Chương 117: Chapter 101. Hypotheses

So, let me get this right. An Archangel, which is an older, more powerful, Angel, that God made before the Angels that we would know of, Summoned you to her side. This Archangel and you are linked by your Souls ever since you were born. When you were born, she gave you her Favor, which made you a Paladin. Then, yesterday, from healing Claire, the last requirement for your Paladin Job to Evolve was cleared. You've become a High Paladin and now you can speak to Divine Beings?"" Bingo!"

I sat with my Wives over breakfast, as Sarah recapped everything I had explained last night to make sure she had it all right. Anna began to speak as Sarah ruminated on everything." What else can a High Paladin do?"" I don't know. Maybe I need to use an Appraisal Orb and find out? Do you guys know if Paradise has an Appraisal Orb?" Both of the girls shook their heads. I guess I'll have to ask Rodrick when I see him today? Speaking of which, I need to find an office to start working out of.

Last night was mostly a recounting of my meeting with Angela and explaining everything. We ended up going to bed after eating a light meal cooked by Anna. The sun was already high in the sky when we finally had breakfast ready. It's a late start to our morning, for the past months of travel, Anna's been waking us up at the crack of dawn so we can head to a travel center to secure a carriage for a day. Today's the first day we all slept a full 8 hours."

I guess we can spend the day exploring and cleaning the mansion? If Ruby or Rodrick visit us, I'll let them know that for the day, we're cleaning the mansion. Sound good?"" That sounds like a lovely day!" Anna was the first to respond, I could see her eyes brighten up at the prospect of cleaning the mansion. Sarah wasn't too far behind Anna in terms of excitement." Sounds perfect! Today can be "our day"! It's the first one since our honeymoon ended!""

Hopefully there's going to be many more after I find out what went wrong here."" What do you mean? The people who Governed it were corrupt, John." Sarah spoke, I think now would be a good time to tell her about what I found out." But at first it wasn't. This land was a great place to be at a long time ago. I mean, Sarah, this town is called "Paradise". You don't get a name like that for no reason."" What do you mean? Hasn't it always been barren?""

Apparently not, while under Warrick I found a journal entry from a previous King, his name was Darlix or something... Anyways, the journal entry said that he spent his vacation days in Paradise in the Roselands. That was around 6000 years ago. I thought at first, he meant some spa resort or something. I asked Warrick and Aqua and they said they've never heard about it. So, I think the next most likely culprit is this place."" But then, how did this land become like this, John?"

Anna spoke to me after sipping some hot tea she made." Well, I think something happened here in this land. I think it was done by the indigenous families who lived here. I think whatever it was, it was such a disaster that outsiders had no idea how to explain it. Either that or someone wanted to remove any records outside of the Rose Swamps." Sarah and Anna tried to digest my hypothesis. Sarah spoke after thinking for a bit." What do you think caused it then?" I'm not sure. I have 3 suspects though.""

What are they?" Anna asked before Sarah. Seems she's interested in the mystery aspect of it all." The 1st thing I suspect is maybe the Roselands were too powerful and wealthy. So, outsiders found a way to plague the land into a swampy area. I'd imagine it'd take many Skilled Magicians. So, it was most likely done by a Noble Family or multiple of them."" But if it was caused by magic, wouldn't someone be able to tell already?"" Not if the most powerful people of the land decided to keep it a secret.

This is unlikely though. Considering the way Paradise's people have treated outsiders on record. This is one of the things that make this idea fall apart."" I can understand why." Sarah and Anna deflated at my explanation. Anna perked back up again and began to speak again. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation." So then what's your 2nd idea?" I took a sip of freshly squeezed juice in my cup. It was citrusy but tasted like apples weirdly." The 2nd is simple.

Humans did it."" How is that simple!? Wouldn't Diablos use that as a pretext for an invasion into Promethia!?" Sarah spoke in response to my idea." Well, think of it like this. Demons are quite a "prideful" Race. Isn't that right? Even more so for Demons from the past, right? They viewed themselves as stronger and therefore, better than the weaker Humans. Right?" They both nodded to my question."

And since these lands are actually past the Eastern Border, what's stopping Humans from sneaking up on these lands and attacking? Or bringing strong Spellcasters. Maybe from the Light Gods Church? Maybe just strong Army Members or Adventurers. They could probably find a way to change the land, if the Humans had enough Divine-Related Job Users to do it that is. I mean Anna can Summon Aspects of Gods now just from having her New Job before even seriously training to learn how to control her new abilities.

