Is it still too late for me to withdraw from this "unbreakable" alliance?
Cid sat at a long conference table, occupying the seat directly below the head position. His gaze swept around the room, confirming that the people who had just stabbed Christina in the back were now sitting obediently in their seats, each wearing a distracted expression as they thought about who knew what.
Ah... that wasn't the important part.
The important question was why he was sitting in the second-highest seat. Was this really somewhere he was supposed to be sitting?
Cid didn't care much about things like status. In fact, he could even say he disliked them. Still, for the sake of maintaining his usual mob character identity, he had done a little research into such matters.
A year ago, because he needed an excuse to visit Itogami Island and get involved in a few particularly important events, he had slightly raised the level of strength he displayed publicly. Even then, among the younger generation of the kingdom, specifically the Kingdom of Midgar, he had only been around the upper-middle tier.
He was absolutely certain of that. He had deliberately researched the standards so he could blend into the crowd properly.
A year ago, he had been upper-middle tier. After spending the past year putting on a performance where his strength had barely improved at all, he could confidently say that he had perfectly lowered himself to an ordinary mid-tier level.
So... why was he sitting in the second-highest seat?
Influence? His Nee-san seemed to have done all sorts of incredible things, but at the very least, their parents were still only low-ranking nobles on the frontier.
Strength? As already mentioned, after more than a year of making practically no progress, he was firmly in the middle tier. There were plenty of people stronger than him.
"Kanade, thank you for supporting me just now. The others are nothing but cowards who have long since been corrupted by the power of the [Society]. Those bastards gave up the moment that bitch Eliza threatened them. We have to do something if we want to save the people from our territories."
With a determined expression, Christina-san spoke passionately to the black-haired, black-eyed girl seated across from Cid.
She was the only girl who hadn't immediately surrendered when Eliza threatened them earlier, instead remaining silent where she stood. Both her strength and her family's influence seemed thoroughly ordinary, and her seat happened to be directly across from Cid's...
Hmm. That settled it.
The others had just betrayed Christina, so Christina had probably seated him in the second-highest position as a way of punishing them and asserting her authority. Once those turncoats apologized, he would probably be demoted again immediately.
That had to be it.
There was no way everyone gathered here was actually a castoff from their respective families, the worst of the worst, and that this had somehow made him, a merely mid-tier lower-ranking noble, the second most important person here after Christina, the heir to a marquis House.
Impossible. Absolutely impossible.
Hadn't Christina-san said that these mysterious disappearances were occurring across the territories of nobles throughout the Kingdom of Midgar? Surely every major family had sent one of its elite descendants to investigate the matter alongside Christina...
"I'll continue supporting Christina-sama. I believe that with Christina-sama's intelligence and ability, she'll definitely be able to rescue the missing subjects and protect all of us as well."
The black-haired girl named Kanade looked thoroughly inspired by Christina's words. Everything she said expressed her wholehearted support for Christina continuing the investigation, causing Christina, who had just been betrayed by the others, to smile with relief.
"Mm. Kanade, I'll keep going. We'll rescue the subjects who were kidnapped, and then we'll send those corrupted bastards straight to hell..."
As if she had just received a massive dose of motivation, Christina nodded excitedly, her fighting spirit blazing. Somewhere in her words, one or two rather alarming things seemed to have slipped out.
"You feel the same way, don't you, Cid?"
Christina suddenly turned the question toward him.
Cid looked at her burning determination and heard the hope in her voice. Then he fell silent.
"I don't really understand much about any of this, but if I gave up now, I'd feel terrible for all those people who are grieving because their families disappeared and have placed their hopes of being reunited with them in us."
At this point, there was no way he could say he wanted to withdraw anymore.
He had no choice but to follow this road all the way to the end.
After hearing Cid's words, Christina's eyes lit up. She looked even more moved than she had when Kanade encouraged her. She grabbed Cid's hand and stared at him with sparkling eyes.
"Yes, exactly. That's exactly it."
"I'm so glad I met you, Cid. I knew that since you came to the Royal Capital even after learning the truth, you had to understand how I felt. I was so foolish to worry back at the entrance that you might turn out to be just like those people."
Sorry, Christina-san. Your concern was completely justified.
If I hadn't realized that crazy woman Eliza already held a grudge against me just because I showed up with you, I would have forgotten my parents' orders by now and gone off to enjoy a lazy sightseeing vacation.
