章 142: Chapter 141
[Third Person's PoV]
After Cid finished comforting Gamma, they both let out a sigh as they detected more people coming their way with killing intent.
Cid looked towards Gamma teasingly, "Looks like someone really wants you dead… Luna~" he said, using Gamma's alias.
Gamma started to pout and grew angry, "Those idiots, how dare they disrupt my time with my husband."
Cid looked at Gamma in amusement, "You can send the other members to take care of it, you know."
Gamma let out a sigh and shook her head, "As much as I would like to, I can't grow lazy and push everything up to them. They're already making sure the shipment towards nearby cities are protected and aren't attacked. And since I'm their boss, I need to set an example."
She gave Cid a kiss on the cheeks as she stood up, then ran her fingers across the rim of her witch hat as she looked back towards him and smiled, "Plus I'm in a good mood right now."
She reached out her hand, and from her shadow, her broom slowly appeared. Once the broom was in place, she jumped and sat down on it in one go, but as her butt landed on the pole, she rolled off and landed back on the ground while rolling for a bit.
When she stopped rolling, she had her butt in the air as her witch hat slid a bit forward, covering her face.
"Ouchie," she muttered as she stood up, dusted herself off, and looked a bit embarrassed as she walked towards the broom and carefully sat back on it.
She couldn't look at Cid in the eyes as she heard him snickering, so she pointed towards the window and waved her hand, causing the window to swing open.
She lowered her hat to hide her face and slowly flew out the window.
Cid shook his head in amusement until he heard Yukihime sending him a message.
'My lord Yukime wants to have a word with you about the things you two were previously discussing.'
'I'll be right there,' Cid replied.
He then checked his surroundings to see if anyone was paying attention to him. When he saw that there wasn't, he surrounded himself in his shadow, and when it popped out, Cid appeared as his other Persona: Merlin.
"Looks like this is a job for Merlin…" Cid smirked as he sank into his shadow while holding onto his top hat and cane.
…
Lawless Town: White Tower:
Yukime was waiting for Shadow while looking at the tray in front of her until she saw a smoke screen appear in front of her.
She wasn't surprised by the smoke and just smiled, but as the smoke screen cleared, there was no one there, and when she looked back at the tray, she saw that it was now empty.
"I see you finished designing and printing the counterfeit bills."
Yukime wasn't even surprised anymore and turned towards the voice, she saw Merlin holding a stack of bills in each hand.
"So what do you think? Did I make any mistakes?"
Merlin waved the stack in his left hand, "Not bad, it looks close to the original."
Yukime gave Merlin a weary smile, "But you were still able to tell…"
"Ink is a bit larger in this one, and the symbol is off by a centimeter, while the quality of the paper in this one is coarser."
Yukime took both stacks and began to examine them closely. After a while, she let out a sigh, "You're right…" she muttered deprecatingly.
"Luckily for you, these things are only noticeable because I'm me. If it was someone else, they wouldn't have even given it a second glance."
"So are these acceptable?" Yukime once again asked.
Merlin's earlier smile disappeared as he started to pressure Yukime, "What do you think?" He asked with a monotone voice and a straight face, his mana, which was a beautiful silver color, expelling out of him.
Yukime started to sweat, 'What could it be… did I do something wrong… did I make a mistake somewhere… No… maybe he's testing me,' she thought, her mind racing to come up with a solution.
She gulped as she prepared herself to answer, "I believe it's acceptable!" She answered.
The pressure vanished like it didn't even exist in the first place while Merlin returned to smiling. He nodded his head towards her, "Good, always be certain, uncertainty is a silent killer after all."
Yukime nodded her head in understanding and let out a sigh of relief, 'Thankfully, it was only a test, and I managed to pass it.'
"You can already begin the distribution," Merlin ordered.
To which Yukime nodded her head in response, "Then I leave the protection of the source in your hands."
…
at the Merchant Union:
Gettan was looking out the window with his hands behind his back, "What do you mean none of the numbers returned last night?"
He asked his brown-haired chubby informant, "None of them reported back, my lord, we fear they have already been disposed of. We aren't able to get in contact with them either."
