That was pretty close just now.
Thinking about it carefully, he had simply gotten carried away chatting with Uncle Rizevim. In the heat of the moment, he made a rather impulsive decision.
In front of Natsuki Minamiya, Cid had always maintained the image of a well behaved student with average grades. Even his giving up in magic class only started after studying for a long time and still failing to learn anything.
Would a good student drink alcohol?
No.
So his first instinct was to use his invincible power to cover up the fact that he had been drinking. But he forgot something important.
A mob character can be flexible.
The world is not simply black and white. People are the same. If a mob character who is normally a good student secretly has one or two small flaws, that is perfectly normal. In fact, it makes the mob character feel even more authentic.
His mistake.
This mob performance deserves a ten point deduction.
Although he successfully fooled Natsuki Minamiya, that was unnecessary mob acting. If it were ever exposed, it would create serious trouble.
There is no lie in this world that cannot be exposed. As long as someone looks carefully enough, they will find the flaw.
But if you never lie in the first place, then you do not have to worry about that problem.
After all, the reason mob characters remain mob characters is because no one cares about them. A small issue like underage drinking would never escalate into some grand event that turns a mob character into a supporting character.
So he never needed to rely on his overwhelming power to force a lie. He could have just admitted it honestly.
Besides, Claire would never actually do anything to him over something like that.
Not to brag, but Cid felt his relationship with his sister was actually quite good.
So this time, the Eminence in Shadow mob performance loses ten points because it was completely unnecessary.
But!
Doesn't this feel very much like something the Eminence in Shadow would do?
In order to maintain the identity of a model student mob character, the Eminence in Shadow casually used absolute power to toy with a Witch and a Valkyrie.
It perfectly displayed the overwhelming strength of the Eminence in Shadow, his carefree attitude, and that sense of control where even unexpected situations remain completely within his grasp.
Who would ever imagine that just moments ago, in this very bar, because of such a trivial matter, the world itself had been altered?
Who could possibly imagine such a thing?
The power required to alter the world, combined with the attitude of using that power over something so trivial. Together they demonstrate absolute control.
It is simply… too cool.
This perfect Eminence in Shadow performance deserves an extra ten points. After all, the whole reason he plays the role of a mob character is to better perform the role of the Eminence in Shadow.
As long as the magnificence of the Eminence in Shadow can be perfectly displayed, what is a little risk?
Besides, he was not exposed anyway. So instead of deducting ten points, let's reduce the penalty to five.
Final score: fifteen points.
Five points deducted because the performance was unnecessary.
Which means…
Next time, should he deliberately create a situation like:
"Because of one mistake, Cid is suspected of being Shadow. How will Cid survive this crisis where his identity might be exposed? Stay tuned for the next episode: The Eminence in Shadow's Public Identity Faces a Major Crisis!"
Cid clenched his fist and rested it under his chin as he began planning his next Eminence in Shadow performance.
After a long moment…
"Pass."
Rejected.
That felt too much like a superhero protagonist getting discovered. Being suspected would lower the prestige of the Eminence in Shadow.
The true revelation of the Eminence in Shadow's identity should only happen under one circumstance.
When he personally reveals it on the perfect stage.
That stage must be something like a palace hall. At the end of a long staircase sits a magnificent throne. The walls are filled with the finest treasures in the world, radiating a classical atmosphere.
The audience must be the most outstanding new generation elites and powerful figures from across the world.
Because of some accidental event, they would fall into a mysterious place. After enduring countless hardships, they would finally reach that hall.
And his identity?
Just another mob character who accidentally fell into the same place.
No one would think he was the Eminence in Shadow. Ideally, everyone there would know him and believe he was a completely harmless mob character.
Then, once the new generation elites arrive…
He would slowly walk up the staircase step by step and sit down upon the throne of the Eminence in Shadow.
Hmm…
Whether the audience would cooperate is another matter.
Well, if necessary, he could simply use magic. Their perception of time could remain normal while their thinking speed slows to one tenth.
Anyway, once he sits on the throne, it would be best if some people in the audience still had not realized what was happening.
Perhaps a few of them would even worry about his safety and urge him to hurry down.
Hearing those words, he would reveal a sinister smile and begin the explanation phase, saying things like he never expected to be exposed for such a ridiculous reason, or that he had originally wanted to see how long it would take them to discover his true identity.
And after the explanation phase came the class change.
He would go from being the Eminence in Shadow to the great vi...
The great villain!
Cid suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.
He had gotten a little too carried away.
Although a scene like that, with the Eminence in Shadow revealing himself, never got old, as long-lived races existed, there was no way he could pull off something like that more than once. A one-time-only performance would not do.
Anyway, this sudden Eminence in Shadow mob performance would be scored at fifteen points this time. A pure mob performance or a pure Eminence in Shadow performance had a maximum score of ten, while a mob plus Shadow performance had a maximum of twenty.
The only problem was that this time, Natsuki-chan seemed to have been emotionally moved by his deception.
And it was maternal affection, no less.
Ridiculous.
Switching the hand supporting his chin, Cid began thinking about Natsuki Minamiya.
Any magician who believed dolls could never develop emotions should have their credentials revoked.
Whether it was a doll, artificial intelligence, or an artificial life-form, as long as it could think, then it already possessed the fundamental basis needed for emotions to emerge.
They simply did not have emotions at first.
Give them enough time to think, plus a certain amount of guidance, and emotions could naturally be born.
Natsuki-chan had apparently existed for over ten years already. The seed of emotion was already there. And with the unintentional push he had given just now, it seemed he had caused the seed of Natsuki-chan's maternal instinct to sprout.
Seeds absorb water on their own.
As long as he kept his distance from Natsuki-chan for a while, she could simply draw the water needed for that maternal affection from other people. He did not need to worry about Natsuki-chan becoming attached to him.
What he was actually thinking about was...
If emotions were born through deception, then what kind of change would happen if the truth behind that deception were exposed?
Would Natsuki-chan break down?
At that thought, Cid felt a tiny bit curious.
Of course, it was only curiosity.
He would only expose it if he had absolutely nothing better to do. He was not interested in doing things that harmed others without benefiting himself.
As for feeling guilty over deceiving Natsuki-chan?
He lied to his sister all the time. Expecting him to feel guilty over deceiving a mere Natsuki-chan was asking a bit much.
"Ding-dong!"
The phone screen beside him lit up, showing several unread messages.
Of course his phone was not broken.
There was no way he would ask Uncle Rizevim to act as a witness without first coordinating their story. If he had done that, he would have been exposed instantly.
The reason the phone screen would not turn on earlier was because he had controlled the middle part of his thumb to sink inward. From Natsuki Minamiya's point of view, it looked like he had pressed the power button, but in reality he had never pressed it at all.
Cid picked up the phone and took a look.
The messages were from Akeno Himejima, Yuuto Kiba, and Koneko Toujou, asking about what happened today.
"They're probably asking about today's incident. I need to think of a way to fool them."
Setting the phone down, Cid shifted his thoughts away from Natsuki Minamiya and toward coming up with a reasonable excuse to brush them off.
It took him less than ten seconds to find a solution.
"Decided. I'll make my sister take the blame for this."