AN: I'm BACK! Tears of the Kingdom kinda ate up my time. Plus family, weddings, helping people, work. Nothing negative. A couple positive things took up my time. On the mobile game Master of Garden the guild I'm in got 3rd place in the Armageddon event. Although I do need to work out more, I'm back over 200 pounds and I need to get that number down.

Update should come faster next time, as I had trouble figuring out what I was going to do for this chapter. Next one should come out faster.

Also! Someone made a TvTropes page for this fic! Thank you internet strangers!


Cid was being dragged by Alexia, he wasn't sure where. They just watched Po get some well deserved and funny punishment. Hopefully he would get a chance to do more mob activities and properly blend into the background. To be a real normie!

Alexia made that difficult. "Where are you taking me?"

"Stop complaining Pooch, this will help you."

"Are we at least close?" Cid groused.

"We are here." Alexia said as she slammed open a set of doors. "I'm sorry we're late!"

"Alexia, sit down." Cid did not belong here. This was definitely a main character situation right now.

Cid glanced over to the table and saw an artifact sitting between Princess Iris and some pink haired girl that radiated Major Character vibes. The artifact had a single gem. "Is that in code?"

"Cid, we should leave this to the expert." Iris said. Cid froze, he didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Well, yes, it is." The pink haired girl said. This was bad, he didn't want them to think he was smart! That made him too important! "You can see here, these four runes next to each other, they don't really work together. The real question is what kind of code is it?"

"Cid, do you know the runic script?" This was bad, Alexia was asking questions. He still didn't know why he was here.

"It was a lucky guess, I studied it a little bit." Cid had spent a lot of time studying runic script trying to understand what Shadow Garden was doing, and even longer breaking their constantly changing codes.

"Sherry, this is a good opportunity for you. You should give it a try and work with the young man." The Academy's Assistant Principal said. Cid really should have noticed him earlier. It was also kinda weird how the principal was looking at him.

"Me?" Did they think he was a researcher?

"Assistant Principal Lutheran Barnett…"

"You can call me father you know," He nudged her gently. Cid hoped she would just call him father, it sounded a bit weird when she used both his title and full name.

"While I wasn't expecting Cid to know runic script, Sherry, we need your help." Princess Iris said. Cid looked away sheepishly. He really needed to be careful here, he could easily destroy his mob persona if he wasn't careful.

"Sherry, it's your time to go out into the world of professional research. Princess Iris's request will bring you closer to the bright future that's waiting for you."

"B-but… I'm not…"

"Don't I say it all the time? Have confidence. You are more than capable of doing this and you will have help." Lutheran rested a hand on her shoulder. Thankfully the focus was on Sherry, no one really cared about Cid anymore.

Sherry took a deep breath. "Fine, I'll do it…"

Iris handed over the artifact, "This artifact was recovered from a Cult. We only know that an organization called Shadow Garden opposes them. The Cult seems to be doing research on ancient civilizations, but we don't know the details. There must be a connection between the code and the ancient civilization."

Cid's eyes widened for a moment before he got himself under control. He was just dragged into the investigation of Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos! He was a bit annoyed at how this hurt his role as a mob, with how close he was forced to be with the Princess he couldn't blend into the background as well as he used to.

But now he could be a double agent. Sure it would make it hard to be a mob character in a school setting, but there were other mobs. He could blend into the background in the investigation. Some side character investigator picking up evidence that no one notices or cares about, secretly the leader of Shadow Garden!

"You came to the right person. Um… Cid, was it? Do you want a look?" he was interrupted from his musings by Sherry.

He wasn't sure why she wanted him to look, "Um, sure?" He walked over and glanced at the artifact. The runes were garbled nonsense, it was either code or someone wanted to look cool. He wouldn't even bother trying to decode it right now, he didn't want to risk looking too smart. Sherry was trying to not look like she was staring at his chocolate. "You can have one if you'd like."

Sherry quickly snatched one up and popped it in her mouth. She was ecstatic to have some. "Thank you."

Time to play the fool. "What am I supposed to see? I'm not a researcher."

"You aren't?"

"Alexia, did you even tell him what we're doing here?" Princess Iris sighed.

