The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 3 (Light Novel)

by Daisuke Aizawa

  As I stand there thinking, the hunt more or less comes to an end.

  I barely even got to do anything.

  “P-please, wait!”

  The final bandit begins begging for his life.

  It happens a lot, but the pleading never works on Delta.

  A carnivorous grin spreads across her face as she swings her ebony blade with all her might.

  There isn’t a shred of technique behind the blow, but it makes up for it with raw power. However, it isn’t just fast, but flowing and clean as well.

  I guess that’s talent for you, huh?

  Her sword barrels at the bandit’s neck, slices through the top layer of skin, then comes to a halt.

  “Huh?”

  Has Delta stopped…?

  Impossible.

  She sniffs, taking in the bandit’s scent.

  “I—I knew it was you, Sara. Look, it’s me! It’s me!” says the outlaw.

  As he repeats “It’s me, it’s me” over and over like a scammer, the bandit takes off his mask.

  His features are rough and masculine, but they aren’t nearly as eye-catching as the fact that he has dog ears the same color and shape as Delta’s.

  “That is you, right, Sara? It’s me, your older brother!”

  Delta sniffs again, then tilts her head to the side and looks my way.

  It’s a sign she’s asking for permission.

  I nod, giving her the go-ahead to do whatever she wants.

  “You smell like Dad…but I don’t remember you.”

  Delta takes off her mask as well. Her face and tail come into view.

  “Well, if it isn’t Sara. I’d heard you contracted the possession and the old man hunted you down, but…I guess you survived. Good going.”

  “I’m the best at hide-and-seek, or my name isn’t Delta.”

  “Delta? So that’s what you call yourself these days, huh? Hey, c’mon, let me live. I am your brother, after all.”

  The man looks at Delta, clearly trying to butter her up.

  Her tail puffs up menacingly. Oh, man. That’s a sign she’s unhappy.

  “A weakling is no brother of mine.”

  “Hey, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, you’ve always been strong, and I know I can’t beat you! Even Dad always said if you weren’t a woman, he would have appointed you as the next chief! Your possession is all better, right? Why don’t I go talk to Dad and get him to let you come home? Whaddaya say?”

  “If I wanted to go back, I’d do it myself.”

  “Yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah, of course! That’s just how you are! In that case, what if I introduce you to a master befitting your skills! Listen and be amazed—right now, I’m working for Gettan the legendary Great Wolf!”

  Delta’s tail begins to swish. It’s a sign she’s outright pissed.

  “Gettan… You heard of this guy?” I ask her.

  “Don’t know him.” She shakes her head, her expression stern. Yup, figures.

  “You’re kidding!! He’s the legendary Great Wolf, the one even Dad couldn’t beat! The strongest swordsman in all the wolf clans! I—I bet you could even get chosen as one of his lovers, and—”

  “Don’t care; shut up. Weaklings should just be quiet.”

  With that, Delta lops the man’s head off mid-sentence. His head flies in a clean arc through the air.

  “Uh… Wasn’t that your brother?”

  Her face looks downright livid as she glowers at the man’s severed head, but when she looks over at me, she wags her tail, all smiles.

  “Weaklings are a stain on the family name. I’m glad I got to put him down.”

  “I…see.”

  There’s nothing else I can really say. I guess humans and therianthropes just see the matter in fundamentally different ways.

  Therianthropes are a pretty diverse species, but something like 80 percent of them are of the opinion that “might makes right.” The strong are kings, and those who are good at hunting are respected, too, albeit not quite as much. In that regard, Delta’s an archetypical example of the stereotype, to the point where it’s like, “Oh man, settle down; we get it, you’re a therianthrope.”

  However, even though they don’t all take it to extent Delta does, her way of thinking is pretty standard. To put it bluntly, therianthropes’ base stats are overpowered as hell. Their physical abilities are high, their senses are sharp, their reflexes are great, their magic is plentiful, they live long lives, and they reproduce like rabbits. If it weren’t for their intellectual shortcomings, they’d have easily taken over the world by now.

