Hnngh...

  Wha!? What happened? It’s-

  Ouch!!

  My chest hurts like a bitch!! Oh right, I ripped my heart out. Woopsies. Such is the way the cookie crumbles, I somehow had a hunch I wouldn’t kick the bucket though.

  Looking down I see a hole in my chest, and a bunch of tubes going out from it. Said tubes are connected into a huge box. I can’t really see what’s inside the box as it’s completely covered, but I’m amazed at the size.

  Is it an artificial heart? Nah! That’s too sci-fi for this dream, it’s probably magical in nature.

  Fuck if I know, it’s-

  “Marisa!”

  “Ah! Heather”

  “Thank god you woke up!”

  “How long did I sleep? Wait! What happened to your sister!?”

  “Ellie’s fine! She’s sleeping like a log right now, but she woke up before, I’ll bring her to visit when she wakes up again”

  “That’s good to hear”

  “And you were out cold for 2 days, actually about 38 hours, so not even that”

  “That’s a lot of time!”

  “A lot!? It’s almost nothing! You nearly died idiot!”

  Heather said, flickering a finger in my forehead. It hurt my feelings more than my face.

  “Don’t pull a stunt like that again...”

  I made Heather sad, even though it was to save her sister? I don’t understand her sometimes.

  “Yeah... What’s all of this anyways?”

  I said, pointing at the cables coming out of my chest.

  “It’s an artificial heart I think, I’m not too sure of the details”

  “Wow, and how long am I supposed to be attached to this?”

  “I... don’t know either”

  “Sigh... ouch!”

  “Are you ok?”

  “Yeah, it hurts a bit when I move around”

  It’s not unbearable, just uncomfortable. Kinda like paper cuts I’d say, uh, rather extreme paper cuts.

  “What happened while I was gone?”

  “Well, King Arthur announced you as the new town lord, anonymously of course, as he mentioned that night”

  “That bastard! I’m gonna deck him in the face next time I see him”

  “W-well, you were out cold at the moment and he left you a letter, as for the piggy, he tried to kill you in your sleep actually, Celestial is currently interrogating him in the dungeons”

  “What? How did that happen?”

  “He kinda saw you unconscious when we were taking you to this bed, and jumped with a knife in hand, Celestial and I gave him the beating of his life”

  “Ha! Serves him right, what happened with him anyways, did you end his life?”

  “Not really, he’s basically your sve at this point, more like prisoner actually, or so said the king, you can punish him ter, but just try to keep him alive, is all that he asked for”

  “Will do, I’m still rather mad at him to be honest”

  “So is Celestial, but I don’t know why”

  “Hmm... that’s odd, maybe the attack from before?”

  “I don’t think so, she was already angry with him before that, ah! The captured nobles were mostly executed by direct order of king Arthur by the way, I’d say about 70 percent, the rest are in the dungeons, they probably won’t see the light of day in a while, or at all but they’re under your jurisdiction now, to choose what to do with them”

  “Right, honestly I have no use for them, I’ll think about what to do with them ter”

  Interesting that he just killed them, no questions asked, did he have previous beef with them? Not that it matters in the slightest.

  “Ok! Also the sves were released, and warned to not turn to thievery or illicit activities, well, the ones that wanted to leave anyways, some of them were quite lost and hopeless, for now we send them to the new refugees vilge along with supplies to help them out”

  “That’s great! I’m gonna have to drop by and help them a bit!”

  I said trying to get up but struggling with the cables coming out of my chest, really it’s a bit embarrassing since I’m topless at the moment, but then again I guess the cables and situation kinda take the lewd aspect away.

  “Why don’t you recover yourself first?”

  “G-good idea”

  “I think that’s all... oh right! And the pace knights are back on duty, i heard what happened about some vacations with them”

  “Ah crap... yeah, I promised them vacations, I’ll see about turns when-“

  “Don’t worry too much about it Marisa”

  “Eh?”

  “Their morale is at an all time high! They actually feel quite proud after saving so many people! I spoke with them and they’re quite happy serving you Marisa”

  “But I thought I was making them work to the bone...”

