Walking down the crowded street, he kept replaying what had just happened in his head.
His relationship with Nangou Natsuki was nothing more than that of an ordinary student and teacher. They had little interaction. But if someone asked him who at school was the most trustworthy, his answer would be Nangou Natsuki. After all… dolls cannot betray their own settings.
Nangou Natsuki was a doll.Even though she acted friendly to students, even allowed them to call her Natsuki-chan and only tapped them on the head with her folding fan when they did so—that was merely part of her "setting."
He was certain of it. Her eyes, deep down, were hollow and chaotic. She was good at pretending, but emptiness was still emptiness. And her body—completely constructed from magic. He didn't know where her core was, but there was no doubt about it: Nangou Natsuki was a doll.
That was what he had always believed.But… can dolls lie?
She had said she'd just arrived. Yet he had sensed her presence a full hour and a half earlier. Think about it—what kind of doll would sit there, doing nothing, watching him swing a sword for ninety minutes straight? Was her brain broken?
Forget it. Why bother thinking so much? It wasn't his problem anyway.
As he thought this, a flash of silver hair rushed past him. In just a few seconds, the figure disappeared.
"That was… Kojou? Moving that fast? What's he running from?"
He recognized the figure: Kojou Akatsuki, the brother of the siblings who lived next door after Sid had moved to Itogami Island.
"Boom!!!"
An explosion thundered from the direction Kojou had just come, the shockwave laced with magical energy. The blast immediately threw the street into panic.
"What happened?! Why did something explode?!"
"No idea! Either way, let's get out of here!"
"Right, if it's demons and we get caught in the crossfire, nobody's going to help us!"
In moments like this, a proper background character should follow the crowd and flee. But there were always some dumb side characters who thought their strength was decent, who'd run toward the chaos—either to play hero or just to gawk.
Was he such a dumb background character? Was he?
…He could be.
His strength sat right at B-minus: not too strong, not too weak. Perfect for a side character. He also had a wooden sword on him. With a little luck, maybe he'd unlock another background-character achievement. Plus—he was curious.
So he went.
Unfortunately, by the time he arrived at the scene, it was already over. Two thuggish-looking demons lay sprawled on the ground. That was it. A total waste of his time—unless you counted the wallet lying there.
Sniff, sniff."I smell it. The scent of money."
Sid's eyes sharpened, locking instantly onto the wallet on the ground.
Sure, there was a security camera pointed that way, but who cared? He had at least ten ways to make sure it wouldn't catch him. The simplest was…
"The World."
Time—stopped.
This was a spell he'd learned after the worlds fused. Inspired by a character from an anime in his previous life, he named it "The World."
Leisurely, he walked over, picked up the wallet, and returned to his spot.
"Release. Let's go."
Everything was exactly as it had been before time froze—except now the wallet was gone.
Back home, he locked the door, turned on the light, drew the curtains, and pulled the wallet out of his pocket.
"Now, time to check the spoils. Let's see… one, two, three, four, five… twenty thousand zeni. And… a student ID? Himeragi Yukina?"
After confirming there was nothing else inside, he casually tossed the empty wallet and the student ID into a drawer, then flopped onto his bed.
Two years ago, whether he returned something he found depended entirely on his mood.
To be a true Eminence in Shadow, one needed wealth—to purchase top-tier artifacts that served as "props." Back in the old world, most of his funds came from killing bandits and claiming their stolen goods.
To Sid, picking up money on the street was no different from robbing bandits of their loot. Either way, it was wealth someone else had "accidentally lost." One method relied on luck, the other on strength.
Sometimes, when he was in a good mood, he didn't mind tracking down the original owner.
But that was before.
A year ago, the three worlds joined forces to wipe out banditry in a massive operation. Since then, his steady stream of "funding" had dried up.
He had joined in that campaign, of course, and snatched up plenty before the allied forces could. But without a stable source of income, savings only dwindled. He'd thought of borrowing from Gamma—but his pride wouldn't allow it.
So now, in the middle of a half-year-long search for new funding methods, perpetually strapped for cash, there was no way he'd return this money.
Besides, a student ID could be reissued. And twenty thousand zeni wasn't enough to starve someone to death. That girl, Himeragi Yukina, could just treat it as paying for a lesson in caution.
Grumble… grumble…
His stomach growled, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Guess it's time to eat."
Just to be clear—he hadn't bought any groceries. His fridge was completely empty.
He got up, walked to his desk, and opened another drawer. Inside were several flyers, each inscribed with a magic circle. Without even glancing at them, he grabbed one at random, walked to the living room, and tossed it into the air.
The flyer floated on its own, forming a glowing circle a meter across. Slowly, the tall figure of a woman emerged from the center.
"Greetings, I am—oh, it's you, Sid. I was starting to wonder why you hadn't summoned me in nearly a week. Did you take too much from me last time? You look pretty energetic now, so I guess—"