Chapter 181: The Offers
6th of Spades.
5th of Spades.
4th of Spades.
Jack of Spades.
Queen of Spades.
And finally, King of Spades. Those are the cards that the blood soaked clown, Jack the Ripper, draws from his pocket.
The number of cards match the number of Night Blades currently present in the VIP booth. Said Night Blades are unaware of the presence of the reaper in clown mask standing behind them. The only two people who noticed his presence opted to simply watch the clown do the deed as they are curious of what he's capable of.
"Lord Fenrir… is actually inviting that accursed boy into the ranks of the Rounds…!?" Marquis Despoht murmurs angrily. The idea that their sworn enemy suddenly being promoted into their superior is unthinkable. The other Night Blades also share his thoughts.
"Huh? Lord Fenrir and that boy are staring at this direction."
"What are they doing? Are they expecting us to do something?"
"Maybe they want our opinions or some-"
"Get down!" Shouts Earl Battler, the first among the Night Blades to notice the danger standing behind them, though his warning couldn't save three of his comrades.
"What!? That's… Jack the Ripper!?" Exclaims Earl White.
"Since when did he-" Marquis Despoht mutters in fear as he notices his comrades already having cards embedded in their foreheads, which are the cards 6th, 5th and 4th of Spades.
Jack the Ripper shows them the cards he has left, which are King, Queen and Jack, reserved for the three of them. The guests, Marie and her bodyguards, are content to simply watch while the subordinates watching the scene are frozen with fear simply from the aura that the bloodstained clown exudes.
"H-Help… Lord Fenrir… Lord Claude… anyone… please…" Marquis Despoht pleads for his life to anyone, even his sworn enemy Claude himself, as he steps backwards while trembling and pissing himself. His remaining comrades do the same.
But their pleas fall on deaf ears as Jack the Ripper slowly walks towards Earl Battler and, with a gentle push, inserts the Jack the Ripper card into his skull as if it's nothing but a soft dough that offers no resistance towards the paper card. Earl Battler didn't even let out a sound as he's frozen in place with the card embedded in his forehead.
"E-Earl Battler! Hiii!" Earl White whines as he is next on the chopping block. But like his comrade before him, he is unable to do anything as Jack the Ripper did the same to him with the Queen of Spades card.
Now, only the leader, Marquis Brad Despoht is left. The clown turns towards him and holds the King of Spades card in front of him while approaching him slowly.
He wants to jump towards the arena to beg for help from the only two individuals that he believes are capable of saving his life from the reaper dressed as clown but he's physically unable to as the barrier is still in place, which makes him wonder how Fenrir was able to pass through so easily. With no option left, he can only beg for mercy from the clown.
"P-Please… spare me…! I'll pay you any price you want…"
"I'll pay you any price you want…"
"I'll pay you any price you want…"
"I'll pay you any price you want…"
Like a broken record, Marquis Brad Despoht utters the same words over and over again with the card King of Spades already embedded in his forehead without him noticing it. It seems as though the card trapped his thoughts in time, constantly looping every two seconds.
Fenrir watches as the 6 of them died while still standing as if their bodies are frozen solid. He smiles as he jumps towards the VIP booth to meet the clown, breaking through the barrier as if it's merely paper thin to him.
"You also didn't disappoint, Jack the Ripper. I've been looking forward to this meeting for a long time." Fenrir says, prompting the masked clown to turn towards him.
"Ah. Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. I am Fenrir, the 5th Seat of the Knights of Rounds. If you studied old histories and myths of this kingdom, then you may know me as the Devil of Midgar. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Fenrir smiles as he introduces himself to the clown, who remains silent.
"I was inviting the future king, Claude Normann, to join our ranks among the Rounds and I would extend the same invitation to you. Join us, Jack the Ripper. Fame, glory, power and immortality will be within your grasp." Says Fenrir as he extends his hand towards the clown just like he did to Claude.
The clown responds by throwing a card towards Fenrir, who catches the card easily. But when he sees the card, he has his answer.
"A King of Hearts. So that's your answer. But will you follow your king, when he joins us? We shall see." Fenrir says as he snaps his fingers, signalling all the subordinates of the Night Blades to attack, prompting them to leave their seats in order to attack the audience on the red side, who respond accordingly by fighting back.
Fenrir turns back towards Claude with a smirk.
"I shall give you a time to decide, Claude Normann. But remember. Choose wisely." He says before vanishing right in front of their eyes.
"Hmph. I'll certainly choose wisely, old wolf." Mutters Claude in reply.
Lord Claude. He's as magnificent as ever.
