Among Cid's seven little companions, Delta was one of the more special ones. As for what exactly made her special...
"Boss, you're trying to go back on your word again. You clearly said you'd give Delta anything."
She was especially simple-minded.
Watching Delta cling to him and wriggle around, trying to make him fulfill his promise, Cid casually grabbed her by the collar and lifted her off himself, dangling her in front of him.
Even though she was hanging in the air, Delta still did not give up. She put on a pitiful, pouty face, tears welling in her eyes as if she were about to cry.
"Ahem. Delta, listen to me. What I said earlier was that I never mistreat my subordinates in Shadow Garden. The problem is, Shadow Garden has already been disbanded by me."
"Huh?"
Delta froze, as if she could not quite understand the logic.
"Look. If Shadow Garden hadn't been disbanded, then according to Shadow Garden's rules, once you offered me a satisfactory tribute, I would reward you with what you wanted.
But Shadow Garden has already been disbanded, so naturally, Shadow Garden's rules can't continue to apply. Otherwise, wouldn't that be using the sword of a previous dynasty to execute the officials of the current one?"
Cid raised a finger and patiently explained the logic to Delta. Or rather, fooled her with it.
"B-but..."
Delta seemed to have been taken in. She wanted to say something, but had no idea how to say it.
"No buts. I said Shadow Garden has been disbanded, so it has been disbanded. I'm returning your tribute to you, and there's no need for me to reward you with anything."
Cid's tone grew heavier, and his face hardened. Delta was immediately frightened into silence, her mouth closing in grievance as the tears in her eyes truly looked ready to fall.
Seeing Delta like that, Cid almost felt a little soft-hearted. But when he remembered that Delta had just said she wanted to have a hundred children, he decided it was better to let the dog feel wronged for a while.
"Th-then what about what Boss promised Delta before? Does that not count either?"
Faced with Delta's wounded gaze, Cid froze. Now that she mentioned it, he did seem to have promised Delta something before.
There had once been a time when Delta had stumbled across him while he was doing something bad. To prevent Delta from accidentally leaking the secret and ruining his plan, he had borrowed Shadow Garden's rules to trick her into leaving.
And while tricking Delta, he had indeed promised that once the matter was done, he would owe Delta one favor. So...
"All right. Shadow Garden hadn't been disbanded yet when I promised you, and I'm not the kind of person who breaks his word. Tell me what you want me to do, Delta."
Cid casually set Delta down and spoke in a relaxed tone.
"Then I want to have a hundred with Boss, mmph, mmph, mmph..."
The moment Delta landed and heard Cid's words, her face lit up with excitement. She was just about to leap onto him when Cid covered her mouth, leaving her able to make only muffled noises.
"That's not allowed."
"Why not...?"
Rejected by Cid, Delta instantly went from excited to dejected. The animal ears on her head drooped, and so did the tail behind her.
"I told you before. This favor isn't unlimited. It has to be within what I can do, it can't take too much of my energy, and it can't cost me money.
Obviously, having a hundred children would take a huge amount of energy. And raising all those children afterward would cost a fortune.
Pick something else..."
That was right. He had long since predicted that Delta was very likely to make some request that would put him in an awkward position, so he had added restrictions in advance.
"Mmmph..."
After Cid reminded her, Delta also remembered all the restrictions attached to that favor. She could only let out an unwilling whine and roll around on the ground, acting cute.
"Hmph. If you still haven't figured out what you want, Delta, then we'll discuss this another time. Come find me once you've decided what to use this favor for. I'm available anytime.
Remember, it can't cost too much money, it can't be too troublesome, and it can't be something I can't do."
With a cold snort, Cid patted down his black coat, ignored Delta rolling around on the ground, and started walking away.
The black figure began to leave the alley. Seeing that acting cute was useless, the dog rolling on the ground stopped as well and held her head in thought.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
The sound of footsteps gradually faded. The dog on the ground furrowed her brow more and more tightly, her tail spinning like a helicopter rotor. Her hands, which were clutching her head, began pounding at her own brain as her mental CPU ran at full speed, until a faint wisp of white smoke seemed to rise from her head.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm..."
...
