A/N: Hello again. I don't have much to say this time. I do want to mention that I first started typing this story directly on QQ but noticed it doesn't spell or grammar check after a while so went to Word, but that causes issues when copy and pasting sometimes, such as how the last chapter wasn't really spaced out too well. On Word, I see it double spaced with spaces before and after paragraphs usually, as well and indented at the start of each paragraph, but it doesn't seem to transfer over when copying and pasting.

If anyone wants me to go back and space out the chapter more I'll go ahead and do that, as I figure it might make it easier to read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games Is Tough for Mobs, nor do I own The Eminence in Shadow. The only Beta reader here is the elf.
Quick Notes:

I think I'll try to use third person omniscient pov more like I did in the fight scene from last time, it seemed better than some of the first person stuff. Whatever fits the scene I guess.
I'll answer some comments I got at the end of the chapter. Thanks again for those 😊.

-P2W-

Despite the nearly cloudless sky, it's a cold day in the Barfort territory. Once again, the Barfort head's main wife has come, and once again the third (second, if the rumors are to believed) son has yet to return from his adventure. With no letters exchanged between him and his parents, his family is led to believe that he may have perished. Although, his siblings, Finley and Colin have faith that their Leon-nii will return.

Balcus, his mistress Luce, and his main wife Zola sit at a table. Balcus and Luce still praying for their son's return, while Zola inwardly laughs at how the son had likely perished, having heard of an airship with the Bartfort name on it crashing in the Kagenou territory last month. She had informed Balcus of this as soon as she heard, but the stubborn man refused to believe his son was dead without a body.

"What a stupid fellow," remarked Zola as she placed her teacup down. "Ruining the marriage proposal I had so generously gotten for him, and then stealing a ship from his struggling family only to then die."

Balcus grits his teeth and does his best not to cause a scene, "…We still can't be sure that he's dead."

Zola merely laughs and fans her face, "It's been four months since he's left. One since we found your ship in the middle of a bandit and monster infested forest. There's no way he's alive."

Luce begins to silently cry, using a handkerchief to wipe away her tears as Balcus looks anywhere but the two woman.

"Or did he simply leave his family behind and escape." Said Zola, causing Balcus to grit his teeth again. Truth be told, were it the case Balcus would not resent his son in the slightest, nor would his mother, but to hear such an accusation from Zola… and if that were not enough the old hag continues speaking, "If that's the case then Colin shall replace him!"

Balcus feels a vein in his forehead begin to bulge, but before he can do anything rash, said child rushes into the room, slamming the doors open.

"Papa!" cried Colin.

Slightly placated by the sound of his son's voice, Balcus manages to calm down and talk in a softer voice. "What is it, Colin?"

As Luce also turns to Colin, he begins to jump up and down while pointing towards the window, "O-OUTSIDE!"

Everyone, including Zola and her elf servant, turn to the window and see a massive shadow overtake the territory. As the adults step outside, they hear a familiar voice play with the assistance of a microphone and speaker.

"HEEEEEY EVERYONE!"

Balcus and Luce hug each other while Colin begins to jump with an excited grin.

However, Zola grips her fan so hard that she cracks it in half. "T-that..!" She shrieks, "FREAKING BRAT!"

Meanwhile, Leon grins down to his family with a thumbs up.

-Leon-

"I am here for everyone who always fell in line, I say that you are free to live your life, And don't let others tell you who to be If it's what you believe, that's all you need~!" I sing as I water the plants.

[You seem quite cheerful today, master.]

I nod towards Luxion, now in a cute (Olivia's words) orb form. "I guess so. It's been a while since I've had so little to worry about."

I reflect a bit on how everyone reacted when I returned a couple of weeks ago. Zola's reaction particularly satisfied a part of my brain I didn't know I had. Wait, no. I remember how satisfying it was to shit on people online. Heh, but back to the hag. When I got back, she demanded that I hand over my treasure and lost items, but of course I refused. This kingdom has many drawbacks, but there's no one here who can deny an adventurer's right to whatever they find. Plus, I had gone before royalty for it, so there's no way she could even go against me socially. Though that was more of an accident. I hadn't realized how big of a deal finding previously undiscovered islands was. I suppose with a setting of civilization being built on floating islands in the sky with very limited and hard to expand space I should've seen it coming in hindsight.

