A swaying sensation ran through his body. He was surrounded by darkness, yet it felt as if the whole world were spinning. Somewhere beside his ear, someone seemed to be whispering his name.
"Cid-kun, wake up. Please wake up..."
He forced his eyes open. Through his blurred vision, he could faintly make out a red figure. Her lips were moving.
"Rias... Rias-senpai, my head is spinning. What happened to me?"
"Thank goodness, Cid, you finally woke up. I was so worried you wouldn't..."
Tears glistened at the corners of her eyes. Seeing that Cid was finally awake, Rias threw herself forward in excitement and hugged him tightly, pressing the large, soft slimes on her chest flat against him like pancakes.
Feeling that softness, Cid glanced at Rias's face from the corner of his eye. After confirming that there was not the slightest trace of embarrassment or anger there, he chose to quietly let the matter pass in order to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Oh my, Rias, isn't your favoritism a little too obvious? Koneko-chan and I were hurt pretty badly in that fight too, but you only care about Cid-kun. You've really broken my heart... sniff, sniff... I suppose this friendship is over."
Akeno Himejima stood off to the side with a teasing expression, her tone full of playful mockery. When she saw Rias look over, she even pretended to wipe away a tear.
"President, biased."
Behind Akeno Himejima, the petite white-haired girl, Koneko Toujou, puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction.
"Akeno, don't start trouble. Everyone else was already awake, and Cid was the only one who only woke up just now. What's wrong with me being a little more worried about him?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Perfectly reasonable concern."
"Akeno!"
Akeno Himejima simply kept smiling at Rias's explanation, answering with an obviously perfunctory tone that anyone could hear through.
Everyone else is already awake... I miscalculated. Looks like I underestimated my own healing ability a little.
Catching the information Rias had let slip, Cid fell into thought.
He had been so busy lately, and situations that required him to carefully control healing energy like this rarely came up. To think he had actually miscalculated and ended up being the last one to wake up...
Still, it was only a minor issue. No one would suspect his role as a background character because of this. But after this, he needed to sort out his abilities properly. Combat could not be neglected, and neither could support abilities.
Noticing something from the corner of his eye, Cid frowned and stopped reviewing things in his head. He turned to look at Koneko Toujou, who was staring fixedly at him, and tilted his head.
"What's wrong, Koneko-chan?"
"...Senpai, I finished the request you asked me for before."
Koneko looked away. After hesitating for a while, she finally brought it up haltingly.
What request?
Cid blinked as the question popped into his mind.
...Now that he thought about it, there really had been something like that.
After running through his memories, Cid remembered. The cats Kanon had entrusted to him before had all been handed over to Koneko to help find adoptive homes for them... Had Kanon still not contacted him?
"Senpai, what are you doing?"
"Nothing."
Cid stopped reaching for his phone to look through his chat history and calmly put it away, answering as if nothing had happened.
People were like that. Once they thought of one thing, they naturally started thinking of something else related to it.
Forget it. What was the point of checking the chat history now? It had already been almost half a month, and Kanon still had not contacted him. She had probably given in to reality and flown away. It was a little unfortunate, though. It was rare for him to actually plan on helping someone overcome reality for once.
"Thank you very much, Koneko-chan. I know why you came to me. You want the payment, right?"
Cid could still afford that much. Back then, he had already used Koneko-chan's sympathy for stray cats to negotiate the price, and he had driven it very low.
"No, I don't need it..."
To Cid's surprise, Koneko shook her head.
"Consider it a gift for joining President Rias's team, Senpai."
"Oh, then thank you, Koneko-chan. Anything else?"
After thanking her, Cid continued meeting Koneko Toujou's eyes.
"N-no, nothing else. I just came to tell you, Senpai."
Seeing the hesitation and uncertainty all over Koneko Toujou's face, Cid fell silent.
No, no matter how I look at it, you clearly have something to tell me.
"Ahaha, then I really made out big this time. A free deal without paying anything."
Since Koneko Toujou would not say it, Cid could not be bothered to press her. He decided to gloss over it and leave it at that.
"Mm. Maybe I got it wrong."
