"Goodbye, Senpai."
"Bye, Koneko. Remember to keep an eye out for anyone willing to adopt the cats for me."
"Don't worry, Senpai. I'll remember."
Watching Koneko's petite figure disappear into the magic circle, Cid took a carton of milk Eta had given him from the fridge, drank it, and lay down on his bed.
Instead of using the Triple Magical Power Physical Tempering Technique and then entering the Library to absorb knowledge as usual, he raised one hand and stared at it blankly.
"Puberty...?"
Lately, Cid had been feeling strange.
Very strange.
It almost felt like he had entered puberty.
Theoretically, that should be perfectly normal for a seventeen-year-old high school student.
That was, of course, assuming he were actually a normal high school student.
Humans are complicated creatures. The older they grow, the more things they want, and the more things they find themselves unable to let go of.
But Cid had done the opposite.
He had been reducing things, dividing everything he possessed into four categories: things he could discard without hesitation, things he did not want to discard but could, things he wanted to discard but could not, and things he absolutely could not discard no matter what.
The last category was the most important part of who he was.
It was also the dream he had held since childhood.
To become an Eminence in Shadow.
As for adolescent urges toward the opposite sex, he had classified those as something he could discard at will.
Or more accurately, something he wanted to discard but could not.
His Holy Sword had already been large to begin with, but recently it had begun to act as if it were undergoing a second growth spurt. It had even started interfering with his daily movements.
At one point, he had seriously considered cutting off his Holy Sword.
But that was impossible. An Eminence in Shadow being a eunuch would be far too embarrassing.
In the end, the only thing he could do was install a spatial spell formula inside his underwear.
So adolescent urges toward the opposite sex were classified as something he could discard at will, while the Holy Sword belonged to the category of something he wanted to discard but could not.
Originally, he believed that in order to become an Eminence in Shadow, he had long since cast aside what people called puberty.
But the recent second growth spurt of his Holy Sword, along with the disturbance he felt in his heart when facing Kanon Kanase earlier today, seemed to be telling him something else.
He had not discarded puberty.
He had simply ignored it.
But... should he even have puberty?
Long before the worlds fused, his body had already been modified by himself to such an extent that even he no longer felt like a human.
Now his soul and spirit had fused together completely. His body, while not fully fused yet in order to maintain his mob character role, had already reached halfway. If he wished, he could complete the final step at any moment.
Under such circumstances, he was supposed to believe he had puberty?
He would rather believe someone had cast magic on him or drugged him.
The problem was that he had already examined his soul and spirit carefully.
There was not the slightest problem.
That ruled out any form of mental magic.
Being drugged or affected by alchemical magic could also be ruled out.
Why?
Because after physical modification, slime fusion, magical power tempering, and reaching a trinity state, his body had become something absurd.
He possessed the Library, which likely stored all the knowledge of World No. 1, yet even with that knowledge he still could not fully understand what kind of existence his current body was.
The chance that someone else could understand his body and intentionally trigger puberty in him was about as ridiculous as the existence of the Cult of Diablos.
If such a person truly existed, she would have needed to observe him for an extremely long time.
And she would also have to possess knowledge equal to the Library in his possession.
Once every other possibility had been ruled out, whatever remained, no matter how unbelievable, had to be the truth.
And if he thought about it carefully, while puberty in his body sounded absurd, his body itself was already absurd.
In comparison, having puberty almost made things feel more normal.
What troubled him the most was not even that.
If it were merely a physical influence, then there would be nothing to worry about. As long as he ignored it, his body, influenced by his spirit and soul, would automatically remodel itself and stop puberty.
But that was exactly where the problem lay.
If his body had not been influenced by any external force, then the only explanation was that deep down, he had never rejected this from the beginning.
He might even have been expecting it.
Otherwise, puberty would never have appeared in his body.
Why was he not worried that his body might malfunction even though it seemed to be in such a chaotic state?
The answer was simple.
His body, spirit, and soul existed as a trinity.
Every thought he had would be reflected in his body.
In other words, as long as there was no problem with his spirit or soul, his body would only undergo positive evolution.
To put it more bluntly, his body absorbed his thoughts and desires, then evolved by consuming his stamina and magical power.
...Why did that sound so similar to the Sacred Gear from World No. 1?
Well, whatever.
Of course, just as the spirit and soul could influence the body, the body could also influence the spirit and soul in return.
But as he had already said, the chance of someone understanding his body and altering it through external means was about as ridiculous as the existence of the Cult of Diablos.
So if he had puberty, that meant the desire itself existed within him.
