Chapter 3
I enter the room where I usually meet Gaunt and Zenon for our weekly cult meetings. One might expect that those would be interesting and packed with intrigue, but they were usually just Gaunt and Zenon arguing about something or other not related to any cool scenes while I tuned them out to practise my magic and take advantage of the free snacks Gaunt always provides.
Speaking of snacks, I see a box filled with small pieces of shortbread. I don't recognise the brand, but the logo on the packaging almost looks like kanji.
I nod to Gaunt, then take my seat and took one of the shortbreads out to taste test. Gaunt's a pretty terrible baker but fortunately these are store bought so there's no chance for him to have messed up and added something weird again.
Unfortunately it seems he did make his own addition after all as I quickly discover after the first bite.
Mixed in with the icing sugar on top is a nearly identical white powdery substance, completely flavourless and almost indistinguishable from the sugar around it. And oh yeah, it's extremely poisonous.
Seriously, I don't know how he keeps screwing up but the man has such poor baking sense he keeps accidentally adding poisons. Each time a different one. You'd think after the first couple of times he'd learn his lesson, but no, he just keeps making the same mistake week after week.
I'm not going to judge a man for having access to so many poisons. Hobbies are good and it's kind of cool and mysterious to have a secret collection just for fun. Some of the ones that have ended up in the food are the most deadly, painful ones around which is kind of badass.
But he should at least keep them further separated from his baking ingredients so he stops getting them mixed up.
I've stopped warning him about the poison in them since he never seems to learn, and I don't want to make him feel bad by constantly pointing out his mistake. He is sick and quite old after all so it's forgivable that he would have lapses like these. And since neither he nor Zenon ever eat any of it and I've built up a complete immunity to poison there's never been any harm as a result.
Them not eating any just leaves more for me though, I finish my first shortbread and reach for a second. Gaunt has a disappointed expression as I do.
I give him a thumbs up to let him know I like the treats.
His face pales, then he catches himself and clears his throat. "Well then, let's not delay the discussion any longer." He activates his artefact that prevents any sound escaping the room. "Zenon is truly dead by your hands then?"
Well, I suppose Zenon's cult-sona is 'dead' in an official sense at least. It's not like he can show his face in public between the transformation and the fact that he'd be arrested on the spot, hence us faking his death. I'm still not sure why he insists that we pretend he's dead to the cult as well, but whatever, that's the storyline he wanted.
I nod. Taking a third shortbread out of the box in front of me.
Gaunt lets out a sigh. "It's a pity you decided not to take him in alive. Lord Fenrir would have preferred punishing him for his failure. Though I suppose it's understandable for you to have wanted to take his life personally considering what he did to you."
I nod again, barely listening as I eye up a fourth shortbread.
"He betrayed me too, if you can believe it or not, and took something extremely precious to me. Now he's exposed us, put one of our key plans at risk and caused the destruction of countless of our until now hidden bases throughout the city. I believe that we need to work closer together to make up for the added strain he's put on the two of us. So tell me everything you observed of this 'Garden of Eden' that opposes us."
Ah yeah that other group of roleplayers. We did need some friendly rivals to help set the scene so this is a lucky break for us. I think for a moment. "They're stronger than most people in the Kingdom, all of their members that I saw could defeat Zenon easily. Plus they carry some unique feeling gear that I haven't seen anyone else with."
He scoffs at the thought and mutters something under his breath. 'So weak as to have a pack of little girls be stronger than him. Or is Shadow just overestimating them. No matter.' "Continue."
"They have a strong sense of justice and an opposition to authority. Their goal is nothing less than the dissolution of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic run by the common man."
Gaunt's eyes widen. "To think that was their ultimate aim, such a foolish notion. I don't understand how that let them to come across our operations and decide to target us as well. Or why would they rescue the Princess? Do they intend to destabilise the Kingdom? Hmmmm, this bears consideration. What else have you learned?"
"Well, only that one of their members was being held in the same prison Zenon was holding me in. That's what that breakout was about."
He puts his chin in his hand and thinks. "That does make sense, as the investigation into the princess was an official matter you were officially held at one of the kingdom's prisons. One of the ones that we had control over and Zenon could influence of course. So I had assumed the breakout was because they were targeting cult controlled areas and wanted to cause general chaos. With this news however we must look into the other inmates that escaped."
