Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Cid let out a big yawn as he got up. Things had been going pretty well. He participated in a couple of interrogations. All of them were more gentle than what he went through. Of course there was no assumption of guilt with any of the people interrogated. So no torture.

Still, there was almost no progress for the Crimson Order, and after the third day the interrogations were getting boring. He was just glad that he found a way to ditch that work so he hasn’t been doing it for two weeks. 

Cid stepped out of his window as Claire started banging on the door to his dorm and went straight to Mitsugoshi. 

Cid walked through the city, channeling his magic to keep himself cool in the summer heat. It was a noisy morning, as was normal for the city. As he got closer to Mitsugoshi he turned down an alley and jumped up to the roof. He jumped across the crowds waiting for the store to open onto Mitsugoshi’s roof. 

He made his way down from there, into the local Tuna King as it was opening up. He cut the lines outside so he could get his breakfast sandwich without a wait. He made his way to the backrooms, and walked to his throne room as he ate. 

“Good Morning Lord Shadow.” Gamma bowed before him as he entered his throne room. “We could get you something more appropriate for breakfast.”

“It’s alright, I don’t have time for it. Any updates?” Shadow ordered his subordinate. 

“Our competitors are currently drafting contracts to unify. It will be a large corporate alliance. We are currently working to prevent the alliance, and working to dismantle the largest players.” Gamma went straight into the business side. Unfortunately, it was boring. She was just going into how they would be taking apart each small piece and undermining the Garter Corporation. 

He needed something cool and mysterious to say. “All those companies are walking into a world of secrets and shadows, be sure you don’t forget about the deadliest weapon.”

“That’s… Of course, my lord. That would be far more efficient. I’ll look at our options.” Shadow smiled at that. Really, Gamma was going at this purely from a business angle, it was like she wasn’t thinking of using Shadow Garden!

“Any other updates?” 

“Yes my lord. We are expanding into the city states alliance, and we are setting up a base of operation in Madlid. Mitsugoshi branches have been set up, however we have yet to start selling goods or drilling for petroleum in Madlid. The operation in Lindwurm is proceeding apace, though there have been no updates from Alpha on Archbishop Nelson lately. Of course, with the Goddess’s Trial coming up she should have some opportunities.” Something was happening in the Holy City? That sounded fun. Should be possible to divert the Crimson Order over, putting obvious pressure on the Cult. 

“The new training plans Lambda wrote up to use the Eye…” And Cid zoned out. This part wasn’t important. Maybe he could go see Sherry, he could come up with something to move the air conditioner to the Crimson Order.

—--------------------------

Things were not ideal at the moment. Klaus Midgar had been keeping track of the Crimson Order, Princess Iris’s personal order to investigate things that put her in too much danger. Worse was that Alexia was also involved and they were stirring up Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos. 

Klaus didn’t know what Shadow Garden was, what it wanted, or how big it was. All he knew was that they were at war with the Cult. Most people in the past who tried to oppose the cult were quickly dismantled. However somehow over the past few years of monitoring these factions, Shadow garden didn't show any signs of defeat. The situation still needed much thought before picking any sides. Too many wrong moves or getting involved too quickly could spell doom for the kingdom.

It would be so much easier if he could keep his daughter blind to the situation, ensuring that no matter which of these hidden forces they don’t interact with either of them. It was the best way to keep one of them safe.

Instead he had to make sure they were not a threat to either side nor stuck their noses too deep. He knew Iris with her strong sense of justice would pursue them no matter what.

The royal family did not have unlimited power, as much they acted like they did. In truth they only chose battles they could win.

He loves his daughters, but they are too straight forward. If they keep going like this they will be puppeteered by those in the shadows or outright eliminated. 

Iris was here. Likely asking for something. “Father.”

“Yes, what is it?” He couldn’t let her go too far, get too involved in this, at least when she was this straight forward. 

“We have some leads, but the Crimson Order isn’t big enough to raid any of the targets. I’ll need support from-”

“Iris, you wouldn’t be here unless you needed my authority. Where do you need to launch the raids?” Hopefully she didn’t stumble into anything difficult.

“I would like to conduct raids on the estates of Count Goethe and Count Bow.” Did she stumble into the Thirteen Night Blades? They were working with the Cult of Diablos and they didn’t lack power. If they raided those locations, it would look like royalty was siding against the cult. The kingdom was already a mess with the cult's recent attacks threatening public safety. Shadow gardens ‘iamatomic’ attack made a crater in both the capital and the kingdom's reserve funds.

“We are not raiding all of them, no matter the evidence you brought forth.” Klaus started ignoring the documents before him.

“Wh- you aren’t even going to look at what I’ve brought?” 

“Unless you have evidence that they were trying to assassinate Royalty, it’s not enough. Taking such di-”

“That’s nonsense! We have enough evidence and we can get more!”

“Iris, you speak of people of significance and rank. Come with something reasonable and I’ll consider it.” He needed her to stop pushing.

“Father, can you-” 

“Iris, that is enough.” He cut her off, keeping his tone level and calm. He held his daughter’s glare, retaining his composure as she threw her amassed evidence and stormed out. 

Klaus let out a sigh. This was draining. They couldn’t go after just the first two names Iris gave. Simply going after Goethe and Kuzaya would throw the Kingdom into a war they could not win. No, it was far safer to wait on Shadow Garden and the Cult to fight, side with the inevitable victor, then move in on the enemies of the crown as if they were collateral damage from the fight.

He needed to do what he could to keep his daughters away from the influence of Shadow Garden and the Cult.

“Tired?” the finance minister asked, looking over to Klaus.

“Likely not as much as you after the ebony incident.” Klaus half heartedly joked to his old friend. 

“I’ve had a few trusted researchers try to find the artifact that could have caused the explosion"

“Any luck?”

The finance minister gave a deep sigh.

“Regardless, we need to amass enough money and power, to keep this kingdom afloat so it doesn't get swallowed up by this war in the shadows” the king responded, despite the confidence of his statement the worry for his daughters was still etched on his face.

 —----------------

Claire didn’t know what she was expecting when she joined the Crimson Order, but this certainly wasn’t it. They had interviewed a lot of the students and teachers who were held hostage, and transcribed what had been said. Now they were reading through all of them and comparing them.

The student notes didn’t have older interviews to compare, as they weren’t checked as deeply after the kidnapping. Only those tied to her brother, who were only complete idiots for some reason. 

“Cid needs better friends.” Claire muttered as she went to the next transcribed interview. 

“Would you prefer if they were Cult plants? Maybe Shadow Garden plants?” Princess Alexia quipped as she yawned, looking to the next document.

“He could do better.” 

“I don’t know, it’s pretty fun watching those two fail.” 

Claire sat up and looked over to the Princess. “What?” 

“I saw Po, someone who’s supposedly training to be a knight, get beaten to a pulp by a bunch of girls who definitely weren’t training to be fighters. It was very satisfying to watch.” She sounded bored as she said it.

Claire imagined that little idiot failing that hard. “That does sound nice.” 

“This is why I prefer Iris over you two.” Glen muttered.

“What.” The two girls glared at the older man.

He retreated. “Where’s Cid?” 

“Where is my brother?” 

“He better not be slacking!” 

While Claire did occasionally butt heads with Alexia, she did tend to agree with her on Cid’s lackadaisical attitude and that he wasn’t meeting his potential. They could make him meet his potential. Even if they had to drag him kicking and screaming to it. 

“We don’t even have classes right now, he should be here!”

“I better make sure he keeps up with his sword training if he’s skipping out on us like this.” 

“Good, if he isn’t improving then we know he isn’t spending this time practicing.” 

They all kept going over all of the interview notes, trying to verify if there was anything they missed. Anything that needed extra attention. They only had a few more days of interviews left, but the remaining people were some of the least likely to be of any import. None of them expected Skel or Po to be relevant. There was that guy related to Christina Hope, Claire didn’t remember his name, he was kind of pathetic and blended into the background. There was also her friend Nina, but there’s no way Nina had anything to do with any of this. 

There were a few bits of information here and there, such as Gaunt mentioning something called “thirds” and a number of students confused that the shadow garden that freed them was using a unique sword style no one has seen before.

The door to their room opened and Claire looked up to see Sherry coming in. She quickly looked away. She was not sure what to do for the girl. She had never talked to her before, and she didn’t feel like she could do anything to help the poor girl. Cid would be better for that, or Alexia, or anybody who knew her before her adoptive dad betrayed everything they thought he believed in. 

“Let's get this set up.” Cid walked in pushing a cart carrying a big crate.

“Cid! Where have you been!” Claire and Alexia calmly asked together. Really, his flinching was completely unnecessary. 

“I was still working! I was helping Sherry out! Also, I’m not allowed into the interrogations! I’m still technically not a member of the Crimson Order!” Cid was trying to weasel his way out of his justified punishment, but Claire wasn’t going to let him escape.

“We haven’t seen you training.” 

“I’ve been helping Sherry at Mitsugoshi? Check out the new thing! She just finished it! First model to show to the public! Right?”

“Y-yes! Um, C-Cid? Can we set it up?” Sherry muttered.

Claire and Alexia shot a glare at her darling brother who just needed to be pushed a bit. That lazy idiot needed to meet his potential.

On the other hand, Mitsugoshi had really nice things. “Well?”

“What are you waiting for?” Alexia finished for her.

“OK! Let's get to work.” Cid said as he pushed the crate to the open window and cracked it open.

Sherry closed the other windows. ”What are you two doing?” Glen looked over to them.

“I-it’s a ‘heat pump’ from Mitsugoshi.” Sherry muttered as she placed some padded cloth along the open window. With the magic tool in place, the magic device only covered about half of the opening. “Uhhh, h-how can…”

Cid took the top of the crate and placed it on top, covering the rest of the window. “That should be fine.” 

Sherry grimaced, “That looks bad, but it should work. Thank you Cid.” Sherry grabbed a cross in the center and she focused on it. 

Then cool air started blowing out of the device. That was nice. The weather was dead calm, no breeze at all. Having cool air blowing was incredible. This was way better than hoping for the wind to blow through an open window. “Sherry, you made this?”

“Um, I… Just this…” She pointed at the cross with a clear marble in the center.

“It looks like the Eye of Avarice?” Alexia muttered as she blocked Claire’s cool breeze. 

“I hope it’s okay that I based it on that.” Sherry said as she let go of the device. “It should work for 1 and a half hours before it needs more magic. We still need to make it more efficient…” She started mumbling at the end.

“This is what you’ve been working on?” Alexia asked.

“Yes, Mitsugoshi has a few things that need consistent magic, but they haven’t been able to solve storing magic. With what I know about the Eye of Avarice I made it work.” 

“The heater works well on a small scale. It makes the kotatsu work for 4 hours on a charge.” Cid shrugged as he started preparing some coffee. 

Claire leaned back and enjoyed the cool air. Mitsugoshi had the best stuff. She should use Cid to get one of these air cooler things for their parent’s anniversary in a few months. Sure they would absolutely be horrendously expensive, but they could abuse his position to have the Royal Family pay for it. Cid wasn’t subtle about that bit of corruption he was engaging in, and the two princesses didn’t seem to mind. 

Claire jumped as the door slammed open. Iris stormed in, fury emanating from her with every move. 

“The King didn’t-” 

“He didn’t even look at our evidence!” Iris seethed as she interrupted Glen. She stormed to her seat, a fresh cup of coffee with milk and sugar waiting for her. “He just didn’t care!” 

“He didn’t look at it?” Glen muttered. 

“He didn’t.” Iris hissed as she drank her coffee.

“I can understand Goethe considering we don’t have anything but him going to great lengths to legally shield Count Bow. We actually have reasonable cause to go after Count Bow and his son. I was hoping we could negotiate down to just him.” Glen muttered.

“There was no negotiation, just a complete refusal.” She was glaring out from her seat. Looking at the notes on her table like they personally offended her.

“He must know something we don't" Cid thought out loud.

The room turned to Cid for a moment.

“Cid may have a point,” Glen said quietly in an attempt not to anger Iris even more.

Iris sighed.

Claire didn’t know what to do. She wasn’t a part of anything on Count Bow, Adder and Glen were the ones who drew attention to Count Goethe. “So, what can we do?” 

“...We’ll figure something out.” Iris muttered.

“...Should I be here?” Everyone looked at Sherry. Claire had completely forgotten she was here. She didn’t even notice that Cid made coffee.

“Probably not, leave the surveys here. I’ll give them to Luna later. You should work on the power source, see if you can make it last longer.” Cid said as he gave Sherry a coffee that Claire knew was more sugar than coffee.

“Do you think if we use different materials it would be better? We used different rubies but they aren’t consistent…” She started muttering as she took her drink and left the room.

Sherry took the coffee and left the room. “Sherry seems to be doing well.” Glen smiled at the closed door.

“She’s spending all of her time at Mitsugoshi working. She keeps herself so busy I don’t think she thinks about Lutheran.”

“That’s better than her thinking about that traitor.” Iris said, still some traces of anger in her tone. “If only things were going well for all of our work.”

“We just need to figure out how to use what we have.” Claire sighed. She wasn’t sure what they could do with just 10 people. 11 if she included Cid. Realistically, 9, Iris wasn’t going to risk her sister and would stick Cid with Alexia to keep her in place. Actually, now that she was thinking, 7 people, Marco was riding to meet with the Marquez family.

“I mean, it’s not just what we have, right?” Cid said as he sipped his coffee.

“We can’t use the Knight Order for this.” Claire sighed, Cid really needed to listen better.

“No, Cid has a point.” Glen muttered.

“I do?” 

“We are not the only ones investigating the Cult and Shadow Garden.” 

“Glen, what are you suggesting?” Iris asked her second.

“We just have to take advantage of them investigating each other. I’m suggesting we… loosen our security.” 

“No. We can think of something else.” Iris snapped.

“I think I get Glen’s idea. If we are slow and careful we could find where they’re listening to us.” Alexia suggested.

“Would that even work?” Iris grumbled.

“Do we have a better option?” Claire asked. Their options were very limited. “We can’t just charge in with 10 knights.” Even if it would be way easier. 

Iris sighed and leaned back in her seat. Claire really wasn’t sure what they could do. The interrogations weren’t leading to much, all they had was a lead on Count Goethe and Count Bow. “We can… We can try it.”

“Where are we going to do it first?” Cid finished distributing coffee, and was now enjoying a glass of apple juice. Everyone looked at him. “I mean, if we do it at too many places it wouldn’t be useful for us. Except for setting the Cult and Shadow Garden against each other.”

“I want a list of locations you all think would be a good place to, I don’t know, complain about a lack of progress? Preferably a place we can easily monitor who goes there. We’ll have one team monitoring Count Bow’s estate at all times.” Iris ordered.

“What about Count Goethe?” Claire was certain that man was corrupt, and it left a bad taste in her mouth to just ignore him.

“Do we have enough people to monitor both?” Glen added with a sigh.

“Also, what happens if Goethe and Bow have nothing to do with the Cult and Shadow Garden?” Cid said while enjoying coffee. “We should have someone reach out to the church, see if they caught anyone infiltrating.” 

Claire was taken aback by the suggestion. She knew that there were infiltrations, but she didn’t really think about where they could have infiltrated. “Could they infiltrate the Church?”

“Some of the cultists who attacked the academy were shown to come to an orphanage in Lindworm. Also, the Cult of Diablos would have a big interest in infiltrating the Church that led the Heroes who defeated Diablos.” Glen pointed out. “We should reach out, could get us a lead. Maybe when we have more time look at myths surrounding Diablos?”

“We should also be ready in case our newest plan gets us nothing.” Iris complained. “Right now, all of our investigation into the Academy is built on information Shadow Garden left for us. Which is far from ideal”

“How should we reach out to the Church?” 

“Alexia. The Goddess Trial is coming up. If we’re doing this I want you to reach out to not only the church but any other group in attendance.”

“What? But I can keep watch on the Bow estate! What if-” 

“Alexia, we need to be cautious. I am not letting you monitor or leak information to bait out our enemies.” Iris sighed as she gave a stern look at the younger Princess. “Besides, we don’t need you going too far with the bait.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can help here!”

“You used yourself as bait to try and lure out the serial slasher with Cid.”

Claire jumped at that. “You dragged my brother to WHAT?”

“Nothing happened!”

“Because the slashers were butchered and you didn’t notice.” Claire leveled a heavy glare at the younger Princess. Alexia dragged her brother into that kind of danger! “Alexia, one of us needs to be the one who reaches out to the church. I’ll handle everything in Midgar. Besides, you’ll get to see the Goddess’s Festival, it’ll be fun.” 

“Fine.” Alexia petulantly said. It really reminded Claire that the Princess was a younger sibling. Cid was like this occasionally too. “I guess Cid and I are going to Lindwurm.”

“We are?” Cid sounded baffled, and Claire was ready to chime in.

“Actually, Claire, could you go with them? Make sure they don’t dive into anything too foolish.” 

Claire grinned, “Well, as an older sister, I can make sure they won’t do anything reckless. Your little sister and my little brother will come home safe and sound.” 

“I appreciate it.” Princess Iris smiled at her and seemed to finally start to relax a bit.

Claire stood up, “Well, I’ll need to get ready for Lindwurm, but first, Cid! We’re going out to spar! I need to make sure you’re keeping up your training!”

“Did we get any more leads on Shadow Garden?” Cid asked as his sister dragged him out the room. And closing the door

“No, Marco has gone to investigate the Marquez but we have no other leads” Iris sighed

“I suspect that Shadow Garden destroyed all records of their existence when cleaning up the cultists at the end of the academy's invasion.” Alexia responded, “Also, while we are gone you should explore those tunnels in the school.”

Lutheran knew about those tunnels, so they are likely related to the cult, Iris thought. Glen is right we don’t have enough leads on Shadow Garden. We need to know more, we need to find a way to catch them off guard.

—-------- 

Gamma finished delegating duties, and was now working with the reminder Lord Shadow gave her. This was more than a corporate fight. She was fighting the Cult of Diablos. The fledgling corporate alliance was just another weapon they were using. 

To the best of their knowledge the Cult didn’t know that Mitsugoshi was a part of Shadow Garden, but that didn’t change things. The big advantage was that these corporations weren’t ready for the deceit that Shadow Garden, and by extension Gamma, were capable of. 

For now, she needed to choose a good option. Lord Shadow reminded her that she needed to look toward the greatest weapon, and he did tell her that when the traitor’s hand strikes it strikes with the force of a Legion. At the moment she had narrowed her choices to Voss Engineering and L&T Textiles. 

If she planned everything right she would be able to direct the neutral parties how she pleased and get those feeding money into the cult to betray them. She can already see all their transport roots as most use the railways. The corporate side is so much easier to fool. 

She might even be able to uncover the Fenrir sect’s finances. 

So much she could do if she chose the right traitor. 

 —-------

Rose sighed as she walked around the train station. The staff were loading the train, or they likely have already finished and were now waiting on their departure time. 

She hadn’t been able to spend any appreciable amount of time with Cid. He was just so busy, working with the Crimson Order, supporting that poor girl who lost her father, and who knew what else! Of course, that didn’t make her less jealous of those who were monopolising his time.

She had to stop. Jealousy was unseemly, especially over something as minor as time for someone so wonderful. She needed to be optimistic! She was going to see the Goddess’s Trial as a guest of honor, and there were rumors that Natsume Kafka would be doing a book signing at Lindwurm! She had one of her books with her, and she’d love to have the magnificent author’s signature on it. As well as on whatever books she would be selling at the signing. 

Then she saw him. Well, him and Princess Alexia and his sister. He was so stoic and handsome, but underneath that was a heroic spirit and an observant eye. She strode forward to the man who was clearly her destiny.

“What are you doing here?” Claire still seemed to be upset with her. Understandable, she did make her think that her beloved brother was dead. 

“I’m going to Lindwurm for the Goddess’s Trial. I am to be a guest of honor this year.” Rose said with a smile. 

“We’re all going to the Trial as well. Could we join you?” Princess Alexia asked.

Rose was elated. She was nervous enough as it was, and now she didn’t have to ask them to join her! She would share her journey with Cid! “That sounds delightful, doesn’t it, Cid?” 

“Sure.” Cid was succinct in his answer, and certain too. Truly he was wonderful. 

“Great, there are a few things we need to talk about.” Alexia said with a smile. “Cid, Claire, handle the baggage.”

Wait, what? “Actually-”

“Could you show me to your train car so we can discuss something?” 

“...of course.” There would be another time to finally have a proper discussion with Cid.

Chapter Text

We occupy a luxury train carriage. Unsurprisingly mostly trains were invented and owned by mitsugoshi. Trains did exist before mitsugoshi but were primitive and used mostly to haul iron or mithral out of mines. With mitsugoshi trains have exploded into practically every industry. 

When I was practicing to be a mob, I decided to become friends with a few mobs in my past life. There was this one who seemed like the perfect background character. But if you mention trains, he will endlessly describe the engineering of trains. So he wasn't the best background character. Fortunately for me I could regurgitate enough information to impress Eta. I’m actually quite impressed that Eta turned my half baked knowledge into working trains.

“So, you three are actually investigating Archbishop Drake.”

“Yeah, so we will have to split up before the goddesses' trial.”

“CID, are you even listening?” Claire glared at him.

“Do you think the Archbishop could be part of the cult or Shadow garden?” Rose continued.

“I don’t think he is, -but they could have infiltrated,” Alexia responded.

It takes around 2 days to get from the academy to Lindwurm. 

I just need to survive Claire, Alexia and Rose for 2 days and a night. 

“CID!” Clare, who was sitting next to him, shouted directly into his ears and started to violently shake him.

“yes, sis.”

“Are you even listening?” Claire glared at him.

In the train Opposite Cid sat a beautiful platinum haired princess and next to her a blond haired princess Oriana. Both look at him.

Trying to change the conversation, “Nice weather today.” Cid states while looking in the opposite direction of the window, directly at a wall.

“P- I mean Cid, it's currently raining heavily. The weather could not be worse.”

“I’m sure he means that, because it's raining now it's bound to stop before we get to Lindwurm. So we will not watch the goddesses trial in the rain.” Rose gleamed.

“Godesses trial? sounds fun.” Cid retuned half heartedly.

“Me and Alexia, were invited as special guests. I even heard a former blade of Vegalta will be participating this year.” The seven blades of Vegalta were the strongest spellswords in Vegalta, most were first children. A few years ago he unknowingly fought and killed one of the seven blades who was also the 10th night of rounds Sergey Gorman.

Alpha said something about only killing the remaining 5 of the 7 blades when we have more info on them, so we can draw out a knight of rounds. I'm pretty stoked to fight a knight of rounds.

The former one of the seven blades, Annarose Nichtsehen, is attending the goddesses trial. I would like to observe her, apparently she is woefully unaware of the cult. Even after besting a first child and becoming one of the seven blades years ago. Yet despite this she may be a good ally in the future.

Time passed in a blur. I chip in to a few conversations but nothing too much. I want to be a lesser side character at most. So I only occasionally chip in to the conversations between sis and the princesses.

—--------------

Rose was glancing at the gallant man who saved her life. He was staring off into the distance as if deep in thought. Probably thinking about something important (he was in fact mentally making a tuna king burger tier list). 

Suddenly she was snapped back to reality. “Don't you think that's quite odd.” Claire asked Rose. 

“What is exactly?” Replied Rose, she was unsure of what was happening in the conversation as she was paying more attention to her future husband. 

“The shadow garden, well there sword style specifically.” Replied Claire, “I didn't see them fight much but many students did. But many people could recognise the terrorists' sword styles from rising wind, Bushin and even Lictenroi. But to think no one had seen Shadow Gardens before.”

Alexia chipped up, “I had seen it before, when shado- ”

Rose unknowingly interrupted Alexia. “It is quite concerning that a new unknown and undoubtedly strong swordstyle has seemingly appeared out of nowhere. But to me something about it seems familiar..."

—---Night on the carriage------

After a long day of talking Alexia was tired. Getting to sleep in the surprisingly comfy carriage. It was soundproofed but she was still surprised how quiet the night was. 

*Thud*

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN CID’S ROOM!” it was unmistakably Claire was yelling.

What's going on, it is the middle of the night, Poochi is in danger, is the cult or shadow garden trying to attack us in the night. How did they get past the train's security? It doesn't matter. I draw my sword and rush out the room with a lantern in the other hand. 

…

What?

Alexia stares dumbfounded at the scene, Claire is pinning down a slightly flustered looking Rose, in the doorway of Cid’s bedroom. Rose's room was next to Alexia on the opposite side of the carriage. So she must have walked into Cid's room in the night, why…

Alexia was too tired to deal with whatever was going on, so she went back to sleep.

—---------

Once we reach the sacred land of Lindwurm. The most eye-catching feature is the enormous church that has seemed to be carved out of the mountain. Outside the church is a large arena, the rest of the city is built around it. 

I wave sis and Alexia off as they head off to investigate the Archbishop. They head in the direction of the church.

The church is really big, perhaps that is the sanctuary that Alpha mentioned. Alpha said she was going to ‘unearth the secrets slumbering within the sanctuary’. It sounded really cool so I agreed, but digging through some archives sounds kind of boring. It's not really an eminence in shadowy thing to do. More like the kind of thing that the trusted subordinates do.

If the eminence in shadow was known for hunting regular bandits and spending hours looking through crusty books it would lose its appeal. When I appear I want to be mysterious, if I appear too often or do too many unimportant things I will lose my mystery in the eyes of the people. The eminence in shadow I want to be only appears for the biggest battles then disappears into the night.

I'm more interested in the goddesses trial. I want to find an excuse to participate in it. Imagine how cool it would be for people to spend all day watching people fighting tough warriors. Only for the eminence in shadow to show up, summon the most powerful warrior possible, beat it and leave. Yeah, that sounds awesome, I'm adding that to the bucket list.

—------

Once they arrived at Lindwurm, Alexia and Claire went to investigate Archbishop Drake. Leaving Rose and Cid alone. Rose was ecstatic. Cid also looked like he was thinking about something that made him happy. And he even said he would go with her to find the rumored book signing with Natsume Kafka. 

While we are walking around I spot a trinket that seems to have caught his eye. 

“Do you want one?”

The Gallent man nods slightly.

“It's a key chain of Olivier the hero's sword with the Demon Diablo's arm wrapped around it. It's said that the Demon's left arm was sealed at the top of those ruins”. I point to the top of the mountains. “But of course that is just a fairy tale.”

I buy him a keychain, then I wrap my hands around his and we continue walking. We walk for a while.

Then I see it. I yank his arm. “Look, Natsume Kafka’s book signing. I’m her biggest fan.” There is what can only be described as a wall of people before what appears to be a book store but, I can't tell with the size of the crowd. “Do you mind if I join the line? It might take a-”

“Go ahead without me” Cid smiles slightly as he waves her off. Of course he's happy he knows how much this means to me. Meeting Natsume Kafka.

—-----

I wave off the weirdly clingy Rose. I should probably see how Beta is doing. I look around and pick up a book “I am a dragon, yet I have no name” and another “Romeo and Julieta” and another “Little crimson riding hood”. 

Then something catches my eye, a book written by Natsume Kafka called, “The two goldsmiths”. The book seems like an original story. I'm glad Beta has started to do some of her own original works. I pick up the book and join the queue.

—----------

After finishing talking to Ms Kafka, I was glowing. Ms Kafka mentioned that she was attending the goddesses trial as a special guest so we will see each other during the trial. I begin to try to reunite with my future husband, but I can't find Cid anywhere.

Eventually, I noticed him, he was getting a book signed by Ms Kafka. Her books are most popular with noble women, so he was probably trying to sneakily get a signature, so he would not appear less masculine in front of me. But it does not matter. I have already accepted him for who he is.

“You're a fan of Ms Kafka's works too?” I ask Cid almost immediately after he leaves the queue. “No, I…” he stutters. He probably is concerned that caught him and I will say something like it's not fitting for a gentleman. But on the contrary it gives me something much more to talk about. 

“I understand it's hard to bring yourself to admit it in public, since most of her fans in public are women. Nevertheless, even though most of the fans who come to the book signing are women. Ms Kafka. Has a fair share of male fans.”

“...Sure I guess”

“The stories are so compelling because they are inventive! The plots are new.” Cid gives a sly smile as I continue. “And she is so well versed in so many genres: Romance, mysteries, action, literature, fiction and even children's stories… It's almost like each book was written by a different author.”

Cid gives a knowing smile.

“Oh and look at my autograph she even wrote down my name.” 

“I just got the signature” Cid states while pulling a slip of paper from the book, it had some strange symbols and slips it in his pocket. With what was probably a book mark out the way he shows me the signed book.

Cid suddenly looks into the distance, 

“Let's go to the hotsprings” he says with absolute confidence.

—-----------

Alexia and Claire went to the hot springs to try to relax after their investigation was rejected. The pool was empty apart from the two of them. The hot spring resort was the best in all of Lindwurm, looking over the Holy City.

Archbishop Drake who they were going to investigate had been murdered.

Alexia was pissed. It was such a pain as the questioning and the investigation was called off. “That damn, WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE WAS KILLED SO YOUR REQUEST FOR INSPECTION IS INVALID BECAUSE HE DIED! THAT MAKES IT MORE SUSPICIOUS!” yelled Claire.

"At least I managed to get them to allow you to come with me as a bodyguard”

Claire's rage started to subside.

“As annoyingly suspicious as it is, we can't do anything.” Alexia continued “They are obviously doing a cover up...”

“Do you think it is a shadow garden or a cult or just the corrupt clergy involved?”

“We are in public, we can't talk about it. Remember what Iris said about leaking information.” Alexia said while looking around to make sure no one was nearby. Then she whispered “But it is probably a cult plot. If I had to put money on it. Although we don't have much to go off.”

Alexia sighed. She was to attend the goddesses trial as a special guest. Archbishop Nelson was going to be leading the trial. She did not like him one bit. Despite another Archbishop being seemingly murdered the other day, he did not look like he mourned for even a moment.

Unfortunately she would have to report to her sister, Princess Iris and say they were rejected for this stupid reason.

The door to the men's changing rooms. Started to open, probably some rich noble creep who was going to ogle her body. So she pretended to be just about ready to leave and started to stand up. But out of the men's changing rooms came. 

Cid?

“...”

“Poochi?... Umm, I mean Cid… Umm, What are you doing here?” She stammered.

Then, he walked past probably the most beautiful woman a man of his rank should have ever seen (who was also completely naked and a princess), and then sat in the hot spring like no one else existed in the world.

“Oh hey sis, you are back early, how did the investigation go?” he asks, much to the dismay of the ignored and slightly flustered Alexia.

“Cid, how did you even find us?” Alexia managed to say before the infuriated Claire started ranting. “THAT… He didn't even let us investigate!” “wha-” “We can't investigate him because someone killed him. So the church decided that the investigation is invalid.”

“Never mind that, how did you even find us?” Alexia glared at him.

“Coincidence,” Cid shrugged.

“Why were you even going to the hotsprings? You're supposed to be with Rose while we do the important business? …Cid don't tell me you ditched her.” Claire asked.

“No I asked her to go to the hotsprings with me”

Claire was dumbfounded. Alexia looked like she just heard the stupidest thing she has ever heard. “P-Cid do you know what asking a woman to accompany you to the mixed hot springs implies.”

—-------

Rose enters the hotsprings to see a scowling Claire seated next to her was Alexia, albeit with quite an interesting look on her face. A surprisingly muscular Cid was sat cross legged at the opposite side looking into the sunset over the city. 

She decided much to Alexia's dismay to sit next to Cid, who continues to stare into the sunset like nothing else was happening in the world.

“Hi Rose, I hope your day went better than ours?” After exchanging pleasantries the princesses and Claire discussed how their days were and the events that transpired. Rose was not used to such a casual atmosphere since entering Midgard but now that she and Alexia were friends that much was to be expected. Usually talking to other nobles was like walking through a snake den every where sentence had a hidden agenda. But here they were not political rivals, they were just four friends (including Cid who was not paying any attention). After a long chat everyone eventually ran out of things to say and the group just enjoyed the sunset, warmth of the water and the silence. 

Until Alexia broke the silence.

“Cid, are you sure you are a man? There are the two most beautiful women you have ever seen before you. I would have expected you to be ogling our bodies but… I don't think you have given us as much as a glance.” 

Claire was ready to strangle the vile harpy for her blatant disrespect towards her innocent brother. He probably doesn't even know what the word ogle means.

“You're full of yourself, we are in blessed waters. And the sunset is more beautiful than you.” Then Cid smirked with such a smug grin that not a single person could believe Cid could pull off. 

“On that note Alexia. Could you stop staring at my Excalibur."

“I think the word your looking for is ‘worm’.”

Rose could not believe the conversation that was happening before her. Nor could Claire believe her lazy brother who always took the path of least resistance. She was even convinced he would die one day because he decided breathing took too much effort. He was actually standing up for himself, albeit in the worst place and situation possible to do it in but he stood up for himself.

“Do not judge a book by its cover.”

Then he physically stood up with his Excalibur on full display. Alexia was petrified and her face went almost as red as her sister's hair. Claire was beyond dumbfounded. Rose was especially shocked considering she was almost in arms reach to him.

“When a holy sword is drawn from its sheath...” Cid stood up and began to walk out as he continued “...the blade will be unleashed into the garden of chaos.”

Then Cid slapped the towel between his legs and left for the changing rooms.

“...”

“Godess… was that supposed to be that size…” Rose stuttered.

—-----------

I have to be the perfect background character in every situation. Background characters come in all different forms. Background character can be accomplished but it's all about time and place. 

Imagine a scene of lots of important people gathering, if I'm my typical Cid Kageno I will be very out of place amongst the many big wigs. But if I am an important person with a prosperous career and good wealth but nowhere near as affluent or important as the main cast. I'm still a perfect background character. 

So I decided on being the Crimson order lackey, slightly above average Cid Kageno. The Crimson order is a group of elite knights so I do mental tasks like getting everyone's coffee. I may need to improve my grades so it doesn't look entirely corrupt. If I up my grades a bit to a middle-upper student. It's perfect. Perfect background Royal lackey.

I have made sure to sculpt every portion of my body to be as background character as possible. Due to being Shadow, I may be far more muscular than most students but as the lowest member of the Crimson Order and younger brother of the prodigy Claire Kageno, it is not out of place.

I even made sure to sculpt my Excalibur to a perfectly average size. In my past life around the age of 15, I overhead a group of gag characters, they claimed their lengths to be between 8 and 12 inches. So I decided to have a slightly above average 10. While naked I would rather not be so small or too large that I would be noticed. Just average, Cid Kageno. Today I was perfect, I was almost unnoticed with three women I knew for a whole 20 minutes. It truly brings a tear of joy to my eye. 

You may ask why I just dramatically exited. Well Beta left a note in the book she signed for him. Alpha wants to sneak into the church just me and her before they raid the sanctuary. Which sounds really cool, the most elite scouting ahead the day prior. I have spent too long being a background character, I need to stretch my legs as shadow for a bit.

—-----------

Alpha and Lord shadow sneak into the church. The ancient building is well kept and the great stained glass windows show pictures of distorted history.

“Each time we pull back a layer of dark history we find truths and lies interwoven.”

“Indeed Alpha, yet tomorrow you will find the truth.” She was confused, did he already know what she was about to uncover surely not?

“I will not be joining you in the sanctuary…” He said dramatically, and loud enough to alert a guard. The guard opened his mouth to alert the paladins of the intruders… but his head fell from his shoulders before he could raise his voice. “I will be interrupting the goddesses' trial to divert the cult's attention.”

Alpha examined the body shadow just killed. The man's body was encased in a thick black robe, black chain mail armour, with two light yet fairly long swords, his masked face rolled towards them. It couldn't have been meaningless. Shadow couldn't have accidentally alerted a guard and killed him. Then she noticed something. He just killed a named child, as effortless as expected of shadow. What could be important about him? Then she remembered his name ‘The bladed tornado’ he was going to be competing in the Goddess’s trial.

“You wish to use his identity to sneak into the goddesses trial?” Shadow raised his brow. Of course, there must be some other reason otherwise he could just jump in the arena at any time he felt like.

“wha– uh… Yes. You are correct I will walk in as him, reveal myself as Shadow and then battle the strongest the trial has to offer.” 

He must want to reveal himself as Shadow so the Crimson order digs into "The bladed tornado’s” past and finds out about the cult's control over the church due to his closeness with them. It may be but a slither of the cult's corruption, but it seems to be part of Shadow's grand plan or perhaps not his plans within plans within plans are beyond me.

“I will clean his clothes and mask for you and have it prepared for you tomorrow.”

Shadow returned a genuine smile.

Alpha's heart started to race in response.

—---

Honestly I'm glad that Alpha realised he was a cultist. I would feel kinda bad if I had beheaded a preacher or innocent guard who heard me get carried away by my speeches.

She knows me so well. I love to play characters. Cultist who is not who he seems but is secretly the eminence in shadow infiltrating their ranks and causing a ruckus, Alpha thinks of such cool roles to play. I should reward her at some point. I even will get to tick off the torment crasher of my bucket list. 

This will be fun.

Time to get some rest. The big day is tomorrow.

Chapter Text

How disagreeable, Alexia mutters to herself. She's sitting in one of the seats for special guests. Waiting for the opening ceremony of the goddesses trial to begin. The special guest seats are occupied by Alexia, Natsume and Rose in that order. There were a number of other nobles behind them including Claire who was behind and to the side of Alexia as a bodyguard. It is blindingly obvious that they are being used to draw the attention of the crowd.

But there are two things she finds disagreeable. First is the acting Archbishop Nelson, he said that the inspection was to be called off because the subject is dead. As much as Alexia would like to use her authority but against the Holy teachings it would be unwise.

The other thing that irks Alexia is the woman sitting to her left. Natsume or whatever her name was. She sits politely between the two princesses as if she is the main attraction. She responds to the crowd's cheers with a broad smile. Her elegant silver hair, perfect posture and chest as she stoops over to expose part of her cleavage.

Alexia, almost in response to such an action, crosses her arms and pushes her chest line up. ‘It's hardly my fault I decided to wear more modest clothes’.

The more I look at her the more fishy she seems. Maybe she is a once in a century genius but any normal person would be terrified to be placed between two princesses. Rose is a fan of hers and they do seem to get along. It could just be that I haven't heard of her before the trip. Even poochi knew who she was, the same poochi who forgot the name of a duke on a class test. This could be understandable if said duke's daughter was not sitting in front of him for the duration of the test. Perhaps her books had yet to make the rounds in upper class nobility.

—-----------

Rose spent most of the time talking to Natsume, she was very excited to be on a first name basis with her. She discussed many of the books she read, Natsume even told her about original drafts of many of her books, Rose was enthralled. The trial was mostly disappointing, so far no one had summoned an ancient warrior.

Eventually, an ancient warrior was summoned, the challenger was not weak, Rose would probably struggle against them. After a twelve or so blows the ancient warrior stabbed the challenger through the abdomen. The ancient warrior vanished, healers ran into the arena with a squad of paladins. The paladins were the protectors of the divine teachings. They wore similar attire to the knights of Midgar but instead of a green they wore pearl white with a trim of gold. They were not many in number, nor could she personally vouch for their fighting prowess, since she had never seen them in combat, but if rumours are true then they are each quite formidable.

She looked over to Claire and Alexia who was just glad something was happening. Cid said he got himself a ticket for the commoners section, I wonder how he is doing?

—--- Much later-------

After a long wait I finally got to see who I wanted, Annarose Nichtsehen. Usually a normal person would find it difficult to see from the super cheap commoner stands. Most people would barely see specks but I can make it out clearly if I enhance my eyesight. Usually when dark knights enhance eyesight they focus magic in their head, but after careful focus have found the most optimal nerves to focus magic in so I give off only slightly less than usual, not enough for most people to detect.

I watch Annaroses fight against the ancient warrior Borg. Borg opens with a standard thrust, Annarose parries the blow and attempts to slice his leading hand. He backs up to dodge her blow, so she keeps pressing the attack. After a long exchange of blows Annarose removes his sword arm with a horizontal strike and Borg disappears like smoke.

From what I could tell Borg was weirdly robotic. He was like a video game enemy that you can beat once you find out its patterns. Borg felt quite soulless.

Annarose started and ended the fight like she knew she was stronger, perhaps she cannot find strong enough opponents to match her in the world of the light. In the darkness of the world is where the strongest swordsmen lie, many being either cultists using borrowed power or my Shadow Garden.

Regardless I think I should start to get ready to make my appearance.

Leaving the stands, I take a glance over to the special guest stands. Alexia, Claire and Rose look impressed at the match. I will show them a real `impressive` performance.

I make my way to the bathroom, before I reach there I slip the guards and make my way to the location Alpha told me to meet. It was the side of an abandoned looking building currently in the process of being rebuilt. I entered.

“It's been a long time my Lord” Epsilon kneels before me. Her lakeblue hair on full display and slightly darker eyes staring at me. Beside her are two others. One is a dark skinned elf with heterochromic eyes, I recognised her. She was present in the terrorist attack. The other I don't believe I met before. She has blond hair the same colour as Alpha's but far shorter and her slime suit resembles more of a form fitting suit than the tipping shadow garden uniform. It looks cool.

“Rise, It certainly has Epsilon,” I responded instantly, changing from my Shadow form.

“These are my most trusted subordinates Chi and Omega” please allow us to assist you. Epsilon takes out the neatly folded clothes of the man I killed the previous day. Impressively there are no blood stains.

The girls gather around me, Epsilon face is turns slightly red, is it too hot in here? Chi and Omega seem nervous. I turn my slime suit into unshaped liquid so it just is a blob encasing my skin. Epsilon started to help me put the black chainmail on. My slime starts hiding itself between the cracks and crevices on the armour and chains. Chi and Omega follow suit aiding me wear the cultists surprisingly elaborate design.

“-The match should be in approximately 10 minutes. We will move when you have finished.” Epsilon Finished Reporting.

“Well I will be off” I said in what I hope to be an accurate impression of the cultist I had never heard speak before.

Switching back to my Shadow voice “Oh and remember, Usually, the night belongs to us yet this day is ours.” Then I exit the room, emitting as much confidence as possible.

I walk into the waiting area. I am greeted by a paladin. “There you are, you disappeared last night as I was concerned you abandoned the trial” the paladin leans into my ear so one one else in the room can hear “Our superiors gave you this one chance, don't mess it up. We know they are not so kind to deserters. Don't mess it up”

I responded to his whisper with one of my own “I thought I found a lead on a possessed but it was bogus, you know the value.”

He returns a smile. “Well next time tell us before disappearing. And give me a report later."

The announcer announces the next contestants but I block out the noise. “It's your turn,” he leans in again, “you're fighting Borg, we know you can win. Go down on the 13th strike.”

I leave him and make a mental note of his appearance to kill him later. But now the stage is set, and it's showtime.
—-----------

‘I thought that idiot let the power of rising the ranks and getting the name of the bladed tornado due to his excellent sword skill. He seems different today. Hopefully he doesn' t do anything stupid’ The paladin thought.

—-----------

“The ancient warrior Borg has accepted another challenge!”

Rose looks at the Challenger. He is a slightly shorter than average man, about the height of Cid. He wears a black cloak with chainmail underneath, a white mask encases his face. He is welding twin blades. Quite an unconventional fighting style. Usually most swordsmen would wield a single blade as it is significantly easier to focus on and with duel blades use welders magic would be split between the weapons.

The challenger opens with a storm alternating random strikes. Most dark nights would fall to such an attack but Borg manages to block and retaliate. After four strikes, the challenger is on the back foot.

Five strikes. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

“The bladed tornado is holding off Borg's assault." Rose would disagree, he's being pushed into a corner.

Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

“The challenger has fallen to the ground.” The announcer called.

Borg stood over him and prepared to thrust for the man's chest.

Thud. The sword hit nothing but dirt.

Crash. Borg shattered like glass.

Rose was shocked, a man that looked like he was on the edge of defeat, suddenly jumped from under the ancient warrior and sliced him into pieces at a speed that Rose could barely see.

—-----------

Alexia was equally shocked at the change of events. Was that man toying with us? With that display he could have easily won in moments. She looked to the side to see an equally dumbstuck Claire.

Then the masked swordsman's armour began to expand and break apart. Chains flew across the arena and his cloak fell to the floor.

In its place remained the enigmatic figure of Shadow.

“Shadow?” she heard Rose exclaim. Claire stood up, placed a hand on her sword's hilt and rushed next to Alexia.

It took a moment for the guests to compose themselves after the arrival of the unexpected visitor. “So this is Shadow, huh… he has made his last mistake messing with the Church. The paladins are stationed throughout the whole arena.” Nelson proclaimed reassuringly to the guests. Alexia disagreed that the paladins would stop him in her head.

“So that is Shadow?” Alexia replied to Claire's question with a nod.

The paladins began rushing to the arena. But before they could reach a massive amount of dense magic engulfed Shadow.

“The memories slumbering within these grounds will be set free.” Shadows ethereal voice announced.

A massive red and black circle appeared about a third of the size of the arena. Started manifesting a warrior above him.

“Aurora?” Natsume quietly whispered. But not quiet enough for Alexia to not hear.

“Aurora? impossible.” Nelson gaucked.

“WHO?” She pressed her face uncomfortably close to Natsume's. The sudden closeness gave the timid author a fright. After regaining her composure she responded. “Aurora the witch of calamity. I have encounter that name in a few ancient texts. It was said she sowed destruction across the lands, but what destruction, whose lands and when, I do not know. You said you know who she is, could you tell us more, Archbishop?”

