Becoming a Shadow in the New World

It's not a big deal if only one person knows, but once one is exposed, it will trigger a chain reaction, exposing everyone and making his background as an extra questionable.

The solution is simple: just make sure no one says it.

But it's easier said than done. He hadn't specifically told them beforehand that this matter needed to be kept secret, and he couldn't possibly tell them. Telling them would only make them suspicious, since making a pact with a demon is really not a big deal.

To convey the message of secrecy, he addressed Himejima Akeno and Toujou Koneko as "senior" and "nice to meet you," which should have made them notice the message. The key question is whether Toujou Koneko will be willing to keep it a secret.

Himejima Akeno doesn't need to worry. She's a pervert. Although she hasn't said it, and although it's not nice to say it, she is indeed a pervert. This is the conclusion he reached after more than a year of observation.

Himejima Akeno has a mysterious obsession with betraying her master. To be precise, she enjoys the feeling of being immoral, and you could even say she's a bit bichi. She's genuinely good to Rias, and she really wants to betray her. You could even tell her that Himejima Akeno would deliberately seduce Rias's future husband and she would believe it.

He had once heard Himejima Akeno say that she was a shrine maiden, which didn't seem like a problem, but he seriously suspected that Himejima Akeno chose to become a shrine maiden because she wanted to have sex in front of the statues of gods in the future to satisfy her sense of immorality.

So Akeno Himejima doesn't need to worry. She's smart and will understand what he means immediately. Although she might be confused, as long as it doesn't cause Rias any serious harm, she's absolutely willing to keep it from Rias to satisfy her sense of guilt.

Kiba Yuto is a bit of a problem. After what happened yesterday, he said that it was their first meeting, which is just a blatant attempt to cover something up.

So he chose to retreat in order to advance, gambling on his sister's concern for him. He directly said that he met Kiba Yuto in class, using this as a hint. Kiba Yuto is smart and a good person, and he understood immediately. As long as he could give a reasonable explanation later, Kiba Yuto would definitely help him cover up the matter.

Then Claire rushed up, and he went with the flow, taking care of the most troublesome Koneko Toujou in one go. After more than a year of getting to know her, he knew that Koneko Toujou was all talk and no action. He was just hinting to her that she should keep it a secret. Even if she understood, she might not agree. The probability was fifty-fifty. But with the eye attack, the probability of her agreeing was ninety-one.

Although he was on the verge of defeat several times, the invincible Shadow Power user Mob's Secret Technique once again brought him victory, allowing him to retain his status as a Mob.

What if you lose the bet even once in the middle?

Guess why the magic flow in the magic circle slowed down? Of course, it's because if he fails, he'll have to use the ultimate supporting character technique of the invincible Shadow Warrior: time stop plus memory deletion to forcefully crush his opponent and win.

Chapter 47 The Undetectable Demon Piece

"In short, that's the situation. Everyone, please share your thoughts on Sid joining us."

In the corner, Sid coldly watched Rias and her retinue talking, pondering how he could escape.

I initially thought that Rias's suggestion to consider other people's opinions before making a decision was a polite way of refusing, but now it seems that Rias really intends to use a vote to decide whether or not to agree to her sister's bundled sales request.

There was nothing to worry about in deciding him by voting; he was quite confident in his disguise and believed that no one would vote for him.

How could a young lady from a top-tier family like Rias possibly accept a commoner like him who has poor talent, weak strength, and no special characteristics?

Anyone with a brain would never agree to let him join, but now his sister is playing the bundling game; if she wants Claire to join, she has to let him join as well, which makes this a slightly more likely possibility.

But it's not a big problem. With Claire's help, the gains outweigh the losses, making the deal possible. What if we add the influence of reputation?

With rumors circulating such as "The young lady of the Gremory family actually chose such an ordinary person as her familiar, Lady Rias's taste is getting worse and worse," and "Won't such weak strength become a weakness in the ranking tournament?", can this deal still be completed under such influence?

can!

Although it sounds far-fetched, if what Akeno Himejima and the others said about Rias is true, then Rias might actually accept him.

He had heard Himejima Akeno and the others talk about Rias before. According to them, Rias was someone who didn't care what others thought of her.

If she herself doesn't care, her family members certainly won't care either. Moreover, in his interactions with Rias's family members, he could tell that each of them seemed to have a hidden past. To refuse because of reputation issues would be to deny themselves.

He didn't care about other people's opinions, and the gains outweighed the losses. Plus, with the goodwill he had built up over the past year, he couldn't think of any way that Himejima Akeno and the others would disagree.

“I agree, Sid looks like a really fun little brother.”

“I have no objection. Sid is excellent, and I believe he will be a good partner.”

"Ah."

See? In just over a year, no matter how bored he was, he managed to raise the favorability rating to above friendly.

Faced with this scene that would make ordinary extras ecstatic, Sid only felt regret and sighed.

If he were truly just an ordinary extra, he would certainly be happy about this situation, because becoming Rias's familiar would grant him nobility, bloodline, and power all at once. It would be a complete reversal from being an extra, so he could no longer be an extra.

But here's the problem: Sid is only a minor character to fit the Shadow's status as a Shadow Power. If Sid, the minor character, has a problem, the Shadow's status as a Shadow Power will also be questioned.

We need to think of a way to sabotage this and then run away.

Thinking of this, Sid immediately changed his demeanor after Rias and Claire finished their discussion and turned their attention to him.

His body trembled slightly, he swallowed hard, and his eyes didn't know where to look.

“Sid, welcome to my ranks. From now on, you are my ‘soldier’, Rias Gremory. Please take care of me.”