  “Well, they do have a bit more work, but in reality, well, they’re all proud knights as well you know! They were getting tired of basically being the piggy’s bodyguards, it’s! It’s complicated”

  “Hmm, I can see that, well, either way, no one can work at 100 percent all the time, resting is in order for them as well!”

  “Hehe, I’d say the first in line for a rest is you”

  “D-don’t push me...”

  “Oh! I nearly forget, Rushka says she wants to have a word with you”

  “Who’s Russia?”

  “Rushka, the dwarven girl you saved at the auction”

  Oh right! The USSR!

  “Why though?”

  “I don’t know, but she’s the one that created the machine you’re connected to right now, so we are quite indebted to her”

  “What!? I thought this was Celestial’s! Then let’s arrange a meeting with her as fast as possible!”

  “She’s staying in the pace, she comes by often to check the machine, so let’s just wait for her”

  “Right... Heather”

  “Yes milord?”

  “Pff! What’s with that?”

  “You’re the town lord now, it’s important to keep the appearances you know!”

  “Right right! Then as the town lord, Heather, I want to offer you something”

  “Eh?”

  “A promotion if you will, well truth be told, it’s clear to me now that I don’t know much of this pce, so, could you be my assistant? I really can’t trust the piggy at all anymore”

  “Eh? But I thought I was your, umm-“

  “W-well... we can keep doing that! Actually I want you to continue those duties! But, hmm... maybe I’m putting too much work on your shoulders”

  “Oh, it’s fine, I gdly accept!”

  “Wait really!?”

  “Sure, I’d be happy to help you Marisa, for as long as you have me”

  “Great! Then, my first order is that you and your sister move to the pace!”

  “E-eh?”

  “I can’t keep an eye on the both of you, or rather, I’d be more at ease if you were closer by, so... ah! You don’t have to do it immediately, it’s just!”

  “Hmm... I’ll talk with Ellie, but I agree with you, it’ll be safer for Ellie in the pace”

  “Ok, then it’s settled”

  Well, it is true I’m worried about them and the fact that the piggy might try something again, but also, if we live together there’ll be more opportunities to do it! I can’t wait!

  ...

  ...

  *knock**knock*

  “Ah that must be Rushka, come in!”

  “Sorry for intruding, ah Marisa woke up!”

  “Hey there commie”

  “...Komi?”

  Right, she wouldn’t understand my poorly made jabs, I should probably stop since it’s obvious that country doesn’t exist over here.

  “Ah, it’s nothing, don’t pay it any mind”

  “...right, umm, how are you feeling?”

  “Meh, I’ve seen better days, but I’m doing great all things considered thanks to you!”

  “I see, I’m gd...”

  “For how long do I have to be in this?”

  “Well truth be told I expected a couple of months, but your regenerative abilities are amazing, the wound in the hearth close out completely already, but I’d give it another day just to be sure, or well, that’s what Celestial told me anyways, I would’ve disconnected you already”

  “Then it’s not for too long! lovely”

  “Mari-I mean, Midy, w-would it be possible to have an audience with you?”

  “Eh? What’s with the sudden stiffness from everyone, go ahead, I can’t move from bed anyways”

  “W-wouldn’t you prefer it when you're back to full health? It’s-“

  “Nah, I’m ok, what is it?”

  “W-well, truth be told, I’d rather be private and...”

  “private? I mean sure, Heather, could you leave us alone for a minute”

  “Right... I’ll just go check that Celestial doesn’t accidentally kill the piggy”

  Heather headed outside the room, and as soon as I was gonna mention a word, Rushka started to cry.

  “W-woah! What’s the matter?”

  I really don’t know how to deal with crying! She’s prone to do so it seems!

  “U-umm”

  Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Moving with this thing stuck to myself is difficult.

  “*sniff* a-ah! Plwease don’t get up!”

  Even if she tells me to, she still accepted my hug.

  It’s kinda awkward cuz I’m topless as previously mentioned and with a bunch of cables coming out of my chest, but she still hugged me back. Albeit the pressure hurts a bit. And getting up was a little bit difficult, I held her down again and rubbed her head to try to calm her down.

  I wonder what Celestial and Heather are doing with the piggy...

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “Celestial?”