  Because of their “might makes right” philosophy, every time their population goes up, they start infighting, and it goes right back down again. Occasionally, some grand therianthrope hero will show up and unite them, but they invariably end up picking a fight with the humans or the elves and get sent scurrying back. Wait…this is the therianthropes we’re talking about. They crush their opposition every time. What actually happens is that they extend their supply lines too far, their provisions can’t make it to the front lines, and they get hungry and head home. Every goddamn time. Still, that’s not to say there aren’t wise and clever ones, too. For better or for worse, they’re a diverse people. For example, the fox clans are famous for their intellect. Just look at Yukime.

  Man, if only they’d just turn to the smarter clans and listen to them for a change. Actually, they do listen to them at first, but as soon as the supply lines get stretched out and the smart therianthropes tell them to play it safe, the meatheads call them cowards and push on anyway.

  Apparently, they’re all “might makes right” when it comes to their instincts, too.

  They do ostensibly have a constitutional government, and they’ve made some forays into industry recently, but they haven’t had much success. I guess their brains are too full, thinking of raw power.

  “Still, you should try to at least recognize your siblings. That can’t possibly be too much to ask.”

  “Um, my dad has around twenty lovers. I have over a hundred brothers!”

  “Oh. Well, in that case, you can definitely stand to lose one or two.”

  That’s therianthropes for you. They operate on crazy scales. Still, I’m kind of interested in this country of “might makes right.”

  “You know, I kinda want to check out the therianthrope lands at some point.”

  Delta’s ears twitch. “Ooh, good idea! You can become chief, Boss man!!”

  “Huh?”

  “You can beat up the old one, then become chief of the new pack!”

  “Uh…”

  “Then you can make lots of babies and become the strongest family in the world!!”

  “Yeah, that’s definitely not on the agenda.”

  “It is! We’ll find you a thousand women!! You can make lots of babies, the strongest in the world!! Let’s go!! You can become a big hero, then take over the world!!”

  “That’s not happening. C’mon, we’re heading back to the capital.”

  “No!!”

  “Yes.”

  “Boooooo!!”

  I drag Delta back to the capital. This is giving me a headache.

  Chapter 5

  Printing Fake Money as Mitsugoshi Throws Down with the Major Corporate Alliance!

  The gorgeous room has two men in it.

  One is a human merchant so rotund, he looks like a frog. The other is a blind therianthrope.

  “One of the Clovers was killed? Is that what you’re telling me?” the therianthrope growls. His jet-black fur is sleek, and his wolfman features are rough and masculine. Each of his eyelids closes over his empty sockets and bears a deep sword wound.

  “The man we lost was the newest Clover, the therianthrope who’d caught your attention, Mr. Gettan. His camp was raided while he was preparing to masquerade as a bandit and attack Mitsugoshi’s carriages.”

  The rotund merchant keeps a close eye on Gettan’s expression as he relays the news.

  The Clovers are the four most ca
pable members of the Garter Corporation’s personal army. They’re all handpicked by Gettan himself.

  “And now he’s dead… Whose work was this, Garter?”

  “It’s unclear. The corpse was decapitated with a single blow to the head. It certainly wasn’t the work of an amateur. Given our current situation, we suspect Mitsugoshi has hired some dark knights…”

  The frog-like man is Garter, president of the Garter Corporation.

  Although Garter is the president and Gettan is one of his employees, you’d never guess it from the way they interact with each other.

  “Those Mitsugoshi bastards… They’re tough, I’ll give them that.”

  Gettan’s murmur is low, like a wolf snarling.

  Their public efforts to crush Mitsugoshi should have been going well.

  Thanks to the work their private army’s been doing while disguised as bandits, all the traveling salesmen have stopped carrying Mitsugoshi goods and using their bills. Instead, they’ve all switched over to MCA merchandise and currency.