“I don't blame you for your ignorance. In fact I'm quite surprised you have heard of Aurora, Miss Kafka even amongst the Church few know her name.” He looks out to the arena.

“Aurora is likely the most powerful woman in history. Unfortunately that is all I can tell you.” Nelson points at shadow, “She could beat this ruffian with her hands behind her back. His luck has run out.”

“Is she really that strong?” Alexia questioned. Nelson gives a smug grin. If the sanctuary summons warriors to match their opponents then, Shadow is on par with one of the strongest in history.

Alexia knows history as well as any of the best students should. She should know who Aurora is unless that was covered up. She had never heard of that name but this author has. Suspicious. Ross seems to like her so, she should be nice… maybe she stumbled upon that information?

The cult and Shadow Garden seem to be interested in ancient history. Perhaps this is part of what they were trying to uncover. Hopefully another lead.

Aurora appeared in the centre of the arena, she has long violet hair. Her dress is a shade of dark purple and green. She has a ghostly beauty to her. She smiles far more lifelike than the other Ancient Warriors.

Hundreds of red spears burst out from her and fly towards Shadow. He dodges, giving each spear a wide berth.

After a few seconds his dodges become more refined. Each spear dodged by a step, then a half-step and now the spears are so close they look like they are brushing across his long coat but none ever hit him.

—----------

“So… how do we even beat that?” Claire complained to Alexia. She did not respond. The Aurora woman was absurdly strong, as much as she would not like to admit it, she would only last moments against her. Even Iris, who was until now, the strongest person she had ever seen, would fare better but would not be that much stronger.

Claire was aware they were up against two powerful secret organisations but she expected her, Glen and Iris to be on par with their top brass or at least beat them in a three versus one situation. If Iris is correct in that, Shadow uses an artifact to increase his magic; they would need to get much stronger or bring on more powerful members into the Crimson order.

“What are you doing, kill him already?” Archbishop Nelson complained.

Claire could see that Shadow was now dodging by a hair's breadth only the absolute minimum movements. It reminded her of something Cid said when he was five.

—----10 years ago------

“Sis, why do you jump so far away when I swing at you.” A young Cid complained.

“It's called dodging, Cid. Once you get skilled at sword fighting, you should be able to avoid you opponents attack”

“But sis why do you go backwards so far? If you went just a little backwards I still won't be able to hit you.”

—----------

I know Cid will be a brilliant swordsman once he unlocks his potential. Shadow is the absolute perfect example of five year old Cid's advice. Once we get back I will force him to train even more to unlock his potential.

“A million flies will never kill a dragon.” Shadow batted away the thousands of blood spears with a single blow. Thick red pillars exploded out of Aurora in response.

Shadow dodged each pillar by a step, then a half step until he was dodging it by a hair's breadth again. He slowly walked methodically towards Aurora, who visibly panicked as she realised her attacks could never hit him.

Claire watched as Aurora summoned a scythe out of what looked like blood. She raised it and struck Shadow.

“He may be far more skilled than I expected but the difference in power is clear.” Almost as if the universe wanted to spite Nelson, a river of blood gushed from Aurora's neck.

“Oh how I wish I could fight you at your full strength.” Then she shattered like glass.

“What happened, she was so close to impaling that fool? How could she lose?” The rest of the spectators were equally baffled.

Shadow jumped and flew off into the distance. Nelson regained his composure "Paladins don't let him escape.”

A burst of light engulfed the arena. A large gate appeared once it died down. The door slowly opened.

—---------

Beta waited for the Archbishop to remove the guests and evacuated the arena before springing the trap.

I wait as Alexia, Rose and Claire asked about the gate. Shadow gave us a perfect opportunity, it will be unfortunate that Lord Shadow’s sister and the princesses will get caught up in this.

Shadow Garden would have to improvise to get Nelson. Unfortunately I cannot kill the second princess for her mistreatment of our Lord as she is important to his plans. Being disliked by Lord Shadow is punishment enough, so such punishment will suffice for now.

I almost feel bad for her. Her only friend Lord Shadow dislikes her. She was used as bait to catch the slashers. She was kidnapped by the Cult which I do feel genuinely bad for. After many stories of cult experiments and traumatic parts from the numbers I do feel bad for her, but just a little.

All the guests have left the viewing booth apart from myself, Nelson, Princess Rose, Princess Alexia and Claire as she was adamant to stay by Alexia's side.

Time to spring out trap and get our hands on Nelson The Avericous.

—------------

Alexia, Rose,Natsume, Claire and Nelson started leaving as a paladin guided them to the exit.

Thump. His head dropped to the ground. A clean silent cut.

Claire, Alexia and Rose draw their blades. Several figures revealed themselves already surrounding the group.

“I'm sorry but you will remain here until the door fully closes. While we explore the sanctuary.” The woman in the center of the group warns.

She is flanked by two women on the left. One seems half asleep, she has purple eyes, her clothes expose her midriff and she lets out a big yawn. Next to her appears to be a child with white hair who seems to be excited.

On the opposite side is an incredibly curvy woman with lake blue hair, she is flanked by a short haired woman and one dark skinned woman with white tattoos and heterochromic eyes. There are no less than thirty others all in cloaks organised in groups of three behind the main six. Their Cloaks are noticeably less ornate.

“In a report it mentioned Glen and Marco mentioned a dark skinned woman, with tattoos and heterochromic eyes of those exact colours, that must be rare. These are the Real Shadow Garden.” Alexia whispered to Claire.

“You- Are you that damn shadow garden?!” Nelson Complains.

“I leave this to you Epsilon.” “Yes Lady Alpha.” The curvy lady responded.

“Stop right there, I can't let you enter the sanctuary.”

Alpha along with the purple eyed woman and seven squads of three entered the sanctuary.

Claire was now staring down Epsilon. She did now know how strong they were but against thirteen, even if the opponents were regular knights the odds were not in her favor.

“You will be coming with us, Jack Nelson.” Epsilon smirked.
Nelson instinctively stepped back so he was slightly being Claire.

“What are you planning to do in the sanctuary!?”

“It's not about what we do-” Epsilon dashes towards the group. Then she punches Natsume square in the face, she collapses to the ground like a puppet that lost its strings. She picks up her limp body and draws her blade to Natsume's neck. “Now, do as we say and no one gets hurt.”

Claire slashed at Epsilon but she was intercepted by the white haired girl. She caught Claire's blade with claw-like hands. Claire got a fright and she instinctively stopped her magic. This girl may be an enemy but Claire did not want to kill a child, fearing that she would cut right through her. The girl then proceeded to shatter Claire's blade with her hands.

“Can I kill them?” Said the girl with glee.

“Pi. No.”

“Why?”

“The princesses are important to Lord Shadows plans.”

“Then can I kill that one?” She pointed to Claire.

“No, you absolutely cannot kill her at any cost.” Retorted Epsilon with enough pressure to make Pi shiver.

“Awww,” Pi replied as if she was a small child and not someone who just snapped a mithral sword with her bare hands.

Epsilon places her blade back to Natsume's neck. Nelson visibly shivers. A smug grin grows upon Epsilon's face. “We can use this.” She hands Natsume to Pi, grabs Nelson then jumps into the sanctuary.
Pi and the rest of Shadow Garden follow.

—-----------

Claire is shaking. Why was Pie so strong? What did they mean by she had to be kept alive? Did Shadow save Cid in the attack of the academy so she would join the Crimson order? That would mean the only reason her little brother was alive was because she was part of their enemies plan. What did Shadow want with her?

At the next moment Alexia decides to do something incredibly stupid. She follows them into the sanctuary. Claire tries to grab onto her leg to stop her but gets dragged in with her instead.

Rose sighs and follows.

Chapter Text

“What are you doing, why- Ack!”

Rose lands on something hard. She composed herself and realised she landed on the source of the complaining (Claire).

“GET OFF OF ME!” Rose did just that.

Ignoring Rose completely, Claire starts to rant. “Iris told me SPECIFICALLY to ‘Make sure YOU don’t dive into anything too foolish.’ and look at what you do. Not only do we have no idea where we are, we are also surrounded by enemies.”

“B-but they said they c-cant kill us.” Stutted out Alexia.

Alexia looks around, she is in a large metallic chamber. At one end there is a statue of an elven woman with armour resembling the hero Oliver. Surrounding them is Shadow Garden with Natsume slumped over Epsilon's shoulders.

“If Shadow said you can’t harm us, then won't you mind if we have a look around.” responds with all smugness the princess could muster.

…

…

…

Alpha sighs at the princess's audacity. “If you promise to behave, I believe you have the right to know a few things.”

Alexia give Claire a cheeky smile. Claire bonks her on the head with the hilt of her broken sword. “Ouch.”

“Epsilon passes Kafka over to them. Chi I need two squads to babysit our univited guests.” Epsilon throws Natsume at Rose who catches her before she hits the floor, she gets jolted awake but still needs to lean on Rose to not fall over. “Yes Lady Alpha… 87 and 104 your squads will guard the uninvited guests.” Six women surrounded Claire, Natsume and the princesses.

“What do you people plan on doing here?” Still bound by the purple eyed woman Nelson grits his teeth.

Alpha smirked. “The hero Olivier was said to have once cut off the left arm of Diablos and sealed it in this very sanctuary.”

“And? What? Have you come to look for the arm?”

“Well… that does sound fun but we have come to learn more about the Cult of Diablos.”

Alexia looks over to see a confused Rose and a drowsy looking Natsume. The name of the cult has not been made public knowledge yet due to her father's influence. ‘This is our hint on why the Shadow Garden and the Cult is so interested in archeology.’ Thought Alexia.

“What are you talking about?”

"Of course you would not tell us anything, that's why we had to come see for ourselves. That is why we had to search for the truth within the shadows of history.”

Alpha turns around and walks towards the Elven statue at the end of the room. “A statue of the great hero Olivier-”

Alexia pipes up “You mean Oliver? They look quite similar actually.”

“We have a general understanding of what happened but there is still some uncertainty; historical truths, the real objectives of the cult and–” Alpha lifted her hood revealing a beautiful face leaving the room in stunned silence as her golden hair cascades down her shoulders. “-- Why is her face identical to mine”

“Impossible, your possession should have killed you…” Claire's ears perk up at the mention of possession. Alexia and Rose flinch at the mere mention of it.

“So you indeed know what we are talking about.”

Nelson clenches his jaw shut.

“We know the truth about possession too, that must be quite thorn in your-”

“What is the truth of possession? Can it be cured!?” Claire yelled. Alexia and Rose give her a strange look.

—-------

Alexia and Rose look at me. I don't care. According to Nelson Alpha was possessed. That means, there is a chance they can cure possession. If they can cure my possession in a way it will never come back. Then I can protect Cid forever.

Cid may have joined the Crimson Order which is a brilliant career but he got in because of the princess. If he unlocks his potential he could keep that position without her influence. Then all I need to do is to get him a good wife and Cid's future is complete. I will protect Cid's future.

“Oh~ perhaps if you have some patience you will learn the truth. And a cure? Why would you ask about that, Claire Kaganou?” With that response Claire could tell that Alpha knew she was possessed at some point. That was years ago. How long had they been observing me?

Claire chose to stay silent. Even amongst friends she feared that they would turn on her if she told them she was possessed. Even if it subsided. Even Dukes could fall from grace if one of their children became possessed. With an Archbishop in the room anything suspicious would be nothing short of sending her whole family to the grave.

“We suspected the Cults objective is not to merely resurrect the demon. However we aren't certain. So we came to see for ourselves.”

Alpha walks up to the Alpha shaped statue and places her hand on it. Magic surges from her and the whole room around them starts to change.

“You are one of the possessed. How did you awaken on your own?--” the captor tightens her grip on him to silence him.

Claire shudders at the raw amount of magic on display. Never mind the Crimson Order,the kingdom would have to use an inordinate force to bring her down.

“There was a great battle here in the past. The sanctuary is a graveyard for those memories.” The statue begins to glow, turning lifelike. “Olivier… I knew you would answer my call.” She's the spitting image of Alpha.

The world turns white.

—-----------

“Children without relatives used to be rounded up. Here they were subjected to an experiment and died unable to adjust.”

They are now what appears to be a metallic prison lifelike scientists scurrying about the place. Claire attempts to touch one of the scientists but her hand passes through like a ghost. Alexia peers into the cells. The first a puddle of blood and flesh. The second a therianthrope child suffering from possession, much worse than when she had hers. The third a rotting mass of flesh. The last a young Olivier sitting in the room.

“Chi, Omega.”

“Yes, Lady Apha.” They replied in sync then left in different directions with each with twelve other cloaked figures in tow.

They were experimented on? If they are, why are there so many possessed? If Olivier was an experiment does that mean other heroes like Freya Midar were also experiments. Why? Alexia then realises the perfect person to answer the questions happened to be in the room.

“So Lady Alpha~, could you tell me what the experiment was and why?”

“Care to explain why Acting Archbishop Jack Nelson?” Alpha slyly turned to him.

“We needed power to stand up to Diablos."

“Or so the cult says. Regardless of the truth Olivier did remove the demon's left arm and seal it away here. She was one of the few children who could adapt to it.”

“How?” Claire asks.

“We don't know.”

“Then how are YOU not possessed?” Claire retorted.

“Lord Shadow saved me, but I won't tell you much more.”

“So he can cure possession?”

“Yes.”

Alexia had a few questions. “Does that mean the other heroes were experimented on?”

“Yes, we suspect all the three heroes were.” Alexia shudders at the implications. She and her sister are descended from an experiment. Is this why the Midgar Royals always have so much magic?

“Why are they possessed?” Claire interjects.

“It's what happens when there is too much rampant magic in one's body. It loses control and well kills you.”

“Are there still experiments? How the possessed still exist?”

“Some of the descendants of the heroes could not adapt to it and became possessed.”

Claire did like the idea being desensitised from the heroes but she didn’t like the implications if she had children they could also become possessed. Even worse if Cid had children they could become possessed. Claire decided to warn Cid about this in private on the way back.

Rose interrupts. “You said ‘adapt to it’, what is it?”

The world shifts.

—-------

Now they are in a laboratory where a machine is extracting material from a demonic arm covered by chains.

“Diablos cels. In order to fight Diablos they needed its power.”

Rose spoke. “Its power? It's supposed to be just a fairy tail.” Alexia was equally baffled at the revelation.

“When Olivier grew older she was given a mission.”

“Slaying Diablos?”

“That's what the cult says but in truth. They wanted the power for themselves.”

“That's Horseshit!” Nelson yells.

“Thanks to the research they were able to make medicine to enhance people.” Alpha pulls out a small glass jar of familiar red pills.

“Zenon used those!”

“So you're familiar, Alexia. But the cult's source of true strength lies elsewhere.”

A machine below the arm with several scientists around it deposited a small red drop that glowed ominously.

“After sealing the demon and experimenting on it for years they came up with a new drug. With it they gain tremendous power and an eternally youthful body.”

“It seems our hypothesis was right on the mark.” interjects Epsilon. Alpha continues, “Now then, does anyone think that scientist over there looks a little familiar.”

“...it can’t be,” cried Alexia. Claire shudders, he looks identical to Nelson, just younger and with hair.

“Now, would you tell me the name of your drug, Nelson?”

“Beads of Diablos” he replied with reluctance.

“But even this had major drawbacks.”

Claire looks at Nelson, then at his past. “It makes you lose your hair.” Alexia gives a ‘I had the same idea’ smile.

“Noooo, you fools that's from the stress of being surrounded by useless researchers and doing all the damn work.”

“...sorry?” Rose questioned.

“The major flaw is that the effects wear off after a year and they can only make twelve a year. Which just happens to be the same number of seats in rounds is that right, eleventh seat of rounds, Jack Nelson the Avericous.”

*Gasp*

Alexia's thoughts were racing, Zenon wanted eternal youth, that's what the rounds are. This Shadow Garden plot was not only unearthing ancient history but also an Assassination on a knight round. How many people were part of the cult? How strong are the rounds? How integrated are they in midgar? Why did they need her blood?

“They need the blood of the hero's descendants to perfect the beads.”

That explains it.

“Precisely I a Nelson the Avericous the eleventh seat of rounds.”

His eyes begin to glow.
A massive amount of magic surges threw him.
He gets impaled threw the chest.

“Well that was anti climbactic.” Alexia jokes.

“Delta!”

“Sorry lady Alpha i though if I hunted him.” The woman curls into a ball like a child that doesn't want to get scolded. Alexia feels a bad for her.

Alpha sighs.

Alexia looks at his corpse. It's cracking apart then shatters like glass. It's like one of the ancient warriors from the sanctuary.

The world turns white.

—--------

“Hes coming” Alpha whispers.

The six women standing around the princesses draw bades put of seemingly nowhere.

“I am Nelson the Avericous, the eleventh seat of round and YOU with regret barring your teeth against the Cult.”

Nelson splits? There are now multiple Nelsons. Claire is baffled. She draws Alexias sword.

The Nelsons swing at Delta. Her hand smashes threw the first Nelson's blade and his chest.

“What are you, a beast!?”

“Bossman says Delta is good at hunting.”

After recovering from the shock of the initial brutal encounter. Alexia questions the surround women, “Who is bossman?”

Pi butts in “Bossman is the strongest!!”

“who is bossman?”

“The strongest!”

“Stronger than Shadow?”

“Eh?”

Pi give an expression that can only be described as her brain turning off.

“Shadow is bossman, so can bossman hunt himself? No, that's dumb and Bossman is the smartest. Bossman wont hunt himself because Bossman is the smartest” Pi jumps at her own revelation.

What.

—----------

Claire is terrified of the massacre before her. She as not been in many real fights but each practice there is a level of skill and precision. Yet before her there is none of that, just pure violence.

Delta bisects the Nelsons before her. They just can't avoid her, even blocking her attacks has no effect, it just cuts right through him.

Claire takes her eyes off the massacre and looks around. Three of the Shadow garden guards are mesmerised by the ‘fight’, three are indifferent. She looks over at Alpha, Epsilon and Pi.

“Please, can Pi hunt with Delta, Lady Alpha?”

“Fine.”

“Yippee.” Pi jumps into the air slamming into a Nelson launching him into another Nelson. He retaliates stabbing at Pi from behind but she timidly dodges it as if she has eyes on the back of her head.

The three remaining Nelsons start to back up from the growing pile of corpses.

‘I need to find Cid a safer job’, Claire thinks.

—------------

One of the women in front of Alexia speaks up for the first time.

“104 is this the first time your squad has seen Lady Delta?”

“No… It's… but it is the first time seeing her fight. If you can even call it that. Have you? Your doubles surely you have 88.”

“I was present in the special combat trial, where we tried to fight Delta.” [Seven Shadows Chronicles Boughs of Shadow Ch. 8]

“Oh.”

Alexia continues to attempt to pry information out of them “Why are your names numbers and what do you mean by doubles.”

Epsilon gives them a nod. “The number is our name. The lower the number the generally stronger people are. Doubles are double digit numbers.”

“So how many people are there in Shadow Garden?”

They don't respond.

“Why does Alpha get an actual name?”

“Lord Shadow gave it to her.”

“And what about–”

“--No more questions.”

Alexia realised she was already pushing her luck as it was. But she is happy with the information she got out of them. She wanted to ask if Nu was Nicoleta but that may be pushing it too far. Knowing they may be onto one of their identities they may cover up their leads.

“So did the Crimson Order know Gaunt wanted to become immortal by joining rounds?” Asked Rose. A surprisingly calm Natsume clinging to her side.

“No, but we figured out that they wanted a round, but not what it entailed.”

“They?”

“Zenon also wanted to become a round, well before he kindly got himself killed.” Alexia admitted.

“Kindly got himself killed?”

“He fought Shadow and was utterly bested. Then was vaporised by his ‘iamatomik’ magic.”

“I saw him briefly fight the terrorists I can imagine.”

“Did you see the fight?” One of the women surrounded her questioned if her name was 87 if Alexia remembered it correctly.

“Y-yes?” Alexia stammered realising it was pointless to lie.

87 demeanor changed to what could only be described as fangirl mode. "Ohh Can You Tell Me All About It!” Alexia and Rose were then harassed by questions from six Shadow fangirls. Natsume also seemed interested.

—--------

“Delta, wait.”

“huh?”

“Your ears are showing.”

Claire, who managed to escape the guards, noticed her animal ears piercing through her clothing, that appeared to be melting? Delta pushed her hood up to hide her ears, accidentally exposing a large fluffy tail. She realised Pi's similarly shaped but white ears were also starting to show.

Claire started to frantically check if any of her clothes were melting. Fortunately they were not.

“Lady Alpha I…”

“It's fine, Delta. Pi, come back.” Pi comes back to Alpha hiding her ears under her hood.

“What happened?” Claire asked.

“Her magic is being drained.”

Claire tries to use her magic but feels it get sucked away before she can use it.

—------------

Delta is annoyed at the evil splitting man. He's not very strong like a little bug that's too small to catch. Delta remembers what Shadow said to do with bugs. If you hit them with a big flat spoon to swat flies. Delta will make a big flat spoon.

—---------

Alexia is suddenly startled by Delta screaming as a massive amount of magic pours out of her. Even the unnamed Shadow Garden women seem terrified at the display of sheer power.

Then all her clothing turns what can only be described as a perhaps giant fly swatter. She lifts this absurdly big item above her head and slams it down on the Nelsons.

The world turns back.

—---------

They are now in the entrance. Shadow Garden now surrounds everyone but Claire. Nelson is at the opposite side backed up to the statue of Olivier.

Chi and Omega returned with their squads. “Lady Alpha, we recorded everything valuable, and we now have access to the sanctuary's defences. We can leave and enter whenever we like.” Alpha nods.

“How?” Nelson is baffled and backs up away from the still enraged and unclothed Delta.

“You're a researcher aren't you? No matter how many copies you still have one brain. Your countless bodies can't be effectively controlled.”

“Quick. Come to me. Olivier!”

The statue manifests Olivier behind him. She steps forwards with lifeless eyes.

“Our objective was to cut off your power at the source. All that's left is to pry it open. We will leave now. Come your four. ”

Claire waited to be the last one to leave. She had a question to ask Alpha. ‘Why did Shadow need her alive?’ Why is she more important to her than the princesses to him? Ever since it was said it's been in the back of her mind. Why? Why?

Rose, Natsume and Alexia exit the sanctuary. Shadow Garden is exiting from a different gate.

Claire turns around and yells at Alpha. “Why! Why does Shadow need me alive, even more than the princesses? Why?"

“My apologies Claire Kaganou but it's not time for you to learn the truth yet, only Lord Shadow can decide that.”

Then Alpha kicked her in the stomach, launching her through the gate.

—----------

Claire tumbles out of the portal onto a grassy floor. She looks around, she's in a forest. Alexia, Natsume and Rose are discussing. Claire peers through the trees and sees the Lindwurm just a quick walk down the Cliffside and she would be at the edge of town.

“I feel like we can help the Crimson order, this affects my kingdom too. With our reach as princesses and Natsume's connections as an author we can help.”

“I agree in principle but I will have to discuss with my sister and likely we will just discuss information. You will likely be unable to join.”

“Thats understandable as interesting as investigating a Cult and a secret group trying to bring them down, I am still primarily an author with deadlines. But I will aid you when I can.”

Rose turned to her “Claire what happend?”

“I asked a question and received a boot to the stomach.” Claire lied down.

Suddenly they could sense something. Alexia turned as she recognised a giant purple pillar. Shadows ‘iamatomik’ magic. In the center of the ancient church the pillar rose and engulfed the surroundings.

“So that's what Alpha meant by ‘pry it open’.” Natsume said.

Caire immediately jolted upright and sprinted off. “Is Cid okay? We need to find him. What if my brother is hurt!”

Alexia sighed and chased after her.

—--------

“I smell bossman's blood.” Delta shot off like a rocket.

Alpha was shaking, 87 has never seen this. The unbreakable Alpha even the most terrifying enemy and allies (especially allies) would all be bested by her. “Everyone, follow Delta.”

All Shadow Garden personnel followed the Shades to the best of their ability. Even the named numbers quickly fell behind.

When 87 reached the position panting she sloppily knelt before an unharmed looking Lord Shadow? He was petting Delta, was hugging onto his arm and was talking with Alpha. 87 listens to what her Lord is saying.

“Olivier? oh yeah. So I fought the Clone of Olivier without any magic.”

What was she listening to? She heard the report a few years ago when all of the seven shades struggled to beat one clone of Olivier. [happened in Seven shade Chronicles but I forgot the chapter] Fighting a magic user without any magic is Crazy. Even Shadow garden would struggle against 3rds without any magic.

“Did you get hurt by her in that fight?” At this moment Alpha looked less like one of the most powerful people on the continent and more like a worried mother.

“Not really, she cut me a little but I ended the fight by letting her stab me in the heart so I could bite the artery in her neck. So only a few scratches.” Shadow said nonchalantly.

Alpha and Epsilon's faces paled. 87 can't tell if her master is genuinely immortal, some sort of God or making stuff up. It just sounds too absurd. No one can survive being stabbed in the heart without magic.

“So after I beat her he summoned like a few thousand Oliviers. So I solidified my mana so I could use it, then blew everything up.”

Okay now this is just silly.

“Solidified your magic?” Epsilon questioned.

“Oh I just did this. It took me around 25 minutes to figure it out.”

Shadow then proceeds to manifest his mana into a solid sword. 87 trembles. This should not be possible. Magic is near impossible to control outside the body. Epsilon can only do it briefly by throwing magic slashes and even that is believed to be only theoretically possible.

Shadow solidified his magic into a solid mass. Epsilon touches it and a look of extreme shock appears on her face as she feels resistance when poking the blade. The only ones who aren't that impressed are Delta and Pi who likely cannot comprehend what Shadow achieved in a mere twenty five minutes.

All doubt leaves 87’s mind as she realises that their Lord Shadow is real, not a myth and everything he Impossible he just said was true because he casually produced a more impossible feat before her.

Shadow dissipates the impossible use of magic. “Oh and Alpha.” He Starts pacing in front of the Shades. “The Shades are aspects of me, I cannot be everywhere, and I need loyal companions. To carry out orders in my stead.” He stops dramatically before Alpha.

“You are the commanding presence in my stead.”

“You are my first shade.”

“Alpha, the aspect of me you best represent is my AUTHORITY.”

Shadow reduces his intensity. “Oh and I believe this belongs to you.” He produces a fancy looking sword. Alpha gasps. “Oliviers sword! It was in the sanctuary?”

“Its not much just a reward for your efforts.” He smiles. Turns around. Then vanishes into thin air.

“Lord shadow, thank you.” Tears grew across the Alpha’s faces.

Epsilon was fantasising about what aspect of Shadow she represented.

Delta wanted to be rewarded too. (with headpats)

—-----------

That was so cool. How I impressed Shadow Garden with that. Having each Shade be an aspect of me would be super cool. Like Delta would be something like raw strength. No. It should be one word. But that was so cool.

I should use that solidified magic more. Imagine at the end of the eminence in Shadow uses that awesome purple blade, cuts down an impossible enemy, says something mysterious then disappears into the darkness.

I need to catch up to sis now.

“CID WHERE ARE YOU!!”

I run at a mob pace towards sis’s voice. “Where did you go, what happened?!"

She notices a cut through my clothes where I was stabbed in the heart. “Cid what happened.”

“Pooch, how did that even happen? Did you fall down some stairs and land on some glass?”

“no.” I'm sweating profusely trying to think of a perfect normal excuse. I can't just say I was stabbed in the heart and healed.

“Don’t tell me that is what actually happened, Poochi.”

“Cid, I told you to be more careful on the stairs.”

Alexia looks at her confused.

“Cid used to miss out on training with me because when he was little he kept falling down the stairs and getting too hurt to train.”

Oh, yeah I did do that to avoid training but that just made sis watch me more so I stopped.

I wonder what Iris, Glen, Marco and Sherry are doing.

Chapter Text

Glen poured his oats into a bowl. He then poured in milk and stirred.

He just received a small letter from Iris. He skimmed over the content. Sherry had promised Iris to take them through the tunnels throughout the school tomorrow. So he would assist Iris with preliminary mapping.

Glen then put the bowl of oats over the stove to simmer.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the others had left for the goddesses trial. It had been a while since Iris had checked up on Sherry. She hopes the poor girl is doing well. It would take most ordinary people years to get over such an event. If Cid was here she would just ask him to check on her. Regardless, she needed to ask her about the tunnels, so she asked Sherry if she would investigate them yesterday. She asked if she could do it tomorrow. Today Iris, Glen and Sherry were going to map out the school's hidden tunnels.

Usually a discovery of this nature would require immediate action but Iris knew Sherry needed time to herself.

Iris and Glen approached Sherry's room, she was told by the receptionist she hadn't for quite some time. Iris stares at the door for a while. She's concerned about Sherry's state, almost as if when she knocks on the door she would be in a worse state.

Enough procrastinating.

*Knock* *Knock*

The sound of several books falling over could be heard from the other side of the door. It slowly creaks open, revealing a slightly dishevelled pink haired girl.

“P-prinsess Iris.”

“Hi Sherry, how have you been doing? I wanted to check up on you.”

“Um… well… better.” She looked a little scared, it likely did not help that she was being asked by the crown princess and one of the most imposing knights in the Crimson Order.

“Thats good, should we start heading to the school?”

“ok.”

Iris looks into her room before Sherry closes the door. There was a mess of papers, piles of books, a few blueprints on her desk and an open letter with the famously intricate Mitsugoshi seal. There was also a familiar heat pump set up in the room.

“How is your work at Mitsugoshi doing, you seem to be researching something?” Iris tried to start a conversation.

“I have been working on something that will help people.” Sherry continues with rising confidence. “Mitsugoshi said they had several uses for power sources that can store and output a constant amount of power. I even got a letter from Eta Lloyd Wright asking to hire me for a contract where we would work on a large universal power cell to safely store magic so it can be charged using electricity and moved then turn the magic back to electricity. It's going to revolutionise energy storage.” Sherry stopped talking suddenly realising who she was in front of.

“Eta Lloyd Wright, she's a big deal. That's very impressive Sherry.” Glen had heard that name in several newspapers, he doesn't care much about science but anyone who has read news regarding public infrastructure (which is quite important for average nobility), had heard the name Eta Lloyd Wright.

“You know her?” Iris questions.

“No, but I have heard of her innovations. She designed Mitsugoshi’s trains. Just a few years ago trains were going half the speed and could carry a fraction of the cargo the new ones can.”

“Wow, Mitsugoshi really does make the best things. Getting to work with someone of that caliber at your age is very impressive. The device on the ‘heat pump’ sounds like it works quite similarly. So it seems you're quite close.”

“...not really …Ms Wright pointed out a big flaw with my design… if the artifact gets badly damaged… it… kinda…” Sherry's voice was reduced to a whisper “explodes.”

“You will find a way to fix it. Believe in yourself.” Iris was trying to give her confidence, even though she had no expertise in the matter.

The group made their way out of the building, Glen leading the way with Iris. Sherry was blinded by the bright outside light after being cooked up in her room for too long.

—-------

They arrive in what used to be Lutherans office. All remaining items have been neatly arranged on a table. Shadow Garden took everything of value in the room during the attack, so the room was quite empty. The ominous tunnel Glen and Marco took was open.

The three entered the tunnels. “Sherry, could you first take us through all of the paths in the school.”

“ok… There is also a tunnel that connects to the sewers. Do you want to see that?”

“Yes please Sherry.” Iris responds.

“Well now we know how those cult bastards entered the school without anyone knowing.”

“We will have to brick that area up. So no one can get back in. Let's continue on.”

—-------

“ETA, what is the meaning of this! Yuck, it stinks here…”

Gamma entered the lethargic scientist's room. It was a mess paper everywhere the floor was such a mess she could barely see it. The room stank.

She picked up Eta, who for some reason smelt like animal urine, and forced her upright only for her to immediately slump over.

Gamma shakes Eta who had fallen asleep.

“You took FIVE HUNDRED BILLION ZENI with no explanation!”

Gamma shakes Eta who almost fell asleep again.

“When I talked to Sherry she said you sent a letter to work on a large universal power cell to power homes and other uses. BUT we need the money to build all the homes first and you need to tell me! And that won't make back all the money! ALSO what happened to the twenty year power grid plans! That would be so much better for everyone including YOUR budget!”

Eta wakes up. “I… lied to her… the main use will… make ammonia. Turning on the machine needs… too much power… if we can keep it permanently on… we can use less power… and make loads of ammonia.”

“ammonia?”

“Shadow Wisdom… he called it ‘Bread from the air’... It uses atom theory shadow wisdom.”

“WHAT?”

“Ammonia can… make… plant fertiliser (and explosives).”

No wonder Eta lied to Sherry. This uses some of the most guarded shadow wisdom. Gamma was aware Eta made an explosive from air using a machine but it was far too costly to ever use. But if they had that power source, selling fertiliser could be a major source of funding. “How, what are you making?"

“Ten-”

“No! You will first make one then I will decide if I will give you more money! You have a billion zeni to make a profit. Then I can give you more money.”

Eta shudders. Her plan to take all Mitsugoshi's funds for shadow wisdom has fallen apart.

“Eta, How much does the fertiliser cost to make?”

“around 200,000 zeni… per ton. If you give me more money… I can make it cheaper.”

That price was absurd. Currently fertiliser could be bought for 450,000 zeni per ton. But it was rare to sell fertiliser as most farmers reused it on their own crops. Yet it would not be worth it if the farmers bought it any higher. In the upcoming trade war, this could help Mitsugoshi sway the farmers to our side with fertiliser.

“Also, why do you smell like sweat and animal urine?”

“Ammonia… smells… but if I smell for a while… I become immune… to the smell.” Then Eta fell asleep, she made talking look like it took the same effort to climb a mountain.

Gamma then forced Eta to have a shower.

—-------

After a day of mapping out all the tunnels throughout the school. Iris was glad that Sherry seemed to open up a bit despite the awkward silence at the beginning, she started to talk albeit about things you would expect a researcher who spends most of her time in her room to talk about.

“The LUPC (large universal power cell) Ms Wright asked me to help make, will be used to more efficiently power homes and unlike the gas or lanterns most homes use, this can’t cause fires.” Sherry cheerfully was rambling about how she will help people. “This will make homes cost less to illuminate and less prone to fires. I will help so many people.”

Glen then realised something. Is Sherry getting paid for her efforts? He had encountered several crude merchants over the years who would exploit young talents for exceptionally cheap or even free. “Sherry I don't mean to spoil your fun, but are you getting paid for this?”

“Umm, well if I do the contract work they will pay me and um… they let me keep the heat pump.” Sherry mumbled attempting to find a defence for the work she was doing. Iris raised an eyebrow. Sherry stutted out a response. “I have never really had money of my own but for the contract work they said they would pay me fifty million zeni a month for the project and exclusive rights to the artifacts.”

If Glen had been drinking Coffee he would have spat it out. Iris stopped dead in her tracks. 50,000,000 zeni that was a lot. “Are you sure that's the correct number? That sounds almost too much.”

“Im p-pretty sure t-thats right.” A worried Sherry asked, wondering if she said something wrong.

“Glen gets paid that much in a year.” Iris whispered in almost disbelief. By all means Glen got paid quite well, of course some nobles may offer more but that was extremely good pay, some lower noble houses (barons and counts) don't even make that in a year. Since they make the best products it seems they likely pay the best. They could also be using high pay to get Sherry to be loyal to them.

—-----------

Gamma was bathing Eta, she couldn't help but compare her to another scientist. Fortunately the pink haired Scientist can work for pocket change compared to the sleepy devil in her hands. Her with ox blood red hair full of soap and no longer smelt of ammonia. Hopefully Sherry rubs off on Eta, Gamma thought.

And not the other way around. The mere thought of having two devils devouring a billion zeni a month made Gamma shudder. Eta slipped from her hands and was engulfed by the water.

Gamma pulled her out before Eta drowned in her sleep.

—---------

On the way out of the last a new tunnel Sherry suddenly stopped and started staring at a wall.

“Are you okay? Is there something special about that wall?”

“The cement it uses is different from the other wall, I read about it in one of the books Cid gave me when learning about…” Sherry became quiet “the eye of avarice.”

“So this is some old wall?”

"At least eight hundred.” Sherry returns.

Glen proceeds to punch the wall leaving a sizable hole in it. “Acording to our mapping there should be nothing on the other side. Looks like we found a new path." Iris lands another slash, much to Sherry horror it decimated the ancient architecture.

The three of them enter the new path.

—-----------

The path they entered was a large temple-like room that was mostly untouched with a large coffin in the middle.

Glen shone his light across a stained glass window. It depicted two women, one was a black haired woman with a ponytail red eyes. She has an eerie semblance to someone familiar. The other woman is a blond woman with a curly ponytail and a tiara on her head. Her eyes and hair were both yellow, yet dim and stained by time.

Iris and Sherry were standing over the coffin attepting to translate what is inscribed apon it. “Remember?... dream… not that not it… memory?”

“You recognise the language?”

“Yes, I studied it. The language was used in Oriana over five hundred years ago.”

After a while of looking around Sherry finished translating what was on the Coffin.

“In memory of those who fell during the night of the red moon. That's what it says.”

“The legendary red moon? So it's not just a thousand year old myth.” Could we have stumbled into what the Cult and Shadow Garden are after. Perhaps she may need to look into vampires.

Sherry peeled off the lid of the coffin. It came off with surprising ease. There was a map with a large red area marked. Which extended outwards into where modern day midgar is. There were also several books and a sea of triangles. The triangles of the church were historically used to mourn the dead whose bodies were not found. This many triangles was staggering, likely thousands of dead were mourned here alone.

Sherry picked up the map. It was likely the oldest map in. Recorded history. The missing ancient capital of Alexandria was present on it. Midgar was much smaller. There was a whole missing island called the Kingdom of Atlantis. The lawless city was larger and was named the haven.

But there was only one thing that caught her eye. A massive Orianan dukedom that was around a third of the country, and was about the size of current day Oriana. It even covered the current midgar capital. The red area marking the blood queen's destruction almost covered the whole dukedom almost as if it was targeted. But what stood out the most was the name; ‘Kagenou dukedom’. That was the family name of her first friend. She showed Iris her discovery. She needed to find out more. So she began to translate more books.

—------

Glen, Sherry and Iris took all the books to the Crimson orders office. Iris was a bit concerned about Sherry; she had been strangely insistent on translating the books, even reading while they made their way out to put the books in the Crimson orders storage. Fortunately it did solve the problem of getting a trusted person to translate the ancient texts.

Iris was worried Sherry seemed distant even when she, Glen and Iris went to eat.

After they returned to the office.

—-------------

Someone had burnt the books.

A pile of ashes were where the books and the map once were. The ancient pages had long been dried of any moisture and were nothing but grey dust. No one should know about the Crimson Orders office apart from their own members. “Theres a spy in the Crimson order.” Glen said to Iris. His once slightly grinning face had turned stone cold.

Iris shakes at the accusation. “How?”

“If someone like Lutheran can sneak under our nose once. It wouldn't be surprising if there were others. Any idea who?”

“No.”

“We will slowly uncover who. Only the eight original members know where the storage is.”

She attempts to deny the accusation but can't find a flaw in them. This room was made so evidence can't get stolen or destroyed. Not even the royal palace should know of it. Unfortunately Glen was right, there must be a spy sabotaging them.

Glen turns his head to Sherry. She looked really sad. She was so passionate about translating the books just moments ago.

“Sherry, could you tell us what you managed to translate?”

“b-but I only translated bits about what I wanted to know. I-it won't be useful.”

“It will be useful.”

Sherry looked around nervously. “Okay… S-so the books said the blood moon was really bad because many knights were k-killed in prior attacks or maybe just one attack I can't r-remember.” Sherry looks around, but Glen signals her to continue. “The attack was on something called the resting grounds and one of the attackers stole a sword of someone called Nonna… or was the sword called Nonna. It was in Oriana. It said that someone called- no sorry a woman fused with a demon and attacked the populace with the help of someone called the Avericous. That's all I remember.”

“Sherry, what was the name of the woman?”

“I don't know.” Sherry looked away.

Iris struggles with subtle social queues but even she can tell that Sherry is lying.

“Tell me.” Iris’ voice changed from calm and comforting to a powerful authoritative voice you would expect from the strongest in the kingdom.

Sherry almost fell over in fear of the sudden change in attitude. She whispered out a name but it was loud enough for Iris to still hear.

“Clara Hel Kagenou.”

Chapter Text

“Lord Fenrir, a message from my Ladyship.”

Fenrir stands in a hidden room deep underneath Midgar. Fenrir maintains the appearance of a young boy with silver hair, despite that any first rate spell sword would know they are outmatched at just a glance. A cloaked figure with a silver scar across his face, kneels before him, presenting a letter.

“What does the damn fourth seat want with me? That's so important she sends her favourite named child the ‘silver scar’?” Fenrir glances at the kneeling figure with disgust. He then picks up the letter, opens it and reads. Then disregard the letter. Throwing it to the floor and stomping on it.

“So that's what that demonic woman is planning? Has she gone mad? Like I would help her for nothing.” Fenrir scoffs.

The kneeling figure presents a large vile of deep red blood. “This is Lady Hel's own blood, and proof of her sincerity in the matter. She will give you more at a later stage of the plan.”

Fenrir takes the blood and examines it. His eyes widened sheer magic contained in the blood of the fourth seat of rounds. “Very well, I will aid her, you may leave.” Fenrir states with reluctance.

He follows Fenrir's orders and leaves. Another man enters the room.

“Willow...”

“Greeting Lord Fenrir, I have a message from our spy in the Crimson Order.”

“Make it quick.” Fenrir snapped.

“Our spy had to burn some of the Crimson Order's evidence before they could translate it. The records contained evidence of the existence of Diablos and the forgotten heroes and it mentioned several knights of round by name as real historical figures.”

“Good. Do they know he burnt it?”

“Unlikely, but they will suspect a traitor.”

“Did they uncover anything about Shadow Garden?”

“No Lord Fenrir. They are too good at hiding, so I fear he could be behind Shadow Garden just as you suspected.”

“A powerful mysterious group cannot appear out of nowhere without backing. I have almost no doubt the second seat of rounds, Jormungandr, created this group as a ploy to damage the other sects. So he can seize all the power of Diablos for himself and his allies. He probably even killed the twelfth seat candidates, Zenon and Gaunt, who would likely side against him. bastard." Fenrir gritted his teeth at the thought.

Willow continued his report. “We also received a report from the ‘Dark Smile’ that unfortunately he had to kill the Marquez family the Crimson Order was going to investigate as they would not cooperate. He burned all evidence of possession and their interaction with the Church...”

“Good, the church's reputation should remain untarnished, perhaps they may even suspect Shadow Garden for the crime.”

“He also uncovered that Marquez's daughter was supposed to go to one of the laboratories owned by Jormungandr, the evidence lines up, he must be behind Shadow Garden or he may even be Shadow himself. Just as you suspected Lord Fenrir.”

“Get me a list of all notable ‘compatible’ received by the second seat. If we can draw more parallels we can prove he's behind this. The knowledge on how to recreate the ‘heroes’ experiments is only held by the first and second seat. If he's behind this…”

—-----------

Ever since Marco left Capital he had been trying not to think about Nicoletta. Ever since he saw Nu he had started to wonder why she joined Shadow Garden and why she would go so far to fake her death.

Whatever the case he would try to reason with her to abandon the evil secret organisation. But Marco knew it would not be simple. Nicoletta for the time he knew her was intelligent and reasonable for her to go to such extremes and even fake her death. There must be a reason. He felt her rage when he and Glen drew their swords at Shadow. She must have a profound respect for him… why?

He was doing it again, he was thinking about her. Every time he tries to think of something else. She comes into his mind like a ghost to haunt him.

—-- two days ago ------

Marco just finished interviewing some of the students that survived the attack on the Academy. He was walking through the corridors on his way back to the Glen. Then he saw someone who looked just like Nicoletta.

He stopped. But upon a closer look she had the same shade of brown hair, similar height but she wore large circular glasses and a high bun. She was incredibly plain. She was likely the same age as when he met her.

That's not Nicoletta. I'm seeing things.

—-------

This reminded Marco of another time he thought he saw her.

—--- the previous day -------

He was on his way to Mitsugoshi to grab some chocolate for the road. He crossed the road avoiding the carriages and ended up in front of the towering building of Mitsugoshi.

“The current wait is thirty minutes long!” Nicoletta shouted over the sound of people talking.

…Wait Nicoletta?

Marco blinked.

He looked at her again. She was likely in her early thirties yet she aged quite well. Long brown hair resembled that of Nicoletta. Perhaps if Nicoletta was born a commoner, she would have looked like her.

That's not Nicoletta.

That's not Nicoletta.

That's not Nicoletta. I'm seeing things… again.

—----------

He was doing it again, thinking about her.

The train lurched to a halt interrupting his thoughts.

A train line was being constructed through the Marquez's territory but was still incomplete. Marco would take a carriage for the rest of the journey. He stepped out of the station and made his way towards the conveniently placed carriage station.

“Sir Granger?”

Marco turned his head.

“Sir Granger, long time no see!”

He recognised a familiar face. A memory floods back of the day they met.

—--- several years ago —---

When Marco was first selected to be engaged to Nicoletta, he was so nervous to meet her. So nervous in fact he misread the time causing him to arrive a whole two hours early. After realising it he decided to take a walk through the Marquez house’s domain.

The streets were bustling with people in the midday market rush, farmers would have just finished setting up their stalls for afternoon shopping. Marco walked down the street in his formal attire that he would meet Nicoletta in but he still carried his sword at his hip.