"I wanted to see what he could figure out about the artifact! Cid go stand with the knights." Princess Alexia groaned. This was perfect, the two knights were clearly side characters to this whole affair.

Cid moved to the other knights. "Alexia, send him away, we don't need him here. I only let him stay for as long as I did since he's definitely not with the Cult or Shadow Garden."

"Cid can help with the Crimson Order's investigation of the Cult and Shadow Garden!" Princess Alexia insisted. Cid needed to be a part of things, to be the background investigator and double agent.

"You need people watching the Academy, right? There's probably more at the Academy than just Zenon."

"That…" Iris looked pensive. He was a part of it. He might not get into the Crimson Order, but he got into the role of a side character rising in the ranks. Not a mob, but sometimes sacrifices need to be made to be an Eminence.

"Cid will be a great help!"

"Funding's limited, I can't pay you." She wanted free labor? This would suck, but he could suck some money out of this.

"I'll work for coffee and chocolate?" Cid tried to sound needy and pathetic. Also, no one sold that stuff other than Mitsugoshi. So he would still kinda get paid.

"It'll be dangerous."

"What's the worst that could happen? I get framed for kidnapping Alexia and you torture me? Again?" He needed to remind her that the Cid identity was already involved.

"...You…already are a part of this, aren't you? You can help with the research, let Alexia know if there's anyone suspicious. You are not in the order, but you can help." Iris relented. He was in.

"Great! Cid, we're going to Mitsugoshi to get your pay." Alexia was grinning. She was going to mooch off his treats!


Pooch getting paid in coffee and chocolate was great. Alexia could just creatively interpret it as any Mitsugoshi goods and have Pooch basically pay for a wonderful desert. They could even have him listed as an official Royal Servant, having the costs covered by the Treasury instead of the Crimson Order's funds. Alexia looked over to Pooch and saw some Mitsugoshi girl give him a new slice of chocolate cake with delicately sliced strawberries and some clear red sauce on it. "What's that one!"

"Mine." He took a bite. Alexia was about to glare, before one of the workers brought her her own slice. Her own servants weren't nearly as diligent as the staff at Mitsugoshi.

"Well, we need you to be a bigger part of the Crimson Knights, so I know what we can investigate." Alexia wanted him to have a bigger part in this, Cid needed to be more than some unknown researcher.

"Shouldn't I focus on the artifact?" He didn't even look up from his food.

"You can do more than that!"

"I probably can't?" Cid muttered as he enjoyed his cake.

"You got into Section One for the Royal Bushin!" She was right, of course she was right. He was speechless, just staring at her.

"You forced them to take me."

Now it was her turn to pause. Alexia forgot about that. Cid fit in pretty well with Section One, his stretches were good, and he was able to perform just under middling with the group if no one used magic. He was in one of the higher numbered Sections, there's no way he should have been anything other than the worst in terms of skill. "Well you should have been in a better numbered Section! You were obviously being lazy."

"Eh, too much work."

"Well we need to get you ready for the Crimson Knights! We need some kind of standard if we are going to convince Iris to make you a real member! I even have something simple you can help with."

"That's probably a bad idea, we should focus on the artifact. If it's valuable the Cult will target it."

"We need more! Don't worry, this will work out! Just trust me, it will all be fine after tonight." She could deal with the slasher problem. It seems that there were some criminals calling themselves Shadow Garden killing people. She could easily deal with it and share the credit to help Pooch out.

"Are you really doing this? You were kidnapped recently. With me. Do you want me to be blamed for your kidnapping, again?"

"My sister wouldn't make that mistake twice!" Cid did not look convinced. If Alexia was being fair, she wasn't convinced either.

"What are you dragging me to look at?" He groaned.


Nu couldn't help but resent Princess Alexia. Enjoying a series of deserts with Lord Shadow. It would be far more appropriate for someone proper and worthy to do that with him. She held no illusions that she wasn't worthy, but she was certainly worth more than Alexia. According to Lady Alpha he didn't even like the Princess. Really, it made the Princess quite the pitiable person.

She came by the table and took his plate and napkin. Lord Shadow was preparing to leave with the Princess. It was getting late. Nu forced the ugly jealousy festering in her, as she watched the Princess grab Lord Shadow and drag him out of Mitsugoshi.

