The Eminence in Shadow, Vol. 1 (Light Novel)

by Daisuke Aizawa

  But she believes he’s better than god. If she opens her eyes, she can see him—and if she reaches out, she can touch him.

  “Hmm? What’s up?”

  “There’s something on you.” Nu wipes a stray thread off his shoulder and looks at his profile. “Please don’t tell Gamma about this. She’d be so mad if she found out I snuck onto campus in broad daylight.”

  “You got it. But I was really surprised. That makeup makes you look totally different.”

  “My face is bland, so it’s easy for me to change my appearance. I’ve always been good with makeup. I guess you could call it one of my old hobbies.”

  “Wow, and your Mitsugoshi persona?”

  “When I’m there, I make myself look much older than I really am.”

  “I see. By the way, how old are you?”

  “It’s a secret.” Nu flashes a beguiling smile. “I’m here to report on the incident yesterday with the man in black.”

  “Great.”

  “I interrogated the pretender but couldn’t get anything out of him. I suspect rigorous brainwashing destroyed his psyche. Judging from his other physical characteristics, I believe he is a Third Child.”

  “Huh?”

  The Children of Diablos.

  If the Cult finds impoverished orphans or young citizens who possess even the slightest bit of magic, its members will snatch them from the streets and raise them in a special facility. There, the children undergo brutal training and brainwashing. They’re loaded with drugs, and it’s said that fewer than 10 percent of them manage to “graduate.”

  The Third Children are those in the 10 percent who are deemed worthless. They only exist to be sacrificed and abandoned. With minds too corrupted to leak classified information, the Thirds are more powerful than the average knight.

  The Seconds are mentally stable. The few Firsts in existence are said to be the greatest warriors in the world.

  Nu doesn’t tell Shadow that, of course. She doesn’t think she has to explain common knowledge to him.

  “The Cult is clearly pulling the strings in these incidents. I imagine their purpose is to lure us in.”

  “Hmm.”

  “But that isn’t their only goal. The other day, we confirmed the existence of a Named First Child in the capital. He’s called Rex, the Game of Betrayal. I’m guessing they’re gathering for a particular purpose. Right now, we’re not sure where Rex is, but we’re currently investigating the matter.”

  “Hmm?”

  The Named Children.

  They are the Children of Diablos who have made extraordinary contributions to the Cult. Most of the Named are First Children, but there are rare cases of a Second. There are Named who have risen through the ranks to the Knights of Rounds, which is why it’s said this title is the gateway to success.

  And one member of the Shadow Garden used to be a Named First Child. All this information has been provided by that same woman.

  But Nu skips over these details, of course. She figures he already knows this.

  “Please be careful. The Cult is up to something. We’ll keep investigating and report back as soon as we know more.”

  “Hmm.”

  The evening sun is sinking beneath the horizon. This dim glow of the sun turns the clouds vermilion.

  Nu fans her neck, which is slightly sweaty from the heat, and stands up. After stretching beside her, Shadow rises to his feet.

  There could have been a future where they spoke as lovers and spent their days together at school. Nu smiles wistfully, imagining what might have been.

  And even if it’s a moment of indulgence…

  “Hey, don’t you know how to escort a lady?”

  “Escort? You mean like this?”

  He sticks out his left arm, and she links with him, walking side by side, and smiles.

  This was the future she should have had.

  A male student screams from far away. “Shit spillerrr!!”

  Nu crossly clicks her tongue.

  She recognizes the boy who ruin the mood. He’s the piece of trash who would constantly hit on her in social circles. She decides to beat him up afterward.

  Next to her, Shadow looks around nervously for some reason. Nu squeezes his left arm.

  Who’s the strongest dark knight in school? Two years ago, the answer would have been Iris Midgar.

  After she graduated, there would come a time when no champion reigned over the Midgar Academy for Dark Knights. At least, that was what everyone thought.

  But a champion appeared out of the blue.

  An unexpected person assuming an unusual form rose to absolute dictatorship over the academy.

  And her name is Rose Oriana.

  She’s a transfer student from the land of art and culture, known as the Oriana Kingdom, where she is daughter of its ruler, King Raphael Oriana.

  The Oriana Kingdom and the Midgar Kingdom are allies. And although she was expected to transfer to the Midgar Academy for Dark Knights, no one ever imagined she’d become the unrivaled champion at school.

  Frankly, it doesn’t matter whether it was expected.

  The problem is Rose Oriana is my opponent in the first round of the preliminary tournament.

  I do have the option to withdraw.

  Skel got tough love from an upperclassman in a body slam. Po got disciplinary action for sneaking into the girls’ dormitory. Which basically means I can get out of the preliminaries if I make up an excuse.

  But now that I think about it, losing to the undefeated champion in the first round is exceedingly normcore.

  It’s fitting for a minor character—there’s no mistaking it.

  I won’t be withdrawing. My mission is to partake in the most normie fight in the world—for normies, by normies!

  Which is why I’m now drawing my sword in front of a huge audience.

  Princess Rose Oriana is standing right before my eyes.

