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The Necromancer in Shadow by TheOminousRain

Anime » Eminence in Shadow Rated: M, English, Horror & Humor, Cid Kagenou/Shadow, OC, Words: 548k+, Favs: 386, Follows: 387, Published: Oct 27, 2023 Updated: Aug 9

768Chapter 18: Sherry's Verbal Prowess

Chapter 18: Sherry-sensei's Verbal Prowess

"Nu. Have you made any progress with the Reaper Squad member that Lord Shadow captured? Has he said anything?" Asks Alpha as she and Nu heads towards a cell in one of their secret hideouts where they interrogate captured enemies. Said hideout is located outside Alexandria in order to minimize the possibility of an information leak about the location of Shadow Garden's main stronghold.

"I was unable to extract useful information out of him. The Reaper Squad seem to intentionally withhold sensitive information from their lower ranked members and even if they know anything, they won't say anything even under a pain of death. That's how much they feared their master. However…."

"However?" Alpha turns towards Nu as she is interested by whatever is making Nu hesitate to answer.

"He… seems to accuse us of stealing something from them." Nu answers as she couldn't figure out what that meant.

"What is it?"

"He only referred to it as their lord's belonging and refuses to elaborate further."

"Hm… So he's going after the Artifacts we took from his tombs. Took him long enough." Alpha concluded what the Reaper Squad member they captured was referring to.

"Continue the interrogation. Make sure you get him to spill all of Necromancer's secrets."

"That I shall, Lady Alpha." Confirming her orders, Nu confidently opens the door to the interrogation room where the prisoner is bound to a chair…. Only to find him already zombified.

"Graaahhhh!" Roars the zombie as it tries to break free from its bonds to bite them.

"It seems that we're too late." Mutters Alpha in disappointment.

"Yes. It would seem so." Nu replies with a sigh as she lost her chance to interrogate the man.

"Dispose of him."

"As you command, Lady Alpha." Nu says as she brandishes her black blade.

It is time for the Bushin Festival Preliminary Tournament in the school, an event to determine which student will participate in this year's Bushin Festival to represent our school.

What's the Bushin Festival you ask? It's an annual martial arts tournament that is held in the royal capital. It's a huge event that will attract fighters from all over the world. Anyone who scored on top is guaranteed fame and success in their career and those who won the first place will become legends. Even students from the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy are allowed to participate, which is what this preliminary tournament is for.

You'd think I would participate in it but I was excused from participating in it due to a few reasons.

Firstly, as a prodigy who had constant winning streak in any match since attending school, I was given a VIP treatment and already have a slot in the Bushin Festival and thus didn't have to join the preliminaries.

Secondly, I'm a member of the Crimson Order currently on full time job to guard Princess Alexia, who's sitting beside me in the VIP seat right now, watching the preliminaries. Naturally I'm in my Crimson Order uniform now, with the red cloak and all. I even have to skip some classes to guard her.

She still behaved coldly towards me, unappreciative of how much I've sacrificed for her. Heh. How cruel. At least the salary's not bad. More funds for my evil schemes! And to pay my minion's salaries of course! I'm already rich due to the high stipend I got as a son of a ducal house and my booming Artifact business and my illegal business in the Lawless City left me with a lot of money to spare but extra cash is always nice. Better have too many than not enough after all.

Thirdly, some students say that if I were to enter the preliminaries, I wouldn't give the other students a chance to show off their skills. Though there are also voices saying I shouldn't be given preferential treatment but they are a minority.

Anyway, due to me being busy with my job as Alexia's guard (Sometimes even at night, which angered my sister), I'm still unable to contact my subordinates. I don't even know where they are in the capital and I haven't got the chance to teleport to my base in Everick. The proper sleep schedule that my sister forced upon me also contributed to it as I still slept full 8 hours nearly every night even when she's not around. It's a habit at this point. A healthy one, but one that made me has less time for evil stuff. I've also grown a bit lazy ever since she made me sleep properly. But I guess it's fine for now.

Now we are currently watching the match between Cid and Rose Oriana, the Princess of Oriana Kingdom and Student Council President. Alexia seem to be more interested in this match than any other matches so far, even Claire's match, where she performed excellently.

"Still interested in your boy toy, Princess? Afraid he's gonna be taken by another princess?" I tease the princess sitting beside me, breaking her focus on her boy toy and annoying her.

"You shut your mouth, bodyguard."

"Yes yes, your highness." She is angrier than I thought she would be in reaction to my teasing. Is she really…?

