"Excuse me, sir! Did you see someone wearing a long black coat just now?"
The elderly man frowned, initially annoyed by being stopped, until he noticed it was a young girl asking. His expression softened immediately.
"No, miss. Haven't seen anyone like that."
The answer came without hesitation.
It wasn't a lie.
The nun had, in fact, seen Cid moments earlier. But thanks to his Natural Law ability, his presence blended into the environment like dust particles in the wind, visible yet completely unremarkable. People could look directly at him and forget what they'd seen the moment they turned away.
It was precisely why no one, not even those who crossed paths with him daily, could recall his face.
"I see. Thank you for your time."
The nun stepped back politely, preparing to continue her search, but the old man stopped her.
"Miss, don't waste your time. I've been here all day, and there hasn't been anyone like that around. Even if you ask others, you'll get the same answer."
"B-But he was just here! I'm sure of it!"
"You must've been mistaken. It's too hot today for anyone to be walking around in a black coat. Trust me, I'd have noticed."
Leaving the nun in stunned silence, the old man walked away.
"Was… was I hallucinating?"
The blonde nun stood frozen, her mind spinning.
"But… the Lord guided me here. He was here."
Her conviction wavered, but she couldn't shake the feeling that her eyes hadn't deceived her.
Of course, she hadn't imagined it. The only ones hallucinating were the townsfolk blinded by Cid's technique.
Had he witnessed the scene, Cid would have gleefully added it to his ever-growing list of "Things I Must Say as the Eminence in Shadow."
"To see through illusions yet live within one… Will they drift along and sink into oblivion, or stand tall and remain true to themselves? Truly, a fascinating question."
Yes, Cid would probably say something like that.
….
"Here, kitty, kitty. Come over and let me pet you."
Inside the convent, Cid sat cross-legged, a cat nestled in each hand as he gently stroked their fur. A soft, almost blissful smile adorned his face.
"Good kitty, good kitty. Don't worry, I'll find you nice homes soon. Stop licking me, though."
Reluctantly, he stood and placed the two cats down, pulling out a cloth to wipe the spots their tongues had dampened.
Moving to a hidden corner of the convent, he retrieved a bag of cat food sealed behind a ward.
No, he wasn't concerned about the kittens breaking the seal and raiding the stash.
If these palm-sized furballs managed to bypass his defenses, he'd gladly write his name backward as penance.
He poured the food into a bowl, calling out to the kittens.
"Come on, dinner's ready!"
At the sound of his voice, the cats scattered around the area abandoned their play and gathered to eat.
As he watched the tiny creatures nibble away at the kibble, their adorable antics warmed his heart, or so he thought. Something felt… off.
"One, two, three… twenty-three."
"…Wait. What?!"
He counted again.
"One, two, three, four… twenty-three!!"
The realization hit like a slap to the face.
Cid snapped out of his cat-petting reverie, eyes darting across the group.
There's supposed to be twenty-four. Where's the last one?!
Panic surged through him.
Damn it! I just told Kanon yesterday that one of the cats might try to run away, and now one's missing?
Was this karma? Some twisted joke by the universe?
No, that couldn't be it. His entire day had been cursed from the start.
First, Claire turned parts of his body into meat paste as a wake-up call. Then she announced her indefinite stay on Itogami Island, ensuring endless headaches in the coming days.
Next, his weekly Eminence in Shadow Trials got derailed by a false alarm, ruining his carefully cultivated image with Kojou. And now, to top it all off, one of Kanon's cats, the cats she paid him to care for, had mysteriously vanished.
He groaned.
That's it. Tonight, I'm sneaking off the island and getting back to my roots, robbing the rich to blow off steam. And if I can reel in a big catch, even better.
For now, though, he had to deal with this cat situation.
Wasting no time, Cid dashed toward the convent's exit.
If the runaway kitten had somehow made it down the hill, there was a risk that some well-meaning passerby might report it to Animal Control. Best-case scenario? He'd find it caged at a shelter. Worst-case scenario? He'd be retrieving a corpse.
Neither outcome appealed to him.
Cid paused briefly at the convent's threshold and glanced back.
He'd never bothered marking the cats or memorizing their scents. Why would he? The convent was surrounded by natural barriers, including a collapsed structure that blocked the only viable exit.
While a human could easily climb over it, the kittens, judging by their size, should have been physically incapable of escaping.
Unless… one of them matured faster than the others?
It seemed plausible. A single anomaly, while rare, wasn't impossible.
But what if this was just the beginning? What if he found the missing kitten only to discover another had vanished by the time he returned?
Time was already short, he couldn't afford to mark each one individually.
So instead…
"Bind."
He raised his hand and whispered the command.
Dark energy pulsed outward, spreading across the convent like invisible threads.
With that single word, the surrounding area was enveloped in his magic.
The cats wouldn't notice, the barrier was subtle, a net designed not to restrain but to monitor. Should any of them attempt to cross its boundary, Cid would know instantly.
Satisfied, he turned back toward the forested path leading downhill.
Now, let's find that runaway.
….
Cid swept his hand casually through the air. A shimmering barrier materialized around the convent, pulsing faintly before fading into the void.
Magic, it's pretty amazing, isn't it?
"Done. The sooner I find that cat, the sooner I can get back."
Without sparing a second glance, Cid bolted down the hillside.
Had any student from the Academy's magic department witnessed his actions, they'd likely have dropped their jaws in disbelief.
No gestures. No chants. No incantations.
With a single wave, he deployed a barrier whose anchor points didn't even exist in the physical realm, they were set in the void itself. At that point, he might as well have been a god of magic.
For Cid, magic was his greatest reward after the worlds merged. In his view, it boiled down to three fundamental pillars: Mana, Knowledge, and Control.
•Mana formed the foundation.
•Knowledge constructed the framework.
•Control filled the gaps.
Everything else, gestures, seals, chants, were just crutches, tools to compensate for a lack of mastery.
That's right. All of it fell under the third pillar, Control.