The Simulacrum - Chapter 83~ Part 2

“How’s the Peking duck?”

I glanced up from my plate, and blurted out a flabbergasted, “Excuse me?”

“The Peking duck,” Emese repeated from the other side of the dining table. She was wearing a simple beige dress, but at the same time, she had her wavy hair loose, giving her a kind of wild, unbridled look that contrasted with the elegant way she was eating her meal. When I didn’t anything, she let her fork down and asked, “Could it be that it doesn’t fit your tastes?”

“Oh no, nothing of the sort. It’s perfectly tasty, just…”

“Just?” the man of the house, currently wearing a short-sleeved white shirt that showed off his impressive arms, also pressed me, so I resigned myself for an explanation.

“It’s just that if my friend knew I was eating something rare like this, I’d never hear the end of it. He’s something of a foodie.”

“Your friend sounds like he has a distinguished palate,” Sebastian noted on the side while simultaneously cutting a piece of meat with military precision. Since this was a family dinner, he was also eating with us, something he apparently only did in private to uphold his cover as a simple steward. “Shall we package a portion for him?”

“If you insist. I’m sure Josh would appreciate it.”

“By ‘Josh’, do you perhaps mean the Bernstein boy?” When I nodded, the incognito dragon let out a thoughtful hum, and muttered something along the lines of, “Maybe yesterday’s leftovers then?”

“Don’t be petty, gramps,” Abram called him out, but the old butler only responded with a dismissive groan.

It was around this point that I noticed the door of the dining hall opening ajar, followed by the wings being thrown wide open when my gaze met with the newcomer’s.

“Leo!” the princess called out to me in pleasant surprise and she rushed inside. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d be staying over for dinner? I would’ve come home sooner!”

“I originally didn’t plan to, but on my way back from the Knights, I was kidnapped by mom-in-law.”

“Kidnapped?” the lady of the house repeated my words in a dangerously low tone.

“Abducted?” I proposed, but it only made her frown at me harder, so I ventured an uncertain, “Interdicted?”

Emese mulled it over as if tasting the word in her mouth, ultimately stating, “I’ll allow that terminology.”

“Thank you very much,” I said with a cheeky smile. My next option would’ve been trying to mix the words into something terrible, like ‘kiducterdicted’, but thankfully I never had to use it. Crime against the English language: successfully avoided.

So, anyway, while we were talking, Elly kiducterdicted a chair and took a seat right next to me, so close our shoulders nearly touched, and somehow a set of plates and utensils materialized in front of her while I wasn’t looking. It probably had something to do with the maids sneakily hustling and bustling around us. She also sidled closer and entwined our arms, eliciting a surprised hiss from me.

“Ah, sorry!”

She tried to retract her arm, but I carefully pulled her closer instead and told her, “Don’t worry. My arms are just a little sore at the moment, that’s all.” Once she calmed down, she looked at me with unconcealed curiosity, so I sheepishly admitted, “I sparred with Penny, and might’ve overexerted myself a little.”

“Did you win?” Elly asked at once, and I flashed a reassuring smile.

“I certainly didn’t lose.”

To be fair, I didn’t really ‘win’ either, as it wasn’t a contest, but let’s not get bogged down in semantics. That said, my knightlier sister turned out to be scary fast even without her gear, and if not for my precognitive reflexes, I would’ve probably ended up in a much sorrier state. She was satisfied by my performance though, and some extra training was never a bad thing, so I had little to complain about. Besides the sore muscles, of course, but I had Angie for fixing that.

“That’s good,” the princess noted with a solemn nod, but a blink of an eye later she perked up again and asked, “What were you talking about before I came home?”

I glanced at her, then back at my prospective in-laws, and had to say, “That’s a good question. What were we talking about before the Peking duck?”

“I believe it was something about your novel ideas about making money,” Sebastian answered my inquiry while theatrically sloshing the red wine in his tall glass, and after taking an elegant sip, he also added, “Something related to an electronic store, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Ah, that’s right.” I gave the occasionally annoying but generally all right old lizard an appreciative nod and faced Abram again. “So, as I was saying, while the music streaming service is turning a tidy profit for the company, if we’re going to run a proper organization here, we’ll have to shore up our finances, and it has to be legal income. We can’t have the Knights get disillusioned, after all.”

