The first devil he met was when he had just moved to Itogami Island. At that time, he accidentally summoned… who was it again?
He glanced at Tsubaki Shinra, who was cooking, and Sid thought carefully.
It seems… possibly… perhaps… the one he summoned back then was Tsubaki Shinra… right?
When he learned that devils charged for their services, he thought about not summoning them anymore, as he was very short on money. Tsubaki Shinra then said that his spiritual desire was of very high quality and that she could accept it as payment instead of money. Although taking his desire would make him feel listless, he would recover after a few days of rest.
With a thought of giving it a try, he agreed. After his desire was taken, he did indeed feel uncomfortable, but he recovered almost instantly. To be precise, he only felt uncomfortable that one time.
It's not that they didn't take desire from him; it's just that the amount of desire they took couldn't be recovered as quickly as he replenished it.
In an instant, he realized this and immediately hid his emotional fluctuations. Although he still appeared weak on the surface, he was already celebrating internally.
If it weren't for his rationality, he probably would have signed a long-term contract on the spot. He remembered her saying that ordinary people needed several days of rest to recover their spirit, so as a mob character, he couldn't recover his spirit in one day.
But to give up a long-term meal ticket, he couldn't even convince himself. So, he just needed to find a way to not be discovered that he recovered in one day.
Sign contracts with several devils, then summon each of them every few days, filling up a week. Without exchanging information, as long as they thought they were the only devil he had a contract with, then in their perception, he only summoned them every few days. As expected of him, he easily came up with a perfect solution that fit his mob character persona.
"Alright, dinner is ready. Come eat quickly. I'm going to clean up."
"Oh, okay, thank you."
As for Tsubaki Shinra's comment about him looking half-dead every day, the reason wasn't that his desire was taken, but rather due to the magic tempering method he maintained twenty-four hours a day.
Although he did genuinely practice basic swordsmanship for an hour and a half today because of Natsuki-chan, he never stopped his daily basic training.
Controlling the magic within his body to fuse with his flesh for compression, while refining the magic, it simultaneously exerted pressure on his body that could only be felt in the deep sea. It was a perfectly reasonable training method, with the only cost being daily mental exhaustion, constant endurance of the pain of his flesh being torn apart and instantly healed, plus the risk of accidentally turning himself into a meat paste.
Every time he thought of this perfect deal that fit his mob character persona and allowed him to freeload for a year, Sid couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"Hoo, hoo, hohoho…!!!"
Sid's mob character radar suddenly blared, instantly jolting him out of his complacent, idiotic laughter.
"Huh, that's strange."
After Sid regained his senses, the mob character radar immediately stopped. He looked around; besides the bespectacled woman who was bending over to clean, perfectly showcasing her slender waist, there was no one else around him.
"Was it an illusion? Never mind, too lazy to think. Time to eat first."
Tsubaki Shinra, who had been sweeping the floor with her back to Sid, now looked nervous, a blush on her face, her initial serious demeanor completely gone.
Tsubaki Shinra believed that Sid liked her, and this wasn't mere speculation; it was a conclusion she had drawn after a year of observation.
Sid was someone she considered very hardworking. She knew that Sid would train alone every day after school. As the Vice President of the Student Council, checking surveillance was a small matter she could manage. He didn't just train after school; he would do extra training after completing his daily Demon Swordsman practice, even when he was mentally exhausted.
Such a hardworking person was willing to expend his mental energy to summon her. Although he would recover after a few days of rest, the mental exhaustion in between was unavoidable.
Sid would also occasionally look at her and smile foolishly, but she didn't dislike it. To be precise, she quite liked Sid's foolish smile. Just looking at it gave her a sense of happiness; he seemed very cute.
She was very popular, and she was well aware of this. As a pure-blooded devil piece (Queen), her lover was destined to be taken in as a dependent by her master, Sona Sitri. Given her master's potential, even if he were an ordinary person, after becoming a dependent, he would have the potential of at least an Upper-Class Devil (A-rank). One could say that by becoming her lover, both power and influence could be gained.
It might sound a bit boastful, but she knew that few people in the school could compare to her figure, coupled with her good looks. This often led to boys secretly looking at her with disgusting gazes. Although their eyes would quickly dart away whenever she glanced at them, she was very familiar with that kind of lustful, repulsive gaze from boys.
However, Sid's gaze was completely different from those boys at school. His eyes were clear, without a trace of lust. It was a pure smile born from genuine happiness.
At first, she was puzzled as to why Sid couldn't help but smile foolishly with happiness when he was alone with her. As time passed, she came to a conclusion: Sid liked Tsubaki Shinra.
This explained everything: why Sid, such a hardworking person, would still summon her every time he recovered his spirits, and why Sid would smile foolishly with happiness when looking at her. It was because he liked her, liked her so much that merely being with her would make him smile foolishly.
Regarding Sid's unspoken affection, she didn't know what to do. She could directly reject the usual confessions, but actively telling him she didn't like him or to give up on confessing felt a bit unreasonable, and she might even be accused of being conceited.
Moreover, she mentally simulated a scenario where Sid confessed to her and found that she couldn't determine whether she would refuse or accept. So… she decided to bury her head in the sand. Anyway, Sid didn't seem like the type to confess first, so she would just pretend she hadn't noticed that Sid liked her.
If Sid had A-, no, B+ strength, she wouldn't have to think so much; she could just directly say she liked him. But she had a master, and she was a Queen piece, and her master was the sister of one of the Four Great Devils. She had to consider her master's interests. Forcing her master to take on a dependent in such a semi-coercive way would only backfire.
All in all, before Sid actively confessed to her, she planned to maintain her distance to prevent getting too deeply involved.
"Oh, Tsubaki, I summoned you so early; you probably haven't eaten yet. Come and eat with me."
"Okay."
Looking at the chopsticks in her hand, Tsubaki Shinra fell into thought. When did she sit down?
"Um…"
She stood up, wanting to decline.
"Do you have to respond to someone else's summon later?"
"Yes, I will later…"
"Don't worry, my condition is super good this time! It will definitely be worth several of your transactions. Just take it; consider it a holiday."
She absolutely couldn't refuse. Fine, just this once. Next time, she would maintain her distance.
With this thought, Tsubaki Shinra temporarily put aside the idea of maintaining distance and instead focused on chatting with Sid.