Cid was in despair.

He did everything he could to make sure his mob persona would be convincing enough so no one would be suspicious of him.

And it was working, to a certain extent. Even the attention he got from princesses only made everyone else look at him, but nobody thought that he was some kind of a powerhouse.

That is, until his sister came in picture.

Somehow, out of nowhere, God only knows why, Claire decided that him being way too average was kinda suspicious, so she decided to investigate everything on her own and came to realize that he's way stronger that he paints himself to be.

And now they are sitting at Mitsugoshi. Him, Claire, and Alpha.

"Well, that's some nice store your girls made, huh?" his sister sent him a judging look.

"Yeah."

"And I am pre-e-etty sure that they have absolutely no hidden goals behind giving you all of this."

"Yeah."

"And of course, you will date me."

"Hell no."

"Tsk…"

As he was saying, she practically forced herself into his tet-a-tet meeting with Alpha. And now she was even stealing his cookies! Thankfully Gamma was giving him sweets for free, else he would go bankprupt…

"So, when were you gonna tell me that you saved a whole bunch of women that now go around with you every time you need something from them?"

"Hm…" that's good question, actually, "at least two to three years, I think?"

"Roughly the time when you're coming of age, huh…" Claire nodded, "And you did, in fact, cure me of Possession?"

"…Oh, you mean these black dots from back then? Yeah, this too," damn, that's some good tea.

"And the knowledge about the cure is being suppressed…"

"Pretty much; I wondered why nobody else did it when it's that simple, then decided it was because of religion," he shrugged.

"Church?… Oh, right," she nodded at him in understanding.

And when he says "understanding", he is inclined to believe that she really understood him. Like, she spent whole childhood with him, and she knows how he thinks.

"And you… Ugh, how's your name again?"

"Miss Claire, even though you are Master Shadow's sister, I would still not tolerate your behavior," hey-hey, calm down! Your eyes are almost literally shooting lighting!

"Relax, Alpha, it's my sister after all."

"…As you say, Master Shadow…"

"Hmm…" Claire scrutinized elf, "what do you think of Cid?"

Now where did that come from?…

"Master Shadow is the person who saved me, saved us all. He gave us family, he made us a shelter, taught us everything that was needed for survival, how to fight, all out of his kindness. We owe everything to him, and we are endlessly grateful that he's with us," oi-oi, too much flattering!

"Now come on, Alpha…"

"Shut it, brother," Claire kept looking at elf… that has just reached boiling point.

"Excuse me, Miss Claire," Alpha stood up, "it doesn't matter to me what were you doing back then when you were not aware of Master Shadow's true prowess. However, now you continue to belittle him, and I will not stand for this. Even if he himself allows that, as his right hand, I find this behavior insulting."

Claire met First Shade's stare.

"Hmph," his sister suddenly smiled, "well, I think we will get along just fine."

"But only if you stop with your insults," Alpha pressed.

"I am not insulting him! I am just doing what every big sister does to her little brother!"

"Choking him, placing a collar on him, yanking him… Yes, very sisterly behavior."

"Well, you should know how handful he might be at times!!"

Alpha went silent.

"Alpha?" Cid asked in confusion as he ate another cookie.

"He's absolute buffoon that doesn't understand women hearts, right?" Claire looked at Alpha in understanding.

"…Indeed," elf sighed, "it took a lot of time to make our feelings known."

"…Hold up, our? Like, multiple women?" upon receiving a nod of confirmation Claire immediately turned around, "Ci-i-id…"

"For your information, I was not the one who proposed that. It was Alpha herself," he replied nonchalantly as he was munching on sweets.

Claire's head turned back.

"Indeed, I raised an idea of him having multiple women, because otherwise the seven of us would be at constant tug of war," Alpha calmly admitted.

"Seven?!" wow, his sister surely erupted here.

"Yes, seven. Do you have any problem with that, miss Claire?" First Shade smiled coldly.

"Oh, you bet I do, miss Alpha!" elf's smile died out, "While I live in worries about how would my brother fare without me, he's having a nice time with seven women at once! Oh, but wait, I think there was also princess of Midgar, princess of Oriana, hmmm, wait, that researcher girl, too!"

"…Your point may be valid, but that still doesn't mean anything, becau-"

"Silence."

Cid placed his now empty cup back on the plate as both women stared at him in shock.

"I think you both forget one small, insignificant, minuscule thing…" he rubbed his chin, "that being Cid Kagenou's opinion."

"Hold on, Cid-"

"Master Shadow, wait-"

"[Silence," both Claire and Alpha suddenly found themselves unable to form any words, "seems like you really forgot about it. While I do appreciate your worries about me, however from my perspective they might be unnecessary…" his eyes flashed purple, "I will not tolerate any discrepancies between someone dear to me. Am I clear on that?"

Both of them stared at him in shock.

"Man, I surely don't like forcing y'all, and usually go along with whatever you girls do," Cid leaned back on his chair as ability to speak returned to them, "but your hostility in what was supposed to be a friendly talk is unneeded. Talk nice or don't talk at all," he took another candy, "oh, Alpha, send my grats to Gamma; these sweets are something else."