  I headed down to the basement of the pace, that seemed to be renovated as dungeons, or so did Celestial to help Marisa house all the nobles that were arrested not long ago, I really thought that Celestial would be torturing the previous town lord but she’s sitting on a table, reading a book that looks so old, it might crumble to dust at any moment.

  “Miss knight? Why the sudden visit?”

  She said without putting the book down and continuing her lecture.

  “Well, Marisa woke up, I just thought you wanted to know”

  “Oh that’s wonderful news, let’s go see her”

  “And the piggy? Weren’t you interrogating him?”

  “It’s a pointless endeavor he won’t speak, and I can’t poke his brains to get the memories that way”

  “Is that even possible?”

  “I know it was, I have some inkling on it, but not my strong suit, plus even if I was, I have a feeling when poking around him, that it’s not gonna be that simple”

  “Well if you say so, there’s no hurry I guess, the longer he stalls, the longer he’ll be in that cell!”

  I said, loud enough for the piggy to hear, seeing him currently chained to the wall of a makeshift cell was somehow rather satisfying, there’s a lot of people in here actually, their compints are almost loud enough to not let me hear Celestial’s words, it’s amazing she can read in such a pce.

  “Heather!”

  “Hn? What is it pig?”

  “Rude! But I’ll let it slide! Hey, help me out from here, and I’ll p-pay you handsomely! You were hurt for money right!?”

  “Not anymore, besides, after what you did to My little sister and Marisa, I would’ve put your head on a spike already, you’re only alive because of midy’s mercy, so know your pce”

  “Ugh! You’ll see once I come out! You’ll regret talking to me like that! You hear!”

  “Let’s go Celestial”

  “Wow, you can be quite cold sometimes miss knight, even I felt your murderous intentions”

  “I really don’t understand why you and the king wants him alive”

  “I’m just worried about something, once I get the information I’m after, He becomes irrelevant, do what you want with him”

  “Is that so? Then just the king’s word would be left, His life bances on a thread it seems, I don’t understand why are you so concerned? What could he know that it’s so important”

  “I’m sorry I can’t tell, because I know you’ll tell Marisa about it”

  “And she shouldn’t know?”

  “I don’t want to worry her with ghosts from the past, plus there’s still a chance I’m just being paranoid, so it wouldn’t do any good to jump to conclusions”

  Celestial is keeping something rather serious to herself, but I trust her, and so does Marisa so it should be fine right? If it’s something worrying Celestial, then it’s probably pretty serious, hmm...

  “I really need to find someone to transcript my old books, they’re on the verge of colpsing”

  “Oh, what are they about?”

  “Hestia gave them to me, pretty old magic spellbooks”

  “Those sound a bit too important for you to just let them turn to dust...”

  “She didn’t write them, they are from different authors, just that I kept her collection when she passed away”

  “I-Is that so? Maybe we could get someone to transcript them?”

  “Would be nice”

  Ok, maybe her common sense is a bit disorganized, but she always have good intentions I think...

  —————————————————————————————————————————

  “Better?”

  “*hic* un...”

  “Great, now what did you want to tell me?”

  I don’t think she wanted to just cry on my chest. Or at least I hope that’s not the case. It certainly took a while to calm her down.

  “Y-you see I...“

  ...

  ...

  And so, Rushka detailed her situation in a rather mencholic tone, It’s... complicated, I’ll expin the gist of it, Rushka, no more Soviet puns, it’s a princess of the dwarven country, which I find really hard to believe but she doesn’t seem to be lying at all, anyways, it seems that the dwarf people wanted to make an alliance with this kingdom, us being the nice neighbors that we are, decided than an arranged marriage was the best choice, ok I guess? Anyways, the dwarves and the people of our kingdom came to an agreement, so she was gonna get married to the piggy of all people.

  Yikes... just the prospect is enough to make me feel bad for her, but then her carriage was attacked and sold as a sve, what really makes me wonder is, she was being sold in an auction the piggy more than knew was happening, if she was gonna be his wife anyways, why do this?

  “It’s weird, the piggy knew where you were, and he still did nothing about it? It’s almost as he pnned the abduction all alone”

  “That’s... I thought of the same thing when everything calmed down, but I couldn’t think of a reason”

  “But I don’t get it, if you were set into an arranged marriage for political reasons, why would he sell you instead of keeping appearances?”