Then Nu saw it. On the folded napkin, a reverse alphabet cipher. Simple, as was the message on it. She immediately left and followed Lord Shadow and the Princess.

The message was astonishingly simple, to follow them and ensure nothing gets close to them. Nu didn't bother getting close enough to hear them. She needed to be unseen. Also, there was no reason to exasperate her own jealousy. It was simply foolish to envy the Princess when Lord Shadow didn't even like her. Even if it was unfair that someone so pathetic got the honor of eating with Lord Shadow. Or walking with Lord Shadow. She had the audacity to hold his hand.

Nu changed the flow of her magic in the slime, and her clothes changed into her black uniform for Shadow Garden. While she had a uniform for Mitsugoshi made of normal cloth, she had made sure to utilize the slime when Lord Shadow came. Now it was saving her vital seconds to carry out Lord Shadow's will.

She left Mitsugoshi alone, she was certain she could handle it herself. Nu kept a safe distance, observing Lord Shadow and the Princess. For some reason they weren't going toward the Spellsword Academy. The Princess was just dragging Lord Shadow around, she had no clue where they were going. There didn't seem to be any clear destination.

Occasionally they would stop, the Princess would look around, and Lord Shadow would look annoyed. It would be so easy to eliminate that annoyance, but she couldn't do that. Lord Shadow must have a point and purpose for keeping the Princess around.

She kept following them, when she finally noticed something. 3 men were moving in on Lord Shadow and the Princess, and they were wearing a poorly made parody of Shadow Garden's slime suits. They weren't even made of slime.

Now she understood. The Princess was bait. She didn't even get the luxury of knowing that she was bait.

Nu leapt down, landing on the leading imposter. She sharpened the slime making her heels so she could puncture this trash's skull.

"We are the Shadow Garden." The remaining men droned out.

"What's your purpose?" She asked, however she wasn't optimistic about the answer.

"We are Shadow Garden." They both droned out.

"3rd Children," under the experiments the Cult did, 3rd Children came out the worst, their minds almost entirely gone. At times a few were capable of some rudimentary dialogue, but ultimately they were power without any direction. For many people that power would be enough to stop them, but any woman who underwent Lady Lambda's training should be able to easily handle a few on their own. Their leader was likely the one she landed on, probably a 2nd Child or an impossibly high-functioning 3rd Child.

Well, one to capture for Lady Eta, and one to make an example of.


Cid was making his way to Sherry's lab with an ice chest. Everything has fallen into a consistent pattern. Helping Sherry with her research, being dragged around by Alexia, spending Alexia and Iris's money at Mitsugoshi, and blending into the scenery for the rest of his school days like a proper mob character. He even got to learn about the Crimson Order, which admittedly wasn't much. They only had 8 members, 10 if you included Alexia and Iris, 11 if you counted Cid.

The Crimson Order had most of its Knights investigating something called "The Ebony Incident." Most of his time was spent with the Eye of Avarice. He was able to decipher the artifact's purpose and use. It turned out that some of the symbols and runes covered subjects he already looked into while trying to figure out what exactly Shadow Garden was doing. It made it exceedingly easy to nudge Sherry to deadends.

It also helped that the deadends provided good loredumps that he could use for his role as an Eminence. Afterall he needed to at least look like he knew more than everyone around him. If he actually did know more, that was just a bonus.

Cid kicked open the door to the lab, with Marco sparing him only a sigh. Alexia wasn't here yet, and it seems Glen wasn't here either. Principal Lutheran was sitting at a desk, handling what appeared to be some administrative work. Sherry was in the corner, reading a Velgatan book on ancient symbols and their meaning. It was a great deadend to push her towards since Cid was pretty sure the symbols were Alexandrian, and that ancient city was in the east according to myth while Velgata was far to the north west. Velgata also still existed, while Alexandria was a dead civilization.

Also, the book was interesting which was also needed for a good distraction.

"Cid, it's great to see you." Lutheran greeted him, he was usually the first to do so. There was a very slight warble to his voice, probably from the lung disease he was suffering from. Cid was pretty sure it was a type of tuberculosis. The Principal was actually good at using magic to lessen the effects of it, probably why he was able to suffer from it for a long time instead of dying.

