John Smith was their esteemed master.

Only seven shadows knew that John Smith was their esteemed master.

If people in Shadow Garden knew the truth, they would be disappointed.

Gamma thought she was right as she looked at Alpha who lowered her eyes listlessly.

The fire was burning brightly in the fireplace.

"Master must have his reason to do that…"

"I think so."

Original translation from w.a.n.gmamaread.

"He didn't mean to abandon us, right?"

"He won't."

"Maybe…?"

Such conversations repeated.

Even though Gamma had comforted her many times, Alpha got sadder.

Gamma had the same feeling.

Alpha couldn't made decisions as usual.

Only Gamma could lead the Shadow Garden now, so she couldn't be shaken anyway.

Gamma carried such a great burden that she kept dealing with business without having a rest.

Dark circles under her eyes and her sunken cheeks that couldn't be covered by makeup showed that she had reached her limits.

Gamma listened to Alpha's words, comforted her, and changed the subject.

"The Great Commerce a.s.sociation is losing customers' trust. Today so many people rushed into the Great Commerce a.s.sociation and changed their bills. I am afraid that tomorrow there will be more."

"Really…"

"Besides, a lot of people who request changing also rushed in Mitsugoshi Company. I'm afraid that tomorrow there will be more people. As soon as the Great Commerce a.s.sociation break down, all the people will rush into Mitsugoshi Company."

"Really…"

Alpha heard Gamma's report with a blank face. Then she said, 

"Can we resolve it?"

She asked Gamma.

Gamma suddenly stopped talking when she saw Alpha's expression. Then she told Alpha all the truth.

"Mitsugoshi Company and Mitsugoshi Bank had collected as many funds as they could. But… if all of the bills produced in Mitsugoshi Bank have to be changed, it will be far from enough."

This was the truth they faced.

Even if they could collect inestimable coins, it's not enough to pay for what circulated bills needed. Of course not everyone wants to change bills.

The chance they success was 50%.

"So…"

She was smiling.

Seeing her sad smile, Gamma felt that her eyes were also filled with tears.

"We will pull through it successfully. If we show customers our mountains of gold…"

"Cut it out."

Citizens seeing the Great Commerce a.s.sociation was breaking down wouldn't trust them anyway.

Gamma and Alpha had no idea about what to do.

"I've had enough of it…"

"Alpha…"

Alpha stared at Gamma with a sad smile on her face.

"This is what he wants. He chose to abandon us…"

"That's impossible! Mr. Shadow won't abandon us—!"

"We didn't live up to his expectations. This is the end."

"How…How…"

They were not useless.

They were no match for their master in many terms: main combat power, creativity and wisdom. They were presented with the strongest magic and highest wisdom, but they were just no match for their master.

Master abandoned them because they were incompetent.

"Why…"

Gamma felt weak in the knees.

She collapsed into sofa.

"If this is what he wants, let us make him. As we have promised, we will do anything for him, even if he wants us to die…"

Alpha looked desperately sad, but she was fairly determined. 

"Let's finish our final job."

Then she stood up.

At the moment.

"Alpha!"

Beta rushed in the room without knocking the door. She took a piece of paper.

"Eta in the inst.i.tution decoded Mr. Shadow's cipher!"

Eta was the seventh shadow whose job was to decode cipher. Eta has said that she got master's cipher and was entrusted with decoding the cipher.

"Here it is."

Alpha read the paper which Beta gave them.

Original translation from w.a.n.gmamaread.

Alpha's expression turned bright as she was reading the paper.

"Alpha…?"

Gamma asked in amazement, but Alpha burst into laughter, the sadness on her face disappearing.

She was crying out of happiness.

"We are not abandoned by the master…"

Alpha said and gave the papers to Gamma.

"This, this is-!"

Eta wrote down a truth which amazed them all.

It read:

I'm sorry as I lied to you.

Yukime from White Fox Co and I want to make counterfeit bills to collect gold.

Do you remember that?

There is a factory where we saved my elder sister, which was used to make counterfeit bills. I have collected a lot of gold there.

I got so much gold that even a bank can't hold it.

But it's not a betrayal because I need these money to help you.

Can you understand me?

Gamma was crying when she came to herself.

Alpha and Beta were crying too.

They were laughing as well as crying.

"Mr. Shadow has planned everything in advance."

Beta's voice was full of respect.

"If he has betrayed us, there is no need for him to write this."

Alpha said in amazement.

"He cannot be a fool like that. Sure enough, he is still the kind Mr. Shadow."

Gamma sounded a bit tired.

"Beta is right. He works behind the scenes for us, and we cannot disclose the relationship between Shadow Garden and Mitsugoshi Company."

"Yes, Mr. Shadow has prepared enough gold for us to exchange for the counterfeit bills."

"Then we go there and take the gold back. The road to the factory is marked, and we are familiar with that place."

"Even though we endure this hardship, we can  easily get over it and brought huge profits to the Shadow Garden. With these gold, we can pay for bills and Mitsugoshi Company won't lose its credit. On the contrary, it will develop further."

Someone sighed.

"Well, it is written here that he wants to save us so he lied to us…"

"If you want to fool the enemy, you must first fool yourself. I got it."

"He has considered everything from the beginning… But how about Delta?"

Gama was very uneasy, but there was nothing change in Alpha's eyes.

"We don't need to worry about him."

At this moment, someone was coming in from outside.

The window was opened slowly and Delta showed up.

"– You see."

"Delta!? Are you OK…"

Gamma was overjoyed.

"Emmm… Alpha… I am executing some 'secret-secret', so…"

Delta noticed Alpha's expression and started trembling.

"I know. You are working for master right?"

Delta became relaxed and kept nodding.

"I put the black potato…! Aaah, I can't tell you because it's a 'secret-secret'…"

"Delta, mind your wording. The 'secret-secret' is not correct."

"B… but boss…!"

"He doesn't know how to say correctly. But it's OK because you come back safely…"

Alpha hugged Delta who was trying to explain, fondling his head.

Gamma and Beta also hugged Delta, then they smiled and wiped away tears.

"Wow, Delta took the gold back."

"Yes! "

"hhh!"

"uu…"　

At that night, the Shadow Garden started off.