Chapter 2: Floating Continent

With Shadow Garden finally deployed, most of Leon's free time was now devoted to his family's territory. Especially with his older brother Nicks starting his education in the academy, Leon's own set of responsibilities had expanded to compensate. Between contributing physical labor or learning academic subjects, his time was rather filled for a child his age. He had half a mind to complain about child labor laws but this was the wrong time period. If you were old enough to hold a weapon, you were old enough to be put to work. At least it felt similar to attending a school and doing clubs afterwards. Albeit with even less freedom on his part.

The only interruption to his routine were the reports from Shadow Garden. Every so often, one of the seven would return back to the Barony and give a summary of their current investigations. Hence, the two founding members of Shadow Garden were once more meeting in their old base. Though still empty and left abandoned, it remained a good secret spot to rendezvous away from prying eyes.

"Our last target was our biggest raid. A guarded facility containing cages of possessed," Alpha handed Leon a folder. "However, as before, once we started to interrogate the guards, their brands activated. We managed to rescue and escape with the possessed, but unfortunately, the facility was completely erased."

"At least no one got hurt," consoled Leon. "But if the branded just keep on killing themselves, then trying to get information from them seems pointless. Dangerous too."

The Forest of Ladies were pragmatic with their security, it seemed. It was almost admirable how thorough they were, but just emphasized how ruthless they treated their minions. Not too surprising considering their whole send-children-to-die-for-money plot they were already doing, but it was still appalling.

"For now, don't go easy on the rank-and-file anymore," instructed Leon. "It's too dangerous to go easy on them, only to risk being blown up. We might have better luck finding the person higher up they're receiving their orders from."

"As you command, Master Leon. I will relay your orders to the rest of Shadow Garden."

"But overall, it looks like you're making good progress on the plan. Doing a good job, Alpha."

Said elf sported a small smile and nodded in appreciation.

"How are the rest doing?"

"Everyone is progressing well with their own roles. As well as our retraining with the sword. We plan on adopting the sword as the standard weapon for Shadow Garden."

"Oh?" commented Leon. He didn't remember requiring that..

"Yes, while you encouraged us to find our own styles, the sword is still the most common weapon used. Especially by the cult. It allows us to learn how to fight against them properly, as well as disguise our order in the long run. I believe our newer members would benefit from the lessons you taught us."

Alpha made it sound grander, but the lessons he taught were just what lessons he learned from his own family, and some additional ones from his old life. It did somehow produce excellent fighters as evidenced by the girls, but only Alpha and Beta really showed proficiency in the sword. From Gamma and onwards, well, there was a reason Alpha said they had their own styles of fighting.

"I guess if they are responding well to it then continue on, Alpha," he'd just leave it her. She had a good hand on things already. "Any other problems then? Still having issues with your base?"

"Unfortunately, it's only gotten worse," the blond elf lamented. "While it's good we rescued more possessed, our increased numbers makes it harder for us to hide. We're currently forced to stay far from the settlements. This also affects our ability to gather better information."

New members were good on paper, but they still needed time and training to become functional personnel. That meant their initial small group had to take roles such as trainers and guards, along with their main roles as intelligence agents. Not to mention properly housing everyone and the stability a proper shelter would provide.

"Zeta is still scouting possible areas, but we are limited by the resources we have on hand. Our best hope is to find an unclaimed island, but that's easier said than done."

An understatement. In a world of floating islands, finding suitable new land for colonization was a top priority for any territory. Even larger groups, pouring more resources than what Shadow Garden had, were lucky to find such an island within years of their own survey.

"Although…" Alpha hesitated before Leon motioned her to continue. "Zeta suggested a location which even adventurers and sky-pirates avoid: The Abyss Triangle."

"Isn't that place empty?"

He was familiar with the so-called Abyss Triangle. Both as in-game knowledge and legendary folklore in this world. It was an abyss in the sense it was a large area of ocean in the Holfort Kingdom, with no land in sight. Nothing but a deep blue abyss. If you didn't count the rumors at least. There was supposed to be a legendary lost island in the middle of the triangle. However, to this day, countless expeditions into the area by the kingdom and adventurers had yielded no new discovery.

"Yes. She brought it up due to some intel we decoded from the cult. I believe it's in the folder…"

Leon shifted through the pages of the report until he found the page that was appropriately labeled, 'Abyss Triangle'. It contained a stylized map of the triangle with its bordered islands, and a recognizable set of numbers.

"Coordinates?"

