The Rumor of Counterfeit Notes

GETTAN

The warm winter sun was streaming deep into the room. It was a perfectly pleasant, clear afternoon—at least until I started screaming my head off inside the Garter Company Headquarters.

“How the hell haven't you found the source of these fake bills yet!?”

I slammed my fist onto the desk, looming over Garter. He was the official president of this company, but right now he was just a pathetic heap of a man trembling before me.

“W-well, sir... we’ve tracked them as far as the Lawless City. But investigating that place is suicide. My men keep disappearing one after another...”

Garter muttered his excuses, barely audible.

The world thinks Garter runs this show, but I’m the one actually pulling the strings. I needed a mountain of capital to climb the ranks within the Cult, but being a famous beastkin makes it hard to do business in the light. Too much risk.

So, I built the Garter Company. Garter is the face of the Great Commerce Alliance, but I’m the shadow standing right behind him.

“Do you have any idea how little time we have left!? The rumors are already tearing through the Royal Capital!”

“Y-yes, about that... the number of people trying to trade their paper for hard cash is already skyrocketing...”

“What? It shouldn’t be happening this fast!”

“A massive exchange hit us this morning and things just snowballed! Now the other presidents in the Commerce Alliance are complaining that the plan has changed... they’re even asking if we can just lock the vaults and stop the exchanges entirely...”

“Those idiots! Shut them up now! If we do that, the rumors will go nuclear. We’ll have the entire city rioting at our front door!”

“B-but sir, we don’t have enough gold to keep this up...!”

“I know that!!”

I hammered the desk again.

“Eek—!”

The thick wood shattered into splinters, and a stray shard sliced across Garter’s face. I bared my canines, glaring out at the world with eyes that saw nothing but darkness.

“...You said a massive exchange happened this morning, right?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“It’s too fast. Someone is stirring the pot. Whoever it is, they’re definitely the ones behind the counterfeits. Find them. Now.”

“Y-yessir!”

Garter scrambled out of the room. I reached up and covered my face.

My eyes were throbbing—a sharp, stinging pain, as if my lost eyeballs were still sitting in their sockets. Whenever this happens, it’s a sign that the past is coming back to haunt me.

It couldn’t be... no, that’s impossible.

I stood there for a long time, hand over my face, digging through memories I’d rather stay buried.

ALEXIA

Exhaling puffs of white mist, I sprinted through the streets of the Royal Capital.

Even I’d heard the talk about the counterfeit notes. It was all anyone was chatting about.

The Mitsugoshi Company and the Great Commerce Alliance had kicked off a corporate war that sparked an unprecedented economic boom, but now something dark was lurking beneath the surface.

I’d skipped school today to do a little investigating of my own. I quickly found out that some whale had dumped a massive amount of paper bills at the Great Commerce Alliance this morning. Now, the rumor that the Alliance was going belly-up was spreading like wildfire.

The stories were getting wilder by the second, and I could see the panic in the eyes of the people rushing toward the Alliance offices.

Something bad was coming. Something big.

I needed to talk to my sister, so I hauled ass toward the Royal Castle.

I found Iris in the dojo out back. Lately, it felt like she lived there.

“Sister, we need to talk!” I shouted.

Iris was holding a practice sword. She didn't look happy to see me; she just glared with those red eyes of hers.

“Alexia, I am training.”

“Forget that! The Capital is falling apart—!”

“Alexia! I said I am training!”

“Sister...”

I flinched, looking down. Her intensity was suffocating.

“You understand, don't you? I have to be stronger. I can’t afford to lose again. Never again...”

Ever since Shadow wiped the floor with her at the Bushin Festival, she’d been sliding down this slope. The weight of everyone's disappointment and the sting of her first real failure had changed her.

She was obsessed with strength. So obsessed that she’d gone blind to everything else.

Even the members of the Crimson Order—the people who practically worshipped her—were starting to whisper. I get it; they followed her because she was strong, but that wasn't the only reason.

There was supposed to be something more important than just power...

“I get where you’re coming from. I really do. But please, just listen to me for a second.”

“...Fine. Speak.”

Iris lowered her sword, though she didn’t stop glaring.

“The Mitsugoshi Company and the Commerce Alliance are at each other's throats. They’ve been issuing these paper bills, and now—”

I laid it all out for her—the chaos, the rumors, the impending collapse.

And her response?

“—And?”

She sounded like I’d just told her the weather report.

“What does any of that have to do with me?”

“What do you mean 'what does it have to do with you'!? Sister...!”

“Leave that to the bureaucrats. Unless you’re suggesting we knights should go kick down the doors of the companies and start executing merchants?”

“W-well, no, obviously it’s not a knight’s job, but... the old you would have tried to help anyway...”

My voice trailed off.

“I have my own cross to bear. If I don’t take Shadow’s head and earn back the people's trust, then I...”

Iris stopped looking at me and swung her sword.

It was a sharp, perfect strike, backed by a terrifying amount of magic power.

But to me, that swing looked absolutely hideous.

“Sister...” I whispered.

I didn't stay to watch the rest. I just turned around and left the dojo behind.