Koneko Toujou said that last sentence very softly, but Cid, whose attention was focused on her at that moment, heard every word.
Confusion rose in Cid's mind. He did not know what Koneko Toujou meant. What had she gotten wrong? Had some flaw appeared in his perfect background character disguise again?
He instinctively wanted to reach out, grab Koneko Toujou, and ask her exactly what she meant, but he quickly suppressed the urge. He only watched Koneko Toujou run off to help the others, his gaze meaningful, while a hammer appeared in the hand hidden behind his back.
Calm down, Cid. Don't scare yourself. Maybe Koneko-chan really did just misunderstand something...
Tomorrow, he would erase Koneko's memories of today. There were too many eyes around right now, so it was not a good time to make a move.
After settling tomorrow's schedule in his mind, Cid walked toward Rias and the others with a cheerful smile.
After a round of conversation, Cid learned what Rias and the others planned to do next. Before he woke up, Rias and Sona Sitri had already discussed it and decided to give up on today's station platform operation for the time being. They would split into several groups and head home, each led by Peerage Members with decent strength.
The offspring of the other factions would likely restrain their hostile actions for a while as well, so there was no need to worry about being dragged into an alley and beaten up on the way. After all, a terrifying Church attack involving an existence capable of killing gods had just happened. With such a massive commotion on the island, there was no way they had failed to notice.
"Church, do you still want to keep fighting?"
Staring at the Church warriors blocking their path, each holding a spear of light and watching them closely, Sairaorg and the others, who had fully recovered their strength, stepped to the front and faced them down.
Dulio, who was being targeted by all kinds of Magical Power attacks, did not take a fighting stance. He simply waved a hand behind him, signaling the Church warriors to lower their weapons, then looked toward Sairaorg and the other two Devil nobles.
"First, I must apologize to you for this attack. I planned this entire assault and acted on my own. If your Devil side wishes to hold me accountable afterward for attempting to start a great war, I will accept full responsibility..."
After hearing Dulio's words, Rias and the others exchanged glances. Of course they knew Dulio was trying to take all the blame onto himself, but the situation was stronger than any individual. After thinking for a moment, Rias spoke.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have the authority to decide how your actions will be handled. We need to report this to the higher-ups in the Underworld and let them determine the response."
Dulio was not surprised by Rias's answer. Now that Delta was no longer their common enemy, and after the transoceanic call had confirmed that the curse situation had eased considerably, there was no way Rias and the others could simply cover this up as they had previously agreed. In truth, that had never been realistic.
"So the second thing I want to say is this..."
Dulio raised his head, killing intent showing in his eyes. What he was about to say now was the real point.
"I hope your Devil side can find the terrorist hiding among you. We need to obtain the method for resolving this curse, and the Devil involved in this incident must die."
This time, Rias and the others' expressions all turned grim. They silently exchanged looks, and in the end, reached a consensus with their eyes.
"Please rest assured, Lord Joker. We will definitely find the terrorist hiding among us. We also don't want world peace to be destroyed over this."
"I hope so. This time, we'll follow proper procedures..."
After looking deeply at Rias and murmuring those words, Dulio turned and led the Church warriors away.
The reason he had attacked Rias and the others directly before was mainly because there had been too little time. Going through proper procedures and letting the Devils investigate the criminal themselves would have taken too long. Hundreds of thousands of lives could not wait, and there was also the possibility that the Devils might protect the culprit.
Now that he knew the curse had been lifted, he naturally did not mind using proper procedures to investigate the murderer. Rather, if he had not been pushed to the brink, who would willingly take such a massive risk by attacking a group of Devil family heirs?
...
"So, Rias-senpai, you're just accepting it like that? Isn't this the kind of situation where people usually use official business to settle private grudges, then quietly slow down the investigation as revenge?"
Walking beside Rias, Cid asked her a question. He had never minded assuming the worst about others.
"No, Cid. It's the exact opposite. We have to find the criminal who stole Excalibur as quickly as possible, or we'll be in serious trouble."
Rias sighed at Cid, covering her forehead with a pained expression.