"We came to the same conclusion," agreed Alpha. "We were able to verify the numbers were accurate to what the Cult knew, as the same were found during other raids. It's always listed with information about the Abyss Triangle. We tried our best to analyze the coordinates, but we haven't found anything sensible yet. And I don't want to risk Zeta going there without anything for sure."

"Good call. I'll take a look at it, and everything else in here," Leon closed the folder. "If I find anything, I'll let you know. Until then, maintain your cover until your departure schedule."

"Understood. In that case, I believe we should return to our respective places soon," Alpha gave a respectful bow before leaving. "If I remember correctly, your mother will scold you if you don't show up for dinner," the blue-eyed elf smiled cheekily at him.

"Shoot, it is getting late," Leon checked the sky outside and saw it was starting to redden.

Leon's chores the next day included farmwork in the fields. While physically exhausting, it was a chore where he could be left to his own devices. Standing in an open field far from the other workers also let him speak without looking like he was crazy.

"Finished with the documents, Cid?"

"Affirmative," the AI spoke into his earpiece. "Data has been digitized and the physical copies have been properly disposed of."

"Great. What's the tl;dr?"

It might seem lazy to not properly read the documents himself, but what was the point of having an advanced AI if it couldn't make your life easier? He was multitasking while working anyway.

"No new information regarding the Forest of Ladies. Though Shadow Garden has regularly raided their bases and convoys, no new evidence has been compiled."

Frustrating but yesterday's discussion identified the main issue already.

"There was a noteworthy match within the report with one in our database. The coordinates mentioned in the report have an exact match listed in your 'otome game' database."

"Really?" Leon put down the shovel and created a transparent visor over his eyes. "Which information?"

When Leon gained the memories of his old life, he had written down as much as he could remember as soon as possible. Once he had gotten Cid, the information had been promptly digitized, with the physical copies subsequently destroyed for security reasons.

"Under an entry called 'Alexandria Island'," a projection of the page with the mentioned title appeared in his visor. "Despite the poor handwriting, the numbers written are the exact same numbers."

Leon ignored the jab to his penmanship. He had never had the best looking kanji in his old life either. Computerized documentation had not helped in any way either. No, he wasn't making excuses.

"Alexandria, huh? Now that you mention it, there was a place like that. And it would be inside the Abyss Triangle."

"Is the place of significance similar to the prison your sister was held in?"

"I'm not so sure," Leon read over the page, spotting some of the keywords he had listed. "It was more important for playing the game than for any story reasons. Mostly for speedrunning. You could cheat your travel distance when discovering the island the first time. After entering it and then exiting, your ship would spawn a good number of tiles away in any direction. Wouldn't work again so the place was useless after that. I think you only got like a few resources for finding the place."

There was a good amount of text for lore, but it wasn't important in completing the game so Leon had just skipped it after the first time. Thus, he could no longer remember what it used to contain.

"And the coordinates would point to the location of this island," inferred Cid.

"It should. The only reason why I bothered remembering it in the first place. You had to land on a very specific tile on the world map. If you did, the tile would get all glowy and then teleport you to the island."

"Assuming your information is correct-"

"Still going on about that."

"- would that mean you could pinpoint the location on the map?"

"Uh… probably not. The game used a 2D overworld map with limited view. There's a reason I needed these coordinates to guide me. The screen was basically grids of water tiles going forever. No landmarks and boy were the random encounters annoying if you got lost."

"Then there is still a need for the proper reference point for the coordinates. However, none of the cryptanalysis programs have yielded a sensible solution. There are too many unknowns."

"Really? You just need to use the overworld map for that. Which was used?"

His visor displayed a map of the Holfort Kingdom. The area of the Abyss Triangle was helpfully highlighted while the coordinates were listed beside the map.

"Wait a minute, something doesn't look right."

"This is the latest map provided by Shadow Garden. Even with the primitive level of technology compared to Old-Humans, New-Humans have the required tools needed to create a functional map."

"Wow, that must have fried a circuit for you to admit that."

The AI didn't reply.

"But that's not what I meant. The map's too big. And I don't remember seeing Fanoss here bordering this island- Ah," Something clicked in his mind. "An overworld map."

"Explain," Cid spoke up again.

"Well, I'm guessing if someone was designing a map for the game, you only needed the places the story needed. Or you only had a certain size of a map and you had fit your story in it. Either way, you don't need to show the whole kingdom."

"And what would this otome game map look like?"

Leon could tell Cid was skeptical even with the flat tone but chose to ignore it. He just gave instructions to resize and reorient the map on what important landmarks at the borders he could remember. They ended up with a map that was closer to the one in his memories.