He looks at me. "Very well, the information you provided has been useful. Now I will share something with you." He reaches into a hidden pocket and pulls out a small hand sized object wrapped in a white cloth. He slowly, almost reverently, unfolds the cloth to reveal a metallic flower with a small red orb set into it.
"This is the Eye of Avarice. The cornerstone of my blah functionally it blah blah so that we can blah blah blah…"
Gaunt starts droning on about his plan and I tune it out. Boring.
"Put your hand over it so that I can attune your magic signature to it."
I look up to see him hold it out to me. What's this attunement about? It's probably just a prob.
I give him my best Shadow smirk and chuckle darkly. "I have no need for such a thing. I shall rend my assistance without performing an attunement."
He blinks and his mouth hangs open in surprise. But quickly gathers himself and folds it back in the white cloth before putting it away. 'Foolish boy,' he mutters under his breath once more.
"Very well if that's your decision. Now Rex will be assisting the two of us in this endeavour."
Uuuugh, Rex? That guy's no fun.
"And as promised once I regain my seat amongst the Rounds I will be promoting both of you as a reward for your service. But only if the plan goes well."
I nod like I know what the hell he's talking about. "Everything shall be as we envision!"
He nods back. "Good, good." He glances down at the empty plate of treats and sighs. Look, if you wanted one then I'm sorry but I wasn't about to let my friend eat poisoned food. I had to eat them all before he took one. Yeah, that's why I ate them all…
"Well I suppose we're done here. When next we meet like this it shall either be as victorious conquerors or vanquished criminals."
"Later Lutheran." I wave and head to the door.
On the way out I spot Sherry waiting in a chair for our meeting to be over, she probably wants to talk to her father. She knows not to enter while we're having our meetings but she must have needed him for something.
I understand the fear Gaunt must feel, I too learned my lesson against telling my family about my extra curricular activities. Like me he is too embarrassed to tell his daughter about his hobbies. Too afraid that she won't understand. I feel your pain buddy.
I nod at her as I pass and her eyes widen. "C-cid! H-hi!" She sputters for a bit, her cheeks turning red. Is… is she angry at me? For talking with her father too long when she needed him? Shit, I should do something to make it up to her.
"Hey Sherry. You should, uh, you should probably reorganise your fathers kitchen."
She looks confused but nods.
"Anyway, you wanted your father right?"
Her eyes widen. "Oh yes! I forgot, I needed to see him about the research project the Princesses are asking me to work on."
"That sounds impressive. Hired by the royal family themselves for research? Your father must be proud of you." Her face turns a deeper red and she averts her eyes to the ground. Shit, is she even more angry at me now? Did I accidentally say something insensitive?
I think over everything I just said but don't remember anything. Maybe I'm just missing the context to know what toes I'm stepping on exactly. Anyway, time to exit this conversation before I somehow make it even worse.
"Well it sounds important, I won't keep you."
I turn to leave and she looks disappointed. "Oh, okay… Well… see you around sometime?"
I give her a nod and keep moving onward.
I should have kept a more vigilant watch on my surroundings. Kept an eye out for danger. Instead I let my mind wander. It's when I'm making my way to my dorm that I stumble into an ambush.
"There you are little brother," a voice calls out from directly behind me as a hand clasps around my shoulder, putting a stop to any thoughts of escape.
I silently bid adieu to the rest of my quiet peaceful day and turn around to face my fate.
"Hey sis."
"Don't you 'hey sis' me. Don't you have anything to say to me after everything that just happened? You were arrested!"
"Uuhhh, I'm sorry? Not sure what you want me to do about that considering I was surrounded by knights. You know I can't fight."
Claire sighs. "This is exactly why I didn't want you dating that Princess. It makes you a target. She put you in danger. And you're still too weak to defend yourself as this entire situation has shown."
"Alright, I'll try not to be arrested again. Promise!" I lie through my teeth.
She scowls. Not good enough. "I need you stronger so that next time a Princess falls madly in love with you you won't be such an easy target for political intrigue. Come train with me."
