Bodyguard Blues

Three months had passed; it was nearly time for the annual festival to commemorate La Pucelle's victory over Noir and the Dark Prince. Not that anything was going right for Prier and her friends. Sister Romaine had decided that since the Demons were after Angelique, she should hire a bodyguard to help protect her daughter. Of course, the bodyguards were more interested in coming on to their charge's single mother than watching the child. Prier had laid the smackdown on more men than she could count and after seeing that she wasn't a potential date, and quite violent, they would run far away from there.

"Why can't we get a single reliable bodyguard?" she questioned one day while her unit was working out, "I have an inventory of every one that tried to touch my breasts, every one that tried to slap my rear, and every one that either asked me to dinner or to bed! The add says it plain as day, 'Wanted: one bodyguard for a three year old girl. Must like children and helping out members of the clergy. See Sister Prier at the Church of the Holy Maiden in Pot au Feu City. PS…the Sister is already taken and is not accepting any applications for a new boyfriend at the moment. Must keep your hands off of her!'"

"You're getting the mercenaries Prier. Most of us don't travel with ladies so we get bored. That's why any would jump at the chance to help out a woman and perhaps get a date from her. I think they miss the PS because they instantly see the name 'Sister Prier' and know they're going to be working for a girl. I'm one of the rare exceptions to the rule about hitting on random girls I meet in work," Jacques said.

Prier roared, "But if you look closely genius, you'll see Francoise is flirting with every one of them. They do have female companionship to think about! Not like every girl in the church is off limits, just me. They're just lucky that Croix isn't around; if he ever got jealous then I'd shudder to think at what'd go on."

Jacques didn't question any further; he didn't want to know if Prier was dating someone with a temper as explosive as hers. He returned to his stretches; keeping his body in tip top shape would do wonders in battle. Over to one side he could see Francoise was working out with a punching bag, Culotte had a set of spell dummies, and Angelique was twirling her baton; Prier joining her daughter to practice.

At that moment, Sister Romaine entered; clearly flustered at the mess Prier had gotten herself into. "How many bodyguards are you going to scare off Sister Prier? We need every available hand in La Pucelle to protect your daughter from the Demons. But if they get past our units or she needs to be on a mission, she will need the extra protection. What do we do then? Hand this little girl over to them?"

"Tell them to stop groping me and coming on to me," demanded Prier, "I refuse to be some sexual bait for a mercenary. Just because I have a daughter doesn't make me a whore! There are a lot of single parents who lost their mates due to unfortunate circumstances; cuz of death for the most part."

"Well we have a new candidate; I hope you won't scare this one off. His name is Chevalier and he hails from far across the sea; someone Homard seems to have known when he was a boy," the Sister told her. She left to reveal a blond man wearing a suit. He had a sword belt around his middle with a long blade in a sheath. His eyes were dark brown and he seemed to have an air of nobility about him.

Francoise screamed, "He's cute!" She would have continued onward except Culotte threw an apple at her; if she scared the bodyguards away then they might lose the one good one that wouldn't do the stupid thing and flirt with Prier. Jacques looked down at the comatose girl and sighed; she was the most insane girl he'd ever met topping even Prier. But despite her flaws, he had to admit she was nice.

Chevalier walked up to Prier and bowed. "Fair lady…I am here to serve you. Fear not! No Demon would bring harm to your child while on my watch; not even the vile Dark Prince himself! Well, that is if he woke up again; I trust that the Maiden of Light from 50 years ago did her job thoroughly."

'He doesn't know the half of the story,' thought Prier, 'I hope he knows how to keep his hands to himself. I am dog tired of dealing with crazies. Croix…I hope you come home when I am in a better mood than this. Because I might just deck you for being away and thus making me hire these morons.'

S...S

The day before the festival, everyone was setting up the fair booths. Well, everyone except Culotte. He had gone to Alouette's grave to commemorate her funeral. The young boy whispered, "I wish you were still here. Even after four years I still can't shake the thoughts that there might have been a way to save you. But that's crazy talk; you were always telling us that it was your destiny to die then."

So caught up in his reverie, he didn't notice his niece walking up to him; Chevalier following to keep her in line. "Uncle Culotte…whose grave is this? I thought it belonged to the late Sister Alouette; who gave her life to help Mommy fight the big bad Demon. Were you in love with her or something?" At the sound of her voice, the youth turned crimson. He looked back to see his niece had indeed followed him along with her bodyguard; Prier must not yet have noticed that they were gone from the fairgrounds.

"Yes, I did," he whispered, "I never talk much about it because it hurts. I should have saved her."

"Forget about that foolish Maiden! We Demons are quite happy that she's gone; she screwed up our plans almost as much as the Dark Slayer. Her death to us is considered one down and one more to go! Once Prier Dark Slayer is dead then we can return the Master to his true state of power; and bring The One to her full power as well. But we'll start here; weaken her resolve first," a wicked voice called.

At once, a large Demon resembling a green Dagon appeared. It clapped its claws at the trio and charged for Culotte. However, Angelique ran in front of the path; determined to protect her family. She screamed, "Uncle Culotte! Let's blast 'em!" She concentrated hard and a large ball of light began to form in between her hands. The same held true for Culotte. They tossed their energy at once; striking the creature dead center. But Chevalier was way too close to the blast and ended up being knocked back. And of course, because nothing is ever simple around this gang, he fell right onto Prier as she passed.

He came to and saw a very angry Sister looking at him. "You pervert! How dare you try to have your way with an innocent girl like me! I don't know how you pulled this stunt but you'd bet you're going to pay for it!" She slammed him with her baton; leading to a complex chase around the entire field with Chevalier trying to get away from an annoyed Prier. Culotte and Angelique sat down to watch the fun.

S...S

"This job looks real interesting," a man stated, "Right up my alley. 'Wanted: one bodyguard for a three year old girl. Must like children and helping out members of the clergy. See Sister Prier at the Church of the Holy Maiden in Pot au Feu City. PS…the Sister is already taken and is notaccepting any applications for a new boyfriend at the moment. Must keep your hands off of her!' Sounds about right. I should get there right away before something explodes; mercenaries can tend to be quite perverted."

Teefa's Last Words...

We had to add the little humor in this chapter to lighten up the mood between the Demon's true intentions coming out and the crap that'll happen over time. So I added in a mercenary and an unfortunate incident cause him to anger Prier. Cuz every time Prier blows up its funny. Chevalier means knight; we needed a good warrior name but the others didn't cut it. He's some minor nobleman from Marl who heard about the job from Homard and thus studied up on Paprican beliefs and legends in order to be better informed; you don't have to think about it too much.