"Leaving the familia… It's because I didn't do well enough. I didn't understand Cid's feelings."
Astraea's emotions were a tangled mix.
What she didn't say out loud was this: she had already considered letting Cid leave the Astraea Familia for a while.
Orario hadn't been peaceful lately. After Alise and the others accepted Ganesha Familia's commission, they'd been busy every day. Busy would be one thing—but what worried Astraea was that what came next might carry real risk of death.
Standing on the very front line against the darkness, being targeted was almost inevitable. That was why Astraea waited at the gates every day, hoping every child would return safely.
If Cid left the Astraea Familia, he could avoid being caught at the center of the storm.
The others at least possessed excellent combat ability. Survival wasn't guaranteed, but they had the strength to take part in the storm.
But Cid—too weak, not qualified to be in that kind of tempest—the best choice was to leave.
Her reason told her what to do. Her feelings still stung.
They were all her precious children. She didn't want any of them to go.
And Cid, of all of them, was her very first.
Still, Cid had already made his request, and Astraea would respect his choice.
What she feared most was that those who had fallen into darkness would learn the truth and use Cid as a hostage to threaten the others.
Cid had never been famous, but for the Dark Faction's intelligence network, learning of his existence wouldn't be hard.
So she needed to find him a god he could trust—meaning Ganesha was eliminated immediately.
Ganesha Familia was reliable, but Ganesha wasn't.
And besides, Ganesha Familia was also on the front line against the Dark Faction. They had no spare time or manpower to look after Cid.
Then there was Cid's own wish: he didn't want attention. Which meant Loki Familia and Freya Familia were also out.
Those were Orario's two strongest familias—exactly the kind of places Cid didn't want to go.
Astraea could only choose a smaller, less noticeable familia—and then obtain some magic items that would let Cid change his appearance, so the Dark Faction wouldn't latch onto him.
But there was a catch:
Some gods looked upright on the surface, yet were actually members of the Dark Faction.
All of them were ancient foxes. If a god insisted on disguising themselves, Astraea wasn't sure she could see through it either.
So who could she entrust Cid to?
Astraea quickly arrived at an answer.
The gods she trusted most were the ones who, like her, had remained pure.
To resist the boredom of countless ages and not fall into corruption—that alone proved their character.
Whatever else could be debated, such gods would never fall into darkness, and they would never join hands with the Dark Faction.
So if Cid was going to change familias, Astraea hoped he would join one of those three.
Athena was hard to track down. Artemis didn't accept men.
But Hestia… could be considered.
"From what I've heard, Hestia seems like she wants to come down to the Lower World," Astraea murmured. "But even if that lazy one makes up her mind, she'll probably drag her feet for years."
After thinking it through, Astraea decided she would write a letter to Artemis. Conveniently, Hermes Familia had been going out frequently during this period, contacting forces outside Orario for support.
Artemis and Hestia were close. Even across realms, they likely had a direct way to reach each other.
If Hestia could start with a Level 2 child whose character Astraea herself could vouch for, she would probably be pleased—and might choose to descend sooner.
Cid's "just reached Level 2" strength made him the weakest within Astraea Familia. But as a newcomer's first child, that was already outstanding combat power.
If Hestia truly wanted to descend, she wouldn't miss an opportunity like that.
When the time came, Astraea could even hope Artemis would take Hestia and have her operate outside Orario for a while—riding out the period when the Dark Faction was most active.
Astraea had signaled Alise to keep Cid in the dark, too, because she believed it was best not to tell him.
As the child of a goddess of justice, if Cid learned something that important, he probably wouldn't leave—no matter what.
Even if he couldn't help, he would still stubbornly act on the justice in his heart.
Astraea had faith in her children.
But Cid wasn't like Alise and the others. With his level of strength, it wasn't time for him to slam headfirst into the darkness.
"Rumble—!"
Astraea looked toward the window.
The sky that had been clear a moment ago was now thick with dark clouds, as if brewing a storm that would sweep across Orario.
"No matter how it ends… humanity won't perish. And justice will be passed on, like a bond—generation after generation."
…
Cid entered the bathhouse and immediately relaxed.
In a space where no one else could notice him, he finally stopped hiding how he felt.
"Another day of perfectly playing the mob!"
After taking off his shirt, Cid pulled a small bottle from his pocket.
It was Astraea's divine blood—secretly collected and then blended by Cid himself.
