The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 78. Instant Confirmation

I made my way down the halls and found myself nearing the kitchen. While I was traveling forward, I heard a familiar voice.

" But Anna! If we cast some magic, it could stimulate him to wake up! Won't it be worth a try?"

" No, Queen Aqua already said that we shouldn't cast anything in case it causes a chain reaction due to the stress his body is already under. We need to wait for him to wake up on his own. Unfortunately..."

Anna and Asha were talking it seemed. I turned the corner to see the girls all together in a circle looking depressed with Anna holding a bucket in the middle of the hallway. The first to notice me was Cynthia.

" OOF!.... OW!...."

Cynthia sprinted and tackled me to the floor as soon as she saw me. I feel a little lightheaded as I look up at the ceiling. AH! My back hurts again! The pain gets a little drowned out from hearing the sobbing of Cynthia on top of me. I start to soothe her by stroking her head. She starts to calm down slowly. And then I hear even more sobbing. I look to see who it is, and all of the girls are sobbing as well. I'm speechless for a while and I just can't help but encapsulate how I feel. 

" I'm sorry for worrying you guys. I'm back though. I'm back."

They all came to help me and Cynthia up. Cynthia was a total mess. Well, she wasn't the only one. I was touched by how worried they all were for me. Through the tears Sharon was the first to speak to me.

" Thank God you're okay John!"

She said as she held onto my hand. Anna had moved on to calming Cynthia down for me. She was able to calm down a bit faster than the others. I can see she has something she wants to talk to me about though. While I was looking at Anna soothing Cynthia, I felt a tug on my pajama sleeve and turned to see Asha. Her yellow eyes were puffy and red.

" Don't scare me like that again."

I could see the concern from everyone and all I could do was answer softly to Asha.

" I'm sorry for worrying you. I hope I don't ever have something like this happen again. I have a lot of training to do after all of this."

" I'll have you take responsibility for all the concern you made me have John."

Asha had a strange look in her eyes when she said that. Before long I heard Cynthia and Sharon agree with her.

" It seems I owe you all one."

Some time passed and I answered some questions they had. Before long however, Anna made an announcement.

" Girls, it is getting late. It's time to head back to our rooms for the night. I will head back with Master to make sure he gets back into bed safely."

There wasn't much arguing but the girls seemed dissatisfied by it. We all eventually went our separate ways. As Anna and I walked away I tried to start a conversation with her.

" Anna, are you okay?"

Anna looked at me and replied.

" I would like to wait until we are back in your room before we talk Master. Is that okay?"

She looked like she really wanted to talk. It seems that it's something she doesn't want other people hearing. I obliged and we headed back without much fanfare. It took about 5 minutes to head back. When we entered, I noticed that Sarah had already left. Seems she wanted to give us space. After Anna closed the door behind us, I turned to face her. We stood for a moment trying to see which of us would speak first. 

" I-"

" Ma-"

We both tried to speak first. I gestured to Anna to speak first. She took a moment and began to voice her thoughts.