Chương 237: Chapter 220. A Book Review In Traffic

" Wendy! Look! It's like Paradise, before Lord Matthew started the renovations!"" Yeah, you can still see the same kind of walls in the places he hasn't gotten to yet."" Stick your heads back in the windows before you get hit by the trees, you two!" Flare scolded Ellie and Wendy for sticking their heads out of the windows on such a narrow road. There was barely enough room for their small heads to fit since the road we were on was surrounded by wildly grown trees.

Shouldn't there be an Agricultural Department that's in charge of maintaining the local wildlife? That's what the farming group does for Paradise during the period of time it takes for new produce to grow. We've been able to use the clippings from various trees and plants to start developing things like perfumes, shampoo and skin creams that have had some success, but they're still in the developmental phase." Why would they allow it to become like this?

Wouldn't you think they'd work on something like this since it's such a big gathering?"" Maybe it's only the road to Paradise. That might explain it." pressure...

"!"

"!" Sarah and Anna began to jump to a dangerous conclusion." Maybe they were just busy? Give them some benefit of the doubt. Besides, you're scaring Ellie and Wendy with the bloodlust you're leaking, Sarah, Anna."...

"..."

"..." Sarah and Anna listened to my words. The bloodlust receded as we made it out of the claustrophobic path and could now see the decently maintained road that led to Zana. All the meanwhile, Wendy and Ellie were able to calm down from the scare they had." Great..." As I looked out of my window, I couldn't help but mutter an ironic thought.

Zana, the decently-sized town that seemed to have a population of around 8000, was currently experiencing an intense amount of traffic on its 4 main roads that enter or exit the city. It seems that, like car lanes back in my world, all of the incoming traffic was on the right side and the outgoing traffic was on the currently empty left lanes. I gazed at the quite ancient gray walls that seemed to have been maintained quite well in comparison to Paradise's walls."

Well, we didn't have a dedicated department for upkeep!" Flare saw my eyes wondering at the walls and seemed to feel a bit defensive about the obvious comparison that came to my mind." Well, eventually, they'll look better than this. I'll make our walls rival or surpass Blackstone when I'm done with them. You have my word on that, Flare." I gave a grin to Flare as I spoke, I heard an exhale from the entire Guardsmen that were around my carriage.

I guess they still feel a sense of rivalry with the towns that surround us? I guess there's a bit of an inferiority complex since Zana is one of the towns that gave aid to Paradise for all these years. Granted, now their grains just sit in a storage shed since the food has now become quite plentiful. Last I checked, our granaries and freezers are full enough now that we'd be well-stocked for about 5 years if anything happened and our food production was compromised.

I've currently ordered the creation of more granaries and freezers from some of the Craftsmen in Paradise. They were more than happy to do it as well. I'll need to make sure to grant them completion bonuses for their work. Since I figured it'd be best to strike while the iron is hot. I don't know why, but I can't shake the feeling that I need to prepare for something. I feel like a doomsday prepper back in my world.

When I asked Sarah and Anna about this before we left for Zana, they seemed to share similar thoughts to me. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere." Well, to be honest, My Love.

We're still in a war against Promethia, even if it has come to a grinding halt due to my Father's wish to not become an aggressor, but with the Elves now sending out Spies and the fact that we still aren't sure about why Peter poisoned me, I think it's best to have our people be as prepared as possible in case of anything going wrong."" I share the same thoughts as Sarah, Darling.

I'd also like to do something for Midori Village as well, since they live so close to the Northern Border, but I'm not sure what would be best?"" When your Family visits us, I'll sit down with Les and see if he could use anything supply-wise, Anna. I'm just glad you both don't think I'm crazy about all of this."" There's never anything strange about a Lord wanting to protect his People, My Love. My Father is always wondering if the Villages on the Border have received enough supplies to last the winter.""

I can only imagine the headaches he must have." The conversation moved elsewhere that day, but that part sticks in my mind. Maybe I've just fully transitioned into the mindset of a Lord without even noticing? But I don't really know... I just can't shake the feeling that I need to prepare for something... I stuck my nose back in my book as the carriage continued inching closer to the back of the line of traffic to get into Zana.

Again, like every other day during this journey, Anna was my dedicated page turner as she and Sarah held my arms like they were restraining me. I've reached the point in the book where I've come to an understanding about the Paladin's abilities that I never noticed until I noticed that Daniel wrote down. It seems that Paladins have a special quirk of their Mana Sensing. You see, ever since Aqua jolted me when I first arrived, I could always see mana wafting out of everyone I've run into.

At first, I thought this just meant that everyone still had work to do on their Mana Control. But now, reading the account of another Paladin, it seems that we can just see a small amount of mana that comes out of people. The ability had saved Daniel's life 3 times so far as he clears a den of Evil God worshippers in an old cave. I brought this up to Sarah and Anna. Their manas that leak from them I mean. And they told me that they couldn't see it from each other. So, it seems that my inference was correct.

I still have no idea how to use it for anything at the moment. But the bigger question I have at the moment, is why do Paladins even have this ability in the first place? I get that it helps with ambushes... But if that's the case, why not give this to other combat-oriented Jobs for the Humans? To double check and make sure that it was only Paladins, I asked Wendy about it." I've never heard of such a thing before.

Even with the Soldiers who came back from subjugating bandits or Monsters, they'd always complain about having to be careful about ambushes during the night, Lord Matthew."" No, Wendy, you can just call him "Matthew" still. Only when we're in Zana do we need to mind formalities."" Oh, uhm... That's all that I know... Matthew..." With Wendy's answer, I seemed to have been correct about it being exclusive to Paladins even within the Human Race... So why?

Also, why is Ellie so caught up with being allowed to call me by name even up to the entrance of Zana? The last thing I need is Princess Alice beginning to think anything strange is going on between me and my Maids. Never mind the fact that she's already staring at me. I decided to continue my reading as Sarah and Anna clung to me. There were 2 main reasons.

One was to forget that Princess Alice was boring a hole through my forehead with her glare and the other was that I was hoping for Daniel's story to help me figure out more about being a Paladin. Speaking of being a Paladin, honestly, you'd almost believe Daniel's life was a case of repetition via being a Paladin. From one den of Evil God worshipers to another. All infecting the land with pestilence and suffering. An Evil God's influence could even force Evolution in a Monster and make it more rabid.

Daniel writes about the monotony of having to do that day in and day out. I almost feel sorry for the guy, but he sees it as his "Sacred Duty" as he puts it, so he continues to do as he's told by the High Paladin that he's assigned to.

A Paladin would either receive an order from one of the Gods that granted them their Favor, or a council of senior High Paladins who were too old for battle would work like a Guild and compile information to see where an Evil God would most likely begin trying to spread its influence. Then, depending on how powerful the God or how badly the God had spread its influence, anywhere from a group of Paladins captained by a High Paladin to a single Paladin would be dispatched to deal with it.

The world was quite a different place 9000 years ago. For starters, Paladins seemed to be quite common around Gaia. Certainly, if the situation had happened then, I doubt Warrick and Aqua would have bothered to Summon me." We've arrived at the line!" Wendy seemed to be excited to be closer to Zana. Everyone else seemed to take the news in stride. Sarah and Anna didn't really pay it much mind as they continued to coil around my arms and rest their heads on my shoulders.

Ellie and Wendy went back to playing with a deck of cards. And Princess Alice continued to glance at me while pretending that the wheat field outside her window was interesting. Strangely enough, I felt nostalgic, as it'd been a year and some months since the last time I'd been stuck in traffic. I continued to read my book as the carriages and their passengers moved slowly, closer and closer to our destination.