The Abyss was, as I had often noted in the past, a copy of Critias, the same as the Elysium. As far as topography was concerned, all the hills and shores were in the exact same place, not to mention the volcanic peak in the center of the landmass, but that didn't mean everything was exactly the same. Just like its Celestial counterpart and its mild Mediterranean climate, the weather patterns of the Abyss were also detached from the outside world.

One wouldn't expect that such a thing could change the landmarks of the island, but there was one major sticking point that couldn't be ignored: rainfall. A difference in location and intensity could (and in this case, did) change the course of rivers, as well as the best arable lands available for the inhabitants, two factors that greatly affected the locations of settlements, especially without long-distance trade routes being a concern.

What I was trying to say was that, despite Critias, the Abyss, and the Elysium looking pretty much the same from a satellite view, the population centers were at completely different places. More relevantly, the location of the capital of House Nergal was in the middle of freaking nowhere in 'realspace'.

"If I were planning to set an ambush, this would be a prime location for it," a certain Knight grumbled behind me as he cautiously eyed the surrounding woods through squinted eyelids.

"Nobody is going to ambush us here. Relax," I told Arnwald, to little effect.

"You have to admit that this area is rather suspicious," Morgana noted, sounding no less tense than the other Knight walking at her side.

"Uuu… The woods are creepy at night…"

"Do you think we're gonna see any deer? Or foxes?"

"With your luck, we're going to run into a whole lot of them."

"Dornt lag behin', Penny-gurl."

"I-I'm not! I'm bringing up the rear!"

In case the mess of voices behind me didn't make it abundantly clear yet, it wasn't just me and the Knights present. Far from it.

"I'm rather curious about this 'tunneling method' Leonard mentioned in the past. Do you think they'll allow us to study it?"

"I'm not sure. The denizens of the Abyss kept the process a secret for centuries."

"I'll ask, just in case."

"Rinne will scout the woods!"

"Wait, there's no reason to…! … Oh well, there she goes…"

"Is your company always so… chaotic?" our guide spoke up at the front, and it took me a second to realise she was talking to me.

Corbeau, our primary contact with the Nergals and Tracas Ashur, was casually leading us through the forest as if it was her backyard. That might not have been far from the truth, as she had to be familiar with the area by necessity. But to answer her question…

"This is pretty par for the course," I responded with quiet resignation as I glanced over my shoulder.

There were Knights, for a start. Not all of them; I gave Agrawain the day off, since I worked him pretty hard the day before, and Roland stayed at the base to take care of official business. That meant we had my alleged parents right behind me, while Penny and Duncan were at the very end of our little procession trekking through the woods. Rinne was running between the trees, making circles around us, while the rest of the group comprised of Lord Gulliver and Lord Taika, who were here in an official capacity, Snowy and Tajana in their formal-wear, Sebastian (for some unfathomable reason), and the childhood friend couple in the middle.

And those were just the 'important people', so to speak, as we also had an entire retinue of Ordo Draconis personnel, Kage ninjas, Praetorian Guards, and even Fauns surrounding us, outnumbering our in-group four-to-one. In comparison, only the Nergal agent/spy/thief woman was with us from their side, with the rest of the Abyssal delegation awaiting us at our destination. Which was in the middle of nowhere. Or did I mention that already?

Seriously though, getting here was a bit of a chore. It not only started with me having to shake off the collective cast's second attempt at convincing me out of going to the Abyss, but then it was followed by a three-hour-long car ride into the countryside. It was all in service of the script, because Phasing over to my destination (especially when it was supposed to be a clandestine entry-point between Critias and the Abyss I wasn't supposed to know about) would've raised too many red flags. What I didn't expect was that so many of my inner circle would insist on accompanying me, just in case.

The even more distressing part? This wasn't even all of them. Naoren, Yseult, my in-laws, Lord Ambrose, Sahi, and even the class rep tried to come along, but I managed to convince them to stay behind, because showing up with twenty people would've been just awkward. Though again, counting the guards and Fauns and ninjas in tow, there were already more than thirty of us present, but I digress.

"Leonard-dono!"

"Ack!"

Corbeau almost jumped back by reflex when Rinne landed in front of us, but Mountain Girl didn't pay her any heed and bowed to me.

"Rinne discovered minions of the underworld in the woods! Rinne asked them to identify themselves, but they fled. May Rinne pursue and emancipate them?"

"What?" came the understandable question from the woman next to us, so I gestured for her to calm down.