Usually knights from house Granger would escort him. But he left the carriages and escort to explore on his own. He didn't think going round the market with several armed guards would look good in the eyes of the patriarch of the Marquez family no matter who you were.

“Thieves! you will pay for this!”

Marco’s ears pricked at the sound of a sword being drawn. The sound of fighting starts. Likely a robbery happening. He rushed to the scene.

He approached the scene. Three bandits had drawn a sword on an old merchant at a stall. A young man, presumably his escort, lay injured on the floor, with a broken sword.

“Oi, hand over your money or we will take it from you.” The merchant trembled in response.

The lead bandit slashed the stall, pulling out a coin pouch from the wreckage.

“Y-you should give that back.” Marco panted, still tired from sprinting to the scene.

The lead bandit. A man wearing a worn brown cloak and weathered features and a badly kept beard. He drew his blade to Marco. “What do we have here? Some noble's son is attempting to play the hero.”

“Exactly.” Marco smirked trying to hide his concern.

Marco had spent almost a year at the academy, he trained for countless hours, bested students and teachers alike. His parents even asked Glen ‘the lion's maine’ to train him. Glen agreed once he saw potential in Marco. With his assistance Marco killed a monster while patrolling. Even with all this Marco had a major concern.

He had never fought a human before.

He had fought in sparring with humans but trying to kill each other was new. This was what he trained for. He was hesitant. He could die here.

No. No, he could not let people suffer.

Marco stood his ground against the bandits.

The lead two bandits swing at him. But they are slow. Marco parried the strikes with practiced ease. Marco estimated the bandits were perhaps on par with section 5 in Royal Bushin, but lacking in finesse.

“Bandits, over here!” someone yelled, the sound of boots followed. He was getting backup, but he would not need it.

Marco parried another strike from the lead attacker. Opening him up and delivering a blow to the head with his sword’s handguard. The bandit collapsed to the floor.

The second attacker looked baffled for a moment at the sudden collapse of his friend. A moment was all Marco needed, he delivered a blow with the blunt of his blade to the back of his head knocking the second man out.

“He wha-, dammit.” The third grabbed the coin pouch and ran.

Two knights appeared on the scene. They look at Marco, then at the bandits.

Marco pointed to the escort “Heal that man-” he pointed to the thieves "-arrest the thieves. I will get the last one.” He then gave chase to the final bandit.

“WAIT. DON’T RUN OFF!” One knight yelled, then ran after Marco. The other stayed behind to deal with the scene.

The bandit entered an abandoned looking building off the edge of the market. Marco followed him into the center of the room.

“Kill the knight.”

*Thwack* *Thwack*

The moment he stepped in the building two hidden crossbows fired at him. The first goes wide, flying past his face. The second Marco sees in just time and awkwardly deflects it.

*Thwack.*

Another crossbow fires, but the arrow comes from behind and buries itself in Marcos' back. He winces from the pain almost falling to his knees.

More bandits surround him jumping out from rafters other rooms. There are 12 in total, 8 ahead, 4 behind blocking his escape. Marco had been led into an ambush.

“He's got good clothes, selling those shoes alone will give us a small fortune.”

Three bandits attacked Marco, he parried a few but he was on the defensive, with his injuries and crossbows on all sides he did not have the strength to attack. The crossbows were almost reloaded.

It was hopeless.

He was going to die.

Alone.

Not as some hero, not saving people or sacrificing his life for the greater good. Just in a random street, a young knight out maneuvered by bandits.

Then suddenly an old knight burst into the room. Slashing into the back of two bandits as they were caught off guard. He jumps into the center of the room and goes back to back with Marco.

“You careless boy, trying to get yourself killed.” The Knight yelled to Marco.

The bandits circle the knights.

“Dammit, kill both the knights before more come.”

*Thwack* *Thwack* *Thwack*

The knight parried two arrows that would have gone into Marco. Who parried the final arrow. All the bandits now charge at the pair. Now Marco only has to focus on what's in front of him as the other knight has his back. When they are back to back he only needs to worry about what's in front of him.

He parries one then the next, then the next, then the next.

He's getting nowhere.

Do as Glen told him, focus on one target at a time.

The next bandit strikes him Marco dodges then dashes forwards swinging several times, catching his opponent off guard and shattering his opponent’s sword. The arrow stings in his back but he pushes through the pain. The next two rush at him, he punches one and slams the blunt of his sword into the other's head. They crumple to the ground. Marco’s knight friend killed one with a clean cut in the neck, after deflecting more crossbow bolts.

The final bandits back up and drop their weapons in surrender. The bandits left knew they did not stand a chance.

More knights rush in and arrest them, then clean up the bodies.

Marco sat down to rest, the arrow lodged in his back turned slightly, he gritted his teeth in pain.

“I’ll give you this, you are insanely strong, but also insanely reckless.” said the knight who saved Marco. “The name is Thornton.” He holds out his hand.

“t-Thank you for saving me Thornton.” Marco says, forgetting to introduce himself. He shakes his hand.

Marco stood up. He winced at the sight of the dead bandit with his neck cut open, blood still pooling out across the floor.

“I recognise that look, it's your first time seeing a dead person.”

“...yes,” Marco admitted.

“Humans fight smarter, you have to get used to it. Sometimes you have to kill or it will cost your life.”

Marco nodded in acknowledgement.

“What's your name kid? You don't seem like a typical knight in those fancy clothes.”

Marco had a proper look at Thornton. His armour was old yet well kept, his face was old and weathered with scars, but one thing stuck out: he had the crest of the Marquez family. He looked at himself. He was still wearing a fancy suit albeit pierced with an arrow. “My name is Marco Granger Sir.”

His eyes flashed in recognition. “The man who was recently engaged to My Lord's daughter? What are you doing here? I heard you were supposed to arrive ninety minutes from now.”

“Yes… well… I um.”

“But as only a first year in the academy and still reckless enough to end up in this mess? Haha.”

“yeah… well, I”

“Dont worry about it, this definitely puts you in my good books. That strength is impressive but what surprised me was you going after a few stolen coins. Most nobles think stopping minor thieves is below them. You have a reckless but good spirit kid. Seriously it's good to see the young Lady will be in good hands but hopefully they will be less foolhardy than today. Hehe. Oh enough talking, we need to get that arrow out of your back and your wound healed before you meet the young lady. Follow me.”

On that day Marco Granger unknowingly coined the phrase ‘don't go die over a few stolen coins.’
—--------------

Thornton, an old knight working for the Marquez House, stands before Marco outside the train station. He's a rough looking old man, wearing a knights cloak with the Marquez family crest. Looking only slightly older than he remembered. They used to talk fairly frequently but have not been in the same area since Marco was mourning Nicoletta's death.

“Sir Thornton, long time no see, are you heading to the Marquez domain?”

“Yes, I'm just coming back from visiting family in the south. That red cloak the rumors are true your part of the Crimson order now, you've come a long way.”

“Care to join me? I also happen to be heading to the Marquez domain, for some official Crimson Order business with the Marquez.”

“I’ll join you. It's quite rare to see you, last time you were here you came to…” Thornton's words hung in the air. They both remembered that the last time Marco visited was to place flowers at the foot of Nicoletta's grave. “Anyways, you have gone up in the world, Crimson Order and that. Let's catch up on the way to the Marquez Domain.”

Initially it was awkward but after a while they got on like they never left. Thornton recounted fun things or people making fools of themselves that he saw while on guard duty or training occasionally training new recruits. Marco recounted his new achievements including joining the Crown princess personal order. Thornton responded with the places he wants to travel to during his fast approaching retirement. Marco returned by recounting his own adventures.

They chatted until evening.

They passed over the final hill, they now could see the full Marquez domain.

The city was as big as when Marco first saw it. A large city wall surrounded the original city with newer houses and poorer districts just outside the main wall. The central city's market was so large it was visible from the hill. At the center stood the crumbling burnt ruin of Marquez's manor. No, the Marquez's manor was grand, well guarded and should overshadow the city.

“...what happened.” Marco asked Thornton in disbelief.

“I don't know… Speed up the carriage as fast as you can push the horses, I need to get there now! I don't care if I have to pay extra.”

The carriage driver pulled on the reins as the horses sped up as they rushed into the city.

The moment the carriage stopped Thornton and Marco bolted leaving behind a generous handful of coins as payment for their travels which should be enough.

They rushed to the scene. Thornton was using all his magic just to just keep up with Marco who was still pulling ahead, despite using a barely fraction of his magic.

They approached the scene, temporary tents had been set up around the remains of the Manor. Knights were scuttling around moving debris, lining up the dead and keeping watch.

“WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!” Marco hears Thornton yell from behind him.

One guard, slightly alarmed at their sudden appearance, ran up to them. “Sir Thornton, Sir Granger? …why is he here? Nevermind, the knight's captain will explain in detail what we uncovered from the survivors.”

They followed him into a large tent, Thornton still panting the effects of mana exhaustion taking their toll. The knight Captain, an old rugged man with stern features, sat in the centre with a mountain of report in front of him. The guard said, “Sir, I have some knights who would like to talk to you.”

“As long as they don't mind giving us an extra set of hands– …Sir Granger? Our message shouldn't have reached the capital yet?”

“I was on my way to meet the Lord Marquez, I have some Crimson Order business to conduct. Once I help, could you lead me to him after we discuss?”

The Captain's expression turned cold. “This is not public yet but in the attack the Marquez was killed–”

“WHAT! …no ….that can't be…” Thornton interrupted, he had served the Marquez family his whole life. Almost through two generations of heads of the family. Instructed knights to guard them, trained their daughter before they got a professional tutor when she was a little older. The thought that it could all be lost, the people he severed who kindly ruled the land he swore to protect. All gone. He wasn't even there to protect them. No… He fell to his knees.

The captain's grief showed on his face but he spoke like he had already explained the situation a thousand times over. “We found the bodies of Lord and Lady Marquez in the wreckage yesterday shortly after the attack; this is not public yet but people are beginning to suspect. I will explain everything. So I don't have to repeat myself. I will explain the full story.”

He sighed then began to recount.

“Yesterday noon we spotted several people with black cloaks walking around town. The guards did not think much of it because they weren't causing trouble and were in the city presumably legally but they were not. During the night these attackers raided the Marquez Manor, setting it on fire. They made sure to kill the guards, servants, everyone. They also targeted documents and made sure they were burnt. Despite having no less than thirty guards, we only recovered the bodies of three fallen attackers and we have had no luck in identifying the corpses. These were not regular bandits, they were professional and targeted.”

“unable to identify corpses?… What did Marquez's family do before they were attacked? Anything out of the ordinary.”

“They were visited by the Church, some merchants delivering sealed containers and Viscount Jean presumably about territorial matters the day prior. So nothing out of the ordinary.”

“So what now?” Thornton questioned through silent grieving tears.

“We dig through the wreckage and find clues as to who was responsible, who they were, after… anything.” the Captain continued, “Sir Granger, I'm not the Marquez but I can try to answer your question.”

“I also have a few things I would like to discuss.”

Thornton is escorted out of the room, to help the knights.

“The room is now clear from prying ears, what would you have liked to ask the Marquez head, Marco Granger.”

Marco took a few moments to steady himself for what he was going to say. Breathe in, breathe out. Okay he was ready. Concern shifted onto the knight Captains face as he realised whatever Marco was about to say had so much weight to it.

“Okay… so… as you may not be aware I work for the Crimson Order directly under the crown princess Iris Midgar herself. We are investigating two secretive underground groups, one is referred to as ‘the Cult’ amongst its members and the other is called Shadow Garden…”

The Captain nodded in affirmation. He had briefly read about such events occurring in the Capital in the newspaper. Some Cult lead by Zenon Griffy who kidnapped the second princess and the mysterious group known as Shadow Garden who attacked the Capital.

“I… I… I have come to ask if the Marquez family has any connection to Shadow Garden a… a-a-and If Nicoletta Marquez f-faked her d-death.”

—-----

Of all the things he was expecting this was not one. No wonder Marco found it hard to say. He said it like he believed it was the truth. Could it? The Marquez family would still have an heir and live on. But it sounds absolutely ridiculous.

I am the Captain of the knights in the largest city in the Marquez domain. There was nothing to prove that she faked her death, there was no reason to. Nicoletta Marquez died of a mysterious illness, people were not allowed to see her in fear of it spreading. She had a closed coffin funeral buried in a shallow grave in the garden of the house. The coffin was next to the previous generations of the family… No one saw her after she got ill.

This could not be right, she could not be alive, he went to her funeral, the Marquez family grief was real. But he met the young Sir Granger on several occasions. He knows that Sir Granger was not someone who would make up things.

“...do you have any proof for this claim?”

“The news likely has not spread here yet, but there was another attack in the capital. A group of cultists invaded the Midgar academy using an anti magic artifact and claiming to be Shadow Garden… I can't divulge all the information but the actual Shadow Garden showed up. And a… and one of those people looked exactly like an older Nicoletta Marquez, sounded like her too.”

“...”

“Also I do fear these attacks may be linked. Once the attack was repelled in the Capital we could not identify the corpses.”

“That's… concerning…”

“...”

“... Sir Granger, I will admit I am unaware of any connection between any of these mysterious organisations. I don't think young Lady Marquez faked her death but I don't have sufficient proof to guarantee my claim.”

“I believe there is only one way to find out.” Marco stated a grim determination brewing within him.

“No… you can’t dig up her coffin, it would dishonour the dead. The church warned such actions could curse you.”

“I fully believe that she is Nicoletta, so I will do it alone, it's a risk I will take.”

“Theres nothing that will convince you otherwise.”

“Nothing.”

“Very well, I will allow it but do it at night, make sure not a soul will hear of it.” the Captain said begrudgingly.

—-----------

Thornton could tell something was off with Marco ever since he and the captain had their private discussion, he kept looking at Marquez garden. The direction of the young lady Marquez's grave. Something was up.

Thornton decided to keep an eye on him. Through digging up rubble and examining evidence something seemed off about him. He decided to visit him to see what's up in the evening.

—---------

Thornton reached the room Marco was staying in and he was not there, yet his belongings were present.

Where else could he be… no. Nicoletta grave. He sprinted back to the ruins of Marquez's manor. Ignored the Guards and scaled the fence.

Then he saw Marco above the young lady Marquez's grave, with a shovel in hand a large pile of dirt to the side of him. Sir Granger stood over the grave like a statue, his face as pale as a ghost as if frozen in time.

No… this must be the grave robbers curse the church had told them about, perhaps if he closed the coffin he could save Marco. He ran up to him and peered into the grave. He feared the skeleton of Nicoletta Marquez would be there judging them, but no how could this be.

No

What

That… that could not be

The coffin was empty, heavy rocks were where the body should be. The rocks together were probably as heavy as a human body and sturdy enough to not shift about. No skeleton, no sign of a body. Marco was not frozen by a curse but pure shock.

Nicoletta Marquez's death was faked… why?

After a few minutes Marco finally spoke. “This stays between us and the captain.”

Thornton had to agree.

Chapter Text

Princess Iris sat at her desk with Glen opposite her. The room was organised as ever but they had both gone searched the building to make sure not a single prying eye was present.

“Princess Iris, have you made your decision about the future of the Crimson Order?”

“Yes I have…” Iris sighed before continuing. The weight of at least one of the most trusted people betraying her weighed on her heart. “The Crimson orders operations will be separated into teams. Each team will only receive information regarding their own investigation. If we can find out which investigation is being interfered with we can find the traitor.”

“Did you make the list of Crimson Knight suspects?”

“Yes, we have seven suspects.”

“Does that mean Marcos is on it?”

“Yes, as much as I would like to take him off it, there is still a chance.”

“The Cult of Diablos nearly killed him!” Glen retorts.

“Yet, Shadow saved him.”

“He did the same to me.” 

“You are right but, I will leave him on the list for now, but if he can get information on Shadow Garden and does not prevent us from learning about them, I will remove Marco from our suspect list. But until then he is a suspect.”

Glen looked at the list of suspects, all names of knights he had trusted with his life.

“What about Adder he has provided us with good information about the thirteen knightblades' involvement with the Cult?”

“It just isn't enough to prove anything yet. He could also be part of allied Shadow Garden,” Iris gritted her teeth. Whoever the spy was, they were clever and hid their tracks well they couldn't find a trace of them. The only evidence she could find of the spy was the burnt documents.

“Wait, so does that mean Claire is not on the list? She could be a second spy. We presume Shadow did save her brother as she attacked the cultists alongside us.”

“If she were a spy for Shadow Garden she likely would have been immune to the anti magic field like the Shadow Garden members in your report. If I did not interfere she would be dead. And she would not have been shot at in a way that would have killed her if she was part of the cult.”

“So you believe that she is clear because she almost died, and if she was part of either side you don't think she would have put herself in that position.”

“Precisely.” Iris replied with certainty. Glen nodded at the princesses evaluation.

Sigh. 

“What about Sherry and Cid?” Glen questioned. Everyone should be a suspect, even if I doubt they could be, Glen thought. We thought Lutheran could not possibly be suspect, many lost their lives for it.  

“I doubt Sherry is part of either, worst case she was manipulated by the cult and Cid is well… Cid. He is so unaware that could probably run a secret organisation and be completely unaware that it exists.” Iris joked in an attempt to crack the tension. Unfortunately it did not work.

“I would like to keep an eye on Sherry. She obviously is not part of the Cult and would have known about Lutheran if she had any affiliation with Shadow Garden. Additionally, She thought the tunnels were ordinary knowledge who knows what other secrets are unknowingly stored in her head. She is also the only one trusted enough to translate documents for us currently. Cid… he… Cid is… well… unlike the others who actively chose to join the Crimson Order. Your sister got him to join without knowing what he was getting into. So he's unlikely a spy. If it was anyone else he could still be a suspect for working with Shadow Garden as only him, Sherry and Lutheran could know about the technical details on eye of avarice that Shadow knew.”

“I have to agree on that. I do want to make sure the Sherry girl is happy after all that has happened to her. I feel we are getting closer to finding the spy.” 

“...what about Alexia?”

Iris glared at Glen with an intensity that threatened to bore a hole through him.

“point taken.” said Glen as he was reminded that he should not insult her sister in front of her.

“...”

Both sighed. The investigation into the traitor had been long and arduous yet yielded no results. It had also taken a mental toll on them both, the process of secretly investigating your closest and most trusted friends knowing one of them betrayed you was not a kind task on the soul. They relaxed in silence for a minute trying to distress from the mess they have on their hands.

“Alexia has a good sense of character. Hopefully she can sniff out the spy. She has a better sense of politics than me.” Iris's expression shifted to a more serious tone. “Glen, do you think the Crimson Order has been infiltrated by Shadow Garden or the Cult of Diablos?”

“Its just a hunch but… I fear, that both could have.”

—-------------

“Iris is going to be so mad at us.” Claire sulked.

“We could say they forced us into the magic gate.” Alexia shot back.

“No, I can't lie to her. If she found out she would not let me stay in the Crimson Order, then I can’t protect my baby brother.”

“He doesn't need a crazy sister, constantly taking care of him, he's not a baby. Right Cid?” She looked over to Cid who was drawing a map and mumbled some nonsense about a ‘sooper-market’ whatever that means. He most definitely is not listening to her. 

What did I do to be surrounded by these idiots Alexia thought.

—---------

At the train station exit they were greeted by a tired Iris and Glen. Iris was happy to see her sister again, hopefully together they could find the traitor.

“Iris!” Alexia greeted her sister in a deliberate exaggerated joyous motion.

I need to tell Alexia about the traitor before she accidentally tells anyone else in the Crimson Order about any potential leads. “Alexia, we need to talk.”

“Wow. She already knew you did something stupid.” Cid unsubtilly whispered.

What did she do?

“It's called big sisters' intuition. We can tell.” Added Claire much to Iris dismay.

Oh no. Is Alexia okay? What did she do? What happened to her?

Iris picked her up despite her sister's embarrassment and examined her for injuries.

“Put me down! Put me down! I'm fine!” Alexia said, trying to stop Iris from making a scene outside the train station.

“Lets discuss what happened inside.” Glen politely suggested.

—---------

They made their way into the Crimson Order's meeting room. Then they all sat at the table, apart from Cid who was leaning against the wall being the least noticeable in the room like a true background character.

“So…” Iris started. “What in the world happened? And Claire, why did you not stop her.” 

“Let me explain in order.” Claire then explained their failed attempt at getting the information out of the church and the dead Archbishop Drake. Then continued onto Shadows' absurd fight with Aurora. Then Shadow Gardens intervention, how Alexia jumped into the portal.

“ALEXIA, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!”

“They said they could not kill me. We got really good information on both Shadow Garden and the Cult in the end! I didn't even get hurt, Cid got more hurt than me.” Alexia smiled.

“What happened to Cid?” Iris said in a monotone voice.

Claire butted in, “It's my fault I wasn't looking out for him and he fell down a staircase.” 

Iris sighed. 

“See I‘m fine.” replied Alexia 

“You're banned from investigations.” Iris said.

“b. but–” 

Iris shuts her up. “No butts, I will not allow you to put yourself in so much unnecessary danger again.” 

Iris takes a moment to breathe “Okay, so Shadow entered the goddesses trail under a false identity, fought a powerful witch, Shadow Garden showed up and used Natsume as leverage, you get given casual death threats by a child–”

“Therianthrope child.” Claire corrects as if it made any difference.

“Somehow Claire is important to Shadow's plans as well as the princesses. Alexia follows Shadow Garden. Then what?”

“I tried to stop her but she dragged me in too. And then Rose Oriana follows.”

Iris's head falls to the table, she takes a moment before asking to continue… this is going to be a long day.

—--‐—-----

Gamma is pacing up and down her office. The room was spacious and perfectly neat. Some reports of Eta making a mechanical calculator on her desk.

Thoughts raced in Gamma's mind. Lord Shadow said ‘When the traitor’s hand strikes, it strikes with the force of a Legion.’ She knows who would be the most likely to betray the Garter Corporation but how could she get them to betray them for her. Most merchants view Mitsugoshi as a massive threat that keeps growing and taking over everything. The merchants weren't exactly wrong in their views either.

“Gammy! Lord Shadow has sent you a letter.” Iota arrived carrying a letter despite her usual lackadaisy attitude. She held the letter with such focus from a glance you would think her life depended on the message.

Gamma looked over at the cheerful therianthrope, she was annoyed how Iota could be so chirpy and stress free the moment she handed over the letter Lord Shadow had personally sent to them. He rarely needs to contact the Shades even if he has been more active recently. Did she mess up? No… that can't be. Am I too slow in implementing his plans? Am I to be replaced? No, I am useful to him. I am. I am. I am.

She opened the envelope. The encryption was written in extreme shorthand kanji. Likely the language Lord Shadow created called Japanese used for super secret messages. But it was addressed to ‘Luna’ not her real name Gamma. 

“Ask the best decryption expert available to decode Lord Shadow's message. Tell them it's a message of the highest level of confidentiality and priority.” 

Iota rushes off.

Why… Luna? Alongside the message was a poorly drawn map with Mitsugoshi drawn on it as a small square with a red area marked around it. It extended from the current Mitsugoshi mall into the market taking up most of it and backwards near the railway in the cargo bay where the trains unload their inventory.

Author note: drawing maps is hard

Most areas marked in red were buildings that were mostly overshadowed or going out of business due to their close proximity to Mitsugoshi and similar products. 

‘super market’ ‘mega mall’ two terms that Lord Shadow had said in the past…

—----------

“Lady Iota the translation is complete.”

I got the finished translation from number 167. She's at best sufficient with the sword, so she works mostly in management as she's excellent with mathematics. She follows in lockstep behind me back to Gammy so we can discuss. She is present for confidentiality reasons.

“Gammy we translated the message.” I wave at her.

“Iota don't wave around the message. Give it here–BWAH” 

Gammy fell over.

167 helps Gamma up.

“...”

“...”

“...”

I handed her the message.

She reads it.

“Dear Lady Luna, the future Queen of commerce.

When a traitor's hand strikes it falls with the force of a legion and associates turn their backs given the right opportunity and both are plentiful indeed.

Give them that opportunity. Unite the merchants under you.

Lord of Shades”

She stares at it. Her eyes go wide, then confused. She looks around the room, her eyes settled on the mechanical calculator blueprints Eta had just finished. Something clicks into place. A wild grin grows across Gammy's face.

“What does it mean?” I asked her.

“Lord shadow truly sees far beyond anything I could dream of.” (He really doesn't, he just wants to make a supermarket.)

“What’s our Lord planning?”

“Summon everyone including Eta, I will explain our Lord's Genius. We meet tonight, in the throneroom.”

—---------

Iris was not okay.

Not even close.

“So let me get this straight. The cult of Diablos is possibly a nation spanning organisation that is led by unaging knights of rounds who could possibly date all the way back to the time of the heros.” Glen stated. Stopping a minor cult and mysterious group had turned into a continent wide conspiracy going back hundreds of years. He did not like it. Not one bit. The information was also told to a prodigy author and a foreign princess. This is a mess.

“Pretty much,” Alexia confirmed.

“I believe someone said in a previous meeting that Shadow likely wanted the Crimson Order to survive. I believed they thought they could hide better than the Cult. I did not expect them to give us a tour of a cult facility and tell us directly how they function. He didn't want us to uncover anything because he was going to spoon feed us information about his opponents. A clever strategy.” 

“Said opponent's facility happened to be one of the most holy places in the kingdom. Meaning the entire divine teachings is under suspicion.” Claire added.

“The possession experiments.” Iris shivered. She knew she was a descendant of Freya. A hero. She's a hero. Not an experiment. Hero. A Hero.

No.

The descendants of the heroes are different and can't handle the Diablos cells and become possessed. 

Possessed

Possessed is what will become of her and her sister.

“Iris?”

Rotting masses of flesh to be culled by the Church or experimented on by the cult?

“Iris!”

No, that can't be. No. no. no. no. no. no.

“IRIS!”

Iris looked around and everyone was staring at her.

“Are you okay Iris, you look pale.” Alexia asked, standing over her.

Iris pulled out her sword and looked at her reflection, she had gone pale. She tried to regain her composure in front of everyone. Just half an hour. Look like you are in control for half an hour. You are the Crown princess of Midgar. The protector of this kingdom. You are in control. You are in control.

You Are In Control.

—--------------

“We should summarise our notes. It could also help us find the traitors,” Cid said. 

“Very well let's start with what we know about the Cult of Diablos.” Glen started.

“Yes so the Cult is a likely multi country wide organisation that is affiliated behind the Church of Divine Teachings. Or has heavily infiltrated it for potentially thousands of years. They are led by twelve knights of rounds. Archbishop Nelson was the eleventh seat known as the Avericous.”

“The Avericous! I heard that name before, when we uncovered some ancient text with Sherry and it mentioned someone of that name. The texts were hundreds of years old. So either the title is passed down and Shadow Garden are brilliant liars. Or we are fighting people who could be older than Midgar itself.” Glen did not like that thought even though it was his own. Hundreds of years to prepare for battle. Knights gained experience and lost their youth. Then give their teachings to the next generation. Imagine what someone could achieve with ten lifetimes worth of training. They would be unstoppable.

“If Nelson was killed we can expect eleven more of these rounds.” Claire said.

Cid interrupted, “I don't think so.”

“Wha–?”

“If Zenon and Lutheran were looking for a seat I suspect there could be an empty seat, or a replaceable member of Rounds.”

“Poochi- I mean Cid has a point. It didn’t seem like Shadow Gardens' first time fighting someone strong in the Cult. We know they need the possessed for experiments, I saw said experiments when I was abducted by Zenon.”

“What did you call my brother!”

“Let's get names.” Interrupts Cid.

“Count Bow and Count Goethe have loose ties to the Cult. Zenon and Lutheran were part before they died. Panoptes is still at large.” Glen stated.

“The Archbishop Nelson did too. But he's dead. We know a lot about them but no names.”

“We have the opposite problem for Shadow Garden. All names have no links or leads.” Alexia can you go through the list of names.

“Okay so we have Shadow who is probably their leader. He was described by someone of questionable intelligence that he's both the smartest and strongest. And is referred to as ‘Bossman’ by the two therianthropes. I believe she was telling the truth.

They have ‘Bey-tah’ who is a Silver haired woman who is very strong.

‘Alfah’ who led the operation we intruded on. She is a descendant of the Elven hero and could likely match Iris.”

Iris glared at her.

“I was only telling you what I saw.”

Iris looked away.

“There were therianthropes named ‘Delter’ and ‘Pie’. Both very strong, ‘Delter’ was the stronger one. Both under ‘Alfah’. They also had a weird artifact cloak that could shape into weapons. Perhaps that's why they are seemingly immune to magic draining?

The other names were ‘Apslion’, ‘Kai’ and ‘Omegger’. We suspect ‘Omegger’ is the one who delivered Sherry tools for the eye of avarice.

The named ones seem to be the top dogs of Shadow Garden. Then the rest have numbers. We encountered 87, 88, 89, 104, 105 and 106. They all seemed to be weirdly animated for people whose names were reduced to mere numbers. They also seemed to absolutely admire Shadow. Enough to force me and Rose to regurgitate all our encounters with him.

They also can pull swords out of seemingly nowhere.”

“Alfah… pie… what do these weird names mean.” Iris says.

“CID WERE YOU EVEN PAYING ATTENTION.” Claire yells startling everyone.

“...er…yeah something about apple pie?” he was not in fact listening.

“I could really go for an apple pie. I know a good place.” Glen mumbles.

“Let's go, I could do with a break.” said Cid.

“A break from what, Poochi? Is pretending your listening is too tiring?”

—------------

Gamma stood before her Lord's throne. A grand audience gathered before her. Many of the named numbers were present. Alpha, Epsilon and Eta were present. Now she will reveal Shadows' brilliant plan. The her Lord's future Queen of Commerce if he wills it that's what she will become.

“Lord Shadow has sent me a letter. All the pieces have fallen into place. We are making a supermarket!” Gamma announced. Many gasped. Eta's eyes lit as it meant a budget increase.

She paced before her Lord's throne. “For those unfamiliar with the Shadow wisdom. It's a shop for centralised distribution of common market goods. Its needed to be big enough to replace all the market stalls. We can assure the quality of our goods and use economies of scale to our advantage. Lord Shadow has set this up for us. It's perfect to sway the farmers and a few merchants from the garter corporation to our side. They don't need stalls or advertising to sell their fruits, just the supermarket.” 

“What about the mass item checkout issue?” Alpha interjected.

“An issue we encountered in the past is our checkouts are slow if we can't add the prices of vast amounts of items quickly. This resulted in a painfully slow checkout. But Eta just finished the mechanical calculators despite their size and clunkyness it will work.”

“But… my mechanical calculator needs consistent electricity.”

“Lord Shadow sent us a researcher from the Crimson Order called Sherry. She will unknowingly help Eta with the fertiliser project to sway farmers to our side and will make a generator for the building to be powered by electricity. And therefore the calculators.”

“oh… I forgot about her… I was busy… making the calculator.”

“We can also use our railway to directly transport goods into the supermarket. This is our Lord's plan. We will see it through! We will build the world he envisioned!”

Gamma thought to herself. ‘My Lord, I will unite all the merchants and farmers under their new queen, and I will be that Queen, your Queen. The Queen of Commerce, Luna.’

—--------------

In an ordinary restaurant. The Crimson order was eating apple pie. Cid was glad he kind of knew what was going on now with the Cult since Shadow Garden gave them some info. He was grateful for that. But he was not grateful how they butchered his subordinates' names when he heard ‘Apslion’ it took all his willpower not to correct them. But now there was another issue.

“Po–Cid is something wrong. You look like you are actually thinking? Or is pie with expensive Orianan apples too much for your brain to handle.”

“no… that can’t be..” Cid whispers as he takes another bite. These weren't Orianan apples. He had Orianan apples on his way back after he saved that random blond girl that one time. These were not that sweet. These were closer to Doe sweet apples from the Doe domain he visited when his father had some business discussing crops. 

These must be Doe sweet apples. 

This crime against apple pie will not go unpunished. 

I will expose your crime of incorrectly telling customers that you are serving super expensive Orianan apples when they are just moderately expensive Doe sweet apples.

Chapter Text

—-- A few hours earlier --------

“Alexia, I know you are a much better judge of character. I need you to help me find the traitor, I'll do anything.”

“So, I'm unbanned from investigations.” Alexia smiled slyly.

“Just ones not regarding evil secret organisations, in other words just this.” Iris reaffirmed.

—-----------

In an ordinary restaurant. The Crimson order was eating apple pie. Alexia deep in thought. As much as she was glad her sister was trusting her with something. But she got banned from other investigations. 

Alexia was mildly annoyed. To her, Iris is painfully unaware that now she can't actively investigate, the royal court will berate her for this. They would say ‘She's too young for actual investigations unlike her sister’ and ‘she can only follow in her sister’s shadow.’ Alexia can imagine them saying that. Then some clueless Duke's son proposes to her because his father wants to use her and his son to get closer to Iris. She can already imagine the scene in perfect clarity.

This isn't the time to stress over that. I should be relaxing right now. But something catches her eye: Poochi. Poochi has an odd expression on his face, it looks like he's thinking, actually thinking. Over apple pie?

“Po–Cid is something wrong. You look like you are actually thinking? Or is pie with expensive Orianan apples too much for your brain to handle.”

“no… that can’t be..” Cid whispers as he takes another bite. Ignoring her completely.

What is Poochi doing? He sleeps through what was probably one of the most important meetings for the future of Midgar. Now he seems to be more interested in analysing the apples in apple pie.

“Exuse me.” Cid asked a nearby waitress. “Could I get an Orianan apple, please?”

She looks at him with a baffled expression. Then she looked at who was seated at his table, two princesses, a well known knight and a black haired red eyed woman she didn't recognise. From merely who was seated at his table she complied with his strange request. 

“What, why?” Glen asks curiously.

Cid examines the apple and places it in his pocket.

“I don't think these are Orianan apples.”

Huh?

“Cid we have never had apples from Oriana before,” Claire states.

“Huh.” Said Cid as if trying to process he never had eaten an Orianan apple.

Iris's face did not know what expression to make. It was as if someone had just seen the ocean for the first time then told her it was the wrong colour.

Apart from whatever that was Alexia was glad they got to have a break it had been a while since she got to relax with her sister. 

Poochi disappeared into thin air the moment they left the restaurant but no one seemed to notice. Is that normal for people to do? No, it must just be Poochi.

—-------------

“Rose. Hi.”

“C-Cid?” Rose was startled by him seemingly appearing out of nowhere. She was in the back of Mitsugoshi's women's clothing section. The queue was over an hour long to enter the mall. It's not like he could track her magic. It's nothing short of a miracle he found her.

He presents an apple to her. “Could you tell me if this apple is from Oriana or not.”

He found her to ask her about an apple. Rose was raised to be able to distinguish not only good art and music but also flavors. Of course there was no one better in Midgar to tell the authenticity of Orianan apples. But, why would he ask this?

She examines the apple. “It looks far too small to be from my homeland and the apple is far too green. The apples in Oriana are usually cherry red. But I can't truly tell unless I have a taste.”

He hands her the apple. “Then take a bite.”.

She does. “It's definitely far too sour to be from Oriana. Not that it is sour, just that it should be sweeter.”

“Thank you so much princess.” Then he runs off.

What was that heroic young boy planning? Perhaps a date for her? Rose blushed at the idea of him standing hours to just enter a shop to find her, so he can fine tune their date to her specific tastes.

—----------------

Iris sighed at the hill of paper work before her. It's been a long time since Count Bow and Count Goethe have made any moves, Iris is starting to consider moving some members of the Crimson order from their posts.

It's nothing short of a mess; her order is underfunded, has at least one traitor, her enemies are bigger than suspected and her father refuses to do anything to help. Not to mention herself and her sister could get possession. There is no cure, it's incurable. According to Claire, ‘Alfer’ said Shadow can cure it but she highly doubts that. 

Shadow is also irritating, her own sister said SHE would get killed if she tried fighting him and that all that magic came from his ‘iamatomik’ attack. She loves her sister but that is absurd. Even if he is some 400 year old Elven swordsman she and the Crimson Order would stand a sizable chance.

Iris is almost ready to hand over her requests and information to her father. She's done this once before. He will ignore all the evidence and do nothing. 

*click

The door unlocks.

*swoosh

The door swings open and Cid enters. Well tries to, Claire launches at him and pins him to the ground.

“Where did you run off to” Claire said in a creepily monotone voice.

“I was right. About the apples.”

Iris felt like her head was going to explode. She did not know Cid well but he was usually quite reserved. Perhaps if there were not two possibly giant secret organisations breathing down her neck she would have heard him out.

Iris stares into space for several minutes.

“Exuse me princess? Can I put my request here?” Cid said holding what seemed to be a small but surprisingly well written report. He was pointing at the pile of requests that her father would inevitably reject. 

“Sure” Iris said dejectedly. Iris didn't bother reading it, it's not like her father will either.

—------------

“Your majesty.”

The finance minister Edric Pecunia greeted Klaus. It was far too early for any usual meeting and he was carrying a titanic stack of documents and letters that almost caused him to lose balance as he bowed. He looked equally excited and nervous.

“Rise, you seem to have a lot to tell me.”

He places all the documents and letters on the king's desk. “Yes. It's the merchants. It hasn't been a full day since it happened but I have already received hundreds of letters. They want me of the royal faction to stop it—” 

“Okay calm down tell me what happened.”

*Sigh–“Okay, Your Majesty, so that upstart merchant group Mitsugoshi purchased an outrageously large piece of land. Its–” he double checks a paper. His eyes widened still in shock despite having read it before. “Your majesty, that piece of land is 500 meters by 500 meters square and costs 250 BILLION zeni. It's also the plot of land opposite their currently outrageously large store. The new location is in the middle class market.” Edric stopped letting the weight of his words settle.

(thats 1600 ft x 1600ft for the Americans)

250 billion. Klaus had no words. It was well known that land in the market sectors of the capital were outrageously priced. And someone had bought that much. The second thing that surprised him was that a merchant managed to get that much money. They do have a stranglehold on transportation with trains. Even then most Dukes would struggle to acquire that amount of wealth at a single point in time, but they spent money often on noble gatherings and their territory. Of course the royal coffers held more and the Cult could pile together the resources far larger or use church donations that have piled up over decades but these were the exceptions.

When Klaus first heard of the sudden upstart merchant group he suspected the Cults machinations yet all the usual cult activity was not present, no large donations to the church, no links to known cult members or backing from groups such as the knightblades. 

Hopefully Mitsugoshi can help the kingdom, but first we must make sure it's not connected to either the cult or Shadow Garden or anything else. 

“Please continue.”

Edric took a deep breath. “Many merchants including the Garter corporation have stated they don't think anyone should own such a large portion of the marketplace. We have been getting letters constantly since then.”

“Do we know what they have planned for this space?”

“Nothing clear yet but they said they are planning to put a new building there and have already requested demolition permits and have an architect for the new building. Yes, singular building.”

“That would make it the third largest structure in the kingdom after the royal palace and the arena.” Klaus said in disbelief.

“I could send them a letter if you wish to ask them about the building.”

Klaus considered it.

“So here is the choice we need to make. We can get 250 billion zeni which will be enough to refill the royal coffers and repair the giant hole in the city caused by Shadow Garden. But we risk enraging the merchants including the Garter corporation who have links to the cult.”

“Or we can prevent Mitsugoshi's plans, keep the merchants happy. And by that not stir up trouble.” Klaus interjected.

“But remember Mitsugoshi operates in many countries. Whatever they have planned, they could just do in another country. Last time they made trains that revolutionised travel. Who knows what they are planning.”

They had a lot to consider. Fortunately he had no meetings planned today.

“Father.”

Of all the times why now.

Iris entered the door holding a second pile of evidence and requests. Klaus loves his daughters so he can't let them know or get involved with the Cult or Shadow Garden. Either would be the death of them. He can't let that happen. Ever.

“Father I–”

“No.” Klaus replied in a harsher tone than what he wanted.

“I have more evidence. We now know what the ‘rounds’ are we—”

“No. Place it on my desk and I will look at it.”

Iris pulled a face. It's obvious she didn't believe him.

She stormed out after placing her papers on the growing stack of documents.

He wishes he could tell her. But she would try to fight against the cult. The best way to survive and have freedom from the cult is to pretend you don't know what they are doing. If Iris causes conflict with them it would not only be her death but the kingdom's as well. He was protecting her. He had to protect her.

The minutes turned into hours and then into what felt like days. Consideration after consideration after consideration. 

King Klaus and Edric Pecunia finally got to the reports Iris has given them. 

Request to put the entire church of Divine teachings under suspicion. Absolutely not. DENIED.

Request to search– one of the knightblades. I already said no. DENIED.

Request to search the royal archives for information on possession. They could find out about the cult's experiments. DENIED.

Request to investigate Jack Nelson. He's part of the church of Divine Teachings. DENIED.

Request to… what… check if apples are Orianan? Klaus blinked and reread it to make sure he was reading it correctly. The handwriting was different to the rest of the papers, it was not Iris who wrote it. A restaurant was overpricing apples and claiming they are from Oriana. Apple fraud? No cult links, no Shadow Garden links. Not connected to anyone who could be. It seemed like an odd request compared to the rest of the list. APPROVED?

Hopefully this will keep them out of trouble. If the apple fraud is true the crown could force the restaurant to pay a fine. Then the crown would be slightly less in need of Zeni.

APPROVED

Chapter Text

The investigation form has been submitted. If it gets accepted I can finally play detective and tick another item off my bucket list. I was hoping I could create a new persona for that and get a big murder mystery case, so I can get two in one. Beggars can be choosers unfortunately. 

I could cause the murder myself but I would ruin the fun of solving it. I could solve the cult spy in the Crimson Order but plotting their downfall from the Shadows sounds way cooler. If I can find them.

Gamma sent me a message. It had a new form of Shadow Garden encryption, so I spent all night trying to decrypt it. She said so far my plan is going well, I'm not sure what I planned but that's for future me to worry about. It's probably about finding more of those knights of rounds. I should really get back to fighting the Cult after this, it was really fun last time. Oh and I should check on Marco at some point.

—--‐—------

Iris entered her father's office. She collected the pile of papers her father reviewed. She looked through the files. 

DENIED. The Cult has undeniable links to the Church, why can't we investigate.

DENIED. Two Counts stepping out of line, why won't you let me do anything.

DENIED. This is about possession. Did he even read anything?

DENIED. He's definitely not reading the.

APRIOVED… what. He actually approved something. Wait… I don't recognise this report. Did the traitor sneak it in? ‘Investigate if apples are correctly labelled Orianan’ she reads, then it all clicks in place the report Cid wrote that she ignored. They now had to investigate this. 

It does make sense for her father to want to investigate. The king of Oriana and several high ranking Oriana nobles will be attending the upcoming Bushin festival this year. If they are told they are getting served Orianan apples and the apples are illegitimate it could be taken as an insult. Stirring up trouble with Orianan relations is the last thing her father wants to do.

Iris doesn't know if she is more or less offended by her father reading all her requests before rejecting them.

Hopefully she can dump this task on someone else and continue to look into important matters, such as Marco’s report. He should be back in the capital today. I heard there was an attack on Marquez, I would like to have his opinion. I does not need my father's authority to investigate, but it would be far less difficult with his authority.

Perhaps her sister can help with this.

She makes her way back to the Crimson Order's office. 

She enters. Alexia is seated inside drinking coffee and reading the newspaper something irrelevant about merchants yesterday, it doesn't matter when there are massive factions working in the shadows; they should be the only thing the kingdom focuses on fighting now.

“Alexia.”

“Iris?”

Iris slammed down the documents. She shows the apple fraud investigation request pointing to the approval stamp. Alexia looks more shocked than she was when she saw the approval.

“This is the only request that was approved.”

They read through the report together, while sipping coffee. It was short but weirdly thorough. 

“So you want me to investigate this so you don't have to.” Alexia complained.

“Not exactly, I have a better idea. You will be part of the investigation but you will be actually investigating the Crimson Order.”

“Princess, how does that work?” asked Cid, who she could swear was not there a second ago.

“When did you get here?”

“He's been standing there the whole time.” replied Alexia “He even made the coffee you're drinking.”

Iris looked at her hands, she was in fact drinking freshly made coffee. She did not remember it getting there; she started drinking it mid conversation and she never thought to question it. Cid must have just blended into the background like a coathanger and made her coffee. Iris put those thoughts aside.

“Since the investigation on count Gothe and count Bow has come to a stand still, I will be moving members of the Crimson Order around. For this investigation you will be working with and investigating Matthias Pecunia of the Crimson Order.” 

“Why him?” 

“We will investigate everyone in the order. I have known him for the least amount of time, being only three years. He has always been loyal to the crown for years according to father. But he was extremely eager to join. We have no evidence to say he's a traitor but none against it either.”

“Won't he think it is suspicious that we singled him out for this mission?” Alexia questioned.

“He's the second son of the Percunia branch family. The Percunia family line comes from super wealthy merchants turned nobles. Everyone in their line should be adequate with economics even if he's a knight. He's the ideal choice to uncover some minor fraud.”

“Since I made the request, can I join?” Cid asked.

“Sure.”

“So I'm supposed to try to find out if he’s suspicious on a random investigation. How exactly do you expect me to do that.?” Alexia questioned with an irritated expression Iris didn't not notice.

“If possible can you get a read if he’s hiding something?”

—-------------

If possible can you get a read if he’s hiding something. My ass. 