I was about to give up then and there when I saw him standing on the opposite side. I knew that none of us could win against him, as he has proven when he overwhelmed Princess Iris during their match, although the princess managed to wound him in the end. If he was serious, he wouldn't have let that happen and we'll all die. That's how scary the thought of having him as our enemy is.
Luckily, it's all part of his plan to draw out the remaining Night Blades out of hiding and into one place, putting his own life at risk just to achieve this goal.
He is truly the hand of justice, the only one worthy to be the king of Midgar.
But when that silver haired boy… that terrifying person called Fenrir offer him a place within their syndicate to have him aligned to their cause in order to oppose the dreaded Necromancer…
The burden of an entire kingdom… I wish I could've aided you more… so that you won't have to carry them alone. But even if I want to suggest that you do not align yourself to such villains… When we consider the threat of Necromancer, who has taken over Oriana…
Lord Claude… What will you choose?
Oh… Lord Claude. Your back looks so lonely and burdened.
"We need to help them!"
"But the barrier won't let us through!"
I hear murmurs of the knights who are with us within the arena. With the barrier keeping us contained, there's no way we could—
Just as I thought there's nothing we can do, Lord Claude proves me wrong by slicing open the barrier with his magnificent blade like slicing through paper, allowing us to aid Princess Iris' knights who are fighting on the audience seats above us.
"Brother!" Just as we are about to head towards the audience seats to help the knights, I hear Lord Claude's beloved sister, Lady Charlotte, call out to him. But weirdly, he ignored her still.
"Brother! Are you listening to me!?" She calls out again with an angry tone.
"I hear you just fine, Charl. Speak quickly!" Lord Claude answers rather coldly without even turning to face her, which visibly hurts Lady Charlotte.
"What… after not meeting for so long… you would treat me like this!?" Replies Lady Charlotte angrily. Even I find it weird that he would behave like this. I thought they were so close, to the point that people would spread rumors that they have an incestuous relationship.
"If that's all, then I shall take my leave. I have a clown to catch." Replies Lord Claude as he jumps towards the VIP booth to chase after Jack the Ripper, whom we noted to have vanished after rejecting Fenrir's offer.
"Brother… I know you're carrying so much burden… Why won't you share them with me… with us…? You fucking asshole…" Lady Charlotte murmurs as holds back her tears from falling. Her fists clenched so tightly that they tremble.
"Lady Charlotte." I call out to her while putting my hand on her shoulder in an attempt to at least give her some comfort, though I don't know whether it helps or not.
"Tell me… Miss Hope… Can we truly help him?" Lady Charlotte asks without taking her eyes off the direction where Lord Claude left.
"I do not know. But… if I could… I would do whatever it takes to at least lessen his burden. It's the least I could do to repay my debt to him."
"Is that so…? Then…" Lady Charlotte leans in to whisper something… something that both terrifies me and intrigues me.
"Would you share this burden with me?" Lady Charlotte asks. The answer is clear to me.
"Even if it kills me, I'll gladly do it." I smile as both of us shake our hands.
"Ohh… Friendship is wonderful, isn't it?" Kanade says from the side, smiling like a pure innocent girl while clapping at the sight of us shaking hands. I could've sworn I'm seeing a bunch of flowers floating around her face. The clinking of jewelries in her pocket though… reminds me that this girl is not as pure as her face suggests.
"Say… your name is Kanade, is it?" Lady Charlotte asks with scrutinizing eyes, the same eyes she once gave me and many other noble ladies who are interested in her brother.
"Y-Yes! My name is Kanade!"
"Tell me… When did you get permission to call him by his first name?" Lady Charlotte drops a bomb that I almost didn't notice.
"A-Ah! L-Lord Claude gave me permission to do t-that!" Answers Kanade whilst being clearly intimidated by Lady Charlotte's aura.
"Really? Miss Hope is one thing… but a daughter of a Baron like you? When did he-"
"If you've got time to bully the poor girl, then let's go help the knights, Charlotte!" Lady Charlotte's words are cut by Princess Alexia, who jumps alongside her sister to help the knights.
"Princess Alexia… my angel…!" Kanade expresses her gratefulness towards the princess with hands clasped together and teary eyes.
"This isn't over yet. I'll have you tell me everything tomorrow. Got it?" But her smile is broken with that declaration from Lady Charlotte.
"Hawawawa… Y-Yes!" She answers while nodding.
"Now, let's join the fight!"
"Wait. Me too!?"
"Of course! You're a student at the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy! That means you're a fighter too!"
"Uwaaaaahh! Miss Hope! Help me!"
"I'm sorry, Kanade. I can't help you with this." I reply with an uneasy smile.
"Miss Hope! You're a devil after all!" Kanade shouts as Lady Charlotte drags her into the battle.
