Mitsugoshi Company

Mitsugoshi Company (ミツゴシ商会) is a relatively new, but highly successful multi-trade company known for its innovative products and becoming the most well-famed trading company with a reputable reputation in the world.

Unbeknownst to the populace, this company is operated by Shadow Garden as their front who were inspired by the knowledge given to them by Shadow. The Director of the company is Luna, who founded it with the help of Alpha, and used this company as an important asset funding Shadow Garden's missions as well as their employees, the Numbers.

Background
As Gamma was not capable in combat abilities nor adept in defensive arts, she compensated with her intelligence and administration. When she asked Shadow for his "wisdom" shortly after joining, he would recount unique and interesting ideas to which Gamma would then reverse-engineer out of inspiration-- not knowing that he was regaling her with anecdotes of commodities from his previous life.

After the "Seven Shadows" left Cid and scattered all over the world, Gamma was tasked with managing the entire Shadow Garden organization by gaining financial and political power that could influence the world. Gamma would used some parts of her knowledge that she once heard from Cid as the "Shadow Wisdom" to create various products and trade goods that had never existed in another world, which would lead to the founding of the Mitsugoshi Company after she acquire shares of the old company at its limits, called "Luna, Ltd." owned by Mrs. Luna, which had been inactive due to her age and made a huge fortune by selling all the goods product and started Mitsugoshi Company based on that asset. The Mitsugoshi Company run by Gamma has grown rapidly and has developed to the point where it can compete with existing conglomerates, so it has a mighty scale in both front and back society.

Once the company had expanded well enough, it was setting trends and establishing itself as an economic powerhouse in Midgar Kingdom before expanding into opening company branches in prime locations both in neighboring and abroad nations, such as Lindwurm, the Velgalta Empire, and the Oriana Kingdom. At the same time, the company was branding a sense of luxury in addition to developing food chain stores to be offered to the general public at low prices, securing high-quality materials through contracts with specialized farmers, delivering services to remote areas, and so on. Mitsugoshi caused a distribution revolution and became one of the world's largest trading companies within a few years of starting a business.

From this rapid success, Mitsugoshi Company would apply the wealth that is generated from the company's business success to helps funding the Shadow Garden's operations as they finance the organization and administration of its membership. While Shadow Garden exists as a covert organization, they use the company not only to amass vast wealth and power, but also as a front for their war against the Cult of Diablos.

While Gamma continued to be the public face of the company, Alpha was the covert leader aligning Mitsugoshi's success with Shadow Garden's missions, and Eta would contribute to Research and Development of their public innovations and covertly developing other insights of "Shadow Wisdom". By reverse-engineering more "revelations", Mitsugoshi produced new trade goods from commodities, garments and cosmetics to developing technologies, such as The Rolapoid instant camera and the automobile.

Midgar Academy Terrorist Attack
Before the incident of the Cult of Diablos's terrorist attack on Midgar Academy happened, Cid Kagenō visited the Mitsugoshi Company store with with his friends, Skel Etal and Po Tato, to see what kinds of things they sold. He later found out that everything was created and directed by Gamma, one of his "Seven Shadows" from the Shadow Garden, who was waiting for him with a throne made for her lord, Cid. As he seated, Gamma would update him of their financial gains and discuss the serial killings used to defame Shadow Garden. When his business concluded, Gamma introduced Nu to Cid, a new member but was validated by Alpha herself to which she earned her position and can be vouched for by Gamma personally.

After the Midgar Academy incident, Gamma discuss with Alpha about Shadow and his organization being wanted by the kingdom. Even so, Shadow Garden are swear to continue with their leaders' resolve. Alpha tells Gamma to assemble the available Seven Shadows to discuss their next move.

Bushin Festival Tournament
After the time of the Sanctuary operation mission has passed, Gamma is in Madlid City, the minor region on the outskirts of the Velgalta Empire. She is negotiating with Rude, a eldest son of a feudal lord to buy the property estate and open a second Mitsugoshi store because the Mitsugoshi Company had already opening their branch in the Velgalta's Royal Capital.

Gamma isn't sure at first because the Mitsugoshi company was carrying out a reconstruction process in the Sacred Land, Lindwurm after their lord Shadow had destroyed the Sanctuary under the dam water by unleashed his Atomic Attack until there was nothing left which resulted the city being flooded.

