It had gone wrong.
As Cid watched the red-haired girl, Rias, talking with his older sister Claire, only one thought filled his mind.
Some Devils' servants make contracts with humans and strike deals. The terms are simple: the Devil grants the human what they desire, and the human gives the Devil what they possess.
Since Devils can only do what lies within their abilities, no matter how much they are offered, they cannot carry out anything beyond their power. Under normal circumstances, that means a human only needs to make a contract with a single Devil.
However, one person's value is not the same as another's. Take the world's top-tier powerhouses, for example. Their value could buy half of the Underworld. Of course, people like that have no reason to make contracts. Whatever they want, they can simply take for themselves. In practice, the market flips, and countless Devils would scramble to sign contracts with them.
The range of things a person can obtain through a contract with a Devil does not change just because there is one more Devil or one fewer. So there is no reason for someone to go out of their way to sign with an extra Devil. For ordinary Humans, when it comes to Devils, it is a seller's market.
So the question is this: what if one of the world's absolute top-tier powerhouses disguised himself as an ordinary person and signed a contract with a Devil? Every time he summoned a Devil, he would only ask for ordinary things, but in enormous quantities. Quantities that an ordinary person could never possibly provide in exchange.
To avoid revealing his identity, that powerhouse chooses to sign contracts with multiple Devils, using repeated transactions to gather enough in total. Could that deception work?
Of course it could. A Devil's Peerage normally does not report the name of the person they traded with to their master. They only report what was traded.
At that moment, even on ever-sweltering Itogami Island, Cid felt as though he had been thrown into an ice cellar. Cold sweat poured down his back without pause, and it was only when a chunk of ice suddenly appeared in his hand that his pounding heart eased a little, letting his mind race for a solution.
Wait... why did a chunk of ice appear in his hand?
...
While silently using his Magical Power to evaporate the calming block of ice his body had produced on its own, Cid forced himself to stay calm.
By the time Claire and Rias finished their brief conversation and turned toward Cid, who was standing behind them, he had already regained his composure. He suppressed the turmoil inside him and put on a bewildered expression, moving his hands from in front of him to behind his back as though he did not know where to put them, every bit the picture of nervousness.
"Let me introduce you. This is my younger brother, Cid Kagenou. Just call him Cid."
"Cid, this is Rias, Rias Gremory. She'll most likely be your future boss."
When she heard Cid's name, surprise flickered across Rias's eyes, but it vanished quickly. In its place came a smile as she addressed him.
"Hello, Cid. I'll call you Cid too, just like your sister does. Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you."
Listening to Rias's poised yet approachable tone, Cid quietly sized her up.
Snow-white skin, delicate features, and that vivid red hair. She matched the requirements for activating the "Extras' Secret Art" perfectly.
Senpai, whether I survive this depends entirely on the accuracy of my judgment.
"H-hi, Rias-senpai. It's, it's, it's a pleasure to meet you, um..."
Seeing Cid so flustered that he could barely speak, Rias and Claire exchanged glances, then looked at each other in silence. At last, Rias spoke.
"Cid, you don't have to be so nervous."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm just really nervous meeting you for the first time. Please give me a little time."
As soon as he said that, Cid's face flushed red with embarrassment. He let out a small, stifled sound and turned away.
"Um... Rias, don't worry about it. Cid normally isn't like this. It's probably because of how noble you seem. He'll be fine once he gets used to you."
"Right, right."
Claire hurried to smooth things over, sharing an awkward smile with Rias.
"Come in. I'll introduce you to the rest of my family. Whether Cid can join us depends on whether they agree."
This is making me want to throw up.
Following behind Rias, Cid grumbled to himself.
Pretending to be some shy little girl was honestly revolting, but it did not matter. He had already stamped the image of himself as socially awkward onto Rias. Building everything else on top of that impression from here on would be the perfect strategy.
This would be a flawless display of the Eminence in Shadow's acting ability.
Cid's gaze sharpened, and his hands never stopped moving. The Magical Power flowing through the surrounding Magic Circle slowed by a third.
Click.
Rias pushed open the door, and the people inside turned at the sound.
Rias started introducing them one by one, beginning with a black-haired older woman wearing a single ponytail, who gave off the air of a traditional Japanese lady as she brewed tea.
"This is my Queen, Akeno Himejima."
"Oh my, pleased to meet you."
With a gentle smile, Akeno Himejima greeted Cid and Claire.
"This is my Knight, Yuuto Kiba."
"Hello."
Standing nearby, Yuuto Kiba also nodded with a friendly smile.
"This is my Rook, Koneko Toujou."
The petite white-haired girl, with the appearance of a young loli, sat quietly on the sofa eating yōkan. With her usual expressionless face, she gave the two a small nod as a greeting.
"Hello, I'm Claire, from the Kingdom of Midgar."
Rias glanced at Claire, and Claire understood the cue, taking the initiative to introduce herself.
"Nice to meet you, senpai. My name is Cid. Like my sister, I'm from the Kingdom of Midgar."
After greeting Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou, Cid turned to Yuuto Kiba.
"Hello, Yuuto-senpai."
Hearing Cid address them with "senpai," Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou blinked in surprise.
"Cid, you know him?"