  “I don’t know...”

  “Hmm, and your country?”

  “That's why I wanted to ask for your help! Our country is on the brink of destruction by the empire, and now this country left us for dead too it seems...”

  Huh... I see then, honestly it’s too much of a hassle to save her country, especially since we also have our hands tied with war if memory serves me correctly, albeit our enemy is the same, at this point her country is probably too spent to give proper support if their going far enough to request other’s assistance, we’ll waste more resources trying to save it than what we’ll get from them, at least that’s the impression I get from what Ruhska told me of her country, maybe that’s why the piggy didn’t bother with the marriage proposition, at this point it’s better if they turn into a vassal state and just call it a day.

  “You’re the daughter of the fabled demon lord aren’t you?”

  “I guess, I’ve been told as much”

  “Please! I’ll do anything, please help my country!”

  Rushka then got down on the floor and begged. Crying on her knees.

  “Sure”

  “E-eh? You didn’t even think about it for a second!”

  “I mean I do owe you one”

  I said, holding the tubes poking from my chest.

  “B-but!”

  “You helped me already, let’s return the favor”

  “But wouldn’t the nobles of the kingdom be against it!? You didn’t even consult the king!? Besides we’re not even reted in any way, not even geographically since the neighboring town is closer, wouldn’t their town lord consider it strange if you get involved?”

  “If you knew this then why did you ask for my help? Or the piggy for that matter”

  “T-that’s...”

  Obviously because she had no one left to ask, but still.

  “It’s fine, I’ll just conquer terrain from this town to your country, or secure a route from the next town over if the town lord is amicable enough, although if he isn’t I’ll make him”

  “But no one will take you seriously! I mean you’re helping a stranger...”

  “A stranger that already tried to save my life, besides wasn't the piggy the one that was gonna help you?”

  “But that’s because it got arranged by the kingdom that... that I’d be his wife...”

  “Politics Schmolitics, if it’s that needed just marry me and the deal still stands~”

  “Eh!? But we’re both girls...”

  “So? It turns out I’m anonymous to the town! for now at least, they won’t know who I am, and we can be married by name only, we don’t really have to get married for real”

  “Marisa...”

  “Just leave it to me! I’ll have our alliance in a jiffy!”

  “Marisa!!”

  Ugh!! Be careful when pouncing on me, she just went crying and saying thank you on top of me over and over again.

  “Sniff... how could I ever repay you!”

  “Well I have an idea”

  A rather devious idea in fact~

  “I’ll do anything just-“

  “Not so fast, first thing first, saving your country, we see what comes next”

  And just like that, I got myself a wife, only by name, and a possible new country to rule if she’s a princess. I can hardly hold back.

  ‘You should’ve told her to turn into our concubine as well!’

  Oh hi other me, all in due time, trust me on this one, besides, bigger nd to rule, and if we py our cards right, Rushka as well.

  ‘I guess you’re right, even so we should look out for more! It’s frustrating to only do it with Heather...’

  Yep, let’s do that as part of our next objectives. Actually, there’s some things that need sorting out, even in my bed, first thing first, the letter from Arthur, bold of him to just leave immediately, let’s see, I pick the letter and open it.

  ...

  ...

  Well, nothing of utmost importance, he just said that the nobles and criminals are under my jurisdiction and as the town lord, I should dictate their fate or something like that, he also mentioned that despite questioning the piggy, he refused to mention anything of relevance, he was gonna be taken into custody by the king but he left him with me per Celestial’s request, and finally as the town lord, I should look after the people, yeah, thanks captain obvious, still he said that while anonymously, I should choose someone as my herald for news and public image, kinda weird, I already picked Heather as my assistant, I guess she will make do, plus she’s already well known and respected in town, that’s pretty much it though, nothing of significance, to be honest Arthur makes my blood boil for some reason, I should decre our town independence as soon as possible!

  And so I spent a leisure moment of doing absolutely nothing with Rushka, she’s just tinkering with the machine, honestly it just looks like a box, I’m kinda curious what it looks like inside, I’ll take a look when I’m not bedridden, although I’m pretty sure I could get up again if I tried, something tells me Rushka wouldn’t want that though.