Right, Anna?"" Yes, I can, but the Nature Goddess would never do something like that!"" But what about other Gods? Say the King at the time says those with Jobs related to the Dark Gods can attain proper citizenship in Promethia if they complete this task? Do you think it's outside the realm of possibility? I think it's the most plausible."

"But then what about your 3rd idea, John?" Anna asked, almost disappointed at my saying it's the most plausible situation. But to be honest, this next idea is a bit of a headache for me." My 3rd idea is that a God did it on their own, without any outside assistance. This is probably the worst situation to have happen though." Sarah and Anna looked at me, surprised by my words. Sarah was the first to ask the obvious question." Why would that be the worst outcome?" Here we go."

For about 4 reasons if I'm being honest. the 1st is Gods tend to go scorched earth when they rain wrath down on Mortals. Every story I've found in this world about that usually ends in " And then the God left after the victim perished or wished they were dead." which isn't good." throb... I sipped on my juice again as I felt the headache starting to return." Continuing on from the 1st. Who's to say the God or Goddess is still around? Who's to say we could find clues of their identity?

If we have no trail, we're kind of screwed in terms of saving the lands. The best we could do is try to create something here that you can't find anywhere else and build Commerce and an Economy from this town. Not impossible, but dependent on Merchants coming here. But that's its own issue."" Why would that be a problem?" Anna asked, Sarah seemed to already know." Because the Merchants will eventually realize they technically control the flow of goods coming in and out of Paradise.

They can just try to bankrupt us and force us to sell stock of this hypothetical item for below any reasonable price."" That's so cruel!"" Business is always like this though? The best position to have when it comes to business dealings is having the most leverage during any dealing. Being able to stop the Economy on a dime, like a river with a dam, puts too much power in the hands of people who only want to make a profit and don't care about the people of the Rose Swamps.

To fix this, we would need something on the level of an addictive drug that only we can produce... Or something like that? With that, the pressure from their customers, would force the Merchants to do business." Anna came to terms with what I explained to her. It took some time, but her attention returned to me." What is your 3rd reason for the culprit being a God, John?" I was surprised, I was already thinking of items in my world I could use to make a profit in this world." Hm? Oh...

Well, reason 3 is the beginning of solutions to our problems. To begin, in light of reasons 1 and 2, I thought we could find a God or Goddess of equal or greater power to fix the damage that was done all that time ago. I assume it would be a Water God or Goddess, seeing as we're dealing with swamps."" That's great!"" You and I can use our abilities to help find a God, John!" Sarah and Anna were both excited at this idea. I hate to ruin it, but it will help explain why I have a headache." Hold your horses.

Who said they would do it for free?"" Huh!?"" What!?" Throb! Their surprised faces were still cute. Shame my head was killing me now." I researched dealings with Divine Beings that have been recorded back in Blackstone. Without exception, if a person made a deal with a God who never gave their Divine Favor to them. The God takes something of equal value to what the person asked for."" Well, that's not too bad... Right?" Sarah said hoping for a kind answer."

Sarah, these lands full of swamps are around 50 times bigger than BlackStone City. What do you think a God would want in return for that? The biggest trade I've ever seen was the trampling of a Elven Army. The size in land was only about a half a mile in all."" What was the compensation?"" 1000 lives from Diablos." What!? Why haven't we heard of this!?" Sarah roared at me." It's a closely guarded secret. Warrick didn't even know about it until I showed him the scroll.

The incident happened about 3000 years ago, during King Rolick the Swindler's reign. Follow up scrolls I found explained that the King only asked for the deaths to be random and over a 5-year period. The King kept track of any strange and unusual deaths. It reached 999 deaths, a day before the 5-year term was up. The King was ecstatic that no one questioned the deaths. Rolick's death was dated one day after the date on that letter."" He deserved it!" Sarah was angry at the news.

Anna and I simply nodded our head in agreement with her. After Sarah calmed down, Anna asked me for the 4th reason." It's pretty simple. This is probably the easiest and most difficult way to fix the situation, if what I said happened. Someone from Paradise can battle the God and hopefully make them submit. If so, we can fix the land."" Is that even possible?"

"I have no idea how to do it. Maybe Angela could tell me, but who knows? Other than that, I can only hope the God or Goddess has cooled off on whatever pissed it off and relents his or her Spell and returns the lands to how they were." Breakfast was finished by the time I finished speaking. Sarah and Anna joined me in having a headache. The morning was obviously off to a great start. / Knock! Knock! /"?"

"?"

"?" After what felt like 2 hours of silence, we all heard a knock at the door. We looked at each other and I spoke." This is all a problem for another day. Let's just enjoy today, shall we?" Sarah and Anna nodded their heads. We all went off to the door to see who was there.