her. She currently goes by Neige Liliam Inanna-Dunning.” I paused for a beat, then added, “I call her Snowy. I’ll introduce you after we discussed everything here. Speaking of which, can you please start explaining those Oaths to me? It’s getting late.”

Cal remained silent for a good while, but then he uttered a defeated, “{I have truly awoken in the darkest of times,}” before, at last, it began its long, expansive, and arguably pretty boring infodump on the inner workings of the Knights.