~ 💎 WEEKLY POWER GOALS 💎🔥 60→1ch | 100→2ch | 200→5ch ⏰ Resets Monday!
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Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, all seven of them had turned eighteen.
Beta and Gamma had spent a ton of time running around preparing for the store opening, and they’d hired quite a few employees in the process.
When night fell, the employees all went home.
Only Gamma and Beta stayed behind to keep watch.
The bicycle business had made a lot of merchants green with envy.
Hearing the commotion outside, Shino got ready to handle it herself.
“Lord Phantom, I’ll take care of it,” Gamma said.
“Go ahead.”
The thief who’d broken in was after the bicycle’s core data.
Most of the parts were outsourced to other factories, but the rear wheel’s core components were made by Gamma and Beta.
Gamma had Magic Hand, and she’d taught the technique to Beta.
The two of them could crank out the core components efficiently.
The thief headed straight for the production workshop behind Gamma’s store.
That was where the secret had to be.
He reached the workshop door and started picking the lock.
“It’s really rude to enter someone’s house without permission, you know,” Gamma said from behind him.
“When did you get behind me?!” The thief whirled around, staring at her.
“Well, since you spotted me, I won’t bother being polite.
Instead of digging through documents, I’ll just ask the person directly.
And while I’m at it…
hehehe.”
Even with his face covered, Gamma could feel the lecherous grin underneath.
“How vulgar.
Too bad you don’t have the strength to back it up.”
Gamma didn’t move.
Her Magic Hand shot out and grabbed the thief by the throat.
He tried to speak, but no sound came out.
“You know, people who get choked to death like this don’t bleed.
Makes disposal really easy,” Gamma explained.
A minute passed.
The thief stopped struggling.
Gamma still didn’t let go.
All of the Seven Shadows had learned a skill from Shino, Magic Perception.
They could sense whether someone had magic power at a glance.
Unless the opponent was way stronger than them, the technique never made a mistake.
After playing dead for a full minute, the thief realized Gamma hadn’t released him.
He opened his eyes and struggled again.
But he only thrashed for a few seconds before going limp.
This time, he was genuinely unconscious.
Only after confirming the magic power inside his body had dissipated did Gamma let him drop.
Shino appeared behind her.
“Ah!
Lord Phantom!…”
Gamma’s face went red.
She was completely flustered, waving her hands frantically to explain, but Shino’s sudden appearance had thrown her off.
The moment she panicked, her Magic Hand collapsed, and she started tipping forward for a perfect face-plant.
Gamma stared at the floor rushing up to meet her and gave up.
Great.
I’m going to embarrass myself in front of Lord Phantom again.
But a pair of hands caught her just before she hit the ground.
“You alright, Gamma?”
Lord Phantom is holding me.
I can die happy now.
Gamma’s nose started bleeding.
Not from the fall, from seeing Shino that close.
“Gamma, your nose is bleeding!”
Gamma quickly used Magic Hand to steady herself and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the blood.
“Lord Phantom, I feel dizzy.
I think I’m anemic,” Beta said from behind Shino, swaying like she was about to collapse.
Shino took one look and knew Beta was faking.
But she still flashed over and caught her.
“You okay, Beta?”
“Lord Phantom, I feel so much better when you hold me!
You’re amazing!”
“What about the body?” Gamma asked.
“You killed it, so you dump it outside the city.”
“Beta, you just wanted alone time with Lord Phantom.”
“I did not!”
“Alright, stop fighting over something so trivial.
I’ll handle it.”
Shino grabbed the corpse and vanished.
He was back a moment later.
“What did you want to ask, Lord Phantom?” Beta said.
“I’m thinking this bicycle should be easy to copy.
Someone could just buy one, take it apart, and reverse-engineer it.
Why hasn’t anyone?”
“Eta and I discussed that.
We installed a special device inside the core components.
The moment the outer shell is removed, the parts self-destruct,” Gamma explained.
Beta didn’t say anything.
She hadn’t thought of that either.
Gamma had pointed it out.
She had to admit, Gamma was definitely smarter than her.
“Did you find out who’s targeting you?”
“Well, because Beta and I have to make the parts by hand, we haven’t really…”
“I found out.
I picked up some clues from that corpse.
As they say, courtesy demands reciprocity.
Since they want to cause trouble, it’d be rude not to return the favor.”
“As expected of Lord Phantom!” Beta and Gamma said in unison.
…
In a manor on the other side of town, a fat man with an enormous belly paced anxiously.
“This is the seventh time.
I found a really strong guy this time.
Hope he brings back what I want.”
“That Mitsugoshi store has no taste.
I told them — just be my women, hand over the bicycle business, and you’ll have endless wealth and luxury.”
“They rejected me three times.
Once I get that core technology, I’ll make them lose everything.
Then I’ll open bicycle shops across the whole country.
I’ll be filthy rich.”
A knock came at the door.
“Come in!”
The visitor was the thief who’d broken into the Mitsugoshi Company.
“You’re finally here.
How’d it go?”
“I didn’t find what you wanted.
So I just brought the two women here instead.”
Shino lifted up Gamma and Beta, both tied with rope.
“Hehehe.
Look at you now.”
“You — get out.
Let me interrogate them myself.”
“What about my payment?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I want it now.
Otherwise, I’m not handing them over.”
“You bastard!
Don’t you want the money?”
Shino sighed.
“I was going to mess with you a bit, but forget it.
No fun.”
Her magic power surged.
She shifted back to her true form, black military coat, black cape.
Gamma and Beta easily snapped their ropes.
“Y-You!
Guards!
GUARDS!” the fat man screamed.
No one answered.
There wasn’t a single living soul left outside.
“Hand over everything you own, and I’ll let you live,” Shino said coldly.
“All my property?
Dream on!”
Without hesitation, Shino drove her sword straight through his heart.
“Y-You—!”
The fat man never expected she’d just kill him without even asking for the money.
Shino used healing magic and dragged him back from the brink.
“My patience is limited.
Talk, or die.”
“I’ll talk!
I’ll talk!”
He gave up the location of his vault.
Shino went to check, only a few million zeni.
This house alone was worth more than that.
No way that was all he had.
“Let me handle it, Lord Phantom,” Gamma said eagerly.
Beta and Shino didn’t like too much bloodshed, so they stepped out of the room.
Not long after, he’d confessed everything.
When he saw Shino again, he was covered in wounds.
“I’ve told you everything.
Please, let me go.”
“Fine.
I’ll let you go.” Shino left.
But before she did, she shot Gamma a look.
Gamma understood.
You had to keep your word.
If Gamma disobeyed, Shino would have no choice but to sternly smack her on the back.
Gamma picked up the Slime Sword and walked toward the fat man.
“He already told you everything!
You said you’d let me go!
What are you doing?!”
“Lord Phantom said she’d let you go.
That’s true.
But I don’t plan on obeying Lord Phantom’s orders.
Leaving you alive is asking for trouble.”
Before dawn, Shino, Gamma, and Beta returned to the Mitsugoshi Company with 300 million zeni.
➤ Next: Tenth Seat — Clash