"You! On the corner of the room. Remove your hood!"
"..."
Shit! And now what?!
Lyet is completely paralyzed out of fear.
I can't let them take her, but there's no way I'm gonna fight. I wouldn't win against a single one, let alone two!
The knights walk towards our table, one pointing his sword at us.
I then wrap my arm around Lyet's shoulders to hold her, and stand up with her, making sure her face is still covered.
"I'm sorry, my brother here drank too much, if you would excuse us..."
"Did you say brother? Well then, never mind."
And then the same knight chuckles
"No, ok, I'm kidding, of course I won't trust you like that, if you have to lie, at least do it properly."
"Jeeeez!! I'm a booyyy leave me aloneee! Doo I have to strip naked or soomething to proveee it?!"
The knight stops.
The voice was indeed that of a drunk man, different from Histrio's. They couldn't see the face of the 'brother' at all, but the voice was unmistakably male.
The knight even paid attention to Histrio's lips, yet they didn't move a single inch.
They, then, look at each other, puzzled about what to do now. They didn't perceive any magic, meaning no spell was used.
"Well, sorry, we had the wrong impression."
With that, they move to the entrance, taking the body of the criminal with them.
"If anyone sees anything, let us know."
-
I bring Lyet to my room. I can still feel her body trembling.
As soon as we enter, she buries herself in my chest and cries.
Sob... Sob...
I lay my hands on her shoulders, caressing them.
"Hey... It's ok now. I managed to bluff it out. They won't look for you here."
She nods and tightens her hands around my shirt.
"I... I was scared... I couldn't even move... Thanks Histrio... Thank you."
"It's alright... Let it out..."
"B-but... What did you do?"
"I'm not sure if it exists here, but in my world there are techniques that allow you to speak without moving your lips noticeably; that's why they didn't suspect it was me, it's called ventriloquism. Look here."
I take a book and move the pages as if it were talking.
"Lyet, stop crying! It's not good for you, and I'm a book! I know a lot of things!"
She chuckled. She was paying more attention to my lips than the book, probably to check if it really works. At least she is no longer crying.
"Better?"
"Yes... Thank you."
She then sits on the bed.
"Are you sure you don't want to tell me what's happening?" I ask.
"Don't worry, I already know how to solve it."
"I'm just worried—"
"Histrio... Do you trust me? I only want you to know I haven't done anything bad, I promise. All I need to hear now is that you believe in me..."
I mean... I know I met her less than a week ago, but she helped me with everything. I have a hard time thinking she is some kind of criminal. But then, what might be the reason for all that happened?
"I do. I can't think of you as a bad person, honestly."
"I'm relieved..."
She wipes away the remains of the tears from her cheeks.
"Histrio, were you happy before?"
"Before?"
"Yes, I'm sorry if it's out of nowhere, I'm just curious how your life was before coming here."
"I would say... Normal? I studied a lot, mainly to make my parents happy, though. I can't say I enjoyed it, but they expected me to reach certain standards."
"My parents too... They kept telling me to study magic."
"Are you good with magic?"
She shakes her head, as if it's obvious.
"I'm terrible with it, even with the most basic spells."
"I remember you used some sort of barrier the first time we met."
"Oh, yeah, I remember, but it was luck, honestly. I'm trying my best to improve every day, but it's difficult... I have a hard time controlling my mana."
"In my world we have something we call 'magic' too, let me show you."
I take a deck of cards that we used to play with a few times these days.
"I'll make a quick spell. I will guess the card you'll choose from the entire deck."
"How? You can't use mana."
"Just pick one card and remember it, and then put it on top of the deck. Make sure I don't see it."
"Done."
"Now, I'll shuffle it."
I cut the deck a few times.
"Now your card is lost among the others, and I never looked at it, nor did you tell me which one it is."
"It seems to be the case..."
I take a look at the cards...
"Four of drakes."
"What!? But you didn't use any spell!"
I guess in a world where magic exists, 'magic' can't exist. So even the easiest trick in the book impresses them. Why would they even develop it when they have the real thing?
"A true wizard never reveals his tricks."
"But here we always catalog the various spells..."
"It's not what I meant..."
-
I spent the rest of the evening showing her as many tricks as possible. I'm glad I could improve her mood; she looks genuinely happy now, and admittedly, her smile is beautiful. Now we are having small talks.
"...And so I don't really have friends, since I spent most of my days studying, I couldn't engage in many relationships."
"Histrio..."
"Yes?"
"We are friends, aren't we?"
"Mh, I guess so..."
"Then don't say you don't have friends!"
"Fine.. Fine... Sorry... I only have one friend, Lyet. Happy?"
"Much better."
"I mean, I technically have a girlfriend too, but it's not what you would define as 'friend', so I'm not sure if she counts."
"You have what?"
"I said a girlfriend."
"..."
She remains silent for a few moments, and I look at her, puzzled.
She then stands up from the bed and walks to the door, opening it to go out.
"Idiot..."
Slam!
Uh... Did I do something wrong? Why would she get mad out of nowhere?!