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 to quickly could spell the doom 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 there noses to 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 acted like it. 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 stated 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. 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 a 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 dragging 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.