Does she know how hard it is to judge someone? Some can be flawless such as everything perfect on the surface Zenon. For them its obvous they are fake. Some people can hide well such as Lutheran, after a days all that she could tell is Lutheran was weirdly focused on the eye of avarice. Hopefully Matthias is easy to read. 

I would rather be alone with just Poochi for an investigation but he will be joining us in a minute. Poochi said he left to get something “important” in Poochi terms it means hes just lazing around. 

The door opens in comes…

“Poochi what in the Goddess’s name are you wearing.”

Poochi was wearing an oversized thick brown trench coat with sturdy boots, thick black trousers and a deerstaker hat. He looks like the man on the cover art of a Cherlock Holmes novel. She pinched herself to make sure she was not dreaming.

“Today I am detective Cid.” he said with the most deadpan expression imaginable.

Alexia attempted to hold in her laughter at his ridiculous antics. She failed immediately and burst out with laughter that took several minutes to die down.

“Are you actually going to wear that?”

“What else would I wear to an investigation?”

What has gotten into him. Is this what he thinks is cool? Wait… is this were all the money I gave him went?

Before she could ask, someone entered. Matthias Pecunia.

He had a broad frame surrounded by his Crimson Cloak, standard for all Crimson knights. He was perhaps in his early thirties. Dark brown hair sat firmly on his head and a few specks of stubble across his chin. He was the kind of person who would stand out amongst regular knights but not among the elites of the Crimson Order.

“Greeting's your highness princess Alexia. I am Sir Matthias Pecunia at your service.” he bowed.

The stiff formality of nobility almost startled her, clearly Alexia had spent too much time around the Kagenous.

“Your report with such little information was very impressive, princess.” He continued. 

Naturally people would give royalty empty compliments to suck up to them. Alexia was used to it. He followed the strict rehearsed formality of all nobility. You never knew who someone truly was until they dropped the act or the mask cracked. Alexia internally smiled at the curveball she was going to throw him.

“It was Cid who wrote the report.” She points to Cid. His perfect composure cracks.

“C-Cid?”

“Cid.”

“I'm Cid Kagenou, nice to meet you.” They shook hands.

He scratches the back of his head, not knowing what to say. “Well… my compliments for a well written report?” Matthias definitely did not expect that. 

He had likely seen Cid make coffee or run errands for her. He probably expected him to write a detailed report as much as Alexia did, being not at all.

—-------------

“Let's get started on the investigation. First we should look at the restaurant to find where the apple came from.”

“We should do a financial audit. It will reveal who sold them the apples.” Cid said.

“Financial audit?” Alexia questioned. Matthias sighed internally.

“Restaurants do not have the money to import foreign goods by themselves; they would have to rely on a large merchant corporation and buy it off them. If we could prove they are buying apples not from Oriana, it would be undisputable proof.” Matthias answered.

“We will declare a general financial audit. So they don't know we are onto them.” Cid decided.

Matthias nodded in agreement.

Matthias admitted to himself Cid was surprisingly adept. Previously he feared he would have to carry the entire investigation on his shoulders. Fortunately it seems he would not need to do all the thinking.

—-------

They made their way towards the restaurant. Cid tried making small talk to Matthias so they would not walk in silence. “How's it going with the other Crimson Knight?”

“Pretty good, I had only met a few of them before joining the order. But it's a pretty incredible bunch.”

“Any standouts you met in the order?” Cid asked.

“The leader of our investigation, Addler he's brilliant. He found the Cult links to Count Bow before anyone could even begin to start investigating anything, he's just that fast. Admittedly, we struggled after the initial finds. Also one of the other guys, Marco I think his name was, I sparred with him a few times, he's way better than I was at his age. Give him a few years and he will start beating me every time and maybe even Glen after a few years.”

They continued to talk for a while.

Poochi has been acting strangely ever since he wrote that report. He's strangely competent–

*BONK

Alexia turned in a heart beat to the source of the noise.

It was Cid.

He was lying on the floor as if he was run over by a horse.

He walked into a lamppost. A stationary lamppost. In the middle of the day. He hit it so hard it’s gaslamp was still shaking.

Nevermind he's still the same Poochi.

—-----------

The restaurant was not open yet but the owner was present. They had royal authority for the investigation, they could do the audit. 

Matthias Pecunia knocked on the door, Alexia to his left, Cid on his right.

“We are not ope– … Hello? How can I help you?” a mildly concerned bartender responded. It was obvious that she was trying her best to be as elegant and polite as possible. Nobility showed up at their doorstep, she had to. 

“We are here as part of an investigation from the crown. We will be conducting a financial audit on this establishment.”

“One moment.” She closes the door respectfully then rushes off. 

She returns a moment later with the owner of the establishment, an older chef. He was slender but undeniably looked experienced at cooking. His hair was on the verge of turning grey, it turned several shades grayer when he realised he was being audited.

—---------

Alexia had no idea what she was supposed to be looking for, something apple delivery? Whatever, she was supposed to be investigating Matthias Pecunia. So far, nothing. He did not have the nothing of someone that was hiding something. Just he was so uptight around Alexia, that she had no idea how they normally act, like all lesser nobility. Except the Kagenous they were a special case.

A few shreds of character shine through when he is just around Cid, but not much at all.

“Found it.” Cid states.

Matthias and Alexia lean over and Cid reads. 

Orianan apples 4 small crates 40,000 zeni 15th

He skimmed further down.

Orianan apples 3 small crates 

30,000 zeni 22nd

He flips the page over

Orianan apples 4 small crates

40,000 zeni 29th

Huh? So they are from Oriana.

“10,000 per small crate, that's pretty standard.” Matthias mentioned. “A small crate of Orianan apple can range from 8,000 to 14,000 typically.”

“We can check the tax documents stored by the crown right?” Cid asked.

“Yes?”

“These documents could be faked. If the tax does not add up and they have in turn paid less than what they say we have uncovered that they faked the Oriana apple purchases.”

“And if not you got us to run around the capital for no reason Poochi.”

Matthias gave her a funny look.

“If not it would be a fraud case where the suppliers are falsifying goods.”

“Falsifying goods?”

“Your highness there are harsh rules were made about falsifying goods about 19 years ago. Someone sold hundreds of cheap iron sword claiming them to be mithral. The public was outraged. The crown introduced new rules to punish such cases.”

“Huh.” Alexia was more surprised that her father actually did something other than observe.

“Who were they buying the apple from?” Alexia asked Matthias.

“The Garter corporation.” Cid pointed at the name. Everything on that sheet was purchases from the Garter corporation.

Matthias's eyes widened for a moment before recomposing himself. “Them?” He looked over the document. Cid was right. Matthias then stated, “When dealing with them we have to be careful, they have a certain type of political influence… Regardless I will crossrefrence the tax documents. Then we will meet back up at the Office.”

“Sure, lets go Alexia.”

Alexia eyed Matthias as she left.

—-------

Back in the office. 

Matthias Pecunia stood over the table of documents with Alexia Midgar oposite him. He starts, “I crossrefrenced the tax documents with the restaurants expendeture. The tax is correct. They are paying for Orianan apples.”

“So its the Garter Corporation is-” *Checks notes* “falsifying goods.”

*Sigh, “Yes it does mean that. They are a large cooperation and hold a lot of power over the kingdom. While I was in the palace, I asked his magesty the king for authority to audit them and…”

He presents a request form outlining the information they collected. A large red word was written across the page. DENIED.

“Unfortunately, we wont be able to investigate them.” Matthias stood up and began to walk away.

“Hold your horses.” Cid interrupted.

They turned to him.

“I know how to prove they are not from Oriana. We won't need to investigate the Garter Corporations finances.”

Matthias raises a brow.

“All goods from Oriana travel by train.”

“The railways are owned by Mitsugoshi. I doubt my father would allow us to investigate them. Even if its just to get cargo train timetables.”

Cid Smiled smugly.

“We dont need the Kings authority. Let’s just say someone at Mitsugoshi happens to owe me a convenient favour."

Chapter Text

“So Cid, let me get this straight. You want to ask a person at Mitsugoshi who happens to owe you a favour to get the cargo train routes of the Garter Corporation’s trains.” stated Alexia in amusement.

“pretty much.”

He's such an idiot. Does not know how secret cargo train timetables are. Cargo trains are kept hidden from everyone in the public eye to make it harder for potential bandits to time their attacks. You can't just ask for that information. Even if they get that information, if someone high up in Mitsugoshi found out about your ‘friend’ sharing them they would be fired.

“Wait. Wait wait… hold on a second. How did YOU get someone from the famously self sufficient, no outside support, Mitsugoshi to owe YOU a favour?” Matthias pointed out.

Alexia was also curious.

“It's… a long story.” 

Cid dodged the question and proceeded to get up from his seat.

“Stop, wait… we should not investigate them, his Majesty clearly does not want us to investigate them.” Matthias stammered. It was too late, Cid left already.

Alexia followed after him.

“Cid!”

He turns to face her.

“So Alexia, what do you think of that Matthias Pecunia guy?” He changes the topic.

“He's… I can't tell. He doesn't seem off. But it seems like he really doesn't want us to touch the Garter corporation. You noticed that too Poochi?”

“Huh… Nope, I think he is perfectly innocent.”

“Did you not hear how every time it gets brought up, he warns us to be careful or not touch it?”

“Normal merchant stuff probably.”

“Wait where are we even going, Mitsugoshi is the other way. Wawait who owes you a favour? Is it a girl?” It probably is. I have never seen any men work at Mitsugoshi.

“I’m not sure where you're going but I have a code brown to attend to.”

“Code brown?” she murmured in reply.

“Toilet.” 

It took a moment but Alexia winced at the analogy. She would rather not think about Poochi on the toilet. She looked back at him.

He ran off. Of course he did.

She was going to get Poochi to explain who this Mitsugoshi girl is that owed him a favour. She would beat it out of him if she had too. That's a bit far. It seems Claire had been rubbing off on her. That's not good.

—----------------

On a Midar building roof somewhere impractically high up. 

Man, now I have to make up a story of how someone at Mitsugoshi owes me a favour. This should be easy but if I mess it up when I eventually reveal myself as Shadow it could implicate Mitsugoshi, which is bad.

I could do a heist on Mitsugoshi as Cid Kagenou to get the train travel records.

No.

No, I got a little carried away being a detective. I need to be a background character and lay low as much as possible once this investigation is over. They can't start questioning my mob status now.

Background characters are not supposed to have achievements. I can just put Alexia's name on the investigation so it looks like she did all the work. Most would think I'm just mooching off her achievements.

That should be fine.

I should also ask the girls to get someone to track Matthias Pecunia. If he's concerned about the Garter Corporation he is either a cult spy or he knows they are dangerous. Either way uncovering what he knows about the Garter Corporation would be some nice information. If I'm right I would seem like a genius in front of the girls. If he's not I have enough plausible deniability to say he was just acting suspicious.

Oh, I told her about a supermarket idea, she said she would build it. I should check up on that. Once it's done hopefully Claire will no longer drag me around the entire City to grab groceries, she will just drag me around a supermarket instead.

—---------------

“Lady Gamma Lord Shadow awaits you in the throne room.”

Now? Did something happen? Did the merchants' complaints reach the crown and prevent them from building the supermarket. Or did something happen to Eta’s experimental plant fertiliser.

Gamma turned on the spot and ran to— “WAH!”

She fell over.

…

Gamma entered the throne room. Lord Shadow sat majestically on his throne, his cloak swaying the non existent wind. He gazed off into the distance thinking thoughts so profound our brains likely could not even imagine. He turns to us.

“Gamma.”

“My Lord.” She kneels.

“Rise, Gamma. I have a few tasks for you, nothing major, you have a supermarket to build after all.”

“Would you like a report on the supermarket project?”

“That would be ideal.”

Gamma stood up as straight as a pencil and began her report. “We have if there is no rejection from the Crown by the end of the week we have the land you marked in the map you gave us. Many of the merchants have vocally opposed us in the purchase, they rallied around the Garter Corporation as they are trusted among merchants and vendors.” Gamma realises she needs to breathe. 

She stops, takes a breath and continues. “A few weeks ago we gave a batch of Eta's experimental fertiliser to farmers alliance for ‘testing’. So hopefully they will be onboard with the supermarket idea. We are considering hiring locals as cashiers and cleaners but all the security will be our personnel. We will announce to the public what will become of this plot of land soon after the purchase. And we have found the location of a future cult meeting…”

It was hard to tell but Shadow was smiling. That made Gamma happy.

“Well I have a little good news. Due to my influence in the Crimson Order. We started an investigation into a large supplier committing apple fraud. Can you guess whose reputation will be damaged?”

“The Garter Corporation?” Gamma replied hopefully. They were the largest suppliers of expensive apples.

A wild grin spreads across her Lord's face. She was right. Her expression mirrored her Lords. Although such a case would only likely scratch the Garter Corporation, the immediate effects could likely dissolve the rallying merchants. They would publicly dissociate from Garter until the public dies down. They will be publicly unopposed to purchase the land. Gamma once questioned his decision to join the Crimson Order but now… she begrudgingly… understands.

“Oh, I need two things for that to happen. First I need the train timetables for the trains they use that transport apples. Secondly, I need to owe you a favour that would allow me to ask for them. Nothing big enough to implicate Mitsugoshi if I reveal myself as Shadow.”

“You're going to reveal yourself to them?”

“No. Not until the climax.” 

Gamma was relieved Lord Shadow will only reveal himself at the Climax between the war between Shadow Garden and the cult. (He meant the climax in the plot)

But a favour she had to owe him. It would be easier if he owed her a favour after. Why not both, that would seem more believable for something so significant. She could not propose something so outlandish to her Lord. Alpha would have her head for such a thing with her ‘no one gets ahead of me’ rule… Alpha was not here. She could not get in the way.

“My Lord, how about you owe me a favour… Then it could be more believable…” She should not have spoken. She was a fool.

“That is a brilliant idea. That means as Cid Kagenou I have a free one time ticket to act out of character in Mitsugoshi's favour. That will be useful in future.”

A favour from Lord Shadow. The things she could get him to do…

Shadow interrupted her interesting train of thought. “So any ideas for what you owed me for so we can get our stories straight. I was thinking about stumbling across some confidential Mitsugoshi plan, so in time my apparent confidential knowledge would expire.”

“The supermarket plans?” Gamma questioned

“yes.”

They planned their story together and got the appropriate Shadow Garden personnel to also be ‘witnesses’ of the event. It would be as if it actually happened.

“What was that other task you wanted me to do, my Lord?” 

“Where there is smoke there is fire. One of the Crimson Order members Matthias Pecunia seems strangely adamant about preventing our investigation on the Garter Corporation. I want information on him.”

“If he's a cult spy shall we dispose of him?”

“No, I shall arrange his downfall personally. Now those train reports.”

Gamma claps once and a number walks in carrying a desk with a stack of documents. She spread them out across the table.

—-------

“My Lord, my most sincere apologies but there seems to be an issue.” She draws on the map and shows me a map of the rail lines. 

Mitsugoshi railways in brown (ish)

Snowfox railways in blue

Known Garter Co transport route for Orianna apples in dark pencil line 

“My Lord, Mitsugoshi do not have the full travel records for the trains transporting apples as the Garter corporation crosses over onto Snowfox rail lines. They are not using our primary railway to Oriana but they could be using the snowfoxes lines to cross over. Should we deploy our numbers to get the information?”

“No.” I can't explain how I got such things as a mob. I need to go ask this snow fox group.

“I have to acquire information as an NPC.”

“A npc?” Gamma questions, I didn't really explain much game terminology to the girls, mostly because the terminology makes no sense until games exist. 

“As Cid Kagenou. It would make no sense if I gave the Crimson Order the information that Shadow Garden collected.” 

Gamma nodded her head wearily. She looks a bit concerned.

I float down from the throne and pick up the documents. 

“Very well. Continue to the supermarket plan. I will handle my business.”

I’m quite glad Gamma was happy with me investigating apples, I guess it does slightly help Mitsugoshi. I should play the ‘this will benefit us in unforeseen ways in the future’ card and if it does nothing just quote the going back in time and killing a butterfly and that it would change the result of a war in 60 years time. (Butterfly effect)

“My endeavours will benefit us in unforeseen ways in the future.” I spin on the spot and mysteriously leave.

She seems concerned about something. I wonder what that's about.

—--- Gamma’s concerns -------

He's going to ask the snowfox corporation. No no no. They own the prostitute district in the lawless city. What if they try to seduce him.

No they cannot seduce our Lord that would be an insult to him.

But… but. 

Yukime is currently in Midgar. She could… If she gets her hands on him. No. No. That won't happen.

Please my Lord do not get seduced by that sly fox.

—---------

Matthias entered the Crimson Order office. Marco was reporting to Iris with Glen transcribing. Claire was also listening.

He needed to find out how Cid got someone in Mitsugoshi to owe him a favour, if that's even true. That would be incredibly useful. His over protective big sister should know.

“Miss Kagenou, could I have a moment?”

“Yes?” she turned to him.

Iris eyed him with suspicion. She just asked her sister to keep an eye on him yet here he is without either of the people he should be working with. He did not notice he was under such suspicion.

“Apparently someone high up in Mitsugoshi owes Cid a favour. We tried to ask him about it but he walked out on us.”

“I swear when my brother gets back here I will make him tell me everything.” Claire grumbled.

Ms over-protective-big-sister wasn't even aware. How?

“Where is Alexia?” Iris demanded.

“She went to find Cid. She should probably be at Mitsugoshi.”

“Whats happening?” Marco queried. He had no clue what was going on.

“Princess Alexia, myself and young sir Kagenou are investigating fraud.” Matthias explained.

“Fraud? Related to the–” 

“No, it's unrelated to the Cult or Shadow Garden.”

“...” Marco did not know what to say.

Alexia entered the room. Iris looks relieved.

“He left Mitsugoshi before I arrived.”

Matthias sighed.

—---- Cid --------

I should have asked Gamma where the snow fox corporation is. I should just sneak around to find it. Then I can just sneak out and knock on the door.

—-------

It was late in the evening in Midgar. Yukime was looking over some documents when she heard the window open, so she went to look. For a split second she could swear she saw a black ghostly Shadow with red eyes perched on the window… it vanished the moment she blinked. 

She's just tired.

Yukime had just finished her recent overview of the merchant situation in Midgar. An emerging group called Mitsugoshi had requested to purchase a large amount of land causing the other merchants to rally against the purchase, fortunately this mess didn't affect her business. Despite Mitsugoshi and her basically owning all the railways in Midgar.

A knock sounded from the front door. Which was odd. They were in an unmarked building on the edge of the Midgar capital. This building should look like an ordinary house from the outside but inside it is the Snowfox railways secret administrative office. No one was scheduled for meetings.

Then she heard the door open, she went to see which of her administrative staff it was. Was it Kana? She is nearby.

There was a very plain looking boy with black hair, in an oversized trench coat carrying a few files. She didn't recognise him. Yukime praised herself on her treatment of her staff, she knew most of the names of her managerial staff. She didn't need to oversee all the staff. Was he a new hire she hasn't met yet?

He turns to her “Do you work here?” 

She resists laughing. Yes he's definitely a new hire. “Yes, well… I happen to own the place.” She attempts to tease him. It fails.

“Huh. In that case could I discuss something with you?”

“Sure. Lets sit down.” Yukime leads him into a meeting room. She has no idea what to expect, he likely still doesn't know that she is the ruler of the white tower. Maybe she should tease him, it would be quite funny.

“So I have come to ask for some information regarding the Garter Corporation.”

Yukime narrowed her eyes.“Which part of the snow fox corporation do you usually work under?” There were several industries within snowfox; railroads, brothels and clothing being the major ones. They were not supposed to share confidential information between the lower ranks.

“I don't work for Snow Fox.” he said with slight confusion.

WwhWHAT?

Who in the world is this random guy here? He shouldn't know where this place is. He shouldn't even be able to get through the LOCKED door. Did someone forget to lock it? She should kill the intruder but she will get information first.

“How did you get here,” she asked.

“Through the door?” He pointed to the door. He wasn't going to tell her how he found this place. She stiffened, obviously he was some sort of special detective or secret agent. She should kill him but she decides to first ask for his name. If she can find out who is behind this first it would be ideal.

“I believe first it is polite to introduce yourself.”

“Oh.” A look of realisation hit him with the force of a train. “My name is Cid Kagenou.”

Is that his real name surely not. “As you are likely aware I am Yukime of the White tower.”

“White tower, I have never heard of it.” 

Does this guy actually not know what the white tower is? Am I speaking to a genius tracker or an assassin or a complete idiot?

“Sounds super cool, I might visit it some time.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“No clue,” he admits.

“You are not aware it's the most famous brothel on the continent?”

“No… that's not really my thing to visit. I thought you just made trains.” said the anomaly of a man before her. Some completely average looking guy can find the location of a secret administrative building but doesn't even know what the company is famous for. She should kill him, something is off about him.

Yukime picks up her fan and starts to– “I wouldn't do that. It won't end well.”

Yukime's body froze for a moment, some deep instinct telling play dead almost overcame her. Something was off about this seemingly ordinary man. Her therianthrope instincts have never betrayed her, he is dangerous. He sensed her slowly putting magic into her fan. Not even the strongest therianthropes can notice such subtle magic use, he knew instantly.

“You wanted to talk about something. Trains presumably?” Yukime said, slightly shaken. Usually if someone invaded a location like this she would have thought them an assassin and he would have attacked her the moment he had the chance. This man seems like he doesn't want a fight; he probably wants information on how trains are produced. No he asked for information regarding the Garter Corporation, is he one of Gettan's assassins or against them.

“I want train records from these trains owned by Garter. I want to know where they stopped.” He places some files on the table. A few stood out to her and perfectly cut each letter identically stamped on. Written by a typewriter. Mitsugoshi documents, how did he get their train logs? I have always wondered if Mitsugoshi had a secret spy network. They are far too informed for normal merchants and security far too strong. He must be one of them. No that would make no sense, he would know what the white tower is. 

“Those are Mitsugoshi documents. How did you get a hold of them?”

“I asked Luna for them.” He admits.

He asked the owner of Mitsugoshi for them. Why would she do that? Give them to him willy nilly.

He ignores the confused fox woman in front of him and continues. “They are committing fraud, if they are collecting apples from the Doe territory instead of Orianna, it's easily provable.”

“So you want to collect evidence to help in a fraud case against the Garter Corporation. What's in it for me?”

“Rumor has it you don't like the Garter Corporation.” 

Yukime glared at him.

‘It's not a rumor, I snuck into your office and read about it.’ Cid thought.

“You delayed construction of their trains due to “resource delays”. But actually you just wanted to piss them off.” Cid summarised one document he read, hopefully that was something obvious to outsiders.

“...” How did he know? Only my aides should be aware of that. The delays were actually caused by us secretly sabotaging the tracks so it would take months longer to give them the trains and cost us little. He should not be aware. It was all covered up perfectly, the only record of it was on my desk upstairs. If that got exposed.

“Very well Sir Kagenou, I will help you. It will be my pleasure.”

“Hopefully, I will be your pleasure as I am doing all the investigating.” 

Huh ‘I will be your pleasure’ is he trying to flirt now? I have seen many bad attempts at flirting and this is by far the worst.

Cid is still smiling thinking he said ‘It will be your pleasure’.Yukime pulls a funny face, she must not believe in his sincerity, this is bad. He has to show his sincerity. He needs to double down.

“I will do all the work so you won't have to worry about anything.”

In any other situation Yukime would have smiled a bit at the young man's strange attempt at flirting. But she had to admit in bed all the men who had the pleasure of sleeping with her had all started saying they would do all the work but end up laying like a beached whale by the end. Well at least once she had grown all her tails.

“Will you do it? I just need a copy of the document.” ‘and sleep with me’ Yukime thought to herself. 

He had a massive amount of blackmail on her. Her body was scared of him, she didn't really know why but usually her therianthrope instinct was right. She had no other choices. He had backed her into a corner. She had to fulfill his demands. She had to do it, she had to give him the documents and have a night together. 

Yukime glared at him and asked Natsu to give her the documents. “You know usually having me for such acts would cost you greatly.”

He nodded with uncertainty. Bribing her would usually cost a lot?

Yukime mentally prepared herself, she had not had a customer herself in quite a while. She then started to undress in front of him. He didn't seem to care?

Natsu placed the documents on the table. 

He thanked her and left?

What?

He just walked out the door. Did I get played somehow? Yukime stood in half undressed in the middle of the room. Completely dumbfounded by the encounter. That man, Cid Kagenou, needs to learn more about him.

—----------------

Matthias came back from the restroom.

“Princess Alexia, why is there a trail of coins leading from the front door into the office?”

“We are luring Cid here since we can't find him.”

“Once Cid enters the room we can catch him.” Claire holds up a magic sealing collar used for prisoners.

“Where did you even get that? Do you really think someone would get lured in by such an obvious trap?”

“Just Poochi.”

“Poochi?”

“Cid.”

Matthias does not know what to do with the absolute clownary in front of him. He needs to get some fresh air. 

He walks outside the door and sees something that surprises him. Cid on his hands and knees with a handful of coins. He picks up one then moves to the next and repeats the process. Matthias Pecunia steps to the side.

“Hi” Cid looks up at him, then continues what he's doing.

Cid enters the room. 

*Click* He hears the collar locking into place. 

“WE GOT HIM!” Claire shouts.

I cannot believe that worked. I need to see how this plays out.

—--- the interrogation -------

“So Cid.”

Claire pins me to a chair and Alexia uses a magic restraint collar on me. She stands next to her.

Sis and Alexia teaming up on me. Worst timeline confirmed.

Everyone else in the room was incredibly confused and concerned. The hilarious look on Iris's face alone is worth millions alone.

“Cid, you are telling me who this other girl is.” Alexia glared.

The look on Iris's face was now worth billions.

“What?”

“I thought this about owing someone a favour to someone at Mitsugoshi?” Marco asked. He clearly thought the whole collar and Claire pinning him down was crazy (it was most definitely crazy), like a trainwreck you can't look away from but it was two girls being weird.

“It is but he isn't saying anything.” Claire complained.

“Maybe it is because you are strangling him?”

Claire looks back at me and realises her hands are around my neck. She removes them but is still pinning me down.

“So… tell me everything.”

“A few months ago, I was waiting around at Mitsugoshi. So I wandered around.”

“They let you wander around?”

“Yeah apparently a few employees saw me there so often they thought I worked there. And I stumbled onto some plans for something big.”

“So you walked around in the employees only section and stumbled upon something you were supposed to. What was it?”

“A big building that I can't tell you about, they bribed me with that favour.”

“They?”

“Luna.” 

“So Poochi, you walked around a place you were supposed to and got a favour from one of the most powerful merchants out of it?” Poochi must be the luckiest man on earth for not only that to happen to him. Any normal person would probably get charged with a crime.

“I suppose.” he replied almost in disbelief.

No.

That's not it. A scene came to mind of when Alexia, Poochi and Iris first met Luna in Mitsugoshi.

—-Flashback-----

The doors opened and a stunning elf with long blue hair entered with a few aides carrying products. “Thank you for your patience. I’m Luna, the president of Mitsugoshi, Ltd. Here is our newest product, choco–aaahh.” She slipped.

Alexia watched her fall forward right into Cid. He caught her with a light sigh. “Uh… Luna, was it? Are you okay?” Alexia didn't like the way he held Luna.

“Um- ye-yes my Lord. Apologies for my clumsiness.” She stood up, ushering her aids forward and failing to hide her blush.“As I was saying, our newest product are these chocolate truffles…”

—--------------------

No. Luna must like Poochi.

No. That can’t be. 

Absolutely not. 

No, I won't let Luna have him. Fortunately, for now I don’t think he noticed. If the money hungry Poochi noticed, he would jump on the opportunity the moment she flaunts her wealth at him.

Alexia imagines him stopping her from falling over again. Then she presents him with a sizable pile of gold coins. Poochi then drops everything and they run off together. 

Alexia could not allow that to happen.

Alexia can't let him realise.

“Cid next time you go to Mitsugoshi, Im coming with.” Alexia tells him.

Matthias picked up Cid's documents on the floor. “Cid? I thought you went to Mitsugoshi, how did you get documents from the SnowFox corporation?”

“After leaving Mitsugoshi I asked them. There was this quite shy woman I talked to, she was kind and gave me the documents.” I had to use the same voice for breaking up fights between Delta and Zeta. She became a bit shy after that, not really sure why but I will just go with it. 

This story sounds too absurd, Matthias admitted to himself.

“CID, do you even know that snow fox is the public face of the lawless City’s pleasure district. What if some scary woman wanted to take my cute baby brother away. and I was not there to stop them and–”

Claire continued for a few more painful minutes. 

—-------------

After things settled down (and Cid was uncollared), they finally had a read of the documents.

They laid out the information before them. The Garter Corporation had two trains. One passed into Oriana on the

10th and returned on the 16th. And repeats every three months. The second does not pass into Oriana and makes a purchase in the Doe territory and its neighbours. It leaves the capital on the 10th and returns on the 14th. It repeated every week.

As already known, the restaurant bought.

Orianan apples 4 small crates 40,000 zeni 15th

Orianan apples 3 small crates 30,000 zeni 22nd

Orianan apples 4 small crates 40,000 zeni 29th

“So the train into Oriana buys apples every three months. I don't see the issue.” Alexia said.

“They bought apples on the 15th.” Cid states trying to lead the conversation in the right direction.

“So they would be buying before the delivery so those apples would be four months old.”

“Apples don't last much longer than a month.” Claire stated. She was familiar with the apples as we farmed them at home. Of course apples can last almost a year if you vacuum seal and freeze them, but no one outside of Shadow Garden knows much bacteria so they would not think to vacuum seal nor make a refrigerator.

“So you think they are coming from the sweet apple territories. As they have weekly trains. The purchases are weekly aswell.” Matthias Confirmed.

“So it's basically confirmed that they are lying about purchasing apples from Oriana. Unless they can prove a way to keep them fresh for months.”

“I will write the report Cid stated.” I will do the boring bit so I can leave myself out of the report. Say it was all princess Alexia and Matthias Pecunia and I will be back to being a mob. It's perfect.

“I'm not too sure about this, it feels like we are going against the King's orders not to investigate.”

“He doesn't want us to do anything?” Iris complained. “He's not making a move policy on this, we shouldn't touch that. Blocking our investigations at every turn. It's just so…” Iris realised she was talking out of line even if it was about her father and she believed everything she said. She needed to recompose herself. It was a bit far to say that in front of everyone.

“We are publishing the case. I don't care what my father says. That is final!”

—--– a few weeks later —----

Mr Cropfield was the president of the farmers Union in Midgar. He had been invited to something meeting at Mitsugoshi. Recently, there had been quite an uproar recently among farmers and merchants. The second princess and a knight of the Crimson Order uncovered fraud being committed by the Garter Corporation.

That was not the issue. The problem people had was how they stated nonsense saying these apples were brought over from Oriana 400 years ago. They only got a minor fine in the end. If anyone else did that there would be a massive fine and jail time. Blatant favouritism from the Crown. 

Some have called the favouritism a reason to side with Garter. Others have distanced themselves from Garter especially a very annoyed restaurant owner. But there is no one big enough to rally around to go against them.

In the mess the Mitsugoshi land purchase went through. They decided to host a meeting and we are unsure why. Many important figures including myself Mr Cropfield were invited. I recognise the president of the Southern Fishermen Union, Count Veggie with his broccoli hair who is well known for vast fertile farmland. I even recognise a few minor figures such as Baron Tato, he produces a massive amount of potatoes for the Capital, he’s old and built like the plant he farms. I also recognise Baron Doe and Barroness Doe, he was in the newspaper recently due to his apples being sold as Oriana apples, he doesnt like Garter anymore but has no power overthem, he’s just a low ranked Baron after all.

It has been three months since Mitsugoshi has asked the farmer Union to test the ‘plant fertiliser’ they gave us. The union was initially apprehensive. Many people have tried to make fertiliser with magic or other means. Its usually too expensive to be worth it or just doesn't work. But whatever they gave us was strong really strong like as effective as animal manure and apparent real cheap. I suspect that's what this is about. I don't see a face here that doesn't work with farmers.

We are politely filed into a meeting room. The wall is laid with expensive clocks and a few art pieces, none standing out, a casual show of wealth. Lady Luna stands at the Centre. This is my first time seeing her in person. She is a head taller than I expected and a decade younger but you can’t really tell with elves. She could very well be double my age.

She starts. “Well I believe that everyone. Thank you for coming here today. I believe you are all wondering about the land we purchased.”

Like hell we are. The building had walls already, a giant imposing square in the middle of the market. No normal person buys that much expensive land. Then again no normal person can go from a nobody to one of the largest businesses in the kingdom in 5 short years.

“We at Mitsugoshi have an idea on how to revolutionise the market. Usually farmers would see fruits, vegetables, meat and fish through local channels. This is okay to sell in small quantities but ineffective at on a larger scale. We belive we can opimise the market, cheaper goods, more goods all in one place. A supermarket if you will.”

The crowd erupted in chatter but I was silent. I get it. She wants us to produce the goods her supermarket distributes them, she already owns the railways and intices us with cheap fertiliser. Smart idea but I have concerns if she can pull it off. 

Some were aprihensive, some were all for it others against it. The man who was most infavour was the president of the fishermen Union. I first met him years ago, he was quite a moody fellow he would often complain at most nobles because only cared for expensive shark fins. Fish was only eaten much around the coasts before the rails. That was years ago now there was a railway traveling from the docks directly through the centre of the capital. The demand for fish also rose along side Tuna kings popularity. The sudden fishing boom ment that the experienced fishermen were now needed more than ever. If anyone benefited from the rise of Mitsugoshi and Tuna King it was the Sothern fishermen.

The most opposed yet still on the fence was Count Veggie. He was a tall man who had a puff of green hair on his head, resembling a broccoli. He was concerned the ‘supermarket’ would not work citing reasonable issues such as security concerns, storage management and upkeep costs and fraud so assure they will not pull anything like what Garter did. He managed a territory after all, he was well aware why no-one has attempted to make shops this big and all the issues it comes with. He likely deals with issues he stated all the time. He's a reasonable man he was very impressed with the plant fertiliser that he was given to test but still cautious. People often quote the reason for his caution, he once said ‘One big mistake, one bad harvest and the citys will starve.’ I couldn’t agree with him more.

Luna cleared her throat. The room became silent.

“I believe you all have realised why I want you here. I need produce for such a plan so I will be asking for you all to work alongside me. I am aware you have many concerns. I will explain my plan in full detail and hopefully iron out those concerns.” A brown haired woman walks in, she often is seen alongside Luna. She sets the floor plan for the building up on the wall. It was massive, rows of shelves tills a massive storage room the size of an entire manor, and in-house butcher and fishmonger. The scale was so large you would only be able to fully aprishiate it once it's built.

The next hours passes in curious farmers questions and Mitsugoshis well thought through answers. How do you get the staff for this? Rehire the people would usually set up stalls. How do you plan to prevent minor theft? Massive number of guards, slowly reduce quantity over time. How do you plan to store good that need to be chilled? Oh we just happened to get a hold of an artifact that does exactly that. How will you add up so many items at the tills? Oh we just happened to invent the first mechanical calculator that definitely shouldn't be global news and be given to academics across the continent instead of counting groceries. Such absurdity.

You can tell how meticulous Luna is with all her work. Everything thought through, even option considered. She even gave us free plant fertiliser so we can see how good it is then she will prioritise selling and discount it to people who work with her. Testing fertiliser my ass, you knew it worked well, you just wanted everyone to know. Now farmers know not working with you is basicaly stabbing themselves in the foot. She said she would sell fertiliser for 350000 zeni a ton, that's so cheap I would almost consider it stealing. It’s a good deal but calculated, I don't know what sorcery you are using to make fertiliser but I can tell you're making a fortune from it.

But you couldnt have thought of everything, I have a question for you. “You mentioned about how you will be handing both the transportation and the distribution of our produce. Whats in place to prevent you from doing the same thing Garter did?” The crowd murders a bit. She smiles, she had prepared an answere, obviously she had it was all the talk for merchants.

“My apologies, I was getting round to that.” 

She clapped twice. 

A group of women led by the brown haired woman from before enters the room. She is now carrying a stack of documents. She placed a hefty booklet in front of me and started handing it out to everyone else.

“As part of our terms we created a set of rules to strictly classify what every product will be sold under.”

I opened the booklet, first page apples, the page outlined the exact colours, size range, region and flavour of each apple. All defined. I flip the page, a different apple. I open it randomly, the difference between potatoes and sweet potatoes. There are hundreds of pages. She planned for this likely months in advance.

“If you disagree with any of our classifications you feel free to take your time to dispute them. Take these with you to discuss with your farmers. We are not farmers, we won't ever know everything.” Clever, very clever. Obviously it will take a while to go through everything. Once everyone adheres to these guidelines, everyone, whether Mitsugoshi or not will end up following them since half the Merchants in the city will end up using this system.

I agree to working with Luna everyone here does, is obviously the best choice. I notice the people who are not present usually work with Garter, she did that deliberately. Of all the merchants I have worked with, Luna is definitely the most cunning. Every subtlety is deliberate, from casually mentioning world changing inventions to handing out the classification document.

Count Veggie speaks to me briefly after we leave.

“Mr Cropfield”

“Count Veggie.”

“So, you think this supermarket will work?” I start.

“If it was any other merchant, no. I’m still unsure if it will work, fortunately it wont be too catastrophic if the supermarket fails but if it is a success…”

“If it succeeded it could change farming forever and we will have front row seats.”

“Still be cautious, Luna is the most intelligent merchant I have ever come across. I fear no matter what happens she will end up on top, the question is do we join her up top or slave away locked into selling our crops for pennies.”

I nod in response.

A world where one person owns the market, I wonder what that would look like.

Chapter Text

– a week after Cid left for Lindwurm –

Sherry waits outside Mitsugoshi. She's not in the queue, not yet, she has to work up her nerves to enter. Today she is going to be working with one of the most well regarded architects/researchers in modern time. Some people are even comparing her to Lagus. The one who had a city of academics named after his achievements a few hundred years ago.

Her work is going to help so many people. Power homes and buildings. What Luna said echoed in her mind. ‘There’s nothing that helps more people than business.’ She was going to help people. Then she can show her friend how much she can help people.

Thinking about it, that Luna woman must be quite high up in Mitsugoshi to send a letter of recommendation for her to Eta Lloyd Wright.

While Sherry was not paying attention a woman wearing a teal blue Mitsugoshi uniform walked up to her.

“Greetings, I presume you must be Ms Sherry Barnett.” It had been weeks yet having his last name still stings like a dagger in the heart. Sherry shrunk a little and muttered. “...Can… Can you just call me Sherry.”

She nodded. “Very well then Sherry, please follow me.”

Sherry follows the Mitsugoshi employees. They walk into the store. She still marvelled at the sheer scale of the mall. When this mall was built many architecture apprentices came here just to see the building, a rare chance unless they were supported by a large noble house. The way the roof is supported is beyond impressive. Having large rooms with minimal support pillars is often a sign of wealth, as this can only be achieved by an expensive architect and experienced construction team. Mitsugoshi apparently has both, but unlike nobles, anyone who has the patience to wait in the queue can walk under the elevated ceiling. Most commoners and low nobles would rarely get the chance.

‘I presume you must be Ms Sherry Barnett

‘BARNETT’

Despite looking at the architecture to try to take her mind off it, she still felt the verbal dagger of being called a Barnett is still embedded into her flesh, tearing at her heart little by little. Like an arrow that she cannot remove. A thought she cannot shake. The employee did not mean to offend her, she wouldn't know. But it stung regardless.

Just if she could have a different last name. A certain cute boy came to mind. Perhaps if she got closer to him. Much closer…

They walked past the shops and into the employees only section but we're stopped by a different woman.

She wore a navy blue uniform with a sword at her hip. Sherry had to tilt her head to look up at her. She was a dark skinned elf who always had one eye closed. She looks a little scary. She had a military looking hat. Admittedly Sherry had no idea what the hat meant but she once saw some of the knight instructors wearing one of those hats.

“My name is Zina, the head of security at Mitsugoshi. Please follow me.”

“Head of security?” Sherry quietly murmured, that job sounded important.

“Yes. We protect Mitsugoshi from bandits and thieves.” Zina explained the obvious.

They walked through a maze of corridors. Eventually they stopped at a completely metal room with what looked like a vault door. Zina placed a key that seemed to appear out of nowhere into the lock. runes across the vault door activated. The runes were expertly used and integrated modern runes with ancient Alexandrian ones. It took Sherry a while to notice but the more she looked at the vault the more ‘traps’ she could see. It would make tinkering with such a mechanism near impossible without triggering. Perhaps she could bypass them but it would take weeks. The mechanism in the door unlocked.

*Shlurrrrp

A strange sound came from behind Sherry. The vault was a facade, the wall opened up. A part of the wall shrunk? It was as if it was made of a silver slime but that was impossible, the magic circuits in slimes were impossible to control. The silver probably not slime shrunk revealing a stairwell lit by gas lamps.

“Lady Eta’s lab is this way.” Zina walked down the stairwell Sherry timidly followed.

“Be careful this is probably one of the most dangerous places in Midgar.” Zina warned. She looked worried?

Sherry was ecstatic she was going to see the hidden lab of one of the greatest minds, what wonders would she find in the lab. Of course it would be dangerous even simple experiments can be dangerous if you do not exercise enough caution. But she didn't want to get hurt. “What kind of dangerous items should I look out for?” She questioned.

Zina turned and grabbed Sherry's shoulders in a flash. “Listen to me, the most dangerous thing by far is Lady Eta Lloyd Wright herself.”

“wut?”

She shook her with genuine concern “NEVER accept being one of her ‘test subjects’ under any circumstance.”

“huh?”

“Do not drink or eat anything that Lady Eta has touched. She probably poisoned it.”

“...”

Zina was pleading with her at this point, “Please, just try to stay alive. I will be nearby if you need me.”

“eh?”

Her tone completely shifted back to normal. “Oh and if Lady Eta falls asleep randomly please let us know.”

“What?”

“It happens often.”

Sherry had heard rumours about Ms Wright being some crazy scientist due to a few interviews where she said some questionable things. Such as the time where she was asked why she doesn't work with the academics in Lagus and she said “The academics in Lagus are close minded fools. The only way they could help me is by allowing me to dissect them.” Most people didn't take it literally. Most academics thought she had a personal vendetta against someone in Lagus. Researchers leveraging connections with noble houses to steal research and/or funding was nothing new. Many tried to theorise who could have wronged her but either no one did or was covered up really well.

Ms Wright rarely publishes research, so she is considered more of an architect as people can see the results of such endeavours. The few research papers Ms Wright had published were groundbreaking. From the few public appearances she made she was described by newspapers as small, tired, likely shy and has interesting opinions. Surely that kind of person couldn't warrant such a warning.

They descended into the lab. The lab had piles of papers and strange devices Sherry had never seen before. A pile of smoking concoction piled into the corner. A large metal box sat in the corner with the words ‘ammonia generator’ scribbled onto it. A desk was probably in the middle of the room. Or perhaps the mess of research papers and contractions were just piled that high. Sherry couldn’t tell but what she could tell was that this room contained so many inventions that had not been revealed to the world yet. She could even see a smaller Ropaloid. The small handheld camera that was just released, Ms Wright has already made it smaller.

There was a bed in the corner of the room. Next to it lay a corpse!? No… it was a sleeping person. It was Eta Lloyd Wright!

Zina cautiously picked her up and laid her in bed. Eta subconsciously stirred and rolled onto her side.

This is her! Eta Lloyd Wright. She's quite small, not much larger than Sherry. She looks like a cute innocent sleeping child. But she has one of the greatest minds on the continent.

Zina whispered into her ear. “Lady Eta. She is here for you.”

Eta shot up instantly and her eyes sparkled with barely contained excitement. “Who will be the test subject? Will you be my test subject again Lambd–” she noticed Sherry. “Hello. Will you be my test subject.” Her eyes looked at her with uncontrollable excitement.

Zina looked at Sherry with a worried expression. Fortunately she remembered Zina's warning, “no?” Sherry responded.

The excitement instantly drained from her face. “Then who are you interrupting my research?” She pouted.

Sherry froze. Is she angry? I didn’t interrupt research, she was asleep. What should I do? Someone help.

“Oh… your Sherry… yes?”

She responds with a nod.

A devious smile spreads across Eta’s face. She lethargicly slides off her bed onto the floor and rolls over to a stack of documents. She picks up one seemingly random piece of paper and hands it to her.

“I started designing the power cells. We will make a universal output system so they can be used to power any large device.”

The design was enormous. A large hay bale sized battery with a protective layer of runes and four dissipation artifacts embedded into it so if it breaks the energy dissipates instead of causing an explosion. Only the magic storage section was missing, fortunately that is the part Sherry was hired to work on.

She expected Eta to be smart. Usually people are smart in one area of science; artifacts, alchemy, architecture, food-science and steam technology. Being a master in multiple sciences is near impossible. Yet Eta, invented Chocolate, built steam trains, designed buildings and now created this design, a genius among geniuses. She probably even designed the secret entrance to the lab.

Sherry could improve most of Eta’s runes designs but not by much. Perhaps if she also knew as much about Alexandrian runes she could outshine Eta in this field. Some runes were clearly Alexandrian but were unknown to Sherry, such runes were supposed to be lost to time.

Sherry looked over at the lethargic scientist. The pile of documents next to her were failed designs. Eta tried to store magic and failed. Sherry could make an artifact to store magic. She could be useful and with help Eta, help so many people.

“You… should make bombs…”

Sherry looked down in horror to the source of the noise.

