Chapter 1: The Conspiracy

It was only a day after the final match of the Bushin Festival and the atmosphere of the plaza had already changed. Like a hangover after a late night party, the energy was more subdued compared to the previous days. With no more matches, less people were walking around and most decided to rest before they journeyed back home. Leon made the most of the rest of the vacation before his family returned to the barony. Savoring the freedom before having to return to the harsh reality.

"Leon, have you seen your sister?" his mother called out to him as soon as he returned back to the inn.

"Claire or Finn?"

"Claire," she clarified.

"I haven't seen her either." He'd mostly explored on his own again today. His sister should have done the same.

"Honestly, that girl…" Leon's mother was both annoyed and worried. "She was the one who wanted to go to the boutique but never showed up. . ." his mother commented before sending him off, with a reminder to wash-up.

He was about to enter his room, when beeps came from his hidden earpiece. One long one followed by three short ones. A movement caught his eye. A maid of Leon's age, one of many in the inn, locked eyes with him. She wasn't there earlier.

She first broke eye contact and turned around to walk down the hallway. She entered one of the rooms and disappeared inside. Leon followed the maid into the same room, making sure no one else was saw him. Inside, multiple of the same furniture littered the room, such as extra chairs, desks, and even a bed. The room looked to be a makeshift storage room for the inn. A layer of dust showed it had not been used for a while. Well, except for the maid and Leon now.

"Yo, Beta. What's up?"

"Master Leon," the maid curtseyed. As she stood up, her maid dress shifted like moving sand, changing shape until she was wearing a form-fitting black bodysuit with gold highlights, while the shoulders were left uncovered.

Like Alpha, Beta was an elven girl close to Leon's age, and also a former possessed cured by Leon. As her name suggested, Beta was another recruit of Shadow Garden. She did differ in her silver hair, beauty mark under her left eye, and was living proof that girls developed way earlier than boys.

"I'm here to report our findings from the cultist."

Beta pulled out a large parchment from one of the drawers and laid it on the desk. Leon recognized it as a map of the tournament island. There were various cross marks dotting the map.

"These are the locations we believe to be bases of operations of the cult outside the city. He met with people dressed like him at these places." Beta brought out more stacks of papers from different places and laid them on top of the map. "Here are the summaries of his movements and other people he met inside the city. Based on our analysis, your suspicions that the 'Forest of Ladies' are here as a cover for one of their plots is correct. We haven't been able to figure it out but we thought your analysis might uncover something we missed. Like here…"

Leon let Beta continue her report, half-listening, half-looking over the documents scattered on the table.
Even just a glance on the reports showed a jumbled mess of information. He'd probably have to get Cid to analyze the documents to get anything concrete. Quicker too, as the AI was built to analyze data after all.

Though something about the map was nagging him. The pattern of cross marks seemed familiar. He tilted his head to the side and then realization struck him. If he changed the orientation of the map, the cross-marks formed a pattern. Specifically, a constellation. Well, an almost complete one. There was a missing mark on the southern part of the island.

A memory was starting to bubble up. Something about the developers of the game using astronomy?

"Did you find something, Master Leon?"

Leon put a finger on a location on the map. "There should be something here."

"A missing base?" Beta skeptically check the map. "But our investigations point to a main hideout in the North. The cultist never went there but the other members mentioned seeing a bandit camp there. Or a fortification, with how heavily armed it looked."

A fortification to the north. Tournament Island. Bandits. Things suddenly clicked for Leon. This was the bandit extermination mission at Tournament Island. This specific one was notorious for Leon as it was one of the mandatory missions when starting any of the otome games routes. Eliminate the minor camps, then head to the 'main camp', only to find out the actual main camp was somewhere else. The mission couldn't be cheesed by heading to the true main camp right away. Nothing outstanding in terms of mission design, but if you had to repeat it multiple times for all the endings, it started to get annoyingly tedious reliving the 'shocking twist'.

"The base to the North is a fake. The real one is South."

"Eh? But nothing in the reports showed… Wait! There was a mention…" Beta trailed off as she rummaged through the reports on the table. She grabbed specific ones and read them over. Her blue eyes widened in realization. "Yes! An old forgotten dungeon that was cleared ages ago, at that location. Combining these reports, they do point to the dungeon being used as an underground base!"