That actually has me bursting into laughter. "Come on sis, Alexia was a fluke. You really think another Princess is going to want to get involved with me?"
She doesn't seem to see the humour. "Princess Rose Oriana is also studying at the academy and isn't that much older than you. Since I can't trust you to do the sensible thing and reject her, I need you to get stronger. Train with me."
I start laughing even harder. "Come on, Student Council President Rose Oriana? Really??" She ignores my logical argument and starts dragging me by the arm to the training ground.
"Yes, really. Now I'm busy this afternoon with some business so we need to do as much as we can in the next few hours. I've prepared an extensive routine specifically for today. To start with, 500 push ups will be the warm up to your warm up. Next…"
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Finally back at my dorm. I flop down onto my soft bed and enjoy the peace and quiet.
Knock Knock
"Ciiiiid, open up!" The moblike voice of a teenage boy calls from the other side of my dorm room door.
Knock knock knock
I groan. Maybe if I ignore them they'll go away?
Knock knock knock knock
"Cid we know you're in there! Open up or we'll tell your sister you got an F on our latest test."
I scowl and jump to the other side of the room, flinging the door open and leaning out. "You filthy liar! I got a respectable C."
Skel's grin makes me want to punch him in the face. "Yeah but now you've opened the door and can't pretend you aren't home."
I'm about to give him a piece of my mind when Po shoves a piece of paper into my face.
"Cid, check this out."
I glance down at it. "Mitsugoshi Midgar, grand opening?" Hey, I recognise that logo. It's the one on the box of shortbread Gaunt had.
Both of my friends are nodding wildly.
"It's a new store. They sell all kinds of things, but one thing in particular is more important than the rest."
"It's this stuff they call 'chocolate'. It's supposed to drive the ladies crazy."
Huh, that's odd. I didn't know this world had chocolate.
"All we have to do is give them a box of this chocolate stuff and we'll finally get ourselves girlfriends. Aren't you tired of being forever-single Cid?"
"Who are you calling forever-single?? I just got out of a relationship. Pass."
"That's not the point. Come on!"
I groan. "Fine. I'll come with you just to get this over with."
To be honest I'm a little curious about this Mitsugoshi store. Not enough that it's how I'd choose to spend the rest of my day but now it sounds like I don't have a choice.
It's about thirty minutes away from the dorms. Though we see the end of the line after only twenty.
"Damn, that's a big line." I whistle at the sight of it. "It's going to be several hours wait just to reach the front door."
My two 'friends' groan in despair.
I start to turn around. "Oh well, I guess we won't be getting in before curfew. So sad."
"Cid? You're trying to get into Mitsugoshi?"
Now it's my turn to groan. I turn to the familiar voice to find my sister walking with a brown haired girl in the Mitsugoshi uniform.
Skel and Po immediately start stuttering at the sight of my sister and the girl she's with.
"Yeah we heard about that chocolate stuff this place sells and wanted to try it for ourselves."
Claire looks at the Mitsugoshi staff member who smiles. "Well Miss Claire is kindly filling in a survey for us. If you'd like to fill one in as well we can happily provide you a 50% discount on your chocolate purchase."
"W-w-w-we w-w-w-would l-l-l-love t-t-t-to d-d-do a s-s-s-survey!" Skel responds.
"Y-y-y-yeah!" Po does as well.
"We only need two people for the surveys," she's still smiling, but there's a forcefulness in her expression that intimidates the both of them.
"Whatever. I'll just do this survey and get us the chocolate you wanted guys."
"Wonderful! Please follow me," the brown haired girl turns and leads us past the line.
I turn to Claire. "I thought you said you had business to take care of?"
She blinks. "This is the business. Uh… our family has investments in Mitsugoshi corp."
Our parents didn't tell me anything about this. Which is to be expected I guess, I've carefully cultivated my mob persona to be as boringly average as possible. So as a result I'm not really trusted with any of the big family decisions like my sister the heir is.
Still, looking around at the crowd desperate to get in this place is beyond popular. The investments should pay off. Depending on the size of our share the family will probably be raking in the money at this rate.
That could be great for my Shadowbroker fund.