“Naturally,” the Dracis patriarch agreed on the spot, and was looking at me expectantly, so I proceeded to bounce my first idea off him.

“Unfortunately, the opportunity for creating a social media monopoly already slipped through our fingers, but there are still a few fields ripe for exploiting. First off, we should branch out the streaming services to cover movies and TV shows.”

“Would people be interested in that?” came the next question from Emese.

“I can guarantee it. The infrastructure already exists for one reason or another, and the demand should be there as well. If we can be the first to take advantage of it, it can turn into an enormous golden goose, and since there’s already some infrastructure in place for the music streaming service, it could be implemented quicker than my other ideas. Ideally, I’d like us to break into the e-commerce sphere and eventually merge the other services under one big umbrella, but making an online marketplace from scratch is not something that can be done in a day, so we should focus on streaming for now.”

The family remained silent, right until Sebastian put his glass down and let out a pent-up breath.

“I loath to admit, but I don’t really understand these newfangled internet services, so I can’t say I feel confident in your proposal.” He paused here to give me a meaningful look, after which he continued in a slow, level voice. “That said, I can feel that you are confident in your idea, and since we owe you a lot, I believe it’s only fair we follow your initiative.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth!” Abram exclaimed in the company of a loud belly laugh. “Don’t worry son! We’ll support your plan! Money isn’t even a question!”

“It sounds like it would require a large initial investment though,” Elly mused by my side, and when I looked at her, she hastily clarified. “I mean, it’s common sense that you need money to make money, but don’t you already need funds for establishing this new organization with the accur— Erm… Knights? Should we really divide our assets at a time like this?”

“A good point,” Emese agreed and waited for me to respond.

“Honestly speaking, funding isn’t our biggest bottleneck at the moment.” The Dracis couple looked me like I just told them the sky was a cow made of gluten-free pasta, so I figured I better clarify myself. “While money is definitely vital for things like procuring equipment or building materials, plus the ever-important wages I’ll have to pay sooner or later, there are many vital things I need right now that no amount of cash can buy.”

“Such as?” Emese prompted me.

“Mostly things related to enchantments. I can get a few custom-made tools from the Critias School’s Artificer Department using my connections and doing a few favors here and there, but it’s unrealistic to rely on them for any industrial scale manufacturing. Not only that, but there are a couple of rare and exotic materials required for the more elaborate enchantment jobs that are only produced by certain other Schools, and you can’t exactly just buy those with money.”

“I’ve heard that!” Elly interjected all of a sudden. “You specifically said, ‘with money’! I know what that means! You already have other plans in motion, but you’re just trying to keep us in suspense.”

“Guilty as charged, but if you already knew, then why are you ruining my pace?” I griped as I carefully pinched her cheek, but she only let out a silly giggle, so I let her go with a shake of my head and told the others, “As Elly has graciously pointed out, I already have ways around this roadblock that don’t require money. Artificers are big on exchanging ideas and the concept of equivalent exchange, so I can use my own understanding of the trade to barter with them. Of course, this has its own pros and cons. For a start, there’s only one me, and I’m busy as is. While doing some freelance enchanting costs me nothing, it would eat up a lot of my time, and I’d have to do a lot of it to gather everything I need.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Elly chimed in. “Judy’s going to be mad if you get sick again.”

“Sick?” Emese raised a brow at her daughter’s comment. “You get sick from enchanting?”

Before I could answer, the princess nodded in my stead and explained, “He gets a fever and all woozy from overdoing it, so Judy’s been doing her best to moderate Leo’s bad habit of overworking himself.”

“You should listen to her, my boy,” Sebastian commented between two sips from his wine. “Your health is vital.”

“That almost sounded tautological, but yes, I know. That’s why I said that I can’t rely only on my own work to gather all the resources I need, and just throwing more money at the problem won’t fix it either. In any case, this is something I have to deal with on my own, and there’s no deadline looming over my head, so I’ll figure something out sooner or later.”

“Speaking of deadlines,” Mama Dracis interjected, using my own segue to add, “The date of the conference is officially decided.”

“When did that happen?” Elly uttered in mild alarm, and her father let out a low chuckle.

“This morning.” He tapped on the table with his finger and explained, “The opening banquet will be held this Sunday, and then the conference will last for the entire next week.”

