Chapter 05:

"Damn gentlemen, I was good to them, and they repaid me by beating me up!" Cid complained from his seat.

Alpha approached with a paper bag in her hands.

"I came back as soon as Beta contacted me, but I didn't expect the matter to be so direct," High Elf Archer informed.

"Why didn't you run away? With your skills, it would be easy."

"Yes, but I didn't want to draw more attention," Cid replied.

"I still don't understand why he became the princess's boyfriend, but he must have a reason to keep it a secret." Alpha took some sandwiches out of the bag.

"You need to recharge your batteries. I doubt he's hungry after being tortured, but hey, they're tuna," Alpha thought while eating.

"I tried to investigate this matter on my own. The knight order plans to find him guilty," Alpha explained.

"It seems that some members of the order are under the influence of the Diabolos cult."

"The kidnapper of the princess is probably also a knight of the order. Most likely, they are after her blood," Cid murmured.

"His plan must be to use her for the resurrection of the demon. But if they are after her blood, Alexia must still be alive. We can still save her."

"Exactly, I knew he would guess right away," Alpha said, expecting something like this.

"I'll gather some people together and draw up some plans. Delta is around here too."

"Delta?... That reckless and unpredictable one? The one who's a suicide mission?" Cid asked, shivering as he remembered her.

"Yes, she wants to see you," Alpha leaned out the window.

"The plan starts tomorrow night. I'll send you to Beta when she finishes the preparations."

The next night, Beta went looking for Cid.

"Lord Shadow, the preparations are complete!" he announced, entering the room.

"Lord Shadow?"

"The time has come... Shadows will envelop the world tonight," Cid said, sitting in front of a window with a glass of wine in his hand.

The moonlight shone on it, which Beta thought was beautiful.

He knelt before Cid.

"Lord Shadow, according to Alpha's orders, we gather each member in the capital," he began recounting the plan.

"The plan is to ambush every Diabolos cult hideout in the capital. In the confusion, we will search for traces of magic from the princess and rescue her."

Cid tossed a letter towards Beta, and she read it out loud.

"If you want Alexia back, come to the path behind the academy?!... Lord Shadow, this is—"

"It was sent to my room yesterday. Surely it is from one of those who want to incriminate me," he interrupted Beta.

"This prelude will be performed by me."

Cid went to the place indicated in the letter, where he found Alexia's shoe and was intercepted by two knights.

He used the mob performance to attack them.

He severed the leg of one and the head of the other.

"Do you think you can get out alive? You'll be a dead man by dawn!" the knight who was still alive yelled.

"Perhaps, but there is nothing to fear." Cid delivered a fatal slash that killed the knight.

"By dawn, it will all be over."

A loud crash was heard in the capital.

"It seems that Delta has started," Cid said, starting to walk.