He dabbed a single drop of the artificial divine blood onto his back, and heat spread faintly through his skin.
Using magic, he shaped the water into a mirror and looked at the Blessing engraved on his back.
He had studied the sacred script, so he could read his true status clearly.
…
Cid Raphael
Level 5
Strength: SSS 1972 – SSS 1999
Endurance: SSS 1916 – SSS 1999
Dexterity: SSS 1940 – SSS 1999
Agility: SSS 1946 – SSS 1999
Magic: SSS 1999 – SSS 1999
[Development Abilities]
Mystery E / Magecraft D / Blacksmithing E / Healing F
[Magic]
Magic Compression
Self-enhancement magic. Compresses mana to raise its quality, increasing Magic.
No chant.
Simulated Nuclear Blast (I am atomic)
Wide-area annihilation magic. Releases mana after compressing it to the extreme.
Short chant.
(Three empty magic slots)
[Skills]
Shadow
When masked, overall ability greatly increases.
At night, ability increases enormously.
Can conceal and alter one's own status.
All Arts Mastered
If you put in effort, you will always gain results.
…
For anyone who understood Blessings, Cid's status couldn't be called "simply powerful"—it was outright strange.
Three empty magic slots, two spells, plus two skills and four development abilities—among top-tier adventurers, that was already excellent.
But the truly shocking part was the raw parameters.
In the eyes of most gods and adventurers, the highest a parameter could reach was S-rank: 999.
And as long as one of your five parameters exceeded D-rank: 500, and you achieved a feat, you could level up.
Alise—the captain of Astraea Familia, and Cid's sister—was a famous young genius, yet among her five parameters, only two were A-rank, and only one had just reached S-rank.
A value beyond 999… in Orario's history, only Alfia had ever reached that realm.
But Alfia wasn't the type to flaunt herself, and Hera Familia would never allow outsiders to investigate their core secrets.
So in present-day Orario, practically no one knew that status could surpass S-rank.
If Cid's parameters were exposed, Orario's "number one adventurer" would have to change hands.
Even Ottar at Level 6 wouldn't be Cid's match.
Whether in growth speed or current strength, Cid was the strongest in Orario today.
And even that pace of growth still wasn't Cid's full effort.
It would be hard for outsiders to imagine, but in his first ten-plus years in this world, Cid had never fought a real battle.
Not even once.
Chapter 005: Disliking Big Sis Is Absolutely Forbidden
Maybe it was because of Cid's efforts in his previous life, or maybe because of his skills—either way, aside from combat, he could grow stronger with ridiculous ease in forging, mana control, healing, and so on.
Because he hadn't fought much from childhood to now, all of Cid's development abilities were non-combat types.
Alise had always taught Cid swordsmanship. On the surface he could wield a blade convincingly, and in private his sword skill was outstanding.
But when it came time to choose development abilities, Cid didn't pick the ones that directly boosted combat power.
He had Magecraft because he'd been compressing mana for years. He had Blacksmithing because he'd been experimenting with turning monster materials and magic stones into weapons and armor. He had Healing because of his knowledge of the human body and his extreme mastery of mana.
As for Mystery, Cid was the only one who couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Still, when he created artificial divine blood, that development ability seemed to activate.
According to rumor, Mystery was possessed by fewer than a handful of people in Orario.
Heh. As the Eminence in Shadow, of course he should have an ability nobody else has—and whose effect is maddeningly unclear.
Normally, being personally powerful and improving across the board should be nothing but good news.
But he'd already hit a wall.
Once his parameters reached 1999, his current Blessing level could no longer draw out further potential from his body.
No matter how hard he trained, he couldn't raise them any higher.
Only leveling up would increase the cap and let him keep progressing.
In Orario, leveling up requires two conditions:
One parameter reaches D-rank (500+)
You complete a great feat
A "great feat" means breaking common sense, breaking your limits—doing something that, generally speaking, shouldn't be doable.
Cid had reached Level 5 not by defeating powerful enemies, but through potion research and forging weapons.
That's right—achievements outside of battle can also count as a great feat.
Hephaestus Familia's captain, Tsubaki, was not the "strong fighter" type among her peers. She mostly forged excellent weapons, then went into the Dungeon just to field-test them. Many of her level-up experiences and great feats didn't come from combat.