Immediately after the match starts, Cid was promptly thrown away, spinning in the air while his blood made circular patterns. He immediately stands back up and tries again to fight though. Hm. That's quite the warrior spirit right there. Never noticed him having the potential of a main character. A shonen protagonist at that. Is this his character arc now? But what's more amusing to watch than him falling down over and over again is Alexia's reaction.

"That idiot!" Shouts Alexia with concern as Cid kept losing more blood with each strike he received from the foreign princess.

"Ho… You're showing a lot of concern for your ex-boyfriend." I got a hit in the head in response to that teasing.

"I told you to shut up, didn't I?"

"Heh. I can't help it. Your concern for your ex is amusing. You're just so cute."

"I hate you!" She shouts while blushing before turning her attention back to the match. Eventually the referee declared Rose's victory in order to prevent a fatality happening. A group of medics soon brought a stretcher and carried him to the infirmary.

"Not gonna visit him, Princess?" I tease once again.

She just scowls and ignores me as we continue to watch the next matches, which proceeds uneventfully.

One afternoon I was standing guard in front of Alexia's room as usual and saw Sherry approaching nervously. We haven't met each other ever since I was assigned to guard Alexia. Once she saw me though, she began smiling.

"M-Mr. Normann! I made a friend!"

"Oh, Miss Barnett. Congratulations!"

"I-I managed to befriend Cid and gave him my homemade cookies! It's all thanks to your suggestions!"

"You're welcome."

"And umm…. C-Can we be friends too?"

"Sure. I'll call you Miss Sherry then."

"Just Sherry is f-fine!"

"Then call me Claude too."

"Thank you!" She smiles brightly. Such a cute introvert.

"So, what are you doing here, Sherry?" I ask. She can't be here just to meet me, can she?

"Oh! That's right! I-I want to speak with umm… Princess Alexia… It's fine if I'm not allowed…"

"Sure. Let me notify the princess." With that I knock the door to her room and she opens the door slightly almost immediately.

"What do you want?" She asks while scowling.

"Princess. You have a guest." I call out to her.

"Who is it?" She asks warily from within the room.

"It's Sherry Barnett."

"Let her in." Her voice softens as soon as she heard Sherry's name. I suppose the reason she's wary of guests is because she didn't want to deal with sycophants? I understand that pain completely.

"You heard the lady. Go right in."

"Thank you, Claude!" With that she entered the room and I closed the door. Being curious about what they're talking about, I enhanced my hearing with magic to eavesdrop on them.

"I can already guess what you're gonna ask. Is it about the Artifacts?" I hear Alexia's voice.

"No, that's not it." Sherry answers.

"Is it about the election schedule of the Student Council?"

"The Science Academy had different schedules than the Spellsword Academy." Oh yeah. She is a student of the Midgar Academy of Science, not the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy. I almost forgot about that fact because the two academies share the same school complex.

"Is that so? Then what is it?" Alexia asks curiously.

A brief pause before Sherry eventually answers. "A-Actually… There's something I want to ask you, Miss Alexia."

"Okay…?"

"U-Umm…. Miss Alexia… Have you ever dated someone?" Another brief pause. Ho hoo…. This is spicy! I can see where this is going.

"What?" Alexia says confusedly.

"I-I heard you dated Cid Kagenou! A-Are you still dating him…?"

"We already broke up." Alexia answers calmly, though how long can you maintain that composure? I can already see the bomb that Sherry is carrying.

"Huh?"

"We never really dated. We just pretended to date each other because of stuff-"

"Really!?" Exclaims Sherry happily, interrupting Alexia's words.

"Huh?"

"Thank goodness! Actually I've recently befriended Cid Kagenou!"

"I-Is that so?" Alexia. Your voice is faltering. Heh heh heh.

"We also like each other! He even gave me chocolates!" Good for you Cid. Good for you. "Because I was so nervous, sometimes I can't focus on the research. But now, I'm relieved! Thank goodness that you're not dating him anymore!" Ouch! The constant barrage of verbal attacks! Alexia has no chance to fight back! Sherry. Are you better at Verbal Fencing than me? How did you so effortlessly defeat my dreaded enemy, Alexia?

"I-Is that so? That's nice!" Agh! Even I haven't managed to make her voice shake like that! Sherry-sensei! Please teach me your ways!

"Yes! Thank you for your time! The coffee was delicious!" After saying that, Sherry left the room so full of smile while humming happily. Few seconds after the door is closed, I heard a crashing sound, the sound of a cup being thrown violently to the floor.

