"The place is pretty simple, so try not to judge it. Not that judging it would change anything."
Cid flipped the light switch, and bright white light filled his living room. He turned, picked up Eta's luggage, and gestured for her to come in.
"I won't judge it. I trust your taste, Master."
"Mm, that's true."
Cid accepted Eta's flattery with a light laugh. Only after she stepped inside did he enter his own apartment.
After setting her luggage beside the hallway, Cid turned around, only to find Eta standing motionless at the entrance to the living room. She had turned her head and was looking at him with a gaze he could not quite describe.
"What's wrong, Et..."
Tilting his head, Cid strode over to ask what had happened, but the moment he reached Eta's side and saw the living room, he stopped short.
Eyes as bright as jewels. Beautiful golden hair that reached her waist, spilling loose from her headband. A slender waist outlined by a tight-fitting nun's habit. Without a doubt, what stood before Cid and Eta was a lively, beautiful young girl.
That was not the point. The point was that this beautiful nun was currently tied tightly to the sofa with strips of cloth. Because of the pressure from those cloth bindings, her loose nun's habit now outlined Asia's excellent figure.
Especially the two large slimes on Asia's chest. They were usually hidden beneath her loose, conservative nun's habit, so Cid had never noticed before. Now that they were fully visible, he realized Asia might not be on Rias or Beta's level, but she was definitely above most ordinary high school students.
But that was not the point either!
"I didn't do this..."
Cid crossed his arms, propping one hand under his chin in a thoughtful pose. His expression did not change as he tried to speak in as neutral a tone as possible. Even he was not sure what kind of mood he was in right now.
An old friend comes over to visit and finds a beautiful nun tied up in my house. What do I do? Waiting online, urgent!
If he could ask for help, Cid felt he would definitely use a title like that. Was this karma coming back around? Earlier, he had seen the unconscious Eta at Nagisa Akatsuki's place, and now Eta had seen a bound, beautiful nun at his.
"Mm. I believe you, Master. With your personality, you probably wouldn't do something like this."
To Cid's surprise, even faced with this scene, Eta merely nodded in silence, seemingly without the slightest doubt about his character.
For a moment, Cid was almost moved to tears by the sincere friendship between him and Eta. Eta, my favorability toward you just went up.
"Right. I wouldn't do something like this. So either this is a coincidence, or someone is framing me. I'll go ask Asia."
Cid nodded in agreement with Eta's view, then walked toward the sofa, intending to untie Asia and ask what had happened. He did not notice the slight upward curve of Eta's lips behind him.
Seeing Cid approach, Asia, whose mouth was stuffed with a white towel, had tears in her eyes from being gagged. Her whole body was soaked with sweat, and two patches of red appeared on her face as she made muffled sounds and twisted in place.
"All right, all right, it's okay. Just bear with it for a moment. I'll untie the white cloth on you soon, Asia."
Cid soothed Asia while his fingers moved quickly across her body to undo the bindings. But some of the ropes were in especially sensitive places, and even though Cid had already sped up, he still brushed against her from time to time.
"Cid-san, I'm sorry. I let you down..."
After Cid untied all the bindings and took the white cloth from Asia's mouth, he had just been about to ask what had happened when Asia threw herself into his arms and burst into tears.
"Huh?"
Cid, suddenly hugged, looked completely baffled. He had no idea what Asia was talking about.
"Asia, what do you mean? And what happened to you?"
"It's just... this morning, Cid-san, you told me to watch Xenovia until you came back, but I... I couldn't do it. Just now, Xenovia suddenly woke up and wanted to leave. I tried to make her stay a little longer, but she tied me up. Waaah..."
Holding the sobbing Asia in his arms, Cid gently patted her back, his expression perfectly calm.
Mm. This morning, he had indeed asked Asia to watch Xenovia until he came back. But that was because he had calculated the time. With Xenovia's physical abilities, one day should have been enough for all traces and aftereffects of the experiments he had done on her yesterday to disappear.
No matter how he thought about it, what he meant was that he wanted Asia to take care of the unconscious Xenovia. Not lock Xenovia in a room like some kind of criminal.
Given the difference in strength between them, he never would have given Asia that kind of order. A priest fighting a warrior head-on was absurd. Even if he had taught Asia a little yesterday, the time had been so short that whether she could use any of it was still a question.
"Uuuh... Cid-san, am I useless? I clearly promised you I would watch Xenovia, but Xenovia only touched me once and tied me up..."
No, Asia, you're being modest. You managed to turn the living room into this mess and force Xenovia to tie you up. Just how strong is your ability to cling to someone?
Holding Asia tightly and ignoring the pressure of her slimes being flattened under the weight, Cid turned his gaze toward the door of the room Xenovia had been staying in.
The scratches scattered across the floor and the mess near Xenovia's room told Cid exactly what kind of serious struggle had happened here earlier.
"Asia, I think... you may have misunderstood what I meant this morning."
"Huh?"
Hearing Asia's confused voice, Cid set her down and explained in detail what had happened and what he had actually meant that morning.
"...So that means I didn't mess up the task you gave me, right, Cid-san?"
No, Asia, I explained all that, so why is your head still full of that task?
"Mm. Since there wasn't a task to begin with, how could you have failed it?"
His heart was full of retorts, but under Asia's expectant gaze, Cid held them back and comforted her gently instead.
"That's great!"
After getting Cid's confirmation, Asia let out a cheer and hugged him tightly.
"I thought..."
Her voice gradually sank. Ever since Xenovia left, Asia's heart had been hanging by a thread. After receiving Cid's answer, it finally settled, and the fear she had been holding deep inside suddenly came pouring out.
Hearing Asia's trembling voice, Cid felt dampness spread across his shoulder. Asia's body shook violently in his arms.
