Latest update:January 29, 2024
Summary:He didn't know it was a real organization. He made it up for fun. If anyone learned that he knew nothing, that he made it up, it would be so cringe
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14159824/1/But-I-made-it-up
Word count:37k
Chapters:9
It was a simple fight. Shadow was entertaining himself by making it an impromptu lesson. Sure this bandit wouldn't live to appreciate the lesson, but it was a lesson all the same. Maintaining proper spacing allows you to keep perfect control and defense in the fight. This boss bandit made a lunge, and Cid made a slight turn, thrust the palm and the idiot's own momentum made the hit all the more devastating. Cid had total control without using his slime sword.
The bandit's swings were pathetic, large powerful swings that screamed out his aim louder than if he actually shouted it out himself. It was kind of pathetic and starting to lose the fun factor.
It was fun humiliating this guy, but with no audience the fun didn't last. The bandit was strong, he had more magic than Alpha, but he had a complete lack of skill. Nothing but brute force, even Delta applied more skill, as even she could avoid having her own momentum used against her so easily. It was still easy to turn Delta's momentum against her, but not this easy.
"Tell me." The bandit boss was talking, not like he'd say anything useful. "Where did you come from? Just what is Shadow Garden!? How do you know about the Cult of Diablos?!"
Shadow froze. There was no way some random boss bandit should know about the random cult name he made up 3 years ago, nor should they act like it's something important. He had to play it cool, maybe it was some random name the bandit chose. "The cult will fall. We lurk in the shadows and we hunt in the shadows. That is our only purpose."
"Do you really mean to oppose them…?" The bandit(?) was tired, barely able to stand. What Shadow said outraged the man. "No matter your strength, you won't stand a chance! The darkness, is rooted far deeper than you fools could ever imagine!"
That was not a line a bandit would use, maybe he was hired by some big shadowy organization to kidnap his sister! That would be great! He would have allies, hopefully cooler than him! He could take them out in the shadows, and he could become a real Eminence in Shadow! He also had a cool line ready. "Then we will simply burrow ever deeper."
"You think this is some game you little shit!?" The not-bandit pulled out a small bag of pills and ate them. Suddenly his muscles became huge and his magic grew. This guy probably wasn't a bandit. If drugs like this existed for bandits he definitely would have run into it by now. This had to be some kind of special thing.
The not-bandit had become a hulking monster of a man, and charged. Unfortunately, he was only stronger, and somehow less skilled. He seemed to believe that power was all he needed. It looked cool, but Shadow could still easily dodge every painfully obvious swing. As he thought about what the not-bandit was saying, he decided to test the ability of his slime suit to absorb the blows his enemy was throwing.
This power clearly wasn't bandit power. The skill was comparable and in some ways inferior, but that could be because he thought he was strong enough to not try. There was nothing else to gain from this. "Enough playing around."
Shadow pulled his sword, and decided it would be pretty cool to humble this idiot who thought he was strong. He unleashed a small bit of magic, and the hulking man froze. This was great, seeing the enemy freeze in awe of their enemy's power was such a cool trope, and he didn't even have to try yet! It will be so much better when he does it for a crowd!
Shadow charged, held back a laugh at the not-bandit's swing. It was a good swing, pretty good technique, effective channeling of his magic, and it completely missed. Cid showed him the perfect swing of his sword, and easily bisected the man.
The not-bandit was behind him, Cid could hear the blood flowing. "To think it was… to this… level… Mi…li…a…" It was really hard not to turn around and look. He had to keep facing forward, it would be so much cooler. Sure, there was no one to witness this awesome moment but if he started the habit now he wouldn't be tempted to look when he had an audience. Proper discipline mattered. Besides, he could feel the not-bandit dying with his magic, there were no other threats his magic could detect.
Now he had a new problem. He made up a fake Cult of Diablos and this guy was a part of an actual organization called the Cult of Diablos. This could make him look bad if the others connected the dots and saw that stuff didn't line up. Did they know that he made them up? He wasn't sure now.
