Watching his older sister and Akeno Himejima training together on the field, and thinking about the order for him to stay put and train on his own, Cid had to admit that slacking off like this actually felt pretty good.
"Tap, tap-tap!"
Hearing footsteps nearby, Cid turned to look at the person approaching. Taking a guess, he figured it was Rias.
"Hey, Cid!"
He guessed right.
"Hey, Rias-senpai."
After greeting him, Rias smiled and walked over, sitting down beside him.
"Do you… kind of resent us?"
"?"
Caught off guard by her sudden question, Cid didn't know how to respond and simply stayed silent.
"I'm really sorry, Cid. But there's no helping it. The tournament starts tomorrow, and with so little time, we can only focus on coordinating with your sister to improve our combat strength and avoid any teamwork issues during the matches. We'll have to trouble you to bear with it for these two days. Once the tournament is over, we'll let you join us."
No, I don't feel wronged at all. There's only one outcome anyway. We will go our separate ways.
When the time comes, Cao Cao will definitely show up to stir trouble. I will find a chance to die once and come back to life, and that will be the perfect moment for us to part ways. So honestly, none of this really matters.
Still, thanks to Rias's behavior, Cid finally understood why she had suddenly come over. She was worried he might feel neglected and develop negative feelings toward them.
"How could that be, Rias-senpai? If anything, I'm very grateful to you."
"Really?"
"Cid, you don't need to lie. I'm not a master who can't accept complaints from her subordinates. I want to hear what you truly think."
"No, Rias-senpai, that really is how I feel. I'm quite aware of my own limits. Under normal circumstances, there's no way I would have been chosen by you to become a Peerage Member. Being selected is entirely thanks to my sister. In a situation like that, how could I not be grateful?"
Shaking his head with a smile, Cid did his best to brush her off. He was already getting a little annoyed with the conversation.
"Cid, you don't need to talk about yourself like that. It's true your sister played a role in my decision to take you in, but you don't need to belittle yourself. Believe in yourself. Cid, you're outstanding."
Seeing Rias suddenly grow emotional, Cid didn't quite understand why, but he chose to go along with it.
"Ahahaha, I was just being overly dramatic. Sorry, sorry. I won't do that anymore.
It's just… aside from my sister, this is the first time anyone's ever said something like that to me. I had already gotten used to it. Thanks, Rias-senpai."
"Gotten used to it?!"
For some reason, Rias completely ignored his joking tone, as if she had just heard something she could not accept. Her expression shifted rapidly.
"Um, Rias… senpai?"
"Hm? What is it, Cid? Do you need something?"
"No, nothing. It's just that you didn't look too well just now, so I called out to you."
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about something.
Ahem. Don't worry, Cid. Although there have been some unexpected developments with this tournament and things have escalated quite a bit, since you haven't fully fused with the Evil Piece, you won't be required to fight.
And because of how big this tournament has become, not only will my older brother be present, but the other Four Great Satans will also attend. Among them is the creator of the Evil Pieces, Beelzebub-sama."
"When the time comes, I'll ask Beelzebub-sama to see if he can help you fully fuse with it."
"Oh, thanks a lot, Rias-senpai. I'll head over to the other side to train now. Good luck."
With that, Cid quickly left and headed to another part of the training grounds, leaving Rias standing there alone.
Rias didn't have the mind to focus on him anymore. After glancing at the group in the field working on their coordination, she moved down and joined them in training.
Cid hadn't guessed wrong. Rias had come over for exactly the reason he thought. She was worried he might develop negative feelings.
After all, it was supposed to be group training, yet he was the only one left to train alone. It was hard not to see that as being left out.
But there really was no better option. When a new member suddenly joins a team, it takes time and practice to build coordination. Otherwise, instead of increasing combat strength by one, poor coordination might even drag it down.
Adding just one person already takes a fair amount of time, let alone two.
The real issue was the lack of time. It had only been three days since they joined, and the tournament would begin tomorrow. Under those circumstances, the only choice was to have Cid's sister, Claire, integrate into the team first to build coordination. After the tournament, Cid would join and train with them.
From a rational standpoint, Rias's decision made perfect sense.
Since Cid hadn't fused with the Evil Piece, he wouldn't be fighting anyway.
Spend three days training as a five-person team, then have all five fight together.
Spend three days training as a six-person team, then have only five of them fight.
In terms of both difficulty and overall benefit, the first option clearly outweighed the second.
So there was no real decision to make.
Cid understood this himself. That was probably why he had been able to get time off so easily yesterday.
To put it bluntly, he was likely the weakest among all participants. His apparent combat ability was only 5, B-. Expecting him to keep up with their coordination would be asking too much.
Claire was strong, so she could sync up with Rias and the others within three days. But as for Cid...
Did he have any standout strengths?
None.
On the surface, there was nothing remarkable about him. In terms of speed, he was probably only on par with Koneko. In terms of strength, he ranked at the bottom. As for magic, there was no need to even mention it.
Among swordsmen, and compared specifically to Rias's Peerage Members, Yuuto Kiba and Claire outclassed Cid in every aspect.
"So I'm right. I didn't make a mistake. This tournament is my chance, and I can't miss it.
Come on, Rias. Use this match as your opportunity to break free from the labels placed on you."
Muttering this to herself, Rias walked toward Yuuto Kiba and the others, her gaze gradually turning firm as if she were encouraging herself.