“You have a lot to talk about, huh?” I spoke my thoughts aloud, and a bit of consideration later I added, “So I have until the end of this week to whip the Knights into a presentable shape and ready for the official founding of our new organization. Joy.”

“Oh? You want to unveil your plans during the banquet?” Papa Dracis mused aloud. “There’s really no need to rush; you’ll have plenty of opportunities during the conference. You should just enjoy yourself at the party and mingle a little.”

“Wait, hold your horses. Could you go back a bit,” I called out with a palm raised. “I’m invited to the opening party?”

“Of course you are,” Elly told me like it was completely obvious, and Emese followed it up with a similar sentiment.

“It’s only natural. You’re part of the family.”

“In spirit, maybe, but not legally speaking,” I pointed out, and Sebastian raised a brow at my objection.

“Now that I think about it, the boy isn’t wrong. He isn’t in the family register, and he’s not even engaged to the young missy yet.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Abram suddenly exclaimed with an expression that said he had an idea. “Why don’t we announce your engagement during the banquet?”

“Wait, what?”

My words were completely lost in the excited clamor of the family, with Elly’s voice rising over them with an alarmed, “But what about Judy?”

“Let’s invite her too and you can get engaged to her too,” Emese answered with an impish smile, causing my girlfriend to shake her head so hard she whipped me in the shoulder with her hair.

“No, Judy’s getting engaged to Leo too!”

“Of course. Everyone should get engaged to everyone,” mom-in-law declared like it was a given, and my girlfriend couldn’t really find a good way to object. As for me, I’ve long since given up on this whole topic. Knowing Emese’s personality, I knew it was only a matter of time she’d bring it up.

“Leo!” the princess shook me just as I was about to drink some water. “Say something!”

“Excuse me, I zoned out for a moment. Who am I not getting engaged to again?” She was just about to start pouting, so I inhaled deeply, rested a hand on the top of her head, and took a sip from my glass, in that order. “While I do think it’s a bit early, I’m not against the idea on principle.”

“You’re not?”

The question, surprisingly enough, came from Sebastian of all people, so I gave him a shallow nod.

“Not particularly. It would not only help legitimize the Knight organization under my command, but it would also help ward off certain unwanted suitors.”

Also, just because we were engaged, it wouldn’t mean we’d have to get married next week. We were both minors, for a start, so even if my in-laws got worked up over it, we’d have to wait a couple of years to tie to proverbial knot, and by then it will surely become apparent if our relationship was meant to be.

“Ah, by suitor, do you mean Naoren?” Abram blurted out, and I responded with a shrug.

“Probably. Was that the name of the guy who was bothering you?” Elly nodded, with my hand still tousling her hair. “In that case, yes. It probably won’t do much, but it would give me a good excuse to bounce him off during the banquet.”

“So you can’t recall his name, yet you already know about Naoren Feilong’s participation in the conference,” Sebastian remarked on the side, and I could once again only shrug. Honestly, it would’ve been weirder if a named potential rival didn’t show up in a scenario like this. The fact that he ended up as my adversary instead of Josh’s was a little annoying, but Elly didn’t seem to like him at all, and I really couldn’t bother to pay too much attention to unrequited runner-ups.

“He’s going to represent the Feilongs during the conference,” Sebastian added, and all of a sudden my previously waning attention was rekindled with a sense of alarm.

“Hold on. How old is this guy again?”

“I’m not sure. I think he’s twenty-three? Maybe twenty-four?” Abram pondered aloud. “Darling, when were we invited to his coming of age ceremony?”

“It was four years ago, so he should be twenty-four,” Emese answered, and my frown deepened at once.

“And he’s representing the entire clan by himself?”

“He’s a prodigy our Eastern brethren put their hopes upon,” Sebastian replied in a disinterested tone. “He took control of his clan right after he came of age by deposing his grandfather.”

“Is that normal?”

“Not at all,” came the answer from Emese, and her husband nodded along.

“The Eastern Draconians are big on tradition. Filial piety, seniority, those kinds of things. Normally he couldn’t rise above his elders like that, but Naoren’s just that competent, I suppose.”

“Oookay, so maybe I should pay some attention to this guy after all,” I muttered in a hushed voice.

