The Sacred Land, City of Deception (聖地・欺瞞の都, Seichi: Giman no Miyako?) is the tenth episode of the The Eminence in Shadow anime adaptation.
Synopsis
Cid heads to Lindwurm in response to a summons from Alpha, but he is not the only one traveling there; the annual Goddess’ Trial is quickly approaching.[1]
夏休み、シドはアルファの要請に応じ、聖地リンドブルムを訪れることに。聖地では、年に一度、聖域の扉が開かれる日に行われる“女神の試練”が開幕の時を迎えようとしていた。[2]
Summary
While enjoying the summer breaks which started early due to the half-destroyed state of the Midgar Academy for Dark Knights following the terrorist attack and most students decide to head home, Cid Kagenou has nothing to do at home and decides to stay in the dormitory which was already quiet at the moment. But even so, Cid then quickly realized that he doesn't have anything to do at his dorms either.
On a bright morning, Cid has managed to escape from Claire Kagenou who wants to take him home for summer vacation with her by hiding above the dorm room. Having been able to avoid his older sister, a bored Cid soon receives a letter from Alpha, containing an invitation and telling him about a mission that is currently being carried out. After reading the entire contents of the letter, Cid voiced to himself a cryptic phrase about the time has come to settle the past in a place that is a graveyard of ancient memories and the demon's burning revenge; the Sacred Land, Lindwurm.
In the midst of busy activities in Midgar Kingdom, Gamma oversees the Mitsugoshi Company store opening, at which apparently Delta is still sleeping in her room while Eta is sleepwalking in the corridor until she hit a wall and fell to the floor. Meanwhile, Epsilon is standing looking at her body alone in front of the large mirror in her room where she happily starts her day by using her Slime Bodysuit to present a more curvaceous figure. As she maintains her well-proportioned body, Epsilon remembers the time she met Shadow who allowed her gain the power to fight two fates: the Cult of Diablos and her naturally petite figure.
In the past where Epsilon was rescued, Shadow showed her slime magic which is considered to have the power to change the fate with its shape being able to be changed at will. Even to the point of changing the fate of defeat into victory, because this power is able to reach the truth that lurks in the shadows of the world. But unexpectedly, Shadow's words seemed to make Epsilon determined to change her fate after when she saw Beta, having developed a more appealing bust among the other Seven Shadows which made Epsilon start to feel envy towards her.
Also at the same time, Beta is struggling to write a script in her personal office for the novel Chronicles of Master Shadow book, whose storyline was based on how Shadow saved a damsel from Zenon Griffey. Having difficulty concentrating on how to think about words, Beta gets frustrated by how the sentences she wrote were a little too overly dramatic, especially her unwillingness to use the Second Princess of Midgar, whom she considered a shoddy character, as the female lead. Feeling too tired to continue, Beta decided to stop her write while getting dressed in changing clothes to get some fresh air outside.
Epsilon teasing Beta
Outside the building's inner garden, Beta met Epsilon, the two of whom exchanged friendly greetings while puffing out their chests. After exchanging amiable casual greetings, both of their gazes focused on each other's breasts where Epsilon smiled as her slime breast overpowered Beta's, who then voices her irritation. Feeling herself the victor, Epsilon tries to tease Beta how Shadow has been gazing at her breast lately, where she excessively mentions the intense passion she felt from their master's gaze looking directly at her chest.
Although Beta doesn't believe her, Epsilon states that they are should be much more aware of those sort of glances since both of them have large busts, while she still teasing Beta about her body which has charmed Shadow by telling her whether she has felt the impassioned gaze from their own eminent master because Beta's breasts are far larger than Epsilon's meager bust, to which Epsilon thought that Beta haven't received such gazes from Shadow. While the employees find a stray cat to play with amidst their bickering, Nu arrives to informs Beta and Epsilon that they received a directive from Alpha. At that time, Eta, who was still asleep, is carried by Mitsugoshi employees back to her room.
