Chương 118: Chapter 102. Repayments

/ Knock! Knock! Knock! / We arrived at the door with increased knocking coming from it. Whoever it was, it seemed they had something to urgently tell me. Either that or maybe it's a kid who just wants to bug the new Family that moved in? I opened the door to find a panicked Claire." Lord Drake! Come quick! A massive group of Demons are approaching Paradise!"" Why would that be a problem? You guys are Demons too." Claire looked at me with a wide-eyed expression on her face."

Because Ruby seems to think they're coming to hurt you, so she's preparing to fight them!"" If anyone is going to protect Our Husband, it's going to be me! No Noblewoman of Diablos can sit back and let another woman defend her Man or Family! Anna! Let's go!" To her words, Sarah responded in a spirited way. Seems Anna also is starting to gain a weird fighting spirit from Sarah. All 3 of them were getting ready to head out, until I stopped them." All of you, wait a second!

How do we even know these are bad Demons who are coming here to do harm to me!?" Sarah and Anna stopped themselves in their tracks." But, what else could they want from you, Darling?" Anna replied to me." I don't know, I'm not them. However, I'm not going to attack a group of Demons just because they're approaching me. Let's all go together and see what this group wants from us. If they want a fight, we can give them one. It'll look better if we try talking first anyways, okay?"

I was able to get my Wives agreement and like that, we began to follow Claire back to Ruby. We arrived at the North Gate to Paradise. The same gate Sarah, Anna and I arrived at yesterday. Ruby was there, giving a speech to the members of her Family. And suddenly I'm reminded that Demons really love fighting..." This is not just for our new Lord who protected and saved our own people! But it's also to show that Paradise is not to be trample--"" Ruby! Get down here!"

I interrupted her speech before she could finish it. Seems hotheadedness runs in the Flameskin Family. All 12 members that still lived in Paradise were here. All dressed in armor and wielding various weapons. Ruby walked down the stone steps of the walls, looking no different. She wore what looked like steel armor that's been polished to the point it would put mirrors to shame and she also had a giant claymore-like blade resting on her back in an amber-colored leather sheath.

Ruby was all too happy to see us and she began to greet us." Lord Drake! Sarah! Anna! Have you come to join the battle!?" Ruby seemed excited. I almost would hate to rain on her parade, if it wasn't for the fact that she was about to start a battle where people would die." Ruby, what are you doing?" I asked as calmly as I could. Ruby responded." We're preparing for battle, Lord Drake! Why do you ask?"" Why do you think those people are coming to fight us?" Ruby looked confused by my question.

I still waited for her answer. At this point, I looked at the approaching group of Demons. They seemed to number somewhere between 100-300 people. But it was a mix of men, women, the elderly and children. Ruby began to answer me." Well, Lord Drake, what other reason would anyone come here? I mean, you're the first outsiders to arrive besides Army Officers dropping off rations."

I can understand why she would think that way, but just eyeballing it, they'd have to be a group of assassins considering they all hardly look like Solders or Warriors." Look, Ruby, I get wanting to protect your homeland, but can we just try speaking to them first? If they try anything fishy, then we can fight. Okay?" This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it" But who will go and speak to them?"" I was thinking the Lord of Paradise and his 2 Wives.

Does that work for you? Do you think Rodrick, or you should come with us?" Ruby looked at me as if she was thinking hard about my question." I believe I should go as a Bodyguard for Lord Drake and his Family!" She answered with authority in her voice. Seems she values us as people worthy of protection? I wonder if she thought we were weak because of how I chose to deal with the gator yesterday? Regardless, I don't think it's worth arguing with her.

After I agreed, Ruby gave some instructions to her Soldiers and then off we went to meet this mysterious group of Demons, who were marching closer and closer to us." I don't see anyone hiding in the crowds, I also don't see anyone worthy of concern. They all just seem like people who aren't used to traveling and are tired because of it." I asked Anna to use her Dodomeki eyes to see if anything looked suspicious. Her observations tell me that my thoughts may be correct. Pressure..." Thanks for looking, Anna.

