Leave The Monster Alone

"Wake up Kuro, we need to go meet our friends now" the kitten was sleeping when Mark finally woke her up.

It was early enough by Mark's standards but the glaring sun outside said differently and made him aware just how late it actually was. It was close to 01:00 PM which did not leave a lot of time before the meetup.

The plan was simple, get Kuro to not go training for a day and then meet up with the party when they were alone.

There were flaws to this whole plan, but the risk did not overcome the rewards begging offered which was a good thing.

Then his door got knocked which made Mark actually lose sight of where he was moving and fall down. It was a startling experience, to get a visiting guest at this time.

People were generally too busy to actually seek him out at this time. This was the first time his room doors had been knocked by anyone which made it exciting and also frustrating to him.

Why would someone actually come to meet him at all? He was just the shopkeeper and not anyone of importance.

He did think to leave the person on the other side hanging for a few minutes to make them give up and leave him alone by by the time five minutes passed, it was clear that it was not going to happen.

Defeated, he finally decided to open the door and check who was on the other side.

And promptly closed the door as soon as he had opened it because staring at him from the other side was the devil himself.

Perhaps it was an exaggeration to say that, but the face Luna was making at this very second screamed death to anyone looking which Mark was. His heart was not prepared for this at all and yet before he could close the door, the other had entered.

It was weird to see this young body paired with that face. It was definitely good looking and the body was well looked after but the eyes seemed almost dead which ruined the whole picture for the one looking.

It was a good model for a protagonist, one people could admire from afar and make it be a popular troop. But when you were faced with the real thing, it lost its charms very fast and this was what Mark was feeling.

Instead of feeling awe, he felt a little terror and annoyance which he did not show.

Kuro did not have any such problems and decided she liked this person enough to not attack him at all. All that exposure in the training hall did do her wonders after all.

"Can I help you?" Mark asked a little put out by the other's presence inside his room. What was the other doing her anyway? Did he not have other things to do than to waste his time with Mark?

And why today of all days?

"You are a doctor right? I need you to patch me up since I cannot allow anyone else to see me this weak" Mark did not understand that logic at all.

As the protagonist and the leader of the strongest team inside this base, Luna was someone who constantly faced danger. Surely this was not his first injury? Even Mark had gotten hurt a lot of times.

Not that he could say that to the other since he was already here and Mark had said that he was a doctor before.

"Sit down and show me your wound" Mark could do nothing else but treat the other for now. He had to make sure that the other was taken care of before his time to leave arrived.

"You've taken Alan with you on missions before. Tell me how he tends to perform and what his shortcomings are" the other started as he sat down and lifted his shirt.

The rib area had purple patches which made it more than obvious that it had been badly bruised. The pain must have been tremendous and Mark could tell that not everything was new.

Some of the colours had faded away to yellow in some places which indicated that those were a little older than the blue ones.

"Did you not get treatment when you get injured? You are just asking to get killed" Mark did not reply to his question, just let out a small hiss as soon as he saw the area. He did take out the required medicine to apply though and got to work.

Cleaning up the area was considerably easy with Luna not reacting or flinching at the pain which was a testament to his mental power and Mark found himself impressed.

But a small cough forced him to once again divert his attention to that face that seemed to be glaring at him and Mark realised that he never answered the asked question.

"Alan is good with long-range and shooting stuff. His closed range tactics could use some work but he had been doing better recently. I heard you had him on the hand-to-hand combat squad for some time?" Mark tried to keep it short and simple, making it clear that he was not interested in that conversation.

Honestly, he just wanted the other to be gone for now.

The cream was a bi-product of his system store and highly potent. Although he was loathed to use it, he could not change him being out of commission in the future.

"What is this? It's far too potent from my usual stuff" Mark felt his hand being caught in a tight grip and it did hurt a little. He was sure it would bruise later on.

"It's from the system store" Mark replied back and felt his hand being let go in a hurry.

"It's not in my system store. You, just what are you?" and Mark knew he had messed up big times here.

It was already close to the time he had set for the meetup and he was not sure how he would be able to dig himself out of this mess at all. But the more important question was - Why had the system not stopped him?

Any other time and he would have been stopped right before he could let anything out of his mouth but not right now.

'System' Mark could only curse it inside his mind, even if he knew that it was not the system's fault but Mark's own.

_________________

User authentication met: User Luna (Authority level: acceptable)

_________________

But why now and why this person when not even Liam had been accepted. The last time he had tried to check, the protagonist did not have enough authority level for all this.

But suddenly he had enough which was baffling.

_________________

User authentication met: User Luna (Authority level: acceptable)

Age: 19 (25?)

Gender: Male

Tap to view more information

_________________

"Ever since I came back from the future, everything has become a mess and it all starts with you. Your very existence is baffling to me and I would like to rectify that right now" Luna was close, far too close and his hand was almost on his windpipe.

But even before the choking, Mark felt his breath go short in a certain terror.

He was too close and the fear was coming back. His senses just felt the danger around him and nothing else which made his mind freak out even more than it had been before.

"Either you cough up the information or I will make you tell me" there was no time before his instincts kicked in and Mark had caught that arm and used the surprise the other was feeling to turn the tables.

The other fell down with a thud and Mark was standing right above him in wonder.

Kuro though, that traitor did not help him at all the whole while. She seemed content to just sit and watch as things happened right in front of him.

"YOU" that shout was the key to snap Mark out and the door shut behind him. He knew he could not outrun the other in this station and the very chance of alienating the other as an enemy was a terrifying thought to have.

The time was tickling out and Mark was not sure how long he would be able to keep it all up.

But maybe he could tell the truth now? It was clear that the system categorized the other as a safe option and even authoritative enough to be informed of some information.

Could he capitalize on it for now? He had a choice to make right here and the wrong one would mess up the whole thing. He had to remember that the very existence of this landed on him being able to complete this mission.

So he made the best decision in this situation he could - trying to tell the truth.

He could get an ally or end up losing his life in this palace which was perhaps not alright with him but he could work on those terms for now.