Later, Iris Midgar and Alexia Midgar visit the royal capital's Mitsugoshi store who together helped Alexia shop to make preparation for her trip after being invited to Lindwurm. Iris praised Mitsugoshi's very successful business after seeing the store, where Alexia said that everyone in the capital is talking about Mitsugoshi because the company had everything and it's all the best quality. While Iris is impressed by the store's diversity of content as an fascinating place, Alexia peruses the store's fashion by telling her sister to be really aware of the trends in the capital. While not against the trend, Iris reminds Alexia that she is heading to the Sacred Land as a special guest for the Goddess's Trial.
But luckily, Alexia revealing that she intends to use the opportunity to speak with the archbishop under the pretext of a normal audit as a perfect cover in order to investigate into dark rumors about corruption and missing orphans, whom no one would suspect a thing since she was just a helpless little princess. Even though she felt that if her sister's words were true that people would be less wary of Alexia than her, Iris think that she shouldn't have to tell her about the investigation. Then at that time, Gamma arrives to greet them and introduces herself by her public alias as Luna.
Alexia wants to try on the thongs
After explaining the reason for their visit, Alexia requests to see some "special" articles of clothing, despite Iris reminding her she has plenty of dresses ordered beforehand. Alexia denies such intentions seeking something else, which won't be exactly for her but also not a gift. Luna then realizes what she means and shows her a special catalog: lingerie. While Iris and Alexia are taken aback, Luna explains the product as thong underwear, and while Iris is uncomfortable with the limited coverage, Luna explains that the underwear is appealing to menfolk. As Iris is against it, Alexia takes a liking to them and is confident she will look good in them thinking she has a finely shaped buttocks. As the sisters bicker over whether or not to take the product, Alexia manages to mastermind around her sister and ends up trying and buy some.
Rose accepting Cid's love
By the time the events of the terrorist attack on the Academy had passed, Rose Oriana had heard the news about Cid's survival and rushed to the arena infirmary, which is a separate building from the main school building that was not affected by the fire during the incident. Searching among the crowd of injured students who were still being treated, Rose finally find Cid lying on a bed covered in bandages, accompanied by Skel Etal and Po Tato. Overjoyed to see Cid still alive, Rose feels so grateful, stating that he must have survived because of his unwavering effort and love that produced a miracle from his deep love to her. Holding Cid's hand, Rose says that she has accepted all of his feelings and in return for her life being saved at the cost of his own, she will give Cid her heart.
Present day, Rose and Cid were travel together on a train bound for Lindwurm, clinging to him. Despite enjoying the relaxation for two more days until they arrive, Cid thinks that he should have been able to run towards his destination faster overnight and feels that his decision on the idea of boarding the train in an economy class seat like a proper background character was a mistake. Moreover, Cid met Rose at the station by chance who tries to invite him to join travel with her to the Sacred Land where Cid couldn't refuse the answer because his status was no match for Rose's as royalty and is forced to agree to her offer.
Rose guesses that Cid is heading to Lindwurm to take on the Goddess's Trial with Cid himself confirms it, as he figures that perhaps the trial event is what Alpha meant to summon him for. She then explains that those that receive the Goddess's blessings may even marry a princess, and should he be victorious, she will speak with her father about him to likely petition a marriage with Cid. While she still can't tell anyone about them, Rose believes that they will have a happy future if they work hard. However, Cid misunderstands her attachment as her trying to convert him to her faith, misunderstanding that she's talking about her feelings to him. For the ensuing two day travel, Cid managed to avoid her "missionary" efforts before arriving at their destination.
Reaching Lindwurm, Cid sees some gift shop keychains of a sword piercing a demon's left arm with Rose explains it is based on the legend, which says that Lindwurm is said to be the place where the hero Olivier dismembered the left arm of the demon Diablos long ago, sealed and buried somewhere within the steep mountains surrounding the Sacred Land in the ruins known as the Sanctuary. Walking around, Rose notices a signing event for her favorite author, Natsume Kafka, and joins the line being a biggest fan of hers. Curious about the famous figure, Rose explains to Cid that Natsume is a popular novelist known for her tremendous imagination and fresh and original worldview by applying her own highly inventive variety to her work in each story.