  Furthermore, the MCA’s paper money is becoming popular, right on schedule.

  Yet for whatever reason, Mitsugoshi isn’t flinching.

  The Garter Corporation hasn’t been attacking only traveling salesmen, but Mitsugoshi cargo carriages, too. However, the competitor must have some formidable guards on their payroll.

  Not a single member of Garter’s attack force has come back alive.

  In other words, Mitsugoshi’s urban trade has been completely unaffected. The only ones who’ve been suffering are the traveling salesmen who used to carry their goods to the commoners out in the countryside.

  However, rural commerce doesn’t even begin to compare with its urban counterpart when it comes to scale.

  After all, cities are where the rich and powerful gather. And those are the kinds of people who can not only afford luxury goods but buy them by the cartload.

  Most rural families, on the other hand, are just simple farmers.

  Farmers tend to be self-sufficient when it comes to food. Whenever they find themselves in need of something, they prefer to make it on their own, not spending money unless it’s absolutely necessary. Many of them are in the habit of buying things only when the traveling salesmen make their monthly rounds.

  Mitsugoshi’s been trying to change that habit by selling high-quality goods at bargain prices out in the countryside, but that’s still a work in progress.

  Even though their rural sales are currently stagnating, it isn’t so much as making a dent in their bottom line.

  That just goes to show how strong a foundation they’ve built with their urban stores.

  “Tch…” Gettan clicks his tongue, feigning irritation.

  The merchants of the MCA had looked down on Mitsugoshi. They’d thought that crushing them would be a breeze.

  At this rate, though, Mitsugoshi might not go down at all.

  The more time goes on, the more resources the MCA is burning.

  Gettan controls the Garter Corporation, so he needs to at least pretend to be flustered.

  “Gather the rest of the Clovers and conduct a raid on Mitsugoshi’s headquarters.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Make sure you get all their money and manufacturing details. Failure will not be tolerated.”

  Garter bows silently, then practically flees the room in his hurry to leave.

  The way Gettan turns his head to follow him, it’s almost as though his shut eyes can really see.

  “Excellent…”

  Now alone, Gettan bares his fangs in a toothy smile.

  His job is to destroy Mitsugoshi. That’s why he’s taken over the Garter Corporation.

  However, unlike the MCA merchants, he knows they won’t go down without a fight. That’s why the Cult has decided they need to be eliminated.

  Word came down from the Cult’s top brass: Mitsugoshi is growing faster than they’d predicted, and if they keep expanding at this rate, there’s a chance they’ll end up posing a problem.

  The Cult already has their hands full just dealing with Shadow Garden. If they let a new hindrance rise up now, it could prove an impediment to their future plans.

  “Heh-heh-heh…”

  Mitsugoshi is powerful enough, even the Cult regards them as a threat.

  There was no way the MCA companies were going to be able to deal with them, even after they all joined forces.

  As far as Gettan is concerned, the MCA is nothing more than a sacrificial pawn. And because he’s willing to abandon the MCA to do it, crushing Mitsugoshi will be a cinch.

  The only reason he volunteered for this job was because he had the utmost confidence in his ability to pull it off.

  “I’ve already made it this far…”

  He’s at the point where getting a seat on the Rounds isn’t a pipe dream.

  Just a little more…

  “…”

  The wounds over his eyes ache.

  He presses down on them with one hand and grimaces.

  He received them many moons ago, but even though they’ve long since healed, they still remind him of his past failures.

  “…!”

  He murmurs something under his breath.

  A memory of his life’s first black stain.

  He grinds his fangs.

  Rain cascades over the night. As the moon hides behind the clouds, the sound of droplets hitting the ground echoes in from outside.

  Two elves sit on a couch on Mitsugoshi’s first floor.

