Alpha woke up with a moan.

She wanted to overwhelm Cid a bit and force him to show his cute baffled side, but…

"Ghm-m-m…" she heard Beta's muffled noises.

Yes, somehow their Master still managed to push through, only faltering in the end to Eta. Speaking of morally ambiguous researchers…

"Hmm… yes… good results… hi-hi-hi~" Eta was busy trying to stand up to write everything down, but similar to all other Shades, she was unable to do so because of…

Alpha blushed.

Yes, events of yesterday left them all exhausted. Exhausted and with sore parts. She honestly didn't think it would turn out like this… Don't get her wrong, she knows of her Master combat prowess, but…

Combat prowess and bed prowess is not the same.

Yet he still showed them that whenever he wants it he's the one in charge.

Alpha tried to stand up and, just like everyone else, fell back down on the bed.

Alright, it seems like today she's not doing anything.

Even using magic did not help that much.

"Are you 100% sure it was safe?"

"Yes, now shut up and help me calculate the next set of runes."

Cid sighed and went back on making the spell package. You know, that one which would help Shades to go through pregnancy without troubles and give children a lot of good stuff? Yeah, that one.

Of course, he's not becoming father anytime soon (that's why he asked Hams if he was sure), so his sperm currently was… ineffective, so to say. And no, it would not harm Shades at all. If it did, he would be the first to hang Hams…

But yes, it would be better to prepare for children in advance to make sure they get best conditions and environment possible than to try and do everything on the fly. That's why they were currently finishing creating yet another tool.

And yes, finishing. This set of runes (both his language and Will Inscription, as always) was the last one.

After giving the finishing touch, Cid sighed in relief and prepared to venture out of Soul Space when he remembered one important thing…

"Hey, Hams?"

"Yes?"

"About tentacles-"

"It… might be possible, but…" Beast glanced at him, "I think for now you can settle for slime suit."

"Already tried out, absolutely did not feel the same," he sighed.

"What about merging with it and growing nerves?" Hamster took a thinking expression… and let Cid tell you: thinking hamster looks interesting, to say the least.

"Plausible, but…" a lightbulb, "No, wait, I got an idea! For later, of course, now I have to do something else…"

"Oh, right, this job."

Cid only nodded and went out of Soul Space.

"'Permission to allocate funds for Eta's research?' That's the third one in a row, denied."

Yeah, one humble Eminence was currently sitting in Mitsugoshi's office and doing Gamma's work. Well, he was the reason she couldn't manage to appear, right? He did a check-up on Shades, and apparently, they actually thought he did so great they couldn't even properly stand up… He had to bring them some food and drinks (and quickly disappear upon seeing their hungry gazes landing on him; he had a suspicion they would take him instead).

All in all, it did boost his ego; if they thought he did good then everything is pretty fine and there's no need to search for tentacles to attach right now.

"'Permission to allocate funds for Eta's research', again. Denied."

Does she really need that many? Like, if she really wanted, she could just make sure to create and use some renewable resources, right? What does even cost this much money?

Other than Eta's endless stream of money asking, though, there was a lot of interesting stuff. Like, how about Mitsugoshi's branch in Velgalta? Yeah, they really built a lot of stuff across the world. He couldn't be more proud of how much they had grown.

Oh, look here! Apparently while he was on Earth, girls made connections with Rose and now supply her country with lots of stuff! Awesome! Hmm, the amount of money they make surely is high…

Huh? What's that?

Cid slowly started reading about a brand new location. Apparently, there were some problems in place called Lawless City… Yeah, something that is called 'Lawless' is bound to bring problems. Hmm… Should he go check that out? Just in case?

Ah, who he's kidding! Of course he will go! Who knows, maybe he can set another stage for himself there all the while helping girls! Double profits!

Right, he just needs to prepare a good role and costume for himself… Where was his bucket list…

Akane made one last swing and looked over her new house in satisfaction.

Crowbar shone in excitement after being used as a tool for such amount of work. Honestly, Nishino herself was feeling great. With a couple of trees and a bunch of stone she managed to make a cool-looking house in less than a day. How? She doesn't know, either. What the eyes fear, the hands do.

And now she had quite a good house for herself! Already filled with furniture like beds, stove, tables… Lessons paid off, huh?

Doesn't mean she will not beat the shit out of Kageno after coming back.

Now she can go back to the city and check out what it can offer. What? The entry for her was forbidden? Who cares?

Oh, yeah, after practically threatening all the officials and making her way out through the battle she was disallowed to appear near the city, much less in the city itself. And, yeah, she did not care in the least. She didn't know why, if it was her before meeting with Kageno she would surely feel guilty, but now? Not a chance.

Why would she need to go to the city, though, if she can get everything she wants in the wild easily? Well, one thing is, she wants to see how a real Middle Ages city looks like in full (though it has magic, but anyway).

Two, maybe she can find something interesting here.

Oh, she also tried to take the gems out of the Legendary Weapons, but it needed a good minute of beating or so before she could do so, and then… Gems rejected each other.