But, Nu tells her that they found petroleum in the city which makes Gamma decide to buy every property in that street and she explains to Rude that she will redevelop the city if he's willing to meet their conditions and make it the greatest city in Velgalta Empire. Then, she ordered her employees to buy up all the necessary land downstream of the Nyle tributary and building a canal there.

During the Bushin Tournament, Cid went to the Mitsugoshi Company and asks them to help him disguise himself so he can participate in the tournament. Gamma agreed to her master's request and with the Nu's help, they made Cid a disguise as "Mundane Mann", someone already dead and gone, but also his death was never confirmed, thus allowing him to enter without issue.

In the anime, the Mitsugoshi Company was carrying out a reconstruction process in the Midgar Academy.

Great Trading Company Conflict
Due to resentment from their competitors, especially Garter along with the Great Commerce Alliance, their economic trade rivals, the Mitsugoshi Company found itself involved in a secret internal war against the company alliance. Fighting over product secrets and superiority in commercial reliance, they fought to see whose side would be the last one standing.

The Alliance subsequently attempted to sabotage Mitsugoshi by attacking their supply lines and even send their best mercenaries The Clovers to infiltrate at their Company Headquarters along with Garter private army and their rear guard. Fortunately, the supplies kept running smoothly as a meager mercenaries that hired by them were no match for Shadow Garden's well-trained forces and failing an attempt of The Clovers mission raid by eliminate all of them, along with their support from behind.

The prevalence of trade and the support of the people in profit, neither knew that another company called the Snow Fox Corporation was taking advantage of their commercial war, waiting for them to clash from the shadows until both sides were weakened to crush them at the same time and keep all the commercial benefit, aiming to be the only one remaining.

Shadow learned of this covert commercial war thanks to Yukime, the Monarch of the White Tower and the legitimate business leader of Snow Fox Corp. outside of the Lawless City. Shadow decided to help Yukime under the pretext of helping with her revenge, without telling her that Shadow Garden ran Mitsugoshi Company as well as helping to make Mitsugoshi win the economic dispute by making an counterfeit bills and sending them into circulation to create a credit crisis.

Few days later, Gamma received word that there are counterfeits of the Alliance's currency have entered circulation and report to Alpha. Then, Alpha order Gamma to start spreading rumors and send the Numbers team to investigated it. After hearing the teams report about their failure mission when the team return because "John Smith" are intercepting them and knowing that John Smith is from other organization because his description is not from the Cult, Gamma the send Delta to deal with him.

But, Delta disappear during her track on "John Smith" which presumed her dead (unknowingly that Cid under the guise of "John Smith" orders Delta to helping him by sending her to the Lawless City to eliminate Juggernaut at the Black Tower) and Alpha decided to confront "John Smith" to avenge her only to discover that the man's true identity is Shadow. Knowing the revelations, Alpha demand an explanation by attempt to subjugate him to force an answer until she ultimately lost to Shadow, even make her unconscious and left her before telling her that his way is make for the best.

Following the confrontation, the Seven Shadows decide to keep the fact that John Smith is Shadow just to themselves as they seemingly think that he abandoned them and their worry grew worse that if the troops knew, it would strike a harsh blow to their morale. Nu arrived to inform Gamma and Alpha as they both puzzled and saddened by their lord's alleged betrayal, relayed that the shadow leader of the Alliance Gettan had relations with the Cult of Diablos and planned to cause the collapse of trust by introducing the counterfeits bills once the Cult's funds within the Alliance was securely relocated but had yet to enact the scheme. As Alpha began to doubt Gettan was a Cult's collaborator, this led them to conclude that Shadow already knew of Gettan's plan and did what he did wanting to destroy was something else.

Suddenly, Beta arrived to present an encrypted message by Shadow with Eta's help in translating. The message states that Cid did not betray them, but rather that he was helping a partner with collecting coins through counterfeits which he covertly gathered funding for Mitsugoshi Company to survive the market collapse of trust and revealing the location of the money, allowing them to retrieve it. With this conclusion and noticing the timing between Shadow playing Gettan's plan against him and decoded message, they were convinced that this was Shadow's plan all along as he had to deceived them, as well as helping Mitsugoshi to overcome the credit crisis for protecting their secret association with Shadow Garden from being made public. After they were relieved to know their master still cared and Delta was still alive, they decide to acquiring the funds that Shadow secured for them to withstand the credit crisis.