But because her forging was so strong, and because she occasionally went out to kill monsters, she eventually became a top-tier adventurer—her level ranking high across all Orario.
Cid had once planned to follow the same route—hence choosing so many development abilities unrelated to fighting.
Unfortunately, that path only carried him to Level 5. From here on, if Cid wanted a great feat, he would have to defeat a powerful opponent.
In Orario today, the only person who might help Cid level up was the strongest of Freya Familia: Ottar.
He was a Level 6 adventurer. His strength wasn't higher than Cid's, but his level was still one tier above.
Cid was only Level 5. If he defeated Ottar one-on-one, that could plausibly qualify as a great feat—and maybe push him to Level 6.
"But not right now. Orario is on the verge of a storm."
And Ottar wasn't a bad person. Cid was also afraid he might kill him by accident.
Cid had also considered diving deep into the Dungeon to challenge even stronger monsters.
If he could solo the entire "great feat" payoff, leveling to 6 wouldn't be difficult.
But the Dungeon was enormous—pyramid-like, with the lower floors spreading wider and wider.
Without a map, getting lost was normal.
If he didn't go deep, the upper and middle floors were full of monsters that were too weak.
Even with Cid's speed, a round trip deep enough to fight something truly strong would take a long time.
And if he vanished for that long… Alise would go berserk.
That was yet another reason he had to leave the Astraea Familia. If his sister wasn't managing him, moving around would be far more convenient.
Orario wasn't peaceful now, and Cid wouldn't allow the rats in the dark to harm his comrades.
Level 5 wasn't enough. He wanted to become even stronger.
On the surface, Orario's strongest adventurers were only Level 6.
Even if there truly were enemies coveting Orario, it was hard to imagine them surpassing Ottar.
But Cid stubbornly believed that someone far stronger must be hiding in the shadows—someone with overwhelming, unrivaled power.
An enemy capable of casually crushing the "strongest on the surface"… now that was someone worthy of being the Eminence in Shadow's opponent.
He had no evidence.
He simply chose to believe it.
So Cid set himself a modest goal—
Become strong enough to crush Ottar with ease.
"Level 5? As if the Eminence in Shadow could stop here!"
…
After finishing his bath, Cid returned to the main hall and saw his comrades had all come home.
"Welcome back, Sister!"
Cid beamed and opened his arms wide.
He knew that when Alise got back, she'd be drenched in sweat and would absolutely give him a passionate hug.
And under no circumstances—absolutely none—could he show disgust at the smell of sweat.
Otherwise, even easygoing big sis would drive an elbow straight into his kidneys.
She claimed she wanted to become a stout dwarf so she could protect more people… but in truth she still loved being a beautiful young girl.
Heh. Women.
Cid also knew that when describing his second-most-respected Alise, he had to call her—
"The pure, upright, beautiful captain of the Astraea Familia."
She was pure, upright, and beautiful… but no one praised her that bluntly except herself.
In any case, a beautiful girl could never be associated with sweat stink.
"Cid!"
Hearing her voice, Alise turned and sprinted toward him—
—and then locked Cid's head under her arm.
A Level 3, A-rank Strength hold. Most people couldn't break free.
Cid didn't dodge. He was just confused.
Was this some new kind of hug?
"Heehee. Be a good boy and accept your punishment, Cid."
Alise used: Savage Skull Splitter!
"Ow ow ow ow ow! Help help help!"
Cid played up the pain and reached toward Kaguya and Ryuu for rescue.
Vice-captain Kaguya always stopped Alise from going too far, and Ryuu was righteous and principled. Surely they wouldn't just watch—
But even as he acted like he "couldn't breathe," those two only watched from a distance, with zero intention of saving him.
As comrades, standing by like this was outrageous.
Maybe his eyes looked too pitiful, because they finally deigned to explain.
"Y-you—IDIOT! Cid, reflect on what you've done wrong. If you run your mouth again, I'll rip off one of your 'magic marbles' down there! One is still usable anyway!"
Kaguya wore the gentle expression of a perfect Yamato nadeshiko…
…but the words coming out of her mouth were pure nightmare fuel.
"—Hiss!"
Even Cid, strong as he was, sucked in a sharp breath and clamped his legs together.
This fear, at least, wasn't an act.
If it was Kaguya Gojo, she genuinely might pull off "reaching in and taking the pearl."
Cid started doubting himself.
Had he really done something that unforgivable?
-------
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