Chapter 158

[Third Person's PoV] 

Rose, alongside Alexia and Sherry, was standing a few feet away from the edge of a cliff that led downward toward a dark forest. A few meters away from the forest was a fortress.

On the edge of the cliff was a woman wearing Shadow Garden's outfit. She had light pink hair with bags under her eyes and wore a nonchalant expression.

"You're late," she said as she looked toward Rose and the others.

"We're sorry, 559—"

Before they had a chance to explain themselves, she interrupted, "Whatever. I'll explain our mission. Do you see that fortress over there?" She pointed beyond the forest below.

"Currently, the Oriana Kingdom is divided into two factions, the 'Perv Faction' and the 'Anti-Perv Faction.' The friction between both sides is gradually growing as time goes on.

The 'Saisho Stronghold' fell into the hands of the Perv Faction two days ago. It is a small fortress located on the border of both the Oriana Kingdom and the Midgar Kingdom.

We've been informed that elite personnel from the cult have been dispatched there. By elite personnel, I mean 1st Children. There is definitely something in there. Our job is to infiltrate and find out what the cult plans to do with it."

As she finished explaining, she turned toward the three of them. "Do you know why I chose you three for this mission specifically?"

"Because Rose is part of our team and is the princess of the Oriana Kingdom, which would give us an advantage in the terrain," Alexia guessed.

"Correct but not entirely. It's because you all have been given the blessing of our great lord Shadow-sama," 559 said, her hands clasped in a prayer position as she looked toward the sky.

"Great Lord Shadow-sama?" they all muttered at the same time, giving each other a weird look.

"Yes!" 559 confirmed, her eyes showing great worship. "No one knows how our great lord chooses his apostles. It is a mystery as great as he is. Only a select few have been given the grace of wielding his power.

I have been given a smaller form of his grace, making me stronger and more powerful. But I have still failed to meet his expectations. I haven't been given his full blessing like you three have. So I have asked to manage your team to see if I can understand what my lord looks for in his apostles and what I can do to earn his full grace."

'Is she being serious?' Alexia asked herself, but seeing her fanatical look, she really didn't have much to doubt.

559 then turned toward the others. "But don't get me wrong, although you have his full grace, it doesn't mean you three are superior to me. I will still be your superior in this mission, so you will have to listen to my every word. Otherwise, you will be considered a traitor, a traitor to Shadow Garden and a traitor to our Lord and Savior, Shadow-sama."

"Uh-huh…" Alexia said with a straight face, while Sherry and Rose both had awkward smiles on their faces as they didn't know how to really react to her words.

…

Saisho Fortress: Castle Town…

Cid was seated in a bar with Celeste on a table. The bar was empty except for them and the bartender, Marie—a woman Shadow had once saved during the Lawless Town situation.

"Come on, say ahhhhhh…" Cid said, holding a wooden bowl in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other.

"AHHH!" Celeste said, opening her mouth wide before chomping down on the spoon. Her cheeks were puffed up due to the food.

She held both her cheeks as she moved the applesauce in her mouth.

Marie, who was cleaning glass cups in front of them, watched everything with a smile, finding Celeste to be the cutest.

"I'm sorry, but I must say, you have a very cute daughter."

Cid chuckled as he rubbed Celeste's cheek before cleaning her mouth. "I know, right," he grinned.

Celeste turned toward Marie and smiled at her with her head held high.

"Awww…" Marie couldn't help but say.

As Cid kept on feeding Celeste, he and Marie started having a casual conversation.

"Oh, so you've come from Midgar. That's pretty far. Funny enough, I used to work as a prostitute in Lawless Town." Marie said

Celeste looked a bit confused. 'What is that? What is pros… prod- toad-stool?' she asked, looking toward Cid.

Cid, noticing her confusion, had to stop himself from laughing out loud upon reading her mind. 'Prostitute, honey. It's someone who has to sell their bodies in order to make money.'

'Ohhh, okay, okay… sell their bodies for what?'

'Pleasure,' was all Cid answered with as he patted Celeste's head.

"And I've been to the capital a few times before as well. It's a very beautiful place," Marie said with a smile as she organized the glasses.

"I have experienced the pleasure of Lawless Town before…" Cid said as he grabbed a glass of whiskey with ice and twirled it around before taking a sip.

Marie just looked at him funny, making Cid choke on his drink and hold up a finger. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that. I meant the pleasure of the scenery."

Marie just laughed. "I figured that's what you meant. Sorry, sorry, I was just teasing."

"Though things did get a bit chaotic recently," Cid said with a smirk.

Marie nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, the town was suddenly run down by ghouls during a red moon. The brothel I worked at turned into a real mess."

Marie then developed a beautiful smile as she said, "But my life was spared thanks to this gentleman who suddenly appeared. In hopes of repaying him one day, I decided to open my own tavern here."

She giggled as she then said, "Hehe, who knows? Maybe one day I would serve him as my customer… Ah, I guess I'm being a bit wishy-washy…"

"Not at all. I think that's wonderful. I'm sure that the gentleman who saved you will be more than touched that his act of kindness has led you to a new path in life," Cid said as he raised his cup in a cheering manner.