"By the way, tell me about this island Luxion."

[You only ask for that information now?]

"Shut up I was recuperating after some robot busted up my insides (read: relaxing after I got home)."

[Very well. This island is much like that of the Barfort and Kagenou territory, good for farming. However, there is one key difference, that being a mineral that traps heat. So, the water that it heats up can be used for hot spring baths. I estimate that in the future, this place can become a tourist destination.]

I nod, liking what I'm hearing, namely the jingling of bags full of money. It was a good call to have Luxion immediately find some treasure after I had gotten him. I originally intended to let the Kagenou siblings have more credit, but Cid was insistent that he didn't want it, instead just wanting money. I was confused at first as to why, after all it wasn't like I could ever reach anything other than the level of a baronetcy. My plan for the island and my life in general after my adventure being to have servants take care of my family and live a laid-back life after attending the academy. I had thought my life couldn't be any better. However…

* 3 Weeks Ago, at the Palace. *

"…what." I said.

Claire shook her head at me. "Why are you so surprised. You've conquered uncharted dungeons, acquired a large amount of treasure (even if you mostly gave that to us), lost items, and found an island, you know?"

I turned my gaze from Claire and looked at the paper a royal messenger had left in my hands. We hereby bestow upon Leon Fou Barfort the title of Baron, it read.

"Once you graduate," explained Claire, "you'll be the baron of your own house. You won't be considered a son of your family's house, in other words."

"No! Wait!" I cried as though she could have done anything, "My territory isn't even a barony! Isn't this skipping steps or something! This shouldn't be possible, right!?"

Claire put her hands on her hips, leaned forward, and pouted, "How should I know!? Just suck it up and accept it already!"

I rack my brain for explanations when a realization struck me. "W-wait…" I said with my voice shaking, "does that mean that at the academy…"

Claire thought on it with a finger to her chin, "Yeah, you'll probably end up in the advanced class."

I crumbled to the ground. From what Nicks had told me, the advanced class was full of women just like Zola.

"…I just wanna go to the regular class." I cried.

Cid, who was off to the side playing chess with Alice, said "I don't think you get the choice."

Taking my rage on the happily married (at least given by the vibes he and Alice give off) man, I yelled "THEN WHO DO I MARRY?!"

Alice shrugged, "You'll have to find a fine young noblewoman to wed, legally."

I began to cry for real, "NOOOOOO!"

Olivia, who had been silent this entire time, walked up to me. "Don't cry, Mister Leon! I'm sure there's some good girls there. And if there isn't-"

Being too mad to here whatever pity Olivia was going to give me knowing how lucky she's going to be, I yelled some more in an attempt to feel better "DAMN IT! Everyone knows that women from baronies to counties are the biggest minefields of all!"

Claire bristled, "Hey! You better just be talking about women from Holfort! Besides, what about your sisters? Is that how you see them?"

"Finley, no," I answered, "Jenna, however, sent me one letter during my entire adventure. In it she asked if I could get her a slave on my way back, and get her some money because 'onee-san needs her allowance too'. That's all that was in the letter. If you think that's nice you need to go to the asylum!"

Even Olivia, who is an endless stream of positivity, couldn't find anything nice to say. Oh well, we were being called by the king's men so I could be 'rewarded' with my new title.

*present*

[In any case, construction of the estate and harbor has begun. After a year's work this island shall be quite hospitable.]

I shrug, "I'll leave the rest to you."

I can't help but grin. Luxion is amazingly versatile, because he was made to not need resupplying in the game, it can create any kind of material. Although Luxion still needs stuff to work with, he can basically turn rocks into gold, a total cheat if I've ever seen one.

