Marionette

Chapter 9

1 month later.

At the crack of dawn, a man barged into our tent, yelling.

"Wake up, scumbag!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

My eyes shot open, and the first thing I did with them was to check on Yui.

She was fine, just a bit startled. It was dark, but I could tell that this screaming idiot had scared her.

I looked over at our clad-in-armour intruder. He was one of Captain Arne's useless Knights. They were all bark and no bite.

"What do you want?" I asked coldly.

"Is that how you address one of your superiors, dirtbag?!" he roared.

"I asked a question," I pressed on, unbothered by his reaction, "What do you want?"

The Knight took several steps back, touching the pommel of his sword. He looked nervous.

"The captain wants to see you, filthy scumbag!" he said, regaining his confidence, finally putting his words together.

The Knight was scared of me. Everyone in camp was, besides the Captain and Yui.

Only a dragon is superior to a Demon's Shield in this world. I had defeated the latter two weeks after getting summoned here. With the help of Yui, of course, but people in the camp kind of disregarded that. I guess sexism exists in every world out there.

Anyhow, I had become something of a legend within the camp and started using it to my advantage, sort of... a little bit...

Don't get me wrong, I did not pull anything shady towards my fellow people from Earth. I would never stoop this low, but I did try to intimidate the Knights.

I would sometimes stare at them a tad menacingly during training. It made them beyond uncomfortable.

I guess this guy in front of me saw himself as a big shot, so he barged in, pulling rank and everything as if I cared.

I felt a cold gaze to my right. Yui's hazel eyes were throwing daggers.

"You are taking this too far!" It's what she would probably say if this waste of space was absent.

I gave her a wink, which infuriated her further.

Whatever, I would deal with her lectures later.

Honestly, I loved it when she lectured me. She would always get so serious, pointing her tiny fingers all over the place, but mostly to my face. I always struggled not to smile in adoration, as I would hate to ruin her glorious moments of scolding an ill-mannered man-child.

"Thank you for letting me know, honoured Knight," I said sarcastically, "I'll follow you to the captain's."

He murmured something angrily and left our tent.

I stood up and made to follow him, but as I took the first step, something soft hit me on the back of my head. It was Yui's pillow.

"Pick it up, dust it off and give it back," she ordered smugly.

I did as instructed by my actual superior officer.

"See you in a bit," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't get yourself executed," mumbled Yui, half asleep, cocooning herself under the sheets.

"Can you at least pretend to respect my Knights?" asked Captain Arne, sitting behind his desk, a massive red banner with a golden phoenix hanging behind him.

"I'll try, Captain," I replied.

Sighing, Captain Arne rolled his eyes backwards.

"Whatever...," he murmured after a long pause.