"So Cid, what did you bring this time?" Marco greeted him with a grin.

"Mitsugoshi's newest treat, they aren't selling it yet, snowcones." This was another part of his work, as he knew Mitsugoshi was his, he could introduce things he wanted and make money off it. He really wanted some ice cream, and he was getting things set up to cheaply produce ice cream. For now, he had to settle for snowcones.

Cid opened the ice chest, revealing a pile of snow, paper cones, and two bottles of flavoring he had, strawberry and lemon. Considering that this is the first time they made any of this, he was glad he had multiple flavors. Although he was a little sad that Mitsugoshi couldn't prepare cherry or grape flavors first. Those two were the true basic flavors for shaved ice.

Cid made a couple snowcones, and drizzled the two flavors on it, each taking one half. "Mitsugoshi made a new product and wanted Princess Alexia to be the first to try it, but since she's not here, you can have the first one."

"I appreciate it, Cid." Marco grinned as he took the treat. He liked food, and it was pretty easy to catch him snacking. He had a few maids who came by to deliver treats and flirt a bit. He didn't notice that they were flirting with him, obviously. He was definitely the harem protagonist of another story, and he was glad to avoid most of it. Cid would much rather be a mob in anything but a harem story. Harems were lame.

Really, how could anyone miss multiple women flirting with them. The maids flirting with Marco weren't even subtle. There were also a couple women of rank who were flirting with him, and he was just oblivious to it or was really good at pretending to not notice.

Cid walked over to Principal Lutheran. "You get the second, Principal."

"Me? Not Sherry?" He was teasing, which Cid easily ignored.

"I'll distract her later." Didn't even have to lie.

Sherry let out a contented sigh as she closed her book, a sure sign that she finished it. Cid pulled out the next distraction he grabbed from the library, a copy of Theophrastus Aurelius's "Alchemic Composition's Effect on Mana Flow." While it was more useful than the last dead end, it should keep her occupied. He also had eight other books ready to distract her. She read things way too quickly, it was a bit difficult to keep up. He had to make sure she didn't figure it out. If Sherry actually figured out how the Eye of Avarice worked, it would be way less impressive when Shadow revealed vital information about it.

"C-Cid! You're here?"

Cid got a snowcone ready for her, only strawberry for Sherry. She wouldn't like lemon flavor, way too sour. "Yep, and Mitsugoshi had some new treats."

Cid walked to her, giving her a treat and her new distraction. "Th-thank you Cid." She took a bite of her treat, her eyes widening. "This is great, it's sweet and fluffy!."

Cid went over to the couch, sat back, made himself a snowcone, pretended to read a book, and started doing some basic magic practice that would also prevent brain freeze. A good mob act, a servant bringing food to the major characters.

Then Sherry started rubbing her head, and went "kiiii" in pain. She had some brain freeze. Cid glanced at the others. Lutheran seemed to be suffering in silence, while Marco was eating slowly enough to avoid it.

Then the doors were slammed open. "Cid! We heard you got stuff from Mitsugoshi!" Skel and Po arrived. Sherry jumped, hiding herself and her treat behind her latest distraction, her twist of hair sticking over it.

"You two shouldn't be here." It was a bit difficult for Marco to be intimidating with a snowcone in hand.

"It's no trouble, so long as they are quiet." The Principal waved them in.

"Right, sorry Principal Lutheran." Po bowed.

Cid sighed, already preparing two more snowcones. "I assume you two are here to mooch?"

"No!" Skel exclaimed. Cid just shot him a look as he gave both a snowcone. "Well, it is a bonus that we don't have to wait in line for the latest thing."

That was fair, the line was 3 hours long for everyone else. However Shadow doesn't have to wait, nor does Alexia's servant sent to fetch her the latest thing.

"We actually came here to get Cid to see who he's going to fight in the Bushin festival." Po explained.

Cid stared at the two as they ate far too quickly. "I didn't sign up for it."

"I know! You forgot so I signed up for you! Show me your gratitude!" Skel announced, like it was something to be proud of.

Cid had to hold himself back. Soon Skel would get brain freeze, and that would be the perfect time to smack him in the head faster than anyone could see.


