You think you're impressive? Think you look cool?
Cid narrowed his eyes and met the green-haired woman's gaze, then gave her a bright, easygoing smile.
With all due respect, your power is scattered, your trajectory is unstable, your posture is sloppy, and you're making way too much noise. Even Rias does it better than you. If you don't know how to throw, then don't throw. It's obvious you have barely any experience with throwing weapons. Let me show you. I've mastered nine different throwing techniques of an Eminence in Shadow. Nine.
The green-haired woman, completely unaware of the critique running through Cid's mind, saw him turn around. Her smile widened as she lifted her chin slightly.
"Young man, do you desire power?"
I crave power.
"Uh… um… are you sure you've got the right person? I don't think we've met."
No matter how much nonsense he was spouting in his head, Cid kept a confused look on his face and pointed at himself.
"Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself. Hello, Cid Kagenou. I'm Giada Kukulcan. You can just call me Giada."
As if she had only just realized, Giada continued smiling as she introduced herself politely.
"I didn't mistake you. In fact, you could say I came to Itogami Island specifically for you. Kojou Akatsuki was just a bonus."
At the end, she seemed to think of something amusing and let out a soft laugh.
Ignoring the fact that she had just casually dropped something rather significant, Cid kept his smile.
"Giada-san, I'll call you that.
What did you mean by what you said earlier?"
"Hmm…"
She let out a confident chuckle, her eyes filled with teasing amusement.
"Cid Kagenou, 18 years old. Born into a rural baron family in the Kingdom of Midgar, World No. 3. Before the World Fusion, you studied at the Midgar Academy of Magic Swordsmen. After the World Fusion, you were lucky enough to transfer successfully and are now attending Saikai Academy on Itogami Island.
Your registered strength is C-, but your actual ability is closer to D+. Your physical capabilities barely meet the C- threshold, and you only passed your evaluations through luck, or perhaps because someone leaked the questions to you.
You have poor natural talent. Despite being born into a Magic Swordsman family and training since childhood, you still rank at the bottom. For true geniuses, surpassing your level would take only a few months.
You have an older sister whose talent far exceeds yours. At a young age, she has already reached at least A-rank strength, and not long ago she defeated Iris, the strongest Grand Princess of the Kingdom of Midgar.
Your parents have placed all their hopes on her. The position of head of the family is practically already hers, while you will only serve as a political marriage piece, marrying into another noble house.
…"
Damn, I've been completely exposed.
Listening to Giada speak as if she were reciting a script, Cid let it go in one ear and out the other while playing along with a suitably shocked expression.
As time passed, she eventually stopped after covering the basics. Resting her chin on one hand, she looked at Cid and gave a knowing, inscrutable smile.
"Hmm… Giada-san, I am curious why you'd investigate someone as ordinary as me, but I'll start with something more practical. What exactly about me caught your interest, and what do you want from me?"
"Ha, you're much smarter than the Fourth Primogenitor."
Giada let out a bright laugh, openly praising him.
"Don't you think that's unfair?"
"Huh?"
"In terms of effort alone, you're no worse than anyone else. You could even say you surpass ninety-nine percent of those high-ranking races who simply rely on their bloodlines to grow naturally.
And in terms of perseverance, just look at your performance in the Rating Game. Even while carrying such heavy injuries, you still managed to defeat that Phoenix Devil.
The only thing you lack compared to them is talent."
At that, Giada narrowed her eyes slightly. Her voice carried a strange, almost hypnotic pull that made it hard to look away.
"Think about it. You've worked so hard, yet your classmates only need to reach adulthood to surpass you effortlessly.
Your parents barely pay attention to you. Your sister draws all the focus from those around you. In their eyes, you're just an unworthy younger brother who drags down your sister's image. Even your own parents see you that way.
Your performance in the Rating Game was impressive. You did catch my attention. But that's as far as it goes.
If that Phoenix hadn't already reached his physical limit and lacked the strength to finish you off, a single casual blow from him would have been enough to kill you. You wouldn't even have had the chance to stand back up.
Don't you feel even a little jealous of all that?"
Sitting upright, Giada smiled with quiet confidence.
"…Not really."
The unexpected answer made her eyes snap fully open.
"It's true, I envy classmates whose bloodlines let them reach A-rank just by growing up. And I do find it impressive when people around me can achieve in a few months what takes others years.
But to those who don't even have the talent to become a Magic Swordsman, I'm the one they envy.
My parents are actually pretty good to me. It's true they focus most of their attention on my sister, but they haven't neglected me because of that. At the very least, I'm treated like a normal noble child.
Though compared to my sister, they are a bit biased.
But that's only natural. My sister is incredibly talented, so it makes sense they place higher expectations on her.
As for people saying I'm not worthy to stand beside her… it's just idle gossip. If I let that turn into jealousy and damage my relationship with my sister, that would only play right into their hands.
Humans are the kind of creatures who create their own gods. They admire those stronger than themselves, but what they worship is only the image of strength they've built in their own minds.
They're insecure, so they convince themselves that the figure they admire should stand high above everyone else, and that even friendly interaction should only happen between equals.
At the same time, they're arrogant. After putting themselves in that imagined position, they attack the person standing beside their 'god' under the excuse of doing it for their sake, thinking 'I could do that too.' But what they really feel is jealousy.
I admit I'm not as capable as my sister. But I don't resent it, because what they say is true. If someone gets upset at their own sister over something like that, they might as well go join a circus.
It's not really jealousy. Comparing yourself to others all the time is exhausting. In the end, it's just about clinging to a fragile sense of superiority.
If anything, 'endure hardship to rise above others' is the proper way to use that kind of drive. I just don't understand why losing to someone automatically means you should feel jealous."
After hearing everything, Giada fell silent. Her gaze slowly moved over Cid from top to bottom. After a long pause, she finally spoke.
"Where did a saint like you even come from?"