I think we can just continue on as usual. Something tells me they aren't enemies. So, Ruby, can you please hold back on the killing intent?" pressure... Ruby's been staring a hole through the first row of Demons walking closer and closer to us. If these Demons are capable of fighting, I really hope Ruby doesn't start a meaningless fight for no reason. Ruby nodded and I felt the pressure coming from her start to dissipate. It was right on time seeing as how the Demons were now in spitting distance to us.

Before long, the 2 groups met each other." Sir Paladin!" A woman's voice cut the silence of the 2 groups staring at each other. The group in front of me split and a purple-skinned Demon with one eye and shoulder length pink hair with 2 horns poking out of the hair greeted me with a polite bow. Also, a smaller blue version of the Demon was next to her and also bowed. Wait, this one had 2 eyes? Why do they look familiar to me? Wait! Now that I get a look at them all, all of the Demons look familiar." Sir Paladin!

We never had the chance to thank you for what you did for us!" I feel like I could almost put my finger on who these people were. Pressure! Grip!" My Love, what did you do for this woman? May I know. Please?" press... I felt a strange pressure start to bear down on me as I felt Sarah's hand on my shoulder. I place my hand on hers and begin to speak." This woman looks vaguely familiar to me, but I'm not sure who she is, Sarah. As a matter of fact, all of these Demons in front of me look familiar?" Pressure!

The pressure isn't wearing off." I should mention that I've always been Loyal to My Beautiful Wives, who I fell in Love with the second I first laid eyes on them." pressure... Finally, some of the pressure started to dissipate." Now, now! We shouldn't be talking of such matters in front of children, My Love!" Sarah now, was embarrassed, but in a good mood. I could also see Anna begin to blush. I turn back to the Demon who was speaking to me, I decided honesty was the best policy."

You look familiar, but I have no idea why. Could you please tell me how you know me?"" Oh!" GRIP! The woman seemed to be embarrassed for some reason. All of a sudden, I felt an even tighter grip on my shoulder. I wait for an answer with an innocent expression on my face to try and show that I'm not guilty of anything. The little blue Demon began to speak." Of course, you wouldn't recognize Mom! She tried attacking you after not taking care of herself for 3 days! Hey human, you really don't remember me?

I'm the first one you healed from the Green Scourge back in Ashneck!" I bumped my fist on my palm." That's right! She tried to attack me! I dodged her and used my mana to intimidate her too! That's why she's familiar! And in no way, have we had any interactions after that! I swear!"" He's telling the truth Sarah.... I checked.... With my eye." Anna touched Sarah's shoulder as she reassured her. Wait, why do they not trust me!? What did I do wrong?" Sir Paladin, thank you so much for saving My Daughter!""

But, wait, the green-skinned boy apologized for his mom, I thought that was you?"" Oh, no. That was Tom, he was apologizing for the way his mom looked. His family pays a lot of attention to the way they look. But anyways!" The woman and her daughter bowed deeply in front of me." Yeah! Thanks for healing me! Things were looking bad for me and my Friends before you did! Mom and I want to repay you by working hard to help you!" Both mother and daughter finished bowing to me.

I'll talk to my Wives about Trust and Loyalty a bit later. For now, I need to accept their thanks." You both can raise your heads. I accept your thanks, but you should know, I just did what I did because I felt it was right, so you didn't need to travel all the way here to Paradise to thank me. Also, you don't need to work for me."" Oh, Darling..."" Hm? What, Anna?" Anna said something I didn't catch. Ruby began to speak to me as the mother and daughter refused to raise their heads."

Lord Drake, we Demons believe in paying back debts."" But I didn't ask for anything in return. So why would they think they need to?" Ruby thought for a moment about how to answer my question. Anna answered for her." Darling, if a Demon isn't able to pay back a favor, they'll be seen as a failure. It's a part of our Culture and its deeply engrained."" But wait, I healed a bunch of people at deaths door. Oh no! That's why I remember them! They're all the terminal patients I healed!"" Sir Paladin!

Thank you for healing us!" Press... Press... The crowd yelled in unison at me. I felt another headache form as the crowd of Demons bowed their heads to me.. Along with that, Sarah and Anna placed their hands on my shoulders to comfort me. I wondered if this world had pain killers as I looked at a crowd that just gave me more problems to solve and an even bigger headache than this morning...