The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 21. Treasury part 2

Where am I? I was with Sarah and Julia. Then I walked forward.... What is this place? It's a battlefield. An orange skyline. Bodies everywhere. But no blood!? I flipped a body over. It's a guy. He seems to be a little older than me, he's cut shoulder to hip. But no blood. I walk forward seeing more bodies. The piles of bodies continue to grow. Still no blood. Still being cut, just in different ways. I go forward still, a feeling like someone is watching me starts to settle in. The piles of bodies continue to grow, now the bodies look charred. I follow the scorch marks on the ground around the burned bodies, it leads to the center of the field from what I can tell. I arrive at the epicenter of the flame marks. There's a girl, she looks 10 years old. She's sleeping on a stone altar. I feel compelled to approach her.

As I get closer her features and what she's wearing become clearer. White skin, red hair and black clothes. her eyes open as I get to speaking distance, she has black eyes. Her eyes find me as she rises from laying down. I begin to talk to her.

" Who are you and why did you bring me here?"

She looks at me puzzled. After thinking for a minute, she speaks.

" A gentleman introduces himself first before asking a lady her name!"

Looking at her in disbelief I sigh and introduce myself.

" My name is John. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name miss?"

 She smiles at me and answers my question.

" Yes, that's much better John! My name is Scarlet... Did I bring you here? hmmm?"

She answers one question but asks me a question in return. looking almost like she's trying to tease me. I tilt my head, then I answer.

" If not you than who? I seem to recall being in a treasury, before ending up here. Are you going to continue to pretend you had nothing to do with it?"

She smiles, then laughs and begins to speak in a mocking tone.

" Not bad for a human. Yes, I brought you here!"

" Why did you bring me here?"

She fesses up to what she's done, but it seems she didn't really want to hide it from me. After a brief moment she begins to answer my question.

" Simple really. I'm bored! And I wanted to meet you. It's been ages since someone has been here except for warded Demons! And that one dressed in black, but I had no interest in them. Hmm.. What's wrong human?"

" Nothing just unpacking some things you said. There's a point to you wanting to meet me, besides boredom isn't there? If there wasn't, you would've just appeared in front of Sarah and me. So, what is it?"

" Careful with that tone! I am of high standing, and I will not tolerate being disrespected." 

After her words scarlet mana burst forth from her. It started pressuring like I had something heavy on my shoulders. I tried to channel my mana but no luck. Biting my tongue, I decided to placate her.

" Alright I'm sorry it was my bad!"

the pressure alleviated. Scarlet started to talk. With a blooming smile on her face like a kid who just won an argument.

" Hmph! As long as you get it. Now continuing on! I brought you here to alleviate my boredom. So, tell me a story!"

Deciding to roll with the punches I decide to tell her a ghost story. After finishing the story, she was hiding behind the stone slab she was sleeping on... Is she really just a kid? As I was thinking about her, Scarlet started to talk to me with tears in her eyes.