Chapter 117: Cid's Kidnapping

Murders, including assassinating high ranking nobles (the very same thing they accused me of), slavery and pit fights, corruption and embezzlement, falsifying evidences to get rid of people they don't like, illegal trades, and finally, cover-ups of such crimes.

Naturally there are many other crimes that the Thirteen Night Blades committed but for now this should suffice to get them imprisoned for life and perhaps get executed. I would order a search of their homes to find more evidences to incriminate them but no doubt they've had their people get rid of such things in advance.

But before I could do such things, I received news that all 10 of them has escaped from prison. Fenrir faction works fast. For now I declared all 10 of them wanted fugitives and expose their status as the Thirteen Night Blades along with all the crimes they committed, even ones not listed on the evidences I possess because through the main body I got a VERY extensive list of their crimes with ways to prove them. They are no longer a secret society and their misdeeds no longer spoken in hushed whispers and fear. Even their family members have been placed under house arrest and treated with suspicion.

Their escape is not a failure or a setback for the main body though. Either way, the civil war must happen one way or another and Claude Normann will take the field and lead his faction to victory, effectively securing his crown. This is a great opportunity to show the world the might of Claude Normann… unless the killer clown gets involved, in which case I may have to eliminate him. Such a shame.

As I was about to stamp a document approving the investigation of their properties and demesnes, Alexia barged into my room once again, but this time with desperation rather than anger. I could see how anxious she is from her face.

"Claude! Poo—Cid Kagenou has been kidnapped!"

"Is this the time I say "I told you so?""

"Save it! Just… please help me!" She begged with desperation. This is not how someone who lost their favourite pet behaves. Does she love him that much? I must suppress my grin. The main body is going to have a blast when he comes back from Oriana.

"When did that happen?"

"I suspect the kidnappers got him after we separated in the train yesterday!"

"Now, doesn't that sound familiar? Will the corrupt Knight Order interrogate you this time?"

"I'm in no mood for jokes, Claude!"

"Okay okay. I'm sorry. I'll assign some Crimson Order members to help."

"They won't be of any help! I know I sound ridiculous but… after all that happens last time I have too few people I can trust…! I… I just…" Oh dear. The prideful princess is starting to shed a tear for this guy. Cid-kun. You failed as a mob when you made a prideful princess like Alexia shed a tear on your behalf.

"Fine. I'll personally join the investigation."

"Thank you… Claude."

I suppose this isn't too bad. Having this princess, who suspects me of being a killer clown, be indebted to me is always advantageous. And I have Cid to thank for that. Heh heh heh.

Man. I suppose I get to check being kidnapped on my mob checklist? Still, it's quite funny how I switched position with the princess. It's also strange that I was the one kidnapped. Me, a common mob that anyone can find anywhere. Why they didn't kidnap her again instead is beyond me. I mean, my family ain't rich. Even if you squeeze all the wealth my parents have, you're not gonna get much, that is assuming they would actually pay ransom for my release. They got Claire after all. In fact, why didn't they kidnap her instead?

No matter. I'll just enhance my hearing. I hope those random kidnappers disguised as the Knight Order would run their mouths freely so I can get a sense of what's going on. After using magic to enhance my ear, I hear two voices of men talking in another room which is quite far from my cell. No problem for my enhanced hearing though! Now… let's hear the delicious details!

"How's the prisoner?"

"Compliant and scared. What's so special about him, anyway? Why did we have to go through the trouble to arrange the kidnapping?" Yes! Please tell me!

"He's apparently quite close to the second princess and the higher ups want to use him to get to her." What? Use me to get to her? Why?

"I see. She's more heavily guarded these days compared to last time after all. Not to mention we still have that Claude Normann to worry about."

"Well… about Claude Normann… thing is… we were supposed to kidnap a girl from Laugus who is rumoured to be close to him… but our agents can't find her anywhere for some reason. They say she never came to Laugus despite our records saying she went there to continue her studies." A girl who went to Laugus? Hmm…. That sounds familiar. But since they can't find her I can safely ignore that.

