The Demon King's Paladin Part 2. All Out War.

Chapter 493. Laura And Lucy's Night Shift

/ Crack! Snap!/

" !"

" It's a squirrel, we're good."

We were both alerted to the sounds of the woodlands that we decided to camp out in. The group decided to go without a fire and used Magical Devices that were more or less like electric blankets from our world, but they wrap fully around your body like a jumpsuit. It even has a hood, it almost like a parka jacket hood. All together, it's actually quite nice. Depending on the amount of mana you put into it, the warmer it'll become. Safe to say, we wouldn't be freezing in what would be early December right about now in our world... I wonder how John is celebrating Christmas and New Years?...

" I hate the fact that we need to keep watch like this... What I'd give for a decent Barrier Mage right about now!"

That was Lucy, we drew the short straws and had to take the 2nd night shift for guarding the group. It's a bit tough because of the fact that we only were able to get around 3 hours of sleep, then we're woken up, we then stay awake for 4 hours then wake up the next shift. In this case, it was Jaime and Ashley. But for now, it was just Lucy and I. Thankfully, with Lucy's Job as a Thief she has a Skill called Night Vision. And just like it sounds, it lets her see a lot better than anyone else at night. While I'm a bit jumpy from staring into a dark forest, Lucy is still more annoyed that she had to be woken up in the middle of her sleep. What she's saying is true, while Jaime and I can both learn Barrier-Type Spells, but they're not strong enough to stand up to a prolonged assault by an enemy, so we're stuck on guard duty during the dead of the night.

" Not just that, but this blanket isn't warm enough for me..."

" Pour some more of your mana into it then."

" I can't control it well... I'm scared I'll break it."

" Fine, here."

I popped my hand out of my blanket and put it on the soft fabric of the Magical Device. I began to pour some of my mana into the blanket. I could begin to feel the blanket begin to heat up. Once I thought it was significantly warm, I quickly put my hand back in my blanket.

* Chill!*

My hand felt like I stuck it in a freezer just from that small amount of time out in the cold, my hand was freezing.

" Thank you, Laura"

" Don't worry about it."

Lucy thanked me, but it was just the obvious thing to do. The last thing we both need is her catching Hypothermia or anything. Especially since she's the first line of defense against being snuck up on right now. Jaime can use some sensor spells that will alert her to any presences out in the forest. From what I understand, Jessie and Old Man Ben are able to use some kind of technique that allows them to search out Demons or other sentient beings, that also includes monsters. Apparently they're teaching the fool the same skill. Either way, each of the 3, 4 hour night watch shifts has someone who can find out if we're being approached by anything. In my case, it's Lucy, so I need to make sure she's in tiptop shape. Admittedly though, it's kind of hard to watch my friend slowly end up freezingly cold from her inexperience. I wonder if this is what it feels like for experienced survivalists from our world helping out beginners? Either way, Lucy does need to train a bit more, her Mana Control is severely lacking. From what Jaime and I can both tell, her Deadly Colors and Bewitching Mana are both very powerful, so it's like trying to control a full power firehose with little to no training when she tries to control her mana.

" Say, Laura... What did you think about that town?"

Lucy, tried to make conversation after she snuggled herself tightly into the Magical Device, enjoying the warmth that it brought her. She was talking about overall how I liked the town we were in. I suppose I like it better than what we're doing right now. The mountains were only around a 2 hour walk away form us, we could see the full-scale of the mountain range as we sat here in this little woodland area right before the mountains. Having said that, she'd probably want to know what I honestly thought about the town without comparing it to freezing our butts off out in the wild as we prepared to fight Demons the next day. I turned to Lucy to answer her question.

" I thought it was like a giant strip-mall. While it's not bad, I mean, who doesn't like a bit of shopping here or there... But all of these towns... They just feel a bit too busy for my liking. What about you?"

" Hm? That's right, you always did say you wanted to stay in town, didn't you?"

" Yeah, I like how quiet home was. Having to travel into town for school was always annoying."

Our hometown was a bit on the small side, it was actually right on the outside of a bigger city, which is where we went to school. It was always a 30 minute bus ride to school and the bus would always be packed. It wouldn't have been so bad, if it wasn't for the fact that John wouldn't go to school with me. All because we were following what my Parent's wanted... Even though he didn't know that at the time.... I wish I could go back and redo my high school years... I'd change so much if I could. I knew that I was making a mistake the moment I agreed to do what my Parents asked me to... I should've clung to him more. I shouldn't have agreed to what my Parents wanted in the first place. he needed my support, he needed me to be there and I just let myself not be there. But it will be okay... I'll get back and I'll never let anyone seperate us again.

" Was it that, or did you just like spending time with John, home, alone?"

" It was both. It was nice. We'd just sit on the porch and relax at night."

" Oh? Well... How nice that must've been."

" It was."

" Grr..."

Since they found out that John lived with my Family. The girls have done more than enough teasing, it's actually getting annoying. They're favorite thing seems to be pretending that John and I were acting out whatever personal fantasy they had about dating him. At this point, I just go along with it and throw in a small truth as well. In this case, it was true that we were home alone a lot, since Mom and Dad both worked during the day. However, John was usually so busy studying that I barely saw him... And ever since we started high school... He began avoiding me... Probably because of that day... When I said I would never date him... Now I'm in a bad mood... I think I might start crying thinking about it... I just want to talk to him again... And for that... We need to get back.

" Either way, it doesn't matter much now, we're stuck here until we beat the Demon King. It's not impossible, we just need to take this seriously from now on. We'll get stronger, we'll beat every Demon that crosses our paths and then we'll go home."

Lucy looked surprised at how serious I was being. At the end of the day, it's what has to happen. We can't stay here, not when he's still over there... I can't help but want him to be here with us... I guess in the end, this is my punishment for not having the courage to take what I wanted when I had the chance?

" Laura, we're going to get back, for sure we are! And when we do, we're going to be completely honest and rebuild our images in his eyes! Definitely!"

Lucy's determination was palpable... But I wonder what her ideal endgame for this plan of hers is? John is going to marry me after all?

" Speaking of which... You know... Did... Did he ever talk about me to you at all? Or any of us?

Lucy asked me a question I wasn't prepared for... I mean... He did talk about them before. I guess I should tell her now, I mean, it doesn't make much of a difference now if she or Jaime or Ashley know what John thought about them.

" Back during freshmen year, he did talk about all 3 of you. He called you all pretty and he talked about maybe becoming friends. But then that day happened..."

" Yeah... Luke... Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut..."

It looks like Lucy had similar feelings to me about that day the idiot was jealous that John scored higher than him on a test... Lucy looked very downtrodden compared to earlier. I tried to make her feel a bit better.

" It's not your fault what he does. Besides, look on the bright side. He never really spoke to you, so instead of rebuilding your image, like me, you just need to show him who you really are for the first time."

Lucy heard my words, but I don't know how effective they were. We sat in the strange silence that was filled with feelings of regret as the time of our shift continued to pass by. Eventually, we woke up Jaime and Ashley and were able to go back to sleep. I fell asleep right as the sun began to come up from the horizon. As I slept, I had that same dream again, of John, marching forward, with all of the figures following him. And he continued to not hear me, no matter how hard I screamed his name.