Puppet With No Strings

To be honest, I didn't really want to talk to Bernie. However, it seemed like there was something he was determined to say, so I decided to let him go through with it. When the others were about to object, I cleared my throat, speaking before they had the chance to.

"Let's just hear him out."

Jess and Raisa both frowned, but it seemed like they were at least willing to do that much.

Bernie closed his eyes, mulling over how to start for a few seconds. Then, he slowly opened them.

"Upon reflecting on my actions, I have realized that they were out of hand."

Jess raised an eyebrow.

"You truly needed this much time to tell that yelling and throwing the food that was given to you at the person that provided it was out of hand? Are you that empty-headed?"

Bernie took in a deep breath before nodding.

"Yes. I am that empty-headed."

Raisa clicked her tongue.

"So then why are you still here? If you've realized that, then you should leave!"

The corner of Bernie's lip twitched, but he did not lose his composure. His eyelids fluttered as he lowered his head ever so slightly.

"I am here to apologize."

He put a fist above his heart and gave a formal bow like he was on stage or something.

"I realize that my actions have been blindly arrogant and foolish. For that, I wish to say sorry."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at this man. He seemed to be rather slow if he was that blinded by rage. Chances are, this less-than-favorable side of him probably contributed to why the farming spell he created got so restricted.

But at the very least, it seemed he was someone that could reflect.

After letting out a soft sigh, I responded.

"So what?"

Bernie gave me a gaze while dazed.

"Excuse me?"

I raised one hand up and held it out to the side.

"I never asked you to apologize to me. If you can recall, I said to apologize to the chefs, the farmers, and the maid."

He blinked a few times.

"Um... which farmer?"

Well. I dunno.

And there was no realistic way for him to know either.

Realistically, I should have taken a step back here, but...

"Every farmer. They have all taken part in providing for the kingdom."

At this point, even Raisa and Jess looked at me with somewhat flabbergasted expressions. Bernie remained rooted at the spot, staring at me rather intently. This situation almost made me forget that Bernie was the one being condemned and not me.

...Were they waiting for me to take that back? Considering how big the kingdom was, that definitely was way too far.

A maid sheepishly spoke to me.

"U-Um, Lord Bryson that is rather..."

The corner of my lip twitched. Well, this is somewhat embarrassing.

"Ok, Ok, maybe in-"

"I understand."

Bernie closed his eyes before furrowing them rather intensely. A deep frown formed on his face while the fist above his heart grabbed onto his shirt rather tightly.

"This is the only suitable punishment for someone that so willingly neglects the efforts of those that work so tirelessly. When I am finished, I will come back to personally apologize to the chefs and maid."

He let out a soft sigh.

"And perhaps then, I will be able to properly apologize to you."

Without another word, Bernie had left.

This guy... he wasn't actually going to apologize to every single farmer, right?

From what I remember Nathan had told me, there were like, eighteen thousand commoners. Even if every family averaged six people, which was a gross overestimate, he would have to go to three thousand different doors to apologize to them.

Hm.

Yeah, I probably should've stopped him earlier, especially when he's one of those hardheaded kinds of people. Yet, at the same time, he was never going to be an important asset if his emotional intelligence was that low.

I couldn't say anything about his theoretical intelligence since he was known in the game for making new spells, but still. He was an oblivious genius at best.

After the man had left silently, Jess spoke with a hint of confusion.

"Will he truly go to every single commoner to apologize?"

Raisa narrowed her eyes.

"As if. He only shamelessly declared that after realizing it would be too damaging to his image should he decline."

Jess turned to Raisa with an appalled look.

"Isn't he a commoner though?"

Raisa blinked a few times.

"One's pride is more than enough for people to do the unthinkable."

The corner of Jess's lip turned up.

"Ah, of course. I forgot the proof of that is right in front of me."

Raisa narrowed her eyes.

"...Don't go too far."

I massaged my temple with the tip of my finger.

"Ok, ok, I didn't bring you guys here just to fight the entire time."

Although this good cop bad cop thing was still going on, listening to their voices made me feel tired even though it was still early in the evening. The two of them were still glaring at each other but eventually calmed down enough.

They saw me helping to set up, thus tried to follow my example, but they were generally rather clueless and didn't do much before everything was already finished. I took my seat as always, while Raisa and Jess began arguing once more about seating arrangements.

"What could I possibly accomplish by sitting one seat closer? Hardly anything changes!"

Jess frowned, momentarily stumped by that question.

"And what if you were to drug him by taking advantage of your position?"

The two of them continued on until eventually, Raisa was able to convince Jess, but that was on the condition that should anything happen, she was required to stay far away from me at all times.