“Think of the people you could kill… With the current one you made you could kill… fifty… people... but it's too expensive... If you want… I can help you… make it kill more people… and cheaper.” Sherry started shaking the moment she realised that Eta called her heat pump power source a bomb.

Eta villainously crawls over to Zina. “Dont tell Luna… or I will… test the bomb on you.”

Zina shuddered.

A Bomb. The thought echoed in Sherry's mind. Like the Eye of Avarice. The one Lutheran used. He almost killed her Cid. He tried to kill her. She can't be like Lutheran. Cid would hate her. Then she would have no friend. Then… then. No, no, no, no.

“Come… Sherry~ help me make a bomb.”

Someone please help.

Anyone.

“ETA! What are you doing?”

Sherry recognised the voice. It was Luna. She was saved.

“...”

“You're making a power cell.”

“I can make the greatest bomb.” Eta countered

“I will cut your funding again.”

“Knowledge requires sacrifices.”

Luna turned to one of her assistants that followed her in. “Cut her funding by five hundred million zeni.”

Eta turned as pale as a ghost.

“Noowowoowooo…”

Luna glared at the source of despair.

“Fine, I won't make bombs for now. I need the budget.” Eta complained.

Zina seemed relieved.

Eta fell asleep.

After an hour Eta woke up. It took Sherry a while before she became comfortable working with Eta. She is scary. No wonder Zina is scared of her. When working together she offered her various suspicious concoctions to drink, obviously she declined all of them.

Admittedly Eta was less scary when she was working. She was a genius constantly fighting the urge to fall asleep. They made the first prototype for the battery. Zina and Eta poured their magic into it. The battery was too heavy for a scientist to move so Zina moved it for them and placed it into the test circuit Eta set up.

The moment it connected various strange devices lit up. Some started blowing cool air like the heat pump. One looked like a large white box. Another weird mess of cogs and gears.

Eta pressed a few buttons on it, then the gears spun fast too fast, then something sounded like it broke and then it exploded. The rest of the devices powered down.

Sherry hid behind a stack of documents while Eta and Zina looked unphased like they had seen it explode a hundred times before.

“I didn’t add enough resistors… Too much… power.”

They tried again. Too much resistance. The machine’s gears turned slowly.

“its… not… working”

“It seems to be working? What is it supposed to do.”

“Math” Eta responded as if that explained everything.

Zina shows Sherry a non electrical version. She types some numbers 45 x 68 and then cranks the handle. Four wheels with a digit on them counts up to 3060. The machine just solved multiplication. It solved math in seconds that should take a minute. This is revolutionary.

“Thats incredible.” Sherry said with genuine exitment. The first hint that all her work would be going toward something that would not expode people.

“This is an old model, the ones that keep blowing up should be ten times the speed and count up to 16 digits.” Zina added.

This machine will be beloved by Academics across the continent. Difficult maths can be calculated incredibly quickly. All mechanical. This could truly help people. Scientific discovery helps people.

Sherry found her motivation.

They tried again to get another electical calculator to work. It exploded again.

“We should continue testing in the explotion room.”

Eta uses her hands to manually nod her head.

“The explosion room?”

“Whenever Eta designs something that could explode we test it in there so it doesnt break anything.”

“Things explode that often?” Sherry asked Eta. Her curiosity overcame her fear.

“yes… this one small… main lab has better… facilities.”

“This isnt your main lab!?” Sherry blurted out. This lab was the most advanced place she had ever seen, this is actual decades above any other facility she had been in, including the royal academy. This lab is also stacked with detailed books on Alexandrian runes many were supposed to be lost to time. Goddess know what the main lab looks like.

Zina picked up the power cell and hoisted it over her shoulder. Then she picked up Eta like a towel and carried her under her arm to the ‘explotion room’.

After many explotions. It did not expode.

Sherry was extatic.

“Cut… the power cell.” Eta stated after marveling how it finally worked.

“Huh?”

Zina pulled out her sword. And cut the power cell in half. It exploded and an electric shock shot up the cable and fried all the devices it was powering.

“no…” Sherry wispered. All her hard work lay shattered before her.

“We can’t… have that happen… fix time.”

Sherry glared at the deamon that just ordered the destruction of her hard work.

Many explosions later.

“Is it okay… that we are breaking this much stuff?” Sherry asked Zina.

“This is the usual with Lady Eta.”

“But the platinum.”

“We have plenty.”

Platinum was a rare metal used to make artifacts. The only reason everyone and their mother didn't have artifacts was because their was not enough platinum. It did not conduct mana well with its 30% mana conductivity but if you engraved runes into it they would stay there forever. Other metals would start to degrade after a few hours. Engraving artifacts often took that long. Thats why platinum the only viable option.

Most platinum artifacts were owned by the local lords and used to filter waste and sewage. Some weathy knights embedded small platinum artifacts in their blades to empower them. (Like the game of betrayal he had an artifact that casts a net in the hilt of his sword.) Even researches not affiliated with nobles struggled to get there hands on platinum. Yet Mitsugoshi seemed to give Eta and endless supply. They must be really wealthy or own a secret platinum mine.

It didn't matter they were going to help people.

Many failed attempts later.

It worked. It actually worked.

The Large Universal power cell. Stored so much magic it drained Eta, Luna, Zina and 78 members of the Mitsugoshi security team to get to a quarter power. It convered the stored magical power into this thing Eta discovered called electricity. Then it powered all the devices flawlessly. Its universal. It worked with everything.

Now the scary part.

Zina cut it in half.

…

Nothing happened. No explotion, no electic shock flowing down the wires, the connected calculator is undamaged. The power cell safely dissipated all the stored magical energy.

By the Goddess. Its perfect.

“We need… to make it… more efficient. Only 29%... of … magic absorbed. It needs to be… 30%.”

Goddess save me.

—----Days later--------

Sherry was on her walk back from Mitsugoshi. Eta had tired her out again. This time she put some ‘happy poweder’ in Zina's drink that made her start blushing, drooling and rolling all over the floor like a drunk. Luna was very angry. She had never heard Luna shout before, it was terrifying.

But the power cell stored even more magic and had a 40% magic intake efficiency. Platinum was only supposed to have 30% they had several breakthroughs that should have happened decades in the future. Said scientific breakthrough were also based on other scientific breakthroughs that Eta was TOO LAZY to publish.

Sherry then saw a familiar person. “Cid!” she blurted out before she could think.

“I’m not Cid.” She? responded.

She had the same hair as Cid and red eyes. She had seen her before. Cid’s sister Claire.

“Oh, Sherry?” Claire softened imidiatly.

“Hi, I wanted to talk to you and Cid about something. I asked Iris if I could be the one to tell you.”

—-----------

Cid and Claire listened to her story of how Glen found that hidden grave. Sherry told them how according to a translated book that was later burned, the Kagenou were apparently heirs of a Orianan Duchy and someone named Klara Hel Kagenou destroyed it all. Both listened intently.

“I always knew you were special sis.”

“We are both Kagenous you idiot.” Claire grabbed Cid by the neck and shook him much to Sherry's dismay.

“Mum said our great grandparents said their great grandparents always used to say the Kagenous were once part of something greater.”

She dropped Cid.

“I just didnt think it would be like this.”

—-----------

Claire was calm on the outside but on the inside her thoughts were a hurricane.

Possessed come from the hero's according to Shadow Garden. The Kagenous were once a Duchy. The hero's were said to marry into royalty.

In a Duchy possibility of marrying royalty was high even if they are not destined for the crown. There is a high likely hood I have the blood of the hero Freya.

I need to research this Nonna sword. I need to know about the evil Kagenou. I need to find a way to unlock Cid’s potential or permanently cure my possession.

I need to know more about the Kagenou bloodline. Perhaps that is the key to unlock my brother’s potential. 

Iris would help her.

Chapter Text

Iris was pissed.

She just sent her sister to investigate apples with a weak boy and a potential traitor.

But that was the least of her problems.

It felt like the world was against her and she couldn't fight back. There was just a major attack on the Marquez house killing all the members. This can be a coincidence. Marco was going to investigate them. Now he won't be able to ask. Yet of course the crown has such matters handled. Of Course father won't let her investigate this incident. Luckily Marco should be coming back today. Hopefully he can give some insight.

Now the Midgar’s were apparently vulnerable to possession. Iris didn't want to believe it. But it made too much sense. Throughout history some members of the Midgar family including her own mother just disappeared without a trace after getting ill. That by itself was not enough to prove anything. The noble houses covered up assassination as death by mysterious illness all the time. 

Demon blood.

Royal blood is demon blood.

That's what the cult scientist who extracted blood from Alexia kept ranting about when the bastard Zenon kidnapped her. 

Both the Cult of Diablos and Shadow Garden were telling her the same thing.

She hated it. Heroes were experiments not blessed by the Goddess. Her sister could become possessed, she could too, a bloodline curse. The Nothing she could do…

‘Alfer said Shadow can cure possession’

Curing it is possible. 

She will find a cure.

She will save her sister, herself and this Kingdom.

She will free them from Shadow and the cults' corruption.

‘They are strong.’

Whatever. It doesn't matter.

No one can stand against her sword.

—---------------

Alexandria training ground.

Lord shadow gave Alpha a sword. She wanted to test its power. She had been nervous. Slime weapons are so strong absurdly and the most advanced weapon Shadow Garden has created. How would an ancient weapon compare? The sword of the hero Olivier. That meant only she could use it. The weapons of the hero's can only be welded by the direct descendants of said heroes. Which makes very little sense anyone should be able to pick it up. Within Midgar only the old generations of royalty, late queen and the princesses are allowed to hold Freya’s sword. 

Fortunately for Alpha. She was about to find out why only direct descendants could wield the hero's weapons.

“Delta wants to play with it!”

Delta grabbed the sword with both hands and held it in the air.

A moment later

BOOM!

A massive amount of magic explodes out of the sword's handle and blasted Delta backwards even ripping the slime off her body. Such force would have killed an ordinary person, fortunately Delta was far from ordinary.

“Ooow! Alpha’s sword is bad. Delta will destroy the bad sword!”

“Delta stop.”

She did just that. Then got distracted and ran off.

“Epsilon, you are better with magic than me, did you catch what happened?”

“No. Not really.”

“Can you find out?” Alpha said slyly. 

“You just want to see me explode so you can feel special because only you can use the sword that Lord Shadow gave you.” Epsilon grumbled jealously. 

Alpha glared at her.

“Fine, I Epsilon the precise, the fifth seat of the Seven Shades, will explode so you can feel special.” she spat.

—--------

Epsilon cautiously walked up to the sword. She covered her hand in additional protective slime. She braced for impact and poked the blade with the tip of her nail.

…

Nothing.

Perhaps it's just the handle.

She moved her fingers to the handle. Then pressed one finger against it. She felt a sudden pull from the sword. It was syphoning her magic. Lots of her magic. This was bad if anything happened, her secret could be exposed. She resists the flow of magic, a difficult task for those who are not Epsilon; the pull slows down to practically a halt. That was almost catastrophic.

Suddenly the syphoning pull from the sword completely stopped. She remembered what happened when Delta held it.

Epsilon braced for impact.

BOOM!

All the magic that was absorbed from her by the sword explodes outwards. It blasts her backwards with a massive explosive force. She was more cautious so the explosion was far from what happened to Delta. It was almost strong enough to knock her off her feet. Epsilon skids backwards and comes to a stop after a few meters. 

Regardless of the explosion's strength they were fortunate that slime suits are extremely blast resistant.

“It absorbed my magic and blasted it back at me.” Epsilon said bewildered. It made sense why Delta was launched so far, it must have absorbed her overflowing magic power and exploded. The more magic a person has the more it can absorb and the more it explodes them. Perhaps if Epsilon resisted the syphoning she could hold the sword, but then it would just be a lump of metal, she wouldn't even be able to pour magic into it.

Midgar had a sword that only the descendants of Freya could touch. Perhaps all the hero's descendants' weapons were protected in such a way so only they can use them.

In Midgar Freya’s sword can only be welded by descendants, no one else ever has, now we know why. Midgar wouldn't want a knight from blowing themselves up by trying to use Iris's sword. Said sword is said to spew a tornado of fire. She wonders what would Olivier's sword do?

—--------

Alpha was grinning. Shadow gave HER a special sword that only SHE could wield, anyone else would simply explode.

“Alpha.”

Being the descendant of the Elvan hero. How fitting for his First Shade. I will be–

“Alpha!” 

Epsilon derailed her train of thought and stared at each other.

“We need to know if your new sword is combat effective. It could very well be some 90% efficient artifact that's just worse than slime.” Epsilon smirked.

This is what Alpha was fearing. Lord Shadow's slime could overshadow the artifact. 

Most mithral swords had a magic efficiency of 50%~. Some magic artifacts have higher efficiency, some even up to 80%, the ‘sword to cut diabolos’ could just have super high magic efficiency. 

Something of efficiency 75% would effectively make someone who usually uses mithral 50% stronger. The fear that slime was so strong that such an artifact could only be useful as a display item or a ceremonial weapon was a real fear.

Alpha swallowed her fears.

And poured magic into the blade.

…

…

It felt weird.

Something about the sword’s magic was really weird.

She stopped pouring magic into the sword.

The sword still hummed with magical energy.

What!

Swords don't do that. When you stop putting magic in a sword it dissipates. 

Alpha let's go of the sword. The magic in the sword flows back into her. Yeah. Swords are not supposed to work like that.

Well, Eta made some golems. Time to test the blade.

—-------

Many tests later.

“Calling it ‘the sword to cut diabolos’ is quite fitting.” Epsilon mused.

They tested the sword and found several interesting features. First; the sword dissipates magic EXTREMELY slowly. Even slime you need to constantly pour magic into but this blade will pretty much store all the magic until needed. Magic in the blade takes about a minute to dissipate. This makes the user able to have a quite frankly ridiculous amount of magic in the blade. Second; when magic moves into the blade it's like using a normal sword so magic skill helps and striking with the blade uses magic in the blade. Third; if you have good magic skill you can resist the syphoning effect but cannot put magic in the blade. 

But most interesting of all the key to the blade is blood. Hero's blood. The reason she can use the blade is her blood. Perhaps her blood is identical to that of the hero Oliver. 

If the sword's handle is coated in Alpha’s fresh blood, a very skilled magic user; such as Epsilon can use it, with much difficulty but technically she can flow magic through the blade.

TLDR; Blade can cut basically anything. Magic skill helps. Skilled people don't explode like Delta. Magic from Hero's blood lets you use hero's weapons.

Epsilon was quite smug when she realised she could put magic in the sword when covered in Alpha's fresh blood. Much to Alpha's dismay.

—--------

“Come in.”

Edric Pecunia, the finance minister, stepped into the king's office. It was a grand place he has seen many times.

“Your majesty, I have a report.”

King Klaus looks up from his desk.

“I believe we have lead on Shadow Garden, more specifically the ‘iamatomik’ artifact you requested me to look for.”

This piqued the King's interest.

“My information network discovered craters similar to one in the centre of the city, but much smaller. We believe that they were test runs of the artifact,” the finance minister started.

“Where were these test runs?”

“They have been in various locations, most were previously known bandit camps. We have found what is perhaps one of the later tests in the therianthrope lands.”

“Is there anything of note close to any of these tests?"

“No you Majesty. We did everything, averaged the locations of the explosions, but it led us to the middle of nowhere. We found what we believe was the initial testing site for the artifact. A series of 8 craters in the woods around 20 miles north from the nearest settlement being the Kagenou Barony at our border. We do have one potential lead though.”

“Tell me.”

“The place of Sergey Gorman's death. There was a large crater nearly identical to the ones we have been finding. According to the report made by Annarose Nichtsehen; his body was destroyed by the attacker and the only remains of Gorman were shards of armour and his broken blade. That is what is public at least. Annarose Nichtsehen also happens to be attending the upcoming Bushin festival. I will try to pry more information out of her then.”

“Very well. You may proceed with that plan, but make sure to not cause a mess.”

“I have also managed to pull enough strings so the replacement house for the Marquez family won't be cult affiliates. We have confirmed they are clean.”

Klaus nodded in response. Finally something went his way.

—-------------

Iris knew she had to find out more about possession. She stands outside that secret library. While its existence is not a secret, it is said to contain cover ups and various information that her father has not allowed anyone but few to see. But such documents are hidden in a trove of old books making finding anything near impossible. Or that's what's told to her. Iris has never entered the place nor has ever needed to.

She is stopped at the entrance by Two guards, she recognises them, they have guarded her father on several occasions.

“Can I not enter?”

“My apologies princess Iris, but we have been told not to allow anyone to enter.”

“Allow me to enter, consider it a Royal order.”

“My apologies we received a Royal order directly from his Majesty the King specifically telling us to prevent the princesses from entering.”

My Royal authority is overshadowed by the King's. Why is he always stopping me, he's always waiting, never doing anything. HE WONT LET ME DO ANYTHING!

Iris' rage boiled over; she was leaking a hurricane of magic. The guards were scared a fight would break out. She realised her hand was hovering over her blade.

No.

She couldn't bust into the library that would be way too far. She tried to calm herself and walked away.

—------------------

Iris sat opposite Marco. Glen sat next to her with Claire. Marco's eyes were tired as if he hadn't slept. Iris heard there was an attack on the Marquez house but had not been able to investigate due to her father.

“So tell me what happened.”

Marco started and explained what happened, him meeting with Thornton to the attack on Marquez's manor.

“The Captain said they found a jar of red pills on one of the attacker’s corpses but they lost the jar overnight.” Marco stated.

“Red pills, like the ones Zenon used and a few were found on the terrorist corpses, but also disappeared when stored in non crimson order locations.” and her father was blocking her from doing anything in this situation.

“I never got to see the pills but I suspect this is related to the cult.”

“So we are suspecting the Marquez house was aligned with Shadow Garden?”

A pained look spreads across Marco’s face. Iris knows he doesn't want to claim the dead family of his fiance was working with an evil Shadow Organisation.

Perhaps… no…

If Nicoletta was working with Shadow Garden. It would make sense that the cult would go after her family. But no. 

We never told anyone outside of the Crimson Order about Nu/Nicoletta. 

The traitor in the Crimson Order.

If the cult had a spy, they would know. 

The Marquez family died because of the Crimson Order.

But she can't tell Marco about the spy. Only those she trusts can know about it.

Matthias entered the room. “Ms Kagenou, could I have a moment?”

They spoke for a moment.

A traitor. A spy. It could be anyone they could hurt her sister. Matthias was supposed to be with Alexia, if he had done anything with her. She would… just...

“Where is Alexia?” She demanded.

“She went to find Cid. She should probably be at Mitsugoshi.”

“Whats happening?” Marco queried. He had no clue that she accidentally caused her own order to investigate apples of all things.

“Princess Alexia, myself and young sir Kagenou are investigating fraud.” Matthias explained.

“Fraud? Related to the–” 

“No, it's unrelated to the Cult or Shadow Garden.”

“...” Marco did not know what to say.

Alexia entered the room. Iris was relieved. If there was anything in the world Iris didn't want to lose it was her sister, no matter how distant they became, she would always care for her.

—----Much later-------

Iris was ignoring the trail of coins her sister and Claire were making.

“So you dug up Nicoletta’s grave and there was no body.”

“Y-yes, she must have faked her own death. B-but Nicoletta for the time I knew her she was incredibly reasonable. This can't be for no reason.” Marco was trembling, it was understandable. His dead love faked her death for years to join a giant secret organisation. Iris doesn't know what is worse, that someone he got over their death has been alive or that he would be against them. While Iris did care for personal matters, she couldn't not go against a giant criminal organisation due to a single person being part.

Well she had been trying to go against them but her father keeps preventing her.

On the other side of the room Alexia, Cid and Matthias were discussing. Iris listened in.

“So it's basically confirmed that they are lying about purchasing apples from Oriana. Unless they can prove a way to keep them fresh for months.” Alexia stated

“I will write the report,” Cid said.

“I'm not too sure about this, it feels like we are going against the King's orders not to investigate.”

He never lets us do anything if it was up to him he would just handwave these organisations and pretend they don't exist. They need to be gone from my country.

“He doesn't want us to do anything?” Iris complained. “He's not making a move policy on this, we shouldn't touch that. Blocking our investigations at every turn. It's just so…” Iris realised she was talking out of line even if it was about her father and she believed everything she said. She needed to recompose herself. It was a bit far to say that in front of everyone.

“We are publishing the case. I don't care what my father says. That is final!” Iris announced. Finally, something he can't block me from doing. Even if it's irrelevant, he can't stop me forever. 

—---Evening—----

Cid was making her coffee. Iris is doing her finances, her knights need to be paid and tax needs to be properly recorded. Just the two of them in the room.

Just if her father let her, she could save Midgar from these hidden Villans. If her father and the kingdom knew her strength she could show them that she can best these secret organisations.

“I will enter the Bushin festival and prove my strength to my father and the kingdom.” Iris said her thoughts out loud.

“I think the kingdom already knows you're strong. Are you trying to prove your strength to the kingdom or yourself?” Cid questions. But what did he know about strength? Nothing.

I will let the Kingdom know that no-one can stand against my sword.

—--------------

Claire entered the office. She needed to know if she was a descendant of Freya. There was one sure fire way to know. Touch Freya's sword.

Perhaps she could feign a fall and just happen to touch it.

Iris didn't notice her entry.

Claire leans on a wall next to where the sword is propped up.

She just so happens to slip and fall towards the sword. Iris yells as Clare tries to grab the sword to stabilise herself. She misses, the sword falls over and lands stomach first on the handle. 

She doesn't remember what happened after she fell. But what she does know is she woke up in the hospital and everything hurts.

Well at least she knows she's not a descendant of Freya, could she be related to one of the other heroes? Does she have a bit of elf or therianthrope blood? 

Chapter Text

Actual chapter start

“Princess Alexia, may I ask you something?” 

Alexia raised a brow to Matthias as they walked out of the Crimson Order’s office. 

“You seemed… umm displeased? when Cid mentioned Luna. So… What happened …why?... um.” Matthias wanted to ask a question but struggled with how to phrase his question in a way that would be respectful to a princess. Alexia fully understood what he was trying to ask. Yet she was in a dilemma. 

Should Alexia tell him that Luna was blushing when she was caught by Poochi? No. No. No. Absolutely not. That would be the political blunder of the century. The crown and the nobles would think having someone from Midgar, even a low noble, close to Luna as a massive win. According to father, no nobles have managed to infiltrate Mitsugoshi's inner circle. If they knew Poochi could get closer to her, it would be disastrous.

She had to lie to him. She put on a mask of slight annoyance mixed with a slither of concern. “You see, well… Cid likes money. So I need to be around him when he goes to Mitsugoshi. Someone like Luna could easily exploit that.”

“right.” he responded completely unconvinced.

—---------

That answer would not help him.

After the conversation he needed leave to discuss with someone important.

Matthias Pecunia slipped out of the room and through an alleyway into the sewers. It was a maze but he had walked this route no less than a hundred times. He makes sure to cover his traces at every turn. He could swear he felt a presence for a moment but nothing was there. He did a few laps before he decided to ascend through a hidden stairwell. It led to a small but luxurious but not glamorous room. 

The place had no windows as it was still underground and poorly lit at best. A large desk sat. Three plates were on the table. One for serving, one for him and the other for his Uncle. Edric Pecunia, his Uncle, sat at the opposite side of the table. Matthias and Edric were not related by blood but rather he was adopted into the family as Matthias’ father was to become part of the Pecunia branch family. It was during the formation of the Pecunia house 13 years ago. Despite that they were both former merchants and shared similar ideals. 

Matthias takes a seat. He's no longer in the presence of the princesses; he can act naturally now.

“So where shall we begin?”

“It's quite a mess.” Matthias admitted, while slouching on his seat. “The investigation his Majesty gave us led us to the Garter Corporation. It's quite a large fraud case aswell.” 

“They are part of the cult.”

“Is Garter part of the Cult of Diablos? No, someone else is behind him, pulling the strings. And let me guess you won't tell me their name.”

“Good guess. And don't mention the Cults name, it's dangerous, boy.”

“Fine I wont do it.”

“We will have to find a way to prevent major harm to the Garter Corporation.”

Matthias takes his chopsticks and reaches for some sushi. Edric does the same. Matthias lets a smile out.

“You said you didn't like ‘strange foods’ but here I see you eating Mitsugoshi's new sushi thing, that I told you to try.”

“I was just curious.”

Matthias notices a slight smile crawl across his Uncle's face but pretends he didn't see it.

“Did you look into the Kagenous?”

“I did, I could not find anything suspicious but both seem to wear their personality on their sleeves.”

“Explain.”

“The eldest Claire Kagenou has a lot of potential as a knight and was scouted by Iris. She seems to really care for her brother and is quite steadfast and quick to conclusions. If we leave things as they are, she may become princess Iris' left hand.”

“You don't think she's part of the Cult? That sounds like the perfect person to send to get close to the Eldest princess.”

“No. She's a total nutcase. She managed to steal a magic sealing collar just so she could stop her brother from running away.”

“... Could she be Shadow Garden?”

“I don't know enough about them.”

“Very well, what about the other Kagenou. I heard he sticks beside Princess Alexia.”

“It may sound odd but more like she sticks to him. If anything he tries to run away from her. He's more like a random noble the second princess decided she wants to keep around. He's mediocre but quite clever in finances and weirdly close to Mitsugoshi. I am still looking into the last bit.”

Edric Pecunia sighs. “Do we have any clue who the other spy could be?”

“No idea.” Matthias admits while snatching another piece of sushi. “Glen is safe. Marco, well I told you about. Adder and Archer are at each other's throats like usual.”

“People who don't seem to pose an immediate threat are interacting with the princesses. That's quite fortunate.”

Matthias nabs another roll of sushi. “I still feel quite bad spying on the Crimson Order like this.”

Edric tried to interrupt but was cut off before he could speak.

“I know it's his Majesty the King's order and that. I can't help but feel a little wrong regardless.”

“It will all be worth it in the end.”

Matthias goes for another sushi roll but the plate is empty. He could swear there were still loads left. Whatever he probably was snacking and didn't realise.

—-----------

Zeta retreats out of the room with as much stolen sushi as she could fit in her mouth. She heard everything. Master Shadow was right, Matthias is a spy. He is never wrong. That would be blasphemy.

She should report back, she was given the task from Master Shadow after all.

Well… in truth Gamma was supposed to be handed it. She was busy and would have liked to give it to Sigma or Nu. Unfortunately they were busy so it fell upon her.

She should also probably report to Alpha at some point. Thinking about it she would rather ask Nina what happened to Lady Claire.

—---one week later------

Yukime sat at her desk. It had been almost a week since. The merchants were in uproar again. The Garter Corporation had been dealt a sizable blow to its reputation. The anomaly of a man who called himself Cid Kagenou actually delivered on his proposal.

Additionally, she understands why Luna gave him Mitsugoshi's information. With all the chaos happening in the capital due to merchants who bought from Garter complaining; Mitsugoshi bought that outrageously large spot of land while everyone was distracted. A quite masterful play she has to admit.

One of her most trusted aides, Natsu, sat opposite her.

The white tower was running a betting pool for the Bushin festival. They could not mess it up. The Bushin festival was the largest tournament that allowed betting. Every year SnowFox makes a fortune from this event. 

The only variable she could not properly account for is that mysterious man. His actions were clearly smart yet in person he seemed not very intellectual, quite clueless and average actually. An anomaly through and through.

“I want you to find this ‘Cid Kagenou’ and get a read on him. Allegiances, intentions, motivations, how he knew about our secrets and find out if that's his real name. I want to know how much of a threat he is and whether he can be an ally or if we should just kill him.”

He must have a reason for exposing Garter's fraud. No-one investigates fraud just for fun.

Chapter Text

Alpha and Gamma met in the entrance to the throne room in Mitsugoshi as the sun was rising.

“... we are moving most reserve Shadow Garden members in place for the supermarket opening. We have found a cult base near the Midlands while scouting. We currently don't have the numbers to deal with it, although we could send Delta but she usually destroys everything including valuable information the Cult has. And that concludes the report.” Gamma finished.

Alpha nodded. Then she felt a presence emanating from the throne. Lord Shadow is here.

Gamma reaches the handle of the door to the throne room. Why does she get to take up all of Lord Shadows time? It should be me.

Alpha picks up Gamma and lobs her in the opposite direction with a perfectly executed throw Shadow taught her.

“YOU HAVE A SUPERMARKET TO PLAN!!! DO THAT!!”

“OOOWWAAaaaaa……”

*Crash!!

Gamma probably broke something. Probably a wall. It doesn't matter.

Alpha quickly enters the throne room; she slides the door closed and subtly wedges the door closed with the doorstop.

“Alpha, long time no see.”

—-----------

I think I just heard Gamma fall over somewhere. Eh. Not my problem.

I haven't seen Alpha since the sanctuary. All things considered, it has only been a few weeks. I left her with a title but I didn't really show her what it means to have the Authority of an Eminence in Shadow. 

Together the Shades basically have enough to be an Eminence in Shadow by themselves. Eta, she has the scientific intellect of one. Zeta can appear out of nowhere and act mysterious. Epsilon has the drive to continue working towards something until she reaches perfection and then still strives for greater heights. Delta has the raw strength. Gamma has political and economic influence. Beta knows how to construct a compelling narrative. Alpha has the presence and emits the authority of an Eminence in Shadow. 

An Eminence in Shadow has to show absolute Authority over their surroundings, subordinates and enemies. Enemies should tremble, subordinates should be awed by your power and the surroundings should fit thematically as you set the tone. Alpha is already strong enough but she lacks the style. Anyone with enough can instantly kill some low rank cultist. But it takes a real skill to dance around them and show all their attacks are pointless. Alpha instantly beats her foes. Alpha is too efficient for her own good. I need to teach her to fight stylishly.

“Alpha, long time no see.”

Alpha walks up to me stopping a hair's width away from my face. She is as close as can be without physical contact.

“Cid… hi.”

Someone knocks on the door.

“Should we get that?”

“no” Alpha pouts.

I don't know what Alpha is trying to do, so I was about to just default to saying report. Then I thought of a better idea. 

Someone slams on the door again, this time the door caves in a bit.

I overheard her and Gamma talking as I was before I sat down. They mentioned a cult base somewhere in the midlands. I wanna raid it.

*Crash! Gamma breaks the door open and tumbles to the floor. “Ow~ …Lord Shadow.”

Her nose is bleeding.

“Gamma, I will take Alpha to raid that cult base in the midlands.”

“Eh… you will go personally?” Alpha and Gamma say in sync.

I have no good reason to go, I just thought of it right now. I need to sound cool and mysterious so they don't question it. “I have a task I must fulfil.” I stand up and face the opposite direction, the cape flowing in the non-existent wind. They look impressed. I gotta show Alpha how to do this.

I picked her up in a bridal carry because over the shoulder would be very uncomfortable and most importantly not look as Eminencey. Then I dash off.

I just realised I have no idea where this cult base is. 

…

Well Shit.

—------------

Cid picks up Alpha. In a bridal carry. She could feel his arms on her. They were firm. Her side was slightly touching his firm, muscular, toned, body. She was melting at his touch. It was pure bliss. Alpha slowly wraps her arms around his body fearing his sudden rejection of her. But he does nothing of the sort.

She looks around her. They are flying through the air together above the capital. Flying at an impossible speed. Well impossible for all except him. 

Alpha nuzzles up so she is pressed into his arm in pure bliss. 

Wait, where is Cid going? This is not even remotely close to the right direction.

As long as I can spend time like this it doesn't matter. She closes her eyes.

Time flies by just as they do. 

“Alpha, you can let go now.”

She panics and looks around. He is in a field somewhere not even remotely close to the cult base they were supposed to go to. She is wrapped around him clinging on like an oyster. She was too infatuated by his presence to notice they landed. 

She lets go and plops to the ground.

—--------------

They landed near a bandit camp. Cid asks Alpha to deal with them as if there is an audience watching her. She seems a tad confused but goes with it.

There is a small group of rugged sick bandits sitting around a wagon. Its wheels look to be worth more than anything they own. They honestly seem more like homeless with weapons. Felons who ran away from their punishment and had to become bandits to stay alive. Or just bandits who are suffering from the rise of well guarded trains. He almost feels a little bad but bandits are bandits.

Alpha initially sneaks up on them and slashes them in a single swift motion killing almost all of them. They could never see it coming.

The next slash kills three more. They haven't even had time to react yet. The final bandit has only just realised she is there.

Nooo… You're supposed to look cool. Alpha is at the level of speed where a regular dark knight would not be able to tell if she is skillful or just too fast to see properly. She is too fast for her own good. 

The second in command for a cool ultra secret organisation should also be ultra cool. She's ruining my coolness by being too fast. I need to fix this. “Alpha stop.”

Alpha stops instantly and turns to me. 

“Alpha. These foes, their fate is already sealed. They do not deserve your full strength.”

The final bandit stumbles back and falls next to a musket. He grabs the musket and shoots it at Shadow. 

Shadow responds by slightly tilting his head to the side. The projectile misses by a centimeter. Alpha dashes at him and stabs his neck. The dash was so fast that the shockwave it created launched the corpse across the forest.

—-------------

Do not deserve your full strength? This is a lesson but I don't understand it. She thought back to what happened. Her enemies annihilated easily within moments. Was she too slow? No that could not be it. 

‘Deal with them as if there is an audience watching you’

An audience? 

“Alpha. You should try to fight more… well you have seen how I fight.”

She has seen how Shadow fights. He dances around his enemies and allows them to use their maximum strength at him. Then when he has become tired of the exchange he defeats them in a single blow.

“You want me to force the enemy to use their full strength against me. Then end them in a single strike?”

“Yeaaaaa-- No, not that exact pattern you have to switch it up every now and then. But most importantly you have to look cool.”

“Look cool?” Alpha questions.

—----------

Oh no, she doesn't get it. What's the point in being the Eminence in Shadow if you people think you are just impossibly fast. That's so lame. You're supposed to be The Eminence in Shadow’s second in command, not a speedster.

“Yes, precisely. If you can easily beat an enemy, your priority should be looking cool in front of everyone else.”

“For morale?”

“Sure we will go with that.”

Time to teach Alpha how to look cool.

––Someswhere very far away from the cult base in the midlands—-

204 was leading an assaination mission on a 1st child. He was praised and was considered a ‘growing talent’ in an intercepted message from the Mordred faction. Shadow wisdom dictates we should “nip it in the bud” before it becomes a bigger problem. Fortunately they just located the bud.

She looks over the location. An isolated church in a small village around 30km west from the midlands. It was by far the largest building in the area. With a grand statue a few meters tall of the ‘hero’ Oliver outside. 

We found this location due to the suspicious amount of transports heading in and out. Isolated few guards have no chance of calling reinforcements. It is likely a cult storage facility. They probably store cheap weapons, food and collect orphans to turn into 3rds here. If they are very lucky they could find a possession.

204 was an elf. A quite strong one at that. Well a strong elf was required to rein in the two therianthrope teammates. 205 and 206 sit behind her in the tall grass. They overlooked the church from hidden positions. 

284s team were somewhere to the left of them and 332s team to the right. 612, 615 and 618s teams were in the rear to stop the enemy that slipped through and gain experience in more high level operations. Their first mission against powerful cult members. Their teams have fought against bandits who are being bankrolled by the cult to fulfill specific tasks and third children. This would be their first time witnessing a battle with a first child.

They blended in with the shadows and snuck up next to the church. The outside guards' throats were slit before they made a sound. 284s team on one side and 332s on the other. 204 in the main entrance. 

In the centre of the church there were two men talking. Around 20 2nds and low ranked 1sts scattered around the church, that's abnormal. No civilians. Good.

This would be their perfect time to strike. 

205 and 206 rush ahead and strike at the 2nd children in the entrance, this draws their attention. 206 takes the pommel of a sword to the head, a harsh reminder of her recklessness. 204 mentally scolds her teammates for going ahead of her.

“Shadow Garden is here!? kill those bastards who defy the cult!” the first child shouts. The man next to him stands in eerie silence.

The 2nd all rush at them. 284 and 332s teams finally make their move. Bursting from the windows they encircle the seconds and cut into their ranks. 6 cultist drop dead.

333 takes a bad stab to the leg but cuts down the opponent in return.

One 2nd attempts to run. The observation squads cut him down.

332 takes what should have been a lethal hit but is saved by her slime. The wound is big but it can heal.

The 2nds start to panic. Their numbers are thinning. More are killed every second.

285 gets her bicep cut. Her sword arm goes limp.

The final men are just moments away from being killed.

One of the cultists consumes something his body expands into a monstrous size. He lashes out wildly like a beast. 

205 underestimates the monster and attempts to block. She takes the hit hard. This angers 204. 204 slices the head of the monster clean of its body in vengeance for the harm done to her friend.

4 combat viable shadow garden members plus an injured 205 against the first child and a mysterious figure.

—----------

The figure makes his move, going for the kill on 205. 204 blocks it. The blow is heavy. 334 strikes at him but he dodges. He clearly is not a regular child. Not even a first one at that.

His power and speed is on a different level. If it weren't for the gargantuan difference in skill between the cultist and Shadow Garden, 204 knows she would be dead already.

“Oh, would you kindly introduce yourself.” 204 jokes.

The mysterious figure falls for it. “I am the named child Howard the Cyclone and you fools will die by my blade.” He scoffs.

Shit. That's why there are so many cult forces here. 204 realises they don't have the numbers to win without casualties. She signals for a slow retreat. We need to get the injured numbers out of here before escaping, otherwise he could pursue us easily. 

Preventing the enemy getting a sample of the slime suits is a higher priority than the mission. We can't have casualties.

204 looks over her shoulder, the other two numbers engage the assassination target. He takes a blow and backs up into the back in the church. Howard falls back too. In the open like this they will get surrounded and die sooner, they know that.

“What now?” the 1st child asks.

“Pass me my pills, you escape.”

No. I can't let that happen. We are too tired and have many injuries.

Suddenly, 

*CRASH!!!*

A statue fell head first through the ceiling of the church at an impossible speed. It lands directly on the first child and crushes him before he can react. 

The top of the statue buries itself in the ground as if it has decided to become a pillar.

“wha.”

A figure stands upon the statue. Golden light beamed down from the hole in the ceiling highlighting the figure.

“No one will be escaping.” She announces.

It was Lady Alpha.

She came to save us. 

204 decides not to question why or how Lady Alpha is here. She should be in the capital. Nor did 204 question why she uprooted the statue in front of this church and threw through the church's ceiling to make an entrance. All that matters is that they are saved. 

Lady Alpha casually drops from the statue and lands without a sound. And strolls towards Howard.

He swings at her.

Alpha simply pivots on her heel slightly to dodge.

He swings more, Alpha dances around his strikes. 

“WHAT MONSTER ARE YOU?”

He swings again and misses. Then he attempts to charge at 204. Alpha trips him before he has the chance. He falls on his face pathetically.

“NO. NO. I WONT LET YOU TAKE ME!!”

It is well known the cult uses ruthless torture on captives. He ends his own life before he could befall that fate in Shadow Garden's hands.

Alpha looks at the now corpse like an insect or dirt that needs to be cleaned.

“Lady Alpha.” 

“she didn't even need to draw her sword.” 332 whispers.

“L-lady Alpha”

“Lady Alpha!” 

“So that's the power of one of the seven Shades” 618 murmurs.

“Lady Alpha”

The numbers call her name and kneel before her.

“Tend to your wounds, my job here is done.” 

She exists through the hole she entered through with silent ease.

“The Shades are just on a different level entirely.” 616 says in disbelief.

“That was crazy. Did you see how unbothered she was by his attacks?” Another shouts.

“No wonder when Delta interrupted our class with Lambda and called everyone weaklings she didn't speak out. If Delta is second to Alpha, then everything is weak to her.” 617 contemplates.

“To think there are seven people that are strong in Shadow Garden.” states.

“And Lord Shadow is leagues above them.” 204 reminded them. That would be impossible to believe if not for seeing the crater in Midgar with her own eyes.

—------------

Yesssssss

“Alpha. You did brilliantly.”

Alpha was awesome. Well I set up the scenario. Gave her some cool lines to say. I grabbed the statue to make an entrance. I waited for the correct moment. And launched it through the ceiling.

But her performance was incredible.

Alpha looks happy to me. She's standing in front of me all gleefully. I think she gets it.

I need to teach her to set the scene at some point. 

I do have some nitpicks. Like you said ‘No one will be escaping.’ to the guy who was going to stay behind. Is not perfect but still gets a passing mark.

“Cid. What about the base we were originally supposed to go after?”

I forgot we were supposed to be doing that.

“We will do it now.”

Then, I picked her up in a bridal carry and flew off again.

—------------

Cid carrying me again.

Alpha tried not to squeal like a teenage girl with a massive crush on a hot guy that picked her up. Even though she is a teenage girl with a massive crush on a very hot guy who is flying around with her.

He is circling around the base as if he doesn't see it. He must be enjoying this as much as I am so he's trying to find an excuse to hold me for longer.

Alpha makes herself blush harder.

—--------

I'm lost.

I have been going in circles and cannot find this damn base.

Fortunately Alpha seems to be happily grabbing onto me like this. If she notices I have no idea where we are going it would be my biggest fumble as the eminence in shadow.

I have to find that base before it's too late.

A few minutes later.

I found it. Crisis averted.

—--------

She stylishly takes out the cultists in the abandoned villages that had taken shelter in while Cid gives her hints on how to look cooler, much to the dismay of the very confused cultists.

“Alpha. I will show you how to make an entrance.”

She listens.

“What you are good at is the silent drop down. Where you make no sound. Against a stronger opponent you need a greater presence."

Cid then drops from the ceiling with a powerful sounding thud. He simultaneously releases a thin wave of dense magic. Which would alert anyone reasonably sensitive to mana.

“Another way is instead of cushioning your fall, you make a crater.”

Cid drops again from the ceiling this time he infuses magic into his heels as he lands smashing the ground with a massive force. The floor below him cracks.

“you try.”

Alpha climbed up the wall and jumped down. She empowered her legs with magic to survive the impact and kicked the floor when she landed. And fell through.

—---------

Alpha braces for impact, she almost fumbles the landing.

She looks around. The walls are old but reasonably taken care of. Their is a staircase that heads up to the surface and a cage with a cover over it. A possessed.

Lord Shadow must have known about this and waited then attacked once the possessed was present. That's why they went on a few hour detour. He is truly beyond comprehension.

She was not expecting their to be a hidden basement.

“Your next lesson is adaptation. You must be in control of the situation no matter how it changes.”

Shadow descends and lands next to Alpha.

“I’m impressed, you knew this would be here.”

“I had no idea”

“of course it obvious to— wait what really.”

“I don’t know everything. I just do the best thing possible in any situation.”

Alpha is almost suppised by his openness. Usually Lord Shadow speaks as if he knows everything. Perhaps this newfound openness is the way to his heart.

“Cure the possesed, its you that found her.”

Alpha resisted the urge to ask him to leave her behind as taking her would interrupt her 1 on 1 shadow time. But that would be too selfish.

—----------

Gamma hears Lord Shadow and Alpha return. Where have they been its almost been a day.

She enters the room. Lord Shadow seems to be pondering atop his throne.

Alpha was carrying a girl. Presumably a possessed they rescued.

“Shall we do that again some time?”

Alpha instantly closes the distance between them.

“Yes. Absolutely.”

Shadow turns to Gamma.

“Gamma, I need a false identity to infiltrate the Bushin festival, tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

“Hey Sis.”

A while ago, sis grabbed Iris' magic sword and annihilated her hand. Now she's in the nurses office and just woke up.

“CID!”

She is SUPPOSED to be in a gravely injured state with her arm in a splint but never stopped her.

She tackles me to the ground.

“I have waited an entire day for you. Where were you all yesterday? I was up all night waiting for you!!” she says very ‘calmly’.

The nurses start to panic.

“I was busy training.”

“You never train by yourself.”

“I have had a change of heart.”

“You have been lazing around.”

“I have had a change of heart.”

“You have been lazing around.”

There are now like 6 or 7 nurses surroundings us. It's hard to tell with Sis on me. They don't know what to do. Then again they are not trained for ‘Crazy injured patient who should be resting pins down her brother’.

“Why did you even injure yourself?”

She starts talking but I ignore her. I run a thin stream of magic through her to identify the damage. 

It's pretty bad. Her hand would be permanently disfigured and lose function in some fingers if I let her heal normally. I subtly run some magic to heal her. Just enough so the nurses don't notice. They don’t exactly have an x-ray machine but they do have a basic understanding of the body. But I can just come back and heal her more later so it's less suspicious.

It would be lame if she got permanently injured from an accident. If you are going to get permanently injured at least be from a cool battle.

Imagine if some epic powerful knight stopped fighting because he injured his spine by falling down the stairs. Or randomly got a bad illness like a lung infection… oh wait that one sounds familiar… but I can't put my finger on it.

Eventually the crowd of nurses forces her off me and her back into bed.

—---------

Alexia was apprehensive about her upcoming lunch meet. She is supposed to have a nice chit chat with Natsume and Rose. But neither could be completely trusted.

She suspects something is up with Rose. Her sister said “No sane person would just jump into a suspicious magic gate for no reason.” Okay maybe that was also a jab at her but the point stands regardless. She can’t entirely be trusted.

If Rose is under suspicion then that means Natsume is back on the chopping block. And something is definitely off about her. No up and coming author can be that unphased when placed in between royalty. She appeared a few years ago in the public eye out of practically nowhere and quickly rose the ranks to arguably the most esteemed author. It takes years to learn etiquette and put on such a mask for the courts and nobles, yet she had the good mask that should take years to master. No way is she just some simple author.