  With her honey-colored locks elegantly curled, Rose dons stylish fighting gear and wields a slender sword. The curves in her face are gentle, her figure is stellar, and everything about her is just plain chic. It’s what one could expect from the princess of the country of the arts.

  To top it off, Rose is also Student Council president despite being a transfer student in her second year. Thanks to her beauty, strength, and popularity, people are cheering enough to rock the stadium.

  No one is shouting my name. I sort of wish they would cheer for a fellow countryman, but whatever.

  This is the stage for a side character. The best one of all.

  My sword violently shakes in my hands.

  I wonder if I’ve ever felt this nervous before a fight. She could claim victory, commit murder, vaporize me without a trace, but that’s all too simple. No one wants to see a cop-out. They want to see me lose harder than anyone else.

  How does one define normie-ness?

  I’m stepping into philosophical territory here.

  But have no fear. I’ve mastered the Forty-Eight Hands of Minor Mystery technique in preparation for this day.

  “Rose Oriana versus Cid Kagenou!” the judge announces.

  Electric sparks shoot from our eyes—her honey-colored irises and my normie ones.

  Hey, Rose Oriana. Can you keep up?

  Keep up in the ultimate fight with a background character!

  “Let the battle begin!!”

  Rose’s rapier begins dancing through the air the moment the match starts. It draws beautiful, sharp spirals as it approaches my chest.

  If I was a real side character, I wouldn’t be able to react in time.

  But I can see it.

  I see it…and I don’t flinch. I can’t let her see a single reaction.

  Why? ’Cause that’s how we roll.

  I won’t move an inch until the rapier hits my chest. The tip of the weapon is blunt for this preliminary round, but that doesn’t mean I’ll come out unscathed.

  The rapier touches my chest.

  At that mom
ent, I make my move.

  Without showing any other movements, I lunge back using the strength in my toes, and I use the force of the rapier pushing against my chest to add a spin.

  From a secret pocket near my wrist, I tear open a bag filled with blood that I collected for this day.

  All this has taken less than ten deciseconds.

  I’m spinning backward as I spout blood like a fountain.

  “PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEGH!!”

  As a ruby tornado, I create a beautiful masterpiece of splattered blood.

  I call this my Hidden Normie Technique: Spinning Guard, Bloody Tornado.

  I clumsily bounce off the floor and roll over.

  The cheers from the audience shake the arena.

  “Guh…guh…gyaaaaaahhhhhh!” I slice open another bag and start spewing blood everywhere.

  It’s perfect!

  Everyone in this venue totally buys that I’m a side character. I almost flash my pearly whites after my perfect-ten performance, but I stop myself.

  It isn’t over yet.

  That’s right. This isn’t the end.

  “Gurg, ga-aaah, AAAAAARGH!!” I rise to my feet, pretending I’m literally ten seconds away from death.

  Yeah…that’s because there are still forty-seven techniques left.

  How is he standing?

  Rose Oriana is stunned by the boy who keeps getting back up no matter how many times she knocks him down.

  He’s soaked in blood, and no one can tell if he can lift up his sword. He doesn’t look like he can fight— No, it’s a miracle he can even stand.

  Although her sword is thin, her attack certainly isn’t light. The tip of her blade may be blunt, but the magic inside of it is real. If she got one decent shot, he’d be rendered useless.

  But…exactly how many times has she hit him?

  It wasn’t just once or twice. Even though he endured at least ten strikes, he still rises to his feet with unrelenting vigor.

  How is he still standing after all that? His body has exceeded its physical limits, but his eyes seem devoid of death.

  His fierce gaze tells her he still has something left to do.

  That’s right. His soul surpasses the limitations of the body, and his unyielding soul is holding his broken being together.

  His valor leaves a deep impression on Rose. How badly does he want to win this battle and why? He must have a reason he can’t allow himself to lose.

  There is an immense difference in skill. He doesn’t have so much as a one-in-a-million chance, but even then, he refuses to give up.

  His fiery eyes glare at Rose.

  It isn’t over yet. This isn’t the end.

  Rose is moved that the tenacious spirit of a hero can defy death in the face of an undefeatable opponent. She has great respect for him, offering her deepest apologies for assuming it’d be an easy victory. He’s certainly hopeless when it comes to a sword fight, but as for the battle of spirits, Rose has completely lost.

  “You’ll perish with my next attack.”

  Which is why she chooses to end it quickly. If he keeps this up, he’ll get up until he dies. That and…she didn’t want to kill a promising young fighter.

  No one is cheering in the arena anymore. Everyone watches the boy in horror.

  Her sword reaches the apex of magic on this day. The sky quakes, and the people in the audience, concerned, mumble to one another.

  “Looks like you’re not giving up.”

  His eyes burn brighter and brighter, not even slightly fearful of her oncoming attack but instead displaying an insatiable determination to fight.

  He leaves her with no choice but to unleash her full power.

  Rose’s sword hums through the air.

  “Stop!! That’s enough. This battle is over!”

  The referee steps between them and ends the match. He judges it would be too dangerous to continue.

  Rose is relieved, simply put.

  But the boy feels differently.