"She meant eviscerate," I told her, then turned back to our resident highly visible ninja. "Also, no. They're probably Nergal Fauns patrolling the area." I glanced back at Corbeau, looking for confirmation, and once she readjusted her glasses, she did so with a nod. Rinne, in turn, looked crestfallen. "That said, I'm glad to see that your teamwork skills are steadily improving. Good job."

Mountain Girl was stumped by the unexpected praise, but it was clear to see that made her feel better all the same, and she exclaimed, "Rinne is returning to duty!" as she leaped into the forest again, letting us continue on our way and leaving the Abyssal woman at my side completely stumped.

"What was that about?"

"Hm? Oh, just positive reinforcement. She would've normally chased your Fauns down to fight them instead of even thinking about asking for permission, so I'm just happy she's learning."

"… You're a strange man surrounded by even stranger fellows," she muttered in return, which was both rich coming from her and her lame femme-fatale impressions, as well as a rather questionable thing to say to someone they were asking for help. I couldn't be bothered to point that out, and then she sped up and walked a few paces ahead of me. "We're almost at the rendezvous point."

"I still don't like this…" Arnwald continued his unending grumbles, but I was already used to them, so I just ignored him and peered ahead in an attempt to find the destination. It wasn't hard.

"Welcome," Tracas greeted us in person, standing under the eaves of a small wooden cottage and wearing the same pin-stripe suit (including the fedora) as the first time we met in the restaurant. His surroundings were lit with a couple of torches sitting on long poles embedded into the ground, and based on the slightly acrid odour wafting about, they were using insect-repellent oil. I was curious enough to consider asking about it, but then the Ashur nobleman looked over our group and squinted hard as more and more of us came into view. At last, his eyes settled on me and he awkwardly tugged on his sleeves. "I was… under the impression that you'd be setting out alone."

"I will. They just came along to see me off."

"Is that so?"

My nonchalant response only made him more apprehensive, as if the idea that this whole group would come here just for that purpose was preposterous. Though again, from a common-sense point of view, maybe it was, so I let his demeanour slide and glanced around.

The small cottage was in the middle of a clearing and surrounded my multiple dirt footpaths extending into the woods. The torches only illuminated the building in the center, but we had a cloudless night, so visibility wasn't too bad. All in all, it was just a tad creepy, but if you added a nice bonfire and some 'greatest retro hits' music in the background, it might've served as a nice private party location.

"We'll secure the perimeter," Morgana declared as if it was non-negotiable, yet she still waited for me to nod before the Knights and our security detail spread out.

"That's wholly unnecessary…" Tracas attempted to interject, but it was too late by then, and so he let his hand down. "But you may do as you wish. Are you ready to leave?"

"Any time." In the meantime, Corbeau walked over to Tracas's side, so I turned to face both of them. Seeing that there weren't any other Abyssals in sight, I asked the obvious question that came to mind. "Is the tunnel already being prepared in a Purple— I mean, Restricted Space?"

They weren't surprised that I knew, and Tracas nodded in the affirmative.

"It's as you suspect. Since we couldn't be sure about your requirements, House Nergal is striving to make the gateway as wide as possible, so it may take a while longer."

The 'requirements' he mentioned were likely referring to the mechanics the Noble Houses used to get in and out of the pocket dimension. Doing so required a ritual to be performed on the outside, which linked the spot to one of the Mana Wells of the Abyss. By tunnelling from both sides at the same time, a small hole could be opened in the seal around the Abyss, but these were naturally unstable, and only a limited number of people could pass through them before they collapsed.

Not only that, but the 'quality' of the people was also important; from what I learned from Snowy, it mostly came down to how much 'power' someone had, as vague as that metric was, and an Abyssal Noble had about as much weight in that system as a whole squad of Fauns. Of course, the bigger the tunnel, the longer it took to 'dig it out', and the higher the chances of being discovered in the process. The latter didn't matter all that much anymore though. I knew that the big one made by Crowey back during the school incident was on the larger side, because it had to ferry him, Josh, Snowy, and Brang's squad over, so I was curious how long this one would take.

"Can you give me a rough estimate for our departure?"

Tracas pointedly glanced at the woman by his side, and their eyes communicated something I couldn't quite decipher. Whatever it was, she ended up subtly rolling her eyes and giving us something resembling a curtsy.

"I'll go and ask."

She didn't mince her words and simply turned on her heel. It only took a few steps, plus making some fancy hand movements that resembled interpretive dance using only her upper body, and out popped a portal from thin air. It closely resembled the one the class rep made to enter into the Purple Zone around the school back during the aforementioned kidnapping incident, so the principles must've been the same.