"Ah, just by acquiring you, I've gained the equivalent to countless lives of hard work. From now on I shall live a life with no challenges."

[I deeply respect master for choosing to become a shut-in after acquiring my powers.]

"Snide?"

[Sarcasm]

I flick Luxion, causing him to spin a little.

[Perhaps you should invite your friends over. You haven't seen them since you abandoned them after the ceremony after all.]

"I didn't abandon them! I took them home, like I promised their parents I would!"

[The look on the "human capybara/puppy hybrid" as you put it, would say otherwise.]

"She's the protagonist, I couldn't just keep her. Besides we left a communications device with her and exchange letters once a month."

[Ah yes "the protagonist" of this "otome game."]

"I can do with a little less sarcasm Luxion. Like I said before, just the fact I found you should be proof enough of me being right."

[But you also admitted to not knowing of the Kagenou family. Nor of Shadow Garden.]

I shrug, "The game probably just left out whatever wasn't going to help sell. Look, I'll hang out with Olivia and them when I get to the academy. For now, sending letters is probably the best thing to do to stay on good terms but not mess with the plot any more than I already have."

[That would explain your aversion to Olivia, but what of the Kagenou siblings.]

"Claire basically finds me boring outside of adventuring, and Cid and Alice are too busy being lost in their little world. I wouldn't want to intrude on that. Those two are completely inseparable."

-Cid-

After Leon dropped us off at home, Alpha and the rest kept adding more and more details to the diabolos cult's backstory. I mean, after we saw the ruins of an old civilization and fought that giant robot, we couldn't just not include it in our lore, I get it. Honestly, the only drawback to that day was that we didn't have a live audience. Leon, Claire, and Olivia don't count since they were participating. But for that, I only have to wait two more years until I go to the academy. I can't wait. Leon and Olivia were cool, but I bet there's protagonists are a dime a dozen, and there might be a bunch of Final Bosses too. Heh. There's bound to be conspiracies, rebellions, and incidents—none of which would happen here in the boonies—but when they do that's when the eminence in shadow would burst into the scenes.

I know that deep down, that's just my ego talking, but I feel pretty good about beating those bandits and those robots. At this moment in time, though, my prologue hasn't even been written. Well, I'll be able to go in two years, which is plenty of time to work with Alpha and the other girls on getting everything ready. Heck, they've been doing it already. As expected of my dear friends. Like I said earlier, they made a bunch of changes to our lore. According to them, the cult operates on a world scale. That apparently the cult refers to the possessed as 'compatibles' and are trying to capture them in their early stages.

I was super happy, but today they said they had something important to say… and I figured it'd be just like all the other times my 'friends' in my past life said something like that.

"Shadow…" managed Alpha.

Heh. Shadow. You never call me Shadow when it's just us and the shades, Alpha. How mean of you to do it now.

Alpha continued her relentless assault, "The time has come for us to leave you."

…I knew this would happen. It always happens. *sigh* there's no need for them to gather in a row like this and pretend to be sad about this. How'd they get Delta to… or was she just pretending...? I mean she just seems confused compared to everyone else.

"This is goodbye- "said Alpha through tears. I turn away. I don't know why. To deny her the satisfaction? But Alpha wouldn't… I mean I guess I deserve this; I was planning on using her anyway. It's fine. Having an organization was cool and all but I can do the eminence in shadow stuff by myself. Like always…

Why?

"Alpha ladyship sir isn't this just goodbye for now?" said Delta while tilting her head.

Eh?

"Plus, Delta thought you said that one of us will stay nearby to tell Boss all the stuff we're doing!" said Delta.

EHHH!?

Alpha wipes away some tears, "I-I know but…"

Suddenly Beta comes forward, also crying "Lord Shadow was always just a few minutes away!"

Epsilon starts shaking her head, her twin tails nearly smacking some of the Shades in their faces, "to go from that to not seeing him from months on end...!"

