Chapter 112: The Ace of Spades

Thirteen Night Blades.

They are a secret society of the most corrupt nobles in Midgar with deep ties to the Cult of Diablos, particularly the Fenrir Faction. They enjoyed great freedom to commit crimes in Midgar including but not limited to slavery, rape and murder under the protection of the Cult and the royal family often turn a blind eye on them in order to maintain political stability within the kingdom. It could be said that they ruled Midgar from the shadows with the Cult as their backing.

One of the members of the Thirteen Night Blades, Earl Shoddi Goodz, sat on his office desk doing paperwork. His frog-like face twisted in anger and frustration, becoming uglier than it should be. Being the lowest ranked member of the Thirteen Night Blades, he has to work harder than the rest. A certain bald and fat former 11th Seat Holder of the Rounds would understand his plight if he were still alive.

The Thirteen Night Blades are now at the forefront of the Cult's war against Midgar's Royalist Faction, especially against Claude Normann, the future king. So far their efforts to undermine his position as future king has been unsuccessful due to the efforts of his sister and her faction, which hold great influence among the noble society despite being composed of mostly young people within her inner circle. Said sister is currently the source of Shoddi's frustration.

"Tch. It's that bitch Charlotte again! She's getting in our way again! How did she get wind of this information!? Now I'm the one who has to cover them up!" Complains Shoddi angrily as he reads the reports of Charlotte uncovering crimes after crimes of the members of the Thirteen Night Blades, bringing them to the surface and staining their reputation amongst the nobility of Midgar. Who could've known that a bunch of gossiping youngsters could damage the reputation of the Thirteen Night Blades like this?

With the cautious King Klaus dead, they had to deal with a bunch of brave youngsters who brazenly attack them constantly, uncaring of the political instability it would cause. Still, at this point there is no more stability to be maintained as the kingdom is already divided into two factions, the Royalist faction and the Thirteen Night Blades faction. With such division, a civil war might be inevitable.

But before that happens, Shoddi's duties are to cover up these crimes and make sure they are dismissed using false testimonies and bribes. Due to how many crimes Charlotte uncovered, Shoddi became the busiest member of the Thirteen Night Blades.

"I swear… When I get my hands on that bitch… I'll…" Shoddi mutters while frowning and licking his lips while imagining the figure of Charlotte Normann, the source of his current frustration.

"Marquis Despoht's daughter, Eliza, should be able to handle his brother considering the Cult has lent her an Artifact. Then we'll make her watch as we torture her brother in front of her eyes. Ohh… that is a good plan if I say so myself. Heh heh heh." Shoddi mutters again to himself in order to reassure himself of the success of the task given to the Thirteen Night Blades by the Fenrir Faction.

"When this is done, I should get promoted for my troubles. Especially once Marquis Brad Despoht takes over the throne. We shall rule this kingdom! And I'll keep that bitch as my slave! I deserve it after everything I've been forced to do. Heh heh heh." He makes a sinister grin that makes him look even uglier than his angry face.

"Hm?" Shoddi stops his chuckle when he found something slipped between his papers. It's a playing card that has been popular these days. It's an Ace of Spades depicting a skeleton knight. The image reminds him of the most terrifying figure in the Cult, the Necromancer, a man… no, a monster who took the entire kingdom by storm and the one who destroyed a mountain near the capital. The skeleton's skull face almost scared him but he thought it's impossible him to be targeted by the Necromancer. The ominous card still made him nervous though.

"An Ace of Spades. What is this? A prank? Who dumped their card on my papers? Bah. Whatever. It's late and I need to rest." Shoddi dismissed the card as nothing in order to calm himself down and proceeds to ring a bell to call his servants.

But after a few seconds he heard nothing and no servant came to answer his summons.

"Why those lazy fools…" He proceeds to ring the bell again. Louder this time. Once again, no one answered.

"Alright! Someone is gonna die tonight!" Shoddi declares angrily as he throws the bell to the floor, stands up from his desk and walks towards the door.

"I agree." An unfamiliar voice expressed agreement to his previous statement.

"Huh!?" Shoddi is startled by the voice and turns around, only to see the figure of a masked clown wearing colourful outfit which is stained in blood. Said figure is sitting on his table, staining his paperwork with blood. "Whoaaa!?" Shoddi falls backwards when he saw the clown's figure.

