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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: 388, Published: Oct 27, 2023 Updated: Aug 9

768Chapter 47: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

Chapter 47: Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum

It's been 2 days since the battle against Shadow Garden in the capital and Claude hasn't woken up yet. I nursed him as much as I can but he needs to recover on his own. While waiting for him to wake up, I read the Midgar newspaper to keep up with the news.

Reading while wearing this mask is no problem for me due to the enchantments on the mask ensuring my comfort and not obstructing both my vision and breath. Let's see what the newspaper have to say.

We successfully assassinated King Midgar and the capital is in chaos politically. King Oriana and Duke Perv successfully escaped to Oriana and the Knight Order managed to subdue the undead hordes with the help of Shadow Garden, though the capital still suffered massive casualties, both civilians and knights alike.

The damages to the capital's infrastructure are massive but Mitsugoshi signed a deal with the royal family to help with the reconstructions.

Normally Iris would take the throne but several nobles, especially the ones from Thirteen Night Blades, opposed it, calling her a mindless brute who is unfit to rule. They have become more brazen after King Midgar was slain. Her rampage across the capital during the battle, which destroyed several infrastructure and possibly injured and slain many people, supported that notion, reducing her already dwindling popularity even more.

Princess Alexia was considered for the position of queen but she rejected as she supports her sister taking the throne.

To defend Iris' position, the royal family announced her engagement with Claude, though with her dwindling popularity it was decided that she would give up her right to become the monarch and that position would be held by Claude… as Claude had planned. Though I wished he didn't have to marry that princess to become king.

Even this arrangement didn't satisfy the Thirteen Night Blades though because they want someone on the Cult's side to take the throne and thus a civil war might be inevitable, even with the war against Oriana on the horizon.

For now Midgar has been divided into two factions, the Royalist faction, which includes the royal family and several nobles still loyal to them, including Claude's family, and the Anti-Royal faction led by the Thirteen Night Blades and some other nobles who lost faith in the royal family after the king's death.

The inclusion of Claude's family alone made the Thirteen Night Blades wary of the Royalist faction. That's how influential his family is. Not to mention Claude himself is a promising young talent and is favoured by many people in upper society, especially by the kingdom's top ministers. His family's inclusion alone saved Iris from losing the political battle before it even starts. The upcoming war will decide the fate of Midgar.

For now, the kingdom of Midgar is distracted by their own internal political turmoil that they almost forgot about the titanic battle between Shadow and the Necromancer. Almost no mention of them in the newspaper. Though I'm sure the people won't forget how devastating that battle is even if the media tries to hide it to prevent panic among the masses. The absence of a mountain outside the capital is a glaring evidence of Claude's might after all.

Ah. A section about Rose Oriana. Glen the Lion Beard vouched for her innocence but she is still not trusted and thus she was given a house arrest under the watchful eyes of the Crimson Order. The story about King Oriana being brainwashed by Necromancer is mentioned though it is met with scepticism despite how plausible it is, courtesy of the Cult's propaganda machine. Curse that mutt for running his mouth so carelessly and making the Cult have to intervene. This most likely means less leverage we'll have over Perv Asshat and the Fenrir faction.

"Has Lord Necromancer recovered yet, Acolyte?" A vampire woman named Carmilla asks, interrupting my reading. She is one of Claude's Seven Wraiths and formerly a weak ordinary vampire who became stronger after Claude experimented on her. She has become sycophantic towards him ever since, constantly trying to seduce him to gain his favor.

She has black hair tied in a bun behind her head and wears a provocative black dress with a fur scarf along with high heels. Dressed like a harlot, she constantly flaunts her assets to Claude. I wish I could just tear off those ridiculously overinflated breasts of hers.

"Not yet. He is still sleeping. Do not disturb his rest, Carmilla." I answer coldly.

"Hmph. Just how useless can you be!? I thought it was your job to nurse him back to health!" She exclaims annoyingly.

"I did what I can. He just needs rest."

"I don't understand why a useless weakling like you get to join the Seven Wraiths. You are unfit for the position!"

"You can take that complaint to Lord Necromancer. I am here because he wills it."

"How did you seduce him, you bitch!?" Ah, she must've heard it from Adra. Hee hee hee.

"Heh. That's for me and Lord Necromancer to know." I tease.

"Tch! This isn't over yet. You won't be his favorite forever. I shall prove my worth to him during the Red Moon. And then I shall have him remove you. And ohh… the things I would do to a little girl like you." She threatens while licking her blood red lips.

"Good luck with that." As if he would listen to a harlot like you.

"Hmph!" She leaves after failing to intimidate me. Hee hee hee. You're nothing but a side project for him. You're the one who shall be discarded, Carmilla.

Man. It took me some time to heal and rest so I had to disappear for a day. Also took awhile to convince Alpha and the others to leave the matter about the last battle alone. For some reason they thought I'm suffering even though I had so much fun lately. I also had to avoid my sister, who is more enthusiastic about training me than usual somehow.

I decided to take a walk around town to observe the damages caused by our battle. Feels a little sad to see familiar sights being damaged all around but that's life.

Like "Oh, I usually passed through this street everyday but now it's destroyed!" or "I used to frequent this shop a lot! It has many memories but it's in ruins now!" kind of bittersweet feeling. Yup. So much drama and emotions from a single battle. How beautiful life is. I walk around while whistling happily, enjoying life. For some reason people around me are looking at me weirdly though.

I walk the streets aimlessly and find myself in a park. Sometimes Alexia would take me here to spar whenever she's not busy hanging out with her friends. I don't know why my feet took me here but I see her leaning against a fence whilst being illuminated by the afternoon sun.

