Dragon Across the Multiverse (Si-WC) (Patreon)

Chapter 32: The First Steps of Haru

Cid Kagenou’s POV

Did I anger a god or something?

That was the only possibility Cid could think of for the hellish situation he currently found himself in.

A few days ago, his sister Claire had disappeared, and everyone assumed she’d been kidnapped by bandits. Cid wasn’t too worried about her, if he was being honest, he actually felt more pity for the poor bastards who had taken his prickly sister. He was even glad she’d be out of his hair for a while, giving him time to properly train without her taking up most of his day.

If she didn’t show up in a few days, Cid would go look for her himself. He had complete faith that Claire could stay alive at least that long.

Was that a little mean of him? Possibly even cruel, leaving his sister to potentially suffer torture or gods-knew-what else when he had the power to rescue her? Perhaps. But then again, this was Claire he was talking about. For all anyone knew, she could’ve been walking home right now after brutally murdering whoever took her.

Of course, that didn’t happen, but the point still stood.

Anyway, when Claire didn’t show up for the first day, Cid decided to go indulge in his favorite pastime of killing bandits and robbing them of anything valuable. His dream of becoming the Eminence in Shadow was still burning strong, especially after meeting that insanely strong guy years back, confirming that this world truly had a hidden side. If he played his cards right, he could achieve his dream… but for that, he needed money. A lot of money.

In a good mood, Cid left the Kagenou Estate that evening, unnoticed by everyone as usual, he’d long perfected his background persona at home.

He returned just before daybreak, satisfied with the haul he’d taken from the bandits, and went to sleep.

When he woke up that morning, he expected a regular day of being ignored by his family, especially now that his sister was missing and they were worried about her.

Which was why he froze when he opened his bedroom door and found a servant already waiting for him with a message saying his parents wanted him to join them for breakfast.

Blinking, Cid nodded slowly and followed behind her, finding it strange. It had been a long time since he’d been summoned like this. Even stranger was the look of awe and respect the servant gave him. That had never happened before, not when his combat abilities were always considered mediocre at best, with all the praise going to Claire.

Ignoring it for now, he entered the dining room… only to immediately be hugged by Claire, who wrapped her arms around him gently.

Gently.

“Cid! Are you feeling alright? You looked pretty worn out last night after you rescued me,” Claire said, her voice and expression filled with rare, genuine worry.

Her words caused Cid’s brain to come to a complete and utter halt.

First, his sister had hugged him out of nowhere. Fine, he was somewhat used to that since Claire tended to do things like that from time to time. What he wasn’t used to was how gentle she was about it instead of her usual rough tackling.

Second, his sister was home again. Nice, he supposed.

But the part that made absolutely zero sense…

He rescued her?

What the hell was she talking about? He’d spent last night killing bandits and enjoying Claire’s absence. He had no idea where she was or what nonsense she was apparently saying.

Still dazed, he nodded silently and was guided to his seat, feeling confused as hell and wondering if he was hallucinating or possibly dreaming.

Then he noticed the final detail that nearly made him panic and want to pinch himself.

His parents were looking at him differently.

Gone were the familiar looks of mild disappointment he’d grown fond of, the ones that freed him from responsibility and let him do whatever he wanted. Instead, they were staring at him with the same expression they normally reserved for Claire.

“Good job rescuing your sister, Cid~” his mother, whose name he did not know, said warmly. “Sorry for always thinking you were useless. I guess all it took to bring out your latent talent was Claire being kidnapped.”

“Hahaha! I guess my genes shone through after all. Now we have two capable heirs. The Kagenou line is secured!” his father, whose name he also didn’t know, declared proudly as he stroked his chin.

Convinced he was dreaming and would wake up soon, Cid went through the motions as they had breakfast, all while his parents kept heaping praise on him for supposedly storming a bandit hideout all by himself and showing prodigious talent with a sword.

While they showered him with compliments, Claire kept her full attention locked on him, giving him a warm look that he knew spelled trouble. His instincts were correct, because the moment breakfast ended, Claire dragged him straight to the training field and announced that, now that he had finally shown his potential, she would stop going easy on him.

Sweating nervously, Cid resolved that if he just acted like he always did, mediocre talent, no special skill, Claire would eventually lose interest and things would go back to normal. Besides, she was set to leave for the Midgar Academy for Dark Knights in a few days, so she’d be out of his hair soon enough.

Getting into his stance, he faced his sister. Having done this hundreds of times before, he kept his abilities at the same deliberately average level as always, and, naturally, got his ass handed to him. He ended up on the ground with a few bruises, just like usual.

