The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 9. Princess of Diablos

As she awoke our eyes met. For some reason there was a feeling of familiarity coming from her eyes and something else, a deeper emotion I couldn't make out. Before I could inform every one of the pieces of information I found out. I felt a spell be fired in my direction. Peter must have felt the jig is up. as fast as I could I cast Barrier on Sarah with plans to cast it on myself after, but after casting it on Sarah I felt a powerful drowsiness envelop my mind it's at this point I noticed the spell was aimed at me. all I could do was stand there and wait for it to make contact with me, so I closed my eyes and waited, but it never came.

I opened my eyes to the flutter of white hair, and a figure matching my height standing in front of me. Sarah had jumped out of the bed and protected me. At this point I fell back and landed on my butt on the floor. Through the exhaustion of my mind and body I heard Sarah speak in a voice that was unstable, yet cold as ice and filled with hate.

" HoW DaRe YoU AttAck HiM! YoU'LL PaY WiTH YoUR LiFe!"

I felt chills run through my body and it seemed to be the same for everyone in the room except for Warrick, Peter and Aqua who for some reason looked like she understood everything that was happening and had a smile on her face. As I returned my gaze to Sarah, she launched herself at Peter with a spear that seemed to be made of mana. Screaming in a burst of rage all the while.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

With a Thrust of her spear, she launched herself to Peter who was able to dodge the fast thrust. Following his movement, which she tracked effortlessly and proceeded to thrust her spear at a speed I doubt I could keep up with even if I wasn't nearly keeled over from exhaustion. Peter perhaps realizing he was seconds away from being stabbed pulled two daggers out from windows he used mana to create, blocking the spear thrust. Aqua jumped into the air preparing another attack at this movement Peter smirked most likely thinking she was a sitting duck in the air. Peter fired 3 lightening spells simultaneously at Sarah, but she looked calm as the spells came towards her. Sarah used some type of spell that pushed her to the side of the spells, and they passed by without much of a fuss, connecting with the ceiling of the room.

Sarah then attacked Peter with a sequence of jabs from her spear tip. To which Peter used some spell to create distance between himself and Sarah. Sarah probably losing what little patience was left in her. Began to channel a massive amount of mana that scared the maids and guards. It's at this moment Warrick and Aqua moved. They both cast different types of binding spells from what I could gather. Warrick to Peter and Aqua to Sarah. after confirming the capture of their targets Aqua began speaking in a whisper to Sarah. Warrick commanded the guards to grab Peter and throw him into the dungeon.

Whatever Aqua had said to Sarah seemed to have worked, she had calmed down while also occasionally looking back and forth between me and Aqua. It's after a few seconds of this that Warrick came to Sarah and along with Aqua a family hug happened in front of me. All 3 began to cry and shortly after maids and guards started to weep as well. Safe to say I started getting teary eyed at this display of familial love I was really happy for them through the drowsiness. after a few minutes of hugs and laughter from relief. The Royals turned and noticed my current state.

Aqua using some kind of magic pulled a bottle of purple liquid out of a window she opened to her side. She began to walk towards me but then, she seemed to stumble on a good idea and turned and spoke to Sarah in a whisper. She then handed the bottle to her daughter whose cheeks had turned a shade of vermillion. After taking a breath she began to walk over to me with the grace and demeanor of a Princess who didn't just have a fight in her light pink pajamas.

She came to my side and proceeded to sit on her knees and began to speak in a warm tone.

" My name is Sarah Dreadnought Princess of Diablos and eldest daughter of King Warrick Dreadnought and Queen Aqua Dreadnought. For saving me you have my upmost gratitude Sir John. What you're experiencing right now is mana overuse basically you've used up all your mana and now your body is trying to rest to recuperate itself!"

She began to explain to me my current problem, like a teacher to a student. she continued on speaking to me in an energetic tone.

" To cure it you either need to rest, or drink a mana potion which is what I have here in my hands please allow me to help you drink it!"

At her friendly way of talking, I decided to casually speak to her maybe as a way to thank her for saving me and the guilt of being in her head and eavesdropping.

" Thank you, Sarah please do. Also you can just call me John,"

having a complicated look on her face I decided to ask what was wrong. She looked at me and spoke.

" Having saved my life and to do so being trapped, away from your foster family who you love dearly. Is it truly ok to use such casual language to address you?

I chuckle at her and with a smile I speak how I feel.

" Well to be honest. I really stress myself out trying to be so polite with royalty besides, you saved me to. When I couldn't form a barrier for myself you jumped in front of me and protected me. To me you're also a hero. So why not call it even and just have a relaxed way of talking to each other? Besides having a beauty like you treat me on friendly terms fits me better than being treated as someone you're indebted to!"

The pangs of guilt at being in her head and viewing some of her memories still aching in me a bit.

" Yes of course You'd be like this my feelings were correct." She muttered something to herself I couldn't quite make out over the chatter of the guards and maids over our conversation. As a beaming Aqua and a Dispirited Warrick look on at us. I guess he's taking the betrayal of Peter pretty hard. I feel bad for him. as I was thinking this Sarah invaded my sight and said she would help me drink the potion.

After opening the bottle, she placed her hand on my back. "For stability!" she told me. She began to feed me the potion slowly. The potion looked like grape juice and tasted of citrus like someone took orange juice and added food coloring it was pretty pleasant.

" It's really good" I said thinking of the potion. Sarah replying with a look on her face as if she's thinking deeply about something. ""Yes, it's so compact and feels so strong." I responded with a confused "What?" to which she responded in a hurry with wide eyes.

" Yes! The Potions my mother makes are stronger than the average mana potion on the market they also taste much better!"

She very quickly said. As she tried to calm herself down, I felt the drowsiness slowly dissipate at which point Warrick and Aqua came over to us. Crest and the others ended up going with the guards to make sure Peter was taken care of safely. Aqua was still beaming while Warrick still looked downtrodden. I spoke to try to lift his spirit.

" Warrick, I know it'll be tough finding a replacement for Peter. But look on the bright side Sarah's up and energetic again all the hard work has finally paid off!"

" Huh? Oh yeah that's right I'll have to appoint a new chief of logistics!"

He said with a look of surprise. He then took a side glance at Aqua then looked at Sarah who was still sitting next to me on the floor. Wait! Is it just my imagination or did she get closer? Warrick looked at me in the eyes and asked in a calm tone and demeanor."

" John now that you healed Sarah do you know what you want to do next?"

" No, I haven't thought that far ahead. if there's a place here for me though I'd like to help out anyway I can."

After saying that Aqua Beamed a bright simile and seemed to be in a fever pitch of a good mood. Sarah was smiling at her mother almost like they were talking though their eyes. And Warrick sighed with a hand on his forehead.

" If that is the case, I suppose I should explain the tertiary matters now."

He said almost sounding exhausted. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown, I guess. At that moment my stomach growled sounding like the roar of a beast. All 3 royals looked at me chuckled and Warrick said.

" I guess we can talk over dinner then John!"