Iris was annoyed. The slasher problem had been dealt with, however not by her people. They found two bodies, one killed quickly and cleanly, the other tortured slowly to death. That was all they knew.

Over a week of investigation and all they had to show for it was what methods were used for torturing one of them. They didn't even have names. However the torture was nightmarish and precise, to say the least. Every bone was snapped in half. Perfectly in half. From his skull to his toes every bone was broken at the exact halfway point. Iris still had trouble believing that anyone would be that exact in their cruelty.

Also, it was important to note that written in the slasher's blood was a message. "THE PATH OF FOOLS."

Still, the victims were mass murderers, and the slashings have stopped. Objectively, her people were safer. However when someone is killed in such a way it is clearly meant to send a message. That, unfortunately, meant that the slashers were a part of something bigger. Why else would anyone send such an extreme message?

On top of that, she didn't know who the slashers were. They claimed allegiance to Shadow Garden, but no ties could be found. No friends, no family, no name. No leads. It was like these people didn't actually exist. For all she knew they weren't actually Shadow Garden, but the Cult pretending to divert her investigation, or just a diversion from other investigations.

It didn't help that Alexia went out searching for the slashers the night they found the bodies. It made her shudder when she realized that slashers were found dead on the path that Alexia had taken. It was either sheer dumb luck that they didn't attack her, or someone rescued her again.

"I could go-"

"No." She would ensure that Alexia was watched. Watched by more than just Cid Kageno, as he clearly would do nothing to stop her. He let her go hunting mass murderers and everyone still remembered that he was falsely accused of kidnapping. Since she had no one to assign to her, Iris would keep an eye on Alexia.

"Well I want to do more than follow you around."

"We'll find more for you to do. However, I won't leave you exposed." Really, was it so difficult for Alexia to understand that she wanted her to be safe?

Iris looked back at her little sister, an adorable scowl covering her face. She probably would have run off somewhere else if they weren't going to check up on Sherry. Cid was either working there or spending some of the royal coffers at Mitsugoshi. Thankfully she was able to preserve the money she saved for the Crimson Order. It still annoyed her that her father King Klaus wasn't helping fund her investigation.

Technically Cid was being paid by the Royal Family to handle the purchases at Mitsugoshi and bring her what she wanted from there. However, she was using Cid's pay to help fund the Crimson Order, and Cid got everything he wanted from Mitsugoshi. Sure it was corrupt, but Cid was spending more than he would have been paid. Many times more than he would have been paid.

"AAAAHHHHH!" An agonizing scream came from the lab. Iris's heart started racing, and time seemed to slow down. She charged toward the lab.

What was happening? Who was attacking them? The Cult or Shadow Garden? Could this give them a new lead? She needed to keep Sherry safe, she was the expert. Cid was important too, he kept Sherry happy and he was Alexia's friend. Marco should be there for his shift, but with that scream he must have been disabled. Marco would never let anything happen without a fight. Glen should be close, he would be moving in too. The door was open. She could see inside. Sherry looked to be okay.

She looked baffled.

Iris stepped in, sword in hand. Some skeletal student was holding his head groaning in pain.

"Really Skel? My head aches too, but it really isn't that bad." The shorter student says, taking a bite of what is certainly some Mitsugoshi treat.

"Princess! There's no issue here." Marco announced.

"P-p-p-pwin-c-ce-cess!" The short student stuttered. He started shoving the one on the floor, clearly trying to get him to stop groaning in pain.

Cid stepped over the groaning student, carrying some cones with a colored ball on them. It was half yellow and half red. "Mitsugoshi wanted you two to try their new treat, snowcones."

"Who are those two, and why are they here?" They couldn't have random idiots in here.

"Po and Skel, they wanted to mooch Mitsugoshi treats and apparently Skel signed me up for the Bushin festival without telling me."

"Good, you should be able to give a passable showing." Alexia strode in, grabbing one of the new treats, a snowcone.

"I don't want to, I didn't even sign up. I'm busy!"

Alexia started pestering Cid, while the two students clearly didn't belong, one still on the ground groaning and gripping his head. It was tiresome and distracting. "Marco, get these two out of here."