Shadow was not used to this. He was having so much fun, but now? Now he was worried. If they thought he was serious, that he wasn't making it all up for fun, if they thought he was wrong. That would be cringe. That would be so cringe. He needed to figure things out. He needed to know what was going on.
Why did he just kill that not-bandit, he knew things! He could have interrogated him and played off the knowledge as his own! He was having too much fun toying with him, why did he dispose of him? He needed information and he needed it now. He couldn't look stupid in front of the rest of Shadow Garden!
He had to go back to the body. That was less cool, but no one was here to see it. He searched his body and found a nice dagger. Obviously not as nice as his slime gear, but nothing was. It had the name Emilia engraved on it. That definitely wasn't not-bandit's name, unless he had really mean parents. Shadow thinks not-bandit said that name as he died.
That could be a nice event! Maybe not-bandit had a girl who was taken hostage and he was forced to fight! That's a good side story!
Wait, he needs to focus! As fun as the side story could be he needed to avoid looking stupid!
The not-bandit was clearly running away, and Shadow already knew there weren't any hidden paths on the path he took. All he could do was follow the trail the not-bandit took, see where he was running away from.
Shadow walked along and he felt their magic. The girls were ahead, and based on how they were moving they were searching. He wasn't going to learn anything before them. He hoped he might pick some stuff up before them.
And that hope was gone. "Lord Shadow, we are ready to ferry our prize to base." Alpha announced.
"As expected." He still needed to sound like he was in total control. He was still Shadow, after all.
"All of their forces have been taken care of, unfortunately none of them are all that useful. The real valuables we found are all the documents Viscount Grease left behind. Nothing direct, but he was the leader of this sect of the Order."
Shadow nodded. This was some good info, stuff he didn't make up. "Secure all the documents, no matter how minor. Also, how's my sister?"
"Lady Claire has some… Minor injuries. She should recover quickly."
Alpha seemed a bit worried about his sister's injury, but he trusted that if Alpha said she would recover quickly that it was true. "I trust you collected everything of value, so we should leave before anyone official arrives. Excellent work, Alpha."
"Th-thank you, Lord Shadow!" A little too enthusiastic, but it was time to go home. There was nothing he could learn here without risking the reveal that he didn't know anything. It was time to disappear like a true Shadow.
The last week was unpleasant for Cid Kageno. His sister wouldn't stop pestering him. She was constantly following him around and he had no chance to look at what the girls found. He had no clue what they found, he had no chance to cover his made up nonsense with whatever this real Cult of Diablos was.
Sure she was injured when she got back, but she healed herself the same day so she was good as new. She still stayed for a week at home to "recover."
He hadn't had the chance to see anything, it was so annoying! He didn't get to look at a single thing the girls found. What was he supposed to do?
Then he felt the fist. "Are you really paying so little attention that I can walk up and punch you in the face? What is SOOO important that you ignore me during our last spar before I go to the capital?" His sister was mad. Thankfully she was leaving today, and he could go to the Shadow Garden's hideout, which was just a cabin that he made with Alpha, and finally see what damage control he could do.
"Just thinking." Just worried of looking like a cringe idiot. If this was just an act as a mob this would be fine, but now his act as the Eminence in Shadow might just be a real Eminence in Shadow. A true Shadow could never look like an idiot unless it was an act in a greater plan. There was no plan here, he was just stupid and lucky.
"Stop thinking! I'm leaving soon! This will be the last time we can practice with each other for who knows how long!" Claire was scolding him.
Cid picked up his sword, ready to purposely lose again. He let himself get beat up until his sister finally left, and he finally had a chance to get to the cabin. That took way too long.
By the time he finally made it to the cabin, it was dark. He ditched the Cid persona and slipped into his role as Shadow. Everyone was there.
"Lord Shadow." They all kneeled. Good, they didn't seem to have realized that he made up the Cult of Diablos.