Wait…
If we become rich from some wise investments our notoriety will skyrocket. That's not great, that's terrible! People will stop talking about me as 'who him? The guy that fades into the background? I think his dad's a baron or something unimportant' and instead be all 'oh he's from that Kagnou family that's been spending a lot of money lately! And didn't he once date the princess? Let's be his friend!'
I can't deal with becoming popular!
Then if I ever reveal myself it won't be a shock because everyone will be all 'wow, his sister is a genius swordswoman and his parents are geniuses at business. It's no surprise he was secretly talented too!'
Oh god. What if my parents use their money as an incentive for an arranged marriage and try to marry me off?? I'm fairly unmarriageable now but if we're rich then my value will rise. If I'm married I'll have less time to be a Shadowbroker and roleplay Cult games with my friends.
No, becoming rich is out of the question. Which means there's only one path left to avert that darker timeline.
I have to sabotage Mitsogoshi so it fails.
I let out a dark chuckle.
"Cid, stop laughing creepily," Clarie scolds me.
"It wasn't creepy. It was dark and calculating."
"Sure sure," she waves her hand in the air, clearly not believing me.
The brown haired Mitsugoshi staff waved over one of her coworkers who bowed to us.
"Lord Kagenou, my coworker here will show you around the store. We're interested to know what the male students of the Academy are most interested in purchasing so please point out whatever takes your fancy." She turns to her coworker. "Please take him to the chocolate section first and ensure he receives a 50% discount."
"Will I not be doing the survey with my sister?"
"Oh no, Lady Claire will be helping us get an idea of what female students are after. So I'll be taking her to different sections of the store since we need her perspective on different items."
"Don't worry Cid, the store is perfectly safe and I'll be there to walk you home when we leave."
"Mmmm'kay."
As we were led through the doors and Claire was led in a different direction all my thoughts on how I would sabotage the business were put on hold as soon as I saw the lineup of items for sale.
Coffee? Kimonos? Yukata? Suits? It's not just chocolate, none of this stuff exists in this world. It can't be that I just haven't seen them. Everyone I can hear is curious about the exotic things and talking about how they've never seen anything like them.
What is this? Imports from another country?
No… The logo on the packaging. I thought it before with Gaunt, but now that I see it again it's definitely kanji. What the hell is this? The only explanation that makes sense is that I'm not the only reincarnated person from Japan here. This can change the game completely, I shouldn't have overlooked it. Just how many of us are there?
Okay I need to focus. Ask questions. Investigate.
"This is an impressive lineup. Where did Mitsugoshi get the ideas for it all?" I ask.
My attendant giggles. "Oh you know, we have some smart people in our research department," she says. Yeah she's definitely hiding something.
She leads me to a section of the store that is filled with row upon row of sweets, shelves stacked nearly up to the roof. There's chocolate, truffles, eclairs, I even spot the box of shortbread that Gaunt somehow got his hands on. Unsurprisingly the chocolate is extremely popular.
I squat down to the very bottom and grab three packs of the cheapest chocolate. Even if I have a discount that's no reason to waste money. My Eminence fund sucks up a lot already.
"Lord Kagenou, those are actually our cheapest ones," my attendant says. "If you like I can point you towards some of our most popular."
Nope. Not going to fall for your upselling. First it's buying a slightly more expensive chocolate, then it's buy four get the fifth free so I buy more than I actually need. I'm onto your plays lady.
"No thanks. The cheapest will do."
"I wasn't expecting you to be so frugal Lord Kagenou! Very well, please follow me to the other sections."
She ends up showing me coffee and other delicacies from my old world. But I was never a big indulger in those sorts of things. Why would I need the highs and lows of caffeine when preparing to be a Shadowbroker gave me all the energy I needed without any lows.
So yeah, without the novelty of new stuff that seems to be infecting everyone else there isn't anything to draw my attenti-
"What. Is. That!"
I rush over to the tool section to get close to the thing that caught my eye. This nostalgic shape, perfectly sculpted form. I pick one up. The balance, it's perfect! It fits in my hand like it was made for me. I give it a quick swing. Hear the sound of it sliding through the air.
"Um, those are for construction Lord Kagenou. I believe we're calling them 'crowbars'. They won't be of much use to a spellsword like yours-"
"I'll take two!"