Leon inwardly cheered at some more game knowledge being correct. Though he wasn't aware about the lore regarding it being a repurposed dungeon. He supposed that explained the dungeon-like layout he previously blamed on devs reusing assets. But what he was aware of was the loot he could find inside the main bandit hideout. He didn't even have to go through fake bases which contained nothing. Speedrunners eat your heart out.

"Beta here. Yes, Master Shadow is with me right now."

Leon was already mentally checking if they could plan a raid tonight before his family's departure. Though he would have to not completely raid or destroy the base. The missions had little impact story-wise, but they were still a source of future funds for the Main Heroine in the early game. He could still grab just the programmable matter though. It was unusable for anyone else anyway.

"Master Shadow," Beta interrupted Leon's musings.

"Yes?" Leon looked up to see a worried expression on Beta. "Did something happen?"

"There has been a development with the cultist," Beta started but slightly hesitated before continuing. "And your sister has been kidnapped."

His jaw almost dropped in shock but Leon managed to control himself.

"What happened?"

Hidden in the shade of the trees, Alpha stared over the cliff to the forest that continued below. The land looked pristine, untouched by man. She almost doubted there was a hidden base located there, but Leon's intel had never been wrong in locating cutlist bases. Even when they were on different islands.

A figure landed behind her and Alpha turned around to find a female therianthrope leaning against the tree already. Light that made it through the trees bounced off her blonde hair and cat-like ears on her head. A blonde-colored tail curled behind her, peeking out of the black uniform of Shadow Garden.

"What did you find, Zeta?"

"The information was correct. Went where we lost the tracker and searched around the area. They hid it well, but not enough that my nose wasn't able to find their scent. Found what looked like an old dungeon entrance. Confirmed it was the place when I saw someone come out of the entrance and go back in."

"Good work," praised Alpha though the catgirl showed no reaction. "As expected of Master Shadow's wisdom. He found what we overlooked."

Alpha's earpiece then beeped a familiar pattern, and based on Zeta's reaction, hers did as well. Both of them swiftly moved through the forest until they entered a small clearing. Four other people were there, dressed in similar attire as the two blondes. Before the two groups could greet each other, another pair entered the same clearing.

"Boss-man!"

A figure tackled the newly arrived Leon like a puppy happy to greet its master. Somewhat appropriate, if not a bit stereotypical, as the person who tackled Leon was a female dog-therianthrope, complete with large canine ears and a fluffy tail.

"Delta, shh!" Leon reprimanded the dark-haired dog girl, but allowed her to glomp him. "Serious-mode for now okay?"

Delta reluctantly let go, as evidenced by her ears drooping, but obeyed Leon's command.

"Master Shadow, Beta," Alpha greeted, composed in comparison. The other members gave their own greetings before the elven girl continued. "Zeta found the base as you predicted."

"Good job, Zeta."

"... Thanks," Zeta said nonchalantly, but her ear wiggle betrayed she enjoyed the praise she received.

"What do we do now, Master Shadow?" Alpha deferred authority back to Leon.

Leon opened a palm and his uniform materialized a transparent screen. His other hand reached out to Zeta, palms up. "Zeta, can I have the location data."

The catgirl delicately held the outstretched hand and manipulated her suit to send the requested data. Once the data transfer was complete, she let go and brought the empty hand over her chest.

A map displayed on Leon's screen, a small red dot marking the entrance scouted earlier. He studied the map carefully before marking another location a distance away from the entrance. A period of silence befell the clearing as no one wanted to interrupt Leon's thoughts, until he dismissed the screen, and addressed the group again.

"We have the element of surprise but we can't wait until nightfall. By then, people will notice Claire and I missing. No time for anything elaborate, so we go with the usual. Ambush them, take them down quickly, and escape once we rescue Claire."

It sounded no different from their usual forays when they hunted cultists in the barony, but Alpha felt there were some concerns that needed to be brought up.

"Master Shadow, if I may ask?"

"Hmm? Sure, Alpha."

"We were only just able to find the entrance to the base. We haven't had time to infiltrate the base to see if Lady Claire is really inside."

"Don't worry," Leon immediately responded and looked at the direction of the hidden base. "I can tell Claire is definitely in there."

"If you say so, Master Shadow," Alpha doesn't bother asking how he knows. None of the other members do. Such is their trust in him. "Give us your orders, and we will atone for allowing the kidnapping to happen."

