How I Modernized a Fantasy World

Chapter 30 - A Look In The Past, Part 3

Although still a prisoner of war in a sense, Tokuda lived out some of the war at the demi-human campsite. While he was there, he was given some special privileges by the Red Bear that otherwise wouldn't have been given to a normal prisoner. However, over time, he realized that he was the only prisoner in this camp, so there wasn't anyone that would be jealous of him for these special privileges as he took advantage of them when we could.

One such privilege was that he had the Red Bear himself teach Tokuda a little bit about levitation magic. After doing a magic test, Tokuda realized that he had a small amount of magic potential, although nothing to the effect of being able to cast spells. However, the Red Bear decided to teach Tokuda a bit about levitation magic, which would be extremely handy for Tokuda. After a few lessons, Tokuda was able to finally use magic to levitate some items, which made it handy for him while doing things that required arms and hands, such as eating and drinking.

Another one of these special privileges was that he could have combat training, but he would be forced to always train with dulled blades. Even then, Tokuda's jaw wasn't strong enough to wield normal swords, so he began with dulled knives and began working out his jaw, trying to get a feel for fighting with his head instead of his arms. The Red Bear couldn't always oversee training Tokuda, so he sometimes left it to the other demi-humans at the camp. However, the ones that trained him always gave him a good beating just for being a human, so he had to train while constantly feeling like his body would collapse on him. However, over time, he became stronger overall. By him enduring the pain, he became more tolerant to pain, and his jaw would increase in strength, and eventually, he would be able to tightly grip a normal sword with his teeth. Even in sparring matches against other demi-humans, Tokuda only lost grip of his sword a couple of times. However, he still struggled to fight with his head, although he got his hope back that maybe, just maybe, he could still fight without arms.

Sometimes after his training and when the Red Bear wasn't off fighting, they would go to the hills and just talk. Tokuda came to really enjoy these small moments of peace while struggling to improve himself in his own personal hellhole. Sometimes, Tokuda would remind himself that the demi-human that he was talking to is, in fact, his enemy, and this enemy has killed a lot of humans. However, Tokuda found it hard to believe that the smiling and seemingly good-natured demi-human before him is actually the head general of the Demi-Human Federation that got his reputation from his acts on the battlefield. Despite his doubts, he was just happy to find someone who seemed to really understand where he was coming from and shared some of his ideals.

As Tokuda thought about this, the Red Bear suddenly said, "You know, Tokuda, if anyone was to kill me in this war we're fighting, I'd want it to be you." Tokuda, confused, and sort of worried about why he was telling him this, asked, "W-What do you mean, Red? That came out of nowhere!" The Red Bear then sighed and said, "I remember one of the things that you said when we were first on top of this hill. Something like 'to end this war with my surrender or death,' right?" Tokuda nodded, remembering that he did say something like that. The Red Bear said, "It's been stalemate after stalemate with these recent battles. Both sides aren't giving up ground easily, and both sides are only piling up the corpses. There might be a winning side eventually, but the number of sacrifices to get it are much higher than it should be." The Red Bear trailed off that last sentence and only gazed at the plains afterward. Tokuda understood this, but he still wasn't sure what the Red Bear was getting at. Before Tokuda could say anything, the Red Bear then said, "Oh, that reminds me! I got a surprise for you. Come with me." The Red Bear got up quickly and began jogging towards the camp, and Tokuda quickly followed.

The Red Bear led Tokuda to the blacksmithing area of the camp. At the time, there was only one dwarf currently working, and he seemed to be in the middle of fixing up a piece of armor. The Red Bear then called out, "Murdan! You done with that sword?" A slightly younger-looking Murdan set down the armor piece he was working on and turned towards the Red Bear and Tokuda, slightly surprised that they would visit him like this. Murdan then said, "I am, youngin'! Lemme go get it for ya!" The Red Bear then quickly said, "Oh, I'll come with. There's something I'd like to quickly add onto it." The Red Bear then turned towards Tokuda and said, "Stay here real quick. I gotta make sure that your surprise is in order." Tokuda then said, "But you said it was a sword, so that kind of ruins the surprise, doesn't it?" The Red Bear realized what had happened, and looking shocked at himself, said, "CRAP! Listen, pretend you didn't hear a word I said, okay? It's not a sword. NOT. A. SWORD." Tokuda couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Alright, alright. I believe you. It's not a sword. I don't have a clue as to what it could possibly be." The Red Bear then said, "Say it like you mean it. Add more emotion to it." So, Tokuda did. Feeling satisfied, the Red Bear smiled and said, "Good. I'll be right back." With that, the Red Bear and Murdan left to go get the sword.