"YO! MARIE!!" someone shouted as they entered.

Their shout jump-scared Celeste, who had her bowl of applesauce on her lap while holding the spoon, trying to feed herself, showing she was a big girl.

Due to being scared, the bowl of applesauce flipped over to the table, while her spoon tainted the little blue dress she was wearing.

Celeste puffed up her cheeks angrily until they started turning a little red as she glared at the five men who had entered. Her eyes began to sparkle with power.

Cid just gave the men a side-eye before patting her head and cleaning her up. "Celeste, not now…"

'But…'

"We don't want to destroy Marie's tavern she worked hard to get, do we?"

'You're right… but we will get them back for what they did to my dress, right?' She asked, looking at him with displeasure.

'Happily.'

"We've come to collect everything you've earned for the day," one of them said smugly.

"Yeah, you have to start paying for everything you owe early," another said with a nasty grin.

'Daddy… I'm starting to really hate them now.'

Cid only smiled as he continued to pat her head.

"Guards!? Why are you guys here again? Didn't I already pay for everything last time?" Marie asked with displeasure.

"Land tax has gone up, so now you are behind once more," they said smugly.

"If you have no money, then that just means we will have to execute you for treason."

"Ha! Maybe we can get some of the customers to pay in her stead. Did he pay you already?" the leader asked as he looked at Cid and Celeste.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE! DO NOT DISTURB MY CUSTOMERS!" Marie said with an angered expression. "If it's the money you want, it's in the counter. Just take it and leave!"

They all scoffed as one of them said, "You should have just said so in the first place. We could have been done with this nonsense much quicker."

As they went and grabbed the money, one of them turned towards Celeste and made a scary face, trying to make her cry. But all he earned was a look of contempt and disgust from Celeste. 'Ew.'

Her expression surprised the man before he got creeped out by her reaction and chose to ignore her.

After they left, Cid finished his drink. "Thanks for the meal and drinks. I had a lovely chat."

Marie looked saddened by their departure but understood. 'He probably doesn't want to endanger his daughter… too bad, we were having a great conversation.'

As Cid paid for their meal, Marie bowed her head. "Please come again."

Cid nodded and carried Celeste in one arm as he walked out of the tavern before disappearing into a corner.

'Celeste, how would you feel about seeing your first dead body?'

Celeste looked confused as she put a hand on her chin. 'It depends… If they earned it, then I don't know… I don't think I would feel much… but if they didn't, then I guess I would be sad that they died unjustly.'

'What about the men you just saw…'

'I would laugh at their bodies… they did, after all, ruin my dress. Not to mention they bullied Marie. She was really kind.'

Cid nodded as he leaned against a wall by a dark alley, carrying Celeste in one arm.

Just then, the five men turned into the alley, laughing merrily as they played catch with the bag of coins.

"Who cares if we took the money unjustly? They are all going to be massacred by that cult anyway. Hahaha!"

They suddenly stopped and looked at Cid and Celeste. Both of them were looking at them with purple glowing eyes without much of an expression, which sent a shiver down their spines, easily caused by the cold look Celeste was giving them.

Cid softly motioned them, and they all rose from the ground and flew towards him. "My daughter dislikes having her dress ruined."

They tried to scream but realized that they couldn't open their mouths, gaining a horrified look.

Cid gave his hand a slight twist before making a pulling motion. From their chests, their hearts came flying out.

'Hehehe, I didn't expect their scared faces to look so funny,' Celeste giggled, covering her mouth with both hands.

Blood escaped their mouths, eyes, noses, and ears, while they had a horrified look as they watched Celeste giggling.

'They're the devils…' they thought before they slowly died.

As they dropped to the floor, Celeste scoffed and clung to Cid.

"Baby, are you sure you don't feel anything?"

Celeste shook her head. 'I know what death is like, so I know it's not a totally bad thing. It's like a time out for them. Which they deserve.'

'I didn't expect that… if she would have had any adverse reaction, I would have taken her memories of it, but it looks like I have nothing to worry about… after all, she is the daughter of the Shadow Monarch,' Cid thought to himself.

…

Marie was seen cleaning the tavern with tears pooling in her eyes. She stood and wiped her tears before they fell to the ground.

As she let out a small sniffle, she heard the door to the tavern being knocked. Confused, she went and looked. She looked down and was shocked to see the money all safely returned with a note on it.

When she looked up, her eyes widened further. She saw Shadow's back wearing his black and gold outfit as he walked into the distance, but what shocked her even more was seeing Celeste with her arms around his neck, peeking toward her.

Celeste put her chin on Shadow's shoulder and waved with a big toothy smile.

Tears rolled down Marie's face as she realized who Cid was earlier. She bowed down as she yelled, "THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, I WILL NEVER FORGET YOUR KINDNESS."

Shadow didn't look back, but Celeste kept on waving with a large smile.

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