"Sif, did you see a red lizard somewhere?" suddenly asked the girl, looking around the room with a serious expression on her face.
Prometheus froze when he heard her words. He immediately put up his best poker face, trying to look intrigued by her question.
"No, why?" he carefully responded, his hearth already up his throat.
"A Squire has given out a prize of 10 silver coins for anyone who finds it! 10 silver coins Sif! We could buy our way in the Mercenary League!" said the exited red haired girl, grabbing his only arm.
She suddenly seemed to remember something, her gaze wavering for second. She then looked at his other missing arm, a sad expression appearing on her face.
"If you become an adventurer you'll have a chance to be admitted to an exam for knights! Father told me that some of them learn to grow back entire limbs!" she confided, looking at him like if she was waiting for him to pull the lizard from under his bed.
"That sounds cool..." he really thought that. Being able to regrow his own arm? That would be nice. He really didn't like it like this.
'10 silver coins? That's a misery!' he internally felt very depressed. 'Ah, I'm really destitute and poor in this third life of mine, even 10 silver coins seem an incredible amount to my closest friend. What a complete shame.'
"So did you see a red lizard around?" asked the girl approaching to his face. "I...no, I didn't see any lizard thing" lied Prometheus, trying to appear the most sincere he could.
"It's quite a shame that I can't move... or I would have gone around the village to try and get my hand on the prize!" he added, to try to sound more convincing.
"Yes, it's a real shame... " she confirmed the girl. She leaned over, giving a pat on Prometheus's shoulder. Se then sit on the side of the bed, looking concerned about the bloody stump cover in cloth.
'It's your chance boy!' tried to encourage himself Prometheus. 'Here we go... make it or break it! He straightened himself, looking right in the dark eyes of the tomboyish girl.
"You know, during these days I had plenty of time to think..." he started.
"Same!" interrupted him the girl, her eyes shining with a gleaming light. 'I think we all did the same, after what happened to us..." continued the girl, suddenly pensive.
The bandits killed many people, but they also changed those who remained alive. People were reevaluating their life choices in the wake of that disastrous event.
"Many of the young generation are considering joining the Mercenary League. However, the five silvers necessary to get a bronze ranked token are hard to get." sighed the girl.
"That's cool, but I was thinking of something different... on a more intimate level" started Prometheus trying to steer back the conversation on the right track.
"Ah... yeah, people are getting lots of that too...you know the blacksmith's son? Darius? Ahahah, he confesses to me! hahahhaha" laughed the girl.
'Fuck, who is this guy? System!' immediately order Prometheus, black lines appearing on his front. However, before the system had the chance to show him the information it had on this Darius, the red haired girl said something that reassured the inter-dimensional traveler.
"Like I care about his old stupid ass... more than thirty years old and still chasing young girls, what a looser"
"Yeah, you are right! We should definitely find only a partner of our own age" said self-righteously Prometheus. On the inside he was instead taking a large sigh of relief. For a moment he almost thought that he had already been too late.
"Plus he isn't my type at all... he can only think about forging weapons... boring" continued the girl.
"Ah... so what's your type?" smugly said Prometheus looking at the girl right in her eyes. Syndra seemed confused by the question. She looked back at her old friend, who was looking at her with a strange half smile.
"Are you done playing stupid?" she jokingly asked pinching his right leg.
'I'm not doing it, but soon enough I won't even need... I will be naturally retarded for an entire year' thought painfully Prometheus.
"Hahaha, it's just a question..." he defensibly said, moving his only hand to protect his flesh from the cruel and painful attack.
"Sif, did you hit your head or something? How could you not remember, we talk about her all the time..." said Syndra looking at him with serious concern. She didn't look annoyed, but a mix of surprised and worried.
'What?' Prometheus felt his heart skip a beat. Did he hear correctly? No, he couldn't.
'She didn't just say...'
"Uh, really don't you remember?" continued the young girl, putting a hand on her right side. Her face changed, showing an intoxicated expression.