Thinking about it that way, even cutting off the Holy Sword would be useless.
As long as the desire still existed inside him, his body would simply absorb it and grow it back again.
"Should I get a girlfriend?"
First, it should be clarified that in Cid's personal worldview, being a mob character did not mean he was forbidden from having a girlfriend.
To be precise, there were only a handful of people he considered protagonists. Everyone else fell into categories like supporting characters, high-tier mobs, regular mobs, or low-tier mobs.
The ratio between protagonists and supporting characters versus mobs was something like hundreds of millions to one.
Under those circumstances, if mobs were not allowed to get girlfriends, would that not basically mean wiping out humanity?
Not to mention he was a noble.
Judging from his apparent talent, the position of family head would almost certainly go to his older sister. That meant he would most likely end up leaving home for a political marriage alliance.
Recently, puberty had started interfering with his Shadow training.
Given that situation, getting a girlfriend to release those urges seemed like the optimal solution.
And before anyone asked why he did not simply visit a prostitute, the funds for Shadow activities absolutely could not be wasted on something like that.
"But it sounds like such a hassle."
Cid had never dated before, but he had heard that relationships were troublesome.
Online, people constantly complained about girlfriends being clingy or needing to outsmart them in arguments.
No matter how he thought about it, getting a girlfriend sounded even more troublesome than puberty itself.
In short, cutting off the Holy Sword would ruin the image of an Eminence in Shadow and would probably just grow back anyway. Getting a girlfriend sounded troublesome. Visiting prostitutes would waste the funds for Shadow activities.
So...
"I'll just endure it."
That was right. He had decided to bury his head in the sand.
As long as he got through this period, everything would be fine. Once he graduated, his family would probably arrange blind dates for him anyway.
Thinking that, Cid took out the Library and began his daily training.
...
Deep underground, inside the corridor of a subterranean facility.
A beautiful young girl with brilliant rose-gold hair and a black headpiece swallowed nervously before opening a door along the hallway and stepping inside.
The room was filled with scattered drafts covered in data.
A purple-haired elf lay slumped over a desk, rubbing her eyes as if she had just woken up after sensing someone enter.
"Aaaah... haah. It's Victoria. What is it? Also, move your left foot a little to the right. One step further left and you'll enter the detection range of a heat-seeking bomb."
The purple-haired elf yawned and spoke lazily without even turning her head. After saying that, she casually grabbed a half-finished sheet of calculations beside her and resumed working.
Although she said it casually, Victoria nearly jumped out of her skin.
She instantly leapt backward and only dropped to one knee outside the doorway.
"Eta-sama, the experimental materials Zeta-sama asked me to deliver have already been placed in the basement.
Additionally, because this batch of materials must be kept hidden from Alpha-sama, Zeta-sama hopes Eta-sama will use them up as soon as possible."
"Mm. Tell Zeta I understand."
Eta replied in the same lazy tone.
Victoria quietly let out a sigh of relief and stood up, preparing to leave and report back to Zeta-sama.
"Wait."
The breath she had just released instantly caught in her throat.
Halfway through turning around, she suddenly felt a sharp gaze fixed on her.
At some point, Eta had turned around. Her half-lidded eyes were now slightly open.
"Yes, Eta-sama. The item you asked me to deliver to Shadow-sama has been successfully handed over. Shadow-sama said he liked it very much."
The moment Victoria finished speaking, the gaze on her suddenly became extremely heavy.
It was not the pressure of strength.
According to the strength rankings of the New World, Victoria was A+. If she tried to escape, Eta, who was S-, would not be able to stop her.
Even though this was Eta's territory, unless Victoria were instantly killed, any disturbance would quickly attract the other Seven Shadows.
This was purely psychological pressure.
Victoria knew very well that although Eta was the most recent member to join the Seven Shadows, she was also the most terrifying one.
Offending the other Seven Shadows might earn you punishment, but you could survive and try again later.
Offend this one, however, and you would receive a one-day trip to the laboratory.
Every member who had experienced it treated Eta with extreme respect afterward, terrified of making another mistake and ending up there again.
"Then... did you look at what was inside?"
The voice carried no emotion whatsoever.
Hearing it, Victoria's pupils trembled.
Fortunately, she was bowing her head, so Eta could not see her eyes.
"I would not dare."
Where Victoria could not see, Eta's pale violet eyes had fully opened, staring at her coldly.
After a long moment, Eta turned away again and returned to her previous lazy posture.
"You may leave."
After Victoria departed, Eta lay back down on the desk and looked at a photograph.
It was a picture of herself and Cid.
"Master..."