Bigger Problems (1)

I woke up.

Actually, that’s how all my days start, or at least how they’re supposed to. I don’t like doing all-nighters, I prefer to go to bed on time. It’s very hard to keep my mask on when I don’t get enough sleep.

But that’s beside the point, because this day started off brilliantly, I guess. There’s still the hanging issue of last evening and Marion wants to talk about it…

She already apologized to me about everything that had happened. But I honestly don’t know how to feel about this.

If she’s anything like me then her apology probably doesn’t mean crap, but I get the feeling that the difference between her regular self and how she was in full demon form is a bit different from me and my mask. So I accepted her apology.

But what if something like this happens again?

Quite simply I wasn’t able to defeat her by myself, I had to have help from Trigger Happy, the same person who had triggered her demon state in the first place.

It’d be nice to have some help I could rely on in case something like that happens again, but that’s unlikely…

Anyway… that’s the next thing on the agenda for today. Luckily, the first thing was a success! They do have breakfast burritos here!

Right now me and Marion are sitting at a table in the corner of the tavern. I have the breakfast burrito I ordered and Marion ordered a dish that came with two pieces of toast, some scrambled eggs, and a biscuit with butter and jelly on the side.

I was done with my burrito and Marion had finished her toast and most of her eggs when she decided it was a good time to start the conversation.

“So, Oliver, about yesterday…”

“Do you really wanna talk about that here?” I asked. “There’s a lot of people around.”

“Well, them all talking kinda makes it harder for someone to listen in on us, not that they would even care in the first place.”

“I guess that makes sense, but… Well I suppose there’s no use in putting it off…” I said “Let’s start with this, from what I gathered Trigger Happy attacked you first right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Marion replied.

“Why did he do that? How exactly did the fight start in the first place?”

“Um… from what I remember he said something about recognizing me from the bounty board,” she said. “But he didn’t actually know about who I was or what I was wanted for. He just knew that I was the demon princess…”

“But, if everyone here is supposedly an adventurer like us or him, then why don’t they recognize you like he did?”

“Huh?”

“Well, there has to be some reason right? Otherwise we’d be swarmed with people looking to collect the bounty on your head right about now.”

“I think that it’s purely a cognitive thing,” Marion explained, “Even though I’m high up on the international board, not many people check that anyway. They probably just look at the regional board so that they know who they can expect, but they don’t expect the demon princess from Lavaland to show up in Shadow Shore. And most adventurers aren’t bounty hunters anyway, while Trigger Happy on the other hand was an experienced bounty hunter. If I didn’t have my healing factor then that fight would’ve gone much differently…”

Marion paused for a moment with a solemn look before she shook her head and picked up where she left off.

“So basically, because there’s too much to be aware of, most people around these parts wouldn’t recognize me in the first place unless they regularly checked the bounty board for a region across the sea.”

“I guess that somehow makes sense,” I said. “Also while we’re on the subject, shouldn’t you be going by a different name or something?”

“Why?”

“Because it’d make it less likely for people to think you’re you.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Marion said. “Even Trigger Happy didn’t know what my name was until he checked the bounty board.”

“I feel like you’re leaning too heavily on the one guy who managed to find out as an example,” I said.

“Well he was pretty good,” she replied. “If he knew that all he had to do to beat me was shoot me in the head at least once, then there’s no way I would’ve beaten him once he put up that bullet prison.”

“Bullet what?”

“Anyway, I feel like we’ve gone on enough of a tangent,” Marion said. “At this rate we’ll never actually get to the heart of the matter…”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true…” I said. We both stopped talking for a moment, it was probably just a few seconds, but it felt much longer somehow. After a while, I broke the silence with the question weighing heaviest on my mind.

“So, how did you know I was summoned from earth?”

“Oh… we’re starting with that, huh?” Marion said, looking down at the table to avoid meeting my gaze. After a moment she spoke again.

“Well… I guess the simplest way to explain it is because I’m the one who summoned you.”

Huh? Wait what? But I thought-

“It was that bitch Canvas, wasn’t it?”

“Huh?”

Shit.

“I said it was a bit candid, wasn’t it?”

“What was candid?”

“You just saying that… right now… without trying to sugarcoat it or anything… that’s what I was talking about.”

Phew, totally saved it…

“So anyway,” I continued. “How did you summon me?”

“It wasn’t really that I summoned you,” Marion said. “It’s more that I called you to be summoned to me.”

“Please elaborate.”