Assuring their secured victory with the help of Cid disguised as "John Smith", the Mitsugoshi Company emerged triumphant from the secret commercial war by saving them from the collapse of credit trust after retrieving the funds in order to stockpiling the Mitsugoshi's reserves and Shadow also saved Yukime from assassination by her ex-fiancée, Gettan, the de-facto leader of the Great Commerce Alliance.

In the end, the Mitsugoshi Company are able to elevated their trust with the consumers by honoring their bills with enough surplus remaining from the funds that Shadow collected on their reserves, making the company position will be nigh unassailable and improved their social standing in the public eye. Not only Mitsugoshi won the commercial trade war, but their position was now arguably more powerful than ever with the Great Commerce Alliance swift collapse and elimination of all of its competitors, also be able to snatch up all former Alliance assets, including the Cult's funds and gain a complete monopoly over the marketplace.

Afterward, Mitsugoshi's influence became so powerful that even the Midgar Kingdom's government could not risk defying them and was financially dependent on the commercial monopoly and the Snow Fox Corporation became an ally of the Mitsugoshi Company after Alpha revealed Shadow's plan along with their connection to Shadow Garden.

Oriana's "Black Rose" Civil War Wedding Incident
During the civil war of the Oriana Kingdom, the Mitsugoshi Company had a branch store operating per normal and concurrently served as a recuperation base for Shadow Garden members.

During 666's supposed betrayal, Cid went there with Epsilon and 559, who discuss the Rose Oriana's announced wedding and the previous failed mission to retrieve the ring which is connected to the Black Rose as Epsilon already sending a message to Alpha for send additional personnel before Cid interrupted their conversation when he enter the room and both offered him a body massage. Cid telling them that during his infiltration, the investigation that he conduct had already went well and the only thing left to do is nip the problem at its source and his mission will be complete.

When Epsilon is bath together with her lord, Cid tell her that everything is at its place and the showdown will be taking place at the wedding ceremony by the time Rose make an signal, which make Epsilon decide to make the necessary preparations.

Products
The company has branches in every major city also the capital, within and outside of Midgar Kingdom, as Mitsugoshi produces to sell various kinds of products which are all based on the "Shadow Wisdom" from their leader, Cid Kagenō. Using his wisdom as the basis, they were able to recreate various products with novel and fascinating qualities, which include chocolate, one of their most popular products. Another popular product is the business suit, a trend for nobility which was more stylish than the traditional noble garb.

Their lines of products include:

 * Candy
 * Chocolate
 * Clothing/Accessories
 * Coffee
 * Cosmetics
 * Daily goods
 * Gourmet/Preserved foods
 * Lingerie
 * Liquor
 * Soap
 * Shoes
 * Suits
 * Tea
 * Whiskey
 * Uniform

Banking
Aside from commercial products, Mitsugoshi also established the "Mitsugoshi Bank" (ミツゴシ銀行), issuing banknotes for the first time, causing a revolution on the monetary value as Mitsugoshi began printing promissory vouchers in exchange for the world's coin-based system.

This was based on the bank and credit economic creation system that Cid once talked about to Gamma. The main reasons they produced the banknotes was to stimulate the economy and sell more products, while also incentivizing patrons due to the ease bills exchange compared to hefting large coin purses or troves.

Mitsugoshi then created a revolving loan service with an interest rate on loans of around 2% per month, equaling 24% per annum, the lowest rate among money lenders in the capital.

Enterprises Development
The Mitsugoshi Company has made several types of businesses that they have developed into popular tourism traps. Based in part on Shadow's Wisdom, these are types of businesses that appeal to commoners as well as nobility, with eateries for delicious cuisine to public lodgings for travelers, as well as relaxation locales for decompressing stress and improving beauty hygiene.
 * Beauty salons
 * Cafes
 * Hotels
 * Massage parlors
 * Restaurants
 * Saunas
 * Spa resorts

Industrial Business Opportunity
The Mitsugoshi Company has planned to invest in each venture and putting its myriad techniques to be use in the industry. Mitsugoshi has shown their sheer degree of engineering prowess in the construction industry where they have succeeded in creating artificial walls called “reinforced concrete".

Mitsugoshi has even developed an manufacturing process by creating high-end chandeliers whose lamps are made from specially cut, highly transparent crystal glass to which their glow casts radiant shadows across the hallway. The cheapest models cost 10 million Zeni, but sells off quickly from the shelves like there’s no tomorrow.