You're getting ahead of yourself. I have no interest in strapping a tracking device to myself.

Looking at Rias, Sid thought to himself.

"Thank you, thank you. I will fight for Rias-senpai from now on, but, but..."

Pretend to be very grateful and excited because you have been recognized, but use "just" as a transition, and then lower your head to avoid letting others see your face.

"Someone like me, can I really be a good soldier for you, Rias-senpai? Maybe...maybe you shouldn't take me as your familiar, someone like me..."

The conversation abruptly ended there, not because Sid didn't want to continue, but because Claire was looking at him with a threatening gaze. Just by being looked at by Claire, he could feel how angry she was, so he had no choice but to shut up.

But it doesn't matter. Now that things have come to this point, Rias should be able to see what kind of person he's pretending to be.

That's right, he's been pretending ever since he walked in, pretending to be a man who is insecure, timid, socially awkward, and lacks the heart of a strong person.

If you don't care about talent or what others say, then you should care if I hold you back.

A lack of talent can be compensated for through hard work and physical transformation, but a person with personality or mental problems can become a liability to everyone at crucial moments.

Seeing my performance, you'll definitely hesitate about taking me as your familiar, right, Rias Gremory? Hahaha, hahaha…

At this moment, despite radiating negative emotions such as tension, unease, and helplessness, a cold smile crept onto Sid's lowered face.

"Hehehe, Sid, just like Zhu Nai said, you're an interesting little brother."

Later I'll introduce you to my 'Bishop' Gaspar; I'm sure you'll have a lot in common."

A soft chuckle broke the maniacal laughter in Sid's heart. He hurriedly looked up and saw Rias covering her mouth and chuckling, as if she had been amused by Sid's actions.

Sid wanted to say something more, but when he saw the look Claire gave him, he froze and could only reluctantly pretend to be something he wasn't.

Plan A failed.

"Really...really?"

Thank you, Rias-senpai!

I will be a good familiar to Rias-senpai from now on.

"Alright, Sid, here you go. These are the soldier pieces. Let's see how many you can absorb."

After laughing enough, Rias took out several red chess pieces that looked different from the others from her pocket. She handed one to Claire and placed the rest in front of Sid.

"Um... Rias, could you give me the soldier pieces? I know that stronger familiars require more pieces to transform."

Looking at the 'castle' chess piece in her hand, Claire hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

Although she didn't say it, after so much effort, she still couldn't see any outstanding qualities in Sid, and she was actually about to give up on the idea that her brother was actually very good.

Now all she wants is to secure a good future for her younger brother, so that he can live a comfortable life without worrying about food or clothing, and won't die from any accidents.

To achieve this goal, she even sold herself, using a bundled sales method to secure a noble title and bloodline for her brother in the underworld. As a link between the kingdom and the demons, her brother would also be granted a title by the kingdom.

The pieces will change races and gain power. Different pieces will bring different bonuses, and the piece that provides the greatest bonus to the Magic Swordsman is probably the Castle.

She could certainly gamble on whether her brother could absorb all eight pieces. If he absorbed all eight soldier pieces, the bonus would be the most exaggerated among all the pieces, but as mentioned before, she had already given up.

So she wanted to let herself absorb the soldier pieces and give the castle, which had the biggest bonus, to her younger brother. That was a bit unfair to Rias, because after meeting her a few times, she could tell that Rias was a good person.

"Claire, don't worry, this castle chess piece was specially commissioned by my brother to Prince Beelzebub to make. It's a mutated chess piece."

Rias, unaware of Claire's true intentions, offered an explanation with a smile, and Claire, upon hearing this explanation, had nothing to say and could only accept it.

"You two, remember this: after absorbing the chess pieces, you will be under my command, Rias Gremory. I will not treat my familiars as servants; I will treat you as family. Treating your familiars as servants like other demons will only lead to being stabbed to death by your own familiars sooner or later, hahaha... Just kidding, just kidding, don't say that out loud."

"...Hahaha, yes, yes!"

Rias reiterated what absorbing the demon chess piece meant, and then made a joke to ease the tense atmosphere on the field, as well as to express her closeness to Claire.

Claire paused for a moment, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes, though she quickly masked it and laughed.

No one noticed Claire's unusual behavior just now, except... Sid, who had taken everything in.

After careful observation and a little analysis, I suddenly understood.

Based on his understanding of his sister, just from that action just now, Sid was certain that Claire had considered the possibility that if Rias displeased Claire, she would find an opportunity after becoming Rias's familiar to secretly kill Rias and get away with it for free.

After figuring it out, many more questions popped into Sid's mind. When did his sister become so ruthless? Why did she become so strong after going to the World War? Why did she say not to trust anyone on the World War?

Despite their thoughts, as a red flash appeared on Claire's body and demonic wings sprouted from her back, everyone's attention turned back to Sid.

Feeling everyone's gaze, Sid silently picked up a chess piece. After a flash of red light, something grew behind Sid... nothing at all.

"Huh!?"

Rias followed closely behind with a questioning voice, drawing everyone's attention to her.

"Why, why can't I sense the chess piece inside you?"

Ignoring everyone's gaze, Rias closed her eyes for a moment before asking the question.

"I...I don't know, Rias-senpai, is something wrong?"

When asked this question by Rias, Sid feigned confusion, bewilderment, and unease in his reply.

Seeing Sid like this, Rias gave up on letting Sid give the answer and instead took out a book from the drawer behind her to look at it.

After flipping through the pages for a while, Rias seemed to see something, breathed a sigh of relief, and pointed to that page for everyone to see.