"That's strange. I suppose we can only rely on Marquis Brad's daughter to handle him… assuming she can get close to him now that she and her entire family has been put on house arrest."

"It's fine. If we can easily smuggle out the Thirteen Night Blades out of prison, we can arrange her to meet him just as easily." Ho ho. So the Thirteen Night Blades escaped prison. I was contemplating on whether I should slaughter them all in prison or not but it's great that they escaped. I should be able to hunt them down later.

But now comes the problem. How do I escape my cell in order to continue my killing spree? Don't get me wrong. I can easily escape this cell no problem but that would ruin my image as a mob! And even if I can escape the cell without anyone noticing, it would take too long to hunt down and kill a member of the Thirteen Night Blades and someone would surely notice my absence in the meantime.

Well. The presence that is currently approaching my cell should help.

"Shadow." A familiar voice called out to me.

"Alpha. It's nice to see a friendly face. The prison gets lonely after a while."

"I'm glad my presence could help. Also, isn't this situation kind of familiar?" She remarked with an amused smile.

"Yes. It is quite funny how I switched places with that princess. Did she get arrested and get interrogated by the Knight Order for my kidnapping too?" I asked with a joking smile.

"Heh. It would've been funny if that actually happened."

"Indeed. But still, things are getting out of hand. To think that they would kidnap me because of how much the princess likes to hang out with me."

"Hm. Indeed." Alpha expressed her agreement with a dangerous glint in her eyes, though not directed at me. Is she mad about something?

"Anyway, Alpha. There's something I want you to do."

"Anything for you, Shadow." She said with happiness that she could barely suppress under her serious expression. I handed her the deck of cards from my pocket which is missing the ace of spades, 2 of spades and 3 of spades. She widens her eyes slightly when she received it.

"You know what to do."

"Yes. I shall make sure that he continues your work." Alpha said before disappearing in an instant.

Wait. He?

News of how Lord Claude exposed the crimes of the secret society known as the Thirteen Night Blades and arrested them spread like wildfire throughout the kingdom. My admiration for him only grows… as is my yearning.

But unfortunately they managed to escape prison and have been branded wanted criminals. At these strange times my classmate, Cid Kagenou (whom I noted was close to Princess Alexia according to the rumors), has been kidnapped and I've been summoned to Hope mansion by my father.

I knocked on the door to his study and a voice from the inside said "Come in." and I entered.

"You called for me, father?" I asked him with a hint of suspicion because I know he had dealings with the members of the Thirteen Night Blades in the past, which makes me believe he is on their side rather than on Lord Claude's.

"Yes. It has come to my attention that you've angered Marquis Dakuaikan's daughter." Hearing him mentioning the daughter of that criminal gives me a bad feeling.

"I-I was not at fault, father! I didn't even say anything!"

"Whether you say anything or not matters little now that you've angered her."

"Why do you care so much about the daughter of a Marquis who is also a criminal, father?"

"The Thirteen Night Blades' influence is far greater than you realize, Christina. It's a shame that you didn't learn of it sooner. But I suppose I am to blame for not informing you of this." As he said that, two unfamiliar men entered the room from the door behind me whilst wearing sickening grins.

"You may take her." My father of all people gave me up to strangers… Out of all the-

"Father! What is the meaning of this!? How could you do this to me!?"

"I'm doing this for the survival of our family, Christina. You will soon understand that your sacrifice is necessary. Rest assured that your future younger sibling and replacement will be taught better than you." He said with a cold smile… a smile that I never thought someone of my own family would wear… A smile of betrayal.

Seeing that smile, I couldn't say anything anymore and tried to punch one of the two men, who caught my fist easily.

"Ohhh! Feisty, ain't she!? I like her!" He said while gripping my wrist so tightly it hurts slightly.

"Ugh! Let go of me!" I said as I tried to pull my hand off him to no avail.

