Marionette

Chapter 15

Two months later.

The time had finally come. We were on our way to crush the deposed king and his Guardsmen.
It was the end of summer, and after three weeks of marching, we had finally reached the Highlands of Milwick. 

Not a single monster dared to approach us throughout the whole journey. I guess even they were conscious enough not to mess with the might of a battle-ready Legion. 

Battle-ready... It was weird to even think about it. Three months ago, we had been nothing but lost children from Earth, and yet here we were, ready to have a smackdown with Knights in shining armour.  

We were ready, though, and that was a fact. 

Three months of hard training and unending drills had turned us into war machines. At least, I hoped they did. 

I also had an ace in my sleeve, the Demon's Shield, but I was not planning to use his strength. I still wanted to keep it a secret. I would only use it to kill the queen and then find a way to get rid of him altogether. 

Yui still had no clue about it. 

Speaking of her, things between Yui and I were not great. After the incident in the pit, we pretty much stopped talking to each other for two weeks. It was just too awkward. 

Time heals everything, as they say, and we eventually started exchanging words again, but it was nothing like before. 

We had been best friends before that night, talking about everything, no matter how personal it might have seemed, but now we acted more like work colleagues on good terms.
Our conversations were short, dull and basic, lacking substance. 

I don't know why I'm complaining, to be honest. This is my fault, after all.
Yui offered me her heart, and I threw it in the mud. 

What I had done to those villagers was unforgivable, and the horrid memories were still with me. A person like me did not deserve happiness. 

A guy like me deserved a noose. 

As we marched in line along the narrow path of the mountain, I looked at my new long sword.
Will you ever cut down someone who deserves it? 

Probably not, but I still had glimmers of hope occasionally. 

As for the fact that we were heading to slaughter innocent men, frankly, I felt nothing.
Same old, same old. Killing good guys for the queen. 

This should have been the motto for the Marionette Legion. 

I had accepted that this was my life now. 

There was no point mulling over it. 

Five of the twenty Knights that accompanied Captain Arne had moved ahead of the rest of us to pinpoint the enemy's location. 

Scouts from the Capital had already given us a rough estimate of where the deposed king hid. However, we still had to find their exact location ourselves. 

I was beside the captain at the front of the marching line of troops, so I saw them rushing back, all excited, bearing good news. 

They had found them. 

The Guardsmen were positioned two miles down, so we decided to camp there for the night.
We would spend a night close to the enemy, which was not ideal, but there was no chance they would make a surprise attack while we slept. They did not have the numbers for it. 

Their best bet was to go on the defensive and use the rocky terrain to their advantage. 

And so, we removed the blankets from our sacks and sat along the path. This would not be a comfortable night.