Seeing that Cid had greeted Yuuto Kiba separately, Claire asked with a puzzled look.
Hearing that, Rias remembered what Yuuto Kiba had reported to her yesterday, and an awkward smile appeared on her face.
"Yes. I met Yuuto-senpai during practical training. He often gives me guidance."
Yuuto Kiba had been about to say something, but when he heard that, he immediately turned to look at Cid in confusion. What he saw was a pleading look in Cid's eyes.
What Yuuto didn't notice was that Cid had carefully chosen his angle so that only he could see that expression.
"Guidance would be an exaggeration. In fact, during training yesterday I accidentally injured Cid. I still feel quite guilty about it."
Although he didn't understand why Cid said they had met during class, Yuuto Kiba caught on to Cid's intention and didn't bring up their Devil contract.
"What? Cid, you were injured? Where? Was it serious?"
The moment she heard that Cid had been injured yesterday, Claire hurried forward to check on him.
Facing Claire's urgency, Cid simply took a subtle step to the right. Before he could react, Claire had already turned him around, pulled open his clothes, and began inspecting him. Nearby, Rias looked increasingly embarrassed.
"Relax, relax. It's nothing serious. The injury already healed."
While answering Claire in a relaxed tone, Cid took advantage of the fact that both Claire and Rias were focused on his injury. He perfectly recreated the same look he had given Yuuto Kiba earlier and directed it toward Koneko Toujou.
Because of that step he had taken earlier, this time only Koneko Toujou saw it.
Koneko Toujou understood what he meant and nodded hesitantly.
After checking him over and confirming that Cid was fine, Claire finally let out a sigh of relief.
This crisis was finally over. No need to resort to force.
Cid inwardly breathed a sigh of relief along with her before glancing at Claire.
The only flaw left is my sister. I'll figure out a way to patch that up once we're home. From now on, I'll have to be more careful about maintaining my persona around her.
The root of this crisis was simple. An ordinary person should not be able to sign contracts with multiple Devils. Yet for convenience, he had been juggling several at once, creating a serious risk to his "extra character" identity.
If only one person knew, it wouldn't matter much.
But if even one of them exposed it, it would trigger a chain reaction, revealing everything and casting doubt on his role as an ordinary background character.
The solution itself was simple.
As long as no one said anything.
But simple solutions are often the hardest to carry out. He had never specifically told them to keep this a secret beforehand, and he couldn't bring it up now either. Doing so would only make them suspicious.
After all, signing a contract with a Devil really wasn't anything unusual.
To pass along the message that this needed to stay secret, he deliberately addressed Akeno Himejima and Koneko Toujou as senpai, and even added phrases like "nice to meet you." That should have been enough for them to pick up on the hint. The real question was whether Koneko Toujou would be willing to keep quiet.
There was no need to worry about Akeno Himejima. She was a pervert.
She had never said so herself, and calling her that might sound rude, but in his honest assessment, she really was a pervert. That was the conclusion he had reached after more than a year of observation.
Akeno Himejima had a strange obsession with the idea of betraying her own master. To be precise, she enjoyed the thrill of taboo. One could even say she leaned a little toward the slutty side. Her feelings for Rias were sincere, that much was true, but her desire to betray Rias was just as real. If someone told him she would deliberately seduce Rias's future husband, he would honestly believe it.
He once heard Akeno Himejima mention that she was a Shrine Maiden. On the surface that sounded completely normal, but he strongly suspected that she had chosen that path so she could someday indulge in wild acts right in front of a sacred statue, all to satisfy that craving for forbidden excitement.
So Akeno Himejima was not a problem. She was very smart and would immediately understand what he meant. She might feel confused about it, but as long as it did not cause serious harm to Rias, she would not hesitate to keep the matter hidden from her just to indulge her own sense of taboo.
Yuuto Kiba, on the other hand, was more troublesome.
After what happened yesterday when Yuuto Kiba injured him, claiming they were meeting for the first time would have been far too obvious.
So he chose to take a step back instead. Betting on his sister's concern for him, he simply said he met Yuuto Kiba during training class and used that as a subtle hint.
Yuuto Kiba was smart, and more importantly, he was a genuinely good person. He understood immediately. As long as Cid could come up with a reasonable explanation later, Yuuto Kiba would definitely help him keep the matter hidden.
Then Claire rushed over, and Cid took advantage of the situation, resolving the most troublesome part of the problem in one move: Koneko Toujou.
After more than a year of observation, he knew exactly what kind of person she was. The type who acted cold and dismissive, but whose actions betrayed her true nature.
If he only hinted that she should keep this secret, even if she understood, there was only a fifty percent chance she would actually agree. But with the added pressure of that meaningful glance, the probability jumped to ninety percent.
Although he had come dangerously close to defeat several times along the way, the invincible Eminence in Shadow Mob Character Secret Art had once again claimed victory, successfully preserving his background character identity.
As for what he would have done if he had lost even once along the way?
Why do you think the Magical Power flowing through the Magic Circle slowed down?
Obviously, it was because if everything failed, he would have no choice but to unleash the ultimate Eminence in Shadow Mob Character Secret Art: stopping time and erasing everyone's memories to forcefully secure victory.