Claire coughed in her hand, embarrassed.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, Cid, I guess I stepped out of the line…" she glanced at him, "but I would like to know how did it even come to this."

"Oh, well, I found Alpha back then in her blob form, noticed that her condition was kinda similar to my own, and after a month of experiments boom! Blob became a girl. Then she rolled with me, one thing after another, and suddenly I have a bunch of girls that need home, food, and companionship. Gave them all some lessons and let them be on their way. Fastforward two years, now one is successful writer, another is pianist, third has an economic gigant under her sleeve… Well, they all are insanely talented honestly. I myself was surprised at their success."

"Yeah, and that comes to them being your lovers, how?…" Claire inquired.

"Oh, it was quite sudden for me as well… Alpha decided that it would be cool for my Shadow persona to create harem, and since all other Shades — that's what we call the first seven girls I saved by the way, — right, all other Shades agreed to that so I thought to roll with it. Then I realized that it was simply Alpha taking advantage of my love for cool things so they could sneak in my life as lovers…"

Claire simply looked at elf in pity.

"I can't believe that someone as brilliant as my brother is that bad at picking up hints…" she covered her face in shame.

"It's alright, miss Claire," Alpha sighed, "at least we have managed to get it into him…"

"Oh, by the way, brother…" Claire suddenly realized something, "if you were actually this strong the whole time, why did you allow yourself to get tortured?"

"Oh, you mean Alexia kidnapping? I didn't lie that time, they didn't even manage to scratch me; in truth I was simply having a bit of fun and listening to what they got; he-he, they didn't expect that a seemingly average mob was the Eminence in Shadows!…"

Claire exchanged glances with Alpha as excited Cid started talking about everything he got to experinece up to this point.

"…Well, and that's how we got there! Oh, but it seems you wanna get some girls time, so I'm gonna check up on… Important things, yeah. Hope you don't get into another fight while I am away, cya."

And with that he went out of the room.

The next moment Alpha slumped down.

"Miss Alpha?" Claire felt her hands shaking.

"This is the first time I actually witnessed him being angry at me… There was no time when he was as much as disappointed…" poor elf's face was pale.

"Y-Yeah, but it's fine; he was simply worried about whether we would get along or not. It's fine, moreover I pushed you a bit there," elder Kagenou soothed First Shade.

"…Thank you, Miss Kagenou," Alpha sighed, "I hope you are correct. I would never wish for him to be disappointed with me…"

"…Same," Claire sulked.

Silence.

"Hmm, so you are saying you're in relationship with him… how is it?"

"He's really loving and careful. He also usually allows us to rule over him a bit, even though it may come off as overly clingy and possessive, when it's just us. He also diligently tries to do everything he can to make sure we won't feel left out…" Alpha smiled happily.

"Boo… and he just tries to ignore me every time we meet…" Claire pouted.

"He doesn't like when you are too controlling," elf shook her head, "He will listen to you if it's something small or you provide good argument, but otherwise you barely can expect him to make a promise."

"Hmph, but I am the big sister here! He should listen to me!…"

Silence.

"…It was scary, yeah? When we couldn't speak…"

"I do know that with enough magic it's possible to overwhelm someone to the point they wouldn't be able to fight back… But I never saw anyone become mute because someone merely wished for that…" Alpha trembled, "Master Shadow is awesome… I never saw someone so terrifying at the field of combat and magic research… But he is also absolutely willing to do anything it takes to go even further, even if at the cost of his own health…"

"Wait. Elaborate?" Claire peered.

"He used an analogue of Curse of Diabolos on himself in order to increase his magic power. And Curse of Diabolos is also known as Demonic Possession."

"…Honestly, I expected that."

"…Miss Kagenou?"

"I have long knew that my brother is abnormal, Alpha," Claire dropped honorifics, "everything you tell me simply proves I was right the whole time. Moreover, ever since realizing his true potential I wholeheartedly trust my brother in, well, almost everything."

"Oh? What don't you trust him with?" Alpha was curious.

"Women."

It took a second for Alpha to realize what her beloved's sister said.

Soon the room was filled with feminine laugh.


"Hmm, it looks like they made peace," Cid was smiling as he listened to sound transmission, "Good for them, good for them."

He used air magic to transfer the sounds from the room to himself. It was hard, yeah, and at first quality was complete dogshit, but he took this challenge nonetheless. It was only by the end of their talk he could get somewhat good quality, only to realize they already got good with each other. Well, that's great, he doesn't need to worry about their fallout. His sister might shake him later, though… And he doesn't even want to know what will Alpha do to him, together with other Shades… Especially about him muting them all of sudden. Eh, he wanted to use that one on his opponents though, that would be way cooler…

Oh, speaking of magic!

"I finally got my hands on you," he gently caressed the book.

That's right, he took some Ancient Runes and Language books from Sherry's library. Finally he can have a look at what somewhat proper magic looked like back then!

He will find a quiet place and conduct some experiments. Right, that's the thing he should do right now. It's almost night, so he will return to the girls… In the morning. Or maybe a bit later. Next morning? Well, he did leave a proper letter this time, even pointed out where he will be if they need him, so it's fine!

Magic will not research itself!

He needs more… Power!