"Wh-Who!? Where did—When did—How did—Why-!?" Shoddi had so many questions about how the clown was able to enter his room so suddenly and sat on his table without him realizing, especially since he just stood up from his desk a moment ago. Being a graduate of the Midgar Royal Spellsword Academy, even if he's not a good Spellsword, he still could tell that such a feat cannot be accomplished by an ordinary man.

The clown did not answer. The grinning face depicted in his mask looked more ominous with the dim lighting and the silence, making Shoddi more and more nervous with each passing second.

"Who are you!?" Finally composing himself, Shoddi managed to form a proper question after standing back up. Once again the clown did not answer and merely stares at him creepily.

"You fool! If you think you can get away with this insolence, you're dead wrong! Do you know who I am!?" Shoddi tries to intimidate the clown by shouting but the clown is unfazed and continues to stare at him, making him grit his teeth in frustration.

Finally the clown moves his hand and takes the card on the table, holding it in front of Shoddi.

"A-Are you an assassin sent by Claude!? If it's money you want, I can pay you double what he paid you!" Shoddi asks nervously. The clown merely tilted his head as if his message wasn't received properly by the middle aged noble.

The clown jumps from the table and stood up in front of Shoddi. Shoddi, intimidated by the clown, instinctively takes some steps back. As he steps backwards, the clown steps forward slowly, making him grow even more nervous and scared.

"AAAAAAAH!" He finally screams and runs towards the door, only to find it locked despite him never locking it.

"FUUUCK!" He cursed before filling his fist with magic and breaks the door with it. When he managed to break it, what greets him is the sight of his guards lying on the floor. Their blood paints the floor and the walls. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" The sight of the carnage caused Shoddi to scream louder. They were Spellswords of exceptional skill and cost a lot of money to hire and yet they were eliminated in an instant.

He almost passed out if the clown didn't kick him from behind, causing him to collide with a wall.

"Uaghh…" He grunts in pain as his face meets the wall head on, breaking his nose and a few of his front teeth. He ignores the pain as he immediately turns his attention back to the bloodstained clown behind him.

"Aghh… Please…! I'll pay you…! Spare my life! Please!" Shoddi continues begging for his life desperately, now completely cornered as his back is glued to the wall. His fear is now greater than his pain, allowing him to endure it in order to continue begging.

The clown once again holds the card in front of him but he continued begging for his life instead of responding the way the clown wants. The clown silently sighs in disappointment and throws the card to his forehead, piercing his skull with it.

"Aghh… Spare… my…" Shoddi, who had a card embedded on his skull, continues to repeat his begging lines before his brain function eventually shuts down. Fear overwhelmed his mind and body even during his last moments, so much so that his face continued showing how much terror gripped him even after he finally perished.

"One down." The clown mutters as he left the scene with an ominous laughter echoing through the night.

The next day, news of Earl Shoddi Goodz's murder spread like wildfire in Midgar. The Knight Order is investigating the crime scene. Gray, the head of investigation department of the Knight Order, is especially busy because not only he has to cover up things related to the murder in order to prevent leaks of Shoddi's cover up business, he also has to partially takeover said job now due to his position.

He would be able to do said job properly if not for princess Alexia personally arriving at the scene to conduct her own investigation.

"Princess Alexia. I'm sure you have better things to do. Please leave this matter to me."

"No. This is VERY important and I have to see to this personally."

"But-"

"I will lead the investigation effort. Is that understood?" Alexia said while showing him an official letter bearing the seal of the royal family signed by Iris and Claude, approving her investigation. In front of the royal seal, even Gray cannot do anything, especially publicly.

"Y-Yes. Very well, your highness." Gray relented while cursing the silver haired princess in his mind.

Such conversation happened when Gray tried to convince her to leave this matter alone. She was adamant on being involved and he couldn't easily remove her considering she's more cautious and protected than before, being accompanied by Glen the Lion Beard of all people.

Gray gritted his teeth as his work is once again interrupted by a girl that he cannot touch.

Due to that, he was unable to stop her from obtaining the blood stained documents on Shoddi Goodz's desk, which contains a lot of evidence of his cover up work, including signed letters bearing official seals from other Thirteen Night Blades members demanding him to cover up their crimes.

