Cid eventually managed to convince the old merchant, despite his initial shock, to give them a lift. He explained they had been lost and wandering for days now, and were simply trying to get to the nearest village or town.
Despite his initial appearance, the merchant came to realise Cid's earnest and bubbly personality made him quite easygoing and friendly to talk with. And while it was risky at first, he slowly began to dismiss his suspicion about him being a bandit.
Although, he did have a list of questions.
Cid, on the other hand, learned the kind merchant's name was Paul. He was a middle-aged man with dark and sparsely greying hair, and hazel eyes. And his sideburns were neatly styled at the sides of his face.
His accommodating nature had Cid growing fond of him rather quickly.
"…Wow, a mercenary. That must have been hard." Holding on to the reins of the horses up front, Mr. Paul uttered sympathetically.
Cid, lounging behind on the wagon and taking in the passing scenery, had told the old man he was a wandering merchant who had volunteered and signed up as a sellsword for the final battle at Heliodor.
And since the nefarious Shadow Monarch had been subjugated and the War of Damnation was over, he had been wandering until he got lost. His goal was to reach the nearest settlement first, before deciding what to do with the remaining pieces of his life.
That was his story.
Mr. Paul was impressed.
"To think someone so young-looking like yourself was a mercenary. And even forced into the war too…"
The middle-aged merchant felt a tinge of pity mixed with patriotic compassion for the young man as he shook his head.
Cid's story was easy to believe because it wasn't weird or unusual during the recent years and decades to find a lot of young men and youths enlisting in the Global Alliance army, even as mercenaries.
That was the tragedy.
Cid, despite his introverted nature as a shut-in Monarch, knew this as well. So while his goal wasn't exactly to elicit pity or compassion from the poor merchant, it was the only believable false story he could think of as to why he looked the way he did and how he was lost this close to the border.
"Thank the Gods that malevolent tyrant, the Shadow Monarch, is dead… The judgement of the Light finally caught up to him."
"It's such a good thing the Shadow Monarch is gone, huh?" Cid smiled faintly, vaguely, at the straight back of Paul in front.
A snide response came sharply.
"Of course! The War of Damnation has caused close to a century of pain and suffering upon generations. The Shadow Monarch and all he stood for has always been a dark shade over the whole of Estan'te. And unfortunately it'll always be… but now at least in our history." Mr. Paul said solemnly, a depth of sorrow under his voice.
Cid went quiet for a few seconds and regarded Paul's words and his feelings. Pip was lying asleep, curved into a black ball of fur against his chest.
The little creature had tuckered out as soon as they finally found someone as reliable as Mr. Paul to lead them.
Paul glanced curiously over his shoulder at him, prompting Cid to notice and smile.
He brushed the tips of his fingers gently against Pip's fur as he slumbered.
"This here is my closest companion," he laughed mildly. "I guess you could say he's like my best friend? Well, he's certainly family. The only one I have left."
Along with his made-up story, Cid had woven in that he was an orphan—lost his parents when he was younger to the war. So vengeance and emotion led him to enlist as a mercenary during Estan'te's last stand against the dark forces of the Shadow Monarch.
A perfect, fitting backstory.
Paul's eyes melted at the sight of him gracefully caressing Pip; he was smiling gently.
'A family, huh…' Paul mused inwardly before speaking.
"I've never quite seen a Familiar like yours before," he said. "Well, Spirit Beasts are popularly characterised by their extraordinary amount of species and nature."
'Familiar…?' Cid's brow pricked up.
Due to the appearance of Pip and how close the two appeared to be, Paul had conveniently convinced himself to believe they were Familiar and partner.
Of course, Cid was very familiar with the idea of a Familiar.
But that wasn't the case.
Cid looked down at Pip, snoring away on his body. It was a fact that Pip did look like a Spirit Beast, especially since that particular race had countless species with different forms.
But the little creation wasn't one… Cid wasn't even sure what Pip was, even after all this time.
And by all rights, it was easy to dismiss Pip as a rare species of Spirit Beast, but even the all-powerful and ancient Shadow Monarch had no clue.
But the two weren't in any contractual form of relationship like that, so Cid had never really considered Pip his Familiar, even long before—at least nothing as rigid as the concept of familiars was.
They were simply more than companions—to each other, their only family.
But instead of going on to explain all this, Cid let Mr. Paul think what he wanted. He even found the thought quite amusing and useful in the future.
In case he had to defend something about his and Pip's relationship to anyone else, he would just characterise it as a Familiar bond.
So he didn't say anything and let Paul continue, smiling in amusement as the old merchant rambled on.
This was it… His whole background story and "identity" was being woven in real time.
An orphaned boy who enlisted as a mercenary in the Global Alliance army at the final battle, with his odd companion and Familiar, Pip.
It fit the setting, explained his skills and isolation, and most of all, avoided suspicion.
No one would even conceive the idea that he was the subjugated Shadow Monarch and the infamous tyrant, or that he had any relation to him.
"Mhm." He nodded to himself, content, from behind.
Thinking about it this way, Cid couldn't help but give a characteristic grin. Things were really beginning to shape up to be an exciting adventure.
If only it would last so...