Not as a love rival, of course. On that front, I was still confident, but if this guy was also the representative of the entire bloc of Eastern Draconians, and we’re guaranteed to butt heads over the princess, it could spell disaster for my plans of introducing the Knights as our internal peacekeeping force. In the worst-case scenario, he might oppose me on principle, and if his bloc backs him up, it would be the equivalent of taking two steps forward and one step back in regards to the Knight situation.

How do I avoid that? That was a difficult question, so I figured I might as well start working on it right now. I had a feeling the opening banquet this Sunday would inevitably turn into a social battleground, and I needed to prepare for it.

“Can I have a request?” The Dracis family looked at me as if the question itself was silly, so I hastily continued with, “Can you tell me about the Eastern Draconians in detail? What should I look out for, social faux pas, those kinds of things?”

“Certainly!” Abram exclaimed with a toothy grin and poked his wife with his elbow to get her attention. “Look, honey! Leo is getting fired up!”

“I can see that myself,” the lady of the house grumbled as she poked him back, and he let out a throaty chuckle.

In the meantime, Sebastian quietly finished his meal and linked his fingers.

“Let me give you a quick summary,” the old man started and used his head to gesture towards Abram. “As the rascal has already mentioned, our Eastern brethren are much more traditional than us. Unlike our bloodlines, they didn’t mingle with the high society of humanity. During my travels before I met my third love, I spent some time wandering Asia, and all the Draconian families I encountered were either ascetic clans or mountain hermits. It wasn’t until the end of the last century that they began to involve themselves with human affairs, so they still adhere to many old customs.”

“Such as?” I prompted him, and Sebastian remained silent for a while as he pondered.

“First and foremost, you must be polite to their elders. Even the Feilong boy must pay proper respect to his seniors, despite being their clan head. You absolutely must not be disrespectful to them,” he told me firmly. “I’ve heard from miss Sennoma that you have a bad habit of antagonizing people in power, so I would recommend reigning in any such impulses.”

“It’s not entirely in my control, but in my defense, it hasn’t happened in a while now.”

He acknowledged my response and continued with, “They are also very insistent on respecting social hierarchy. You have to remember to address them by their titles, and never use someone’s given name unless you’re in private.”

“Got it. Don’t be rude; especially don’t be rude to the elderly. Now, what can I use to improve my image?”

“They are going to pay you a certain amount of respect just for being part of the family,” Emese interjected.

“That’s right!” Abram followed her up with his usual lack of an inside voice. “If you want to make a good impression, just do things they like!”

“Such as?”

“They like their booze!” Papa Dracis declared, and Sebastian exhaled a sigh in exasperation.

“What the rascal is trying to say is that they are social drinkers.”

“Well, that’s out for me. I’m a minor.”

At least on paper, but that was beside the point.

“There’s also gambling, but I don’t recommend it,” Abram spoke up again, this time with a troubled frown. “They don’t like poker, and their dice games are confusing.”

“They also really like dueling,” Elly cut in, sounding just a touch desperate to contribute to the conversation.

“You’re right!” Abram exclaimed again. “I have to bring several changes of clothes whenever I visit them, because I always get challenged to duels by everyone. It’s crazy! Last time, I stayed over for three days, and I was challenged seven times!”

“Before my injury, I was also challenged a few times,” Emese added a tad awkwardly. “It’s considered impolite to refuse a challenge, but… Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I grumbled in a low voice, and mom-in-law cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“Then why are you holding your head like that?”

“Don’t mind me; I’m just already seeing my future, that’s all…” I griped from behind my face-palm. “This is so goddamn predictable…”

The rest of the family was getting increasingly more baffled by me, so I shook off the sense of foreboding trepidation handing over my shoulders. I’ll blow up that bridge when I inevitably get there, so let’s focus on the main topic.

“Okay, so duels are apparently a thing they just conveniently do. Fine. Any other odd recreational activities I should know about?”

“Well, if we’re talking about those, there are also the—” Abram began, only to fall silent and slap the top of the table with a loud “Ha!”, startling everyone in the room.

“What?” his wife glared at him with a tangible sense of disapproval, but even that couldn’t damper dad-in-law’s enthusiasm as he pointed a finger at me.

“Son! Do you remember what we just talked about? About the rare materials you need for enchanting?”

“Yes?” I answered a touch hesitantly, and he instantly flashed me a grin so wide it threatened to split his face.

“I just remembered a way we could solve your problem by throwing money at it after all!”