Alexia enters Mitsugoshi. They decided to meet to have their lunch in the in house Tuna king in Mitsugoshi because… well simply put it there are less commoners around and the seating is nicer. Fortunately royalty doesn't need to wait in the massive queue to enter. Tho… Natsume is not royalty. She will probably have to wait to enter Mitsugoshi. Heh.

She walked up to Tuna king, and she was greeted by Natsume and Rose. They were already drawing onlookers. Better get inside easily.

One of the Tuna King employees greeted them and led them to their seats. They pre-booked a private room. Two princesses simply draw too much attention. It's hard to have a nice meal with dozens of eyes watching you.

They sit down and order. Rose almost immediately talked about one of Natsume's books. Initially Alexia was wondering why she hadn't heard of Natsume before the Goddesses trail well before looking into her. Alexia had heard quite a variety of books that were popular making their rounds in noble circles. Turns out they were ALL Natsume books. In fact Alexia struggled to find any book that the nobles were talking about that weren't Natsume books.

Just because Natsume is a once in a millennium literary genius doesn't mean Alexia has to like her.

There is a moment break in the conversation. Alexia takes her chance. “Oh, Natsume. I was wondering who taught you etiquette. For someone to rise to fame quite fast you seem to be quite… skilled in that area.” That last bit hurt a little to say but she had to if she wanted any information.

“Oh, I never thought of that. How did someone teach you so fast?” Rose echoed. 

“Well… I… Oh look, the food is here.”

The waiter places food in front of Rose and Natsume, then walks off. Where's Alexia’s food?

Natsume smirks at Alexia for a fraction of a second.

That bitch. 

Alexia jabs the tip of her shoe into Natsume shin. A smile crawls up Alexia’s face ever so slightly. 

Natsume gives her an irritated glare.

“Alexia, look, your food is here.” And Rose seems completely oblivious.

—--------

“Cid. Hello. Are you busy?”

I was invited by Skel to do some background character activities. I was on my way there when I bumped into Sherry.

“I can afford to be a little late,” he replied.

A background character can afford to be late so we can chat for a bit.

“It's been a while since we talked… I read all the books you recommended to me before you went to Lindwurm.”

Oh yeah that was a thing I did before the terrorist attack.

“I did some work at Mitsugoshi. Luna, that Elf woman you introduced me to is really nice.” Sherry beamed.

Glad she is having fun, as long as she doesn't meet Eta everything should be fine.

“I also met the renowned scientist Eta Lloyd Wright.”

Oh no.

“She is a bit strange, ethically questionable and arguably nocturnal. But she's really smart. She is basically the designer of modern trains, coffee and even chocolate… like the ones you once gave me.”

“Wow, that's quite the list of achievements.”

“Shes really impressive. But I'm also doing some work that's going to help people. I was going to publish some papers with her. Even if Eta only wanted to do it for the tax benefits.” 

Sherry's voice became quiet again. “It's just…”

“You don't want to publish with the name Barnett." Cid guessed correctly.

“Yes, s-so I was wondering if… since we are friends. You could… well…” her cheeks turn peachy.

Help her? I don't really think I can just come up with a new last name and give it to just like that. Still having the last name of someone who tried to kill you kinda sucks. He was her adoptive father. 

“Yeah sure, I guess you could go back to your original last name just for now. What was it?”

“Crowley.” 

“Well nice to meet you, Sherry Crowley. My name is Cid Kagenou.” Hopefully that solves her issue.

“Then thank you Cid Kagenou.” She smiles sweetly and scurries off.

Eh. All’s well that ends well.

—--------

“Rumor has it that Chancellor Perv Asshat has been weirdly close to King Raphael Geerk Oriana. That the King seems to be acting a bit vacant as of late.”

“Thinking about it, my father’s messages have become quite bland as of a few months ago.”

Where does this Natsume bitch get this information? She has been bouncing around Midgar doing book signings for the past few months, when did she hear that ‘rumor’. How is she in contact with someone who knows more about Orianan royalty than Rose? She could be pulling this out of thin air. Her body probably decided to forgo development in her brain to enhance her chest. 

But if she is telling the truth. That brings more questions: how does she even get sensitive information? If she is truthful, Natsume could actually have a spy network. Surely that is too absurd, why would an author have a spy network. It would explain why she is so fake.

Alexia decides she should tell Iris about this. Iris can verify the validity of this information when the Orianan delegation arrives. 

—---------

Cid approaches a small arena marked by a wooden fence that's drawing a sizable but not huge crowd. The preliminary rounds for the Bushin festival have already started. He signed up earlier. But it's not time to shine as a Mundane mann yet. He spots Skel watching the match scribbling on a notepad. He notices Cid.

“Cid there you are. What took you so long? Decided to take another dump outside?”

“No, what yah up to?”

“Collecting battle data for the fighters. So I know who to gamble on.”

He's going to lose all his money.

“If I collect battle data, I will use it to calculate the possibilities and place my bets.”

He's going to lose all his money.

“Cid lend me some money so we can both win big.”

He's going to lose all his money. 

“Come on Cid!”

“I bet you 100,000 zeni you lose all your money.” Cid thought out loud.

“Sure, you better get my money ready when I win big.”

‘Easiest 100,000 zeni of my life.’ They both think simultaneously.

“Anyway where’s Po?”

“His dad called him home. Mitsugoshi is making a document to classify crops and Po’s dad into an argument over what should be the correct potato sizes with another Baron. They decided whichever domain produces more potatoes this harvest wins.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, that poor fool is probably knee deep in dirt farming potatoes while I make my fortune. Don't worry, I will still remember you two once I become rich and get loads of girls.”

Skel would actually be a pretty decent information broker. Despite being a background character he is pretty up to date with everything. Heck, he could probably actually get a girl if he stopped gambling and actually put all his effort into being an info broker.

“Don’t grin like that, you will owe me 100,000 zeni by the end of the festival.”

Heh. We will see.

—-----

They watch the matches as Skel takes note. A while later a man covered in gold plate armour shows up. He has a red cape and a feather in his golden hair. If he wasn't as muscular he would appear lanky. His shiny attire reflected the early morning light.

“Cid look. It’s Goldy Gilded, the unbeaten legend.”

“HaHa, that name is quite embarrassing. I prefer the name Goldy Gilded, the ever victorious golden dragon.”

“Cool.” Cid said slowly, sliding away from him. Goldy just emits too much relevant character energy for him.

“I see you are taking notes. You see, gathering battle data is a routine I never miss.” The man in dazzling gold continues. “If you wish I could teach you my ‘Guaranteed victory theory’ I use so that victory will always be mine.” Goldy poses.

Skel is stunned by his coolness. “O-Of course please do, ever victorious golden dragon Goldy Gilded. Cid, you see I will win our little bet? Huh… He left… it seems the king of dung is at it again.”

“We will now begin the twelfth match of the third round.” The announcer takes a moment to catch his breath. “Gonzales VS Mundane Mann!”

“Okay so my theory goes, you can guess who wins by judging someone's battle power before the match.” Goldy gloates.

“Battle power?”

“It’s a numerical value of how strong a person is. Gonzales you can tell by the arrogant attitude and the buff body he is quite a veteran warrior. His slightly chipped blade and grip on it show he’s accustomed to it and uses it a lot. His battle power is approximately 1364.”

“and the other guy?”

“t-this can’t be.”

“What! Is he a dark horse?!” Skel guesses.

“No… He is unbelievably… inept. I’m surprised he even made it to the preliminaries. This will all be over in an instant.” Goldy chuckles.

The match begins. Gonzales rushes forward and trips? Knocking himself out?

“Wow it did end in an instant.” Skel's eyes gleamed with admiration. Unaware of the confused look on Goldy's face.

—---------- 

Annarose Nichtsehen watches from afar. What was that? She wasn't paying much attention as she expected the strange man she met in the queue to get beaten in that match. But no he did something that beat his opponent instantly.

His hand moved. She could barely see it but it did happen.

And yet she could not sense an iota of strength from him.

How is Mundane Mann that fast?

—----------

That was brilliant. Goldy's face was just pure shock as I dropped that buff guy. 

Oh and that Annerose girl she is just perfect. I attuned my speed so she could just see me move but no one else could. She fits the ‘thinks theirs something up with this small fry’ archetype perfectly. Oh I can't wait for when I face her. And she goes either. “How did I lose to this small fry?” Or she is like “wow he's so strong, I can’t believe he hid his strength. Who is this guy?” Either one will work.

Cid walked off smiling to himself.

“My Lord.”

She passes him a Tuna king burger.

“Nu. Wassup.”

“We have intercepted a message from the Hel faction.”

Hel faction. Is that part of Shadow Garden?

No, I think I heard Sherry mention that name. Not really sure what to make of it. Hopefully Hel is a knight of the round I can fight. I should probably find out. If I'm caught not knowing, that would be embarrassing.

“We intercepted a letter regarding a meeting between some important cult figures. We could launch an attack but we are already spread too thin ensuring the supermarket plans.”

“I will handle it.”

It would be super cool if I can fight a proper knight of round.

“But Lord Shadow. A knights of round are not pressent… no you know this already don’t you. There is something important only you can do.”

“Yes, of course. I have a goal in mind.” He lies.

Change of plan. Think of something cool... Oh I know just the thing.

He explains his plan to Nu.

She nods and darts off.

I can sense Rose coming my way. She's looking at me. I pretend not to notice her. I tactically shoved a burger into my mouth to pretend I'm busy. Why is this background character not talking they say, obviously because he's eating.

She ‘sneaks’ up on me and jabs me with the hilt of her blade. Cid lets out a background character like sound. 

“Thats quite a carefree look. You should remain vigilant at all times.”

“Yh-huh.” Cid replied with a mouth full of Tuna King.

“I see you have been to Tuna King. Their food is delicious. I went there with the girls earlier today. Myself, Natsume and Alexia.”

“You three are friends?”

“Yes, I have especially been getting off well with Miss Natsume lately! And Alexia is a very kind girl, so it's easy to get along with her.”

Are you talking about a different Alexia?

“Listen Cid, I will be meeting my father today. Unfortunately the Goddesses trail was interrupted by Shadow, so you couldn't prove yourself.”

Prove myself?

“But I will try to convince my father to hold off any other betrothal candidates until then.”

“wut?”

“I know our love will eventually overcome any obstacle.”

“wut?”

“Don’t worry about me, my Cid I will handle everything on my side. It will be a different path but I believe we can make it together.”

Abort. Abort. Abort. 

When did I trigger the romance flag? How does a background character even handle this? A regular background character would say yes, but they stop being a background character when they do. 

“Cid, you seem confused? Are you okay?”

“When did this happen?” Cid finally says.

“When did what happen?”

She connects the dots.

“Oh, when you showed your unbreakable spirit in the tournament? Or when you sacrificed your life to save mine?”

“You mean when you destroyed me in a tournament and saved a foreign princess because I noticed that magic wasn't working.”

“Your love–” Rose was stunned.

“If you died the alliance between Midgar and Oriana would shatter.”

“...”

—---------

Rose was broken. She pinched herself to make sure it was not a nightmare. 

Was it all in my head? Was I just being overbearing on a low noble who doesn't try to suck up to me? No this can't be. My Cid. No. 

A tear rolls down her cheek.

Rose pinches herself again. This time hard enough to draw blood.

I could not have made it all up.

“I-I thought we were in l-love?” The last word for her was near impossible to say.

“I don't think that happened.”

“c-could we s-stttart over. Then, we could m-maybe fall-l in l-l-love?” She was grasping at straws.

“I'm sorry I can't. If I walked the path of the hero, I would. But no, I have a dream. One that I would sacrifice anything to achieve.” He says staring off into the distance.

“Could you tell me, that dream?” Tears were running down her face like a waterfall.

“No, it's not yet time.”

“I understand.” Rose drooped.

She notices the tears falling down her face. She starts walking off.

“Try not to be so sad.” Cid states and throws her one of his Tuna King burgers.

“t-thaankyyoouuww”

Rose takes the burger and runs off crying. She tries to not cry and hide her tears but it doesn't work.

—---------

Everyone was present for the meeting, all but one. 

The Silver Scar often referred to as Hel's favorite sat at the head of the meeting; it was he who declared the meeting after all. The dark spider and dark smile sat to one side both in their dark hooded cloaks. Gettan, a blind yet powerful therianthrope sat opposite them. Next to Gettan was an empty seat where Zenon used to sit. Various Named and first children were littered around the room as guards. All highly trustworthy. Many were remnants of the Nelson faction.

The silver scar was in an emissary of the Hel the forth seat of rounds. Dark spider and dark smile were both here to show Fenrir's support in the plan. Gettan was not affiliated with a knight of rounds but more so he held a sizable portion of their finances. 

Finally the last man arrived. He, who is publicly known as Perv Asshat, the man Mordred wants to take the 12th seat. While Mordred usually works in Oriana. Mordred is on good terms with the 1st seat.

They begin their initial discussions. They consist of failed attempts to find Shadow Garden bases, losses from the recent attacks and a few Possessed they located. But it's a fraction of what they would find merely ten years ago.

Then.

A knock on the door.

Someone new enters.

—---------

The Silver Scar looks at the newcomer. He's a man in a long slick coat and mask, enters the room. The coat is fairly standard for named children. Not a uniform, having one would allow people to connect dots they aren't supposed to. More like a chosen style. Obscures the face, doesn't look too suspicious, just a little shady and common enough to blend into a crowd.

He wears a mask over his face, one that's recognisablely the false Shadow Garden masks that Sir Gaunt once used.

He strolls into the room as if 30 swords weren't pointed at him. He takes a casual seat at Zenon’s old seat.

Who the hell is this guy? 

While everyone was confused by his causal attitude. The Silver Scar decides to end this madness. He draws his sword and plunges it into the intruder's chest.

The man doesn't even bother to block. The sword stabs him through the chest. Blood drips from the wound. He doesn't react at all to the attack. The blade twists, this should kill. Yet the intruder doesn't seem to care.

The man turns his head slowly as if the world would wait for him.

“You know it is quite impolite to stab guests.” He says with horrifying calmness.

Everyone who hasn't drawn their blades is prepared to draw at a moment's notice.

“But, I will forgive you, it was my mistake to not introduce myself sooner.” 

He continues.

“My name is Panoptes. And I will be serving as the eyes of rounds.”

That name he had heard before. He was present at Sir Gaunt's attack and left before it failed. They tried to scrape together information about him but they couldn't find anything. A secret cult operative working under a knight of round. Perhaps a jude or even a spy sent to sabotage other factions within the cult.

“Who sent you? Why are you here?” Silver Scar demanded.

“I would have told you if you were supposed to know who sent me. And, why am I here? Well…”

Panoptes makes an expression of someone who is trying to come up with a lie on the spot. “To revive the Demon, just like the rest of you.”

Gettan glared at him. “Revive the demon? What are you on about?”

The Silver Scar interrupted him. “No, he's right. The plan Hel created, the first seat approved and Fenrir will aid us on is the unsealing of the right arm of Diabolos.”

“That would destroy Midgar.” Dark Spider complained.

“No, just the capital. Now let me explain the plan in full detail.”

The only people who should know of that plan were; the first seat, Hel, Fenrir and himself. Dark Spider and Dark Smile don't seem to recognise him. Meaning the first seat of rounds likely sent him to observe. 

The Silver Scar decided it was for the best to allow him. No one wants the wrath of the first seat. Yet judging by Panoptes words, he doesn't want to be outed for serving under the first seat. The Silver Scar removed his blade from Panoptes, who still didn't seem to care about his injuries.

Hopefully I am not over thinking this. The Silver Scar thinks to himself.

Over the next few minutes they talked about the plan. 

First, Gettan was to slowly pull out cult financial assets. Slow enough not to draw attention. Then once they have pulled out as many assets as they can without being suspicious. They make a new bank note and exchange as many notes for coins as possible. Then suddenly remove all the coins, cult assets and flood the market with notes. This would cripple the economy and hopefully Mitsugoshi too.

During the chaos it inflicted the Hel and Fenrir faction raids as much valuables as possible, including “human assets” especially possessed.

Then Fenrir would unseal the right arm under the school. This would lay waste to the Capital. Crushing the kingdom's head. Leaving midgar in ruin and uprooting Shadow Garden’s base. Then both the Demon and the cult will fight Shadow Garden. Crushed between a rock and a hard place. The Loki sect would get caught up in their plans. Though, Fenrir is probably happy about that.

After Shadow Garden is wiped out or cripped. Mordred, Hel and Fenrir will work together to reseal the demon within Hel. It would probably be weakened after Shadow Garden fights it. After all, only the cult has the relics to reseal it. And this newer seal will allow them to extract more cells from the arm.

Finally, the powerful dukes affiliated with the cult who will conveniently not get caught in the conflict will seize control over the kingdom.

Quite the brilliant plan. Even Panoptes seemed impressed. Hopefully the first seat would be impressed too.

The meeting ended as the sun set.

Gettan left without a word. He has the most work to do after all. 

Perv got up. “I have to make my way back to meet my fiance.” He says with such spite even a deaf man would know he doesn't love her. “She should have met with the Orianan delegation, I had to skip meeting her to come here.”

Panoptes speaks for the first time in a while. “Be careful. Shadow Garden may try to interfere.”

“How do you know that?”

“It would be foolish not to interfere with a foreign princess. And if Shadow Garden were fools, Shadow's skull would already be mounted on a wooden plaque in someone's office.”

Perv silently agrees with Panoptes as they leave.

—--------

Man I'm beat from that. Joining an enemy's meeting as a mysterious ally who's secretly their arch enemy was so cool. 

Also I now know all the cult plans. I need to be cautious with how I prevent them. If I instantly search for the arm they could realise Panoptes is a spy.

Oh and I need to save Rose at some point, I can do that later, the Bushin festival is more important right now.

He lies on his bed and falls asleep.

—--------

Cid is woken up from his sleep by someone banging on his door.

“CID!! CID! THERE HAS BEEN AN INCIDENT!”

He opens it to see Skel who almost falls into Cid’s room.

“Rose Oriana massacred the Orianan delegation and is on the run!” Skel shoves a freshly printed newspaper into Cid’s face. He reads it.

Rose Orianan attacked the Orianan delegation and is now on the run. Any information on her will be rewarded.

42 killed. 

17 wounded.

Cid feels he is somehow partially responsible for this.

Chapter Text

Since Rose disappeared the school needs a new champion to represent them in the Bushin festival. Claire came second but she just got out of the hospital today. Some people think she is not healed enough to represent the school. One such person, who was beaten by Rose in the semi finals, challenged Claire for her spot in the Bushin festival.

I forgot his name but he's a Duke’s son so I try not to interact with him. 

Wait, I'm pretty sure he was the guy who asked Alexia for courtship. Roy heir to the Duchy of Capet, that's his name. A few of his friends came to watch, they all are high nobility. Only me and Nina are watching for Claire.

Claire broke into the boys dorm (again) just to drag me out to watch her duel this guy. She scared the life out of Skel when she grabbed me.

The judge signals for the start of the match.

Claire immediately pushes the attack. She hits him with a two handed overhead blow. Roy barely raises his sword to block in time. Claire grits her teeth. She just realised that her hand is still healing. 

If she uses both hands she may permanently damage her hand. She switches to an unfamiliar one handed style.

Roy strikes, Claire backs up as she is not familiar with blocking one handed.

Claire Goes for a thrust. The blow is wonky but still has enough speed to nearly take Roy's eye out. 

Claire is far stronger but is unfamiliar with the one handed techniques that she is forced to use. If she could use both hands the duel would be over by the second strike.

Claire blade doesn't follow where she wants it to go and goes skew when it collides with Roy's blocks. The blade expects a second hand to stabilise it but said hand is far too injured to be absorbing shock. 

They exchange a few more blows until Roy deliberately leaves himself open. 

Claire takes the bait and charges him.

Roy blocks with a hard counter strike to her pommel. Claire's sword hit hard but not cut. The blade slips from her grip and spins across the ground.

Roy grins, he's won. He drops his guard a second early before the match is called.

That was a mistake. The winner has not been declared yet. 

Despite the loss of her blade Claire immediately punches him square in the face. It catches him well off guard, knocking him out cold. Roy flops to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

Even the judge was stunned into silence.

Claire glares at the judges to announce the winner.

“er…” *Ahem “Winner Claire Kagenou!” 

“Yay sis you did it.”

Roy’s friends look at me, with visible announce.

Claire jumps up to me to give me a hug or maybe strangle me. I don’t really know. Either way once she grabs me I subtly heal her hand just a bit more. 

Only my Shades could notice such subtle magic. I don't fully heal her, that would be suspicious. I just nudge all the broken bits in the correct directions. And heal the bits that can't heal naturally.

It makes her way less injured than anyone thinks she is… That would make her pretty good to bet on in the Bushin festival.

—----------

“Hey there Missy, talk about coincidence, are you here for his match too?”

Someone approached her in the stands. She looked up to him. A large tanned man loomed over Annarose. He had dark skin, an eye patch and fur coat over his shoulder. A large blade was slung over his back in a position prioritising ease of carrying it. He probably doesn't have any matches today.

“If I recall you're…?”

“Quinton,” he politely reminds her.

He continues in a harsher tone. “You watched that round yesterday. I was there as Gonzales is someone I know. I also happen to know that he isn't someone who would just fall over like that. So I would like to know your take on it, Annarose of Vegalta's seven blades.”

"I'm just Annarose Nichtsehen now.” She left the Seven blades years ago.

“Sorry ‘bout that then. …but I think that guy may be using a forbidden artifact.”

“I can't deny that possibility but I don't think Mundane got lucky and Gonzales tripped. The moment before he fell I saw Mundane move his hand.”

“Move his hand?”

“It was too fast for me to see properly.”

“So fast you couldn't see it, that's absurd,” Quinton replies bewildered.

“I believe we can find out what happened today. He will be fighting Goldy Gilded today.”

“You know that Shiny Guy?”

“I have participated in tournaments across multiple countries. Throughout which I was up against him three times and was not able to defeat him.”

“WHAT!? The Shiny doofus is that strong?!”

"Of course not. If his opponent is too strong, he just forfeits. That's why he is known as the Undefeated Legend.”

“So… he's a weirdo.”

“His strength lies in judging his opponents Capabilities. If he judged Mundane yet he has not forfeited from fighting Mundane. So is he using a tool or is he so good at hiding even Goldy can't see through.”

“Heh. So this will be interesting.”

Mundane and Goldy face each other in the center of the Arena. They exchange words Annarose can't hear them from here but she gets the impression Goldy is either showing off or stating he would win.

“Tell me what you see.” Quinton echos just before the match begins.

“Match 12, Mundane Man VS Goldy Gilded!”

Goldy immediately launches himself at Mundane, who just stands there.

He can't dodge that, he's too close. Then all of a sudden.

*Crack

Mundane bends backwards to crack his back. Their sword passes harmlessly over him. What? Even Goldy stares at him stunned. Before suddenly backing up, after realising he was exposed.

Mundane doesn't react but instead wipes something from his nose.

“What j’st happened?” Quinton asked Annarose louder than he intended.

“He…” Annarose didn't really know how to describe what she just saw.

“He what?”

“I think he lent backwards to crack his back… and just happened to dodge his blow?” This was so absurd not even she fully believed herself.

“That's absolutely ridiculous.”

They look back to the stage where Goldy is yelling something about his battle power being 4163. He manifests his magic.

“He’s far stronger than I thought.” Quinton admitted.

“If he actually fought strong opponents he could be a really strong dark knight.”

Goldy charges Mundane. Annarose watches as the blade draws closer and closer to him.

Mundane Mann suddenly yawns. His head leans back just enough to doge the blade. Goldy is now within arms reach to him. Then, he sneezes, his head jolts forwards colliding with Goldy's in a high speed headbutt.

Goldy collapses to the floor. Apparently Mundane’s skull is thicker than Goldy's.

Mundane just rubs his nose. The crowd is silent for just a moment. And then starts yelling. 

“Winner Mundane Mann?” 

Even the judges sound confused.

“What happened there? I just saw them run into each other then suddenly Goldy is on the floor.” Quinton asked.

“I think he sneezed.”

“He. what?”

“He sneezed and his head jerked forwards, collided and knocked him out.”

“That's ridiculous. You must be wrong, there is no way someone is that lucky.”

“Maybe. But do you think that it could be possible that it was deliberate. He could just be unnaturally fast.”

“I think you are overthinking it Missy.” Quinton gets up to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“I want to talk to Goldy. I’m fighting Mundane next. I want to know what he's hiding.”

“I’m curious too” Annarose joins him.

—-------------

How did I lose to Mundane Mann? In the big arena of all places, all my fans were watching. 

No. How? He's only supposed to have a battle power of a mere 27. This makes no sense.

Goldy looks around the room. He's in a medical room after being knocked out. He's lying on a bed with a glass of water on a table next to him. The room is fairly plain with the only other notable feature being an open window. Letting some fresh air flow in.

Someone knocks on the door. Goldy downs the glass of water and stands up to get the door. He opens it to find… oh no. Annarose Nichtsehen. She's here for a real match because I escaped from fighting her 3 times. I have already lost. I can have another.

A man steps out from behind her. Tall muscular, he has an eyepatch and several scars. His blade is on his back, well kept and a sturdy sheath. He walked through the doorway at an angle to make sure his weapon didn't bump into the door. He didn't need to look. He's very familiar with is weapon. He must be friends with Annarose meaning he's strong. His battle power must be… 4657.

“Names Quinton, I will be fighting Mundane in the next match, so I would like to know what exactly happened.”

“I… don’t know.” Goldy admits. “His battle power should only be 27. How did he beat me? It's impossible.” He complains.

“Battle power?”

“It is a rating used to judge my opponents strength, it has never failed me! …until today.”

“Missy, are you sure this guy is that good at judging people's strength?” 

“Yeah he’s the real deal.”

At least she still believes in me. He doesn't buy it. I know a way to prove myself.

“How about we get some tickets to see who's fighting and I will tell you who will win.”

—----------

They entered the viewing seats and sat down. The seats are fairly empty. There is a noticeable amount of students from the dark knight academy attending. 

The two fighters step into the arena. Goldy takes a look at them.

“What do you think, Goldy?”

“The first guy he's from Wakoku. Sturdy grip on his curved sword. His sword is well looked after but damaged, it must be hard to find a replacement away from home. Confident but not arrogant. I would say his battle power is… 3934.”

Quinton gave him a confused look.

“I estimate your battle power at 4567.”

“I guess it makes sense. That guy Nex Tinline, I fought him twice. I was unfamiliar with the Wakoku styles so I lost to him. Half a year later I fought him again in a different tournament. I beat him by a sizable but not irrelevant margin.” Quinton half heartedly admitted.

“And the girl he is fighting?” Annarose interjected.

Goldy took a good look at her. “This can't be,” he muttered.

“What?” The others muttered. Quinton unimpressed and Annarose curious.

“She has a battle power of… 6742.”

“She’s… strong?” Annarose questioned. She looked down at her. A black haired young girl likely in the later half of her teens, bloody bandages wrapped around one of her arms. She held the sword in an awkward one handed grip, frustration gleamed from her red eyes.

“No way, I checked the bets before we entered. The bets are actually 100 to 1 against her. She's the second pick from the dark knights academy, just got out of the hospital yesterday, if the rumors are correct. No way she wins.”

Goldy doubled down on what he said before the match started.

“Match 14! Claire Kagenou. VS Nex Tinline!”

The match starts. Nex attempts to land the first strike but Claire is faster and swings first. Nex blocks it. The blow was clearly far heavier than expected.

He returns a strike forcing Claire to dodge. 

“Shes tougher than I thought but she can't one hand that blade. She's going to lose this.” Quinton commented.

Goldy defends himself with, “She can't lose, her battle power is too much higher.” 

“I can tell this must be an opponent she can beat with hands… Does your battle power account for injuries?”

“Yes, even injured she's far stronger.”

Nex has noticed her inability to wield a one handed blade and her overwhelming advantage in magic. It's not ideal for him but not impossible. He needs to outlast her. She can't block and is forced to waste a lot of magic dodging.

Nex slows his movements and goes for another strike to conserve his magic. Claire dodges again. 

Claire's strikes at him he parries and counter swings. She is starting to get irritated; she flurries random strikes at his defence, none get through. 

Nex sees an opening, he parries her blade and disarms her. He immediately feels a pain in his stomach, it's her foot. She pushes off him and retreats backwards to grab her blade. Nex is pushed in the opposite direction, he has to stab his blade into the ground to prevent himself from flying into the arena wall.

Claire is pissed off, she empowers her sword with an unreasonable amount of magic in an attempt to try to break Nex's blade. Nex is forced to dodge. She simply has far more magic. If he tried to block his blade would shatter.

“Wow, that's far more magic than either of us.” Quinton admitted.

Goldy, not wanting to admit he is bested in raw magic by some random student, silently but reluctantly agrees. Yet doubt crosses his mind about her winning.

Nex dodges the blow, it carves a deep gash in the floor where he once stood. He curses under his breath, what am I fighting, a woman or a monster in fact she must have the most magic out of all of the monsters he had fought. Any normal dark knight would have exerted their magic reserves five fold. Getting close to her is too risky. As much as he would like to beat her and his next match to get into the main tournament, he would also like to remain alive.

‘Second choice dark knight academy my arse, I would rather fight the first choice.’ He thinks as he dodges another definitely lethal blow.

Claire strikes again leaving a crater in the arena.

Her opponent backs up trying to get her to waste all her magic. Claire has a better idea.

Nex sees Claire charge at him with all her might. He puts his sword up to block. She slams into him with her shoulder. Nex smashes her face with a hilt, she just takes it. 

She rams into him again but this time his sword fails around wildly. He happens to skewer her sword hand as the blade passes through her palm. She pulls her hand away with the blade still embedded in her hand. Claire charges and rams into him again, he tries to block only to realise his blade slipped from his grip and is wedged in his opponent's hand.

She tackles him to the ground and points his blade at his neck. The blade dripped with her blood as he stared at it. He lost, but he put up a good fight.

“Winner Claire Kagenou!”

The healers immediately ran to heal Claire injuries as now both her hands were injured.

“Wow. She won. So you are the real deal, colour me surprised.”

“That tackle was quite skillful. She must have practiced that alot.”

“Doubt never crossed my mind.” Goldy flaunts.

Quinton gets up. “Wanna go see how pissed the bet makers are. 100 to 1 odds and that.”

—----------

The snow fox betting station is practically under siege from angry bet makers. A large rowdy crowd of people were yelling at the workers.

Someone almost got violent. Annarose decides to jump between the two endings before the fight starts. The presence of Goldy and Quinton also helps calm the crowd.

Quinton asks the snowfox lady working at the betting pole. “Just wondering what the bets were like for that match to cause such a commotion.”

“The bets, oh well. They lost 100 to 1 betting odds. You see some plain looking boy bet 10 million zeni on a girl who was almost guaranteed to lose. They thought they could make easy money on a safe bet but lost it all.”

“It’s just the nature of betting.” Quinton shrugged he wasn't much of a fan of gambling but had a bit of fun seeing them go crazy when they won and get lash out when they lose. It was quite fun seeing supposedly noble people overreacting. He smirked at a few lower nobles trying to fistfight the betting table because they lost all their money. Obviously if it got too bad he would try and stop it from getting out of hand.

“Exuse me.” Some plain looking boy butts past him.

“Could I make a bet with my previous winnings?” he asks the snowfox lady.

“Sure. I don't see why not.”

He hands over his betting ticket of 10 million zeni. Quinton's eyes widened. This random looking kid just won a billion zeni, and he's betting it again. Is he crazy? He must be crazy. Surely. I would take all that money and live off that for a few decades. 

The boy continues. “Bet all those winnings on my Claire Kagenou’s next match.”

The lady also thought he was crazy. “Sure… could I have a name for you sir?”

“Cid Kagenou.”

Oh. I get it now. Siblings. He's probably the younger one. Nobles probably too. Betting on family is pretty safe. She didn't look like much at first but if you live around them you would be able to estimate their capabilities. I could make a bet for her now if he's willing to bet a billion on her but I will likely only get a slither of the earnings. 

“Very well all done.” She hands him a betting ticket worth just under a billion zeni (snow fox needs to take their cut after all). He casually walks off.

—--------------

Yukime told us to try to find out if Cid Kagenou is his real identity. Perhaps it is. Maybe it was a show of sincerity. 

He likely spread a rumour that his sister was injured and couldn't win to manipulate the people to think that when he bet 10 million he would lose all his money. They thought it would be easy but they lost earning him loads of money and he's betting on her again. 

What's his end goal?

We know who he is now.

She needs to tell Natsu, so she can track him.

Chapter Text

Goldy, Quinton and Annarose were walking down the street. Eventually they notice a sizable crowd around a stall? Admittedly they cannot tell what it is but there are several metal drums? Barrels? Artifacts? Set up next to it. They can't really tell.

“Is that Annarose Nichtsehen?” Someone shouts.

“Yes.” she affirms not really knowing what's happening.

Come come. The crowd beckons her to come forward.

“Is that Goldy Gilded the unbeaten Legend?”

“Didnt that guy just get beaten?”

Goldy grits his teeth.

“But we still want to know.”

“The crowd shoves them and Quinton forwards.”

“Oi I have been waiting here for a while you can shove past.”

“Yeah but these people are actually strong.”

Goldy ends up at a desk. An artifact is placed upon it with tubes going into a large cylindrical object. Sat at the desk is a pink haired girl and an elf girl who is asleep. On either side are two Mitsugoshi guards. 

“Whats going on?” Goldy asks.

“Sir please place your hand on the device and force as much magic into it as possible. We can measure your magical output.”

Oh, Mistugoshi created a magic output measurer? This is interesting.

He placed his hand on the device. He felt its pull. And then he forced as much magic into it as possible. After a few moments he releases his hand. He stumbles back a bit. Wow. That really drained him. The pink haired girl responds to him.

“Magic power reading of 3267”

—-----------

Annarose observed what was happening. Reading magic power for free? That makes sense it would draw a crowd of gamblers and nobles looking for talent or potential. 

After Quinton had his magic power measured. The Mitsugoshi Guards replaced one of the large barrel-like structures attached to the device. Do they store magic in it? It would make sense. A device that can measure magic by draining it, seems like a fair trade. Then they can probably use magic to make whatever wonderful invention Mitsugoshi will come up with next.

She decides to ask Lady Luna about it next time she sees her.

She looks at Goldy and Quinton. They are standing next to a leaderboard of magic quantity. Goldy is currently flaunting being in first. Quinton is trying to hide his irritation in being third.

They watch for a while. Goldy and Quinton were playing a game trying to guess a person's magic, Goldy seemed to be winning. Annarose keeps gaining and keeps the number one spot at 6646. Shame. She was hoping there would be stronger opponents in the tournament. Well there was a man called Imatry Nottaloos who just beat out Goldy. Much to his dismay.

Thinking of strong opponents, one of the strongest opponents passes by, Iris Midgar. Escorted by two Crimson Knights who seemed to be arguing. She couldn't make up or down of what they were saying but from what she understood. One was called Adder and the other Archer. They were arguing about an investigation until Iris gave them a stern look to silence them.

The people crowded around the stand beckoned her to have a try. Undoubtedly they want to know how powerful the princess's magic is. Annarose would be lying to herself if she was not curious too. 

Iris reached the device.

“Sherry… you made this?”

“Yes.” the pink haired scientist replies gleefully. “Well I did work with Eta.” She points to an empty chair. 

Sherry realises the chair is empty and then taps something on the floor. A droopy Elf girl pops up. She seemed to have just woken up. A manic grin appears on her face.

“this… this one will be interesting.”

—--------

You are the crown princess of Midgar. You must show the world your strength.

Iris pours magic into the device. The crowd backs up due to her sheer power flowing out of her.

—-----

Magic flowed into the machine, then something popped. Sherry looks at the machine. 

“She has too much magic and it broke the magic absorber.” Eta said lazily, she seemed to be interested in something else, some device connected to the magic converter.

“eh…” Sherry was not trained for this, there was a princess waiting on her. She didn't know what to do. “It’s over 9000” Sherry finally states, reading the remains of the broken equipment.

Whispers started.

“Her magic is so high it broke.”

“Immesurable.”

—--------

Iris walked off. A voice lingered in her mind, ‘they are too strong’ her sister complains, ‘you are endangering the kingdom of Midgar’ her father glares and one that hurts the most of all ‘I think the kingdom already knows you're strong. Are you trying to prove your strength to the kingdom or yourself ’ a mocking voice taunts. She has heard it before but cannot remember who said it.

It doesn't matter.

She is the strongest.

No one will stand against her sword.

—-----------

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Panoptes was right. Shadow Garden would interfere with the princess. As if SHE could kill so many people without outside influence. Was she secretly already sided with Shadow Garden? They must have given her some artifact or something. Just if I was told this earlier.

This is already a mess. The cult is trying to search the city for her, but we have to do it as Orianan soldiers or subtly, which is far slower than I would have liked.

They tried to hide what happened but the Knights of Midgar noticed. Dammit all.

My second in command, Sekond Inkommand, followed the orders to tell Rose if she escapes ‘to come back before the end of the Bushin festival or we will force her father to kill Midgard nobles’ which would incite a war between the countries.

Unfortunately it would be bad to kill King Klaus… for now at least. If Iris becomes queen now she would likely militarize which would be more of a headache, for the destruction of Midgar, down the line. All I need to do is get a hold of the princess.

So she will return to us during the tournament. Once this little meeting with Princess Iris is over. Fortunately princess Iris is not known for her political abilities so having the puppet King of Oriana not responding should go too badly.

—--------

Natsume Kafka, a big unknown for the Crimson order. She is supposedly a well renowned author who got sucked into an assassination plot by Shadow Garden along with her sister, Claire and Rose Oriana. 

Rose Oriana also had no business interfering but that was a problem for another time.

Natsume Kafka told her sister that, ‘Chancellor Perv Asshat has been weirdly close to King Raphael Geerk Oriana. That the King seems to be acting a bit vacant as of late.’ That is information about the Orianan Royalty that she absolutely should not be able to obtain.

In truth Iris doesn't know what would be worse. A liar who feeds false information to the princesses or an author who can somehow get confidential information about royalty while not being in the same country as said royalty.

Her sister said. ‘The first is annoying, like realising you were standing knee deep in a pit of snakes, if she can lie to you who else is lying? The second scenario is beneficial but also dangerous, they speak the truth to get your trust but how long until one truth is a hidden knife meant to slice you when you trust them the most, just like Zenon. A week, a year, maybe never.’

Iris entered the room with Adder and Archer behind her. She finally glared at them hard enough to stop them from arguing. Both brilliant Knights, she was hoping being on a walk with her would make them friends. Unfortunately, they did not stop their bickering. Why can't everyone just be friends to fight the Cult and Shadow Garden.

Iris sits herself down. Adder and Archer stand beside her. Opposite her the King of Oriana is seated opposite her to Chancellor Perv Asshat to the left and two Orianan Guards opposite. Unlike the Guards of Midgar the Orianan Guards wore high end ‘business suits’ as even Guards wear the latest fashion in Oriana. 

Admittedly, Iris didn't get suits. They limited movements, her arms couldn't properly swing a sword without discomfort or ripping the suit. They look formal, she will give them that but formal doesn't win a fight. If it did, Oriana would have the most powerful military.

“Greeings Princess Iris.”

They talk for a while. Iris can't help but notice how the Perv answers for the King with only a few mumbles coming from the latter. It's like he isn't mentally present. Natsume was right, it was far worse than she mentioned but her information was spot on.

Iris is also suspicious of Perv. He said he and Rose were having a bit of a lovers spat, but Iris was fairly certain a lovers spat didn't kill 40 people. And why prevent the Knights of Midgar from trying to help find her. Could she be involved in one of these giant secret organisations? 

Dammit why does it all have to be so complicated.

—--------

Just healed Sis again. Fortunately before the nurses could get a proper look. Can you believe she injured her other hand in the fight. I healed her hand so it seems that the blade passed through and missed everything important, she still needs stitches tho. On the other hand, the bones have reformed properly but still need time. But she can more or less fight with both hands now as long as she doesn't try to block anything heavy. She gave me a real suspicious look after I healed her, she probably noticed that she shouldn't be healing that fast but my bets winning are more important.

“Cid, some crazy person just bet almost a billion zeni on a losing match.”

It was me and Claire will win that match. The last guy she beat was stronger than this next contestant.

“The contestant that guy bet on was badly injured.”

Sis is more durable than most.

“Cid, I need more money to bet so we can both get rich.”

“What happened to your money, did you lose it all? Remember our bet.”

Skel, who had indeed lost all his money betting on Goldy, did not want to have to pay 100,000 zeni to Cid so he suddenly found a reason to leave. He needed to take out a loan if he wanted to win anything. Obviously. 

Cid noticed Nu walk up to him the moment Skel left. She was wearing her student disguise again. 

“Nu report.”

“My Lord, a spy is following you, they seem to be from the Snowfox corporation. Shall we eliminate them for you.”

“Do not do anything. If we do, it could be more suspicious than just acting normally. I can lose her when needed. Anything else.”

“Your supermarket plan is currently moving along perfectly. We have encountered minimal resistance from the cult and the Garter Corporation, due to your foresight.”

Not entirely sure what I did to stop the cult and Garter co interfering or why they are attributing it to me. I was too busy playing detective to pay any attention to the supermarket. Hopefully once they finish the duration of ‘sibling shopping time’ will be greatly reduced.

“Oh, and tell Alpha to meet me on top of the clock tower in the evening.”

“On top of?... of course my Lord, consider it done.” Nu replies while contemplating whether he meant literally on top of or if it was some sort of code.

—------

Alpha reaches the clock tower. She was in fact busy but spending time with Lord Shadow had an infinitely higher priority than any task could ever have.

She reaches the clock tower. The tallest structure in the area. She sneaks into its shadow and scales it.

It's not legal to scale buildings even if that law only affects the few who can do it, but it's not like that ever affected Shadow Garden.

Once she reached the top. Shadow stood there peering off into the distance, overlooking the world as if he were its guardian. He peered off into the distance thinking the unthinkable. Watching over the city as the street laps slowly lit up and the activity of all those below him slowed. Wind slowly brushed leaves across the floor between them. The moon hung over– wait why where there leaves here? This building is taller than any tree should ever be. Did he bring leave up here… no he wouldn't do something so… weird.

—-----------

I hope Alpha appreciates all the effort I put into setting up the scene. It's actually really hard to dry leaves that roll in the wind properly. It's not autumn so they were quite tough to find. And it's not like I would waste my bag of feathers here. It's actually surprising how few bandits have pillows and even fewer bandits have pillows with good feathers.

Maybe I should ask Delta to help me hunt some birds. Or maybe not if I want to have intact feathers.

“Short time no see Alpha, I'm glad.”

She starts blushing in return? It's probably nothing. “Anything to report on?”

Alpha switches to work mode. “Nothing Major. Operations are proceeding as normal, the cult is quiet. This usually happens after we land a major blow to them. Epsilon will soon be moving to Oriana as her performances have gained the attention of their nobles.”

“That's quite impressive.”

Alpha pouts for a moment. “Eta has created a device that can measure magic output and store the magic, with the help of Sherry. They set up a stand for people to test their magic output and charge the power cells, while Eta works on a permanent solution. People got surprisingly competitive over the scores.”

“Intersting.”

Alpha's tone shifts to something more dramatic “But that is all just a facade.” 

Oh, how she is learning.

Alpha continues. “In truth Eta is using it to monitor magic control. It's not precise but it will pick up anything noticeable.”

“Clever, rampant magic means two things; possession or cult enhancements. Have you found anything useful yet?”

“Yes, several Knights of Midgar have magic that could be enhanced by the cults' drugs. Some we were already suspicious of. We are looking into it. There is also…” Alpha decided not to tell him something.

“Also what? Is someone else of importance part of the cult?”

Alpha folds immediately “Not part of the cult… but Princess Iris. Her excessive magic has a consistent rhythm similar to high grade cult enhancements but magnitudes greater than even first children, who should have the finest cult enhancements. But it would make no sense for Iris to have cult enhancements. Her magic is not acting like possession at all; we can't find an explanation. I am sorry for our incompetence my Lord, we will look into it further.”

“Do not fault yourself on things not even I was aware of.” This sounds interesting.

“Very well my Lord. You were also correct that Matthias Pecunia is a spy but for the Crown not the Cult. He was looking for the Cult spy. But you likely suspected as much.”

“Yes.” Spy for the Crown I had no idea. That sounds awesome. A spy spying on a spy in an organisation trying to uncover two secret organisations at war. That's awesome.

“Lastly Beta is working with Princess Alexia to track down Princess Rose.”

“I will deal with Rose later.” Yeah Rose looked really sad. I can't just leave her like that.

Alpha moves to stand next to her Lord. She stands next to him as they look over the city for a while.

“Alpha, the lessons I taught you last time we met, I shall continue them today.”

Alpha just smiles at him in return as she shifts closer to him.

Shadow looks off into the distance. “When besting your opponent you should try to set the scene.”

“How should I set the scene?”

“Well first you need inspiration.”

Cid walks with her through the city. They are in civilian attire walking through the central shopping district. Many faces are here

“Thinking about it, is there anyone we should try and avoid?”

“Yes my Lord, Alexia, Claire and Rose know my face. It would be best to avoid them seeing us together for now.”

“I see. It would be best to also avoid Skel. If he saw me with a pretty woman the entire school would know in a few days, I would dislike that.”