"Young pretty girls! Hahaha, like that hot beauty of the Gurma Village! Petite, black hair and phoenix eyes! If I could put my hands on that ass... hahahaha" her eyes shined with intense feelings, and both her cheeks reddened.
Prometheus stood there in silence. Outside he was seemingly quietly listening to Syndra, but inside he was exploding with furor. It happened again!
'System? Did you just trick me again?!' Prometheus was seething in rage. This was the worst system of them all! 'Maybe it's like those system that are in reality living intelligent being and they try to fuck with their hosts!' evaluated the young man.
[The Matrix can only respond to your command. It's a tool, nothing else]
'Dam you lying piece of shit! If you explained things more clearly we won't be in this sea of trouble now!'
In the meantime the girl continued describing very in detail all the lewd things that she wanted to do with the Gurma village beauty, while licking her lips with an intoxicated look in her face.
"Ok, ok, I remember now..." tried to calm her down when she started to describe a vast array of sexual techniques that she had thought of.
"Oh, Sif, you seemed to be strange today? Are you sure you have not hit your head or something?" said the girl, looking at him strangely.
"No, I'm fine... I support you, I support you... just, i don't need to know how you wanna do it... not in detail at least, ok? " said the young mutilated man, trying to be the most sensible possible.
"What?" the girl was shocked. This was the first time someone said something like that to her after she started to describe her fantasies. Insults? Yeah, she got plenty of those. Awkward looks and fleeing people? Yeah, also a loot. But someone who actually said that he supported her love quest? That was the first time!
"You definitely have hit your head... but I like you better like this Sif!" she smiled widely, then grinned and gave to the young man a elbow hit on his chest.
"He He He, seen that you support me, I should also support you buddy!" she smirked, coming near the wounded youth. her eyes examined him from head to tows.
"Wait, what are you doin..." Prometheus backed off towards when confronted by the strange inquisitive look of the red headed girl.
"Mmm, you don't have an arm... but that's ok, you can still work and you won't be drafted by the Lord if there is a war, so that evens the bonus and the malus..." said Syndra.
"However you are ugly as fuck my dude... those scars are everywhere!" she continued shaking her heads while passing a finger on Prometheus face.
"and the only thing that would attack some fair maiden attention is hidden beneath your pants..." she finally added, staring at Prometheus crotch without any shame whatsoever.
The maimed youth widened his eyes in shock. This girl had no decency!
"What? We bathed together plenty of times after our hunt trips... ehehehe, I always pay attention to details. However, in your case calling it a detail it would be pretty wrong" laughed evilly the girl her eyes forming two crescent moon and filling with tears.
'What the fuck is she talking about?'
"Listen, here's my plan: you should run naked around the village and let all the girls see it... you can just say that you were confused by the pain of whatever bullshit..." she proposed, nodding satisfied by the plan she devised.
'...' Prometheus opened wide his eyes, his mouth almost hitting the floor.
"I promise that they would immediately change their idea bout you, especially that little whore of Tendrias... didn't you say that you liked her once?" questioned the girl, putting a hand under her chin, striking a weird ponderous pose.
"I'm not running naked around the village! Are you insane?!" screamed Prometheus pushing himself outside of the bed. He stood up painstakingly, ignoring the stabbing pain felt on his spine and remaining arm.
"Oh well, now you're back to your usual self... screaming at me like always... that's refreshing and sad at the same time... however it's a shame... a very shame... and it leaves you with very little choice. That's because your face is pretty ugly... too many scars... told you that you needed to pay more attention hunting..." persisted the young girl, ignoring the movement of the maimed youth and keeping thinking about how she could match-make him with someone of he village.
"What the hell..." Prometheus was almost falling into depression hearing so many times that his new body was horrendously hideous from someone who was supposed to be his closest friend.
When the girl finally gave a look to her wounded childhood companion and saw the emotional pain that appeared in his scarred face, she felt bad. She tried to think about someone in the village else that could accept to be together someone like him.
"Hey, there is still the old cursed hag if you're desperate..."
"..."