Throughout the next few days, Misty followed the lives and adventures of the heroes she had read about in history books and folklore. It was, however, meeting Ash's five elite team members that she enjoyed the most.
Brock introduced her to each one individually. She enjoyed talking with them.
Among the mighty five, Maki is the devil elf and the first and most senior member. Her story is often portrayed as that of a demi-goddess who was described as very petty, mischievous, and a master of poisons. Books suggest she should have had long snakes over her head and very long teeth. Her body should also have had several burn marks. She, however, looked almost identical to an adorable high school student. Besides having a cute voice, she also had long olive-green hair. She would certainly have been a pop idol had she lived in the modern age.
When Misty met her, Maki was extremely fond of her in a minute. They talked about poisonous plants. Thankfully, when Misty was small, her grandmother, who was also a florist, had introduced Misty to a world of all sorts of plants as well as flowers.
The second member, Levi, was a werewolf. The man had a big build and his body was top-notch. In the historical books, he was defined as someone with long canines, tearing people apart. Upon meeting face to face, she found him to be quite a gentleman, with cute fluffy ears just like hers.
The third one was Drake. He is a normal human working under the demon lord, but what makes him most distinguished is also this fact. Most books describe him as a killing machine. He surely has lived up to his name. Misty remembered reading about his great achievements in the Great Araby War. Even now, he had his melee double-bladed sword tied to his waist.
The fourth one, Derik, and the fifth one, Allen, weren't present. Ash told her that they had gone on a mission. Well, they were both the demon lord's most powerful weapons. They sure put up with their reputation for being called the demon lord's dogs.
A few days later,
Misty was lying on her bed facing the roof. She stretched out a bit. These past few days, all that she's been doing is just eating and sleeping. If there's something more, it's just her having some fun walks in the town area.
She surely got bored of it all. She heard a knock on the door, "Please come in." She spoke in a very lazy voice, not even trying to get up. It might have been because she has become quite comfortable here. Most of the time, Ash and Brock are the only ones visiting her, and when they know they will be bringing someone else with them, they usually inform her thru James.
Ash came in and glanced to her side. Misty was lying on the bed's edge. Her hair was brushing the floor. Ash walked up and sat on the chair in front of her.
"Bored?" He asked, looking at Misty lazily getting up.
"Mn, all I do is just eat and sleep. Other than you and Brock no one else comes here." She answered, lying down again, looking up at the man in front of her.
Ash looked at the window, turning to her, "So, how did you usually pass time back in your era?"
Misty looked up at him. She was quite happy that the man in front of her wanted to strike up a conversation first. Usually, Ash is a man of few words, and Misty is always the one who starts the talk.
She got up enthusiastically and went up to him. They both had some leisure time and talked for hours. Misty told him about mobile phones, televisions, and the latest technological instruments that had so far been established.
Ash listened to her quietly, and he asked questions in between regarding the functional mechanism of those devices. Later, Misty told him about her hobbies and how she used to earn a living. As expected, Ash was drawn to her. An independent woman was quite rare in his time. He was quite impressed by the fact that Misty knew some swordsmanship.
After some time, Brock knocked on the door, calling for Ash to get to the drilling grounds since soldiers were waiting for him. Ash got up and was about to leave when she said, "Hey, wait, I also want to go." Misty interrupted him.
He looked back at her and agreed, "Hmm, what? Getting bored? " Brock asked her inquisitively.
Misty nodded.
The three went to the grounds with the soldiers greeting them. Ash went ahead, gripping a wooden sword in his hands. The soldiers started training.
Brock stood by Misty's side, "Well, the training sure is rough on everyone." He spoke up first breaking the silence between them.
"Hmm?" Misty was a bit confused.
"They are training for the upcoming war." He answered.
Misty looked intently towards Ash who was smeared with sweat all over.
Brock retreated first because he had some other files to work on. Ash felt Misty's gaze on him but kept training.
Sometime later.
After a bow from the opponent, Ash came up to Misty with a training sword in his hands. He raised it in front of her. "Why don't we exchange a few blows." He spoke.
Misty held the sword in her hand and smiled brightly. In the modern world, sword training was a way for her to escape from reality. She has always liked it since the first time she saw the Demon Army's parade. The soldiers' march kept her in awe, and from then on, she also wanted to be as cool as them. But the circumstances of the modern world were quite hard on her. Despite being good with swords, she had to be content with working as a secretary for a company. But she wanted to keep her spirits alive, so she joined a training school as a teacher.
They went ahead and were just about to start when, "Hey, uhm, Ash, just try to go easy on me." Misty spoke up. After all, she was about to have a duel with the Demon Lord, the greatest swordsman of the century. Ash simply nodded and started first.
Misty took each of his blows with utter determination. At some points, she knew that he was going easy on her, but at other points, she also felt that he was very powerful.
The soldiers around them stopped training and started cheering for them. They were all surprised by Misty's skills. After all, in this era, it's quite a show to see a woman holding a sword. Even if it was a training one, it was against the demon lord.
Ash even found her quite amusing. She had a flexible body and she used certain gymnastic postures like backflips and stuff.
After few minutes
They both stopped and bowed toward each other as a courtesy. They were covered in sweat and Misty was very happy, since it was the first time in a long time, she had this warm feeling in her chest. No one till now has supported her tomboyish hobby, but this man right in front of her has been with her from her first day in this era. He has been listening to her rambling and has taken care of her. She smiled brightly at him and the next instant all the soldiers surrounded her.
They were all surprised and excited to meet her. At first, they all thought that she was just another household girl, which was quite common in their era, but right now they all wanted to get some tips from her. Usually, a soldier's world is a simple one; they acknowledge someone if they are good at skills and are cold to others; they get happy when something good happens; they drink together when they are having a happy occasion and cry when they are sad.
Misty knew this quite well and was happy that they had recognized her. The awed expression with which 10-year-old Misty has seen them in the parade, in an instant had turned into a smile and that of partnership.
Ash looked up with happy eyes. "From tomorrow on, remember to come here and help me out in training,"
Although Ash had no expression, seeing him up close, Misty now understands that he always has that expressionless face, but if you look at his eyes, you'll see all the vivid expressions. And right now, Misty saw a smile in his eyes.
She nodded her head.
The rest days were spent training the soldiers and having those sweet walks in the town. Without even realizing one month had passed. Both Misty and Ash used to train soldiers during the day and used to go on night walks sometimes Brock used to accompany them and other times any other general.
After some days Misty directly barged into Ash's study, "Ash, do you still want a secretary?" She asked.
"Yup." He answered without looking up at her, skimming through some documents.
"Then take me in as one."
Ash looked up at these words, pondering for a moment and then nodded. As he took out a beautiful blue-coloured jewel, which had a string attached to it, as he traced his finger over it, it started to glow a bit brighter and Brock's voice came from the other side.
Ash called him to the study. As Brock entered the study Ash gave him all the documents he had on the table, "Take all these. Help out Misty in understanding the work. She's the secretary." Saying all this, he went ahead stretching a bit.
"..."
"...."
Both Brock and Misty were silent. They saw him leave and then came back to their senses.
Brock was a bit confused and shocked at the same time.
"Pfft" Misty laughs.
'Just how much less he wants to talk.' She thought to herself.
The rest of the week was spent everything about Misty taking a hold of how the demon castle works and the demon lord's schedule. After she finally got updated about everything the demon lord does, she got to know how busy a person he was. He had non-stop meetings from morning to night and had thousands of documents to review.
'No wonder he went out to chill as soon as I told him that.' Misty thought to herself, walking with a bundle of pages, tugged in her arms.
'Haaa.' She sighed.
-To Be Continued-