Gamma then walks over to Delta, looking as mature as their age difference would suggest, "Plus think about it from Alpha's perspective. She's going from being with Lord Shadow nearly every hour she wasn't with us to almost never seeing him! Ah, I couldn't imagine it."

What… what's going on?

"Geez," said Zeta, "look, you're confusing Lord Shadow! Baka Wan-Chan!"

"Delta isn't dumb! Delta saw how sad boss was and wanted to help!" hissed Delta.

At that everyone turned to Delta, and then me. I do my best to hide my expression, but I guess they saw how relieved I was.

For perhaps the first time since I met her, Eta stood up straight, "Master… was sad?... because we… were saying… goodbye?"

I turn my head. God this is so uncool… hm… but I remember in my old world about how men who hid their feelings were usually old fogeys. I mean that kind of attitude does fit the fantasy setting and stuff, but… This is also an isekai setting, considering Leon. What kind of Eminence in Shadow would I be if I didn't also do my best to change the world in ways that don't fit the setting but progress it all the same?

"The shadows…" I say, doing my best to use my normal Shadow voice no matter how much I know Minoru Cid is leaking through, "a-are easier… to traverse when with you-others! Others."

GAH! That felt so cringe! Why was I stuttering? I hope this sunset can hide my embarrassment- Ow. Alpha, why'd you force my head to turn like that. Why are you staring at me like that. Alpha. You can let go. Alpha. Oi. Alpha. You're getting really close. Alpha? Alpha, how'd your pupils change into little hearts? Alpha, why're your eyes closing?

"Hey! That's unfair!" yelled Epsilon.

"Epsilon!" yelled Gamma, "They were having a moment! Wait for your turn like a good girl!"

"Alpha… is… taking advantage… of… our lord's… sadness...!" Said Eta, raising her voice a single decibel.

Beta begins to flail, "Um, I think… I want to be first… but to ruin the moment…! Gah! I can't decide which is worse!"

"Are we allowed to mate now? Can Delta go after Alpha?" said Delta with her tail wagging.

"H-hey! If anything, I should go after Alpha! I contribute the most… outside of battle." said Gamma.

"We let Alpha have enough as is," said Zeta with a voice I can't quite place, "why does she have to be the first- "

*pfft*

Everyone stops arguing for a second.

I just couldn't stop myself and began to laugh. I laughed harder than I ever did before. It wasn't even some super cool shadow broker laugh, or villain laugh, or boisterous hero laugh. I… I laughed like a boy my age would, I guess. I even got red in the face and snorted a couple of times.

"What *snrk* are you girls even talking *snort* about?" I laughed.

Eventually they all descend into a fit of giggles as well. After we all calmed down—and hid from the servants that tried to see where the noise came from—they let me in on the plan. The girls plan on scattering across the world to prevent the cult from spreading any further than it already has. Apparently seeing how an advanced civilization, such as the one that created Leon's lost items, could fall despite all of its power they realized how far behind we must be. Furthermore, all the heroes who slayed Diabolos were all women, which is why it's usually only women who suffer from the curse. I know I suffered from the 'curse' as well when I was younger, so I did correct them when they assumed it was only women. It was creative of them to say that the women were all rewritten by history to be men, but I didn't want them to make the lore boys vs. girls, that's not cool. I guess they came up with that since, apart from me, the Shadow Garden is comprised of only women.

Their next report was on how the curse was most common among elves followed by therianthropes and then humans. According to their research, it has to do with the species' respective life spans. As humans live shorter lives with weaker traces of the heroic bloodline, they're least susceptible to the curse. On the other hand, elves have long life expectancies with potent concentrations of blood, making them the most prone to fall victim to the curse. Therianthropes are in the middle… Now that I think about it, right now I'm the only human in the Shadow Garden, and my 'possession' was self-inflicted. Which leaves the shades with a posse of two therianthropes and five elves. All of whom have been possessed. Huh, a good way to make the lore make sense. Back on subject, the possessed, or 'compatibles' according to the cult, are in danger right now. The cult's members are supposedly going the extra mile to locate, acquire, and wipe them from existence.