Without letting a trace of those thoughts show on his face, Cid used his flawless acting skills to casually chat with Christina and Kanade.
Before long, however, Christina apparently had something else to take care of and left.
The spacious hall was now occupied only by Cid and Kanade. The turncoats who had betrayed Christina without even managing to earn Eliza's favor had fled the moment the meeting ended.
"Phew..."
Watching Christina leave, Kanade, who had maintained a smile throughout their conversation, exhaled deeply. She raised both hands and rubbed her cheeks, which had nearly gone stiff from smiling for so long.
"You were really nervous, huh..."
"Wah!"
Just as the noble girl named Kanade finally relaxed, a quiet male voice suddenly came from right beside her ear.
Kanade jumped in fright.
Only then did she remember that there had been another person with them this whole time, a lower-ranking noble named Cid Kagenou.
"Don't suddenly speak right next to me like that, Cid-kun! You could scare someone to death!"
Kanade complained as she patted her chest.
Cid merely smiled at her complaint. Then he placed a hand on her shoulder, partly to appear friendly and partly because it would make threatening her much more convenient if anything went wrong.
"Can you tell me what exactly is going on? You might not believe me, but the only thing I actually know about this situation is that people have gone missing. I'm sure you'll explain everything to me, Kanade-chan. Right?"
Kanade blinked.
Her eyes met Cid's clear, innocent-looking gaze, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.
"Ah... So everything you said earlier was actually just you fooling Christina-sama? I really feel sorry for her. Christina-sama trusted you so much, Cid-kun, but who would've thought you were actually a traitor..."
That smug expression and triumphant smile really made her look punchable.
Cid, however, remained perfectly calm and kept smiling.
Not because he had already accepted that she was about to extort him, but because...
"If you keep talking, I'll tell Christina that you were actually planning to surrender to Eliza earlier. You were just too slow to get the words out. I even recorded the expression you had at the time."
Yes.
The loyal and devoted Kanade Christina believed in did not actually exist.
When Eliza threatened them earlier, Kanade had basically already decided to surrender. She had simply been a little more cautious than the others and checked Christina's expression first.
By the time she finally made up her mind and opened her mouth to surrender, Eliza had already shut down any possibility of accepting their surrender.
Once Kanade realized that Eliza looked down on minor nobles like them and had no intention of taking them in anyway, she immediately changed course and decided to cling tightly to Christina instead. By taking advantage of everyone else's surrender, she had instantly elevated herself into one of Christina's trusted supporters.
Cid had to admit, she was both clever and lucky.
Christina hadn't noticed anything suspicious about her behavior at the time, allowing her to get away with it completely.
Unfortunately for Kanade, there had also been someone watching the entire scene from an uninvolved third-party perspective.
The smug smile on Kanade's face froze.
Meanwhile, Cid's smile grew wider and wider.
"Why did you have to see that, of all people?!"
Kanade shouted in frustration and immediately sprang into motion, sprinting toward the door.
Yes.
All she had to do was report the matter first, give Christina an explanation, and prepare her excuse in advance.
Then Cid's claim that she had simply been too slow to surrender would become nothing more than slander. She could still cling to Christina's thigh afterward...
With that thought in mind, Kanade raced toward the exit at full speed, trying to catch up with Christina.
Then both of her feet suddenly left the ground.
Her entire body lifted into the air, pivoting from her shoulder.
"Thud!"
A sudden force slammed down on Kanade's shoulder, sending her crashing to the floor. Immediately afterward, weight pressed down against her back and prevented her from getting up.
"My grades might only be average, and at school I've practically gone an entire year without improving, but against bottom-of-the-class types like you, I think I can still suppress you with one hand."
Cid chuckled softly.
This girl was even weaker than he had expected. He felt like even the version of himself from over a year ago, before he had raised his publicly displayed strength, could have openly fought Kanade to a draw without anyone finding it strange.
"Let me go! Can't you show even a little gentlemanly spirit? How can you treat a lady like this...?"
Kanade wriggled around like a caterpillar while trying to appeal to the conscience of the human scum sitting on top of her, a kind of person she had never imagined she would encounter.
If she could distract him even slightly, she was confident she could escape and immediately go complain to her current backer, Christina.