Because his plans to brainwash me with the amulets failed, Fenrir resorts to trying to recruit me into the Rounds. It's tempting to accept it. I mean, Claude Normann should be desperate enough to work with the Cult with the threat of the Necromancer on the horizon. Keywords, "Should be".
I'll decide later. For now, I have a clown to catch. If I can obtain his corpse and soul, he'll be a fine addition to my collection.
As I land on the VIP booth, I see a familiar face wearing white standing in front of bodyguards in black suit, which reminds me of the Don Jon days.
"Greetings to you, Lord Normann. I am Marie, the representative of Lawless City. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She says with a slight bow and a confident smile, completely different from the time she works under Don Jon (me).
"Ah yes. You're the one who brought those mercenaries from the Lawless City."
"Yes. I did. And we are willing to extend the same offer to you." Her words cause me to raise an eyebrow.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, my lord. We are neutral in this conflict. And our part in tonight's show has ended. No hard feelings, am I right?" She says with a guiltless smile.
"I understand that your kingdom is about to go to war against Oriana… perhaps once the snow melts. That's why your kingdom has hired plenty of mercenaries, many of which were the participants of the Bushin Festival. Surely it wouldn't hurt to hire some more, even from the Lawless City?" She continues like a cunning saleswoman promoting her product by mentioning my own supposed predicament.
But she forgot one crucial detail here, one that even Fenrir used on me in his earlier offer.
"I haven't forgotten that you now worked directly under the Necromancer, you know." With those words, she immediately becomes silent. It's checkmate for her.
Without waiting for her reply, I approach her slowly, causing her and her bodyguards to become cautious. But I didn't attack them. Instead, I lean closer to her ears and whisper in a voice familiar to her.
"You have a lot more to learn indeed, Marie. But fear not. I will at least applaud your growth, for you have grown a lot from that scared and trembling secretary girl." The familiar voice and words I spoke seems to have shaken her to the core, freezing her completely in place as I turn back to leave the VIP booth.
"Lord… Don Jon…" She whispers with a trembling voice that I could still hear with my enhanced hearing. Heh heh heh. With that, she should be much more motivated to work for me in the future.
After leaving the VIP booth, I scour the White Mansion, looking for any sign of the killer clown… to no avail. That clown is good. This makes me want to add him to my collection even more.
Though, if he truly wants to support me as the next king, I suspect that we will meet again in the future. Heh heh heh.
For now though, it seems that I need to deal with someone else who's currently approaching me just as I decided to end my search for the clown.
"This is the first time we meet, Lord Claude Normann. My name is Alpha of Shadow Garden." Lookie here! It's No. 001!
"What does Shadow Garden want with me?"
"With the Thirteen Night Blades gone, I suspect the civil war may come to an end at long last… but the threat of the Cult and Necromancer still looms on the horizon. Just as Shadow Garden can't face these threats alone, Midgar cannot as well. I urge you, future king of Midgar. Let us join forces to combat these evils together." She says while reaching her hand towards me for a handshake. Even she is playing the saleswoman.
Seriously, this is the third time I'm getting a collaboration offer. I'm getting popular, aren't I? Just the way I like it. Heh heh heh.
Author's Note:
Surprise! A quick update to make up for the past weeks of slow updates! Don't worry, I just had a vacation this week, which made it possible to do this.
Claude is getting his third offer! Which product will he buy? Find out in the next episode of The Salesmen in Shadow!
And once more, please support me on Ko-Fi!
EightEyedOne: Damn holy shit I did not really expect the cult to try and recruit Claude imagine the big surprise when he reveals dreaded enemy they are looking for is right under their noses all this time.
Answer: That reveal will be glorious.
Guest: Awesome chapter and battle between Claude and Iris and finally Eliza got what was coming to her, I wonder what was her reaction. Looks like Fenrir is making his move and Cid aka Jack the Ripper is here. A new stage has moved on for the Midgar civil war, what will happen next
Answer: With the Thirteen Night Blades, the public instigators of the civil war, gone, the civil war has come to a close… but Fenrir is still around and he will not stay silent.
DerTrap: Iris bullying, check!
I wonder what kind of wedding/crowning ceremony it will be with Claude and Iris.. Will it be overshadowed by a dramatic event that worsens the situation for the "good" guys. Will it be something like, Alpha and some other Shadow Garden members watch the ceremony and then Claude looks at Alpha or talks to her and in that moment she will realise... that Claude is Necromancers Vessel, that Midgard just made the incarantion of evil it's new King. Everyone celebrating will Alpha will just stare in shock and utter disbelief at how she, everyone else and especially Shadow got successfully fooled by Necromancer.
Answer: The reveal will come later. You'll see.