Chapter 76

“Hey, don’t go bad-mouthing my brother.” “It’s true, though.” Alexia ends the conversation by knocking on the door. “Comin’!” someone replies cheerily from inside. The door swings open. “Heya, Claire. Glad you’re safe. You had me worried there.” It’s a short girl with wine-red hair. “Sorry about all the fuss,” Claire tells her. “Hey, as long as you’re okay, then consider it water under the bridge. Make sure you give me a shout before you go missing next time, ’kay?” “I’ll see what I can do.” Nina shoots a glance over to the side at Alexia. “Gotta say, though, you two sure make for an odd couple. Nice to meetcha, Princess Alexia.” “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Nina.” “Please, just ‘Nina’ is fine. When’d you two become friends?” Alexia and Claire answer at pretty much the exact same time. “Oh, we’re not friends.” “More like enemies, if anything.” “Hey, whatever works for you,” Nina replies, then invites them inside. “Anyways, c’mon in. You look like a couple of gals with somethin’ on your mind.” Nina takes a seat on her bed and crosses her legs. Alexia and Claire sit down on a pair of modest chairs. “Before we get to that, would you mind if I asked you a question?” Alexia’s gaze darts around uncomfortably. “Go for it. I’m an open book.” “Why are you in your underwear?” For reasons unknown, Nina is dressed exclusively in sexy lingerie. Despite her petite build, she has curves in all the right places. Even fellow women find themselves captivated by her figure. “’Cause it’s comfy.” “Do you always hang out dressed like that?” “Yeah. Mitsugoshi’s underwear feels great, and the designs are awesome, too.” Nina smiles, rolling up the sheer fabric to show it off. “I swear…,” Alexia mutters. “I’m going to have to get those product numbers off you later.” “Yeah, no prob. I’ve got some other models of theirs that are great, too.” “Show me,” Alexia replies instantly. Her expression is dead serious. “And who exactly are you ever going to get to show them off to?” Claire scoffs. Alexia glares at her. “Shut up, you.” “Anyhow, we need to get back on topic.” “Oh yeah, right,” Nina agrees. “And I gotta hit the hay soon, so if you could give me the quick version, that’d be great. Late nights are murder on my beautiful skin.” “Sure, of course. We wanted to ask you about that forbidden book. How’d you steal it?” Nina blinks blankly at Claire’s question. “What forbidden book? You lost me.” “You don’t have to keep it a secret. Cid told me everything. You took a book out of the forbidden book section, right?” “The young’un said that? Well, I can assure you it didn’t happen.” “I told you, you don’t have to keep it a secret.” “And I told you, I’m not keeping nothing. I literally have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Really?” “Really. I wouldn’t know the first thing about sneaking into the forbidden book section.” “I did warn you,” Alexia says mockingly. “Fido lied to you.” “Sh-shut up! Nina, you’re telling the truth? You’re not hiding anything?” Claire begins shaking Nina’s shoulders so hard that the hooks on Nina’s bra come undone. “C-calm down, Claire! I promise, I’m not lying!” “Rrrrrrrrgh!” Claire bites her lip and flushes scarlet. “Dammit, Cid!! You lied to me again! You can’t keep doing this to me!” “See, even you know he’s a liar.” “Shut up, shut up, shut up! Forget this! I’m going home!” “All the way back to your parents’ place?” “To my dorm room!” Claire storms out of the room with her face bright red, and Alexia hurriedly chases her. “W-wait a second, hold up! We still need to talk about our plan for tomorrow…” Alexia turns back to Nina for a moment. “Thanks for having us, by the way.” “I’m not sure I follow what just happened, but make sure you take it easy, ’kay?” Alexia gives her an awkward smile, then closes the door behind her. The room is quiet now, and Nina rises to her feet and walks over to the window. “All righty.” Her unhooked bra slips to the floor, and she sees herself reflected on the window’s surface. There’s a grim scar on her left breast. “Time to get moving.” She runs a slender fingertip over the scar. Then her cold gaze drifts out toward the deep night’s boundless dark. I love going for late-night walks. The world is quiet in the moonlight, and it helps remind me about what really matters. I haven’t been losing my way much lately, but back in my previous life, the gap between reality and what I needed to accomplish to be an eminence in shadow caused my resolve to waver sometimes. My go-to method for dealing with stuff like that was training so hard I couldn’t think anymore, but going for late-night walks and doing some self-reflection was a fine option, too. When I looked up at the moon when everything around me was still, that alone was enough to make me feel like a shadowbroker. There were occasionally hoodlum bikers out, loudly revving their engines, but that was what I had my crowbar of justice for. Anyhow, long story short, I still sneak out of my dorm late at night to go for a little stroll every now and again. Recently, I’ve gotten hooked on heading up to the school roof and looking down at the night-shrouded world from atop it. “Heh-heh-heh…” All I have to do is let out a fearless laugh, and I’m the coolest guy in the world. The moonlight is especially beautiful tonight. I already washed the spit off the