As Cid drew closer to the exit, slime liquid emerged over the surface of his body and formed a black mask over his face. Thinking of Delta behind him, probably wearing a face full of grievance, the face hidden beneath the mask could not help but smile.
A mere Delta. An Eminence in Shadow could defeat her instantly.
"Boss, Delta thought of it!"
Just as Cid was thinking that, and just as his feet were about to leave the alley, Delta's voice rang out from behind him, filled with joy and excitement.
"I did say you could come to me anytime, but I was only just about to leave. Isn't this a little too fast, Delta?"
He complained aloud, but his steps stopped on their own.
"Come on, then. Tell me what you want me to do. Remember, it can't take too much effort, it can't cost too much money, and it can't be too unrealistic."
Cid spoke casually, not taking Delta's request seriously at all. With Delta's brain, and with so many restrictions already added, if he still managed to trip himself up, he would eat the white crystal Delta had given him on the spot.
"Delta wants Boss to create a Shadow Garden tribe again!"
"Huh?"
Hearing Delta's request, Cid froze for a moment. He blinked, then asked instinctively.
"Why?"
"That way, Delta can offer this to Boss, and then have Boss give Delta a hundred children."
Holding the white crystal in her hands, white mist still rising from her overloaded brain, Delta proudly puffed out her chest with a smug look on her face while the tail behind her swayed nonstop.
"Is that so..."
Cid rubbed his chin and began considering whether Delta's request was possible.
Was it something he could do? Yes.
Would it be troublesome? No. How troublesome could saying a single sentence be?
Would it cost much money? No. He had always freeloaded off Gamma and the others anyway.
So there was no problem at all. He could announce Shadow Garden's reconstruction right now. But that also meant Delta could present her treasure to him the moment Shadow Garden was rebuilt, and then he would have to let Delta have a hundred children...
"You really are Delta?!"
Cid stared in shock at the dog crouching on the ground, disbelief filling his eyes. He could not believe this was an idea Delta had come up with. She had actually untangled the logic he had used to fool her, then turned that same logic back against him.
What do I do, what do I do, what do I do...
Cold sweat began to bead on his forehead. Cid had never dreamed that one day Delta would corner him with no way out, and in a battle of intelligence, no less.
With Delta's stubborn personality, if he could not come up with an excuse to send her away, she really would keep pestering him forever.
Should he deny it? No. If he denied it now, he would be denying all the logic he had used to fool Delta before, and the consequences would be even worse.
His breathing grew heavier. As he watched Delta slowly crawl toward him from the ground, Cid seemed to see more than a hundred children crawling toward him, all with minds full of fighting and killing, running around causing destruction and beating people up, popping out to get in his way and preventing him from becoming an Eminence in Shadow.
The moment he imagined that future, Cid actually took half a step back on instinct.
The dog at his feet did not notice. She simply leaped onto the black figure and climbed all over him, shaking Cid's body from time to time as her animal ears twitched cutely, urging him on.
"Boss, hurry, hurry! Delta wants to rebuild Shadow Garden, then have Boss give Delta a hundred children, and finally rule the world."
The silent black figure. The lively Therianthrope climbing all over him. Heavy breathing echoed through the dim alley. The situation had completely reversed.
Time passed second by second. If the slime coat had absorbed water, Cid's back would probably have been soaked through with cold sweat by now.
"Boss, you're not trying to go back on your word again, are you...?"
Delta climbed onto the black figure's head and hung upside down, facing Cid directly. As if she had suddenly thought of this, she asked the question with an innocent smile.
Delta's strength clearly posed no threat to Cid's body. Yet under Delta's gaze, Cid somehow felt an inexplicable... excitement?
Blood flowed toward his lower body. His hormones were stimulated and began to secrete. The invincible holy sword raised its head in another dimension.
Sensing the small change inside his body, Cid froze.
What the hell? Did my body develop its own thoughts and betray me?
Wake up, my body. Think of our dream of becoming an Eminence in Shadow. Don't act like some heroine from an underground story with a filthy body that gets excited all on its own while her mouth says no!
His hormone secretion actually sped up!!!