Also, Mitsugoshi has been running the mining industry by processing its natural resources in kinds of ores and minerals.

Franchise Restaurants
The McRonald (まぐろなるど) (Tuna King in the Light Novel) is a burger shop that has chain stores all over the world, and like Mitsugoshi Company, this is also a front company of Shadow Garden. When Mitsugoshi Company was Luna, Ltd., it was developed as a street shop to obtain funds for its activities.

Prior to the founding of the Mitsugoshi Company, Gamma was worried that her business was not growing and confused about finding a solution because Shadow Garden lacked reserve funds due to Eta's continued excessive use of funds which caused the financial process of Luna, Ltd. which was managed by Gamma to experience a drastic decline. However, Gamma was able to overcome his company's financial problems thanks to Zeta's help, who invited her and Eta to a beach near the capital city of Midgar to take a break and at that time, they created a food made from the sea, called "Tuna Sandwich" which describe like a fried tuna sandwich with tartar sauce made based on "Shadow Wisdom", and later improved the tuna burger, which became a big hit.

After getting the idea of a business opportunity to increase Shadow Garden's financial funding and the company it manages using food that Gamma knows, she set up a tuna sandwich stall in the capital as a side business that functions as a food stall and eventually opened a permanent store which provides different food menu items other than tuna like sea bream, squid rings, beef, and onion rings with the sauce additions like mayonnaise, tartar sauce, and malt vinegar. By the conclusion of her venture setup, the sandwich shops were named McRonald / Tuna King by Cid.

When Gamma acquired shares of an existing business in Midgar Kingdom, in addition with the opening a new venture of McRonald / Tuna King stalls across the capital as a new side business branch, Shadow Garden's income rate had continue to increase with the net profit of 25 million Zeni per month, compared to the 4 million Zeni on the fashion side. Until eventually, Gamma expanded the venture side business into a developed food chain stores and gained a huge amount of wealth.

Currently, it is being developed separately from Mitsugoshi Company, but Gamma's personal ultimate goal is to make burgers using beef.

Layout
The Mitsugoshi branches, despite being in different cities, follow a similar layout for easier navigation and inventory. At the top of the Midgar Branch building, and every other store, a mansion is set up on the roof as a Shadow Garden operation room, and in addition to setting up a throne for Shadow. The rooftop mansions also serve as residential quarters for the Seven Shadows and their immediate attendants.

In the anime version, the statues of Shadow and "Seven Shadows" are displayed in the atrium-style hall of the royal capital head office, and the mansion on the roof is hidden by a raised wall that extends the outer wall upwards, and when viewed from the ground, it is a mansion. The structure is such that the is not visible.

Leader

 * Luna: Public Founder/Owner

Employees

 * Nu: Gamma's Personal Aid & Bodyguard.
 * Kai
 * Omega
 * Staff: Shadow Garden Numbers operating as store employees.

Trivia

 * Mitsugoshi Company are based on real life Mitsukoshi, just renamed as parody offshoots.
 * The store interiors of Mitsugoshi branches closely mirror the real world supermarkets and shopping malls of Shadow's past life. This is due to Cid having taught the Seven Shadows about architecture and construction of his old life as well, especially Eta.
 * Mitsugoshi work uniform is a short and simple navy-blue dress marked with the company logo, which look like the flight attendants that reminds Cid as he saw in his past life.
 * 1 billion Zeni is always available as Shadow Garden's activity funds.
 * Despite Named Numbers having the privilege of knowing Shadow's secret identity, Gamma's aids are allowed to know as they must assist her in his presence. Such as welcoming him to his throne in the executive suite or helping to apply make-up slime for the Bushin Festival.
 * However, it is unclear if they know he is simply a student at the academy or if they know the name to his civilian identity.
 * The restaurant brands that Gamma's Mitsugoshi Company owns are based on real life fast food chains such as McDonald's and Burger King, just renamed as parody offshoots.
 * During the conflict between the Mitsugoshi Company and the Great Commerce Alliance, the McRonald / Tuna King doesn't got involved, probably because the field is different from the Mitsugoshi Company.
 * In Other World, Tuna is a fish that can be easily eaten by common people because of its large quantities and easy to catch and "Sea Bream" is more valuable as a high-class fish. Also, Beef is treated as a luxury ingredient and livestock technology is not yet available which is still immature, even it seems that there is still no stable supply and not possible to provide it stably.