The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 57.5 Jaime's Journey

                                                                     Jaime Wilkin's Point of View

It's been a week since we left Promethia and started to travel south to Diablos. We've made progress in our travels but not much in terms of being a team. Us girls continue to be able to work as a unit, but the moment Luke tries to fight as well, we end up out of rhythm. The reason for this is simple. Luke barks commands and wants us to do whatever he says. This causes problems. To start with Luke has no idea what is going on around him. Just to give an example, he asks to be supported while Ashley will be the one fighting the bulk of enemies. Ah yes, the enemies. Instead of a peaceful journey we ended up fighting against roaming monsters straight out of a fantasy novel. From goblins to zombies, we have fought quite the selection since we left. 

We would have been sleep deprived if not for Laura. She was able to use a barrier ability of the Cleric Job to keep the monsters at bay during the night, thanks to that we slept well. Laura has been surprisingly straightforward in the defeat of the Demon King. She's a woman possessed actually. If she wasn't training or diving into dungeons the past few months, she was either eating or sleeping. Of course, we all joined her while Luke simply spent his time parading around Promethia as its Hero. Because of that we all have accrued battle experience to a decent degree. But it becomes useless when Luke decided to take charge of our party. Since he was the Hero and had the backing of the logistics squad who were following us in order to keep us as well conditioned and fed as possible on our journey, we felt it was fine to allow him to try to take charge of the party. He continued to fail however, to the point where now if it isn't about the mission Lucy won't even speak to him anymore. We all held a meeting and decided that I should be the one to direct the party during battles. I hope to do my best.

Laura point blank despises Luke. Not to say she is alone in that endeavor. Laura has long since shown her disdain of being around him to the point she uses any excuse to avoid him. Ashley has little time for him as well. The only time that Luke is able to speak to any of us is when a battle starts. Originally, I almost felt bad for him. I thought I might give him some advice to help his situation. That was until I heard him mumble to himself one day. From what I heard he was talking about John. He seemed to not understand why we weren't speaking to him even though John wasn't with us. Then he said the words that completely turned me away from any thoughts of helping him. He called John a " orphan bastard." I lost all respect for him as a person after that.

From Luke's words though, some of John's actions started to make sense to me. I had watched him for so long and I had always wondered why he seemed so alone for all of high school. Why he never really tried to defend himself against Luke's incessant harassment.  Now it was starting to make more sense. He must not have wanted to cause any problems for whoever had taken him in as an orphan. This revelation led to me feeling even more regret over not reaching my hands out to him. I redoubled my efforts in class with Ethel, as well as my diving into dungeons with my friends to grow as a fighter. I had to get back to him. I had to show him that he didn't have to be alone. Because of this, Ethel said I had reached around a B level adventurer before I left for Diablos. I asked if this was a good or bad thing since I was heading off for the Demon Lord. All she said to me was to not worry too much as I had the Hero and Luara the Cleric by my side.

I suppose the most shocking of this entire situation was Luara in a way. She had grown by leaps and bounds. Far faster than the rest of us. Even Luke, who was at about an A- level adventurer couldn't keep up with Luara. One day I had witnessed Her teacher Agnus said that in time she could easily reach a higher level than herself. Luara simply responded to her that it didn't matter because she had to go back home as soon as possible. I saw the figure of a certain man in her eyes at that moment. It's not hard to guess that she was doing all of this to get back to John. The way that argument was heading wasn't pretty to say the least. It seems like there are parts of their relationship that the rest of us don't know about. While it isn't my place to pry, I certainly am curious about it. If it is the case that they have a closer relationship than they portrayed at school, it only begs the question why she said what she did that day back in freshman year. Regardless, everyone except Luke were all trying to get back as soon as possible.

The journey had been a long one so far, from when we arrived in the palace till now. One bright spot has been the books I have been able to read after learning the ins and outs of magic. Promethia has a deep and rich history to it. It's been interesting to explore. The only thing I take issue with is that they don't really have any deep explanations on their enemies. They only present the wars they have fought like a story in a fantasy novel. The enemy was evil, they were vanquished when a man or woman from Promethia rose up and struck down that evil. It seemed too perfect to me. I asked Ethel about this; she simply shook her head and said it was a matter that I should not worry about.

I sat with Laura, Ashley and Lucy to talk about this during one of our dungeon expeditions, they all agreed it was strange. But without the needed time to dig around and look for answers we simply had no choice but to ignore it. With questions lingering we continued to march towards Diablos. The monsters have been gaining in strength. We've started to encounter abandoned villages and ancient battlefields. So far, we haven't encountered a demon. I'd like to keep it that way for as long as possible. I can't help but to pray at night that we all can make it back to our homes in one piece and that a certain man will be willing to listen to me when I return. With these thoughts always at the back of my mind. I continue to march and do my duty as a Wizard and the commander of the Hero's Party. But I feel like I should tell the girls about what Luke said about John. I started to walk to a familiar tent with these thoughts in mind.