Chapter 95: Internal Problems

The alarm on Don Jon Tower's money vault rang, sending the entire tower staff into panic. Right when Lord Claude is away too. I sort of hoped that Mr. John Smith isn't the culprit but he's the likeliest candidate. And here I was trying to use him to make Lord Claude jealous. Too bad. But I suppose I should cease such childish behaviour before my relationship with him becomes irreparable.

"Lady Yukime!" Marie shouted as she ran towards me. Her face showing a look of pure terror, no doubt fearing Lord Don Jon's wrath. I pulled her into a hug, which made her cry.

"L-Lady Yukime! I tried… I warned him! I-I…" She muttered as she cried and trembled.

"Shhh… It's okay. It's not your fault." I reassured her.

"But… When Lord Don Jon gets angry… he'll slaughter us all!"

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

"Lady Yukime…"

"Now let's go. We need to catch the culprit, don't we?"

"Y-Yes… I apologize for losing my cool like that." She said as she regained her mask of professionalism.

Accompanied by Kana and Natsu, we used the elevator (a brilliant invention by Lord Claude, though I heard Mitsugoshi also have them) to enter the underground vault, which is full of traps, most of which includes laser beams. Lord Claude is a very cautious and paranoid person.

Using a board shaped Artifact on the wall that reads my magic signature through my palm, I got permission to enter the trap halls without the traps activating on me. As we walked through the trap hall, we eventually found John Smith… only he was not alone as we expected. He tied a bald headed man with his wires.

"Ah. Lady Yukime. It is good that you have arrived. I caught this man trying to steal Lord Don Jon's treasure." John Smith said.

"You bastard! You ratted me out as soon as we got caught!" The bald headed man shouted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." John Smith said calmly. It is suspicious that John Smith would be here alongside this man. It is probable that what the bald man said is true. But I have no proof of that and I need to wait for Lord Don Jon to make his judgement.

"Lord Don Jon will decide your fates. Come with me." I said while gesturing them to come and they complied. We entered the elevator and go straight to Lord Don Jon's floor, where I felt he's already waiting. How quick he is.


Man. That was a disaster. I trusted this man too much and he tripped that laser trap which made the alarm go off. Whether he did that intentionally or not doesn't matter because what he did was foolish and it made our heist failed miserably because I sensed Don Jon's aura immediately returning to the tower. I decided to throw him under the bus for that.

We now enter Don Jon's room and I finally meet the man face to face. He's definitely dressed fittingly like a mafia. His white suit and round glasses is cool. And I have no doubt he concealed a blade inside that cane! He's now sitting in his sofa, projecting an aura of anger, which made weak willed characters like the baldy, the secretary and Yukime's attendants to tremble in fear. Only Yukime and I withstood his aura and stayed calm.

"Lord Don Jon. I've brought the suspects." Yukime said as she bowed before Don Jon.

"So… We finally meet, John Smith." He said while addressing me.

"Yes, Lord Don Jon. A pleasure to finally meet you." I greeted back while bowing my head.

"I had to abandon my attack on Mitsugoshi because a certain someone decided to enter my vault without my permission. I even lost Boar to Shadow Garden. I will listen to your story." He said with a glare that can be felt through his round glasses.

"L-Lord Don Jon! I'm innocent! This man threatened me and brought me to the vault and-"

"Silence! I was not talking to you, Patches!" Don Jon said.

"M-My name is Baldief, sir!"

"Whatever! You shall be silent!"

Patchy… or Bald Thief… stayed silent after that, allowing me to begin my testimony.

"Ahem. I am innocent, Lord Don Jon. I never met this man prior to this evening where I noticed him sneaking around and decided to follow him. And lo and behold, I found him in the underground vault, where I proceeded to capture him."

"He's lyin'! It was all his idea!"

"He is more familiar with this building than I do, and with the plans to raid your vault as well. Just look at his face! It practically screams "untrustworthy"!" I said while pointing at his face.

"What'd ya mean!? My face is the very image of honesty!" He said with a face that looks like a minor villain's.

"SILENCE!" Don Jon shouted, intensifying his aura.

"Patches. I told you to stay silent, didn't I?"

"B-But, Lord Don Jon! Don't listen to what this man sa-" His words… and his head are cut off. To the untrained eye, it looked like his head was detached from his body on its own but I saw Don Jon quickly unsheathing his blade, which is hidden on his cane, and cut Patchy's head off and unsheathes his blade back before anyone noticed what he did. He's good.

The secretary looked like she wants to scream but she held back her voice out of fear of becoming the next victim. Yukime's two beastkin attendants also looked like they want to run away. Yukime and I are the only ones who stayed calm.