The girls' plan is for the Shadow Garden to scatter across the world while leaving me with one rotating subordinate. The rest of them will protect the possessed while investigating the cult and sabotaging their activities. They say that this is the only way to fight the Cult. As I listen to this it suddenly hits me. The girls have grown up. They don't want to be stuck to playing my eminence in shadow games in the boonies forever, especially when they've seen stuff like that hidden city in the mist and the lost hangar of the winds (Luxion's base). This was probably their way of being fair to me, since they felt indebted ever since I cured them and basically raised them. We're still friends, which is why they're sticking with me on a rotating basis, they just want me to support them. Alpha especially, since she's never really gotten the chance to discover life without me.

As their friend and the eminence in shadow, what else can I do but smile and let them go? Well, I do still want to leave them with one last cool remark. Thankfully, Alpha gives me the opportunity.

Alpha gives me one last bone crushing hug, "I'll be back by the time you need to attend the academy. I've told your parents that I'm helping my family with some issues, so don't worry about that. I know you probably want to help us achieve our goals, but we need to do this on our own for now. We've relied on you far too much, and we're becoming bigger for that to be the best for all of Shadow Garden, even if I believe you could handle it."

I hug Alpha back, as for once she didn't trap my arms under hers, and state, "I'll look forward to seeing you there. But for now…" I gather up my slime, wrapping it around Alpha for the first time in years. She's confused, but allows me to do so. As I finish my ministrations, Alpha emerges wearing a familiar looking cloak and hood. My eminence in shadow outfit. "If you're going to lead the shades and the Shadow Garden without me, you're going to need to look the part."

I wink, making her and the shades turn atomic-ally red.

"Lady Shade."

Alpha ended up kissing me. Which, I guess I did just give her the "boyfriend sweater" outfit eminence in shadow edition, so.

-Angelica-

As I retire for the day, I can't help but sigh. Some women have all the luck. I gaze into the mirror prepared for me by Mylene and see my red eyes, tired and swollen from crying yet another night due to yet another day where Julius does everything in his power to ignore me.

I just don't understand! What am I doing wrong!? He has to understand that we are engaged, there's no way he doesn't. Does he have some kind of lover? I could excuse it, as future king it makes sense, as much at it'd hurt. But why does his gaze never linger upon me? What's wrong with me? What do I have to do for him to stare at me like that adventurer did at that commoner woman!?

I sigh, collapsing onto my bed. Recalling the ceremony from a few weeks ago.

I had been serving my last week as a maid under Mylene in preparation for my marriage with Julius. It was to instill a respect to the workers that had served under me for my entire life, as if I treated them as I had been, or worse as the other women of nobility such as the Offreys often do, then I had no right to rule over them according to Mylene. My last duty was to help Mylene prepare for a ceremony. Apparently, a recent upstart adventurer had managed to find not only treasure, but several lost items, and even a massive undiscovered and uninhabited island. I had been excited to see them, believing them to be some adult that had had a lucky break after decades of hard work. Imagine my surprise when it was a boy the same age as Julius and I. No, perhaps boy would be unfair. The determined look in his eyes matched the man I had been expecting.

I sigh once again, thinking about perhaps it could have been Julius and I one day to earn such an honor. To travel the world side by side, conquering dungeons, finding lost items, and falling deeply in love with each other just as the adventurer had with the commoner girl by his side. He had called her his friend, yes, but to so boldly ask the king for her to attend the academy. Stating that the girl was one of the best and brightest minds with a healing presence that the kingdom needed in order to have a future? What could that be interpreted as other than a confession of love? As the King laughed and agreed in front of the appalled court, I couldn't help but be jealous. So jealous in fact, especially after my attempt to talk to Julius was once again ignored, that I walked out to the garden to clear my head.