It was strange that it's been so long since I'd last seen one of these, though to be fair, I had no use for them, and I usually wasn't around when others needed them to enter or exit a Purple Zone. In any case, Corbeau hopped into the shimmering hole in the air, and it closed right behind her.

There wasn't much novelty to see around the forest clearing, so the rest of my group was already starting to cluster behind me again. As such, I asked the last question I had in mind before I would inevitably get distracted.

"Is Fidèle also going to come with us?"

She was visibly shocked by the casual manner I addressed her, but he quickly stilled his face and told me, "The esteemed Matriarch of House Shamash already returned to her estate a few days ago."

"Really? A shame."

My stray comment made him look even more concerned, but I didn't have time to pay him any attention, since my group was already approaching me, just as I predicted.

First off, there was my Knightly retinue, led by Arnwald, and he tried his best to remain professional. It didn't stick for long. "We secured the area, My Liege…" he began, only to falter a mutter, "Leonard… no, son." He steeled his expression and stepped up to me. "I'm going to be perfectly honest with you. I still think that this is a terrible idea, and I implore you to reconsider."

"It's too late for second thoughts," Morgana chided him in a quiet voice, even tagging a barely audible 'dear' at the end of it for emphasis, but he remained adamant.

"At least let us come with you! With the forces present here, we could strike them before they could respond! Smash this civil war with one swift blow, and get home before they could even comprehend what happened!"

"Ah didnae expect anythin' less," Duncan muttered with a faint smile. "A gey Arnwald tactic, if a've ever heard yin."

The conversation was making the already tense Ashur noble at our side appear exponentially more fidgety, and he heaved an unsubtle sigh of relief when I shook my head.

"No. It's going to be both safer and more tactically advantageous if I do this alone."

"You can't know that, and if you get injured, or worse, then we—"

"The Squires are calling." The other senior Knight abruptly hooked her elbow around Arnwald's arm and pulled him away."

"W-Wait… Si— I mean, Morgana! We have to—!"

She didn't let him finish and dragged him along, prompting Duncan to let out a quiet guffaw. He then glanced at me and said, "Fur whit tis worth, guid luck doon thare. Nae that yi'll need it, bit ye ken?"

"Thanks. I'll be careful."

"Ye better. Dinnae mak' Penny-gurl greet."

"I'm not crying!" my sister protested from the back, flanked by Tajana and Snowy, and so the big guy hastily followed after the senior Knights, only to be replaced by the trio. "I promised I wouldn't complain, but… Uuu…"

"Don't worry, Kiddo. Everything will be fine."

For emphasis, I reached out to pat her head, and for once, she didn't shy away from my touch.

"Have you memorized everything?" the young spymaster asked in a low voice, as if trying to make sure Tracas wouldn't overhear her. Of course, since he was still standing next to me, he inevitably did, but let's not get bogged down in the silly details.

"Not everything, but the most important bits, and I stashed the rest of the notes in my storage."

For emphasis, I patted my belt, and Tajana exhaled a long breath, followed by a slightly sulky, "Please do so. My Lady worked hard on it. So did I, of course, but it was mainly her."

Thusly prompted, I turned to my other little sister, and Snowy tried her best to show me a smile.

"Good luck, Leo. And… stay safe."

Instead of an answer, I just reached out and rubbed her head as well. After all, humans evolved two hands so that we could headpat more than one little sister at once. Or at least that was my headcanon, and nobody could convince me otherwise.

"Don't fret too much, you two. You know me, right? I've got this under control."

"Y-Yes, I know, but…" Penny began, but then shut her eyes and repeated, "No nagging, no nagging…" in a barely audible voice.

Before long, the three of them wandered away… only to be immediately replaced by the two Magi of the group. What was this, a farewell conveyor belt?

"How long do you think you're going to stay in the Abyss?" Lord Taika asked, and unlike the rest, she didn't seem too worried about me. I chalked it up to having confidence in me, or at least my abilities, and shrugged.

"I'm coming back as soon as I get the job done."

"I think I'm obliged to tell you to be swift, but…"

"What she's trying to say…" Lord Gulliver, ever so laidback as usual, flashed a grin at me. "… is that staying in the Abyss is the perfect excuse to avoid the scrutiny of the Assembly, so nobody will blame you for taking your time until the storm blows over."

"You're not supposed to say that out loud," the female arch-mage hissed at her colleague, but he only turned his grin at her in response. At last, she rubbed her forehead and looked me in the eye. "His advice is not our official stance, but… if you're doing something, you need to do it right, and nobody is going to fault you for being too meticulous and careful, and if that takes a long time… Well…"

"I understand. Thank you for your concern."

