The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 71. Roadblock

                                                                       Luke Smith's Point of View

This trip has been terrible! No demons showed up! But plenty of monsters did! When we fought, no one would listen to me! In time to pay for my party member's mistakes I was made to just be a front liner! It's all been so ridiculous. They barely even talk to me! Why? I'm the leader! I'm the Hero! Moving on, I guess a silver lining has been the logistics group. There're no cute girls but their service has been excellent. Even when we're camping, we've been able to live in luxury. Finne meals and the tents are already prepared.

The next few days after switching to taking commands in battle from Jaime it has been easier, if I'm being honest. I even complimented her after the first day.

" Jaime! You've done well, you've really made it easier for me to show how strong of a Hero I am! Thank you!"

" Huh? Oh. Yeah sure, good work."

She was so unenthusiastic. It was like I asked her how the weather was. I asked Lucy why that was, but she didn't give me an answer either. What the hell is going on! This is so different than how the people of Promethia treat me now! After a few more days, Ashley saved me during a battle with monsters. I tried to thank her as well.

" Ashley, thanks for saving the V.I.P today!"

" Huh? Ah. Yeah sure, don't worry about it."

I was still confused by their attitudes. It made no sense. Don't they know I'm the one who has to kill the demon king? Something was wrong here. I spoke to Norman the leader of the logistics group; about this He was an older man. He had black and grey hair with grey eyes.

" Norman, the girls have been avoiding me. Do you have any idea why? I mean, you've been watching us for the entire journey."

" Well Hero Luke, have you been acting in a way to cause any displeasure?"

" No, not that I can think of."

" Then... Perhaps... It is their time of the month?"

" Hm.... Maybe. That makes sense Norman! I'll have to be more careful, for the next few days."

The last few days have been rough. We lost a few of the logistics members due to quicksand in a jungle we had to pass through. Since then, we've had them travel closer to the party members just in case. When Norman had told us that the food supplies had sunk in the sand, I demanded we all go back and fish out the tools and food that we needed. We were able to get the carriage holding the packages that had most of the food thankfully. Norman was beyond happy to see us recover the food. Jaime's magic was impressive. She was able to lift the carriage with some effort.

" Jaime, great job!"

" Please be quiet, I need to focus."

Why couldn't she just take my compliment? Well once she was able to put the carriage in a safe area and we were able to make camp for the night. We lost a day searching for logistics members and any other supplies. There were some fights but unfortunately, we only found the corpses of some of the members. It was a solemn night. I asked the girls how they were feeling but they all ignored me. Even Laura! I'm starting to miss Promethia. I was treated like a king. I spoke to Norman again.

" Norman. What am I doing wrong?"

" Perhaps they feel some type of way because you were busy making appearances for the King while they were training?"

" Could that be it? But I couldn't help it the King begged me to! Maybe I should explain that? Ah who knows. Maybe I should just give up and kill the Demon King as quick as possible. Hopefully by then, they can wake up and realize I'm the Hero and deserve to be treated with respect."