Everything Was Exactly as He Predicted

GAMMA

The fact that John Smith was actually our beloved Master Shadow? Yeah, that stayed strictly between us Seven Shadows.

We’d collectively decided that if that little nugget of truth got out, the morale of the entire Shadow Garden would tank harder than the economy. Looking at Alpha right now, her eyes downcast and her mood gloomier than a rainy day in a graveyard, I was pretty sure we’d made the right call.

The fire in the fireplace crackled, filling the silence.

"There has to be a reason," Alpha muttered. "I know there is."

"I’m sure of it," I replied, trying to sound more confident than I felt.

"He hasn’t abandoned us..."

"Of course not."

"Right...?"

We’d been playing this script on a loop for hours. But no matter how many times we went around, the fog of anxiety wouldn’t lift. Alpha’s face was just getting more and more pained.

Honestly, I felt the same way, but seeing the usually unshakeable Alpha falling apart like this actually forced me to keep my act together. She’d clearly lost all capacity for rational thought. Since I was the only one left who could actually run Shadow Garden without burning it down, I couldn’t afford to let my own knees shake.

The pressure was massive. I’d been working on basically zero sleep, and even my best makeup couldn’t hide the dark circles under my eyes or my sunken cheeks. I was hitting my limit, and I knew it.

I let Alpha talk for a bit, waited until she seemed somewhat stable, and then pivoted to the business at hand.

"The Great Commerce Alliance is officially in a state of credit collapse," I reported. "A mob showed up this morning to demand their gold, and most of them walked away with the Alliance's last reserves. Tomorrow? It’s going to be a bloodbath."

"I see..."

"The Mitsugoshi Company is seeing some action too, though not as bad as the Alliance. But the numbers will keep climbing. Once the Great Commerce Alliance finally goes belly-up tomorrow, the crowd is going to surge toward us like a tidal wave."

"I see..."

Alpha was staring into space, her expression totally hollow. She only had one question for me.

"Can we survive it?"

I hesitated, looking at her broken expression, before deciding to give it to her straight.

"Between the Mitsugoshi Company and the Mitsugoshi Bank, we’ve been scraping together every Gold Coin we can find. But... if every single Mitsugoshi Bank Note currently circulating in the Royal Capital is brought in for exchange? We won’t have enough."

That was the cold, hard reality. You can gather a mountain of gold, but it’ll never match the sheer volume created by Credit Creation. Our only hope was that not everyone would panic at once.

It’s a coin toss, I thought. Fifty-fifty, at best.

"I see..." Alpha said, and then she smiled.

It was a smile that looked like it was about to shatter into tears, and seeing it made my own eyes start to sting.

"It’ll be fine," I insisted. "Once they see the sheer piles of gold we have, they’ll calm down. Surely..."

"It’s okay, Gamma."

There was no guarantee the mob would stop once they saw the Alliance fall. We both knew that.

"It’s okay..."

"Alpha-sama..."

She looked at me with that heartbreakingly sad smile. "This is what he wanted. He wanted to cut us loose. This was his choice..."

"N-No! That can’t be it!" I snapped, unable to help myself. "Master Shadow hasn't abandoned us—!"

"We weren't strong enough to meet his expectations," she said softly. "This is the result."

"That's... that's not..."

True, I wanted to say. But I couldn't.

Master’s combat prowess, his creativity, his sheer tactical genius—we hadn't even come close to him in any category. Even with the perfect environment and the "modern" knowledge he’d gifted us, we couldn't even stand in his shadow.

He’s finally given up on us.

The strength drained out of my legs, and I slumped onto the sofa, my head spinning.

"If this is what he wants, I’ll give it to him," Alpha whispered. "I promised him once... if he told me to die, I’d do it."

"Alpha-sama..."

Her face was the picture of agony, but a new, terrifying resolve had settled in her eyes. "Let’s finish our final duty."

She stood up. Just as she did, the door practically flew off its hinges.

"Alpha-sama!"

