"Then it's a promise, Cid. See you next time."
Aki waved goodbye.
Ryuu, meanwhile, stared at Cid with a face full of mortification, her imagination running off in strange directions. Cid hadn't punished her right away—he'd postponed it instead. 1pgg1
"See you next time. Be careful these next few days."
Was that the tolerance of a companion… or was he planning to do something special later?
Cid smiled and waved back.
"Hestia, what were you two whispering about just now?" 1pgg1
Hestia looked deeply suspicious.
Aki had just dragged Cid aside, claiming she had "private girl talk." Hestia didn't want to seem like some black hole of possessiveness, so she hadn't stopped them—
—but saying she didn't care would be a lie.
And that Falna-whatever-his-name smile… it was nine parts wrong out of ten.
"We didn't really say anything."
Cid answered honestly.
That "didn't say anything" didn't mean Aki hadn't spoken—it meant Cid hadn't paid attention to what she said.
Just now, Cid had been drowning in the terror of getting conscripted as a "war hero." He'd been physically present, talking to Aki, but his soul had flown off somewhere else.
Aki definitely said something, but Cid genuinely hadn't listened.
Something about a date, maybe?
Cid wasn't sure. 1pgg1
Anyway, not important. No need to worry.
"Good."
Hestia could tell he wasn't lying, and instantly relaxed.
Before she could say anything else, Cid's expression suddenly went dark. 1pgg1
Hestia followed his gaze.
There was a man—completely ordinary-looking.
And when we say ordinary, don't start imagining "ordinary" as in secretly a heartthrob. This was the real deal: genuinely average.
On Cid's side, his worst fear was being confirmed, and he screamed internally:
Don't come any closer!! 1pgg1
"Cid! Wait up—why are you walking so fast?"
Raul took three steps at a time to catch up.
Cid didn't answer, and Raul immediately "figured it out" on his own.
"Right—Captain needs help. We should hurry."
Originally Raul wanted to chat a bit and vent his envy.
Deputy Commander of Orario. Successor to Finn.
That was the kind of dream Raul would wake up from and tell himself to calm down before he started grinning like an idiot.
And Cid had basically made that dream real. 1pgg1
When the Supreme Commander of Orario personally pushes your promotion paperwork… it's almost the same as being publicly selected as the next Supreme Commander.
If Raul were in Cid's position, he'd be floating so high he wouldn't recognize his own family.
But Cid didn't look like he cared about "glory" at all—he was just rushing to help Finn handle affairs.
That spirit—treating honor like dirt, caring only about solving Orario's crisis—
Raul was ashamed of himself. 1pgg1
His perspective was too small.
My worldview was too low…!
Cid glanced back at him.
Had Raul considered the possibility that Cid was simply trying not to be seen?
Raul might have the face of a background character, but he was still Loki Familia.
Cid didn't want to get dragged into anything and end up being recognized by civilians.
Staying unknown among ordinary people—that was Cid's last line of defense!
And if Layla saw how he'd just moved, she'd definitely call it "suspicious behavior."
He'd been sneaking. How did that become "hurrying to work"? 1pgg1
"Cid, you really are different from me," Raul said, speeding up to stay beside him. "The seniors keep saying you did something incredible—'a great contributor,' they call you."
"Don't say 'great contributor.' This was the Braver's cultivation, plus my personal luck. I only did some tiny, insignificant work. Don't hype me up. Understand?" 1pgg1
Cid fought like hell not to crack.
Certain "compliments," when used on a specific person, mutate into something else entirely.
Like how "handsome and dashing" is praise—unless you say it about a certain someone, and suddenly it's an insult.
Same principle here:
"Great contributor," applied to Cid, was basically calling him a failure of an actor.
Cid wasn't some pretty-faced prop who only existed to stand there and glow—he wanted to demonstrate his professional craft.
So please, stop mocking him with "great contributor," and show a little mercy to a young talent still polishing his acting!
"I understand. I've never seen someone with a better mentality than you," Raul said, awed. "Is this what they call a 'normal heart'? A normal person really couldn't do this."
Raul was genuinely convinced.
It wasn't because Finn was nurturing someone outside the Familia, and it wasn't just because Cid was his buddy—
Raul respected Cid's ability and his mindset. Cid was a role model worth learning from.
And the best part was: Cid had achieved this with only "above-average" combat talent.
Meaning—if Raul worked hard enough, he might actually close the gap. 1pgg1
Compared to pure power, learning that kind of composure seemed… more achievable.
Thinking of all the "great merits" Cid had earned, Raul felt himself ignite.
My buddy's this amazing… I can't fall behind!
"I just want a peaceful life." 1pgg1
Cid wanted to let out a long sigh.
He suddenly understood the male leads in those slice-of-life anime.
That "peaceful life" they chased?
That was exactly what Cid was chasing now.
And only after living it did he realize—peace was absurdly hard to obtain. 1pgg1
Because they were moving quickly, they reached their destination soon.
