"Casualties on the World Battlefield have now been brought under control. The various factions in World No. 1 and World No. 2 have also freed up their hands, so the next Three Realms Joint Conference is expected to be convened soon. When that happens, some of the benefits gained last time thanks to Shadow-sama's power will inevitably be lost."
"However, through the World Battlefield, the Mitsugoshi Company has already monopolized 30% of military supplies. As for ordinary civilian goods, we have successfully built a reputation for Mitsugoshi Company as the most cost-effective option compared to other companies. With our quality and pricing completely outperforming the competition, combined with our position as a supplier for the World Battlefield and the fact that the various factions do not pay much attention to civilian goods, monopolizing the global market is only a matter of time."
"Based on this, I am considering whether we should shift the portion of profits that will inevitably be lost at this conference onto the nations of our world instead. That way we can preserve Shadow Garden's interests, strike at the Cult of Diablos's economic chain, and at the same time demonstrate Mitsugoshi Company's neutral position."
...
The young man standing by the window looked out over the campus beyond it. It seemed something in the report had caught his attention.
Those unfathomable eyes, deep and mysterious as though contemplating past, present, and future all at once, flickered with a faint crimson glow. He turned his head toward the beautiful blue-haired elf beside him.
She had a model-like figure and wore a black JK school uniform, a breathtaking beauty that could captivate anyone at first glance. Behind her, several other beauties were busy with paperwork, including elves, therianthropes, and humans.
The elf who had been confidently delivering intelligence capable of shaking the world instantly grew flustered when she noticed the young man looking at her.
"My lord, is there something wrong with my report? I will have the intelligence division conduct another investigation immediately."
Seeing this, the young man raised his hand to stop her, as well as the others behind her who had already begun preparing orders to re-examine the intelligence.
"Gamma, I have told you before. There is no need for you to report this kind of intelligence to me anymore.
We are not walking the same path. Take this opportunity and lead the Garden toward the light. Remember this. Flowers cannot bloom in darkness.
All the darkness and sins of this world, I alone will bear them. You do not need to, and you should not have to face them."
The young man's low voice echoed through the room.
Those who heard it simply lowered their heads in silence. Yet their trembling bodies and tightly clenched lips revealed the turmoil in their hearts.
Seeing this, the young man let out a faint sigh. He turned and walked toward the door, stopping just before leaving.
"All I can do is take away the darkness from the road you walk toward the light. And Gamma, think carefully about what I once told you."
With that, the young man left the deepest room of the student council office without looking back.
...
The moment he stepped out the door, the young man's straight back suddenly bent. The shoulders that once gave others a sense of security drooped.
In an instant, he changed from a powerful figure who could draw everyone's attention simply by standing there into a completely unremarkable background extra.
"Hey, Cid! How did it go? Was President Luna in a good mood today? She did not get angry, right?"
The people gathered outside the door did not notice Cid's change at all.
Of course, in their eyes, Cid had always been like this.
"Yeah, of course! President Luna was in a great mood today. I even joked with her just now and she did not scold me."
Cid showed his standard background-character smile and casually described the situation inside the president's office.
"That is good to hear. The President has been in a terrible mood lately. Even the smallest mistake gets people chewed out. Thank goodness we have you as the advance scout, Cid. After all, you are the only one here who comes from the same world as the President."
This guy's name was Saji Genshirou, right?
He seemed to be someone from Vice President Sona's side.
"Well, that's the situation. Anyway, it's fine to report it to the President now. If there's nothing else, I'll head back first."
"Yeah, go on, go on."
After hearing Saji Genshirou's reply, Cid quickly slipped away from the crowded hallway.
As for the rumors that spread afterward about the President raging for several hours straight and the school training grounds being flattened by Elemental Magic, those had nothing to do with him.
After all, campus gossip was never something he cared about. No, wait. Cid the background extra probably would care about that kind of information, so he would still end up hearing about it. As for why Gamma was so angry, that was something he genuinely had no idea about.
Cid Kagenou. That was his name.
In his previous life, he was someone who dreamed of becoming an Eminence in Shadow. Now he was simply playing the role of an ordinary background student.
What is an Eminence in Shadow?
Before answering that question, let me ask something first. When most people were children, didn't they admire heroes?
Braves and Ultraman were heroes. Hearing stories about heroes slaying dragons, watching Ultraman defeat monsters on television. Didn't most people feel the urge to become someone like that?
He was the same.
But the one he admired was not a hero.
It was an Eminence in Shadow.
So what exactly is an Eminence in Shadow?
Neither the protagonist nor the final boss, but someone who intervenes in the story from the shadows and displays overwhelming power.
That was the kind of role he longed for. If you asked him why, the answer was simple.
Because it was cool.
Just think about it. Suddenly appearing in the middle of the story, effortlessly defeating an enemy the protagonist couldn't possibly overcome, resolving the crisis, saying a bunch of cryptic lines that may or may not mean anything, and then turning around and leaving with style.
Even at the final climax, they could still fight both the protagonist and the villain, defeat them, and say something like, "Is that all the power you have? What can you possibly accomplish with that?"
That was insanely cool.
Even better was when they normally acted like a mediocre background character, only to suddenly stab someone in the back at the critical moment while delivering a series of outrageous lines. Of course, at that point they would have technically gone from being an Eminence in Shadow to becoming the new villain.
Still, you had to admit it.
The moment when an Eminence in Shadow finally reveals their identity is a timeless classic.
Unlike most children whose enthusiasm fades after a few minutes, he might have simply been born with severe chuunibyou.
In order to become an Eminence in Shadow, he devoted every bit of free time in his previous life to training. Kendo, karate, martial arts. Anything that could make him stronger, he learned it.
But reality had to be faced.
No matter how many techniques he mastered, in the real world he could still lose the moment his opponent pulled out a gun.
He could not accept that the power of an Eminence in Shadow was limited to that level.
So he began searching for other forms of power.
Magic power, spiritual power, immortal energy, mana, qi. It didn't matter what it was, as long as it could give him the power needed to become an Eminence in Shadow.
He knew searching for such things in the real world sounded ridiculous.
But wanting to become an Eminence in Shadow was already ridiculous in the first place. So what if it became a little more ridiculous?
No one could prove supernatural powers existed.
But no one could prove they didn't exist either.
In his view, even dying while pursuing supernatural power would still mean dying while chasing his dream.
And in the end, he really did succeed in dying while searching for supernatural power.
Thanks to that, he successfully found magic power in another world, one that seemed to be around the era of the First Industrial Revolution.
However, the other world he reincarnated into could not exactly be called peaceful, but it certainly did not have any major disasters either.
There simply were not any proper opportunities for an Eminence in Shadow to make an appearance.
Most of the enemies he encountered were just bandits. Occasionally there would be school kidnappers or rebellious ministers plotting to become king.
But there was absolutely nothing like some evil cult secretly trying to rule the world or achieve immortality from the shadows, such as the Cult of Diablos.