  “Alpha, the bodyguards have been able to completely repel the MCA’s attacks on our carriages. In fact, because we’ve successfully killed all the assassins they sent, we’re gradually whittling down their combat assets.”

  The indigo-haired elf with deep blue eyes—Gamma—looks over some documents as she speaks.

  “Sounds like there aren’t any problems on that front,” Alpha replies. The light from the fireplace makes her platinum blond hair glow.

  “We have the superior market share, too. All we need to do is keep counterattacking and the MCA will gradually fall.”

  “Thank goodness for that. We don’t want the connection between Mitsugoshi and Shadow Garden to become public, so we need to avoid making any overt moves…”

  Then there’s a knock on the door.

  “Come in.”

  “Forgive the intrusion.”

  Their guest is Nu, a woman with dark brown hair.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you in the middle of your conversation, but we have intruders on the premises.”

  “…It would seem they’re looking to pick a fight.”

  Gamma stands up from the couch, her face radiating confidence. “I’ll handle it.”

  “I, um, I suppose that’s fine, but…are you sure?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll go show them what we’re made of. Nu, follow me.”

  “Roger that.”

  The two of them bow, then leave. Alpha uneasily watches them go.

  “Well, Nu’s with her, so she should be okay…,” the elf says with a nod, trying to convince herself that it’s true.

  As the man clad in black dashes through the dark corridor, the sound of rain drowns out his already-quiet footsteps.

  The nimble man’s identity is Leaf One, a powerful dark knight and the leader of the Clovers.

  He, along with Leaf Two and Leaf Three, are in the middle of conducting a raid on Mitsugoshi’s headquarters. His job is to break off from the group and gather up confidential documents solo. Meanwhile, Leaf Two and his men will be engaging in sabotage, while Leaf Three will be pillaging as well as kidnapping important personnel.

  As Leaf One heads deeper into the company’s bowels, he notices a figure walking his way. He stops in his tracks.

  He recognizes that indigo-haired elf walking through the dark hallway. It’s Mitsugoshi’s president.

  Leaf Three is supposed to be the one in charge of kidnapping, but…eh, whatever. Leaf One decides to prioritize knocking the
woman out and capturing her.

  He moves swiftly.

  After silently coming up behind the target, he levels a knife-hand strike at her neck.

  “Ow!” she yelps.

  “Huh?”

  She whirls around, eyes wide.

  Leaf One hurriedly puts some distance between them. He definitely caught her by surprise, so why isn’t she knocked out?

  “That hurts! But catching me by surprise… Impressive.”

  She rubs her neck and flashes a fearless smile. Although she’s complaining about the pain, she doesn’t seem to have suffered any meaningful damage.

  “I see you went to great lengths to get here, so I would be remiss not to offer you a welcome befitting your efforts. My name is Gamma. And I’ll be the one to end your life!!”

  With that declaration, Gamma draws her ebony blade.

  Then she reinforces her body and closes the distance between them in a flash.

  She’s fast!!

  Crazy, stupid fast.

  However, that brief instant is all Leaf One needs to get a read on her.

  This woman is fast—but she’s a complete amateur!!

  Her movements are sloppy, and her form is all over the place.

  “Fwoosh!!” she cries as she swings her sword.

  She puts way too much strength into it, and she has wasted movements all over the place.

  Even so, the swing is like lightning—and what’s with that insane amount of magic?!

  It doesn’t matter how fast it is, any attack with such exaggerated and predictable movements can be easily countered. However, Gamma’s sword has enough magic packed into it to blow away dozens of dark knights with ease.

  One touch of that thing would be lethal.

  Leaf One makes sure to give the oncoming assault a gigantic berth.

  “That was some fine work, dodging my attack,” she commends. “Given those elegant movements of yours, I take it you’re a practitioner of the Western Liechtenroi style of fencing?”

  “Wha—?!”

  She can tell?!

  Being able to identify someone’s fighting style in just a glance requires incredible powers of observation. Clearly, this woman is no amateur.