“You already know the gist of the situation regarding my powers and the state of my kingdom.”

“Right, the other kingdoms, specifically the three bordering ones, are afraid of your power and want you dead so they’re in a war with your kingdom right now.”

“Yes, and you remember that bout with the Liquid Assassin, correct?”

“How could I forget?” I said while recalling the fight. I wonder if I’ll ever encounter that bastard again?

“Well the truth is that things like that have been happening to me longer than I can remember. Even before I awoke to my flair.”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Why would anyone want you dead before you became the demon princess?”

“Please… don’t call me that…” Marion said, her head hung low.

“Oh, sorry…” I guess I didn’t realize it was such a touchy subject.

“As I’m sure you’ve been made aware, Lavaland is currently a major military power, and as such there are many who have ill will towards my father, and work to defeat him, one way or another. So throughout my lifetime plenty of assassins have tried to end my life, but back then I always had my older brother to protect me.”

“Your older brother, huh?” I said as I began to think about my own little sister. But I’ll never get to see her again…

“Peter was always very powerful, just like father is,” Marion said. “And we were always together, so he was able to protect both me and himself whenever something happened.”

“So how long has he been protecting you?”

“I believe the first time was around three years old, apparently some assassins came and attacked me and my mom, but he was able to fend them off before they could actually hurt us.”

“Ever since you were three, huh? So you must’ve grown up depending on him then.”

“Actually, I meant ever since he was three,” Marion corrected. “I was less than a year old at that time, but yeah, I did depend on him a lot. Especially after my mom died…”

He had been fighting off assassins ever since he was three?! That’s kinda young for that sort of thing… but- “Why do you keep saying ‘my mom’?” I asked.

“Well, we had different moms,” Marion explained. “I don’t actually know the full story behind that situation myself. And I hear that it’s a very sad one…

“But the point is that after I awoke to my flair, the assassination attempts increased in volume and intensity. I don’t have enough skill to defend myself against someone who’s targeting me specifically, and I tend to lose control if I use my flair too much, so training hasn’t gone very well…

“Shortly after the war started, Peter left to go fight. Without him around to protect me, I basically became a huge burden to my father and Lizz, although they’d never admit it… That’s why I came up with this plan. If I can get into the FuzzyCoats Academy for Aspiring Adventurers, then they could help me learn how to control my flair, the only problem was getting there.”

“I’m starting to understand,” I said. “But, what’s so special about this FuzzyCoats place anyway?”

“It’s a school known for cultivating the best adventurers in the world,” Marion said. “It’s headed by the Seven Deadly Sins, and known for bringing about the likes of the DreamWalker, Slayer, Swiftblade, Timeon and Spaceon, Merlin, Poseidon-”

“I hate to cut you off, but I don’t know who any of those are,” I interrupted.

“Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense…”

“But back to what we were discussing before, how did all that lead to my summoning?”

“You see, in order to get there I needed to be accompanied by someone powerful enough to protect me, but we didn’t exactly have anyone we could spare back at the castle. So one day, when I was by myself, I decided to commit a grave taboo and summon Palette…”

“He’s one of the Great Artists we talked about earlier, right? Why’s it considered taboo to summon him?” I asked.

“Quite simply because it never ends well for the person who did it,” Marion said. “Palette’s a dealmaker, in order to feed his endless curiosity, he grants the wishes of those who summon him for price. The exact price differs based on the wish, person, and Palette’s mood. Honestly, it’s quite a foolish thing to ask Palette for help…”

“Then why did you?”

“Because I’m not just going to sit around being useless while people die and are killed for my sake!” Marion said. “This entire war is happening because of me! People are taking each other’s lives because of the power I was born with. And as if that wasn’t enough, death isn’t even the worst thing that war makes way for. Governments overextend themselves fighting, leaving way for horrible people to abuse their power to commit awful atrocities against innocents who can’t fight back. So many people, soldiers and civilians of mine and other kingdoms alike, are getting hurt right now, and all because of me…

“Word will get out once I get into FuzzyCoats, and my hope is when that happens, the other kingdoms will realize that it’s futile to fight with Lavaland any longer. Maybe then they’ll at least call a temporary truce…

“I don’t care if it costs me my very soul. If I can stop this senseless fighting for even a day, I’ll do whatever it takes!”

I’m not sure exactly how, but Marion’s words carried with them a sense of urgency, of pride, a sense of passion. In that moment I felt that even with those lofty ideals and that naivety. Maybe, just maybe, she could… Well, I guess it’s not really for me to say.