Imagine my surprise when the upstart adventurer had been out there as well, having made his way there after the ceremony was over. He was accompanied by no one, except for his male party member. I had briefly overheard their conversation. Apparently, Leon, the adventurer, had been lamenting the fact that he would be in the advanced class when it came time attend the academy, and was apparently jealous of his party member, Cid, for being able to attend the lower class. This had confused me, but then Leon went on to state that his older brother had been the one to explain what the academy was like so far. I felt it a bit biased, that perhaps his brother was simply having poor luck and therefore feeding his family false information, but when he got specific in the examples of what had been happening, I couldn't help but resolve myself to make sure my own followers would act better. Eventually Cid wandered off, and Leon began walking away as well, finding my hiding place.

"Oh," said Leon upon seeing me, "sorry, I didn't expect to see you here."

I shook my head, "It's quite alright. The garden is open to all who attend the ceremony."

"That's good. I was worried for a second you were here to shoo us away…" Leon scratched the back of his head, "Uh, you didn't happen to overhear us, did you?"

"My apologies, I didn't mean to." I admitted.

"Nah, you're good. 'Sides, I bet you know what I was complaining about being a maid in the palace and all."

"What do… oh! Yes. I suppose. But I largely have had better interactions with the nobility, perhaps you were simply exaggerating things a bit?"

"Or maybe the nobility around you didn't treat you like dirt because you were another woman."

"Dangerous line of thinking there."

"But not untrue. My own father's legal wife hates me and all the other 'illegitimate' children, but still makes exceptions towards my two sisters. I could only imagine you get much of the same grace."

"Surely you're exaggerating."

"Whenever she visits from the capital, she makes me and my brother sleep in the storage shed. And whenever that gets a hole or something in it, we have to sleep in the barn."

"…"

"That's not even the worse thing she's done."

"…truly?"

"Ever hear of the forest of ladies?"

"I've… heard rumors."

"Well, they're real, and I was almost a victim. That's why I went adventuring in the first place. So that I couldn't be married off to a woman 50 years older than me and sent to the military so I could die and she collects the kingdom's compensation."

"That… that can't be."

"Heh, well it's true. Luckily now with the king's own approval, I can go to the academy and she can't do a damn thing."

Leon adopted a rather evil looking grin, likely imagining his step-mother's reaction. I couldn't really blame him given everything he had just told me.

"I suppose your victory is only made sweeter given that you will be accompanied by your lover." I said, a bit too bitterly.

"Lover?"

"The commoner girl. The one you got the king to allow to attend the academy?"

"Oh, Olivia. Nah, we're just friends."

"You would go that far for a woman who you're just friends with?"

Leon looked at me, as though I were the crazy one, "Yeah? Wouldn't you help out your friends as much as you could?"

I admit. I was jealous for more reasons than romance in that moment.

Leon then sighed, " 'sides Olivia's the type of woman that could have whoever she wanted."

"What if she wanted you, sir Leon."

"Just Leon's fine. And, I doubt she'd want someone like me. Sure, we had fun on the adventure and stuff, but I'm not the kind of guy to keep shooting higher. I'm more than content to live my life on the farm, maybe heading off to new adventures every now and again. Olivia… I think she'd be the type of person who could change the world. That's why I wanted her to attend the academy."

"So that she could gain the skills to do so?"

"And the connections. After all, the main purpose of the academy is for noble kids to get hitched and join houses or whatever."

"You believe that Olivia will find a spouse that isn't you there?"

"Yeah, heck I hear the prince is attending, maybe they'll start something."

I couldn't help but feel anger in that moment, "You are suggesting rather treasonous thoughts there."

Leon simply shrugged, "Everyone knows that the king's cheating on his wife. Prince Julius would probably do the same. Though if Olivia was the one he fell in love with, well she'd probably get him to dump his fiancé first. I feel bad for said fiancé but I do think that Olivia could probably make a good queen."

"W-what make you think that Julius would do such a thing!?"

"Well, I mean. It's pretty well known that Julius doesn't get along well with his fiancé. Wouldn't you know this as one of the maids here?"

I do my best to calm myself down. Outraged at how these assumptions are being spread around. Hurt over how I couldn't refute them. "…Yes."