"Report." A simple order, since he couldn't just sit down and figure out what's going on yet. He'd probably have to improvise here.
Eta started at her slow pace. "Cursed all female." She finished there. It wasn't helpful.
Epsilon continued for her."It seems this is due to all of the heroes who fought Diablos were female. With this we also have notes on who they think will start showing signs of the curse in the coming months."
That was odd, it was common knowledge that the heroes were men. Did they reach this conclusion since the ones on the list they had were women? Because they were all women who he healed from it? Did they even decipher it correctly? Shadow didn't respond, simply listened.
Next Beta came forward. "With what we found we can tell how often the curse manifests. It is most common in Elves, then Therianthropes, and least common in Humans. We think this is also tied to the lifespans of each, as Elves have the most concentration of the Heroes blood they live the longest, Humans the least have the shortest lifespan."
That made sense, he wasn't sure if that was tied to what they found, or if it was just made up. It did go in line with the Shadow Garden. Five of them were Elves, two were Therianthropes and all of them had been possessed. Someone could reach this conclusion without anything they found from the Cult.
Next was Alpha. "For information on the cursed, the Cult of Diablos are preparing to seize some girls in a few different Baronies, Counties, and Duchies. They have forces and plans in place for at least four Baronies in neighboring Kingdoms."
This just built on stuff he made up, Shadow said they were international. This could just be keeping track of the possessed, since the church paid well for them to be purified by execution. It did mean it lined up with what he made up. This might work out.
He didn't know how accurate anything they're telling him is, the base everything they learned is built on the lore he made up. Shadow had to look over their evidence himself to see if stuff didn't line up with the fake lore because it seemed the girls would force things to line up with what Shadow made up.
Then Gamma came forward. "We should be able to start setting up the base in Alexandria soon. The fog is thinning and the poison has settled. It is perfectly hidden and even if it's found we can easily control who comes and goes."
Shadow had absolutely no clue what any of what Gamma meant. It's clearly a place, but he has no clue where. They seemed to think he knew what was going on, so he kept a pensive face and nodded along.
As they continued to report there were more bits he didn't understand, like the Children of Diablos. He didn't know what a 2nd was. Or why they were saying compatibles for demon possession. Also, apparently there was a plan H and that it was going forward. He had no clue what plan H was, just that it was proceeding perfectly. He didn't know what plans A through G were, or if they were alternatives that weren't chosen. They assumed he knew stuff. He didn't want to show any ignorance. Shadow wished he could go back to not listening, things were a lot easier than.
All that mattered was that they assumed he knew and understood everything. However, their plan was to scatter to fight the Cult. They could learn things without him. They might realize that he didn't know anything. He also wouldn't get to see them that often.
"Excellent." Shadow had to hide his uncertainty, to fight the Cult it was a good plan to spread out. Plus, he could only go to the coolest events with good info! "I won't be able to go out, I need to maintain Cid Kageno. Unfortunately, I need to rely on all of you to fight for me."
"Of course one of us will always stay by your side, bossman!" Delta cheered. Shadow hoped she wouldn't give many reports, it definitely wouldn't be her forte.
He could make this work, he just needed some time to figure out what was going on.
Shadow Garden had left, all scattering to work and fight for their leader Shadow. This gave Shadow a revelation. He was an Eminence in Shadow. It was a little disappointing, he thought it would be harder. And intentional. He could have made it so much cooler if it had been planned.
However, now was his chance. He was alone, and with the documents retrieved from the idiots who kidnapped his sister. He looked over the documents assembled before him and his gut fell.
It was all in runic writing…
…A dead language…
…That he never learned.
He had seen runic writing before, he had made up meanings for some writing before when he wasn't taking things seriously with the girls. Did they think he actually understood runic writing?
Did any of them actually understand runic writing?
More than three quarters of the documents were runic writing. He wouldn't be able to learn anything from this until he learned how to read runic writing.
This would be a problem.
Link:https://m.fanfiction.net/s/14159824/2/But-I-made-it-up