—--------

Alpha's face turns every shade of pink. She tries to hide it. He… called me pretty…

She looked back at him. He didn't seem to notice she turned peach or perhaps he already knew but thought best not to embarrass her more.

He continued for a while until he stopped suddenly. Then suddenly changed direction as if being enthralled. No, her Lord would never be enthralled. He must be off on an important mission or found something important. Alpha follows him.

He seems to be going in a specific direction but she doesn't see anything interesting in that direction… could it be that he hears something. She listens closely. Nothing. Even closer. Music? Alpha pours magic into her ears even more. She silences all other sounds just to listen. The moonlight sonata. If she remembers correctly, Epsilon should be playing for nobles right about now.

No, I absolutely cannot let her interrupt my date with Cid. wait a moment… Date?! Alpha proceeds to make herself blush again.

Oh where did he go? I need to catch up. She rushes off after him.

—------------

Cid enters the room to see a crowd of nobles. The walls are high, a carefully crafted stained glass window behind a small stage with a pianist upon it. The room is filled with impressive and expensive art, yet all the eyes are looking at the pianist in the center. Epsilon. Of course it's Epsilon. Cid mentally kicks himself. Why didn't he think of that?

Alpha said she was going to Oriana soon. I should probably say hi to her before she leaves.

—------

Epsilon was doing a post-performance beauty session. Number 126 was brushing her hair. Then the door opened? she wasn't expecting guests.

Lord Shadow and Alpha are here? 

“The moonlight sonata is my favourite piece.” He starts.

“My Lord it also happens to be one of my favourite pieces.”

That performance was so beautiful. Will you marry me?

Yes of course I will my Husband.

“Is anyone using the piano after you?”

Epsilon snaps back to reality from her day dreams. Fortunately a thin layer of slime on her face she was experimenting with hides her blush quite well.

“No my Lord, that was the Last scheduled performance of the day.”

“I’m happy you liked my songs.”

He smiles and starts to walk off. “Oh and you look as beautiful as ever Epsilon.”

“Oh, eheh… I'm nothing special…” Epsilon's expression opposes such words. Such an expression could only be described as ‘I can't wait to rub this in Beta's face.’

Just like that he's gone.

Alpha is still here, she's frozen in pure shock. Epsilon can't help but smirk at her. Alpha doesn't even have the strength to respond to the provocation.

Yes, I will be the only one Lord Shadow will violate with his eyes.

—----------

Alpha is angry at me for some reason.

Is it because I called Epsilon pretty? No way.

I take a good look at Alpha. I can't help but notice She changed her slime suit from a more loose dress to the exact one Epsilon was wearing. 

Damm. She can't go stealing someone else's look. She's supposed to have the look all the lower ranks steal then put their own spin on it.

“Alpha, Epsilon's dress does not suit you. You look much more beautiful in your own clothes.”

Her face turns peachy as her slime shifts to her previous clothes in an instant.

Glad that's fixed.

“I told Epsilon she's beautiful to make her happy. Her performance of the Moonlight sonata made me happy. And you know how much Epsilon puts a lot of effort into looking pretty. You probably know how she uses my 3 hour sleep technique every night and spends the rest of the time trying to perfect her looks.”

“She what…” Alpha never knew. As ridiculous as it sounds she thought Epsilon woke up every day looking perfect.

“You didn't know?”

Alpha has quite a lot to think about. Yet a major question comes to her.

“My Lord, why are we doing this?”

Alpha and Cid have stolen a piano and are trying to walk down a tight stairwell into the sewers. Cid is trying his best not to scratch it.

“It's a really good set piece.”

“...” I don't get it, truly his intelligence is beyond me.

—-----------

After various careful manoeuvres. They entered the grand hall of a forgotten Church. The few rays of moonlight illuminated an elevated platform where an altar or statue likely used to lay. The walls were covered in stained glass, likely a millenia old, yet it had been cleaned recently.

“You see this is a perfect place to set this up.”

He hands her a bag of feathers.

“Throw these in the air while I play, then look at the scene from the entrance.” and she does just that.

Cid starts to play as feathers fly.

Alpha looks onto the scene from the entrance. The moonlight piano, the atmosphere and feathers falling around him. It's perfect.

She returns to his side as both she and Cid for a while both completely lost in the song.

—-------

Mid song Alpha tries to get my attention but I swipe her away. I'm just enjoying the music too much. Just let me play a bit longer.

It's been quite a while since I have fully immersed myself in music. Not since it was just me and the Shades. 

Fortunately I haven't lost my touch.

And I slowly end the performance as I let the final notes ring out.

I look at Alpha. She looks concerned.

“Cid…?”

That was not Alpha who said that.

I turn to the source of the sound.

It's Rose Oriana.

Oh no. 

She is looking at us wearing our civilian disguises. How do I bullshit my way out of this.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

“Poochi!”

Pooch proceeded to walk faster in the opposite direction.

There is a missing princess who has suddenly become league stronger than she should be and she is running loose. A leader of a foreign nation that seems to be mentally absent. A suspicious amount of money betting on his own sister by a single person that we cannot legally identify without causing a fuss with the white tower. And he's running away.

Alexia decided to use her ultimate move to get his attention. Money.

Cid turns on a dime and dives for the coins. Somehow the wide selection of pocket change is scooped up by Cid instantly. Admittedly Alexia is unsure how all the coins were picked up in a single swoop from Cid. If there was one thing Alexia admitted Cid was really good at and was improving consistently at was picking up coins.

“Cid, we have a lot to talk abou–”

“I’m very busy.” He interupts while counting his coins.

“No you are n– what is that.”

Writers note: I did not draw this, I cut up a few manga panels and pasted them together. I drew the lemon.

He hands her the strange object. It was bright yellow, the kind only reserved for flowers. It vaguely resembles a limequat (a small lemon shaped fruit), it was once imported a few years ago for royalty to flaunt their wealth with their access to fruits from far away. 

Cid hands her the strange object.

“Lemon.”

“Is this a gift? What is this?! Where did you get this?!”

“It's as sweet as you are.”

Huh?

Alexia stood there in stunned silence as he left. She didn't know what to question more; the strange object she had been handed or that Poochi used his OWN money to buy her a gift or that he called her sweet. Alexia felt a weird sense of satisfaction creep over her as poochi compared her to this supposedly very sweet fruit.

She smelled the strange fruit. It was nice.

—--------

Sherry looks at the strange looking mandarin Eta has given her.

“It's an Orange… I created it by breeding a modified pomelo and a mandarin.”

Sherry looks at the half asleep scientist with almost disbelief. “You CREATED a new fruit.”

“They exist elsewhere but are far smaller and contain more rind.”

“how?”

“By crossbreeding.”

“What?”

“We forced… different plants to reproduce with each other… it's just like how an elf and a human can make a half elf… similar fruits can do the same.”

That's incredible. Time consuming, ridiculous, incredible, crazy but incredible all the same.

Sherry takes a slice of one of Eta's oranges. It's sweet, not chocolate sweet but a nice cool fruitiness. “These oranges were created for sweetness?”

Her question jolts Eta from her half asleep state. “No, I made them so Luna could give me more research budget.” she states with obvious joy.

In Eta terms that was practically a yes. These would likely be sold at a high price to nobles in the supermarket. 

A manic grin appears on Eta's face, her once sleepy demeanour completely gone. She starts pulling out diagrams.

She wonders what other fruits Eta has created.

—----------

Lemon. 

Alexia looked at the fruit and back at her book. Then back at the fruit. It looked like a citron. A large fragrant citrus fruit with a thick coarse rind. It was the closest she could find but the lemon was smooth but the Citron was rough and bumpy and notably larger. And Citrons were very sour if she had been called sweet as a citron she would have punched him. Nothing matched the lemon exactly. Admittedly Alexia did not keep an eye on recently discovered fruits. Perhaps someone else would know.

If I'm going to eat this thing I need to know what it is first.

—-----------

The Crimson Order was full of discussion. After Alexia explained the strange actions of the princess Rose, then she left to find Cid. The rest of the order was trying to understand what was going on while Iris was doing her official duties as crown princess.

“So, Rose did not give an explanation on why she killed so many Orianan nobles.”

“...”

“Do we have any clue why there was a random piano there?” Marco asked, still completely perplexed by the perfectly new and intact piano’s presence in an underground ruin.

Glen walked in the door. “I spoke to the knight of Midgar who spotted Rose as she was running away after the noble massacre.”

The room listened to him.

“He described her caked in blood and with a noticeable cut in her side.”

“She did have her dress cut on her side but she had no wound. She did have blood on her but not exactly caked in it.” Matthias corrected.

“According to him, she was most definitely bleeding from that wound. If he is telling the truth, someone is definitely aiding her.”

“So someone healed her but that doesn't explain the massive difference in magic power.”

“People can't exactly get suddenly stronger. That makes no sense.”

“How does one even suddenly increase magic power? Was she hiding her true strength so why reveal it now.” Matthias asked. He knew that one could gain an increase in magic power from cult enhancements or drugs but they were less clean. They would make the user's magic power more volatile. It was as if Rose's magic circuits were fine tuned and enhanced. Even if she was hiding her power, why reveal it now? It didn't make sense and he can't exactly ask the other members because he's not supposed to know about cult enhancements or how deep it actually goes. Fortunately for him the King who did give him such information, can hopefully piece this together.

Matthias decided to speak, “I have a hunch but if someone is backing her up it's probably Shadow Garden.” That definitely was not cult interference. No one else could really pull that off other than Shadow Garden.

“So we are presuming what's happening to the Orianan King is a cult ploy?” Glen questions.

“Suspecting not presuming.”

“So increase security around people interacting with Oriana to catch them when they make a move. …I’m still so confused about the piano.”

The door suddenly swings open. Alexia returns without Cid.

“Did you find anything?”

“Can someone identify this object?”

She places the lemon on the table.

“Uh… where did you find this?” Matthias Pecunia looks at the fruit he definitely should know about. He was in no way an expert but if it was cheap enough for a son of a Baron to get his hands on he should know of it.

“I don't think I have seen one before.”

“Cid gave it to me, he called it a lemon.”

“Could he have gotten it from Mitsugoshi?” Mitsugoshi did often transport exotic fruits from distant places for nobles.

Alexia's anger spiked for just a moment. Cid was supposed to go with her the next time they went to Mitsugoshi. She needs to keep him away from Luna after all, but he did give her a gift and call her as sweet as a lemon.

“We could ask the Head of the Pecunia family, Edric Pecunia. I also happen to have business in the royal castle, so I can escort you there, if you wish.” Matthias asked.

“Very well. Marco, would you like to join us,” the princess asked.

“..I will princess, but once I am done I will leave. An old friend of mine will be arriving today to see the main Bushin festival.” Marco replies to the princesses, bowing slightly.

“Very well.” Alexia is still slightly thrown off by the formality, none of which is ever given by the Kagenou siblings.

—-----------

“Lord Fenrir.”

A man kneels before him.

“Dark spider. Tell me what brings you here.”

“We have received more compatible blood from Lady Hel. Enough to fill a cart.”

Fenrir could already smell the question. How is she getting so much blood? He would be lying if he said he was not curious himself. 

She still had plenty. The amount of compatibles keeps dropping. Likely Shadow Garden is also using them for experiments. Once they are defeated the amount of compatibles the cult can get their hands on will return to normal. 

Hel doesn't seem to be affected by the drop in compatibles. Can get blood without many new compatibles. How…?

—------------

“Missing princess, dead nobles, Oriana is being very tight lipped about the incident wanting to investigate it themselves without our aid and we are waiting on a report from Matthias about the incident. Anything I missed?” Klaus sighs. So much happening at once the cult of Diabolos and Shadow Garden are plotting something.

Alexia barges into the room, etiquette be damned.

“A piano was robbed in broad daylight.”

“... what?”

“During a party in the capital for mid ranked nobles a piano suddenly disappeared. A guard who was standing reported it vanished without a trace while he was looking at it. No magic detected, no thieves found. Complete mystery.”

“w…”

Even Alexia and Matthias, who followed just behind her, were dumbfounded.

Alexia finally decided to break the silence. “Was that piano a black grand piano?”

“Yes?” Edric Pecunia answered cautiously.

“Thin fools gold engravings, black leather stool, newly made, Orianan design.”

“yes.”

“I believe we have found the piano.”

“Where is it?” Klaus questioned his daughter.

“In an ancient ruin under the capital.”

“Be serious.”

Mattihas spoke up. “My apologies for speaking out of turn, your majesty, she is speaking the truth. We were told a rumor that Rose Oriana was down in the sewers. While down there we felt a massive magic presence and rushed towards it. We found an ancient church and at its centre was a piano of that exact description.”

This is the first time Klaus had been this confused. Why did a piano seemingly vanish into thin air and reappear in an abandoned building. Was there an artifact behind this. But an artifact would have a magic signature behind. Of all things a missing piano. Why? No, they must have come over here for another reason.

“I will get the bottom of this. Place your investigation requests on the table I will read through them.”

Klaus now had to thoroughly check every request and make sure it did not anger the Cult or Shadow Garden. Either force could kill his daughters if he is not careful. 

Last time they uncovered a minor crime the Garter Corporation was doing. While he was not aware of the crime initially it was only minor but Garters links to the Cult ran deep. Deep enough prodding him at all is quite the risk. The Crown had to do damage control. 

Fortunately, in the confusion they let the Mitsugoshi land purchase go through. The merchants were too distracted by the Garter incident. That's the only good thing that came of it.

“I am not here for requests. I wanted to ask if you can identify this.”

She places the lemon on the table.

“A lemon? How!?” Edric answered.

“You know about this?”

“Yes. When I was on a trip in Vegalta a Duke had imported these from even further west. They were slightly moldy but the fact he could bring an exotic fruit so far was impressive in itself. But that begs a question: how did you get a fresh one here? When Midgar is way further away.”

“Cid gave it to me.”

“The Baron's son?” Klaus questioned.

“Yes.”

“Your Majesty, we suspect he got it from Mitsugoshi.” Matthias stated.

That was a reasonable assumption.

—----------

Yukime told her to follow this kid named Cid Kagenou. Find out everything about him.

Yet he just seems like a random kid.

Apart from the few times where she lost track of him or that one time where she accidentally tracked a different dark haired boy for half an hour because he's just that generic.

She watched Kagenou get beaten up by street thugs. One single punch sent him flying and splatted him against a wall like an egg. Then he peeled off and landed perfectly on his face. It was almost comical. They tried to steal his money but his wallet was empty.

The only thing that confuses her is how he bought a tuna king burger after the thieves beat him up only to realise he had nothing of value on him. Pity burger? No that can't be it.

Another thing that confuses her. The next day those bandits were dead. It was likely a coincidence but it strikes her as odd.

The next thing she needed to find out if Claire Kagenou, the woman he was betting on, was his actual sister. From their ‘interactions’ she would guess yes? It can't be normal for siblings to act like that.

This information should get to Yukime at once.

—----------

Iris was returning from another boring political discussion between the Midgar nobles and Oriana. The corridors felt like they were endless. Iris dragged her feet in a very unprincessy manner.

Until she encountered her sister. She was talking to Mattihas. She was slightly suspicious of him being a spy but they had no evidence.

She heard them talk.

“I’m going to eat the lemon. It would be a waste to let a sweet fruit rot.”

Where did she get the idea it's sweet? Matthias thought it looked like a Citron (which is bitter).

Alexia peels the skin of the lemon. She smells it then takes a big bite of the lemon.

Regret.

That was not at all sweet. It was the most sour thing she had ever tasted.

She convulses a little and spits out the lemon. It rolls across the floor. She coughs and bit more.

‘It's as sweet as you are.’ Alexia starts trembling with rage. Oh he has no idea what is coming to him. I'm going to get him back for this.

“ALEXIA!” 

Before Alexia realises what has happened, Iris appears out of nowhere grabs her sister in one hand and has already drawn her blade in the other to face a non-existent threat.

“ALEXIA what happned? Are you okay–”

“I’m fine.” Alexia says defiantly but she doesn't do anything to evade Iris' one handed hug.

“You're shaking.”

“Iris I’m fine.”

But Cid won't be when I'm done with him. 

Chapter Text

No. She was not stalking her brother. She was merely making sure he doesn't get into trouble. What kind of trouble you may ask. Well the one where he was spotted in the girls dorm.

Claire's friend Nina told her she saw Cid walking towards the girls' dorms with a pink haired girl. Claire guessed that girl was probably Sherry. 

She was nice and all but getting invited into another woman's room. No, absolutely not. No one would steal away my baby brother's innocence like that, even her. He did stand completely naked in front of the princesses one time but he's still innocent.

Fortunately she managed to quickly and politely threaten enough people to know where her dorm is.

Now she was listening in with her head against the door and definitely not invading their privacy.

She listened in on them talking.

“See, it's even comfortable when you move about,” Sherry said with obvious joy.

Move about in what.

“Can I? Oh yes I can.” Cid states with glee. Another sound starts. It's quiet. It sounds like someone is tapping or pushing something?

Cid what are you doing?

It continues for a while.

What is that noise?

“C-cid stop, my head is starting to hurt.”

What are you doing Cid.

Some other sounds happen but nothing Claire can make our maybe Cid suddenly grabbed something.

“I’ll do it the other way so you don't get dizzy.” Cid said.

“No, that is not what I meant.” Sherry half heartedly complains.

What are they doing? Whatever it is, I must stop it and protect my brother's innocence. If you want to ruin my brother, harpy, you must first go through me. 

Claire busts down the door. “Cid!!”

Huh?

She sees her brother standing next to Sherry. Fully clothed completely fine. Sherry is sitting on a weird chair made of metal. It has a singular large leg in the middle that branched off into several small pairs of wheels. The chair is spinning in place. Cid is pushing the chair to spin it faster.

They both get a fright. At Claire breaking down the door.

“Ahhh!” Sherry squeals.

They look at each other for a moment.

…

…

“Sis you will probably have to pay for the door.”

Chapter Text

Two figures walk towards each other in the corridor. The corridor is dimly lit with the evening rays coming through. Sounds of the Bushin festival ring out in the background. They are very far apart, perhaps 30 meters and slowly narrowing. They look at each outer briefly but their eyes do not meet, not yet. A perfect mysterious encounter for an eminence in Shadow.

At one end a mysterious elf I don't recognise. She does not have slime nor seems to be using any Shadow Garden magic techniques. A mysterious sword woman, one of my favourite tropes.

On the other end, the Eminence in Shadow walks towards her hidden behind a mask of someone completely and utterly ordinary. Yes this is perfect.

Nothing could ruin this perfect Eminence in Shadow moment.

“CID!”

No.

A hand reaches for his neck.

“A certain someone told me you weren't watching any of my recent matches.”

Who would tell her that… a certain white haired princess comes to mind… Ah.

Claire drags Cid by the throat back out the corridor in the opposite direction to the mysterious swords woman.

Nooo my Eminence in Shadow encounter… Alexia I will get you back for this.

—---------

‘I thought that man would be strong, have my senses dulled?’ the mysterious elf whispers to herself.

—-------

The streets were bustling with people in the evening bloom. The crowds of people had just started thinning as spectators started to head home. Stalls with all sorts of goods were finishing business trying to get the last few customers before they closed for the day. Two old freinds met. 

“Marco.” an Old man calls out. “Thornton.” The freinds shake hands and begin to walk together.

“Glad to see you doing well.”

“And you, Hows the new lord who has taken over from the Marquez?”

“Hes been very kind but you would expect that from one who just took over. The people are not in the best mood after such an attack, reduced taxes and less control from the nobles helps ease the transition.”

“Thats a good sign atleast.”

“Well I’m more glad youre okay.”

Marco tilted his head.

“The grave robbers curse. If you are doing well, you have not been cursed…” He closed the distance between them so noone else could hear. “that means Nicolletta is alive.”

A grave to the living is not a grave. Marco could not find a flaw in his logic. Nicolletta is alive. That figure next to Shadow, she was Nu. It must have been. Why did she now follow Shadow with such devotion? It made no sense. Why go so far to fake your death for all these years and tell no one. Just if he could talk to her. Just if–

“Marco?”

Marco realised he had stopped walking and he went to catch up to Thornton.

“Never mind what I said, let's try not to let such sour thoughts ruin the mood.”

—---------

I really did not want to be in this position.

“So Cid.” Said the figure strangling him. Claire sat on him in the middle of the Crimson. Alexia stood smugly to her side with a smile that could only say ‘you get what you deserve.’

Mundane man really has a match I need to get to. I can't exactly miss that. After I beat the next guy I fight one of the seven blades then Iris. If Rose comes before that I will need to break my disguise but I really want to fight Iris. The Eminence in Shadow defeats the strongest competitors in the tournament then disappears mysteriously. It's perfect.

“Promise me that you will watch my next match.”

“Uwehhh. Please stop, it hurts, my beautiful, stylish sister.” Cid shows a look of childlike innocence.

She stops strangling him but keeps him pinned to the floor.

Alexia did not seem to think that she had sufficient vengeance on Cid.

“Why did you tell her?” Cid asked Alexia flatly.

“Why? Well because someone gave me a sour fruit and told me it was sweet.”

“I said it was as sweet as you are.”

“See Cid needs me to protect him from this Sour trashy princess.” This did not soothe Alexia's rage in the slightest. 

Alexia composed herself and put on a mask of a smug smile.

“Says the one who broke into Sherry's room to protect your brother. What were you going to do? fight the chair?” I told Alexia about that incident as rumour had someone (Claire) shouted my name in the girls dorm. Alexia was pouting and nagging me about it for some reason.

Claire gets off of me to argue with Alexia allowing me to make my escape.

Mob exit successful.

—--------

“Next up Mundane Mann vs Quinton.”

Annarose sat beside Goldy in the stands overlooking the arena. If Mundane Mann beats Quinton she will be fighting him next.

Goldy grits his teeth. “I don't understand how Mundane beat me. His battle power is still so low.”

“Well hopefully we will see more of whatever tricks he has. I will face him if he can defeat Quinton.”

Quinton stood opposite Mundane Mann in the Arena. More people had gathered here today probably due to the defeat of the unbeaten Legend. Quinton had an air of caution around him. Goldy is not exactly the strongest but not exactly a pushover either. Quinton has to be clever if he wants to win.

Mundane Mann on the other hand looks like there is nothing happening in his brain. He seems to be spaced out staring at nothing, he wipes his nose with his glove.

“Mundane Mann VS Quinton… Fight!”

The fight starts but both remain still assessing their options for a moment. Quinton takes the first move. He steps forward so he is just out of what he thinks Mundane’s reach is, which he is judged based on the fight with Goldy.

Mundane Mann's eyes track something but the rest of him remains unmoving.

Quinton dashes in to strike. He feels something hit his legs knocking him off balance. 

Mundane gets some dirt in his eyes from Quinton's dash. He turns to the side. 

Quinton skids across the ground and slams into the pommel of Mundane's still sheathed sword that sticks out his side. Then goes flying even further and lands in the dirt and collapses.

The crowd stays still for a few moments trying to process what they just saw. To an average person it looks like Quinton just charged at him lost his footing and face planted knocking himself unconscious.

“What was that?” Goldy asked Annarose.

“Mundane did something.”

“did what?”

“I don't know if it was too fast for me to tell. But what I can say is when Quinton charged at him. I saw his lead move for a moment right before Quinton's legs buckled. And he moved a second time with a punch… maybe an elbow once he passed him.”

“Thats ridiculous, no way can someone be that fast.”

“I told you. Mundane's power is his overwhelming speed. He has no technique, just speed.”

Annarose gets up and walks away as the crowd starts to murmur about what happened. 

“Where are you going?”

“I want to see if I can talk to him.”

Goldy follows after her as some people in the crowd start yelling about how rigged the tournament and that they want their bet money back. Some people are questioning if he is a real dark horse or just a lucky man. 

—-------

I'm just returning from my match against Kwi. Qui… Qu quanton? Eh doesn’t matter. But what does matter is the two figures approaching me. That is way more interesting. The first figure stands in front of me blocking my path. 

I need to slowly start revealing my cards. The point of a ‘weak guy who enters a tournament who is actually the strongest’ acutype is they first have a reaction of this guy is done for. Then they think how did this guy get so far or something is off about this guy this is where I am at. The final stage is that this guy is actually crazy strong and it isn't even close. I need to do sufficient foreshadowing for that stage otherwise it looks like I'm deliberately pretending to be weak instead of just not needing to use my full strength which is way cooler for the tournament winning archetype. For an Eminence in Shadow faking being weak is cooler.

“I never expected you to make it into the pre-quarter finals.”

Yesss. Pre match talk from my next fight this is what I'm talking about. If any one wants to have a good tournament fight they have to do this. I must have finally got to the big leagues instead of the side character beating.

“It was expected.” Mundane says with zero expression.

You have no idea how hard it is to suppress my smile.

“Yes but in the next match you will be facing me. I have seen through your tactics.”

I've been using tactics?

“Allow me to give you that warning.” she finishes.

The shiny gold man next to him says “Are you sure you should have told him that?”

Mundane starts to walk off.

This is the point where you call back to me. Cmon. Do it. Do it. do it. 

His face slips and he lets out a little smile.

“Whats so funny.”

Yesss thank you I have been saving this move. You could not have given me a more perfect moment.

“Allow me to give YOU a warning.”

Mundane Mann takes off his vanbrace (the armour on the forearm). 

This is the best part. I need to align the elbow point of this armour to hit a micro crack in the ground to make it break apart. If it doesn't shatter the ground all this is for nothing. I even got Eta to make it out of Tungsten for this. It's three times heavier than steel and it's extra thick.

Mundane Mann drops the vambrace and lands with the elbow guard first. It hits the stone floor cracking the rocks and cement. Cracks spreading out from the landing. He drops the one off his other arm. It breaks the floor just like the first.

“The restraints are off.”

Now slowly walk away. The second stage is almost complete, almost time for the big reveal of 'wow he’s so strong’.

—-------

Annarose and Goldy stood there in stunned silence. What was that? Why was his armour so heavy?

“Umm. what was that.” Goldy questions

“He must be stronger than I thought.”

“No, the armor.”

Goldy picks up a piece. Even knowing it's heavy from the fact it shattered the ground he is still suprised by its weight. 

“This is way heavier than it looks.” Goldy says holding it up.

Most dark nights wear simple metal plates for protection. Thin enough to stop arrows or muskets when infused with magic. With that knowledge even Annarose knows no metal has any right to be this heavy for its size. What in the world are these things made of?

“Wait, did he just leave them here? Is he not going to like to come back and get them? They look quite expensive.”

—-------

Finally I can do my mysterious encounter as Cid. I had a hard time tracking her signature as is now but remaining hidden and waiting until she is in a perfectly long corridor there are several throughout the arena but most are busy. 

He walks down the corridor.

Two figures walk towards each other in the corridor again. The corridor is dimly lit with the late evening rays coming through again. Sounds of the Bushin festival ring out in the background again. They are very far apart, perhaps 30 meters and slowly narrowing again. They look at each outer briefly but their eyes do not meet, not yet. A perfect mysterious encounter for an eminence in Shadow.

At one end a mysterious elf again. She has a big cloak obscuring her face and covering most of her body. She is carrying a very long sword by her side. A mysterious sword woman, one of my favourite tropes.

On the other end, the Eminence in Shadow walks towards her hidden behind a mask of someone completely and utterly ordinary. Yes this is perfect.

This time nothing could ruin this perfect Eminence in Shadow moment. I made sure of that. They begin to walk towards each other.

Finally they are about to pass each other. She stops in front of him.

“You smell of elf.”

Nooooo what are you doing you are supposed to pass me then ask. I guess I got that earlier so I can’t complain. Okay I can save this.

“Wut?” He responds, feigning confusion.

 “I’m looking for an elf.”

“huh”

“I am looking for an elf that looks like me. A child of my late sister. Have you seen her.”

“I don’t know. I can’t really see your face with that hood on.”

“Oh” She mutters to herself and drops her hood.

She looks nearly identical to Alpha but Cid Kagenou is not supposed to know Alpha.

“No, I can't say I have.”

I need to ask Alpha about this.

“Are you strong?”

“Not really, why do you ask?” How does she know?

“My senses must be dull.” She whispers to herself. Once Cid heard that with his enhanced natural hearing he sighed internally. She continues after a brief moment. “I’m sorry I thought you were stronger. What is your name?”

“Cid Kagenou.” Cid says still slightly cautious. He suspends a confused hand in front of himself as if he does not know what to do with his own limbs. Perfect awkward mob behavior.

The swords woman grabbed his hand and shook it. “My name is Beatrix. I can tell from your hands you will become strong.” 

“No I wont” Cid quickly responded. I need to find better ways to conceal my strength. Why am I not giving off useless background character energy?

She proceeds to leave.

I really need to perfect hiding my mobness. 

—------

Marco and Thorton sat watching the matches in the arena; it was still the beginning of the main tournament. The preliminaries passed a while ago but despite this the crowd had only grown and will likely peak in the finals. The crowd for the matches waxed and waned as they watched all the matches. The arena was large holding over a few thousand people with clear sections for commoners and nobility. Marco despite being nobility sat next to Thorton in the middle class sections as knights and barons often did when not attending anything important. They were currently watching some workers smooth out the ground as Princess Iris’ previous match left a small crater in the ground. 

The arena surprisingly did not reduce in people as it usually did after one of princess’s matches. In fact more people were coming in.

“Next up round 18. Claire Kagenou VS Luzthis Rounde.”

Marco’s ears pricked up at the name Kagenou, she was in the Crimson order with him after all. There were always those born with more magical power and Claire had a lot of magic. She was somewhere between pre incident Rose and Iris albeit less skilled and far more stubborn than both. Which was quite strange considering that both princesses have a lot of magic power even for a royal bloodline who already naturally have a lot of magic power. That part was the second most baffling thing about her. Which was her behaviour which was … definitely something. She was very strong and had high promise of being a knight even more than him, yet he did not really feel envy towards her. 

In truth he was quite happy seeing Claire thrive not due to anything Claire but because a student, even one who most high nobles would consider low born, was respected and got sufficient respect from even the next in line for dukedoms. Whether in her specific case was due to Midgar's system for nurturing talent or Claire's ability to flatten anyone who disagreed with her bodyguards included.

He was glad that the academy could nurture talent properly as both the head of the Granger house, his father and Thorton agreed that it didn't used to be like that. Many possible knights were thrown away due to being born commoners or low born. His parents even got in contact with knights to talk about a possible mentor before entering the academy. Fortunately such ideals have changed over time leading to a significant increase in military might in Midgar. Many say it was due to King Klaus and a set of changes he subtly made over a decade but it's unclear nor does it really matter who made the change.

“You heard about this match?”

“Yes, Claire works in the Crimson Order with me.” Marco was indeed aware about the match's weird bettings this random match has more bets than last year's final by tenfold. Ever since Claire had entered the tournament someone had been betting on her with increasingly large numbers. Once they ran the numbers it was as if the person was constantly betting all their winnings. More or less they could only tell how many people were betting and the total cash bet on each side so it was only an approximation. They only became suspicious after they realised an abnormal amount was being bet on Claire after a few matches. The news only truly broke once a Snowfox employee slipped saying all that money was bet by the same person. Claire said she would screw them over by fumbling a match out of spite so they lose all their money, then decided against it because she promised her brother she would win.

“Oh. Do you know who is betting big money on her?” Thornton asked conversationally.

“Addmittedly, I have no idea and neither does she.”

“Wait really? Like not some noble who predicted she would win while so injured.”

“Not any I know of.”

“Huh.”

It was really weird that someone would bet a growing amount of 1 billion zeni on a supposedly losing match. Which is unheard of. Finals of last year had a total of 300 thousand zeni on both sides and that was considered a massive amount. Who would bet that much?

A plain looking student sneezes a few seats behind them.

“Do ya think she will win? People are betting like crazy, calling this easy money.”

Marco remembers hearing about how Claire fought the entire girls dormitory and won just so she could break into the crown princess’s office to talk to her about her brother, whether that really happened he doesn't know but it would not surprise him in the slightest if it did.

“I’m uncertain but Luzthis is not going to have an easy fight.”

“Damn, I bet enough money to buy us some drinks on this match.”

“Well you should've asked if I knew any of the contestants before betting, old man.”

“I’m not that old yet.” 

“I’m pretty sure you are.”

“Youre right, I probably am.” 

They both let out a chuckle.

“Well, rumor has it she came out of the infirmary and won a match despite that not really happening. You have to be strong for people to come up with some crazy stuff like that.”

“No, what really happened is actually harder to believe.”

Thornton raised a confused eyebrow at Marco.

“What actually happened is she got out of the infirmary while the nurses were trying to keep her in bed which didn't work. A duke's son thought she was not in good enough health to represent the school and challenged her to a duel. Before the duel she broke into the boys dormitory–”

“What?” Thornton says genuinely confused.

“Let me continue, it only gets harder to believe.”

Thornton had truly given up on his drinks money by this point.

“She broke into the boys dormitory and stole her brother from his dorm room. Dragged him all the way to watch the match. She gets disarmed and beats the duke's son using her bare hands. Then fights in the tournament and wins barely a few hours later.”

“Wait, do the dorms have guards? They should if they have that many nobles in them, right?”

“She used to break into the boys dorm and flatten the guards. The guards have given up trying to fight her so they just let her pass at this point. Also I'm not done with the nonsense. After getting injured in the tournament she fights a small group of thieves who tried to rob her brother.”

“That is certainly something. Wait, what do you mean tried to rob.”

“He had literally nothing of value on him, not a single coin. Oh and I am not done with the day.”

“Oh no what happens next.”

“She breaks into one of the girls' dorms and fights off the girls' dorm guards.”

“That is so absurd I am at a loss for words.”

Marco realises he spent so long talking, Claire had already won her match.

Chapter Text

During the Bushin festival many dastardly evil doers try to rob innocent tourists making use of their unfamiliarity and how they usually carry a lot of money on them to spend in the markets. Such places are perfect for a background character. Getting robbed by criminals in some back alley is a perfect place to practice my mob scream. Unfortunately whenever I do my mob scream it happens to keep summoning my sister to beat up the thieves. It's happened like five times this week already. At this point the guards are making jokes about the unlucky boy who keeps getting attacked and saved by his sister constantly. She has gotten five separate criminal groups in jail by interrupting my mob performances. By the fourth group the guards weren't even surprised it was us. He just gave us the look of ‘again, how?’ He then spoke to me and told me to avoid certain parts with this being the umpteenth time I've been attacked.

Damn they won't let me get robbed by bandits.

—-------

Yukime sat at her desk and was reading over reports. There was a baffling yet profitable issue coming up. Well perhaps he planned all of this. 

The betting stands were overloading with customers. Due to the man supposedly called Cid Kagenou (the public did not know his name) who keeps betting an absurd amount of money on Claire Kagenou. Most think Claire should have lost. In fact, her first match's betting odds were 10:1. If not for that man's bets it would have been 30:1. So yes, ⅔ of the bets on his sister winning was him. 

Initially this was unconcerning. But now he has 5 billion zeni bet on her winning the semi finals. Many people wanted to be clever and predict the outcome. Almost as many lost money. 

Due to his actions we have made a lot of money. Way more than we usually do by a factor of ten. Many have bet against Claire thinking this is where she loses as they have a massive payout, others are saying the mysterious better knows best and are betting on his side. 

Once this became public news many people wanted to know, who is Claire Kagenou? All they could really find is shes daughter of a Baron and has a record of one sided tournament victories. That's not that interesting to read about. Newspapers need something recent now, something interesting, some dirt or some reason to yell that all her wins were earned or rigged. If they thought it was rigged they would investigate snowfox’s betting, which would not be ideal for us or Claire and probably Cid.

Recently 5 criminal gangs were arrested. That, while quite sizable news its nothing compared to the big Mitsugoshi square building or the Garter Corporation committing fraud, or the Bushin festival. Thinking about it a lot has happened recently. No one would read about a few small thieves getting arrested in such a busy time. Until the reporters realised who arrested them. Claire Kagenou. A perfect news story.

This stops people from doubting her legitimacy by putting her with good deeds in the newspapers and a now popular contestant's name brings in the buyers for papers. This also sways public opinion to her side. Stopping so many thieves is noteworthy. This also means the more they know about her, the more they bet on her matches. And more profit for him.

This would seem like a very convenient turn of events if not for getting a report that Cid Kagenou was deliberately going into sketchy places then screaming only for his sister to come and beat up all the criminals. The spies said Claire didn't seem to know of his genius plan.

But still so many stages of a plan. She's still injured badly but that doesn't seem to affect her, was that also somehow intentional. Everything was designed to look like a coincidence with her barely winning each match but he must have perfectly planned all of this.

I wonder what goes on inside the head of such an intelligent man.

—-----------

All is exactly as I planned it.

Now, I let out the perfect mob scream. “BWWAaahhhhhh.” He screams as a thief punches him. He does a double spin and lands with his hands and legs sprawled in the air.

Three thieves stand over him in a dark alley.

Perfect now says a line worthy of a tutorial level enemy.

“Take anything of value and silence him before the knights come.”

It’s perfect.

He shives.

I changed my scream so there is no way si….. Dammit. She recognised my scream again.

“CID!!!!”

Sis appears out of nowhere and the bandits recognise that they will become the sixth group she has taken down this week.

A look of terror immediately spreads across the bandits. The bandits wanted to rob rich tourists, not get flattened by a Bushin semifinalist.

Nooo the level tutorial enemies. 

Oh well, it doesn't matter.

—-------

Annerose stood in the arena. A large crowd had gathered in the surrounding seats. Mundane stood opposite her with that blank clueless expression he always wore.

This match would decide who would join Princess Iris Midar, Imatry Nottaloos and Claire Kagenou in the semi finals.

If her opponent was anyone else in her bracket she would be quite confident that she would be fighting Iris in the next round. But, Mundane has proven himself that he should not be underestimated.

She has seen her opponents. True power being his overwhelming speed.

She prepares her weapon. She has trained for years, she will win.

“Round 20 Annarose Nichtsehen vs Mundane Mann. Fight!”

Annerose dashes towards Mundane Mann and slashes his completely unguarded body.

‘Clang’

He brought his sword up in time to block the blow. Annarose steps in further, throwing another swing. Mundane stumbles backwards losing his balance causing him to avoid the blade as he falls.

Annarose takes this opportunity to press forwards and stabs her blade into the flat of Mundane's armour piercing it. The blade slides through. Well she thinks it does, for a moment.

Then he disappears. As if he weren't even there. She decides to scan her surroundings imminently but before she can do that she hears from behind her.

“It was merely my after image.”

She turns on a dime and swings her blade at him. Their blades clash together. Annarose backs up. He appears next to her. She blocks it again and backs up.

“Mundane, I will admit it. You're fast, fast beyond all reason. But I have also honed my skills over years of practice.”

He gives a slight smile.

They lock eyes for a moment trying to get a hit on each other's next move.

The crowds chatters in the background. 

“Mundane Mann is actually strong?”

“What happening. How is he that fast.”

He must find it easier to defend then attack. Mundane has never attacked first in any of his fights. He always waits for his opponent to attack first and strike them when they are mid charge. Perhaps his attacks are too predictable so he needs the opponent to not be on guard.

Mundane disappears the perfect opportunity. She senses a small spike of magic behind her. There!

She swings her sword and Mundane comes towards her, the blade is about to collide with his torso then he stops suddenly. There was no deceleration, just a sudden stop.

Annerose's blade misses him.

Mundane draws his blade but not in the ridiculous speed expected of him, rather a series of slower artistic swings. The first cuts her blade apart, slicing between the guard and the handle of her sword. 

The first strike flows naturally into the second slicing through her neck and chest. 

The final strike hits her in the face with the blunt of his blade. 

A truly beautiful form.

The world goes black as her unconscious body tumbles to the ground.

—---------

Alexia had just finished talking to Natsume Kafka. As annoying and suspicious as she is, her information is always spot on. She said the Orianan Guards have not found Rose and have given up on the search, only a few remain enough just to look like they are still giving the effort to the search. She spoke to some knights and the Crimson Order, her information seems to be spot on again. 

She enters the nobles booth for the Bushin festival. Velvet seats and carpets are spaced around the room, the scent of expensive Orianan candles filling her nose. A servant carrying expensive whine steps to the side to let her pass. Many nobles are standing around in various discussions. She hears many of them murmur ‘War Goddess’.

She looks over to see her sister. Her tall frame and red hair make her stick out in any crowd. Beside her is an elf in a black cloak. Wait, why does that elf look almost exactly like Alpha.

Chapter Text

“Hold up Mundane.”

He slowly turns around. Usually after such a long walk he would be off screen and switch back to Cid. Until he heard someone following him.

Yes, the post match ‘you were way stronger than I thought’ speech.

“I wanted to talk to you before I left. I completely lost our fight. I left my country to become stronger, but I ended up blinded by the strength I already had and it’s thanks to you I realised that.”

Again she does exactly what is needed in this scene. I should really try to involve her in my plans in the future.

“It was the first time I removed my shackles. There is no shame in your defeat.”

“It makes me happy to hear that… Mundane, I still don't know what your deal is, but would you like to serve the Vegalta empire. I could get you a position befitting your strength.”

“No thanks, the world is too bright for me.” He poses covering his eyes as if he was being blinded by a ray of sunshine. “At some point we will meet again, when we fight then show me how much you have grown.” He slowly turns away and walks off.

“I’m leaving tomorrow if you change your mind, seek me out.” 

He responds with a polite but casual wave.

A rematch in the future with a powerful swordsman is awesome. I could even use that as the opportunity to do the mysterious teacher character.

—---------

A Mundane looking man walked past Edric Pecunia. He was on his way to see if he can get some information out of one of the former seven blades. 

Years ago Annerose Nichtsehen worked on a case about the disappearance of Karen Von Hertzog. During that case the Sergay Gorman, one of the current seven blades, was found guilty but before they could find him he died. The only things that were left were shards of his armour and weapons and a massive perfectly circular crater. Just like the one we have in the capital but ours is significantly larger.

He is an official trusted by the king. This is both beneficial as this gives him authority and detrimental as if he does anything that upsets her it could disabilise the already fragile relationship with Vegalta. They don't really like Oriana who we happen to be allied with. Currently Veglata and Midgar just smile and pretend they are friends while both being suspicious the other will make the first move.

He finally sees Annerose Nichtsehen as he turns the Corridor. She is covered in bandages and he can see small red stains seeping through the bandages. 

“Miss Annerose Nichtsehen, greetings, Do you have a moment.”

She turns to him with mild curiosity. 

“Yes, I do happen to have some time now. What do you want to talk about?”

“You likely have noticed the sizable hole--”

Annerose starts looking over her wounds.

“–in the Capital of Midgar.” Edric continues. He is aware that calling a massive crater merely a sizable hole is the political understatement of the century but he can't publicly admit the true severity of what happened, such a thing would undermine royal authority.

“Oh. Yes, I have seen that hole and the incident on the news.”

“Well I heard you worked on a case back in Vegalta.”

“I did.” Annarose states not knowing where the conversation is going.

“I heard you worked on a case in Vegalta where you encountered a similar hole but significantly smaller.”

A flash of realisation went across Annerose's face. “You want more information to try to catch the person responsible for that.”

“Yes.” Edric stated glad that they are on the same page.

“Well admittedly I don't know much about the small crater, it had a lot of residue magic on it and some remains of Sergey's armour.”

“I see. Was anyone else around? Did you see anyone around who was suspicious or had weapons that seemingly appeared from nowhere, or Black and gold cloaks?” Edric listed off what he knows are the signs of Shadow Garden 

“...  Not really a person but I spoke with the specter of Karen Von Hertzog.”

“A ghost?” Edric was at a loss for words. Did she just reveal that she spoke to a ghost?

“Yes she said she was. And even made specter noises.”

Edric is starting to feel that she didn't talk to a ghost.

“She was leading me to the evidence that showed Sergay Gorman was the culprit behind the destruction of the Hertzog lineage.”

A ghost told her?

“When I was ambushed by soldiers for maybe the fifth time. She drew a spear out of nowhere and fought alongside me. She also had a gold and purple cloak, like you mentioned.”

Ghosts don't do that. That just sounds like Shadow Garden.

Chi is trying to be a ghost. (She was really bad at it)

Annerose and Edric Pecunia discuss what happened. With each sentence that passes he is more convinced that Karen Von Hertzog faked her death, joined Shadow Garden and pretended to be a specter to try to prove her family's innocence. Until one final thing caught his attention.

“Wait, so you are saying people in the nearby village to the crater claim they saw a beam of purple light shoot upwards into the sky.”

“Yes.”

This situation smells of Shadow Garden. Everything from purple light to the probably not a ghost Karen VonHertzog. Perhaps Sergay Gorman was part of the cult and he was their target. It also seems Shadow Garden has had that artifact for many more years than we could confirm.

I need to discuss this with his Majesty.

—---------

The nobles booth overlooking the Bushin festival was quite a buzz. Many nobles were talking. Iris sat talking to two nobles. One the daughter of the current captain of the Knights of Midgar. On the other side was Roy the first son of a Duke. He would be the strongest in the school if not for Rose and Claire. He was not in the best mood recently, he lost to Claire and then bet on her losing in the festival and lost again, but he was trying to hide his annoyance. It did not help that Claire usually sat next to Iris.

“So what do you think of your next opponent, Princess Iris?”

“I will win.” She stated flatly. “But he is not to be underestimated.” She admitted after a moment.

She saw his match with Annerose thinking Annerose would be facing her in the next round. Mundane man fights both with terrifying speed and artistic sword skills. 