Gettan clicked his tongue upon hearing this, 'How can this be, they're highly skilled assassins of the cult, nothing should have stopped them. I even had to bother asking for favors, and it still came to this.'
"My lord, we suffered too many losses. Whether it was the Mercenaries, The Clovers, or the other hires, I'm afraid we can't waste any more; otherwise, it would be detrimental for us."
"Well, go and gather some intel for us, Garter!" Gettan barked.
Garter jolted in fear, "Yes, lord Gettan," he managed to squeak out as he rushed out of the room, realizing that Gettan was only getting angrier by the second.
"I see, so that's why the cult thinks of them as a dangerous existence… but it matters not, I already have a plan in mind."
Gettan reached into his pockets and pulled out bills belonging to the Merchant Union.
"These counterfeit bills will cause the trust to collapse. I have already transferred our funds to a safe location. The only one that would suffer would be Mitsugoshi… they're now like rats trapped in the cult's cage. Hahahaha!" He laughed to himself with an arrogant smirk.
…
Nightingale: Royal Castle:
"I DON'T WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!" Cid cried out as he held Celeste in a hug and rubbed his cheeks against hers.
Claire and Alexia held Cid's shoulders as they tried to pull him off Celeste, "Let me take Celeste with me, please!!!" He begged, "I promise I'll conceal her properly so no one would notice her!"
"BRINGING A BABY TO SCHOOL IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" Both Claire and Alexia shouted as Aurora looked at the scene in amusement.
While Celeste was laughing happily with all the attention she was getting.
"Can't I take paternity leave or something!? Let me spend time with my little girl," Cid continued begging.
"Oh, I know I can send a shadow clone in my place!" Cid said excitedly.
"HELL NO!" Both Alexia and Claire shouted.
"But why!?"
"If we have to suffer, so do you!" They both said in sync.
"You can both suffer alone for all I care!" Cid said, not wanting to be pried off Celeste and giving her kisses on the cheeks, which caused her to release loud baby giggles.
"Please, Aurora, do something," Claire said, giving Aurora a pleading look.
Aurora let out a sigh and walked towards Cid. She cuffed a hand by his ear and whispered something in his ear.
Cid immediately stopped, put Celeste in Aurora's arm, kissed her forehead, and walked ahead. He stopped, looked towards Claire and Alexia in confusion, "Well? What are you two waiting for? An invitation? We have class to get to."
Alexia looked towards Aurora in confusion, "What did you whisper that got him that motivated?" She wondered in awe.
Aurora blushed a bit, "I promised to wear a bunny outfit the next time we do the deed."
Claire and Alexia looked at Aurora with a straight face and let out a sigh before they both shook their heads in disappointment and followed after Cid.
章 143: Chapter 142
[Third Person's PoV]
As Cid made his way towards school, Alexia wrapped her arms around his and held his hand as they walked.
"What are you doing?" Claire asked, looking at Alexia with a deadpan expression.
Alexia looked at Claire teasingly. "What does it look like? I'm holding hands with my boyfriend~" She emphasized the boyfriend part. "Since everyone knows Cid and I are a couple, no one would question why we're holding hands. After all, our relationship is out in the open," she bragged.
"Wait, is this the reason you wanted me to come with you? You could have just asked me, you know, I wouldn't have declined," Cid rolled his eyes in exasperation.
They soon arrived in front of the school and saw people looking at him, whispering to themselves.
"I heard he took down a herd of those monsters by himself."
"That's insane, how strong do you actually think he is?"
"He not only helped stop the infamous Shadow, but he also helped with the monsters. I can see why the princess is after him."
"Do you think if I ask..."
"Mckenzie don't"
"You sure are popular," Alexia teased.
"It comes with being good-looking, it's a curse I can't escape from unfortunately," Cid lamented.
"I see your narcissistic personality is still intact," Alexia said with a scoff.
The bell then rang, signifying the start of class, much to Cid's displeasure.
While class was starting, Cid lowered his presence to the point where people forgot he was even there. He sank into his shadow, and in his place, a shadow clone appeared.
...
Celeste stared lifelessly with a bored look, staring at the ceiling inside her crib. She knew she was supposed to be sleeping, but sleep just didn't come to her.