"Hmph. I have no use of this fool's body. Send him to cremation, Yukime."

"It shall be done, my lord."

"Hm… It seemed like he… URNed it." I can't help but tell a joke when I heard Patchy was about to get cremated.

"HA HA HA HA HA!" Don Jon laughed loudly at my joke. He definitely gets it. His mood gets better and the pressuring aura fades away.

"I shall believe you for now, John Smith. But remember what happened tonight. You're dismissed!" He finished with a threat and I bowed before leaving the room with a confident smile.

My plan to rob him failed… for tonight at least. At least I know where he kept his money now and next time I'll be more prepared… and far more stylish. Slow and steady wins the race as they say.

But about Mitsugoshi and the girls… It seems that I had to send them money from my personal vault so they can get their shit together. Lucky that there's plenty of gamblers so willing to donate their money to our cause right in this building. Time to hit the casino again!


"Is it fine to let him go, my lord?" Yukime asked me after John Smith left the room. She noticed that I'm still distrustful of John Smith.

I know this scenario. Indeed, I am convinced that Patches tried to trick him into robbing my vault (like he did in those Souls games) but John Smith was definitely in it himself. And he ratted out Patches as soon as they tripped the alarm. For now I shall keep him because his value is still pretty high despite his untrustworthiness.

"It is fine. He still has his uses. But it is surprising that you no longer defend him, Yukime."

"Forgive me if I did that too often. Just know that I am loyal to you and you alone, my lord. For everything you've done to me, I'll never betray you." Yukime said while bowing her head again.

"Then can you tell me why you've defended him so many times?" I asked her whilst keeping my eyes on her bowing figure warily. Marie and her attendants, Natsu and Kana, watched with scared expressions, fearing for Yukime's life and their own. She stood back up and… blushed like a naughty kid who's caught doing mischief.

"Well… It was because I tried to make you jealous." Ha? What?

"Forgive me, my lord. I now realize such childishness is unbecoming of me." And here I thought John Smith had seduced her. This stupid woman. Haaah…

"It's fine. Though I expect you to stop it and show professionalism when working with me in the future. Understand?"

"Absolutely, my beloved lord." Ughh… Still trying to seduce me, are you? It won't work. Thanks to Sherry, my libido is kept under control so I can now ignore her advances.

"We need to raise the security of the vault now that John Smith already knows where it is. Draft a plan and submit it to me as soon as you're able. You're all dismissed." I ordered and they all left the room after bowing.

"Still… John Smith. Good to see how he appreciates my dad jokes. I tried the jokes to give Don Jon some character but most people didn't get it. The fact that he gets it is totally not the reason why I spared him. Not at all." I said while smiling.

"Let me see it. Let me see how you plan your betrayal, John Smith. I shall study your villainy without blinking." I muttered with anticipation to my inevitable clash against him.


It's been a week since our encounter with Don Jon. He must be dealing with internal problems that Shadow caused while we are dealing with ours. The timing was impeccable.

In the throne room hidden in the rooftop of Mitsugoshi main building in the capital, so many Shadow Garden personnel gathered that the throne room is full of people. About 100 personnel has been gathered here, more to come later. Despite how crowded they are, Lambda's training made them disciplined enough to stand in line. I managed to gather most members of Numbers who deserted their posts with the help of Delta. They looked afraid, like they are about to be executed. I stood in the raised platform beside Shadow's throne with Gamma and Beta at my side.

I sighed and gazed upon the culprit behind it all, No. 612, who's trembling as if she has been left out in the cold winter. Speaking of winter, it has started to snow today.

She was indeed a suspicious individual when she first joined Shadow Garden, harbouring disloyal thoughts and perhaps intended to betray us. But Lord Shadow foresaw that immediately and showed her what happens should she decide to betray us. Her loyalty has been rock solid ever since. In fact, she's too loyal to the point of paranoia that I started to feel pity for her.

I don't blame her for this incident. We decided to hide John Smith's true identity from the Numbers after all. Did Shadow intentionally reveal himself to her in order to teach us to put our trust in the Numbers?

We already used some of the spells that Eta learned from that infernal tome we found on the capital's underground maze during the Bushin Festival incident in order to put some shields into the minds of every Shadow Garden members to protect them from mind control, mind reading or any kind of mental assault and also prevent them from physically leaking any information we didn't want leaked.

Shadow must've known about that in advance and thus he's teaching us that holding information from the Numbers is no longer necessary. Truly, his foresight is astonishing. Even now he's still teaching us valuable lessons.

"No. 612." I addressed the wolf beastkin. She trembled even more when she heard my voice.