As that inspired feeling hit its peak, I remembered yesterday. The demon I had faced. Bloodlust so tangible I could practically taste it. But for some reason I couldn’t relate the two.

This girl sitting before me, wanting nothing more than to ease the lives of those around her and the girl from last evening, wanting nothing more than to cruelly punish anyone who stood in her way. They seemed like two completely different people.

I wonder, is this how people see me when they learn of my mask, of my true nature?

No. It’s the opposite for me.

Both my mask and my true nature are things I choose, unlike Marion’s wrath.

“So, what did it cost you?” I asked. “The deal with Palette, I mean.”

“Right,” Marion said. “In return for helping me with my problem by summoning someone capable of protecting me until I can take the entrance exams for FuzzyCoats, I owe him one favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“Anything he wants me to do. It could be in the next second, or in a hundred years, but at some point in time Palette will come to collect. The favor could be anything he wants, and if I refuse it’s like breaking a contract, only instead of contracting Liar’s Disease, Palette himself will decide what consequences would happen to me, and he’s not known for being merciful. He could kill me or distort my body into an undying chunk of flesh for all eternity. Anything he wants…”

“I see… this is starting to make sense now,” I said. “Why your dad and Lizz so easily accepted me as your protector was because you told them about your deal, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew? It would’ve made my life a whole lot easier if I didn’t have to lie about everything to keep from being treated like an insane person…”

“I was unsure of how you would react, so I thought it best to keep our knowledge of your origins a secret from you,” Marion said. “I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine… Do you have any other information regarding my summoning?”

“Not really…” Marion said with a regretful tone. “But I remember Palette said you were ‘queued up for reincarnation’ or something like that. He also told me what day and time that you would be summoned, which is why I was out of the castle at the time. Although he didn’t tell me where you’d be, just that it was close by.”

Close by my ass! How far did I have to run before I even saw the gates of that city?!

I get a bad feeling that Canvas and Palette are more alike than they’re made out to be. Especially since Canvas is supposed to be the good one.

Ugh… why couldn’t I have just lived a normal life?

“So is that all?” I asked.

“Uh, well… that’s all about your summoning that I know of…”

“Good, on that note, what should we do today? I was thinking about using that book on the different Element Shisu Arts, but I don’t want to spend all day doing just that and-”

“Wait! But- don’t you have more questions to ask?!” Marion interrupted. “Like about last evening with my demon form and-?!”

“Well, I mean, it’s not that hard to understand,” I said. “The more you use your demon powers the harder it gets for you to control your anger, and during that fight with Trigger Happy you lost it after getting shot a couple times. It’s something like that, right?”

“It’s-! Well, yeah, but-!”

“Anyway, I just don’t feel like wasting time worrying about something I already know about.”

“But I said some things, and I attacked you…” Marion said. “You can’t just ignore what I’ve done and brush it off like that-!”

“But I already forgave you for those things, didn’t I? There’s no point in dwelling on the past so much. It just hinders you from moving forward.”

Marion looked at me with something like astonishment in her eyes before averting her gaze.

“Thank you, Oliver…”

“Don’t mention it, Marion. I’d be stuck with you anyway, so it really doesn’t matter.”

Then a brief moment of silence passed. Unlike the silence from earlier, this time it felt like a burden was lifted. I let out a sigh.

“Now our problems are finally solved, Oliver thought, but little did he know that he still had bigger problems left in store.”

Who the hell said that?

I turned my gaze and looked up toward- it’s that girl who beat me in the staring contest yesterday. What the hell does she want?

Wait a second- what’d she’d say?

“You two are Oliver and Marion, right?” she said. “Don’t bother trying to deny it, because I’ve been listening to your conversation for a while now.

“A boy from another world and the demon princess of Lavaland. I wonder exactly what kind of hell would break loose for you two if all the adventurers in the area suddenly learned about this.”

Crap! I knew we shouldn’t have been talking about this here.

I placed a hand on my sword.

“Is that a threat? I’m so scared,” the girl said. “What are you gonna do? Chop my head off in the middle of the tavern? And how’s that gonna fly with every adventurer here? I’d give it about seven minutes before you both get overpowered and wake up in syphon cuffs.”

“Who are you?” I asked.

“I’m glad you asked, blinky,” Great, it looks like she still remembers the staring contest too. “The name’s Jessica Foster, and you have something I want. So let’s negotiate, shall we?”