"First, I don't consider someone as two-faced and smug as you to be a lady."
Cid raised one finger as he spoke.
Then, behind Kanade where she couldn't see, his expression turned cold as he raised a second.
"Second, I'm a firm believer in absolute gender equality. If a man deserves to get hit, I hit him. If a woman deserves to get hit, I hit her too. That's what true equality looks like."
"Are you insane?! You damned bastard, let me go right now! Otherwise, when I tell..."
Cid drove his fist into the floor directly in front of the struggling Kanade.
A small crater appeared.
Kanade immediately shut her mouth.
"Hello, my beloved Cid-sama. May I ask what assistance you require from me?"
Wearing the brightest smile she had ever shown in her life, Kanade addressed Cid with utmost respect.
With an elegant and dignified posture, she poured him a cup of tea.
Apparently, Cid had effortlessly won the heart (?) of this adorable young lady.
As for exactly how he had won it, there was no need to dwell on the details.
"Oh, you're far too polite. In that case, Miss Kanade, who loves me so much, could you give me a detailed explanation of the current situation in the Royal Capital? I only just returned, so I'm not very familiar with what's been happening."
"Of course, Cid-sama..."
After Kanade gave him an explanation so detailed that it could hardly have been more thorough, Cid finally had a general understanding of what was going on.
The situation itself was fairly simple.
Large numbers of people had been mysteriously disappearing from territories all across the kingdom.
For a noble, the population of their territory was an extremely important source of wealth, so after the various Houses conducted investigations, the clues eventually pointed toward several major figures in the Royal Capital.
They were a small faction entrenched within the Kingdom of Midgar, formed by thirteen immensely powerful individuals who had joined forces.
They called their organization the [Thirteen Nightblades].
Within the Kingdom of Midgar, they wielded authority that nearly surpassed even the King's. It was even said that the King himself had to obey their orders.
Of course, hardly anyone actually believed that last rumor.
In truth, there was barely any need to investigate.
Throughout the entire kingdom, the only territories that had not suffered mysterious population disappearances belonged to those dozen or so powerful figures.
They weren't even trying to hide it.
Anyone with eyes could tell who was responsible.
At least, that was how Kanade quietly complained about it.
However, like that famous political joke, the [Thirteen Nightblades] were simply too powerful.
Even after figuring out who the likely culprits were, the nobles whose populations had been taken did not dare voice their anger directly toward the [Thirteen Nightblades].
All they could do was band together, petition the royal family, and ask the crown to intervene and stop the [Thirteen Nightblades] from continuing to seize people from their territories.
Yes.
Only stop them.
They had no intention of rescuing the people already kidnapped by the [Thirteen Nightblades], much less putting the [Thirteen Nightblades] on trial as Christina wanted.
But that created another problem.
As already mentioned, the [Thirteen Nightblades] practically ruled the Kingdom of Midgar.
If the nobles united and went to the Royal Capital to impeach the [Thirteen Nightblades] before the royal family, the organization might decide that retaliating against every single House involved was too much trouble and simply give up on collective revenge.
However, whoever actually went forward to make the accusation would almost certainly destroy their own future as a noble.
After all, this was the strongest organization in Midgar.
There was no way they would simply swallow such a blatant slap in the face without consequences.
Under those circumstances, each family had sent the least capable descendant of its current generation to the Royal Capital.
They were sacrificial pawns meant to bear the anger of the [Thirteen Nightblades].
After all, with their abilities, none of them were expected to get very far in life anyway.
"Wait, that doesn't make sense. I vaguely remember Christina-san being the heir to her family. Am I remembering it wrong?"
Cid asked in confusion.
At some point, Kanade had taken a seat beside him with a cup of tea in her hands. Hearing the question, she raised her head and replied rather smugly.
"That was probably just a coincidence. I heard the Hope House originally intended to send some distant relative named Suzuki. But Christina-sama apparently took it upon herself to replace that Suzuki guy and come here instead. That's why someone as important as Christina-sama, who's completely out of place compared to the rest of us, ended up in this group."
"Is that so..."
Now that he understood everything, Cid decided it was time to leave.
However, just before he stepped out, he paused.
"Actually... I never recorded anything."
With that, Cid shut the door behind him, completely ignoring the string of insults, including "You despicable bastard!" coming from the other side.