Yeah, apparently her Shield gem rejected other gems. She had a feeling it was possible, but for some reason each time she tried to do so the weather started becoming cloudy and lightning appeared in the sky trying to target her. Not harmful, but annoying. Yeah, strange stuff. So for now she kept the Legendary Weapons and their gems on herself.

She didn't know what all other guys are gonna do, and honestly did not care that much. They pissed her off, they paid the price… Hum, she's slowly becoming as crazy as Kageno and his apostle, right?…

She stopped for a moment. Kageno had an apostle. That apostle was the most beautiful woman Akane had ever seen.

Her expression darkened. She suddenly wants to treat Geneva Convention as Checklist for one unassuming raven-haired boy…

Ahem, the city!

She finally appeared near the walls. And jumped over them, yeah. Who needs gates, anyway, right?

The city looked… somewhat clean. She had good education, of course, and she knew that medieval city would probably have a lot of messy places… And that's giving it the benefit of the doubt.

This one, however, looked surprisingly good. At least, it did until she went into the less rich parts of the city.

Hmm, who is that one behind her?…

"Young lady, it seems like you may need some help," some kind of strange man looked at her. She refuses to give him description because she wants to save her psyche.

"And what kind of help may you give, I wonder?" she played with her crowbar.

"Why, my products would surely interest you!" he turned around and signed to follow him.

And the longer they went, the worse her suspicions became.

Shock passed through her body as she looked at a row of cages.

"Yes, young lady, these are slaves! As you should know-"

Her vision covered in crimson.

When she came back to her senses, she was already near the house, with a big bunch of… wait, do they have animal features? How does she call them, then?

"So, you have animal ears…" she nodded, "And this one has scales…"

"Haven't your Ladyship heard of Demi-Humans?" muscular wolf guy cautiously inquired.

"I am not of this world, in case you didn't know," she nonchalantly replied, not noticing how hopeful their gazes became.

"Forgive me for asking, your Ladyship…" another (ex-)slave asked, "Are you the Legendary Hero?"

"Yeah, I was summoned with a Shield, though my crowbar made a short work out of it, so now-"

"It's the Shield Hero!" wolfman jumped up with a wide smile on his face.

"Lady Shield! Lady Shield!"

'Really?' Akane watched with apathy as the previously fearful and scared (ex-)slaves suddenly livened up and started chanting around her.

Mutant made yet another short work out of so called Players.

Absolutely useless bunch, if you ask him. Completely reliant on power of that parasite, Gamer, who only knows how to force-feed them with Faith until they bloat and become good cattle. Always a pleasure to remove one or two thousand as a morning procedure.

He watched his brother slowly ripping some kind of monster apart. Hmm, his sister is having fun picking flowers again? Alright.

Oh, there's someone who survived?

Player stood up with shaking legs. However, what piqued Mutant's interest the most was the fact that he could actually use magic.

"So, you did not rely on that System that much."

"I knew sooner or later I would need to be able to use my abilities on my own. And I was right."

Mutant nodded in respect. This guy will not be annihilated; Mutant will make sure to grant him a good reincarnation.

"You did well. I will not forget you for as long as I live."

"Huh-?"

Gigantic eye rammed at light speed into Player's body, completely obliterating it in the process.

"Pass on proud. You were strong."

After giving a moment of respect, Mutant once more concentrated on the feeling of that strange person who somehow heard him and agreed. He was coming closer to them…

"Hey, brother!" his cute adopted little sister jumped in front of him.

"Deviantt," he recognized her presence, his eye flaring purple.

"Who was that guy you killed just now? You seemed happy!" she asked innocently, her hilarious large hat tilting in the process.

Mutant stared for a moment.

"I don't know."

"Ah, thank you again, Mas- Cid," Alpha corrected herself after seeing his gaze.

Yeah, he came back to Shades to talk with them and bring them some food.

"Don't sweat it, Alpha, it's my fault you are unable to even stand up… Come to think of it, why did you refuse my offer to help you, again?"

"I… liked the feeling," her cheeks reddened.

He went silent for a moment.

"Uh… Alright, yeah, I am here to ask about something, actually," he took out the papers, "This Lawless City, what about it?"

"Hmm, we wish to have a branch here, but…" Gamma went silent.

"But since it's literally Lawless, it is quite hard to make deals here, I see…" he rubbed his chin.

Well, it's fine if he goes to have fun once in a while, right (common sense screamed that he already had fun literal few days ago, and few days before that, and before that…)?

That's why he prepared this!

"Wait a minute, my Shades!"

Right, costume, on! Mask, on! Cool gloves, on! Hairstyle, changed! Face, somewhat shifted! Done!

The door opened, and a tall man that was the definition of 'handsome' entered the room. He placed his right hand behind himself while his left fixed the mask on his smiling face.

"C-Cid?…"

"My, Zeta. You should know how important it is to maintain your secret identity. Please, call me…"

His hand suddenly reached for cat therianthrope's blushing face, lifting it by the chin.

"John Smith."

'Deviantt' is not a mistake. That's how it's written in Fargo.

Cid will do both Business and Vampire arc at once.