Marionette

Chapter 7

"How?" asked Captain Arne, sitting behind his desk. Yui and I stood at attention before him. 

We were inside his tent, which was, unsurprisingly, far more luxurious than our own. 

There was a nice red carpet, meaning his bare feet had to touch the cold and harsh ground at no point. Furthermore, he had a king-sized bed with fluffy pillows, a dinner table, a bookshelf and a desk.  

"Luck," I said. 

"Luck? You two defeated a Demon's Shield because of luck?" he asked baffled. "You do realise that that type of monster is the second strongest in the world. Only a dragon can be more dangerous..." 

What did he want me to say? We obviously won because of luck or because God really, and I mean, REALLY loved us. There was no other explanation. 

"It was Luck, sir," I repeated. "My sword somehow ended up in its mouth as it jumped to get me. Its internal tissue is a major weak spot, apparently. Before I could finish it, though, it managed to escape my grip. The Demon's Shield then charged at me, but Yui managed to fire a Lightning Ball straight into its mouth and finish it. Exhausted, we spent the night on the field as it had turned dark by the time the battle was over." 

Captain Arne's jaw hung low. 

I deliberately left out all the parts about me losing both my arms, dying and then rising back from the dead in the morning. I had no idea how that had happened, but it was better to keep this side of things hidden from these people. 

While walking back, I also asked Yui to keep quiet about it. 

"Astonishing..." commented Captain Arne, "to go toe to toe with that thing and live to tell the tale..." 

Yui and I stayed silent. I could not care less about his compliments. I just wanted to go and hit the sack. 

"By the way, what's with the beard and the eyes...?" Captain Arne asked, puzzled. 

I wondered when he would bring it up; frankly, I did not know how to cover it up. I kept thinking all the way to the camp about a dumb excuse that would sound convincing enough, but nothing had come up. 

"That happens to men from our world," Yui took the lead confidently, lying through her teeth like a pro. 

"Really?" asked Captain Arne, amazed. 

"When a man from our world defeats a strong monster, their soul grows stronger," Yui explained. "As a result, they enter the next level of manhood. Their beards grow large, and their eyes change colour!"

"Amazing..." commented Captain Arne, fully convinced by Yui's fan fiction. 

Yui was standing there proudly, satisfied that she had fooled the captain. 

What if he asks someone else from Earth if that is true, Yui...? 

Whatever, there was no point worrying about it. At least Yui had managed to come up with an excuse. 

"Marco, I have another question for you," said Captain Arne, crossing his arms. "Why did you save me?" 

Why did I save Captain Arne, indeed? Why would I risk my life to save a man from Milwick? A nation that had enslaved me. Honestly, it did not make much sense, logically speaking, for me to do something like that, but I did not act based on logic. It was more on the emotional side of things. 

Captain Arne jumped into the fray to buy time for us to escape. He had no reason to act so selflessly with us, yet he did. 

I guess I returned the favour.