This chapter contains lots of references: some extremely obvious, some deep hidden. Can you catch them all?

Next chapter is Aurora meeting, yay!


"Hm, looks like we've arrived."

Finally!

After four days of being with Rose and Alexia he was this close to just jumping off and going on his own.

Each time they made a stop, these princesses ran to him and tried to take him with them on… a stroll, he thinks? In short, they wanted to spend time with him. Preferably alone, but he was too lazy to do it one-on-one so he just took both of them. Iris only chuckled at his predicament.

At least he found some cool things about magic and its interactions with the world. Further experiments showed that with his level of control he can forcibly take away kinetic energy of something, and when he says kinetic, he means both the ability to affect its heat and the ability to stop something; he learned it when he found some bandit group deep at night (R.I.P. in peace, unnamed thugs) and tried his brand new skill on them. Needless to say, even Cid himself was surprised when sword couldn't even scratch his wooden stick. On further thought, he realized that when one thing hits another, they release energy on each other, and he completely took away the energy behind thug's strike, thus rendering the attack useless.

However, things were not as great as they sounded: indeed, he could take away the energy behind any inanimate object such as coffee, sword, even air itself, but he could not do so with living beings, or rather, it was very hard to pull off, and the factor behind that, as Cid thought, was sentience. The more self-aware the living being was, the harder it resists his Energy Drain. Moreover, should living being inject their mana into inanimate object, and that object will receive a grade of resistance against his skill, though to a way less degree that the living being itself. Thank you for contributions in science, bandit group, your names shall never be forgotten… Uh, who were they again?

Oh, he also tried to inject his mana into dead bodies, but… they combusted.

After that he simply relaxed for the two remaining days; he still needed to take breaks. Like, sure, he was very well invested in magic, but he remembered from previous life what happens when you take your goals way too far (he only took shower because else it would put his mob personality at risk), moreover Alpha would surely need valerian if she found out he managed to go deep in research even under such circumstances.

"…Hey, Cid, what do you think about Natsume Kafka?" Rose's voice took him out from his thoughts.

"Who's that?"

"Hah, told you," Alexia smirked, "Not everyone reads things like these, princess Rose."

"W-Well, she's still a great author!" Rose fiercely defended her favourite writer, "The way she writes is simply perfect! The romantic moments, the action, the horror… She excels in all fields!"

"Hoh?" well, now that's curious… "Count me interested, Rose."

"I knew you would agree!" she beamed, "Let's go! She is in Lindwurm right now, too! It's a great chance for you to meet her!"

"Tch, whatever, I am going with you," Alexia clicked.

"Then I shall go and prepare a place to stay. I wish you a good tour," Iris nodded and went on her way.

"Great! Follow me, I know where she is!"


"Romeo and Julieta", "Dragonball", "Snow White"…

You know, there are two options.

First: someone other reincarnated with Cid and brought all these books from Earth.

Second: a certain silver-haired female elf heard stories that he told her and decided to adapt them into this world just like Gamma and Epsilon.

Guess which turned out to be true?

"Welcome, sir," 'Natsume Kafka', or, as Cid knows her, Beta, warmly greeted him, "is there anything you wish for?

"Hmm, a book, maybe?…"

Beta only nodded gently and took out a pen to give him an autograph.

"How it's going? Anything you wrote on your own?" he whispered.

"Mhm, I knew you would ask this, so the ones that were created by me personally are on the other side," she whispered back.

Oh, right, there is another stack, and he doesn't recognize any of them. Well, guess that's a pass in his book (pun intended).

"By the way, Lord Shadow," she leaned in as he looked through the books, "Please check right under the autograph; I wrote out all important information about the event here, in Ancient Language."

"Oh?… Thank you, Beta, that would help me tremendously," he smiled.

"Glad to be of help, my Lord," she beamed.

Cid quickly looked at the signed book and noticed that there was, indeed, lots of interesting info.

"Alright, after everything is over consider you got a personal hour," he decided to give out a reward.

"…Thank you, my Lord!" he could practically see her shining.

"Hmm, right… Wait, what are these two books?" these two were unlike anything else in the shop…

"Oh, Eta found them during ruin restoration, right one near the other… We couldn't even try to decipher the language as it is completely different from anything we have seen before," Beta sulked.

"Hm…"

Right, the language is indeed different… Wait, hold on… Isn't that… Russian? Fuck, he did not learn that one deep enough, he always read their classics in English…

The title of the first one is… Damn, he can't even read that one properly because of handwriting… Uh, something like 'Oderjim-' nah, to hell with it.

The second one with printed letters is way easier to read… Hmm, 'Neudachnii Vibor'? 'Bad Choice'? Oh, it also has english words, why? 'Made in H.X.', now what does that even mean?

"Sorry, Beta, I can't do anything about these two, either," he sighed.

"It's fine, Eta already estimated that it should've been something to pass the time, like romance or action novels," elf smiled at him.