That sounded strict, but it was a strange amount of trust considering it was very easy for a single event to ruin someone's entire life.

Huh. Now that I was sitting with two girls to either side of me, I felt kinda like a playboy. But at the same time, I couldn't really get embarrassed over it because one of those girls was literally my sister.

At some point, Arianne showed up, walking to the seat directly across from me. She looked at me awkwardly for a few moments, with a small trembling frown.

"A-Am I allowed to sit here?"

I looked at her blankly. Why the hell was she asking? Didn't you sit here without uttering a word before?

"You never needed permission in the first place, and you knew that. Just sit if you want to."

"O-Ok."

Arianne gave a quick nod before taking a seat.

I looked around and noticed that other than a few people giving glances, nobody approached the table once more. A part of me felt quite defeated, as it really didn't feel like I was making any progress whatsoever.

It made me wonder what exactly the rumors were about that made them this afraid. Or was it because of the combined presence of Raisa and my sister that made them afraid?

...How long would this continue for?

Was it that crazy to give me a single chance? The food clearly wasn't poisoned as I was eating it every single damn day. What else could be holding them back?

Or do they really just don't need the food?

Maybe I stationed myself in a more affluent part of the slums? As strange as that sounds.

I let out a long sigh after taking in a mouthful of pottage.

"Hm... am I just being an idiot? No, no that can't b-"

"Good person!"

After being interrupted, I raised an eyebrow. Then, I turned over to look over my shoulder. And as I expected, I saw a familiar-looking boy that would brazenly express his opinions. However, there was a... fearful expression on his face.

"Get away from the really bad person! Quickly!"

I narrowed my eyes slightly in interest. Clearly, he was referring to either Jess or Raisa, but I wasn't sure which. A smile formed on my face.

"Who is the bad person?"

The boy pointed towards Raisa.

"That one!"

Raisa had also turned around by now and was taken aback by what the boy had said. She visibly recoiled, putting a hand over her heart and gasping.

"W-What? I'm not a bad person!"

The boy looked back at her with a neutral frown and hollow eyes. It was somewhat frightening as he looked like a doll from a horror movie.

"Not bad person. Really bad person. Really, really bad."

Jess looked a bit confused by this kid, and probably believed the basis of his logic was flawed but nodded in agreement.

"You are right, you have good judgment."

I rubbed my chin in thought. To be honest, while Raisa does end up becoming an absolute menace further into the story, she seemed like a relatively innocent girl right now. As such, I had no idea why the boy was seeing her as such a bad person, he went as far as to emphasize using really several times.

Clearly, it didn't go off the more traditional moral compass of good and evil. After all, he considered Arianne a bad person and me a good person.

But that begged the question, what exactly was the criteria?

"Hey, kid. Why is she a bad person?"

"Really bad person."

He corrected me, prompting me to chuckle.

"Ok, why is she a really bad person?"

The kid frowned before tilting his head to the side. He thought for a little while before answering.

"A puppet with no strings!"

...Huh? What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

I looked to my left and right to see if it was just me, but Jess and Raisa looked equally confused, but they soon got over it by believing it to be the ramblings of a child. And chances are, I would've too.

If it wasn't for the fact I had seen how scary specific this little guy was in determining Arianne's characteristics, I wouldn't have thought twice.

I gestured toward him with a smile.

"This may be a really bad person, but they aren't dangerous right now."

Raisa looked at me like she was betrayed, but I ignored her. The boy puffed up his cheeks.

"How does that make any sense? Bad people are dangerous!"

From there, I raised my finger casually.

"Sometimes you have to learn to know when bad people are dangerous and use the safe times to find a way against how dangerous they are."

The kid fell into thought for a moment. Jess furrowed her brows and narrowed her eyes as she directed her gaze toward me.

"Brother, what are you talking about?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'm not too sure myself. Just go along with it."

The kid scratched the side of his head before sucking in a cold breath.

"Ok! I will try if you say so!"

He walked towards us like a rigid robot but had his eyes dead set on Raisa like she would suddenly jump out and eat him at any point in time. Once he had reached just a few meters away, he froze up.

"...I don't want to come any closer! It's too scary!"

I scratched the side of my head.

"You don't have to come closer if you don't want to."

Opposite to my expectations, he took a step forward.

"I feel a little safer when you say that!"

A bitter smile formed on my face. It seemed that the logic this kid worked off was incredibly strange. But for some reason, that made him feel a bit endearing to me.

"Then what would I have to do to make you feel safe? Other than getting rid of the bad person."

The boy lowered his head in thought for a few moments, before raising it with confidence.

"You have to protect me!"

Pretty much everyone here was looking at me like I was stupid for playing into this, but I didn't really care.

"Alright then."