Maybe because Raul was truly unremarkable, they hadn't been recognized along the way, which let Cid breathe easier.
No matter what, it was a good start.
And even better: there weren't many people around Finn. He'd only prepared one seat for Cid. 1pgg1
"Captain! I brought him!" Raul reported loudly.
"Come in… Cid. Sorry to trouble you this time."
Finn didn't waste words. He pointed at a mountain of paperwork on the table. 1pgg1
These were reports submitted by various Familias across Orario.
Ninety percent of them contained information that was either useless or redundant.
Finn's job was to sift out what mattered, compress it into actionable intelligence, and issue orders—fast.
And in Finn's current condition, that was exactly what he needed Cid's help for. 1pgg1
Cid picked up one report, skimmed it, set it down—then picked up another.
He wasn't fast because he read quickly.
He was fast because if it was too long, he refused to read it.
If a single report was this bloated, then the "hundreds" stacked here might even be an underestimate.
Did Finn deal with this much paperwork every day? 1pgg1
Cid felt a real flicker of respect for Finn.
So much intelligence to process, so few resources to leverage, and still he had to produce the optimal plan at top speed.
The difficulty was like playing one of those "official simulation games" where you're told to make a vehicle "safely cross a bridge" using only a single brick.
After a brief moment of admiration, Cid's anxiety evaporated completely. 1pgg1
This job was far too hard. He couldn't do it.
If he didn't actively sabotage things, that would count as success.
In other words—this time he could finally play a real background character!
Heh heh. This time I'm truly useless!
"Cid, is that report important?" 1pgg1
Raul noticed Cid's side.
With earlier reports, Cid had "read" at the same pace as Finn.
The fact that Cid could keep up with Finn's speed made Raul worship him even more.
But this one report—Cid had held it for a long time.
In the span of Cid "being stuck," Finn had already finished seven other documents. 1pgg1
That wasn't normal.
Cid couldn't exactly admit that he'd been daydreaming.
Before Cid could explain, Raul leaned in, glanced at the paper—and his face changed instantly.
"Captain! This report is extremely important—please look right now!"
Raul snatched it out of Cid's hands and thrust it at Finn.
As Finn's expression grew more and more severe, Cid's sense of doom surged. 1pgg1
"This is important indeed," Finn said, frowning. "Cid—what do you think?"
According to the report, the list of gods who had been forcibly sent back that day had finally been cross-checked.
The suspicious part was: the numbers didn't match.
Among the gods deported that day, three were not affiliated with any Orario faction.
In the current Orario—where everything was black or white—only dark-faction gods should be getting deported. 1pgg1
Was the dark faction fighting itself?
Finn didn't think it was that simple.
But his entire body hurt, and he couldn't settle into deep thought.
So he looked at Cid, hoping for a suggestion.
The problem was—
Cid hadn't even read what the report said.
What suggestion could he possibly give? 1pgg1
"Bring me a map. Orario's map…" Finn said. "Cid—where do you think the dark faction's target is?"
Finn assumed Cid was thinking too, and that he probably needed time. He had Raul fetch a map so they could reason more visually.
But the moment the map arrived, Cid didn't hesitate for even a second.
"The dark faction's destination has to be here." 1pgg1
Cid pointed at the center of the map—Babel Tower.
Gods with powerful Familias generally lived in Babel Tower.
On the dark faction's target list, Babel Tower carried the same weight as the Guild Headquarters.
But precisely because it was so important, pointing there was basically stating the obvious.
And that was exactly what Cid wanted.
He wasn't commander material. Finn needed to recognize Cid's true nature as soon as possible!
Background Character King—Cid had this locked down!
…And yet, as Finn stared at where Cid's finger rested, he thought for a moment—and his face turned ugly.
"So you mean… the Dungeon?" Finn's voice tightened. "The dark faction sacrificed gods and used divine might as bait to draw monsters? Their aim is… damn it. They kept organizing surface attacks—so I overlooked the Dungeon entirely!"
Finn's head hurt more the longer he thought. But at the same time, he felt lucky that Cid was here. 1pgg1
Cid had only just arrived—and he'd already made another great contribution!
If Cid weren't here, with Finn's current condition, he might have missed the chance to respond in time.
Cid: "???" 1pgg1
Wait—what?
Cid wanted to say he'd meant Babel Tower.
But Cid was genuinely afraid that if he clarified "Babel Tower," Finn would somehow spin it into something even more bizarre.
So Cid chose silence.
He became a quiet, brooding, contemplative handsome man.
What was going on?
Wasn't he supposed to be "acting naturally"?
How did his "natural performance" fail again?! 1pgg1
Cid couldn't understand it.
On the other side, Finn forced a deep breath.
"Raul—call everyone. This is a highest-level meeting!"
Then Finn looked at Cid and said the sentence that made Cid's scalp go numb. 1pgg1
"Cid, you should attend this meeting as well. Let everyone get to know you."
....
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