"Placing the coordinates on the map does not point to anywhere near the Abyss Triangle," Cid pointed out. "Even with the proper scale factor."

"That's because you're using the center of the map as your origin. The game used the bottom left corner as their zero-zero. As for the scale… can you zoom in at the corner," the AI enlarged the image, revealing a small island nestled just on the borders. "There stop. That's about the size of one tile the game used. Try using the coordinates with that scale."

The map zoomed out once more but with a line this time tracing the path of the coordinates. Once the map stopped moving, the line followed, and ended right on the Abyss Triangle. Leon smirked at his success.

"It seems your claims equated to a sensible solution."

"Try not to sound too surprised," chided Leon. "Compile our findings for Alpha and co. Though it's still going to be hard with just a map. Do they have a GPS they can use?"

"Without a functional satellite system, a GPS is unavailable. If we only require two-dimensional guidance, it might be doable with simple triangulation. However, there are only two long-range transceivers available at the moment: one in the lab and one on your person."

Thankfully, Leon was familiar with triangulation to understand exactly what they lacked.

"Yeah, a third transmitter costs more than we have. But do you think we can release some schematics for Shadow Garden to build one? Or something similar? They already have simple radios in this world and Eta's smart enough to build one."

Cid didn't reply right away but Leon knew it was its own simulation. Both he and the AI had agreed beforehand not to allow too much advanced technology to be released into the world right away. Even through Shadow Garden, unless really necessary.

"Radio telemetry does fall under current technology levels. A primitive transmitter could be constructed. However, the guidance receiver would still need to be capable of interfacing with the long-range transceivers, and conduct the calculations needed."

Leon grimaced at what it entailed. "I'm guessing that one we'll need to provide?"

"Yes, it will require a small amount of programmable matter."

The reincarnate could only sigh in resignation.

"Go ahead. Might as well cram it with as many features that might help them. I'll give it to Alpha afterwards."

"Understood, Master."

His visor suddenly dematerialized.

"Big Brother."

"Gyaaa!"

Leon almost dropped the shovel he was holding thanks to the new arrival. He turned around to see Finley with a suspicious expression leveled at him.

"How long have you been there?" Leon recomposed himself.

"Just now. I've been calling you but you weren't answering me!"

He must have been too engrossed and tuned out everything again. At least it sounded like Finley didn't hear any of his discussion. It would look dumb to sound like he was having a one-sided conversation by himself.

"Dad said to stop dumbly standing in the middle of the field and get back to work."

"Alpha, everyone has assembled."

"Thank you, Beta. Let's start the meeting."

Alpha gathering of people on their makeshift base. Seated around a table were the seven founding members of Shadow Garden. Not counting their Master Leon. They rarely met as a complete group these days, mostly because everyone was busy with their own task, but today's matter required everyone's attendance.

"First, Delta and Eta, wake-up."

"Am awake!" The dog therianthrope protested despite letting out a small yawn.

"Sleepy…" the elven girl didn't even bother hiding it, her head resting on the table.

"Please listen," Alpha said firmly. "Today's topic will be about our new base."

The subject grabbed everyone's attention.

"A comfortable home!" Eta immediately sat up.

Used to the lethargic elf's antics, Alpha continued with the meeting.

"Thanks to the information and equipment Master Leon provided for us, and Eta for building the rest, we finally have a good candidate for a new base."

Alpha linked her suit with a projector in the middle of the table to display a holographic map of the Abyss Triangle for everyone to see.

"We've confirmed a hidden island inside the Abyss Triangle. Our initial scouting has some promising results but comes with some complications. Zeta, if you can please share how you discovered the island and there on. So that everyone is on the same page."

The cat girl beside Alpha nodded and stood up from her seat.

"After Eta built the tower and connected it with this device," Zeta held out a disk-shaped object almost as large as her hand. "That Master Leon gave us, I took the airship and followed the direction of the coordinates it pointed to. It led me to this area on top of the ocean."

On the map, an icon of Zeta's head traveled along a path towards an estimated search area.

"It took some time flying around here, but after a while, I spotted part of the ocean glowing."

Zeta gestured to the projector causing a photo to overlay on the map. It showed an image of a blue ocean surface, except for a circular portion emitting yellow light.

"Amazing," Beta commented. "Even with Master Leon's report, it's different seeing proof of it."

Everyone murmured in agreement. They were always impressed with the unending fountain knowledge and wisdom their Master had.