  “Come on! I’ve still got thirty-three left…”

  His eyes are screaming, I can still fight!

  “The winner is Rose Oriana!!”

  A mighty applause congratulates Rose.

  She waves back at the audience before bowing deeply to Cid, who’s in a heap on the floor.

  I was almost brought to the first aid office after preliminaries, but I slip away when no one’s looking.

  That was a close one.

  If anyone saw I was unscathed, it’d be a huge mess. Had I stayed any longer, I might’ve had to start taking swings at myself.

  I leave through the player entrance and walk down an empty hallway.

  I guess I’ll have to wait until next year to show off the rest of the thirty-three esoteric techniques. Or I bet I’ll have a good opportunity to use them before then.

  “U-umm…”

  “Hmm?”

  An unfamiliar student calls over to me out of the blue. I don’t recognize her voice. I’m not sure, but I feel like I’ve seen this peach-haired cutie in her uniform for the Academy of Science before.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “I’ve just barely avoided…anything serious…maybe?” I casually pose with my hand to the wound on my chest.

  “I’m glad to hear that. I watched your fight.”

  “O-oh, really.”

  “I don’t usually watch battles, but I thought it was really cool the way you stood up over and over again.”

  “Er, ‘cool’…?”

  “Yeah…” Her cheeks turn pink, and she nods.

  To think a normie is cool. Geez, she has weird taste. I guess there were a lot of spectators, so it isn’t too odd there were oddballs in the bunch.

  “Um, here…” She timidly holds out a small pouch.

  “What’s this?”

  “I baked you cookies. In return for the…”

  It must be a thank-you for putting on a good show.

  “Thanks.”

  I figure Why not? and take them.

  She smiles cheerfully.

  “I-if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to start off as friends.”

  “Friends? Sure thing.”

  My general policy is to not embarrass women—with a few exceptions.

  “Yay! Foster Father, I’ve made a friend!”

  Foster father?

  I follow her line of sight to see a middle-aged man walking toward us. He has black, slicked-back hair with gray streaks. I know I’ve seen this skeletal fellow before.

  “Assistant Principal Lutheran…”

  I’ve heard the assistant principal of this school is a master swordsman who’s won the Bushin Festival.

  Which means this girl who loves him as her foster father must be…

  “Sherry Barnett…!”

  “Yes?”

  According to my personal research, she has the most potential to become the main character in the Academy of Science. I believe she’s supposed to be in a position where she gives the protagonist advice, solves the greatest mysteries, and creates powerful, Boss-toppling devices. I never thought I would have to fight someone from the Academy of Science, so I honestly didn’t care and forgot all about her.

  “You must be Cid Kagenou.” Assistant Principal Lutheran stands next to Sherry.

  “Yes.”

  “Any injuries?”

  “I—I was miraculously… Oh yeah. Maybe she went easy on me?”

  The assistant principal strokes his chin, quietly confirming my suspicion.

  “Yes, I think Rose was holding back. But you must get yourself to a doctor.”

  “Yes, absolutely.”

  I absolutely won’t be doing that.

  Lutheran nods and places a hand on Sherry’s shoulder.

  “This girl always has her nose in her research, so she doesn’t have many friends.”

  “Foster Father!”

  The assistant principal merrily chuckles and continues to speak. “I wasn’t always able to laugh like this, you know. Sherry
and I have been through a lot. I hope you two can get along. It’s all a father could wish for.”

  Lutheran’s face is stern as Sherry stands beside him with an uncomfortable smile.

  I only befriend side characters…but there’s no way I can say that.

  “…Sounds great.”

  “Well, I’ll leave the rest up to you youngsters.” The assistant principal pats my shoulder and leaves.

  “Um, it’s nice to officially meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you, too.”

  “So what do you want to do?” She tilts her head. “Oh, right. We have to get you to a doctor before anything else. I’m sorry for getting carried away.”

  She smiles uneasily.

  “No, don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”

  “That may be true, but…”

  “I don’t need to see a doctor. I’ll go later. Seriously, I will. Okay? Yeah, so let’s go out for tea or something.”

  “Um, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Positive.”

  “Dark knights are incredible.”

  “Yep.”

  This stunner flashes me a smile. She’s the furthest thing imaginable from a background character.

  After that, the two of us eat her cookies and talk over tea. We go our separate ways when we finish. Though a perfectly average girl in conversation, she seems to be flooded with requests from the Knight Order, currently conducting research on a sacred artifact. I went the extra mile and told her I was impressed. Oh, by the way, her cookies were simple but downright delicious. She can never be a normie’s friend. But she goes to the Academy of Science, so we probably won’t meet again anyway.

  The next day, I notify the school that I’ll be taking five days off for medical treatment to ease their suspicions.

  My classmates are a little nicer to me when I finally come back.

  Ever since Sherry befriended Cid, she feels like she’s floating on air.

  Cid has been absent from school due to the injuries he sustained at the preliminaries.

  He said he felt fine after the tournament and even joined her for tea, but he seems to have overdone it after all. She’s worried about his condition.

  She thinks about visiting him but doesn’t want to be a bother. But something is gnawing at her, and she needs to talk.