Then, she saw something that caused her to do a double take. From the side of her crib, Cid slowly rose up.
A large smile overcame her face as she saw him, and she couldn't help but reach out her baby hands and make clasping motions while twisting and turning.
"Bah! Bah! Bah!"
Cid smiled as he saw her. "Aww, did my wittle pwincess miss me while I was away?" he said in a baby voice as he picked her up.
As Cid lifted her, he threw her in the air before catching her and throwing her up again.
*Baby giggling*
As Cid held her in his arms and put a finger to his lips, "Don't tell mom I came to visit you, alright?"
Celeste nodded her head, her baby face gaining a serious expression, which Cid found absolutely adorable.
"Nom Nom Nom, you're just so cute I want to eat you up," he said as he made munching noises towards her cheeks.
Celeste let out loud squeals and happy giggles.
Cid then walked around the room, slightly swaying her as she rested her head on his shoulder and sucked her thumb while she slept.
His shadow clone warned him that class had ended and that Alexia was making her way towards him.
Cid softly put Celeste back in her crib, covered her with a blanket, and kissed her forehead before sinking into his shadow.
…
Cid took his shadow clone's place just in time. As soon as he did, Alexia walked through the door and made her way toward him. She took his hand and dragged him out of the class, heading towards the empty training room. As she closed the door behind her and faced Cid, he lowered his head, grabbed the back of her head, and started to kiss her.
Alexia turned bright red and lowered her head slightly. "What are you doing!?" she asked in embarrassment.
Cid tilted his head in confusion. "Kissing you? Isn't that why you dragged me out of the classroom and brought me to this empty room?"
"No!" she said, still blushing. "I wanted us to train together like we used to."
"Oh…" Cid said, a bit embarrassed as he rubbed the back of his head. "I definitely got the wrong message then."
Alexia then took Cid by his tie and began to kiss him herself. "I didn't say I didn't like it," she said with a blush before returning to kiss him.
She grabbed the back of his head as they moved back, crashing a bit into the door.
After a while, they backed off each other, and Alexia began to fan herself. "Well, that was certainly exciting, wasn't it?"
She then grabbed two practice swords and tossed one to Cid. As she got into her stance, she couldn't help but smile reminiscently.
"It feels like it's been forever since we last stood like this, face to face. A lot has happened," Alexia said.
Cid chuckled. "Indeed it has," he said, running towards Alexia and clashing his sword with hers.
Cid and Alexia both had smiles on their faces as they swung their swords against each other. The sound of their clashing resounded through the room, their figures moving all around.
They continued their exchange until Cid ended it with his sword pointing towards her throat.
But Alexia didn't look disappointed as she also had her sword aimed towards his throat. "You have improved, princess."
Alexia rolled her eyes. "Please don't call me that."
Cid only chuckled. Unknown to them, they spent their entire break sparring, which ended with the bell signifying the end of their session.
...
In Mitsugoshi...
Gamma sank into her shadow and reappeared by Alpha, who was staring out the window with a distant look. Beatrix was also there, leaning against a wall with her sword by her chest.
"Alpha, we have a problem…" Gamma said.
"What is it?" Alpha asked, turning her head in confusion.
"This," Gamma said, handing her a stack of counterfeit bills. "There has been a lot of distribution of these, and people are getting weary and suspicious."
Alpha took the bills and examined them. "Search for the source of these and send someone to take them down," she instructed.
"Let me join," Beatrix said.
Alpha looked at Beatrix with a raised brow. "Why? It's a small matter that should be handled fairly easily."
"Although I agreed to join Shadow Garden, I haven't done a single thing. I have offered my services, so I feel like it's time to make my due," Beatrix explained.
Alpha put a hand on her chin as she thought about it. "What do you think, Gamma?"
Gamma pondered before nodding her head. "I don't see why not. She can supervise the team I send out since it's going to be their first mission."
Beatrix nodded in understanding. "So who's the team?"
"Come, I'll introduce you to them," Gamma said, leading Beatrix away.
Alpha returned to staring out the window pensively. She slowly raised her hand to her stomach before letting out a sigh.
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