"..I was going to be kicked out because I failed the task Cid-san gave me, then wander the world all alone."
"No way. Any boss who fires someone over one mistake deserves divine punishment."
Cid muttered the retort, but the hand he was using to comfort Asia slowed. A thought suddenly occurred to him.
If Shadow Garden and the Cult of Diablos really existed, then as the supreme leader of Shadow Garden, someone who had claimed he would lead everyone in Shadow Garden to save the world and fight the Cult, dissolving the organization on a whim would actually be even worse. Luckily, the Cult of Diablos did not exist.
"Hah. If only it really did."
He laughed at himself and continued gently stroking Asia.
"Mm. I don't really want to interrupt the emotional bonding between Master and this nun, but I want to know which room I'm sleeping in. I'm tired."
A voice so flat it held almost no emotion came from behind them, startling Asia.
She turned around and saw a beautiful Elf with long purple hair staring at her with great interest. Only then did Asia realize there was someone else in the room, and her face turned red and pale in turns. Flustered, she tried to say something to explain what she had just said.
"Relax, Asia. Let me introduce her. Her name is Eta, and she's a friend of mine. The kind who knows my true identity. She'll probably be staying here for a while."
"Eta, you heard Asia's explanation just now. I didn't do this."
"Anyway, you two get to know each other. I'll go tidy up the room first."
Cid had been so focused on calming Asia's inexplicable emotional breakdown that he had nearly forgotten Eta was standing right beside them, watching.
Now that he had been reminded, Cid let go of Asia, gave a brief explanation to settle her fragile, easily panicked heart, then raised an eyebrow and gave Eta a look before picking up the luggage and heading toward the guest room.
"Judging from Master's tone, you're another Seven Shadows he found to replace us, right?"
"Hello. I'm Eta, one of the Seven Shadows."
Eta's expression showed neither joy nor sorrow. She spoke those harsh words as if they had nothing to do with her, tilted her head, and reached out a hand for Asia to shake.
"Ah, h-hello. I'm Asia. Um... what does Seven Shadows mean?"
Like a frightened rabbit, Asia took Eta's hand and asked nervously, her eyes still red from crying earlier.
"Well, roughly speaking... I'm one of the seven senior members of a religious-style organization called Shadow Garden that Master founded long ago. Mm, I guess that's a fair way to describe it..."
"Huh?"
Asia froze. She stared in shock at Eta, who was saying all this as if it were nothing, her mouth gradually falling open.
"You... you're one of the friends Cid-san talked about? The ones who grew up with him, worked hard to develop the organization with him, and eventually left?"
"If Master doesn't have imaginary friends, then he was probably talking about me... Though saying we left feels a little strange. Back then, wasn't Master the one who said we couldn't keep up with him, then gave us his Magical Power connections and all of Shadow Garden's wealth as a severance payment?"
"And while Shadow Garden is basically no different from being disbanded now, officially speaking, Shadow Garden still hasn't been disbanded... right?"
At this point, confusion appeared for the first time on Eta's face, which had been calm from beginning to end.
She was not quite sure whether Shadow Garden counted as disbanded after Master, the one and only god of Shadow Garden, personally announced its dissolution, only for everyone to keep the same name and continue doing the same work as before simply because they did not know what else to do.
In theory, Shadow Garden had disbanded. But with all the subordinates below pretending not to hear and maintaining Shadow Garden's behavior patterns through sheer self-deception, should the current Shadow Garden be treated as the Ship of Theseus, taken apart and rebuilt with everything the same except for one missing plank?
Or should it be treated as all of Shadow Garden collectively sidelining Shadow, preventing the dissolution order he issued from ever being carried out? That was a question worth deep reflection.
"Well... whatever. Shadow Garden hasn't disbanded anyway. As long as Master calls out, Alpha and the others will definitely answer."
"B-but partners gained that way could never make Cid-san happy..."
Asia remembered the day Cid told her about his past companions. Although Cid had said very little and acted carefree, Asia had seen it clearly. When he spoke of his past, there had been sadness and regret hidden deep in his eyes.
"That's true. Master once said that what doesn't fit will never fit. Forcing it will only trouble one side, and in the end, everyone parts unhappily."
Eta fully agreed with Master cutting ties with Shadow Garden, because according to her personal calculations, Shadow alone was truly the strongest in the world, with no equal.
On the other hand, Shadow with Shadow Garden holding him back was not the strongest. Perhaps the only method that could lead to Shadow's defeat lay among them.
"Because Cid-san is so kind, he could never do something like that. You... you're just being shameless..."
Only now did Asia truly understand what it meant to be at a loss. Her predecessors had already described their relationship with Cid as "not fitting." That alone proved how much they disliked the organization Cid-san had built.
And because Cid had seen through that, he had taken the initiative to disband it, preserving both sides' dignity.
It was the best possible result. Cid's friendship with them remained, and no one was hurt. At least, it would have been if the sadness in Cid-san's eyes that day had not existed.
"Could it be... could it be that none of you have any feelings for Shadow Garden at all?"
During these days at home, Cid would occasionally tell Asia bits and pieces about the past, so she refused to believe it. She refused to believe the Seven Shadows had no feelings for Shadow Garden.
"For me... no. I have no attachment to Shadow Garden. Especially after Master left. Rather, Shadow Garden's only value to me is that it provides research funding…"
"Speaking of that, it's a little unfortunate. Master leaving made it much harder for me to get funding. Gamma-sama is harder to deal with than Alpha..."
"Scum!"
Eta spoke slowly, but that did not mean she reacted slowly. Looking at Asia, who was glaring straight at her in anger, she recalled their conversation and understood why Asia was angry. She sighed.
"I thought someone Master accepted would be able to understand me. In the end, you're just an ordinary, vulgar person..."