"Boss, don't go back on your word. Hurry up and agree to rebuild Shadow Garden. Delta wants to have a hundred children with Boss and build the strongest tribe in the world."
Delta shook Cid's upper body violently, her cheeks puffed out.
"Heh. Delta, I have to admit, even you can grow under the passage of time."
"Huh? Delta doesn't understand what Boss is saying. Hurry up and rebuild Shadow Garden."
Cid controlled the Magical Power in his body and crushed his hormones, suppressing his aroused body with absolute will. Then he removed the black mask from his face and smiled helplessly.
"Fine, fine. Then I, as Shadow, hereby declare that Shadow Garden is officially rebuilt."
"Yay! Delta wants to..."
"Although Shadow Garden has been rebuilt, that doesn't mean I'm going to have a hundred children with you, Delta."
"Why?!"
Delta had just raised both hands to cheer when Cid once again cut her off.
"Because right now, only you and I have joined Shadow Garden. A Shadow Garden with only the two of us can't really be called Shadow Garden, can it?"
Cid placed both hands on Delta's cheeks, squeezing them until her mouth puckered.
"Mm... right."
Delta nodded unwillingly, but in the next second, her expression brightened again and her animal ears stood upright.
"Delta has an idea! Delta defeated and recruited a bunch of subordinates. Boss is Delta's boss, so Boss is their boss too..."
"No."
Cid interrupted Delta again. He faced Delta directly, staring into her eyes with a serious tone.
"Shadow Garden is a one-of-a-kind game between me and you Seven Shadows. So, Delta, you can only bring Alpha and the others in. You can't let anyone else join. That means you have to go find Zeta and the others.
Remember, unless you find the other Seven Shadows and all of them agree to keep playing the Shadow Garden game, Shadow Garden doesn't count as rebuilt."
"B-but they don't listen to Delta at all. Yesterday, Delta wanted Beta to join Delta's tribe, and after Delta issued a Therianthrope invitation, she treated Delta to a big meat bone and ran away..."
A Therianthrope invitation... Somehow, I get the feeling Beta got beaten up pretty badly by Delta.
"It's fine. I have a way."
"What way? Tell Delta, Boss..."
Ignoring the thought of Beta possibly being beaten to death, Cid met Delta's expectant gaze and revealed a mysterious smile.
"Make a name for yourself."
"...Boss, what good does that do?"
"It means... Delta, do you remember the last time we ran into your brother?"
"Which brother?"
"That's not important. What matters is that we ran into your brother."
"Oh!"
After being told off, Delta timidly pursed her lips and tried to act cute.
"Before your brother was killed, he tried to convince you to switch jobs and work under a very famous werewolf. That's what reputation is. As long as you're famous enough, plenty of people will come to join you.
It's like the job food chain in modern society. Everyone wants to get a government job because everyone knows public-sector workers have stability, benefits, and steady pay. That's fame."
"Oh..."
Seeing Delta look as if she had achieved great enlightenment, Cid narrowed his eyes.
"You understand?"
"No."
Delta raised her head and puffed out her chest, saying it with complete confidence.
"Anyway, as long as Delta gets that thing called reputation, Boss can give Delta a hundred children, right? Where is that thing? Delta will go steal it right now."
In a certain sense, Delta, your understanding has returned to its most primal form.
"See those people? As long as you take them all down, Shadow Garden's name will spread far and wide."
"Oh. Delta will hunt them down right now."
Delta followed the direction of Cid's finger and looked toward Rias and the others at the center of the battlefield. She shouted, bared her fangs, and her gaze sharpened.
"Excellent, Delta. I now appoint you as the first great general of Shadow Garden. Go take them down. Let Shadow Garden's name spread across the world."
"Woof. Delta is second-in-command."
Saying that, Delta leaped toward the center of the battlefield.
"Wait a moment. There's one more thing."
"Mm?"
Cid took the white crystal from Delta and opened his mouth.
"Nom."
Delta's mouth fell open as she stared blankly at the scene in front of her.
"Don't worry. I'll give it back soon."
After saying that, Cid used his hand to punch a hole through his stomach, then handed the white crystal, now covered in blood and stomach acid, back to Delta.
Delta's mouth opened even wider.