red jewel Delta found, and I take it out and hold it up to the moon. The wondrously deep color makes it unbelievably pretty. “Looks like there’s some sorta magic stored in it. I wonder how much I could sell it for?” Dang, Delta, you did good. I can’t wait till I get a chance to put it up for auction at Mitsugoshi. If it sells for enough, I’ll finally be able to buy the Eminence in Shadow Set from my personal wish list. I’m gonna get a black lion-mane scarf, I’m gonna get a dark crystal table set, I’m gonna get a— “Huh?” When I glance to the side, I see a middle-aged dude in a black robe over on the corner of the roof. That’s an odd place to see a dude. Wait—do my eyes deceive me? Now that I’m looking, is the robe he’s wearing made of darkspider silk?! That sheen, that deep black hue… It’s gotta be. No cheapo robe could ever boast that raw material quality. “…You’ve got good taste.” I take a moment to observe the fashionable dude. His hair is silver and goes all the way down to his waist, and his features are chiseled. His eyes are shaped like an eagle’s, which is kinda badass, too. I strain my ears and catch him muttering something: “It was supposed to have appeared by now. I checked the blueprints…” Ah, he must be a burglar. That’s the only kind of guy I can think of who would use a blueprint to sneak into a school. It does make sense; I hear the school’s got all sorts of valuable artifacts. What we’re dealing with here is a fancy thief. Unaware that I’m watching him, the dude says something that sounds pregnant with significance. “They must have interceded. But that just means I have some obstructions to remove…nothing more.” Would you look at that? This guy even knows how to set the scene. Then the fancy thief turns around. Our eyes meet. I’m concealing my presence, but I’m not making any effort to hide my actual body. Naturally, this means he spots me. “What?! How long have you been—?” “Hey, don’t mind me. I was just going for a walk.” I have no intention of obstructing this guy’s plans, so I try to impress on him how harmless I am. “You don’t look like you’re from the Knight Order. Who are you?” “Just an ordinary old student.” “A student, huh…? Given how you’re carrying yourself, I guess you’re telling the truth. I can’t believe a mere student spotted me on my first day here.” “Look, man, happens to the best of us. Anyhow, see you later.” “Hold it. Now that you’ve seen me, I have to eliminate you.” “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna rat you out or anything. It’s no skin off my nose if a burglar happens to break into the aca—” However, the fancy thief doesn’t seem to be in a listening mood. “Today just wasn’t your lucky day, kid.” “Whoa, careful there.” I sway my body to avoid the twin sickles cleaving at my throat. This guy’s pretty fast. Those are some fancy moves for a burglar. I guess he really is a fancy thief. “Wh—?! You dodged it?!” He backs off out of caution. His voice lowers to a growl. “You… You’re not just any old student, are you?” “Seriously, I’m not gonna rat you out.” “Considering that trick you just pulled, you must be with the Knight Order special forces. That’s the first time anyone’s been able to pull the wool over my eyes like that.” “I really am just an ordinary student.” “You think I’d believe that? You’re probably the one who killed the Wicked Smile. It was unlike him to call for aid. That’s why they sent in me, the Dark Spider.” “Yeah, I think you’ve got the wrong guy.” “But this is where your luck runs out.” “My what?” “The thing is…I’m stronger than the Wicked Smile.” The fancy thief slashes my arm with his sickle. Clang!! A heavy noise echoes out from my arm, and sparks go flying. “I—I can’t cut you?!” I reshape my uniform. Black slime flows down my arm, covering it up and coalescing into a talon where my hand is. “That black weapon… You’re with the Shadow Garden…” The fancy thief makes a desperate attempt to back off. However, nothing he does can change what’s about to happen. “So fast—” I close the gap and gouge out his heart with my talon. “Impossible… Th-that power…” “Huh?” He clutches my talon with both hands and grimaces. “It can’t be… No, this is where you are… So you disguise yourself as a student. Forgive me… Lord… Fen…rir…” With that, he hacks up a huge mouthful of blood. “Aw man. There I go, murdering people again.” I steal his darkspider silk robe, taking great care not to let any blood get on it, then kick him off the roof. “Ah, shit.” When I look down, I see that the fancy thief has fallen to his death. That’s all well and good, but there’s a bronze statue right where he landed, and he had the unique misfortune of getting impaled on the sword the statue is holding up. It makes it look like he’s been brutally executed. What should I do about the body? “…Eh, I guess I’ll just leave it.” There’s blood splattered everywhere, and cleaning it up sounds like a royal hassle. I can just write it off as a special gift from me to all the students enjoying their ordinary school lives. “Hmm?” All of a sudden, I notice an odd white fog drifting by. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t any fog there a minute ago. “What is that stuff?” I blink, and it vanishes without a trace. “Huh. Did I just imagine that? I don’t think so…” There’s no way that could’ve been a weird trick of the light. It was only there for a moment, but I definitely saw some fog there. “I guess it’s just one of life’s many mysteries.” It’s not like seeing some white fog is gonna change my life in any meaningful capacity, and if I wanna see more, I can always just head up into the mountains. More importantly, I gotta go hang my new darkspider silk robe on my wall and catch some Zs. The area is enshrouded in a gloomy white fog and illuminated by a quartet of red cylinders of light. “What a low compatibility rate… The fault must lie with the base specimens. This is what happens when we can’t get our hands on any possessed.” There’s a skinny man standing before the cylinders. He jots something down in the file he’s holding, then sighs. “Is there still no word from the specimen procurement team?” It’s hard to see, but there’s something floating in the red light. Human beings. There are four people, each of them floating in one of the cylinders and hooked up to a series of tubes. The tubes expand and contract like living creatures as they suck something out of their victims. Inside, all the life has drained from the people’s faces. “We’re running out of time. At this rate…” The man strides restlessly from one cylinder to another. Then there are footsteps audible from the fog. “How are we looking, Slender Willow?” The voice’s owner stops before reaching the fog’s edge. The thin man, Slender Willow, hurriedly straightens his posture. “We were able to retrieve four specimens from the student body that were compatible with the magic. We’re absorbing their mana as we speak, and I believe we’ll have the seal down sooner or later…” “‘Or later,’ hmm? Did we have four specimens last time I was here?” Slender Willow gulps. “Well, the Shadow Garden’s been running interference, you see…” “So I’ve heard.” “And by the looks of it, they sent someone with skills on par with their upper leadership.” “Oh? One of the Seven Shadows, perhaps?” The man remains out of sight, but his interest seems piqued. “In all likelihood, yes. It could be a Seven Shadow we’ve never been able to get a visual on before.” “That would make it Zeta, then.” “Yes, sir. She appears to specialize in fleeing.” “I don’t have many reports of people having fought her. I always just assumed she couldn’t hold her own in a fight.” “She killed the Wicked Smile, so if nothing else, she’s more powerful than a Named Child.” “Faaascinating. Well, this should be interesting, then. By the way, I hear you called in a replacement for the Wicked Smile?” “I wanted to be on the safe side, so I brought in the Dark Spider, one of our most powerful Named Children. Now the plan will be able to—” “The Dark Spider is dead.” “…What?” “He got skewered out in front of the school.” “Um… I’m afraid I don’t—” “It’s true.” “I-it is? I mean, not that I would ever doubt you, sir, perish the thought. Was it Zeta who killed him, too?” “Hard to say. We don’t know who the killer is, but what we do know is that the Shadow Garden works fast. I’m jealous. If only I had underlings that competent.” “Ha-ha-ha…” “How do you intend to get the plan back on track?” “I was going to ask headquarters to send in more reinforcements.” “The credit collapse dealt a heavy blow to our finances. We could hire more Second and Third Children, but I doubt this is the kind of problem we can solve by throwing fodder at it.” “B-but…” “The Shadow Garden already knows about these ruins. It’s only a matter of time before they breach our defenses.” “Well, we’ve already located more viable specimens. There’s Claire Kagenou, and if you give me the go-ahead, there’s Alexia Midgar as well. If we got our hands on those two, I believe we would be able to bring the plan to fruition almost immediately.” “Alexia Midgar, hmm…?” “Is that problematic?” “…No, go ahead. Zenon’s already laid hands on her. We can afford to get a little messy. After all, we of the Fenrir sect have controlled the Midgar Kingdom for a long, long time.” “I’ll give my men the orders, then.” “No, Slender Willow, I want you to do it yourself.” “I beg your pardon…?” “You’ve gotten too attached to the mission site. You got yourself that role at the academy—now it’s time to put it to use.” “But, sir, my arm…” A fierce wind blows across Slender Willow’s neck, leaving a single thin wound in its wake. “Use your position to make them let down their guard.” “…Yes, sir.” “I’m going to be busy adjusting the ruins. Get it done, and get it done right.” “Yes, sir.” Slender Willow scurries away. “Now, then.” Something appears projected in the fog. It’s an image of two girls. One is a golden-haired therianthrope, and the other is a strawberry blond human. Both of them belong to the Shadow Garden. “So that’s Zeta…as well as the vaunted Saint. To think that the Shadow Garden ended up taking her in. I’d be interested to see what a certain nation would do if they had that information.” In the image, Zeta and Victoria advance through the white fog. Behind them, there’s another figure as well. The third figure is wearing a different robe from the Shadow Garden’s, and their face is hidden beneath a hood. “They’ve already broken through our third layer of defenses. Depending on how things go with Slender Willow…,” the man mutters as his presence vanishes. The image continues playing in the now-empty space. In it, a pair of golden eyes is fixed directly on the screen.