Once again, however, instead of giving him the familiar lecture about how he needed to train harder if he wanted to do anything with his life, Claire did the exact opposite. She placed her hands on her hips, stood tall, and looked down at him with pride.

“Great job, Cid~ I always knew you had potential, but seeing it with my own two eyes is really reassuring. Now I can leave for the Academy without constantly worrying if you’re keeping up with your training, but I see that won’t be necessary,” Claire said, nodding to herself and looking the happiest he had seen her since they were little.

‘What the fuck is going on!?’ Cid mentally screamed, eyes wide. The servants who were always present applauded him too, congratulating him on his “swordsmanship.”

‘Are they blind or something?’ he ranted internally, wondering if they were all messing with him.

“I’m dreaming. That’s gotta be it,” Cid muttered to himself as he got back on his feet, fully resolving to wake up from this bizarre dream and return to reality as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, as the days passed, he slowly came to the horrifying realization that nobody at the estate was messing with him by declaring him a genius on par with Claire, nor was he dreaming. He had already tried multiple times to wake himself up, some attempts extremely painful, and all of them unsuccessful.

No matter what he did, whether constantly messing up in sword practice, skipping meals, or outright refusing to leave his room for an entire day, his parents and sister never thought any less of him. They kept praising him for things he had never done. It was like everyone in the Kagenou Estate was wearing rose-tinted glasses whenever they looked at him, incapable of seeing him do anything wrong.

Now, as he stood with his family, forced to wear his best outfit, saying goodbye to Claire as she headed off to school, Cid was at his wits’ end.

Years of careful effort he had poured into crafting his background persona had shattered in an instant. No matter what he did now, eyes constantly watched him, leaving him with very limited time to train in secret.

At one point, he even considered that someone had hypnotized his entire family, but he soon ruled that out after flooding his sister’s brain with magic one evening to dispel any possible mind control, and finding none.

“Cid, make sure to keep practicing as you have, alright?” Claire said with a proud smile. “By the time you make your way to the Academy, I expect you to be much stronger than you are now.”

“I-I’ll try my best, sis,” Cid answered in an almost dead tone. He knew that no matter what he said, she wouldn’t change her mind.

“Good,” Claire nodded, seemingly satisfied, before finally stepping onto the carriage. After one last goodbye, she was off to school, leaving him alone with their parents.

“Come, Cid, you’ve missed many years of studying because we were too focused on Claire. But don’t worry, your mother will have you caught up to standard in no time~” his mother said with a warm smile as she placed a hand on his shoulder and guided him back inside.

Cid’s eyes went completely blank as he heard that, silently following her while a single thought echoed in his mind. ‘I never thought I’d ever do this, but maybe it would be better if I ran away from home. At the rate this is going, I’ll never have any free time for myself.’

Unknown to the family and everyone around them, high in the sky, barely visible, was a small dot that hovered motionless.

=====

High Above the Clouds — Akari’s POV

“Wahahahaha hahahaha~ D-Did you see his face?” I wheezed out between fits of laughter, clutching my stomach as I hovered in the air. “Great job, Ciel, that was a fantastic plan.”

“Hmph, that chuunibyou had it coming for attacking Master last time,” Ciel grumbled, though the satisfaction in her voice was unmistakable. “Besides, I don’t see any appeal in his mental illness, so I forced a situation where he’s either made to interact with his parents and everyone else like a normal person… or he runs away. Either option works in our favor.”

Calming down from my laughter, I mentally patted Ciel’s head, earning a cute sputtering noise from her. “I completely agree, Ciel. Any guy still acting like a chuuni past the age of ten should feel ashamed of themselves. Only cute girls can get away with that.” I nodded wisely, thinking of several adorable chuuni girls like Megumin, Kobato, Fischl, and Rikka, just to name a few.

“…Hah. Of course Master would think that.” Ciel sighed, her earlier smugness dissolving.

“Yep~,” I responded shamelessly before stretching and letting out a long breath. “Haah… I’m really starting to miss the others.” My mind wandered back toward the Demiplane and the girls waiting back there for me. The only plus side to this was that by the time I returned, only a few weeks would have passed from their perspective.

“I wonder how Velgrynd and Velzard are doing,” I mused aloud, “and if they’re causing trouble, or at least leaving Veldora alone.” I could have used the Shroud to peek in on their thoughts and feelings, but it felt wrong. Those conversations were better held face-to-face. And knowing them, they’d be annoyed I didn’t bring them along.