The only clue left behind by the black-clothed figure who stole Excalibur and spread the Black Spot Curse was Irina Shidou's statement that the culprit was a Devil. In other words, any investigation into the black-clothed figure's identity had to involve the Devils.
And because of a certain person's testimony, that Devil's identity had already been narrowed down to the forty-plus Devils present.
Under normal circumstances, Rias and the others could still argue against the Church targeting all of them by saying that one person's actions did not represent the entire group.
But unfortunately, because the heirs of the various factions had been targeting the Devils, they, as Devil nobles, had planned to make the rounds and show the other faction heirs that this group was under their protection. Separately, neither issue would have been a problem. Put together, they ran straight into the Church's line of fire.
Among this group of Devils was the murderer the Church wanted to catch, and today, the heirs of the three major Underworld families just so happened to be planning to announce to everyone that these Devils were under their protection. The two things were pure coincidence. Would anyone believe that?
The current situation was that, because of today's coincidental actions, they had also been dragged onto the suspect list. They needed to prove their own innocence before they could say the Church had been trying to start a war.
An individual's actions could not represent the entire Devil side, but the heirs of the three major Underworld families were a different matter. Two of them were relatives of the current Four Great Satans, and one was the heir of the House of Bael. They absolutely had that level of standing.
Reasoning was useless. Because of the Evil Dragon Plunder incident, the other factions' current attitude toward the Devils was biased neutrality.
And honestly, Rias and the others were actually suspecting whether the other two might be the culprits, and whether they themselves had been dragged over to act as shields.
They could not be blamed for thinking that way. The main reason was that, among the Devils who had come to them seeking protection today, most were on the weaker side. Otherwise, they would not have been crushed so quickly by the heirs of the other factions. They were basically all Middle-Class Devils, or B-rank.
With that level of strength, they could not even withstand one wide-range AoE from Dulio. Yet they had supposedly gone off to ambush an Excalibur wielder, someone who naturally countered Devils, and succeeded. In other words, most of the suspicion fell on the three family heirs and their Peerage Members.
That was why Rias and the others were so troubled. And since the source of that trouble was the fact that the culprit had been confirmed to be among them...
"This is all the evil Shadow's fault!"
Cid slammed one fist into his other palm and shouted in anger.
Nice. He had wanted to say that for a long time.
Rias was startled by Cid's sudden shout. Once she realized what he had said, she quickly hugged him tightly and raised one finger to her lips, repeatedly shushing him.
"Cid, I know you're angry over what happened to me, but promise me you'll keep some things in your heart and not say them out loud. I understand how you feel. I believe my Peerage Members and you are all innocent."
Feeling Rias's soft slimes and her tense body, Cid met her emerald eyes. Seeing the anxiety in them, he nodded.
Only after receiving Cid's promise did Rias relax. What Cid had just said had truly frightened her. Shadow had only just left. Who knew whether Shadow might happen to pass by and hear that line? A powerful being like that really could do whatever he wanted.
After that little incident, the two of them seemed to have nothing to say to each other for a while. They could only walk on in silence.
"Hey, Cid, can I ask you for a favor?"
"Hm?"
Cid turned around and saw Rias with her head lowered, her bright emerald eyes hidden beneath her bangs.
"I want you to help investigate which of my, Sona Sitri's, and Sairaorg's Peerage Members is the murderer."
"Huh?"
Cid let out a surprised sound and stared at Rias. Perhaps sensing his gaze, Rias hurriedly explained.
"It's not what you think, Cid. I believe my Peerage Members and you are all innocent. But since everyone is under suspicion, Sona suggested that you, the only one who isn't a Devil, help with the investigation. I opposed the idea, but it was two votes to one…"
"I know this mission is dangerous. If you don't want to, Cid..."
"Sure."
Rias froze as if she had heard something impossible to understand. She looked up at Cid, only to see his radiant smile.
"Um, Cid, you may not really understand how dangerous this mission is. You know what happened today. Shadow might personally kill you to bury the truth..."
"Isn't that even better?"
As Cid's smile grew brighter and brighter, tears gradually welled in Rias's emerald eyes, and her gaze slowly went hazy.