Seeing as I have nothing better to do, I walk to approach her. Normally she'd notice my footsteps right away but she's currently distracted somehow.

"Pooch…?" Ah. She noticed me. Wait. Why are you looking at me like you just saw a ghost?

"Hi." I greet nonchalantly. She immediately glomps me without warning and hugs me tightly.

"Where have you been!? I've been worried sick! I… My father… my sister… the kingdom… ahh…! AAAAHHH!" She cries. Oh dear. I may not like her very much but it is my policy to be nice to girls especially when they need it so I hug her back and allow her to cry her heart out in my arms.

"It's okay. It's okay." I say while stroking her hair.

"Pooch! Don't you ever disappear from me ever again! That's an order, okay!?" She exclaims in between sobs.

"Okay, okay. I won't disappear. Geez." Seriously, even you treat me like I almost died. Alpha and the others already did that a lot these past few days, you know? They even told me to rest for a few more days but I'm bored so I decided to take a walk.

After she cried a few seconds in my arms, she calms down and wipes her tears.

"So… where were you?" She asks with a concerned face.

"I uhh… stayed out of trouble."

"Really? Haahh… I should've known that you're an expert of staying out of trouble sometimes."

"It's my specialty. I want to keep being mediocre after all."

"What about that time at the school? I heard from Rose that you fought bravely against the zombies and was the first to defeat one of them."

"It was an accident."

"Sure it was. Anyway, did you hear the news?"

"About what?"

"Haaah… Typical Pooch. Even after everything that happened, you're still so… relaxed and nonchalant. So unburdened by the troubles of the world. You have no idea how lucky you are Pooch. I'm so envious of you."

"Really? A princess being envious of a lowly son of a baron? That's new."

"I'm serious. Things are about to get ugly in this kingdom. War is coming whether we like it or not. Even though all we wanted is peace…"

"Well, we just need to be prepared for it, don't we?" I say while remembering something from my old world.

"Huh?"

"Si vis pace—Ahem. If you want peace, prepare for war. That sort of thing." I tell her an ancient quote from Earth, almost blurted out the words in Latin too.

"What are you saying, Pooch? You're not making any sense."

"It means you need to be strong enough if you want to protect your peace. Otherwise you'll be trampled by those who wanted to destroy it." I explain the meaning of the quote. For a moment she was at a loss for words.

"Hmm… You're surprisingly wise today, Pooch. But… thank you. You're right." She says as she regains her smile as she steps back from me.

"You're welcome." I say in reply. My words seem to have helped her regain her spirits. Good for her I guess.

"I hope you can stay the way you are, Pooch! No matter what, I will protect you!" She says with a final smile before she walks away in high spirits, presumably back to her castle.

Protect me? Why? From what? Is this some kind of code word or some kind of trope I don't understand? That's strange. My trope senses never failed me before. Meh, no matter. I'm sure I'll figure it out someday.

Author's Note:

And so the Bushin Festival arc is finished. What a chaotic ending. This arc is probably the longest arc I've written so far.

Another member of the Seven Wraiths is introduced. A total of 6 have been introduced so far, although Mundane Mann has been eliminated so his seat is currently empty.

Here's the list of Seven Wraiths members so far:

Gilfried

Mundane Zombie (Dead)

Adra

Carmilla

Arrinoth

Acolyte (Sherry)

Also them Cid x Alexia scene. Alexia needed this moment after losing her father and after everything else that's going on. I wrote this scene while listening to "Unrequited Love" from Final Fantasy IX OST, the bittersweet bgm that plays in ruined Alexandria in Disc 3, which to me fits the mood of a ruined town in the aftermath of a war. The title of the song is also very fitting for the scene between the two of them considering it's Cid.

primenidus: Another reference

Answer: Oppenheimr reference.

King0fP0wers: I suppose this means that Sherry officially moved on from Cid. Good for him...? I'm glad that Claude has actually capable subordinates now, though my gripe was more that he... wasted opportunities? Yeah, that's it, I suppose. He had a couple chances to obtain some useful pawns, but ultimately ended up losing them to Shadow Garden. Like the saint, the princess or even some mutated girls like Millia, whom he could cure and gain their undying loyalty as their savior. Or good ol' brainwashing or manipulation. Nothing against you, but I'm slightly worried that he'll lose his pawns in the Lawless City too once the focus shifts there.

Lastly, out of curiosity, Claude IS trying to kill Cid, right? Unlike Cid, who's ultimately just ridiculously immersed in roleplaying (to the point where has no problem killing others), Claude IS aware that the whole plot is real and is actively working towards his goal. Granted, he made up Shadow Garden just like Cid did with Diablos, but at least he knows that Shadow Garden is an actual group instead of a bunch of "bandits or terrorists to kill for money and exp". For that matter, would Cid kill Claude just to make his fantasy even more immersive? Or spare him so he can keep "playing" with him?

Answer: Yeah she moved on because she develops some kind of Stockholm Syndrome for Claude. She still cares for Cid though, hence her hesitation to harm Alexia.

During early part of writing this fic, I was afraid of adding too much OCs and thus was having a hard time thinking of who can be his subordinates among canon characters, though for the characters you mentioned, I've always intended them to join SG and end up hating him. In time I became more confident about adding OCs and end up introducing several OCs as part of the Seven Wraiths. I have plans for Yukime too at least.

Claude is actually enjoying their conflict like Cid does. In his mind a villain shines when there is a hero after all.

TheVirtualPug: I really hope Suzuki Hope will still be a thing. He's my favorite Cid alias.

Answer: Huh. I currently have no plans for him yet. We'll see if I can come up with something later.

Chapter 633 - 52