"Hey, Duke Hope. Can I get a taste of her before we hand her over to Lady Eliza?" One of them made a sickening suggestion.

"You heard What Lady Eliza said, didn't you? She wants her unspoiled because she wants to teach my daughter a lesson personally." My father said. For once I'm grateful for Eliza's cruelty and pettiness.

"But we just wanna have some fun! It would even help her make this poor young lady suffer, wouldn't it?"

"You can make that suggestion to Lady Eliza herself. I'm just following orders… so should you."

"Gee, fine. I don't want to end up like her anyway. Let's go, Miss Hope!" One of the men said as they held both my arms and pulled me out of the room.

"Father! You WILL regret this!" I made my last threat before I stepped out of the room.

"I think not, Christina. In fact I WILL regret it if I didn't do this." He replied, still wearing that sickening smile all the way until I can't see him anymore.

In the end I was nothing but a political tool for him, not a person… that's why he gave me up so easily. But I will not cry. I will not despair. I will not be a coward like you, father. This I swear!

A few days after the kidnapping of Alexia's precious Pooch, she received an anonymous letter telling her to come alone to the slums (close to where I was ambushed). She told me that she's going alone and to not tell her sister. She knows she's heading straight to the den of wolves but she seemed to be confident about going alone. I wonder why she's so confident.

Wearing a uniform similar to her sister's and bringing the outdated Pseudo Artifact with her, she left the castle tonight to head to the slums. Naturally, as the good future brother in law, I followed her secretly… especially after I received a mysterious gift from a not so anonymous source yesterday… a Joker card… with the name Jack the Ripper written on it.

I would've thought this killer clown would call himself the Joker or maybe Clowbin Hood? Jack the Ripper isn't a name I expected… though I suppose I should've considering the serial killer thing. I'm not as smart as the main body… which is why I don't know what to do with this card… or what message I could've deciphered from this message.

What is that clown trying to tell me? Did he found out about Claude's secret identity as the Necromancer and this is his way of telling me that I'm his next target?

To find out about it, I followed Alexia where she would probably meet with either the Cult or the Thirteen Night Blades. If it's the latter, then this killer clown who calls himself Jack the Ripper ought to be there and I have to do what I do best, gather information for the main body.

If you come for me, I'll be ready for you, Jack the Ripper. Heh heh heh.

Author's Note:

Cid has switched places with Alexia! Will Alexia be able to save him? Find out in the next episode of the Kidnapped in Shadows!

A-Yellow-Lizard: I love it! Politics was great too and I like how alexia thought jtr was claude.

Answer: Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the politics.

borregodillon9: Blame game at a hole time high!

Answer: Can we get much higher?

The Walt: Epic entrance using Hugh Jackman's Van Hellsing theme

Answer: I gave it a listen and I like it.

St Pat (Chapter 16: Declaration of War):

There are lot of grammatical mistakes.

Answer: I am not an English speaker. I keep trying to improve though. Also, since there's not much complaints about it, I assume they are still understandable.

St Pat (Chapter 24: The Fated Encounter):

This whole chapter was sus!

Answer: How sus? I was actually expecting you to say this on the Imposter chapter.

St Pat (Chapter 39: The Long Awaited Rematch):

MC is so dumb.

Answer: How dumb?

St Pat (Chapter 63: The Sudden Retreat):

What happened to 'fight to win' thought of MC? Every time he fought, he glorified the opponents and retreated. He is all talk with no actions to back it. He suspects every suspicious individual to be reincarnator, without giving a second thought that someone might have disguised or some reincarnator is spreading knowledge or some other things. He is so involved in role-playing that he prefers flashy spells and magic, instead of focusing on efficiency and effectiveness.

