Chương 112: Chapter 96. Arrival

Beginning Of Part 1 John Ericsson's Point of View /THUMP! /" Why are the roads so terrible!? The roads in the cities were nice!" After biting my tongue again due to a hitting a bump. I couldn't help but voice my thoughts while checking to see if there was any blood coming out from where I bit down." It's because no one comes out this far!" /THUMP! /" Ouch!" Now Sarah joined me in checking our tongues for blood. Anna seemed to be the smartest one. She kept quiet and just nodded at our statements.

I cast Holy Heal on Sarah after I saw she began to tear up. She must have bit down on her tongue hard. Hold... Press... After I healed her, she simply used my shoulder as a pillow and tried not to speak." I guess we should just enjoy the scenery?" They both nodded to my suggestion. As we sat in the carriage that was heading farther and farther East, I began to think on everything that has happened. It's been 9 months since I Married Sarah and Anna. The last 3 months has been nothing but carriage rides East.

I'd like to say that the first 6 months of my Marriage has been "like a dream", but in actuality, I've been waking up and working with Warrick from the time the sun rises, untill noon, then I'd leave to heal people who were sick or injured. By the time I get back, dinner would be served. Then I'd spend an hour training with my sword and Magic, then Meditate. The end of my day would be spent with Sarah and Anna. What happened then, is for my Wives and I to know only.

I've gotten better in terms of my skills, but I still haven't contacted any of those figures yet from my meditation though. I think the limited time has kept me from improving as fast as before." Marquess Drake! We're nearing the main town of the Rose Swamps!" The driver, who we paid to deliver us to the main town of the Rose Swamps, which was a town with the name of Paradise, yelled back at us to let us know the journey was almost complete. The girls and I welcomed the change.

We've been exercising our bodies with some light sparring before and after the carriage rides that we've been taking for 3 months straight. I've been able to best Anna a few times, but Sarah, with the power boost afforded by her Evolved and New Jobs are hard to match. I wonder to myself how much she can really do now most days? Whenever we finish sparring, she thanks me and says to me." My strength comes from you, John!" She's been saying this now because of her Love Warrior Job she has now.

I hope I can catch up to her one day. Anna has already Contracted with 3 Gods already. The Nature Goddess and 2 of her friends who like Anna. Because of that, Anna has been slowly coming to grips with her new abilities. Not only can she summon the Goddesses Abilities now, but she has been slowly gaining more and more physical strength and speed. I don't know if she can feel it herself, but Sarah and I do when we spar her. Besides the training, it was just long hours of carriage rides.

The roads began to lower in quality the closer we've gotten to Paradise. Now that we're close to the town, I never want to see a carriage for the next year at least!" Oh! John! Look! The town is in view!" Anna spoke as she smiled while looking out of the window of the carriage. I stuck my head out of the window that was next to me. I saw quite a large town in my sights. It was still far away, but I could see that the walls surrounding the town were dilapidated." It looks like upkeep has been put on the backburner."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I blurted out my first thought." That would be because of how low the population has gotten, right?"" I guess so? I wonder how many people still live there?" Sarah responded to my words. I can feel a headache start to form while I think about what I can do to improve the living conditions here to draw in new residents to live here. While thinking of what ifs, the town grew closer and closer.

Finally, after an hour, the driver spoke once more." We've arrived!"" Thank you for bringing us out here." I thanked the driver while removing our belongings from the carriage and handed him a small gold coin before he left back to Terra, the town before Paradise. Once that business was taken care of, Sarah, Anna and I began to approach the large wooden doors that were reinforced with metal. Now that we were close, I could see they were the size of a 3-story house.

We made it to the door and then heard a gruff deep voice." Who goes there!?" We look up to see a blue Demon that reminded me of a mix between a rhino and a Human. He had a horn-like nose and looked angry. Regardless, I begin to speak to the Demon." We're the Drake Family. I am Marquess Matthew Drake, these are my Wives, Sarah Drake and Anna Drake! I am the new Lord of the Rose Swamps. I've arrived to begin my Duties." I reach into my pocket and bring out a scroll."

