The Demon King's Paladin

Chapter 177. Bonding Through Embarrassment

                                                                     Ruby Flameskin's Point Of View

It's been a month since our town Lord, Matthew Drake and his wives Lady Sarah and Lady Anna left to the Shadow Forest to meet with the Dark Elves. I wondered why I couldn't go with him. Seeing as I was there at the fight with the Elves. Hell, I even fought to a standstill with one. If only there wasn't so many Humans running around at the time, I would've been able to capture the Elf that I fought. That Elf, his skills were only good enough to fight me to a standstill for so long, I knew once I figured out his tells I'd be able to beat him. He seemed to be green when it came to sword fighting so he relied on his admittedly great magic abilities, but he seemed limited for some reason, so he was stuck with basic magic and his lackluster sword skills. He seemed to be an amateur like a young soldier who had received his first assignment.

" Ruby, could you hand me that stack of paperwork on my desk?"

Emily called out to me, interrupting my thoughts. I handed her the paperwork before returning to sitting on the desk behind her as she worked on organizing the paperwork she was doing. Since Matthew, Sarah and Anna left for the Shadow Forest, Emily has taken to organizing, filing and alphabetizing all of the important paperwork that Matthew would need for his work as a Lord and as a businessman. Since the business wasn't open yet, its side was small. The Lordly work however, well, we were still working on it 4 weeks later. That fact irritated me a bit.

" You know, this seems like so much work to be doing by ourselves."

" Ourselves? You're only handing me the stacks of paper!? Besides, I can't hire anyone, only Matthew, Sarah and Anna would have the ability to hire someone for official work like my job."

" That's right, I am helping. As for an assistant, maybe we should ask when they come back?"

I smile at her as I tease her. Emily's reaction is quite cute as she rolls her eyes and returns to filing. Emily and I have become pretty good friends over the time she's been here. It's even shocked Flare, my best friend and sister, with how close we've gotten. Flare even seemed a bit jealous, until I reminded her that I loved her just as much as anyone else in my life. I imagine it's in no small part due to it being my job to watch over Emily as a bodyguard that's caused us to grow so close in so little time. We've had quite a few days where the only people we saw during the workday, were each other. It didn't take long for us to start speaking to each other even more than we were because of that. She, as well as I, knew and felt it was strange that a Demon and Human were able to grow as friends so quickly, but when we were wondering about that a few weeks ago, Emily seemed to have understood something. When I asked her what it was, she spoke with a warm tone in her voice.

" It's Matthew. Fufufu. He must've put us together since he thought we could become good friends! We've already become close enough to argue with each other."

" Well, he was persistent about having me guard you... Maybe he did have a plan? I mean, he's planned out everything since he got here. Even when something unexpected came up, like stumbling on your group, he fit you all into his plans as soon as you all decided to stay. Maybe he did know something we didn't?"

After I remembered our conversation from before, Emily looked out the southern facing window as she placed her hands on her chest. No doubt thinking about Matthew as the Shadow Forest is South of Paradise. We've caught each other doing that from time to time. I never knew how drab life could be if the person you love is gone for some reason. It's no wonder to me now, that my Mom and Dad left to fight together in the army.

" Emily."

I felt like I needed to set something straight to her before a certain idea gets burrowed into her head too deep. She turned her head and looked at me.