We shared a look of common understanding, and then the three of us bid quiet farewells, with the lanky arch-mage going as far as to pat me on the shoulder as they left… only to be immediately replaced by the incognito dragon butler. Seriously, the way they were following one another was way too smooth. Did they practice this beforehand, or something?

Idle suspicions aside, Sebastian scanned the vicinity with his eyes before his gaze ultimately settled on me. It was that weird, almost grandfatherly look that used to give me the creeps in the past, but this time I was quite okay with it.

"My boy," he began, his voice sounding more tired than anything. "I'm going to be direct with you: make sure you come back safe and sound."

I responded with a nonchalant, "That's the plan," and a cheeky smile, and after a short spell of silence, the old butler exhaled a soft sigh and reached into his breast pocket.

"Here, take this."

I didn't know what to make of it for a moment, but on closer look, the thing in his hand turned out to be a small stainless steel hip flask, the kind one would see a hard-boiled detective or overworked office worker have on them in the movies, usually filled with hard liquor. It was also, unsurprisingly, slightly shimmering with colourless light.

"What's this?" Even as I asked, I accepted the flask and unscrewed its cap to take a whiff. "Tea?"

"It's a prized part of my collection," Sebastian explained in a voice that tried too hard to sound detached. "Its inner recesses are much larger than it seems from the outside, and it can maintain its contents in perfect temperature and quality for a long time." He paused for a beat, observing my reaction, then added, "I'm lending it to you."

"Lending? Not giving?"

"No. As I said, it's part of my collection, so… I expect that you return it in perfect condition."

It took me an embarrassingly long time to recognise this trope, but then I couldn't help but let my lips widen into a genuine smile.

"Thank you. I'll make sure to do so."

"I expect nothing less," the tsundere dragon noted, still trying to sound like this was just a random whim without any deeper meaning. It, of course, confused the Abyssal Noble standing by our side to no end, but by this point he should've gotten used to it.

Now that everyone else had said their piece, it was high time for the childhood friend couple to take their turn. Yet, despite the pattern and clear expectations, they broke the trend right at the end.

"Leo! Come here, quick!" Angie called me over while waving and arm over her head, and seeing that I Corbeau had yet to return and I had nothing better to do, I walked over without missing a beat.

"Is there a problem?"

"Not a problem…" Josh, standing next to his excited girlfriend with his arms crossed, began to answer, only for her to finish his sentence for him.

"It's hedgehogs!" Angie exclaimed with a squee and wildly gestured at the nearby underbrush. "Look! It's a whole family!"

On closer inspection, there were four hedgehogs there, a big one and four pups lazily walking by with nary a care about the hyper Celestial girl hopping around them. They didn't even ball up or anything; they just continued to idle around like everything was perfectly normal. It was probably because of her whole fairy-tale princess thing going on, with the singing and the friendly animals and everything. I still had no idea why that was a thing, but then again, I'd seen weirder things already.

Meanwhile, Josh slowly shook his head and then jerked it towards me.

"Aren't we here to send Leo off? You can play with the wildlife later."

"Boo! When am I ever going to get the opportunity to play with baby hedgehogs again?"

"She makes a good point," I jested, much to Angie's delight and Josh's annoyance.

"Whatever you say, man." Seeing her girlfriend return to pestering the remarkably chill little critters, he turned a critical eye to me. "Why are we even here?"

"… To bid farewell to me?"

"I mean, yes, that's technically true, but…" he glanced around and repeated the question, this time with extra emphasis. "Why are we here? For real. This isn't how you do things."

"Really? How do I do things then?"

"Unexpectedly, without telling anyone anything in advance, and only explaining things after the fact," he responded flatly, followed by a stifled groan. "Seriously, man. I know you. You're up to something, and you need us here to be… a witness or something, right? You actually have a completely different plan in mind, and this whole thing is like a big distraction, or whatever."

Look at that. Was Josh getting sharper, or was I getting more predictable? In any case, I sidled up to him and whispered, "You're not entirely wrong, but let's make sure this stays between the two of us."

"I knew it!" he hissed, yet he somehow sounded less anxious than just a moment ago. "I knew this was too simple and straightforward to be your Plan G, or whatever this is."

"What gave it away?" I whispered back, and after a long beat, he made an odd circular motion with his head.

"Judy and Elly aren't here. They didn't seem too worried about you leaving either, so I figured there was more to this than meets the eye."

