The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 18.5. A Mother and A Father

This story happens between chapters 12 and 13.

Warrick Dreadnaught's Point of view

After sending John to a guest room, I was on my way to my study top discuss some things with my family. The most pressing matter being that my wife wishes to speak to me at all. If I had to assume it would be about my daughter's obvious obsession with our Paladin John. As I was thinking of what to do, I received a call from my wife. As one of the best magic users on Gaia she has been capable of telepathy since she was young a feat I am almost given daily reminders of such as now.

" Lover, you realize this can only end one way look at how she reacted when she imagined him leaving for good."

" I understand she cares for him. Most likely stronger than we do. But I want to hear her true thoughts on the matter. You already know my love; I truly only want our children to be happy. If she truly believes with all her might He is the one for her, then I will accommodate her. However, you will need to plan accordingly John isn't like the humans of this world. His earning of the Paladin Job is proof enough, but he even went further in healing me and offering to hurt himself to make sure what he did was safe. Do you truly believe she can win his favor?"

" Lover, she is OUR daughter, we fought fate itself and summoned a Paladin from another world with nothing but our will! She can make one man fall for her. Also, if you ask me, I think they will complement each other well. I think we should make it official before others seek to steal him from us."

" Looking at a different problem what did you think about his reactions to the hero and his party?"

I asked my wife something I had been puzzled by myself.

" It seems there is no love lost between John and this Hero. Considering what we know of John I believe this " Hero" isn't someone worthy of the title the more interesting reaction was to you mentioning the Hero's party."

" Yes, he wavered ever so slightly. Could they be the ones you're worried about my dear?"

" Not just them. Quite frankly a bigger concern is Cynthia."

" WHAT!?"

I was so shocked I said it out loud and scared a maid. I apologized and said I thought I saw a Bearkiller wasp. She said the maids would do a sweep for nests, I agreed and continued walking.

" What do you mean Cynthia is a concern?"

" Simply put, my lover, our daughters take after their mother and our sons take after their father. You and John are similar men. And as you can see one daughter has already fallen to our young Paladin, who's to say he can't make another swoon?"

" There's no way he would do something like that."

" Yes maybe, if it was up to him. But what if the person is our daughter? And his first wife allows it? You know Sarah has always been close and protective of Cynthia. What better choice than the man she approves of so much she married him? Need I remind you there are no laws about marrying 2 princesses."

" Please stop my love I feel an intense headache coming to me."

" If you think this is bad, try spending a few hours in your daughter's head. She's less in control of herself than I was at her age."

" I'm not so sure about that."

" What was that!?"

"Nothing my love!"

" I was planning to never tell you this, but one of her saner idea's was to jump his bones before giving him that mana potion."

" You mean in front of us?"

" Yes, my love?"

" Dear god, ok Let's get them engaged."

" And what about Cynthia?"

" We'll have to cross that bridge if we get to it."

" My love, we've kept this kingdom running for 3 decades. We can handle playing matchmaker for our children, even if we have to leave it up to John, he won't ever hurt us or our blood."

" Yes, that's almost what I'm afraid of. The boy tries to handle everything at once and so far, has with only little difficulty. He tried to protect our daughter before himself when he sensed hostile magic. I have to find a way to make him value himself more. It saddens me. That he doesn't even think to preserve himself. It seems like an engrained habit."

" That's something we can fix in time. Granted I think our daughter will fix it more than we will, or perhaps even our grandchildren when they come."

" Ah I'd like them to have 3."

" With the way your daughter is, expect 20."

" Cough cough.... Anyways, I'm sure we can train that habit out during these next 3 months."

" Did you just say, "Cough Cough" in your own mind, lover?"

" I did and you can't stop me!"

After a brief moment my Wife continues.

" Anyways another pressing matter if we make him a marquess he'll need a fief to govern. Any ideas?"

" One but i doubt anyone involved will like it, but I think it will work."

" The Rose Swamps of the eastern armistice zone?"

" Yes, if anyone can break though those hateful bastards it'll be him. But not yet he needs to accrue some merit. I think fighting back an invading Hero and his party will do wonders in that regard."

" Yes, that should work. So, in reality we aren't even training him to beat the hero. We're training him to contend with that hard bunch. I'll need to rethink my training menu for both of them then."

" Yes. We need to put both of them through hell these next 3 months and after the Hero we hitch them and send them off to the Rose Swamps. I feel like a bad Father and Father-in-Law... That must be a record."

" It will be needed for John, as well as for his children to have a place here. It will also help him build alliances with people we can never reach. The Dark Elves of the Shadow Forest come to mind."

" Let's not waste time on hypotheticals. For now we should focus on our immediate goals. After we discuss the engagement with Sarah, we speak on what to do regarding Peter. Something doesn't smell right to me my love. Anyways I've reached the door. I'm coming in."

After our long talk I entered the room and sat down. some tea was brought to help calm us as we discussed issues pretraining to John. After affirming my thoughts on training and weapons for him, we reached the fiancé talk.

After my wife woke my daughter up from her trance. wow she really is like her mother at that age. she began to speak.

" I heard that!"

" I love you honey!"

Note to self. Develop telepathy blocking.

" I'll break through it."

" Let's not talk over our daughter honey."

After our little talk, my daughter looked at me with determined eyes and spoke. After confirming her will I gave my blessing to her for her engagement, now to make it official.