Alpha, kneels down, as do the other members of Shadow Garden. It was on their watch, after all, that allowed the cultist to abscond with Leon's sister.

"Hey, none of that. Everyone, stand up," he gave them a firm command. "Your orders were to simply observe the ba- cultist. From what I've been told, Claire wasn't even a target. She just coincidentally crossed paths with the cultist and got ambushed by his allies."

"But-"

"If anyone is to blame, it would be me," Leon's words shocked the rest of them. He raised a hand to preempt any dispute. "I chose to let the cultist go in exchange for possible intelligence. Any wrongdoing he has committed, falls on my shoulders."

Alpha was reminded once more of the heavy burden Leon carries as Shadow. One she hoped to someday help carry with him. A sentiment she knew every other member shares with her.

"But it's not the time to lay blame and responsibility. We attack the camp, rescue my sister, and take down the cult."

The finality in the tone of the voice dismissed the rest of the Alpha's concerns. There was only the mission now.

"We will follow your lead," Alpha and the rest of Shadow Garden stand in attention.

Leon nodded in approval and laid out the plan.

"We'll split up into two groups for this operation. I'll be moving separately for this." Alpha's eyes widened in shock at the plan, but didn't voice any interruption. "Aside from the main entrance, the base has an escape tunnel for emergencies. The rest of you will attack the main entrance and draw their attention. Meanwhile, I will enter from the escape tunnel and use that opportunity to find Claire."

He doesn't say it out loud but Alpha understands why Leon must go alone. While they had grown in strength, none of the other members of Shadow Garden would be able to keep up with Leon as he conducts his search of the base. They would only hold him back.

"Once Claire is secured, I will join for a two-pronged attack to secure the base. Do you understand what you need to do?"

"Of course," she bowed her head. "We won't fail in this task, Master Shadow."

"I have no doubts. Once both groups are in position, we go on my signal."

Leon moved towards the edge of the cliff overlooking the hidden base below.

"This place has betrayed them. They'll join the long list of vanquished here."

Behind him, Alpha could see Beta writing furiously in her notebook.

Thankfully, finding the secret escape tunnel wasn't too hard with the suit's sensor capabilities. Another point to game knowledge being true in this world. Leon would ponder on this matter more if his sister wasn't captive in this base.

"Master, I must warn you," Cid's voice had heavy static mixed in but was still comprehensible. Barely. "Once you go underground, connection will be completely cut off and I will not be able to provide any support."

"Nothing we can do about that, Cid. The Forest of Ladies has Claire and she needs rescuing."

The 'again' was left unsaid. This was another one of Claire's impulsiveness getting the better of her. While Leon shouldn't have been surprised his sister would be eventually curious about the Forest Ladies with how much their step-sibling mentioned it, there were better ways than confronting a bandit suspected to be working for the group. How Claire even discovered that, he didn't know. How was she planning to interrogate the bandit? He didn't know either. In the end, Claire only managed to get herself ambushed by the bandit's comrades, knocked-out, and kidnapped to a secret base.

"What's her status?"

"Based on the vital readings still coming from her medical sensor, she is in a stable state, but that is all that can be inferred."

Thanks to the sensor, Leon was able to pinpoint her location, and was the truth on how he knew that Claire was definitely inside the base. He had joked about putting a permanent tracker on her before, but maybe it wasn't such a dumb idea now.

"Small mercies," Leon brought out the screen again, which showed his position in the middle and a dot representing Claire's. At least there was supposed to be one dot, not two beside each other. "Cid, what's that other one?"

"That would be the tracker you had Alpha place on the bandit, Master."

It seemed Claire's kidnapper was still staying near her vicinity. A positive for Leon, as it would make payback all the more easier.

"Alpha and her group have arrived at the entrance," the AI informed him.

"Time to get this show on the road."

Leon sent the signal to commence the attack.

Inside the base, a middle-aged man walked down a tunnel leading to a jail cell. He has the build of a fighter, yet dressed in the clothes of an aristocrat. Gray hair swept back exposed his piercing gaze for all to see. He passed by the lone guard wearing a cloak and guarding their newest captive. A certain pre-teen girl the very same guard had captured.

"You must be Claire Fou Bartfort."

