The Jesters Gameplan

Ch-9 Daughter of Ace

No one's POV

"I've prepared everything for this day." Said the excited man dressed in jet black.

It was Shadow. And in his hand, he held a bottle of finely aged wine.

"Vintage wine from Bordo in the southwest region of French: 900,000 zeni. Glasses also produced in French: 450,000 zeni. The elusive masterpiece I happen to pick up, The Shriek by Monch. And to create the soft light that will bring it all together in perfect ambiance, I top it off with this antique lamp. Ah, my heart is full!"

While saying all this, Shadow fixed everything in place for his grand entrance. His debut. The day the Shadow Garden reveals itself to the world.

He had the room decorated so beautifully one would mistake it to be of one belonging to royalty. Red and gold curtains and drapes all around them. He adjusted the many paintings in the room and promptly fixed the position of his throne to face away from the door at just the right angle.

"Killing all those bandits... Crawling around to pick up whatever gold coins I could find on the ground... It was all to complete my Eminence in Shadow Collection." He said, smiling happily as he polished his throne to make sure to looked as presentable as possible.

"And for one final touch, I take this letter that just arrived today... And set it here." As he said this, placed gently placed the letter under the wine bottle, grinning to himself.

"And now, we wait."

And wait, he did. He waited until the sun was no longer visible and darkness engulfed the skies, a perfect time for the shadows to prowl. Around this time, the windows split open and in came a beautiful woman with short white hair, braided on one side. The beautiful elf dressed in jet black with gold outlines. It was Beta.

She stepped forward and opened the door, only for her eyes to widen in surprise as the wind rushed past her soft skin and her hair flew with it. Proudly sitting before her, in the dimly lit room, was one of her saviours and bosses, Shadow. His body faced away from her as his hood covered his face, hiding the glint in his eyes.

"The time has come." His sudden speech snapped her attention away from the beautiful accessories that decorated the dim room.

"The night is a world of shadows." He said this before taking a sip of the freshly poured vintage wine from that expensive French wine glass.

To this, Beta's eyes sparkled and she smiled brightly, a smile that could heal others by simply looking at it. She then stepped forward to get closer to one of her lords.

"A world of shadows. A night with the moon hidden. Truly a fitting world for us. Everything is in place."

"I see."

"Under Lady Alpha's orders, we've gathered all available personnel here in the Royal Capitol. They number one-hundred-fourteen." Beta informed her leader of the sudden gathering of their troops.

Upon hearing this, Shadow straightened up.

"One-hundred-fourteen ?" He enquired.

Taking this as a notion of disappointment, Beta, who was overwhelmed with guilt, quickly bowed her head and apologized.

"I-I'm terribly sorry! No one else could mobilize... It was the best we could do!"

"Did you hire extras, or what ?" Shadow suddenly asked in a hushed tone, unable to believe these girls managed to actually gather that many people for their debut.

"What ?"

"What...?"

A silence ensued in the room for a bit, nothing but the wind and the fluttering curtains could be heard.