This is the Direct Order of King Warrick, with his signature and the Royal Stamp! Come and confirm it! Or grab someone who can! We can wait, but I hope not for long! We are tired from the long journey from BlackStone!" The Demon glared at me. Then he moved backwards and walked away. We waited for around 10 minutes and then, we heard a few steps heading towards us. Soon, the thick, tall wooden doors were opened.

Out walked the same blue Demon, only next to him, he helped an older blue Demon to walk, the older Demon used a cane to walk and had 4 horns protruding out of his head. The blue Demons were bald but muscular. Next to them were 3 red colored Demons. It was 2 boys and what looked like a middle-aged woman. One of the boys looked like he was in his early teens and had short black hair and black eyes. The other looked like a man in his mid-20s, with a black ponytail and black eyes.

The woman had long black hair and light green eyes." Would you show me the Royal Command, Marquess Drake?" The old blue Demon spoke to me. I handed him the scroll and he began to carefully examine it. Before long, he begins to speak." Yes, this is Legitimate. These are the words of King Warrick."" He sent a Human to rule us!?" The woman spoke in an angry tone." Old man, you must be losing your eyesight! There's no way our King would allow a Human to rule us!"" My Husband is more than just a "human"."

Sarah responded to the woman's words. Seems she's gained an even shorter fuse since we got Married... The red woman spoke again." All I see is a human man! What could King Warrick possibly have seen in this man!?" Sarah was losing her patience.

"!?" And it seems Anna wasn't too far away from it either." If you doubt my Father's words, perhaps I, as his Daughter can vouch for him? My name is Sarah Drake. My maiden name is Dreadnaught. Does that name ring any bells for you, old woman?"" Old woman!?" The woman began to rage even more. I could see the veins in her forehead beginning to bulge. The blue old man jumped in front of the red woman who seemed to be readying to attack.

Seems all of that time Aqua spent teaching Sarah how to act as a "Proper Noblewoman" hasn't stuck too well? Maybe the fact she didn't immediately jump into a fight is worthy of praise though?" Wait, Ruby! Did you not just hear what she said!? That's the First Princess!"

"!" Grip!

"!" The old man's words seemed to make the woman react. I was holding Sarah's hand before she tried doing anything that would make the next few hours difficult to deal with. The old man and the woman spoke to themselves for a bit. While they spoke, the young-looking red demon spoke to me." Are you really a human?" I moved my head down to look him in the eyes before speaking to him." Yeah, do you hate me because of that?"" Why would I? You haven't done anything to me." I nodded my head to the kid." Lucas!

Get back over here! we don't know who these people are yet!" The bigger red demon called for the kid to go back to his side." Do I really look that suspicious?"" Well to be fair, Matthew, a Human in Diablos is a strange sight, even more so if they're claiming to be a Marquess."" I should've told Warrick to give me something to use that is undeniable. Hell, they don't even recognize Sarah."" The Rose Swamps are pretty remote and far from the Capital, I wonder if they've even seen King Warrick or Queen Aqua?"

Anna and I spoke amongst ourselves, while the old man spoke, to the woman, the red woman started to calm down and began mumbling to herself. Something about " Princess". So, because of that, I think she was looking up and down at Sarah to make sure she was telling the truth." Wait! That hair and the purple eyes! Oh God!" The red woman seemed to be panicking. Sarah was about to say something until we heard a scream." WAHHH!"" What's that!?" I spoke while looking in the direction of the scream."

That sounded like Riley!"" Quickly, let's go! It might be a Demon Gator!" Without caring about who we were anymore, I yelled to run to towards the scream. Sarah, Anna and I ran with the Rose Swamp inhabitants to where the scream originated in what feels like record time. I was happy to say that even though I was at the back of the group, I still kept up with the Demons who seemed to be running at full speed... Well, at least to me anyways...