"Y-Yes, Lady Alpha!"

"You know what you did, and its consequences, didn't you?"

"Yes… I understand completely. I am r-ready to accept any punishment!"

"No. You shall not be punished today. This is not your fault. This mess is caused by us purposefully withholding information from you." I said. My words caused them to whisper amongst each other.

"Lady Alpha… Is that true?" One of the Numbers asked me.

"It is true. Lord Shadow took the guise of John Smith and has robbed our banks. But before he did that, he told me and Zeta that soon we'll understand. I ask that you put your faith in him."

My words still isn't enough to fully convince them but I hope they'll stay in line for now. I have to repeat this speech to other members who will come later.

I saw Nu enter the room through the window. She wouldn't do such a thing if it wasn't urgent. "Great news! We received a message from John Smi—Lord Shadow!" She said. Her words took everyone's attention.

"What did he say?" I asked her.

"He gave us the location of his money vault and told us that we can use them to allow Mitsugoshi to survive the coming crisis! And he told us there will be more money later!"

Her words brought smile to the faces of everyone present.

"Lord Shadow didn't abandon us, after all!"

"Of course he wouldn't! He didn't kill any of us after all!"

"He was actually quite dazzling when he dressed as John Smith! He's amazing!"

"So he has infiltrated the ranks of the enemy? As expected of Lord Shadow!"

Murmurs after murmurs praising Shadow was heard.

"You guys! Stop shouting and-"

"No. Leave them be, Beta. Let them have their moment." I said to Beta and she just smiled and let the Numbers restore their faith in Lord Shadow.

It seems that putting the Numbers back in line would be easier than I thought it would be now that Lord Shadow has responded.


I visited my sister Iris in her room after she is done with her work and is resting. It's a girly room full of cute animal plushies that you wouldn't expect out of Iris considering her public image. I love this side of her. It's cute.

When she returned to the castle after encountering Don Jon, she vomited and passed out. Looking at the state of the knights she commanded that night, with their guts spilling out of their stomachs after beings sliced open by Don Jon, I can see why. She tried to hide it whilst working but I can see that incident bothered her.

Looks like she has once again blamed herself for not being strong enough. It's funny that Iris, whom I once thought to be invincible, would suffer an inferiority complex like I did in the past… no, much worse than I did. She's burdened with more responsibility and expectations after all.

"Sister."

I called out to her as she lay in her bed with distracted eyes. It took a few seconds for her to respond.

"Oh. Alexia. What's up?" She said with a forced smile. I don't like it one bit.

"It's you. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay! I'll just take a few days rest and I'll be fine! Don't worry!"

"Liar. That night has affected you like the day our father died." I said. My words broke her smile.

"Alexia… I… I'm…" She's holding back her emotions because she doesn't want to burden us again. I pulled her into a hug to comfort her and she hugged me back.

"Alexia… How do I become strong like you?" She asked a question that I never thought I'd hear coming from her mouth.

"What are you talking about? You're still stronger than me, sister." I asked back, confused by her question.

"When father died… when we faced all those troubles… you remained strong and…" Ah. I see.

"I had… support from Poo—from a friend." I said while slightly blushing.

"…Your friend is a good person."

"He is. You need such a friend too. Me and Claude will be here for you."

"I suppose so. Thank you Alexia." She said, finally regaining a genuine smile.

In order to help her, I decided to share my own inner demons, and how I overcame them. "Let me tell you a story, sister. About a time when I was the one having inferiority complex."


Author's Note:

Don Jon and John Smith won't clash yet. We still have Gettan and the MCA around so we shouldn't go to the climax of the arc yet. And yes, Baldief is a reference to Patches from FromSoft games.

Bolvar57: Iris dijo la frase...Xd

Dragonborn se acerca el lore

Answer: Fus Ro Da!

HundredMasks: And protagonista luck strikes again! and with how things are going, I'm guessing that Don Jon is gonna be a dragon born too, and his relationship with Alpha is gonna be like with the Laat dragonborn and Miraak, which would be interesting with the contrast with his james bondesque dynamic with John smith and fantasy dynamic with alpha, keep cooking, and is this an alliance I'm seeing? they'll need it

Answer: Maybe not Don Jon. He's just a mafia boss and I don't want to add too much elements into this arc when it has too many subplots already. And Iris is more cordial and less hostile towards Shadow Garden now. Also the sister bonding time.

Wholesome07: the moment i've been waiting for, The 𝓢𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻 𝓔𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓐𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓽 John Smith V.S. The Mafia Boss Don Jon.

Answer: Unfortunately, not yet. A bit early for that, especially since we just got action in the previous chapter.