The girl raised her head to look at the speaker. Claire was still fully dressed but her attire clearly bore marks of a scuffle. Even imprisoned and shackled to magical chains attached to the walls, she glared defiantly at the man.

"I know you. Weren't you at the tournament?" Claire looked confused. "You're Viscount Grease."

The man preened at the recognition. "My reputation precedes me."

Viscount Grease entered the cell, unconcerned at how close he was to Claire. Even so, he stopped at a distance he knew was out of reach for the chained prisoner.

"Reputation. Right," Claire smirks at the viscount. "You lost to Iris Rapha Redgrave in the finals last year. And this year you got eliminated during the first round. They call you the 'First-round Flunker' now, did you know th-"

A slap echoes through the cell.

"Look what you made me do. I don't like hitting young girls. I have a daughter of my own."

Claire spits the blood in her mouth before facing the Viscount.

"Doubt you're winning any Best-Father titles either. Clearly you're not here to rescue me. Are you a part of the 'Forest of Ladies'? Is your daughter part of it too?"

The viscount barely contains his scoff at Claire's questions.

"I wouldn't be caught dead associating with those debaucherous gold-digging crones."

"Then why are you here?"

"I'm here to ask some questions, Bartfort. Tell me, has your physical condition gotten worse recently? Trouble using magic, keeping it under control? Maybe black blemishes on your skin?"

A barely visible flinch came from Claire, but Grease caught it.

"So you do have the symptoms. Excellent. It means you are compatible."

"Compatible?" Claire repeated in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing for you to worry about. But if you are compatible, that means your sister might be as well. Maybe looking into your whole family as-"

Before he can finish his sentence, a fist smashes into his face. Expletives came from the Viscount as he was knocked back by the punch. The radiating pain and warm fluid on his face signified a bloody nose.

Across him, heavy panting noises come from Claire as blood trickles down her arm from her wrists. She has somehow managed to free one arm from her shackles. The rest of the chains hold, which left Claire glaring hatefully at the viscount as he is now out of reach.

"If you do anything to my family, I'll never forgive you! I'll kill you first, then your daughter, then… Ngh?!"

The tirade was cut short by Grease punching Claire in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. The shock was enough to send her unconscious; her body dangled by her remaining chained limbs.

"Stupid girl," Grease cursed as he wiped the blood off his face.

He stared at the arm Claire managed to free from their shackles; in exchange for scraping the skin off her wrist. An impressive feat, considering the chains were sealed with magic and supposed to drain their wearer of their power.

"Well then, at least this proves her blood will be useful…"

His plans and thoughts are interrupted when a guard enters the jail in a hurry. Different from the one guarding the cell.

"Viscount Grease, we're under attack! Intruders!"

The sudden declaration caused the recent events to be set aside for now.

"Intruders?!" the viscount repeated. "How did they find us?!"

"We don't know, but they're tearing through our men! We need back-up from someone as powerful as you, Milord!"

Grease wanted to berate the man but managed to hold his tongue. These men were as powerful as the royal knights and equally as disciplined. They would not make a claim so lightly, nor bother him with trivial matters. He cast one last look at the unconscious prisoner before he clicked his tongue in irritation.

"I'll take care of this distraction. You there," he addressed the cloaked guard. "Make sure no one else touches her."

The viscount followed the lead of the guard to deal with the intruders. It didn't take long for Grease to hear sounds of a battle as they approached the large entrance hall. As he entered the hall, the viscount realized the battle noise was dominated by one in particular: the screams of pain of the injured. Grease takes in the bloody sight of the hall; the guards bleeding from their amputated limbs, exposed innards or a combination of the two. Yet they are all somehow still alive to groan in pain. More disturbingly, the only ones injured were his men.

A sense of danger screamed at Grease and he barely moved to the side to dodge a sword wave. He turned to the source of the attack, expecting a Dark Knight or even a Royal one, but found neither. Instead, there was only a small group of figures dressed in black bodysuits. Their petite statures clearly marked them as young girls, seven in total based on a quick count. They all wore the same visor to mask their faces, but didn't bother to cover the features that clearly identified them as demi-humans.

"Who the hell are you?!" The viscount drew his sword. "What is your purpose here?"