Most importantly, Natsume's mind intellect is even more amazing in her writing talent where she can master all genres, even writes literature in the classic style among her books that are so original, diverse, and imaginative that they feel like they were written by different people. Judging by Natsume's incredible accomplishments, Cid examines some of her books at a shop and quickly realizes that they were plagiarized from his past life after seeing the titles have similar stories. Thinking it was no coincidence that there was such a blatant plagiarism, Cid assumed that someone else has been reincarnated like him.
Cid meets Beta at book signing
To confirm his guess, Cid joins the line to meet the author in person, only to be surprised to see that the real identity of "Natsume Kafka" is actually Beta. As he handing over the book to Beta in the middle of their unexpected meeting, Cid asked about the progress of her business with Beta answering that she had earned a decent income from selling her work until her name was quite spread among the people, which was all thanks to Cid's wisdom. Seeing the results of success, Cid is inwardly somewhat feel annoyed, thinking that his knowledge had again been used for personal gain, whereas previously Gamma was the first to utilized his wisdom in business to make a profit and now Beta had also done the same thing, by using his wisdom of literature to make herself famous. Cid recalls how Beta was a bookworm and she loved literature when they were younger, so he told her a few stories from his past life. He thought she was going to use them as an inspiration to come up with a cool story, but she ended up stealing them wholesale to make a profit. As "Natsume" autographs his book, she states how it contains all the details of the mission, as Cid is quietly disappointed in her.
Siting for lunch, Rose shows her book's personalizes autograph from Natsume, much to Cid's quiet disappointment. Rose then wonders what Natsume signed for Cid's copy, but are surprised to see its written in an ancient language. While Rose knows the basics, she can't read it, and the letters are written in a form of extreme shorthand, so she couldn't understand the meaning even if she could read them. Rose wonders why she wrote in an ancient alphabet, Cid guesses its because it's cool, and Rose just accepts his answer, surprised men were into that sort of thing.
At the Lindwurm cathedral, Alpha contemplates aloud how the time has come to learn the truth, curious what did the hero Olivier really do in the Sanctuary. As the more they research, the more fact mingles with fiction. Alpha sees the deceased Archbishop Drake impales atop the statue of Olivier, she wonders what he was hiding that the Cult of Diablos would even kill a man of his high status. Alpha awaits tomorrow as the doors into the Sanctuary will open and provide the answers she seeks. With the body now discovered, a still hidden Alpha takes her leave as guards are called to secure the scene.
Elsewhere, Cid is eating ice cream atop a vantage point, adding commentary to the church bells, and notices a cloaked man running on rooftops. Following the assassin, he attacks Cid only to be easily blocked by an ice cream scoop. Directing the assassin's gaze upward, Epsilon arrives and kills the man with precision, with Cid complementing her skill immediately after. As Epsilon tells Cid that the target was eliminated by the Cult's executioner, they got his henchmen while the executioner has gone into hiding. They will be moving to Plan B as Cid informs her that he will be proceeding with his own plans. Taking his leave and blending into the crowd, Cid thinks how Epsilon is such a proud woman, as evident by the amount of slime she wears.
Characters
- Cid Kagenou
- Claire Kagenou
- Gamma
- Delta
- Eta
- Epsilon
- Beta
- Nu
- Iris Midgar
- Alexia Midgar
- Rose Oriana
- Skel Etal (Mentioned)
- Po Tato (Mentioned)
- Alpha
- Drake
- Venom (Mentioned)
Promotional Videos
Trivia
- The title of the books of Mid-summer Natsume's collections like I'm a dragon, Romeo and Julieta, Asherella, Crimsion Red Riding Hood, Star It's a Trap War, The One Purse, and Dragon Bowl X are references to other genres like:
- I Am Dragon
- Romeo and Juliet
- Cinderella
- Little Red Riding Hood
- Star Wars
- One Piece
- Dragon Ball