Light Novel/Volume 3

This is the third volume of the light novel series, The Eminence in Shadow (陰の実力者になりたくて！).

Synopsis

 * -|English=THE RED MOON HANGS LOW IN THE NIGHT—AN OMEN OF WHAT’S TO COME

Deep within the Lawless City lies the Blood Queen, a Progenitor Vampire, slumbering in her coffin for many moons. An expert at landing himself in trouble, Cid should know better than to go after her…but he’s dying to get a piece of the action. It’s time he shed his daytime persona to take on the role of Shadow! It seems, however, that he’s not the only one with this idea. Soon enough, he finds the three rulers of the Lawless City—Juggernaut the Tyrant, Yukime the Spirit Fox, and Crimson the vampire—are all on his tail. To complicate things even further, the Shadow Garden descends on the scene as the hour of the Blood Queen’s awakening looms closer and closer…


 * -|Japanese=累計15万部突破!!　大人気・勘違いシリアスコメディ!!

クレアに誘われ『無法都市』へと訪れたシド. そこに眠る始祖の吸血鬼『血の女王』の討伐依頼に参加することになった彼の眼前に現れたのは、『最古のヴァンパイアハンター』を名乗る謎めいた美少女・メアリーだった.

『無法都市』の三大勢力、『暴君』ジャガノート、『妖狐』ユキメ、『吸血鬼』クリムゾンに加え、 『始祖の血』と『悪魔憑き』の繋がりを探る『シャドウガーデン』までもが乱入し、 混迷を極める戦場に今、『伝説の始祖』の覚醒の刻が迫る……！

とまあ、とにかくガチでビッグな『陰の実力者』的イベントが大発生!!!!!!!

●『月刊コンプエース』にてコミカライズも好評連載中!!

Red Moon Incident
The Red Moon of legend is rising. The followers of the Queen of Blood from the Lawless City are wreaking havoc in nearby towns, who ask for help from the Knight Order. Claire joins the group dispatched to subdue the Blood Queen, taking Cid with her. While in the Lawless City, Claire loses contact with Cid after ghouls cause a commotion. She joins with Mary to storm the Crimson Tower with suspicion that Cid has been abducted to be a sacrifice to revive the Blood Queen. They clash with Juggernaut on the way to the top of the tower but Shadow comes to their rescue. Upon reaching the top they find the Blood Queen Elisabeth resuscitated. She attacks Claire but before she finishes her off Beta, with her subordinates, rushes to the rescue. Yukime and Juggernaut also join in the fight. They hold Elisabeth off briefly, until Aurora joins the battle by possessing Claire to buy time until Shadow arrives. As Shadow arrives he unleashes his "Atomic Recovery" move, which heals everyone that was injured during the fight and also helps Elisabeth control the effects of the Red Moon.

Major Corporate Alliance Conflict
Mitsugoshi Ltd, an arm and front of Shadow garden, has expanded their business with such rapid pace that they've now caught the attention of the Major Corporate Alliance (MCA), an alliance made up of legacy merchants. Following the introduction of bills, the MCA copies the idea from Mitsugoshi. The concept of credit is new to the world's markets, and the grasp of its construct poorly understood. Furthermore, in contrast to Mitsugoshi, the bills of the MCA are easier to counterfeit. Therefore, Shadow (whose plan is to bring down Mitsugoshi in an attempt to lecture the Seven Shadows in not provoking legacy merchants) is in cahoots with the Spirit Fox Yukime of the Lawless City to introduce fake bills and set off a credit crisis, resulting in a bank run and cripple both parties. This had, as we learn later, been the plan of the Cult of Diablos as well; to bring down Mitsugoshi even at the cost of the MCA. Though, they'd plan to execute their plan when their capital in the MCA had been safely withdrawn.

The sequence of events plays out to Mitsugoshi coming out on top by managing to build up enough collateral (thanks to misinterpreting Shadows actions and taking the wealth he acquired during the debacle which he'd planned on using to comfortably retire) when customers comes rushing for withdrawals of coins when they see the MCA faltering. The customers stop withdrawing when they see that their money is safe with Mitsugoshi.

Chapters
Note: The chapter count does not include the Appendix, which contains character profiles and 'The Chronicles of Master Shadow Complete Version: Volume 3.'
 * Prologue: Heading to the Lawless City over Fall Break!
 * Chapter 1: Lawless City Bandit Hunting!
 * Chapter 2: Storming the Crimson Tower!
 * Chapter 3: Pursuing the Blood Queen!
 * Auxiliary Chapter: Field Notes on a Little Brother—by Young Claire!
 * Chapter 4: I'll Destroy It All and Start from Scratch!
 * Chapter 5: Printing Fake Money as Mitsugoshi Throws Down with the Major Corporate Alliance!
 * Chapter 6: Circulating Counterfeit Cash!
 * Epilogue: The One to Destroy It All and Start from Scratch—with Fakes Bills!
 * Appendix

Characters

 * In order of appearance:

Illustrations

 * -|English=