“Based on what I’ve gathered, they would indeed be very annoyed at Master for leaving them behind. They are quite possessive of you and care about you greatly, just behind myself.” Ciel said, sounding embarrassed… though the pride and smugness in her tone refused to be hidden.

“Haha, yeah, that tracks.” I chuckled before letting my voice slip into a teasing lilt. “Though I didn’t know my Ciel was so possessive over me.”

Ciel immediately sputtered again. “T-That’s… Mou, stop teasing me, Master!”

Still amused, I gave her a mental hug and a kiss on the cheek. “My Ciel is just too cute sometimes.”

Letting her recover, I continued. “Anyway, we’ve been in this world for a few years now. How much longer do you think the girls need before they are powerful enough for the Central World, Ciel?”

After taking a moment to compose herself, she answered, “Based on my calculations, they should be ready in about two years.”

“Two more years, huh?” I muttered, glancing up at the sky. “So it’s almost time to let them go off and do their own thing. The only question now… should I skip ahead two years? Sleep it off? Or visit another world for a bit?”

Pondering the thought for a while longer, I eventually settled on waiting for now. There were still a few days left before the girls would head off on their own to expand the organization and gain real-world experience.

With a snap of my fingers, I teleported back to Alexandria and joined everyone for a late lunch, doing my best to enjoy the time we had before they left.

=====

A Few Days Later

The time had finally come.

The girls were leaving today on their individual journeys to expand Haru, so we all gathered for breakfast one last time. A breakfast I had made myself for once, much to their surprise.

“Wah~ Boss! This is the most delicious meat Sara has ever tasted in her whole life!” Sara shouted at the top of her lungs, food still in her mouth causing some to go flying off her mouth.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Delta,” Liriel scolded instantly, and Sara’s ears drooped. “How many times have I told you?”

“S-Sorry.”

“I agree though,” Natsume said, pressing her cheeks in delight. “Akari-sama, you could make a lot of money if you opened a restaurant. Wait, never mind! If Akari-sama opened a restaurant, then he wouldn’t have as much time to spend with us or cook for us!”

“My tastebuds are melting~” Elisabeth whispered hands holding her cheeks, which were faintly pink.

“Akari-sama is truly the best at everything he does~,” Livia added while eating with perfect elegance.

“It is Akari-sama, after all,” Lilim said with a solemn nod.

“Sorry I took your job for the day, Marie,” I said, turning to the maid beside me.

Marie immediately panicked and waved her hands frantically. “P-Please think nothing of it, Akari-sama! I actually learned a lot watching you today, so I promise I’ll keep improving my cooking!”

Smiling, I patted her head, and she melted into my hand. “I see. I’ll be rooting for you then.”

Breakfast continued with cheerful chatter, though a faint melancholy lingered beneath it all.

Half an hour later, I stood outside the house with most of the girls gathered before me, everyone except Marie, Lukreia, Mary, Elisabeth, and Sherry. The others looked at me with obvious sadness.

“Looks like this is goodbye for now,” I said, choosing to break the silence with a reassuring smile. “Remember: if you’re ever in danger, throw the knife I gave you.” I meant the kunai engraved with the Hiraishin formula that I had given to everyone last night.

“Don’t worry, Akari-sama. Since it was a precious gift from you, there’s no way we would misplace it,” Victoria declared, pressing the kunai to her chest with passionate devotion.

“Indeed. Everything you have imparted to us is something I will forever hold deep in my heart,” Luna said, touching her hand to her chest.

I smiled at her, then turned to Eta, giving her a stern look. She flinched, immediately avoiding my eyes. “Eta, don’t forget what I told you. That seal is way too advanced for you right now. Don’t mess with it. Stick to the ones I gave you to study.”

“O-Okay. Understood, Boss,” she muttered reluctantly.

“Good. Now how about a hug before you all leave?” I dropped my stern expression and gave everyone a smile as I opened my arms wide.

They tackled me immediately, and I laughed as I hugged them all tightly.

When we finally disentangled ourselves, Yukime surprised me by leaning in and kissing my cheek, barely brushing the corner of my lips, before giving me a wink. “For good luck~,” she said, trying to sound coy, though her blush betrayed her.

Naturally, that opened the floodgates, and I had to give everyone a kiss so no one got jealous.

Eventually, after many waves and tearful smiles, everyone departed, leaving me with those staying behind, along with the Spirit Fox tribe and the Golden Panther Clan.

“What are your plans now, Akari-sama?” Elisabeth asked while hugging my left arm between hers and gazing up at me.

“That’s obvious.” I grinned down at her before looking at everyone else. “We have fun.”

The only real question left was whether we would have fun here… or in another world.