"Well, if she says that, I am inclined to believe her…" Cid placed the book back.

"Right, as an established author I have a lot of connections. If you ever need something, don't hesitate to ask me," her glasses made a flare.

"M-m-m, sure," he started walking away.

At the some point, he turned around to take one last look at the strange books.

They were nowhere to be seen.

'Guess Beta took them away,' he shrugged.


"Well, Cid, how was it?" Rose asked him with shining eyes.

"Honestly, great. I had lower expectations, but was genuinely surprised," Cid honestly answered.

Seems like Beta isn't full-on plagiarist, after all. To be honest, it was somewhat his fault for giving them all in the first place, but eh, let's not think about it.

"I knew you would like it!" she smiled warmly.

"Tch, it's definitely not because of these things in her chest area…" Alexia hissed. He didn't know she could hiss.

Though, to be fair, Beta's breasts are definitely very well developed for someone of her age. And, unlike some other people, she did not use magic to affect their growth…

"Cid? You are not thinking about that, do you?" now Rose went worried, too.

"Nah, it's just the upcoming Trial," he lied as naturally as he breathed.

"Oh, you want to participate? I can sign you in!"

"Please don't, I had enough on my share already."

"If you say so…"


"Hm, hm, hm…" Cid hummed.

Remember his thoughts about shower? Well, turns out there was a hot spring, and he wanted to try it out.

He waited for the next day and went in the early morning to make sure there was no one. Well, his plan somewhat failed, as there were two women in the hot spring: princess of Midgar and princess of Oriana. Did he care? Somewhat, but his wish for a good bath was stronger, so he went in.

"H-How lewd…" poor Rose, probably first time ever being in a bath with a man.

"Ahem! So how is your day, Cid?" Alexia was way less shocked.

"Oh, pretty great so far," he drank a small piala of cold tea with closed eyes, "it's been a long time I visited the hot springs…"

"'Long time?' They were created by Mitsugoshi half of year ago," Alexia sneered, "next thing you tell us is you're friends with President of that company, writer Natsume Kafka, architect Lloyd Wright, and composer Shiron."

"…Damn," he took another sip.

"Thought so."

He refilled his piala with closed eyes.

"Not even gonna peep?" Alexia inquired.

"Nah, not feeling that way. And I would greatly appreciate if both of you stop staring at me like that."

"Well, excuse me for checking out my boyfriend…"

"Uhm…" Rose was clearly feeling unwell, why did she go to hot springs if she has problems with health?

"Oh, maybe you wish to check out my Excalibur? If so, then it is for maidens' eyes only… Oh, right."

"Yes-yes, let me check out the goods!" Alexia practically shouted.

"E-Excuse me, I-I think I shall go…!" Rose, on the other hand, took her clothes and ran away.

"Ho-ho, you don't even know the challenge you have accepted!" and with that Cid stood up,

"Oh… Oh goddess… Well, that has to be some kind of bullshit…" Alexia whispered upon seeing his Legendary Flying Dragon.

"Hmph, you best not underestimate me in the future, lest you be surprised greatly."

"Bold words for someone who can't even beat me in a fight," she turned her gaze away, blushing.

"Thirty years east, thirty years west, do not underestimate the youth," that was idiom that he took from interesting books back when he was on Earth.

"Sounds smart, but is there any practical use for that?" she took a quick glance in his direction, blushing even harder.

"Who knows," he shrugged and slapped his towel in-between his legs, "Right, bye, Alexia. I am gonna chill for the whole remaining day, we'll meet tomorrow at the Trial."

"Hmph, yeah, have fun I guess."

He passed through the still shocked Rose standing at the door.

"Peeping is bad, princess Rose," yes, he knows that he shouldn't do that, but he couldn't resist this opportunity!

"Uhm…" she blushed even harder than Alexia, "S-Sorry…"

"Eh, if I didn't want to do that in front of you I wouldn't do it, that simple. Have fun, too."

"Uh, yeah…"


Sherry entered the room assigned to her in Shadow Garden.

She has just finished the last experiments with Eta. Their magic knowledge was way superior compared to the rest of the world, and as it turned out, most of that knowledge was created by Shadow himself, with Eta simply modifying and branching out from whatever he gave.

Shadow. Cid Kagenou. Her only moral anchor left in this world.

As she closed the door, she stared at the wall. The wall, full of pictures and articles with him. Looking through the window, fighting a dragon, sitting at the piano, cooking, without a shirt button, without shirt…

Sherry took out one of her priceless treasures: the student coat that he used to cover her back then. As she huffed the scent, bliss enveloped her entire being. She looked at the table; amongst stacks of papers, there was a photo. A photo of her and Cid, in the academy. Back when everything seemed simpler…

Sherry was lost in thought for a moment.

Cid needs her. He needs her help. He can't work on everything Eta told her about alone. And she's more than willing to offer it.

Then, maybe…

Sherry took out the life-sized plushie of him and stared at it with wide smile.

Maybe he will notice me in the other light~