After the match she spoke to the Crimson Order and asked them how such a skilled swordsman was under their noses for so long. Annerose was a former member of the seven blades, Claire is well known in the academy for being almost unrivaled. Even Sir Nottaloos has got to the quarter finals of the last festival and has been hired to deal with particularly powerful bandits and gangs on several occasions. But Mundane is a complete unknown.

A murmur starts in the crowd of nobles. Iris looks for the cause. An elf in a large black cloak walks in.

Iris over hears something murmurs. ‘Is she lost?’ ‘Who is that?’

A waitress steps towards the elf. “Um, excuse my rudeness. But these are the VIP seats. The commoner seats are…”

“It's fine. I'm the one who invited her.” Iris interrupts her.

“The War God Lady Beatrix.”

“Lady Beatrix the Legendary Swordswoman. P-Please p-pardon my insolence. It was my first time seeing you today.”

Beatrix walks past the servant towards the nobles as the servant lady continues spouting apologies.

“No matter, I am only here in search of someone.” She drops her hood.

“Is my face familiar to anyone? I'm looking for my niece who looks very similar to me.”

“No, I’m sure if anyone saw an elf as beautiful as you they would remember it.”

“Wait.” One noble in the back speaks up.

“I recognise your face.” 

They all turn to him. He's one of the nobles who shares the border with Oriana. He's a fairly tall gentleman with a well tailored suit that speaks of wealth and his hair style is far more popular in Oriana than Midgar. 

“A few days ago I attended a performance with some Oriana nobles near the end of the final performance. A woman who looked very similar to you walked in. She was wearing a black dress and a large round hat. I didn't recognise her as part of the delegation nor did I catch her name but someone who looks very similar to you was there.”

“Show me where.”

The nobleman led her out of the room with nervous grace.

—----------

“Iris, we need to talk in private.”

Alexia appears behind Iris. Well Iris did see Alexia seemingly get frozen solid at the entrance when Beatrix lifted her hood.

Now Alexia was going to a private room with Iris to have a discussion. Cid a few paces behind Alexia as usual.

They sat in a VIP guest room. Cid stood behind Alexia like a guard usually would even despite being so weak he was beaten up by pick pockets and had to be saved by his sister, several times.

Alexia straightened her posture and laid it out plain and simple.

“Beatrix looks almost identical to Alpha.”

“uh.”

—------

Iris' brain just bluescreened. Thinking about it she probably doesn't even know what a blue screen is. Actually, I could even ask Mitsugoshi to make it like a yellow screen then it will change the saying to their brains yellow screened. Well when they invent the TV first so in however many years it takes.

Alexia continues after giving Iris a moment to collect her thoughts. “This would make sense if Alpha is the descendant of the hero that would mean Beatrix is too.”

“Should we tell Beatrix about it?”

“I was going to ask you that question.”

“I would hold on telling her in my opinion. She could be a Cult or Shadow Garden spy trying to sneak into our ranks. As you said Alpha's face was identical to that of the hero's so must Beatrix’s. Additionally according to the reports we gave the rest of the Crimson Order we didn't see anything in the sanctuary so it would make no sense us knowing from their perspective. This all draws a picture but we don't have enough information to see it clearly.”

“Wait, that place Beatrix is looking at is the place where the piano vanished.” Iris asked. The piano vanishing was on the news.

“If that was Alpha, she could have stolen the piano.”

“So we are suspecting Shadow Garden for causing a piano to vanish.” Iris sighed, already having too much to think about.

“There must be something more to this.”

I should really return the piano. Cid thought.

—----------

The crowd around the arena was packed to its limit and then some. The person who has now been dubbed the mysterious gamblers by news outlets has bet a ridiculous amount on her. She considered losing out of spite. But then she just had to promise her brother that she would win. Why did she do that? She should have not promised anything so she could spit in the mysterious gambler's face.

Claire began her match. She was up against a strong opponent. His name was Imatry Nottaloos, a man that looked likely twice her age. He was a large well build man with a large heavy great sword, yet he swung as if it was weightless. He preferred having practically no armour and fought bare chested for slightly better movement. He was perhaps a head a half taller than her. He looked at her with determined seriousness of someone who wanted to win.

Claire stood at the opposite side of the arena. Her black hair swayed gently in the cool brease. She held a fairly standard if not on the thicker sword due to her strength. Her hands were covered in freshly changed bandages from her previous injuries. The doctors said it was a miracle that she is so unharmed. Either she was tougher than the doctors thought or she was really lucky. She would like to believe the former.

“Round whatever Claire Kagenou vs Imatry Nottaloos! Fight!”

Imatry immediately makes the first move swinging his blade in a wide crescent like arc towards Claire. The blow was faster than she expected but she avoided it, not because she was faster but because they started the match far away from each other. She made a mental note that he was ridiculously fast with that heavy blade.

Imatry continued his assault. Left right up down. Claire dodged them each by an uncomfortably small margin.

Claire retaliated the moment his strike passed her. A strike to the collar bone. Well that is what would have been hit if he was a regular knight. Imatry backed up to dodge his greatsword returning to his guard.

Imatry Nottaloos knew that he should not underestimate Claire Kagenou. No one gets to the semi finals by pure luck and the betting pool was in her favour. He was physically stronger and had more experience but that didn't mean he could drop his guard, not even for a second.

Claire stepped forward to poke at his defences. A few glancing blows to try find a weakness in his stance. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Imatry backed up to avoid the strikes.

They both caught their breath for a moment and tried to judge each other's next move.

Claire went first and she stepped close to swing at him but he swung first. His longer arms and massive greatsword gave him the advantage with reach.

Claire was forced to block. The block was clean but the force shot up her body and seeped into her still healing bones. Her still healing fractures screamed at her in pain as they reopened. She could not block, both her hands would shatter if she kept it up.

She struck at him again and he blocked with a speed a greatsword definitely should not be able to achieve. It was like hitting a stone wall in magic sealing cuffs. Pain shot through her body once more. She followed it up with a low kick in the leg it landed but he recovered nearly instantly from the attack.

Now they are spaced enough for Claire to look behind her. She has backed up and only has a third of the arena left to back up. This was not great for her.

She spared a glance towards the stands.

—-------------

Something inside Claire shifted.

“CCCCIIIIIIIIIDDDDD WWWWHHEEERRREE TTHHHEEE FFFUUUCKKK DDDDIIID YOOOU GO!!!!” She let out an animalistic scream. Perhaps she was shouting something but no one could understand what she said just that it was loud.

This most definitely shocked Imatry, the cautious Claire cleverly calculating his weakness suddenly screamed in an incomprehensible language in rage.

She lunged at him, not the carefully coordinated lunge of royal Bushin but a raw animalistic savage lunge.

He swung his great sword at her. She blocked it. Imaty suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest. A sword!? Did she have two? No rules allowed you to see all your opponents gear before each round to make sure they weren't using any tricks. He looked at what blocked his blade.

It was not a block. Not in the typical sense.

In other words she just took it to the face and did not care. He tried to pull back but she was on him and she raised her blade leaving a heavy gash across his chest not a fatal one, but significant. She drives the blade higher and higher until it starts poking at his neck.

He tried to swing his blade to get her away but she just used her head, again. To block.

He drops his blade to surrender. Imatry Nottaloos tried his best, but that really caught him off guard. She must have analysed a sudden rush, using her head as shield would be enough time to close the distance. Her face was bruised and battered but she won.

“…”

The judge was stunned for a moment. Even he must have been surprised by her sudden shift.

“Winner Claire Kagenou!!”

—----------

Once they exit the meeting room, they happen to come across Beatrix again and that noble.

“Did you find her?” Iris asks.

“No.” Beatrix says sadly. 

“Princess Iris. She looked similar enough that many of the servants mistook Beatrix for the woman I saw. The guards let the woman in without asking her name. The guards thought she looked very noble therefore they thought she was one of our guests and let her in without asking her name. She was not on any attendance records and unfortunately none of the nobles I spoke to knew her.” The nobleman added helpfully after bowing.

“I see.”

“Alpha must be in the capital,  Shadow Garden is planning something.” Alexia whispered to Iris. “Gather the Crimson order around the nobles, have extra guards everywhere.”

Chapter Text

Iris sat at her desk. She spoke to her father about increasing guard presence around the capital especially around the nobles booth. 

He allowed her. Allowed her, not agreed. In politics it was a difference. In simple terms if this all results in a mess because of this it's her fault. 

The increased guards could offend Orianan officials but it was needed. She didn't tell him the reason why she wanted more guards, perhaps it was for security, perhaps it was spite. Spite for all those years where she would ask him why is he doing this, why not let her interfere and only to get silence in return.

—-----

Perv sat at his desk.

Why is Midgar increasing its guards now? Dammit. This would have been a massive mess as it would prevent us from getting our hands on Rose when she arrives. But fortunately, Panoptes appeared out of nowhere and told me Midgar was going to do this right before Iris called Perv into a meeting to discuss the new positions. So Perv was prepared and had a list of strong cult names ready to guard all the entrances.

Actually thinking about it, how did Panoptes even enter the room? 

“Inkommand.” Perv called out to the man sitting in the adjacent desk over the pointless reports of merchants complaining, some idiot thinking the new Mitsugoshi building is so big it will sink into the ground and something about a wild therianthrope asking fishermen to find an egg.

“Yes my Lord.” Sekond Inkommand replied with the voice of a man who feared more paperwork. He had to shuffle the Orianan Guards around and they needed coverage so they could find Rose before Midgar. All of this had to be reasoned and documented and sent to the Midgar officials with enough reasoning and political butter for it to slip through unsuspiciously.

“Do we know how Panoptes entered?”

“The door?”

Panoptes entered through the doorway without knocking and without the second children literally standing on either side of the doorframe noticing. They seemed startled as he left as they didn't remember him entering. Mind erasing artifact? No, perhaps he can just hide his presence really well. He had heard Loki could walk straight through any castle and not be noticed by anyone.

Sekond Inkommand gets up from his chair. “My Lord, it's getting cold in here.”

He stands up and closes the window.

Perv didn't remember that window being open. Whatever. He has a massive Rose shaped issue to deal with. One that left several nobles dead, most were even loyal to the cult.

—-----

Hidden under the Mitsugoshi building.

“Epsilon, where is my sword!”

Epsilon hears Alpha asking for the hero's sword. Just because Lord Shadow gave it to her doesn't mean that she can't use it. To use it as a weapon she would need some of Alpha's blood but she doesn't need it for that. No if the sanctuary taught her one thing is that the biggest threat to her perfect body is powerful magic restricting artifacts. Fortunately Alpha has the most dangerous artifact. 

Epsilon over the past few weeks has been taking Alpha's sword to use it to practice moving her slimebody while resisting the sword. If she didn't, they could use an artifact similar to the sanctuary or Alpha's sword. It would be a disaster all these years spent on nothing. Now she should be nearing the ability to flawlessly ignore magic nullify artefacts.

Of course she had been the one to take her sword and spent all night practicing with it. Even now with the ability to resist its pull she cannot squeeze an ounce of her own magic into it. How… unfortunate. It made sense, if Epsilon could use it Lord Shadow would have given it to his most beautiful shade.

Alpha walks into the room, takes her sword and leaves. Alpha would complain but she has already done that and it did not work.

—-----

Iris passes through Midgar. People's heads turn her way, adults point out who she is to their children to look up to, even in the noble district. With her presence the people know they are safe, knights know their victory is assured and Midgar will be safe. 

She is the only one who can protect her country. Not her father who prevents her from acting, not her sister who was far too young to protect the kingdom. Alexia is only 15, Iris has been protecting Midgar since she was 13. 

And the Knights. The Knights were plentiful and strong, but they were not strong enough to protect from a problem like Shadow Garden or the Cult or Diabolos.

She remembers a time years ago. When a certain group of bandits threatened the capital. 

—-----

Iris was 14, she wasn't a knight yet but had been training alongside them for years. She had gone on several monster subjugations and bandit hunts. The former was a one sided victory for Iris and the latter often ended up in surrender the moment she stepped on the scene.

She now stood against her father.

“I said no.”

The air is still only the gentle breeze coming in through the window and their own breathing. Iris’ eyes glared at her father. She had been denied from taking part in a raid against a bandit base. Something something you're a princess, something something, it's risky. Iris did not care and left the room without any ceremony.

She had raided bandits before, what makes this one different? These bandits were not as brutal as the ones that came from the lawless city or as clever as the thieves she stopped in the Veggie domain. Why? It didn't matter that she needed to protect her people.

Iris decided it would be best to talk to the knight captain surely he would understand better. 

“While you are the most powerful knight in the kingdom, you are also the crown princess. We cannot risk losing you.”

…

He did not understand better. He was far more polite about it than her father but the intended meaning was the same. Iris cared about meaning.

That would not stop her. Not even close. She went anyway. She skipped her lessons with Alexia and went on horseback.

She arrived at that battle later than what she wanted; the raid was already underway. The Knights had gathered in a fighting line and were losing ground. The bandits were well trained, stronger than they have any right to be. 

Iris jumped in mid-fight slamming into the enemy leader to the surprise of both the bandits and the Knights of Midgar. The leader of the bandits was strong but slightly tired from the fighting and caught off guard by her sudden arrival. The fighting was tough, both sides fought until their last breath. This was the first time Iris had seen a knight of Midgar die. Many were injured during the battle, seven lost their lives. It would have been far more if not for Iris' arrival if any survived. 

Once all the bandits were dead and all immediate injuries were dealt with Iris took a team to explore what the bandits were hiding. 

They descended into the small cave the bandits had made as their shelter. and there were no steps, just a steep slope with wooden planks propping up the ceiling to prevent it falling. The room smelt like someone died in there. They very shortly found out why. A deformed mass lay at the end of the tunnel; it was chained to the wall by a magic sealing cuffs only nobles should have access to. Just out of that monstrosities reach sat a table various syringes filled with blood lay on it. It was a revolting scene. One of the knight captains tried to shield her view with his body. Iris did not know what to do in such a situation. She let the adults handle it. She would later learn what she had found was a Possessed. They suspected these bandits were trying to curse the nearby domain with the Possessed blood. The knights handed the Possessed over to the church for purification.

The knights on their return praised Iris but the praise was not that mattered. It's that the people were safe. Many good knights lost their lives to protect the domain, they had friends and family. The people of the domain cheered her name once the news spread. Midgar needed a protector. The people of my country need a protector.

When she got home her father was furious, Alexia was worried for her. She could not let her sister get hurt, nor the people of her country. 

From that day she swore to herself she would become the unbreakable blade of Midgar, one that people cheer when they see not because she needs praise but because the people know they are safe. That is the kind of person she will be.

—-----

And now she has become that person.

When she arrives people know they will win. Midgar is safe because of Iris.

Iris enters the stadium. She hands over the sword of Freya to her sister and begins walking to the arena. Her match against Mundane Mann starts soon.

She will win this.

All the voices across Midgar cheering her name. Calling out to their protector. She will not let Shadow Garden or the Cult of Diabolos run amok in her kingdom. I need to win. I have to win. I will wi– 

*Guk!*

Iris hit her foot on something and stumbled. 

She looked down at what her foot hit. It was a pair of metal vambraces poking out the ground. The floor was cracked around them. Iris picked one up. It was unbelievably heavy for its weight. What in the world? No.

No. She can't get distracted, but seriously why was it so heavy. No. No. She will focus and she will win. No distractions.

—----------

Alexia was walking towards the nobles main entrance from the VIP booth. Oriana had wanted to have their knights guard it for some reason. Iris seemed sceptical so she would walk past a few times to try to find out why. Alexia was wearing a fairly slim yet surprisingly comfortable dress, it hugged her waist yet gave her legs sufficient space to move without tripping over her own legs. She ordered from Mitsugoshi. Usually such things would not be permitted in noble gatherings but the Orianans were more eccentric about fashion and would often wear extravagant dresses and suits. The trend now for fashion were the sleek simple designs often sold at Mitsugohi. Many still wore extravagant dresses but a sizable portion were not. In contrast to her appearance she wore two swords at her waist, one her own, the other the sword of Freya. Technically it belonged to the Midgar bloodline but the sword was almost exclusively used by Iris so Alexia treated it as if it belonged to her sister. No matter how much Iris insisted it was their sword.

Alexia approached the corridor. The first thing she saw was a body. Oriana guard, suit, tie and those sunglasses that were black on the outside and clear on the inside of the lens. His body lay on the floor. Alexia looked into the room. Bodies everywhere, some dead, some incapacitated, Midgar knights, Orianan knights. She tried to step away, carefully and quietly. She could not handle this situation by herself. She felt a presence behind her. 

“Don’t kill” Alexia heard a whisper from even further behind than the presence.

Alexia tried to scream and call for help but her jaw and mouth was silenced from a hand behind her. The black gloved hand spread out and stuck to her face and nose like a mask, one that prevented her from breathing or making a sound. Then another hand came and slipped something through the solid mask. Alexia felt her body go numb. Her legs became weak and she fell to her knees.

“It only lasts an hour” The distinctly feminine voice said as she fell to the floor. 

The mask was removed but she felt too weak to speak. Her muscles refused to budge, but her breathing was fine. It was as if she was awake but her body was asleep.

The person behind her walked away, Alexia caught a glance of her. Shadow Garden.

She lay helpless in the corridor and no one came through. Why? Not a single person to check up on the… Right now was Iris' match. No one would come for her, not for a while.

Uncomfortable minutes passed as Alexia lay awake in an unmoving sleeping body. Her eyes are occasionally able to open slightly. 

Eventually, her body rolled over on its own into a slightly better position.

Then she heard something, footsteps.

She forced her eyes open, well as much as she could. She only caught a glimpse of it. That unmistakable blonde hair. Rose.

Why here? She was working with Shadow Garden. Why is she back? Why not run away in that secret organisation.

“Alexia, I know you can't hear me.”

Alexia could hear her albeit with a blistering headache.

Rose picked up Alexia and placed her on a chair that was significantly more comfortable than the floor.

“I’m sorry. Forgive me, for this and everything I'm about to do. It's for my people and it's the only way I can be with him.”

Who?

Shadow? 

Rose has a crush on Shadow?

Alexia hears Rose leave, her footsteps echoing towards the VIP booth.

—---------

Iris entered the arena. The looming crowd had gathered. Thousands of citizens of Midgar cheered her name. Iris stood ready with a mithral sword at her hip. The tournament forbids artifact usage, so she left her blade with her sister.

The match should have started but Mundane was not present. The rule dictates that if you are beyond three minutes late the match you forfeit instantly. Two minutes had already passed.

She waited longer. Replaying Mundane’s sword swings in her head. They were elegant, perhaps Orianan in nature?

Is Mundane not coming? She would begrudgingly take the win by default but she would much rather fight for it.

The third minute had almost passed then Mundane slowly walked onto the stage.

Iris was irritated he clearly did this to make her wait. A clear disrespect not only to his opponent but the tournament itself. Showing up just moments before it's cancelled. (Cid was stuck trying to escape Clare.)

Mundane stood opposite Iris with that blank expression. It was like looking at a horse from the front where both his eyes seemingly peered into different directions. 

“We are reaching the semi finals for the Bushin festival!” The announcer announced.

“The one who boasts the title of the strongest of Midgar, Iris Midgar! Vs The mysterious dark horse Mundane Mann! begin.”

It is my duty to display the strength of Midgar to our people.

Iris charged him.

She feels a sword a hairs width from her neck.

She is forced to suddenly back up, otherwise that blade would have killed her. How did he get that close, is he that fast? No, not possible. Iris looks at Mundane, he has not moved. His sword is still in its sheathe. 

“What's wrong, Iris Midgar.” He said it without tone or emotion.

Iris gritted her teeth. 

She can hear the crowd.

“Whats wrong with Iris”

“Notings Wrong, It's Princess Iris.”

“Iris”

“What happened”

“Iris”

“Iris will win”

“Iris”

“Iris”

She charges at Mundane, releasing her full magic. She has to win. Show the people she is strong, that they are safe.

She gets in sword range of him.

The blade swings towards his head. 

He pushes the blade to the side with his hand, leaving Iris wide open. Mundane takes advantage of this, he slams his hand into her neck and trips her back leg causing Iris to fall to the ground. He draws his blade to Iris' neck. 

“Is that all you have, Iris Midgar?”

Iris did not know what to do, she just froze completely.

“Winner Mundane Mann.”

Mundane rose to his full height not sparing Iris a glance.

He looks up to the VIP booth.

“Oh, Rose is here, I should probably do something.” He whispers to himself.

His expression changed.

And then he ripped off his face.

A dark fluid spilled out from beneath his false face, it consumed his clothes and spread out into a great cloak. Gold accents formed. There is only one person who that could be.

He is here. 

Shadow.

Chapter Text

“What how?” says the shiny dingus next to him.

Quinton looked over at Goldy. While Goldy was usually one who would freak out when predictions don't go his way, Quinton was aware he had similar thoughts just so they were not plastered on his face. Annerose sat next to them, she was way stronger than either of them but they became acquainted over the past few days of watching the tournament. 

But what they were seeing put them all in shock. Iris lost to Mundane in ONE ATTACK. Iris, Iris. How!?

Mundane then rips off his face and burns it in purple fire. His rugged armour shifts into a large black cloak that flowed in the non existent wind.

“Shadow.” Annerose whispered.

“That guy made a mess of the Goddesses trail?” Quinton asked her. She was at the goddesses trail. She would know.

Why is she running towards the arena?

Quinton looks over to Goldy. He's running in the opposite direction. If he can beat Iris like that, Quinton knows he doesn't stand a chance. For once he agrees with Goldy.

—-A few moments before Shadows reveal-----

Rose walked through the halls contemplating all the decisions she made up to this point. So much has happened. She originally came to Midgar to learn swordsmanship. Years ago she saw the most beautiful swordsmanship style she had ever seen, she wished to learn how to fight just like him. But alas… no one wielded his style in Midgar. 

She had made many friends in Midgar, including a brief rivalry with Claire over a few months and becoming friends with both Princess Alexia and Natsume Kafka. Most of all she had met Cid, oh sweet Cid. He risked his life to save me during the terror attack and after revealing himself as Shadow… wait because he was Shadow he probably perfectly calculated that he would survive… he was said to have been healed by Shadow like the knights during the terror attack. Did he heal himself? I guess he is just that strong.

Then the Cult of Dabolos has been interfering left and right in Midgar and now my own kingdom. I must get rid of them.

—---

Klaus was watching over his daughter's match and he could not believe what he was seeing. Iris lost, near instantly. How? He had been keeping track of everything.

He knew all of the movements of Annerose Nichenstein. She was formerly one of the seven blades of Vegalta. A potential spy sent over by either the church, Vegalta or the cult.

He had investigated the absurd amount of betting happening this tournament. He found that the betting was initially started by someone betting ridiculous amounts of money on a Clare Kagenou fight. The person is likely connected to the snow fox cooperation as Snowfox is trying hard to hide his identity. They likely are colluding together, it's all unfortunately within legal bounds but their plan is far more effective the less people know.

He investigated Perv Asshat. He has suspicious links with his strange adoption into Duke Asshat's family at such an old age. He also has several private links with people Klaus suspects have either the Cult of Diabolos or Shadow Garden links. Keep an eye on him and have enough guards, meet only in public spaces and he shouldn't be able to make a move against Midgar without everyone knowing.

He investigated Mundane Mann. The disgraced son of a Vegalten aristocrat who went missing over five years ago. He didn't expect this of all things. Klaus was about to get up from his chair and leave after the match to try to find out what he missed. 

When he turned to the door he saw an even more shocking sight. 

Princess Rose Oriana. Why is she here? How is she here? The Guards of both Midgar and Oriana were stationed at all the entrances. Someone should be escorting her with the amount of nobles she has killed. And why in the world is she carrying a guitar case?

Oriana guards surround her. 

Klaus signals his guards to stand between the Midgar nobles and Orianan.

“My apologies for interrupting the tournament, but I am back, father.”

Why does she look like she is on the verge of tears?

“Rose, you have finally come to your senses.” Perv starts but he is quickly cut off by Rose.

Rose continues completely ignoring Perv “Please forgive me father for everything I have done, and everything I am about to do. Both as Princess and as your daughter. I have decided to walk the path I believe in.”

Klaus goes into almost shock seeing the next actions. Mundane Mann in the arean completely changed his clothes in seconds and jumped from the centre of the arena to standing on the balcony behind Rose. His black cloak now resembles the depiction of Shadow as it flows in the non-existent wind. Rose herself hasn't noticed his presence. Next Rose uses this source of shock to her advantage. Rose opens the guitar case, puts her hand in and pulls out a sword. She charges forward. An Orianan guard tries to stop her, the guard is pushed to the side. 

Perv hides behind the King of Oriana. Only too late realising that he was not the target.

The blade plunges into the King's chest. Tears fell down Rose's face. The King of Oriana mumbles “Rooose… l-love y– ou.” 

“Thank you father.”

“Terminal lucidity,” Shadow says to noone in particular.

“Rose what did you do?!!” Perv yells at her.

Shadow drops from the banister and walks uncontested into the VIP area. He swings his sword once creating a massive hole in the wall. “Go, your fight is yet to come.”

“Thank you C–Shadow.” Rose follows his command.

“After her!” Perv yells.

The Orianan guards charge Shadow. Shadow ends the first guard in a blink. They didn't even see him draw a weapon, it was just there. The Other guards circle him with sufficient distance. Charging in would be pointless.

“Is there anyone who can fight him? Anyone!?”

“Perfect timing, I wanted to fight you.” Everyone turned to the voice, the war goddess Beatrix. “I haven't had a dose of excitement in a long time.”

Shadow doesn't respond but she can see a smile through his mask. Shadow faces Beatrix and points his sword at her.

There is a flash and the two of them are clashing blades. Shadow parries her strikes with one hand and returns a few of his own. Well that's what Klaus thinks is happening but in truth he cannot even see what’s happening it's just too fast. 

“Such a battle needs space.”

Shadow kicks Beatrix in the stomach and sends her into the centre of the arena. He follows her in.

Rose was already far gone.

—---

Shadow deliberately slowly walks towards Beatrix. Iris picks up her plain mithral sword and joins her in the battle. The knights quickly gather to surround Shadow.

Iris takes a swing at Shadow who takes a step back. The blade passes centimeters from his face. Glen follows Iris with an upslash. Shadow stands on Glen's blade using it to launch himself upwards. Iris tries to follow him upwards but Shadow just uses her face as an extra stop to bounce off to jump even higher.

From such a height he dives into the ground all the gathered knights dispensing away from where he is about to land. 

Shadow hits the ground, a crack spreads from the point of impact, kicking up a plume of smoke. The ground itself shakes with the impact. 

Iris peers into the smoke, Shadow is standing menacingly in the centre. 

Several dozen muskets open fire at him through the smoke.

“I must thank you for such a large welcome party, it's truly delightful.” Shadow taunts while deflecting all the muskets with moving nothing but a single sword arm. All with terrifying ease.

Knights of Midgar including the Majority of the Crimson Order surround Shadow. There are many tactics to defeat a strong knight. One of the most common ones is to wear them down. Surround them so they cannot escape and force them to dodge multiple swords muskets to tire them out of magic while preventing them from escaping. 

A powerful enemy should be surrounded forcing them to use all his magic energy dodging and staying on guard. If he charges too many knights will have an opening. The enemy should also be pelted with muskets, only skilled alert knights can parry musket fire, from multiple angles while being attacked by swords should be their death.

Shadow is surrounded and being shot at by muskets and various powerful knights. Yet it seems like he is in control.

“More knights? Oh. Don't worry we are just getting started.”

Beatrix swings at him; he parries all of them. Iris attacks from behind, he blocks without looking. More knights of Midgar and Crimson Knights swing at him. Shadow only shifts his body slightly to block all the attacks.

Claire charges alongside Annerose. 

“I appreciate the enthusiasm but...”

Shadow steps towards Claire and sticks his knee outwards. Claire slams into it at full force before she could react.

“You're lacking.”

Gaaahh!! Claire lets out a scream as all the air is pushed out her lungs. Shadow kicks her towards Annerose who was not expecting Claire to come flying at her as they both go for a tumble.

Beatrix flurries Shadow again. They exchange an intricate pattern of blocks, dodges and strikes. Beatrix jumps backwards to avoid a wide swing.

—--

“You smell like, dragon.”

“How observant.”

This is correct. Before this fight I had to escape sis. So I could go rub myself against the mist dragon to hide my scent. Much to the Dragons displeasure that I was using it as basically perfume. 

A Crimson order knight, that I can't really remember his name, tries to stab me from behind. He's putting all his effort into a downward swing that should collide with my shoulder. 

But that's only minor compared to the other issue.

If Beatrix can smell elf on me then she could probably smell the Cid on Mundane which I really don't want. So I have to mask my scent with a dragon. I need to find a way to completely mask my scent. I need to be able to trick Delta or Zeta before I do anything that I could risk.

I'm currently waiting for time. I asked to borrow Alpha’s sword before the fight. She probably won't deliver it in person but I really wanted to flex using it and even let Beatrix have a go in the fight. So I'm just stalling for time so it can arrive.

But what do I do with the Crimson order knight?

Hmm. I could… no killing him outright would be lame.

If I parry him it would look like I'm putting too much effort into a fodder enemy. But if I just step to the side he will be close enough to keep swinging. His blade is around a few centimeters from me now. I still don't know what to do. 

Hmm.

Oh his name was Archer I remember now.

Also there is a guy behind me who just shot a musket.

What was I doing? Oh yeah how do I deal with him attacking me.

Hmmmm. 

Not sure what would look cool here.

Oh I got it.

Shadow steps backwards causing Archer's blade to overshoot Shadow. Then Shadow delivers a palmstrike on his back shoulder. Causing him to tumble forwards. 

Shadow catches the muskets ball between two fingers from behind him. 

Finally, these bullets are so slow, it was taking forever to get here. I should ask someone to make bullets faster.

Shadow shows the musket ball to the knights in front of him and crushes it between his thumb and index.

“Monster.” he hears one of the Knights mutter.

Some of the Knights of Midgar back up. Some only flinched to the gunshot after I had already caught the bullet. What are these mobs doing? This is an important moment, stop getting in the way of the protagonists, you are clearly outmatched.

Iris dashes towards him. Marco to her left, Adder on the right and two other Crimson order members behind Shadow.

Damn I really wanted her to get that cool fire sword. I should have really realised that she won't have it during the tournament. How do I get it?

Atomic radar.

Shadow sends out a pulse of magic that pings back to him. He senses a faint pulse of Alexia and the sword. She can just go grab that.

Shadow ducks under Iris blade passing by her legs. Legs? Oh that's perfect.

Shadow pulls Iris' ankle off the ground and the opposite leg flails, he grabs it and crosses her ankles. He hoists her over his shoulder like he was resting a spear on his shoulders before Iris can even hit the ground. Iris attempts to stab him but it's too late and she is disoriented from being put on his shoulder. Shadow waits until the Crimson order gets in range. Then he swings Iris around like a bat. She slams into Marco knocking him backwards, Adder gets hit in the legs causing him to tumble with Marco. The two behind Shadow panic, not wanting to block the princess with their swords, but they can't stop their momentum so Iris just slams into them.

Shadow swings Iris round in a circle three times building momentum as more knights surround him. Iris’ sword comes free, the stray sword flies into the crowd. It hits an unfortunate knight in the head. Shadow takes note of this exquisite mob behavior. Then he throws Iris in the direction of Alexia. The wide arc and building in the way should make her hopefully be close enough to find her artifact sword.

Annerose and Beatrix dash towards him trying to catch him off guard. Making use of how he was in the perfect position to throw, not block, unfortunately for them he was in the perfect position to throw. Shadow steps in rotating his body in the process he dodges Annerose's thrust and grabs her thrusting arm and flings her into Beatrix who happened to be in an unfortunately perfect spot.

“Is this the best Midgar has to offer?” Shadow mocks. 

Wait a sec neither of those people are from Midgar.

—--

Iris spins in the air, her body struggling to correct her direction. She twists and turns but when Shadow threw her she had significant spin causing her to struggle for a sense of direction.

She crashes through the wall above the VIP stands, she tumbles through the roof void. She passes it in a blur from the speed and spin of the throw. She falls through the inside of the ceiling. She lands on the floor with an unceremonious thud.

Iris looks up around her. Corpses.

Dead bodies line the walls all slumped over, the bleeding stopped a while ago they have died recently, perhaps half an hour ago.

She examines the bodies. Orianan escort. Died from a stab to the back of the neck. Knight of Midgar, she knew this one, a thin hole between his eyes, a rapier perhaps. Knight of Midar, she doesn't recognise his face but his neck is open. How dare Shadow Garden ruin my kingdom like this. 

She peers down the corridor. 

More bodies all slumped over dead. She gets a glance one body lay slumped on a chair. Those shoes, that dress, Alexia was wearing that. Alexia!

Iris rushes towards her completely forgetting she was supposed to be fighting Shadow. 

Iris looks at Alexia, she is slumped on a chair with no visible wounds. She still has the sword of Freya by her waist, it's odd they did not take it. Iris puts her hand on the right side of Alexia's chest. She can't feel a heart beat. No. no. nonononono.

“Alexia I’m so sorry.”

Iris’ rage boils over, tears stream from her cheeks, her magic spills out uncontrollably. Iris pickles up the blade of Freya and examines it. An unintended flame spews out the sheath. I will avenge you. 

“Iris”

It's almost as if she can hear her sister's voice. She leans in closer.

“Sister, I will avenge you.”

“The… heart… on… left side…of.. bo..dy.”

Iris feels the other side of Alexia’s body, her heart is still beating. Thank goodness.

Alexia is alive.

Iris hugged her sister and started to cry a different kind of tears.

Shadow did this. Shadow almost killed her sister.

Her demeanor changed. She has to kill Shadow, he planned the assassination of the king of Oriana with the king's own daughter. He attacked Alexia and the rest of the guards for Rose Oriana to pass uncontested.

She hears footsteps down the corridor. The nobles have finally decided that watching the fight against Shadow is too dangerous to watch and are leaving the arena. The King of Midgar is at the front of the group of nobles. She turns to face the King.

“Protect MY sister.” Iris says with a harsh almost spiteful tone.

Iris then walked through the crowd, people parting as she sprinted back to the fight with Shadow, but this time she had the sword of Freya.

—-

Beatrix slashes at shadow as he sidestep her attacks and delivers a thrust that she could just avoid. Beatrix instinctively blocks a blow before Shadow swings again. Whether he was deliberately striking her in places she could only just block or not was known to noone but Shadow himself.

“If you wish to defeat me, train for another three hundred years.”

Anneroase strikes him from the side. Shadow blocks and leans towards her, a musket passed where his head was just a moment ago.

“Don’t you think it is far too soon for a rematch?”

He blocks a knight of Midar's blade and sends the Knights momentum into a member of the Crimson order who was supposed to do a follow up strike.

“It’s about time.” Shadow says with a hint of, child-like joy?

Shadow swings his sword in a wide arc forcing everyone away from him. 

“Its about time, Iris Midgar.”

“SHAAAADDDOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!”

Iris jumps from the now empty VIP stands and sores into the air. The sword of Freya in full effect creating a massive fireball around her. Iris slams down onto Shadow like a meteor. A massive tornado of fire explodes from the hit and the ground scorcher. A massive crack searing with heat spreads across the ground.

“How interesting.” Iris hears from behind her.

She turns and Shadow is standing there unphased and unscathed.

“Allow me to show you how it's done.”

—----

Marco had time to catch his breath. Iris was back and with the sword of Freya. Shadow was truly a monster. He dodges the shower of muskets like they don't exist. And doesn't even pay attention to half the Knights yet still blocks all of them flawlessly, he only seems to be paying proper attention to the war goddess and Princess Iris.

Iris takes place in front of everyone. The War goddess takes a spot beside her. Anarose to one side. The Crimson Order, Glen, Marco, Adder, Claire, Archer and the others. The Knights of Midgar kept arriving to the fight. There were around forty elite knights, many strong enough to be considered for the Crimson order. Another forty knights who took up muskets as they would only get in the way against someone like Shadow.

A woman dropped down from the Arena and landed next to Shadow. She was wearing a black body suit and carrying a large silver and green sword. She had brown hair cut down to her shoulders and a familiar figure. Nicoletta Marquez. She presented it to Shadow making sure not to touch the handle. She also handed something else over to him, something red. 

Marco could see it clearly but had no idea what the three red rectangles could be. 

“If I wish to show you how it's done properly I must use an artifact of my own.” Shadow says to Iris.

Shadow turned to the woman, no Nicoletta

“Tell Alpha my thanks, for letting me borrow something for such an occasion.”

She bows and leaves. Marco gives chase with all his might.

“Marco!” he hears Glen yell from behind him. He doesn't listen. Nicoletta, why?

—--------

Iris charges at Shadow. The rest of the Knights follow suit. He turns to face Iris having his back to the war goddess but blocking regardless. Iris notices Shadow’s hand holding the artifact is covered in blood.

“Observe.” 

Shadow channels a massive amount of power into the artifact and slams it into the ground. The magic forms a massive crack, it reaches all the way to the line of  musketmen. The excess magic surges up the crack Shadow made colliding with the walls and itself. The magics' seemingly randomly bounces around in the crack, combine at the end and cause a massive explosion blasting the musketmen in all directions.

Shadow was not controlling that magic he just predicted it would behave like that so he sent it on a collision path to compress and explode at a certain point.

Beatrix flurries several strikes faster than an eye can see and Irs does the same, Shadow stands between the two of them blocking all the strikes. 

Shadow delivers a blow to the war goddess with the Alpha’s sword. It sends her flying and bends her sword at a noticeable angle. Shadow spins towards Iris who realises she cannot take a hit like that and dodges. Annerose tries to attack him but he dodges.

All the knights now back up in a semi circle Beatrix at the back she was given a good blade by some noble knight who was using a musket. Beatrix readied her blade at Shadow.

Shadow takes a slow step towards. He vanishes.

Clang.

That sound came from behind Iris. She turned as fast as she could. 

Shadow was behind them. Beatrix blocked with her blade. But how was Shadow so fast? She backs up.

Iris charges forwards, slamming into Shadow, his artifact sword is sent flying. Progress, finally. He has already sent many of the Knights to the infirmary. It's about time something happened to him. 

—---------

Beatrix catches the blade and pumps a massive amount of magic power into it. Shadow dodges the blades of Iris and Beatrix. Alpha's sword is something that even Shadow has difficulty blocking. Truly fitting for a blade to destroy Diabolos.

Now the fight was more or less just Beatrix with Alpha's sword, Iris with the sword of Freya followed by the Crimson order and Annarose. There are a few stray knights but they don't matter. 

Beatrix keeps pumping magic into the sword. If it touches anything it would release a Mini atomic at the moment. 

He sees a familiar figure charging him. What is she doing? 

Claire is trying to hit Shadow at the same time as Archer.

Claire should really be in the infirmary… the infirmary is not far from the arena. If she doesn't flail about he could throw her in the infirmary. 

Atomic radar.

He releases a pulse of magic. Beatrix suddenly blocks sensing the magic and expecting an attack.

Shadow ducks under Claire, moves out the way of Archer and ends up behind Claire. He hits her on the head with a sleep-inducing magic pulse specifically optimised for his sister along with a hit hard enough to knock her out. She crumples to the floor.

Shadow grabs her by the foot just like he did to Iris. And launches her out of the arena.

—------

The Infirmary was chaotic. Almost a hundred knights with impact wounds from magic explosions and high speed shrapnel, many also from being thrown at high speeds.

There was a battle against Shadow going on, the villain that blew a hole in the city. Iris and the war goddess are fighting him right now.

One of the nurses was aiding a knight who was hit by an explosion from Alpha's magic sword, a sizable shard of rock got wedged in his stomach. He's injured but he's tough. The nurse opens an empty room with a medical bed in the centre. 

She walks into the room, the knight clutching his stomach behind her.

*Crash*

The window suddenly shatters and a body flies in through the window. The body lands perfectly on the bed and lies limp but with her chest still visibly breathing. 

“Wha?”

“...”

“...”

“I guess this room is taken.” the nurse stated with obvious confusion.

—------

Why was Nicoletta so damn fast? Marco was chasing her across the roof tops. She was going to the direction of the market district then suddenly changed direction and now they are seemingly running in random directions.

She drops into a rundown alleyway far from the centre of town. Marco follows her.

The ally was rundown. The floor is dark and shards of wood lay alongside a broken wooden crate, torn cloth across it the space is narrow with the building's paint peeling off years ago and at the end stood a woman back towards him “Nicoletta.”

“No, Nicoletta Marquez died years ago.” She turns towards him and a sword extends from her hand.

“My name is Nu.”

—------

“AAAAHHHH!!!!!”

Iris charges at Shadow fire exploding wildly out of her sword. 

Shadow dodges backwards. Beatrix was waiting on him doing that and was in a perfect position to be hit. Shadow ducks under the blade and dodges backwards as the blade unleashes an explosion of magic energy.

—--------

I have two packs of Alpha's blood left. I could slice Beatrix a little bit if I need some more but blood runs out fast when using that magic sword. Basically using the sword kills the blood cells and when they are all dead even I can't put a single drop of magic into the blade. 

On that note I asked Alpha about Beatrix if they were related yesterday. She seemed hesitant to tell me so I didn't want to push it.

I should totally grab the sword of Freya while I'm at it. If I can get Iris to bleed on the handle I can use it for a bit.

—------

Shadow ducks under an attack from Annerose, walks behind her and slashes her in the back. Archer jumps between the blade blocking Shadow’s attack.

Archer backs up to be out the way of Iris and Beatrix's simultaneous strike. Shadow dodges them both by shifting his weight forwards. He slips under Beatrix's guard and rips her sword from her grip.

Iris is about to take a swing at Shadow but with his other hand he manifests a sword and stabs her in the palm to stop the strike. His sword then merges back into Shadow’s cloak.

Shadow grabs the sword of Freya on the handle. Iris lets go expecting it to explode in his face. 

“Allow me to show you how to properly use the sword of the ancient hero.”

Shadow is now holding both the Sword of Freya and the artifact he referred to as Alpha's sword. Shadow channels magic into the sword of Freya he spins around and launches dozens of small flame spears about the size of an arrow. 

How, only descendants of Freya can use that sword. No… don't tell me.

Iris blocks the flame spear with a mithral sword she just picked off the ground. The flame spear splattered against the sword but the blade turned white hot and started to bend. The heat nipped at Iris palms. She released the blade before it could burn her.

Iris was trying to hide her trembling. Only descendants of Freya can use that sword. Don't tell me he is, he is… part of her bloodline. It doesn't seem like it's the first time he has used the sword of Freya (it is). Iris tries to regain her resolve. 

The knights surround Shadow but most lay on the ground injured with burn marks and broken bones. Many medics run past dragging people to the infirmary, since they realised Shadow makes it a point deliberately not to target medics, for some reason. The only people standing left are Beatrix, Iris, Adder, Archer is limping and Annarose. Annerose raises a sword against shadow only to get blasted away with a fire ball. 

Shadow seems bored.

He tosses both artifacts. The sword of Midgar back towards Iris and Alpha's sword to Adder.

*Boom!*

The sword explodes in Adder's hands just like the Sword of Freya did to Claire. Adder's flesh is torn off his hand and his fingers bend in ways they were not designed to. A scorched mess is left where his right hand used to be.

Beatrix catches Alpha’s sword before it touches the ground. Realising it could explode she dropped it. Then realising it would have already exploded if she held it like she just did. She picks it up again.

“This sword allows me to use it.”

“your bloodline.” Shadow responds.

“The royal elven bloodline.”

No idea, I will just stay quiet and pretend I know, Shadow thinks.

“Who are you? Who is Alpha?”

“I am Shadow, he who lurks in the shadows to hunt the shadows.” he says while fighting various well known figures in the middle of the largest arena on this side of the continent.

“And Alpha.”

“Unfortunately that is not for me to tell.”

“What unfortunate?”

“I won't tell you”

“You won’t?”

“Yes I won't.”

“you won’t?”

“I won’t.”

“won’t?”

“won’t.”

“I see.”

Iris shook her head trying to understand what that conversation was. It must be a super efficient discussion between swordmasters.

“Come now. Let us have a change of scenery.” Shadow jumps into the VIP booth. Only Iris, Beatrix and Annerose are able to follow.

—-----------

“Nicolle–Nu. Why?”

Nu looked at him with cold dead eyes. She slashes at Marco, the blow is heavy, really heavy like deflecting Iris heavy, but Marco could still block that.

“Why did you fake your death? Why did you join Shadow Garden?”

“You know nothing, do you?”

“What I know! What I know is that you faked your death and joined a secret organisation. Your family must have been worried for you. I was. Your fami–”

“They were the ones that got rid of me.”

Marco paused briefly trying to process the revelation. Nu swung at him. Marco dropped, regaining his focus and narrowly avoiding her blade. Marco manages to block the follow up swing. He's stuck in the position of only defending, attacking her would be nothing but suicide, reason is his only chance.

“Your family was killed.”

“I know.” she returns coldly.

“Do you care?” Marco asks with genuine concern. Hoping she hasn't lost her humanity.

“They faked my death, drugged me so my magic would not ‘curse the room’ I slept in and sold me to the church. And you ask, do I care that they died?!” Nu’s hands started trembling as she talked. Some areas of her cloak melted slightly but just for a moment, too small for Marco to notice. 

Nu calms herself returning to the cold looks she began with. “I do care, I’m glad they all died.”

“I didn't know they–.”