A blonde elf broke from the group and slowly walked towards him. The rest continued their assault of his men, but still did not resort to any fatal blows. He would have called them naive or reckless, sparing the life of an enemy, but each attack still easily incapacitated his men. Instead, with how little effort they seemed to put into the attacks, their 'mercy' showed a clear difference of power. This was just how little of a threat the intruders thought of the guards.

"We are Shadow Garden," the elf managed to say over the commotion of the battle.

Her voice was as expected of a young elf, but Grease could feel a power that did not match her small frame. When the elf took another step forward, the viscount instinctively stepped back; much to his chagrin when he realized his action. A mere child pressuring a veteran combatant like him.

"Our purpose… is to eliminate the Cult of Diablos."

The name mentioned out loud paralyzed the viscount.

"How…how do you know that name?!"

No one else in this base should know about that name. Grease was the only one who knew their true employers.

"We know everything. We know about the demon Diablos, his curse, the saintess, and the heroes' descendants. Everything that points to the Truth of the Possessed."

"H-how did you…"

Grease was unable to even complete his question. Everything that she had just said was top secret information. Information that took years of service, contribution and sacrifice before it was even revealed to him. Only those inducted to the upper echelons of the organization were even aware of these facts. There should be no way this information could have been leaked.

His first reaction was to cut down these intruders to prevent the classified information from spreading. However, he realized a fact about these intruders: they were demi-humans in the Holfort Kingdom. They would be but slaves to their master; the true person who knew the cult's secrets. With this in mind, Grease made the decision; he would need to escape to inform headquarters about this leak.

The viscount charged forward with a scream of rage towards the elf. He held nothing back, using the speed that allowed him to compete in the Bushin tournament. Once he closed the gap, he swung his sword to cut the small elf.

"A reckless idea," the elf commented as she casually dodged the strike.

Pain shot through Grease's stomach as his attack missed completely. Blood flowed from a cut on his abdomen but it still wasn't debilitating. He continued his attack, with more strikes as fast as he could, but every time, the elf managed to dodge each attack with the smallest of movements. A blade grazed his cheek, drawing more blood. More attempts lead to more misses and more wounds on the viscount's body.

When Grease finally separated himself from the elf, he only had bleeding injuries to show for. The elf's pristine state frustrated him, but the realization that none of his wounds were meant to be fatal frustrated him more. Even he was not seen as a threat enough by these intruders. Somehow, demi-humans close to his daughter's age were able to toy with him so easily.

"Surrender and we won't kill you. We have many questions for you to answer."

The brazenness of her tone lit a fire in Grease, which made him throw his sword at the elf. This was simply not out of anger, however. There was a reason he had separated towards this spot. While the elf was hopefully distracted by the sword, Grease pressed the floor underneath him. A rectangular hole opened up below him; a trap door left behind when the base was still a dungeon.

He fell to a lower level and managed to land on his feet. The shock of the landing caused pain to shoot throughout his body from all of his wounds. He fought through the pain and ran towards the jail area, intent on retreating with the important asset in tow. Both the information he had and the girl's blood would grant him leniency or even a promotion from the cult. He just had to escape from the monsters.

"Viscount Grease!" The guard of the cell stood up at Grease's arrival.

"You! Give me your cloak," Grease demanded as he needed it to cover his disheveled appearance for his escape. "Go reinforce the others in the main hall!"

Confusion was evident on the guard's face but knew better and followed his orders. As the guard left, Grease donned the cloak and grabbed the only available weapon in the room: the training sword Claire had on her when she was kidnapped. The viscount entered the cell of the still unconscious Claire and cut the chains holding her to the wall. Unfortunately, there was no time to properly bind her in case she woke up. He would just have to deal with her then.

Despite his wounds, Grease still had the strength to carry the preteen girl under one arm. Albeit with some magical boost to help. All he had to do now was escape using the secret passageway. This one he was sure no one else knew about, not even his guards. Grease had personally discovered this secret passageway of the old dungeon and told no one just in case. His wisest decision, based on today's events.

With this, he would be able to escape with his greatest prize undetected.

A/N: not exactly where I wanted to stop but the length was getting there so decided to post it now. Not much divergence from 'canon' events but some sprinkling of what things have been changed in this fusion. Shadow Garden may look the same, but behave slightly different. As well as Claire's circumstances.

I'm terrible at keeping to a timetable, so I will no longer make any promises of when I show up again. I really do want to write more but life ya know?