"I flew the airship towards it, as instructed," continued Zeta. "Once over the glowing area, the airship started shaking and I lost control. It shot straight up so fast, even past the clouds, carrying me along. Took everything I had to get back control of the ship and not crash. Barely succeeded."

The projected image changed to a perspective on an airship grounded. The area around showed signs of a crash, but also a wild landscape.

"After checking the airship, I started scouting. I waited to see if the crash alerted anyone, but no one came," Zeta projected various photos of the wilderness. "I headed in deeper into the island, until I found this."

Displayed on screen, was a clearly constructed structure. Everyone's attention was piqued by the discovery.

"A dungeon," identified Gamma. "Except the above ground structures are intact."

Most dungeons in the Holfort Kingdom were entrances leading to underground areas, hence the name. Theorized due to whatever event that wiped out the precursor civilization, or just plain nature reclaiming the land. Only those hidden underground managed to remain protected. Above ground relics were at best, stone foundations ruins.

"Eta, your thoughts?" Alpha asked the suddenly attentive elf.

"Hmmm… similar to house we built. But more… military. Also, too clean. No plants. No dirt. Sign of maintenance. Might have danger."

"It's not 'might'," Zeta said with a steel tone as she changed the image.

The photo displayed a round object, floating above the ground. It had two 'arms' on its sides', both pointing in the same direction, and a pointed helmet on top. Based on surrounding objects, it looked to be the size of an adult.

"These objects were patrolling the area. Not a lot, but enough that I didn't want to risk sneaking in. There might be more inside."

"A wise choice," nodded Alpha.

The blonde elf and catgirl had already held a briefing regarding Zeta's mission before the meeting. So it wasn't new information for Alpha, but she still vocalized her support for their scout's decision.

"I avoided the dungeon and scouted the rest of the island. Didn't find anything or anyone else. After that I returned to the ship. It needed some repairs, and I had to sacrifice some of my suit to patch it up. But it was enough to let me leave the island to return to base in one piece. I used the same device to guide me back."

The projection shut off and Zeta placed the disk on the table in front of Alpha.

"Thank you, Zeta. I can take over from here," the therianthrope nodded and retook her seat as the focus returned to Alpha. "As you can see, the island is our best candidate for a permanent base. Even if we avoid the dungeon, there is enough space for us to use."

More importantly, there was a low chance they would be discovered. Even the most desperate of adventurers avoided the Abyss Triangle. Whatever had kept the island hidden, would be used to shelter Shadow Garden as well.

"Though, it would be wise to at least secure the dungeon beforehand. There could be valuable resources in the dungeon. Or if we're lucky, reuse the dungeon as our base. With that in mind, I've created a plan with some help from those who were here."

As the recognized first seat and leader of their group, Alpha meticulously worked on collating the information into a feasible plan. It was especially daunting, planning something this significant without being able to consult Leon. Or even rely on his strength if needed. Thankfully she wasn't alone, and what she lacked she could with her fellow sisters of Shadow Garden.

"Due to the size of the airship, only a few of us can go back to the island. Due to how important this mission is, I will be leading the expedition. Zeta will be coming as our guide. Beta, Delta, and Epsilon," Alpha listed the names of her fellow members. "Will join the expedition."

"Yes!" Delta cheered energetically. "Get to fight!"

Meanwhile, Zeta let out a small sigh, "So noisy."

"As for the rest," continued Alpha. "Gamma will be in-charge of our remaining members. Lambda can assist you with the trainees."

"Understood," replied Gamma. "I will hold down the fort."

The dark-haired elf was already aware of her future assignment, as Alpha had spoken with her before the meeting. They had also planned for contingencies, such as if the expedition group didn't report back after a certain number of days. One they hoped wouldn't be needed but still had to consider it a possibility.

"While Eta's knowledge might be useful, it's more important she remains to maintain the radio tower. If something goes wrong, we won't be able to find our way back here."

"No journeys… for me," Eta simply rested her head back on the table.

"You're already not going," Epsilon retorted at her seatmate.

"For those who are going, start your preparations for the journey. We have until our next messenger returns from reporting back to Master Leon," with the potential danger of this operation, it only made sense to inform their leader. Gamma would also have to consult with him in case something like a rescue became necessary. "Delta, I believe it's your turn."

"I get to visit Boss!" Delta cheered even louder.

"At least she'll be out of the way of the preparations," muttered Zeta.

While Alpha didn't like to think less of her fellow comrades, she inwardly agreed with Zeta on this matter.

A/N: So before we get to the academy, there are a few more side stories that will help set-up the academy setting. Even some plot points that might extend beyond that.