"Hm… This is a lucky find. Don't you think, Gray?" Alexia remarks with a smirk towards the middle aged man as if these documents are not her purpose being here.

"Y-Yes… It is indeed." Gray struggles to hide his frustration as he once again failed to accomplish his task.

Only after collecting the documents she wanted that she eventually went to investigate Shoddi's corpse. Even she is quite disturbed when looking at his ugly face which is twisted in fear long after his death. The curious thing about it is the weapon used to kill him… a playing card… an Ace of Spades piercing his forehead.

"To think that a paper card would be used as a killing weapon. The killer must be a very skilled Spellsword to be able to imbue so much magic to a paper card in order to pierce someone's skull so deeply." Remarks Glen with worry about another monster in their midst.

"Is it possible that this is the work of Necromancer? He was once a serial killer known as the Occult Killer, wasn't he?" Asks Alexia.

"We can't rule out that possibility but… his style is different than this. He was called the Occult Killer because he left occult runes, symbols and ritual circles drawn with blood on the crime scenes. And he has stopped doing that ever since he became a Cult executive and gained subordinates." Glen answers.

"True. Not to mention it is unlikely that he would target a member of the Thirteen Night Blades considering they are all bad guys." Alexia remarks. Gray can only stand in the sidelines, listening to their conversation in order to glean as much information on their progress as possible. But Alexia noticed this behaviour and calls out to him. "What do you think, Gray?"

"Ah... Umm… I…"

"Speak plainly, please. I can't hear you."

"If I may speak frankly… Aren't your highnesses the most suspicious ones?" Gray uttered words that caused Glen to unsheathe his sword in anger.

"How dare you accuse the royal family!" Shouts Glen as he points his sword at Gray, ready to slay the man for lèse-majesté.

"I don't accuse… merely suggesting the possibility that your highnesses… or perhaps Lord Claude himself might have hired an assassin to kill your political opponents."

"Your concern has been noted, Gray." Says Alexia as she orders Glen to sheathe his sword back with a wave of her hand, which he obeyed.

Then they became silent for a few second before Alexia broke the silence.

"I wonder if there is a meaning to the card he used. Like the Occult Killer intentionally leaving behind the magic stuff he drew with blood which probably gave us the message that he's the one doing it… or perhaps it's part of his magic experiments… who knows." Alexia remarks as she tries to remember the Occult Killer case she read years ago.

"That may be so, princess. But right now we have too little clue to determine that." Glen answers honestly.

"Indeed. Haaah… I'm tired of these mysterious people emerging left and right." Alexia mutters in frustration.

I need to de-stress by talking to Pooch later. Alexia thought to herself.

Unbeknownst to them, a murder in an Opera House is also happening for the first time in Oriana at around the same time.

Author's Note:

Now we're entering the Jack the Ripper arc! Yes, this arc happens simultaneously with the Phantom of the Opera arc. And Alexia, being busier with politics than in canon, often used Cid to de-stress herself and we shall see how that goes from here.

Edit: Since I've now bought Vol. 6, I've replaced Count Goethe Moono with his localized name, Earl Shoddi Goodz.

PieMan1994: ok... not gonna lie, this chapter was adorable.

looking forward to the next chapter.

Answer: Glad you liked the light-hearted extra chapter that came out of my random thought.

A-Yellow-Lizard: Lmao, good chapter as always. Take as long as you want for the JTR plot!

Answer: Got the first chapter out faster than I thought. This one is easy because the first victim is easy to search on vol 6 of the LN. Next chapters (and victims) will be more difficult to write though.

HundredMasks: chi and karin, two new characters and I already like them, I'm also interested in how cid will take it, Claire and Cid Content, 1, now that there's a child, we can give either cid or Claude a Vader moment, depending on which we're going for, also, karin is cute, would traumatize, 10/10

and thanks for the compliment hahaha, reading this book is both very entertaining, fun, and is inspiring me out of my art block to write again

Answer: Chi (pronounced as Kai, it's greek alphabet because she is one of the "Named" Numbers) is actually not a new character. Not only is she a canon character, she also already appeared in my fic before. Karin is the new character and I'm glad you liked her.

I'm also happy my fic could inspire you to create.