Beta charged into the room without so much as a knock, waving a piece of paper.

"The Master Shadow's Ciphertext! I had Eta at the Research Laboratory working on it, and she finally cracked it!"

Right—Eta. She’s the 7th of the Seven Shadows and a total genius when it comes to research. Beta had mentioned receiving a coded message from Master and handing it off to her.

"Look!"

Alpha grabbed the document. As she read, the color started returning to her face.

"Alpha-sama?" I asked, confused.

Alpha didn't answer with words—she just gave me a huge, messy, tearful grin. The pain was gone. A single tear tracked down her cheek, but it was pure relief.

"We... we weren't abandoned..."

She handed the paper to me. I read it, and my jaw hit the floor.

"Th-This is—!"

In Eta's messy handwriting, the truth was laid bare:

『Sorry, I've decided to betray you.

I'm teaming up with Yukime from the Snow Fox Company to print a bunch of Counterfeit Notes and hoard all the gold.

Remember that Underground Facility where we rescued my sister? I've set up a Counterfeit Note Factory there and I’m stacking the gold. Pretty soon, I’ll have so much that it won't even fit in the vaults.

But hey, this isn't just me being a traitor. It's actually to save you guys.

Can you guess why?』

I felt the tears starting to flow before I even finished the last line. Alpha, Beta, and I—we were all just standing there, crying and laughing like idiots.

"He had everything ready for us," Beta said, her voice dripping with pure adoration.

"I mean, honestly," Alpha said, sounding a little exasperated through her tears. "Who writes 'I'm betraying you' in a letter if they're actually going to do it?"

"Only a total moron would do that," I added, feeling the exhaustion finally lift. "Master Shadow is just... too kind."

"Beta’s right," Alpha continued. "He handled everything. We couldn’t risk the public finding out that Shadow Garden and Mitsugoshi were linked, so he went undercover to do the dirty work for us."

"Exactly," I agreed. "By using the Counterfeit Notes to trigger the exchange, Master Shadow secured the massive mountain of gold coins we need to survive the run."

"And now all we have to do is go pick them up. He even put them in a place we know by heart and marked the vaults for us. How thoughtful is that?"

"We were just sitting here, barely enduring the struggle, while he easily navigated the crisis and handed Shadow Garden a massive profit. With this gold, Mitsugoshi's credit won't just survive—it'll skyrocket."

A collective, massive sigh of relief filled the room.

"Seriously," Alpha whispered. "It really was a 'betrayal' just to save us..."

"To deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies," Beta murmured. "I need to take notes. That’s a masterclass in strategy."

"He saw the whole board from the very beginning," I said. "Master Shadow is truly on another level... but wait, if he's been planning this all along, what happened to Delta?"

I felt a twinge of worry, but Alpha’s eyes were rock solid now.

"It’s him we’re talking about. I’m sure she’s fine."

Right on cue, there was a thumping sound outside. The window slid open slowly, and Delta climbed in, looking incredibly awkward and shifty.

"See?" Alpha smiled.

"Delta! Thank god!" I cried out in relief.

"Uuu... Alpha-sama... Delta was on a Secret Secret Mission... and, uh..." Delta was practically vibrating with nerves, watching Alpha’s face for any sign of anger.

"I know, Delta. He gave you a job to do, didn't he?"

Delta’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, and she started nodding furiously.

"Delta got the Black Jugg! Oh—wait! It’s a Secret Secret Mission! I can’t tell you!"

"Delta, watch your phrasing," Alpha teased gently. "'Secret Secret Mission' is redundant."

"B-But Boss said it!"

"I highly doubt he’d say it like that," Alpha laughed. "But I’m just glad you’re safe."

Alpha pulled a babbling Delta into a hug, stroking her hair. Beta and I joined in, a big, teary-eyed group hug of the Seven Shadows. We wiped our eyes and smiled at each other.

"Alright," Alpha said, her voice firm. "Let’s go get our Master's gold."

"Yes!" we shouted in unison.

That night, Shadow Garden moved.