Answer: Did I write him to have the fight to win mentality? I don't remember. Many times he fought was against Shadow or against characters I don't want to kill off yet for plot reasons so I had to nerf him (for example, his disguise as Alucard was experimental and he had to fight without using his specialty, namely magic in that case). But he still managed to get something done even in front of Shadow (killing King Klaus and later taking Elizabeth away for example, which even Shadow failed to stop him, a feat that not many TEiS villain can claim to have). He may lose some battles but not the war. No need to talk or win when he gets things done, which is more important in the long run. I don't want to turn him into a Marie Sue or even make him instantly be stronger than Shadow all of a sudden. He needs time to grow too.

About him suspecting everyone to be reincarnator, that's a normal assumption if you don't know enough about the people who displayed knowledge from Earth. Not to mention in his mind Epsilon's musical talent, Beta's writings and Gamma's economical knowledge couldn't come possibly from just one person considering they are three entirely different fields and in his mind no genius could possibly master all three at once on the same even they did (in actuality, Cid just gave them vague knowledge and they are the ones expanding it to what it was, even Cid is no true genius). And again, I don't want to turn Claude into a Marie Sue genius who instantly know every single thing there is. There are things hidden from even him and Cid's luck played a role in that department. It also helps with the comedy of this fic.

Claude is indeed role player… but for how long? How long before he becomes a true monster? We shall see.

And what efficiency and effectiveness you're talking about? His magic, while flashy, has traps in mind, it's never just random spell shots. How ineffective is that?

St Pat (Chapter 96: Striking Back at Don Jon):

This is so dumb! MC is treating everyone suspicious as reicarnator without looking in any other angle. Are reincarnators are available on WHOLESALE or something? And how does he still not suspect Mitsugoshi and Shadow garden has link after so many things and clues available to him? There are SO many clues and oddities, how can he miss that?

Answer: Look at how popular isekai stories are in Japan and tell me how reincarnators aren't in short supply in a Japanese person's thoughts.

He nearly found out the link between the Mitsugoshi and Shadow Garden all the way back in the Goddess' Trial arc but his sister distracted him from that train of thought and eventually he forgot about it. Let's just say Cid's luck is at play again. He found out about it in this chapter though.

Though most of your reviews are negative, I appreciate you taking the time to read my fic all the way to chapter 100 even if it didn't meet your expectations of power fantasy.

Vapid-Vappy: St Pat. Go to sleep. You'll have a clearer mind after a long, long, rest unconscious for 12 hours, and maybe even longer depending on how long you want to slumber. It'll be much better than writing a rude comment that I can't recall anyone asked for.

I'm sure you're very smart. Maybe your IQ is even at room temperature, which would be surprising considering what you've said so far. But I fear you may have missed the point by about a thousand kilometres south, or maybe north. It depends on your level of reading comprehension.

Is it at kindergartener level or at primary school level? It's an elusive mystery, unknown to nobody but you. Is the MC dumb or are you the one lacking in the brain department? Some people say that the ability to understand characters in a story and analyze what they feel is capped by the reviewer's intelligence, and I might be inclined to agree.

I heavily doubt people care about what you would have done in a story, and most people don't want to read about St Pat's epic adventure in fantasyland with his big, busty elf harem and his 5000 girls with all the plot developments being linear curbstomps with the ideology that you just described. Oh wait, that already exists. It's called 'Generic Isekai'.

Cid and Claude are what makes TEIS interesting- what makes TEIS special and different from all the other vapid shit that somehow gets printed and published. Have you ever heard of something called Character? I know it might be an alien concept to you, but if you're having trouble understanding it, it's when the people in a story do something different from what the author would've done. Surprising, I know. Almost as surprising as the fact people like to have fun, especially when you're Claude and you're pretty much going to instakill everything other than Cid. They're both so amazing and wonderful, a testament to actually good characters.

In summary, fuck off.

Answer: I'm glad you understand what I wanted to do with my fic, which is to avoid turning it into a generic power fantasy like some of the fanfics I've read. I also wanted to preserve some of the comedic elements of the original series, hence the misunderstandings and Cid's luck working in mysterious ways.