Cid had found the perfect spot—a dusty corner behind the equipment shed. He had just settled in when a shadow fell over him. It wasn't the shadow of a grand conspiracy, but rather , the wolf-beastman and one of his Seven Shadows.

In reality, Cid was just thinking about how the meat was a bit overcooked.

Alpha took this as a grand tactical command. Within minutes, and Beta had joined them.

"Delta, stop bothering Shadow-sama," Alpha said firmly. She turned to Cid, her eyes gleaming with misplaced reverence. "I assume this 'napping' is actually a form of deep meditation to refine your mana circuits against the coming Diablos Cult threat?"

began frantically scribbling in her notebook, titled The Chronicles of Master Shadow , interpreting his nap as a "strategic slumber to deceive the heavens."

"The life of a background character is hard," Cid muttered to himself, tossing the wooden stick into a bin. Behind him, he heard Beta whisper to the others: "Did you see? He threw the stick at a 45-degree angle! It's a map to the enemy's southern base!"