  *knock**knock*

  “Come in”

  I yelled after the door knocking, it caught Rushka off guard, guess she was too enthralled with the device, it’s Heather and Celestial, I knew before they opened the door, it seems my senses are back to normal.

  “I’m back”

  Said Heather in a sweet tone, Celestial was behind her, and looked happy when she saw me for some reason.

  “Marisa, how are you feeling?”

  “Fine~ good as new”

  “So gd to hear that, don’t do anything crazy like that again”

  “Well, I somehow knew I wouldn’t die, plus you said my father could, so”

  “Your father wouldn’t even bat an eye with this, he could get turned into dust, and rebuild himself in full health in a matter of seconds”

  “Kinda wild we’re so different, what gives?”

  “He was magnitudes stronger than you, still, I think you two shouldn’t have such a difference in strength normally”

  “Then?”

  “It’s probably because Maldi was an adept at training, it was quite frightening to be honest”

  “What? Are you trying to imply I’m not good at it!?”

  “I’ve never seen you even try to exercise...”

  ...thanks, I’ve been called the couch potato of the demon lords, I’ll have you know I exercised once a decade ago! Ok, fine, I didn’t have much time to do it but I was healthy regardless!

  “W-well, you were sealed for millenia right? Maybe you’re still numb from that?”

  Thanks for the pitch in Heather, but it doesn’t take away the couch potato allegations.

  “I really need to get stronger though”

  “If you want, I could help you train, I don’t mind”

  “Celestial, thanks but you’ll rip me to pieces, although, maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea, I do want to improve my magic as well”

  If the fight with the hooded figures were anything to go by, I was surpassed in strength and magic, but it seemed to me like I could get better at magic first since muscle is not really my forte I don’t think.

  “Sure, I’ll teach you everything your mother taught me all those years back”

  “Thanks, oh by the way, what’s up with you and the piggy? Why did you wanted to interrogate him yourself”

  Oh boy I shouldn’t have asked, she’s angry again.

  “It’s... nothing you should concern yourself about and- actually now that I think about it, Rushka mentioned you fought two hooded figures, do you know anything about them?”

  “Nope, they just kinda appeared and disappeared, they managed to poison me or something”

  “Well that checks out with what Rushka mentioned, and regarding the poison, it’s made from valley lilies, they’re a type of flower, mortally poisonous to to some demon races, you should stay away from them, I already dealt with the perfume of the pace, so it shouldn’t be around anymore”

  “Mortally poisonous? It sure as hell only made me sleepy”

  “Well, it was mixed with other things, I knew of its existence, we would bathe our weapons and attacks in this stuff back at war, although it just smells like flowers so it’s kinda hard to detect”

  “Wow... the war with the demon lord, so it was real?”

  Asked Rushka, kinda interested in the story, please don’t encourage Celestial to talk about the past, she’s not gonna shut up!

  “Yeah, it did happened, although that same flower was discovered by Maldi actually, he used to crush and smoke it, since neither alcohol nor other drugs affected him, it was the only narcotic he used, ah that’s not the point, so do you not know anything from the two cloaked figures?”

  “Nope, I couldn’t even see their face”

  “I see, I’ll have to keep an eye out looking for them”

  “Do you know who they are, Celestial?”

  “Not really, but- as I said, it’s nothing you should worry about, I’ll take care of them”

  Hmm... it’s weird, and unlike Celestial to be keeping information from me, still, I don’t think she’ll slip up if I keep asking, I’ll just have to ask her some other time when she’s not as hot headed, and see if she messes up, or maybe I’ll just win the information in a game of poker~

  “Anyways, did you get some information from the piggy?”

  “None at all, I tried to but he won’t talk even when his life is at line”

  “Well, knowing him, it’s probably the fact that the only reason he’s still alive is the information he possess, if he simply gave it away, he couldn’t secure his safety”

  “That man has an astounding preservation instinct, despite being a complete and utter idiot”

  “So we’re back to square one, wonderful, at least the piggy won’t harm anyone else in a cell”

  “Yeah, I’ll keep trying to pry as much information as I can”

  Well, the piggy can wait, for now, we focus on helping Rushka out first, and- Actually if they can unplug me from here that would be great!

  Joanne_carper