"Yes Princess!" Marco came forward, depositing the empty cone on the table. He was dragging the two out. "Let's go you two. What's wrong with him?"

Iris let out a sigh. Alexia was pestering her friend about the Bushin festival. Not like it mattered, it was tomorrow. Unless he was injured he wasn't quitting. Today was going to be a long day.

She grabbed her own snowcone that Cid had prepared. "Sherry, any progress?" She took a taste of her new treat…

…Maybe today wouldn't be so bad.


Lutheran looked down on the student's fighting in their pretend Bushin Festival. All that really mattered here was first place, as they would get to participate in the Bushin Festival Tournament in a few months. A tournament that mattered, that he had become a Champion in, before illness waylaid him.

There had been a few fights, all irrelevant. He didn't even get to enjoy skilled fights. They were all mediocre kids. The two boys who barged into the lab had already been beaten. Humiliating defeats too, with the Skel boy being absolutely crushed by Claire Kageno.

Claire Kageno. She was talented, had pretty powerful magic. She was good. Not great, just good. She couldn't hold a candle to what Lutheran could do when he became Champion. Still, her movements were highly efficient, with very little waste. It was safe to say she was more skilled than he was at that age, but he would have been stronger and faster.

Now, however, most of his efforts were focused on his lungs, channeling magic to keep them functioning and maintaining their health. His body was so much weaker now. He could still put up a good fight, but it would be short. Taking focus away from his lungs to fight would be taxing, to say the least.

Still, things were proceeding well for him. He finally had the Eye of Avarice again. It had been taken by that young fool Zenon. He didn't even understand what it was, what it could do.

It was unfortunate that research was stalled, but he couldn't wait for perfection. He had thought that the Asset could do it, but it wasn't as competent as its mother. Still, enough progress was made that they could go forward with the plan. If the Eye could do even half of what he understood, he could be healed. More than healed, he could be ascendant.

Really, none of these children mattered. They were all going to die soon. He didn't even consider going to watch this parody of the Bushin Festival Tournament until yesterday. But now it was finally time to see the boy fight.

He was going up against Rose Oriana. She was the favored participant to win. In fact, based on what he had seen so far, the finals today would likely be Rose fighting Claire Kageno. It was a bit of an aberration for the Princess of the Oriana Kingdom to embrace a violent art like swordplay. Those fools likely didn't even consider swordplay an "art." Still she was actually skilled, so this might be useful.

Cid Kageno went into the arena. That was why Lutheran chose to watch this farce. When he brought that treat he hit Skel on the head. It was obscenely fast, he wasn't sure if it had actually happened. He could have just been seeing things, maybe that Skel kid really was pathetic enough to be brought to his knees in agony from a frozen treat.

He actually seemed pathetic enough for that.

Rose charged forward. It was time to see if it was real. Was Cid actually talented? Rose struck out with a controlled and precise slash.

He was thrown into the air, spinning and spraying blood into a veritable tornado. It was a bit disappointing.

Cid must not have hit Skel over the head. Skel was actually just that pathetic. He shouldn't have come here, such a waste of time.

"Cid's back up!" The Asset cheered.

He looked back to the fight. She got a really good hit on him, how was he back up? Cid was bloodied, from a glance he didn't look like he should be up. It did look fairly impressive, a blood soaked warrior ready to fight.

He was hit again, sent flying ass over head, spewing blood along the way. Then he got up, spit up blood, and tried again. He was knocked back, flying through the air and spraying blood out.

And he got up again.

Lutheran needed to know what was happening. He loosened some of his magic from his lungs, the dull ache growing. He fought back his cough, focusing his magic. Instead of only strengthening his lungs, he strengthened everything, but put most of the effort into his eyes.

Cid went in to attack, Rose struck at him. She didn't hit him. He jumped back, twisting and spinning. Blood spewed from where she would have hit him, but there was no wound.

What was he watching?


AN: This took me way too long to write. I'll try to get the next one out faster, I have fewer distractions. Anyway, I hope that was a good ending. Personally I don't really like this chapter, I wanted to do more, but it didn't really fit. Also didn't find a good spot for a Sherry or Rose perspective. I'll have a lot of chances for that later, most of this chapter is set up.