"What about you?" asked Leon.

"Me?"

"Well I've been talking about my and my friends plans, what about you? You have any luck with marriage. I hear it's pretty hard on maids too since they have limited free time and little chances to go outside the place they work at."

"Well if you were planning on seducing me, I'll have to apologize. I already have a fiancé, and he is much better than you ever could be."

Leon merely laughed, "I bet. He's a lucky guy."

I blushed a bit, "What?"

"You're fun to talk to, and beautiful to boot. I bet you'll make him happy."

"Oh please, it's too dark for you to see anything but my figure you pervert."

"That and your hair. Given how much you need to braid it I'm guessing it's pretty long. I bet it'd be really pretty worn down."

"My fiancé likes long hair."

"Lucky guy. Well, I should get going now. It's been nice talking to you…"

Although I did find him infuriating to some degree, I didn't want to shirk my teachings, but as I couldn't just give him my real name, I told him, "Ann."

"It's nice to meet you. Hope things work out between you and your fiancé."

With that he was gone. Julius wouldn't leave me for that commoner girl, would he? Perhaps I should watch her once she arrives at the academy. It would be easy enough to establish a connection once she comes to preform her duty and gives me a gift… would she even know how to do that? Surely someone would tell her.

As I lie in my bed, in the current day, I resolve to approach her first.

-Leon-

[We're approaching the capital soon.]

I sigh once again at Luxion's declaration. I was taking myself, Nicks, and Jenna back to the academy as the year started. I was already dreading what was awaiting us there.

As I approached the gates, I see a familiar looking face. Although her hair and figure were bigger and longer than I remembered. Plus, she didn't have heterochromia before.

"Mister Leon!"

Wait, shouldn't she be heading on her way to meet the prince or something? Or was that after the opening ceremony?

A/N: Today's chapter is on the shorter side again, but I felt it was a good place to cut it off. Now let's answer some comments.

From QQ:

Someone ani: Glad you enjoyed the fight scene. Funnily enough I had thought about skipping it, instead having Shadow and Shadow Garden show up to supposedly buy time for Leon to take over Luxion, but I felt like the fight scene would've been cooler.

Also, if you mean my fav shadow garden members in terms of who I ship with Cid then: Alpha, Beta, and Delta. If you mean personal preference, then: Beta, Gamma, Victoria. Alpha's cool but I like her and Cid too much (which is probably obvious by now).

Zackman2k12: Glad you enjoy the story! I'm glad to brighten your day, or night I suppose bru.

From Fanfic:

Heseo55: I get it. Plus it's hard to compete with the art of the mangas for both series. As for them clashing… well let's see. Btw, the crossovers besides the isekai quartet fic I was talking about was "I'm the Shitty Prince but I have my memories" by Keldras. It's fun and written pretty well, but I dropped it once he started having mechs stronger than Luxion. He did the thing where Leon's there for almost no reason. Cid is too, but that's when I dropped it, so I don't know what he's doing. I'm not bashing him or anything, I just don't vibe with what's going on there. Heck most of what Keldras has there is his original writing, so it's way better than what I have. The other crossover fic, the one you probably were talking about was "Dating Sim is tough even for a Shadow" by Dynamic_Kaledioscope_sensei. It's only Leon there, with Cid taking place of Luxion technically.

BetweenIandGirl: I guessed you might have missed where I mentioned it, which I do when reading sometimes too, but I changed the ages a bit to fit what I wanted. I made it so that the academy is attended by 18 year old nobles, Leon didn't leave until he was 16, and that Claire was kidnapped when he departed. Cid and Alpha are also 16, which I believe I state at the beginning of chapter 2.

From SpaceBattles:

xfel: Thanks! I knew I couldn't just not have Shadow make another appearance. As for the reincarnation thing... I think I'll leave that for the story proper. Although it might take a little bit since it did in Canon as well. Also yeah, I think I'll go back and repost chapter 3. I think I figured out how to do it on Word this time around.