I knock on the door in response. "Is everything okay. Princess?" I ask in my usual teasing tone.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH, BODYGUARD!" Shouts Alexia angrily from inside her room. Her fury can be felt even outside the room, though it didn't intimidate me. It delights me instead.

Heh heh heh. Sherry. Just for this amusement alone, I've decided I would reward you with something that you didn't even know you wanted.

Huh. I've been feeling so generous lately. Have I enjoyed my days as Claude more than as Necromancer? Hmm… Well, that's okay. A storm is definitely brewing and I'll soon don the mask of the Necromancer once again. I'll enjoy these peaceful days as long as it lasts.

Speaking of my peaceful days, here comes the culprit of my peaceful days.

"Hello, Charl. What are you doing here?"

"Brother. How long are you gonna guard this bitch?" Oof. Such word is unbecoming of a duke's daughter like you, sis.

"Language." I scold, though she's not listening.

"I believe someone like Claire is a better match for you."

"Oh? I thought you want to marry me." I say teasingly.

"I've grown past that, brother. I'm not a child anymore."

"But I thought she's not interested in anyone that isn't her brother." The 'just like you' part went unsaid.

"I'm sure you can make her love you in no time! So tomorrow you better make some time to meet her!"

"That's if I'm not busy with Crimson Order business."

"Oh don't worry. I've got that arranged. Heh heh heh." She smiles sinisterly. Um… Sis? Could it be that you're secretly a villain like me? Ha! Interesting! I'll play along with your schemes!

The next day I was off duty. Normally I barely have free time but… My sister's influence is frightening. Even Iris was forced to grant her request to give me some free time. Iris, not wanting to offend our family, granted me one day off. I applaud you, sis. To think you could manipulate even royalty. You have a potential as a villainess after all. And what do I do with this free time? Having a chat with Claire Kagenou in a café. My treat obviously. My sister insisted on it as she has arranged this whole thing. Because it's a request from her friend, Claire tolerated me even if she could care less about me. We both sip our coffee before Claire broke the silence.

"I heard you met my brother while in the Knight Order's custody." Of course to speak about her brother.

"Yeah. He's pretty chill." I answer nonchalantly.

"Chill? You're saying he's calm after all the torture he went through?"

"He seems to be very durable."

"I'm glad you can see that! Perhaps I was wrong about you after all!" Claire says, for the first time smiling in front of me... though the smile is obviously not for me.

"I mean, few days ago when he faced Rose Oriana, he never gave up despite being knocked out multiple times by her." He was like a shonen protagonist back there.

"Yes yes! My brother was so brave that I let the fact that he lost slide! Though he shouldn't be so reckless and got hurt so much!"

"I agree. That was pretty reckless."

"I trained my brother quite harshly since childhood and despite not improving much, he endured everything I threw at him. If only he can get more motivated! He has great potential as a Spellsword! Everyone said we're mismatched pair of siblings and that he's a disgrace as my brother. Screw those people! My brother is awesome! My brother is-" Bla bla bla my brother this, my brother that.

I can only smile and nod and sometimes say yes to whatever she says. This is no different from dealing with my sister after all.

Author's Note:

Plenty of character interactions in this chapter. Some Alexia bullying. I enjoyed writing this chapter so much. Also Claude didn't notice Cid's act in the match against Rose Oriana because he was too busy observing Alexia's reaction, although he noted that Cid behaved more like a main character than a mob. He has let his guard down a lot because of his sister making him unable to don the mask. When will the Necromancer returns… with VENGEANCE?

Soulbow109: Lol seems Claude has an interesting reputation among the maids. Too bad he caused that misunderstanding with Yukime otherwise he could have had more fun when visiting the lawless city. Oh well I guess the comedy moments from it will make it up to us readers lol.

Considering her obsession with Shadow as shown in the anime I wonder if it is possible for Claude to recruit Sherry? Her emotions may just have her be unstable enough to join for revenge. May make some interesting events. The once sweet innocent girl twisted into a mad evil scientist.

Answer: Yeah. I almost written him to be nonchalant towards Yukime's advances but that's too much like Shadow and because I need to increase the amount of comedy, I end up making him be affected by boobies. And the fact that Yukime misunderstood him is just another joke I came up with after I decided I would make him react to boobs.

Oh I certainly have plans for Sherry. Her angsty story is something I wanted to write.

Chapter 602 - 21