Yep. Josh was definitely growing more discerning. That said, I was surprised that nobody else made a similar observation or had any suspicions. Or maybe they did, and they just kept it to themselves because of my status. In either case, Josh glanced at Angie and then back to me.

"You're not telling me what the real plan is, are you?"

"Nope."

This time, he didn't bother to stifle his groan.

"Figures."

"You know it, buddy." I considered ending the talk here, but that wasn't quite the right note to end on, so I added, "While I'm gone, you're in charge."

That made his eyebrows shoot up like they had rockets attached to them. He turned to face me and didn't even bother to keep his voice down when he blurted out, "Charge? In charge of what? I'm not in charge of anything!"

"Don't be daft. When I'm not around, you're the only person who can rein in Angie and Deus. They're in charge of the Elysium, and you're in charge of them; therefore, you're technically in charge of the Elysium altogether, so make sure nobody gets up something dumb or dangerous while I'm away."

"Oh, come on, man! You can't drop something like this on me at the last second! That's just vile!"

Instead of words, I just patted his back with a chuckle, and by the time I was done with that, Angie returned to our side.

"What? What did I miss?"

"Nothing. How are the hedgehogs?"

"Super-cute," she stated reflexively, then frowned. "Wait, are you changing the subject? Ammy told me to be on the lookout for that."

"It's just your imagination." While we were talking, I noticed a flash of light near the cottage. As expected, Corbeau was back and already whispering something to Tracas. If I were a betting man, I would've said it meant that there was some kind of change in the plans on their end, but before I could get to the bottom of that, I had to say my farewells. "I think my ride to the Abyss is almost ready. Stay good while I'm away, you hear?"

Josh only rolled his eyes, while Angie giggled, completely forgetting her previous objection. "Good luck, Leo! Oh, and Grandpa Deus said I should tell you that if you encounter Bel, make sure you f—" She stumbled over her words and hastily tried again. "Deck him in the schnoz! That's what he said!"

It obviously wasn't, but I nodded along anyway.

"I'll do. Anything else?"

"Oh, just the usual. Stay safe, don't do anything Judy would disapprove of, and bring souvenirs."

"Wow…" Josh mumbled, sounding genuinely bamboozled. "You really aren't worried about him the slightest."

"I mean, what's the point? It's Leo we're talking about, you know?"

For a long moment, it looked like Josh would counter Angie's flippant response with one of his own, but then he closed his mouth, crossed his arms again, and uttered a blasé, "Actually, that's fair. Never mind."

It was always either overblown worry or excessive confidence with my guys, no middle ground.

In any case, I returned to the side of the Abyssal envoys, and the words with which they welcomed me immediately confirmed my initial suspicions.

"There's a minor change in the schedule," Corbeau addressed me first.

"I was planning to return to the Abyss after the succession crisis was decisively resolved, yet the Lord of House Nergal empathically requested my presence," Tracas explained without even trying to hide his displeasure. "A small reception is going to be held in your honor, and I was asked to accompany you to their estate in an official capacity."

"I'm not one for such gatherings, but I suppose if we are to form an alliance, it's best that I show my face first," I stated as diplomatically as I could, and the Nergal liaison looked especially relieved by my response.

"The gateway is almost ready. Let us embark," Corbeau urged me, but I stopped her in her tracks by raising a palm.

"First things first," I started, then turned to the rest of the group and raised a hand over my hand. "I'm off, everyone! I'll be back before you know it!"

My reassurance wasn't entirely effective on everyone, but I got a whole lot of waves and even some cheers from the squires and the Fauns in the back. Before that could turn into anything bigger, I let my arm down, wrapped my phantom limbs around the Abyssal envoys by my side, and we all slipped into the Purple Zone, much to their surprise.

The place was the same as the 'outside', just brighter, due to the enormous, swirling oval portal bathing the entire clearing in an eerie blue-ish light. About half a dozen people were surrounding it; some Fauns, mostly Abyssals in charge of the opening and maintaining of the tunnel, and they looked rather startled by our sudden appearance.

"Lord Dunning? Why did you…?"

"Hush," I stopped Tracas from speaking and took out the metal flask that Sebastian gave me. "There is an order to all things, and this comes second."

Saying so, I unscrewed the cap and took a swig from the contents. It was hot, with a robust, malty aftertaste, and with just the right amount of sugar and lemon juice to suit my taste. An English Breakfast blend, probably Assam, I surmised. As always, the old dragon was the best when it came to brewing tea, and this was the best possible gift he could've given (or lent, same difference) to me at this time.

Nothing better than a warm, familiar drink to take the edge off the nervous jitters before the curtains rise to a grand performance.