Chương 350: Chapter 333. Arriving Back In Paradise

John Ericsson's Point Of View" Still, to think they were viewable above all of those strange trees..."" Mom! Look at all of those flowers! They're all different colors!" I fought back the smile I wanted to show as Mrs. Victoria and Kim finally showed more emotions than just gloom and calculated responses to any of our words. It's been a somewhat "rough" road back to Paradise. I say this less about the physical road and more about the time spent in the carriage.

In a way, the moments where I got to leave the vehicle to continue expanding the road were becoming the highlights of my traveling time during the day. At night of course, I had Sarah and Anna to unwind with. With Princess Alice finally not treating me like Sarah and Anna's captor, I was able to spend the evenings quite peacefully with My Wives. Having said that, I don't mean that as in I could spend the actual night with them, the girls all spend the night in the carriage still.

Sure, it's slightly cramped now with Mrs. Victoria and Kim, but the girls all made do. Meanwhile, all of the Guards and I sleep outside, except for the ones who were on Night Guard Duty. All in all, sleeping outside wasn't bad with the campfire being looked after by everyone. Especially after looking back at all of the Lucrative Business Deals I've made with the 4 Count Families. Sure, I may have made Count Tye pay a bit more because of that first meeting, but it wasn't an illegal amount...

Besides, his home is farther away than the rest of the Count Families! Honest!" It looks like taking the flower route was the correct choice, My Love." Sarah and the rest of the girls were looking at Mrs. Victoria and Kim, who were smiling happily while staring out the window of the carriage. I took a look myself after thinking about the amount of money I'll be receiving soon.

I was glad for the mother and daughter, since they've both spent the past 3 weeks either trying to hide their sadness from the loss of Patrick and Victor or... The stranger thing, which was they both had moments where they looked like they were thinking deeply about something? Usually, it would be after Gil and I made more road for the carriage to travel on. I tried to ask Sarah and Anna about it when I could, but they just told me that they were just thinking about everything that's happened to them.

I could see why, it all happened so quickly, how couldn't you spend some time thinking about how your world imploded and then needing to make such an important decision... it makes sense... But I could swear that their eyes have drifted over to me on more than one occasion, considering how small a part that I had in it... I mean, I know I technically brought them with me, but it wasn't just me, it was also Patrick... I feel like I'm missing something?" What are you thinking about, Darling?"

Anna saw that my mind was clouded and she broke me out of my fog with a question. I quickly turned to her to answer it, but I couldn't just talk about how I found their moods strange." I was thinking about the journey back, it's been a... Strange 3 weeks..." Anna took a moment to take in my words, she then glanced at Mrs. Victoria and Kim before looking back at me." Yes, it really has been, hasn't it? But we shouldn't worry for too long, we're nearly home after all." /Rumble! / The carriage came to another stop.

By my calculations, this should be the last time for this. I quickly contacted my Partner for this little chore of mine." Gil, are you okay to be Summoned?"" Of course, Kid!" With Gil's answer, I got up from my seat and began to head out the door to the left of me, since it was the closest one to me." Ah, this should be the last one."" How's your mana, My Love?"" I should be fine for this, just don't ask Lily to use any of her bigger Spells, would you?""

I can't make any promises, I do like the flowers too after all." Sarah wanted to see if I needed any mana, but I feel fine, after Summoning Gil and use that Spell, I should be able to squeeze out a Holy Heal if I need to, but not much more. After I answered her, Sarah tried teasing me a bit before I walked out of the door." Lord Matthew!"" Relax, Edmon, you do this every time, just relax and de-stress, we're almost back."" Yes, Sir!" Edmon... Didn't seem to understand what I meant.

Regardless, I quickly Summoned Gil and paved the road. I could hear in front of me that a commotion was going on, seems like the Guards know that we're back. After sending Gil back to his home, I just quickly got back in the carriage to finally finish the journey back to Paradise. 3 weeks on the road was quite a long time after all. I finally sat down at my seat again." All done?" An energetic voice called to me as I sat down." Y-Yes... The road should reach out right to the road of the Eastern Gate of Paradise.

All in all, the ride should be nice and smooth from now on." This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere." Great!" / Wiggle! / Princess Alice has been doing this for the past few weeks. She's been... Wiggling her ears and shifting her tail whenever she talks to me. I'd be lying if I said this didn't make me want to pet her. Thankfully, my self-control hasn't weakened.

It helps that I know if I would pet her or touch her tail, My Wives would most likely find a punishment to give me... That and of course she's a Princess, some strange guy touching her without an actual good reason wouldn't end well for me. Like that, time passed. In around 90 minutes, we finally arrived at the Eastern Gate. /Rumble! / The carriage came to a slow stop, the flower field was pretty close to the Gate all things considered.

With the carriage stopped, everyone looked at me to tell them what to do, which I happily said the words." Let's go see Paradise, shall we?" With that, Wendy and Ellie both opened each of the doors in the carriage and we all got out of the carriage. Once I had stepped out of the carriage, I was glad to see what was in front of me. The Eastern Gate was raised open and there was a decent crowd of people waiting past it.

Familiar faces like Emily, Ruby, Janet, Jim, Charlotte, Delcan, Lucas and Wendy's Grandmother, Pamela, were all gathered at the front of the crowd. Ellie and Wendy ran towards their relatives and we all walked into the Gate behind the girls. Our Guards handled putting the carriage away and handing the horses to their keepers. Once we had all made it back into Paradise, the Gate was shut behind us and we were immediately greeted by Emily and Ruby. Emily bowed first and Ruby followed after her."

Welcome back, Lord Matthew, Lady Sarah, Lady Anna, Princess Alice." Emily was beaming with a smile that wouldn't lose out to the sun as she stood back up straight and greeted us. I was taken a bit aback from her greeting." Em, you've shocked him. I told you he'd rather we just act normal." Ruby walked up to her awkwardly and started to complain." Well, they have 2 new people with them, we should remember our proper manners, Ms. Ruby." Emily switched her sights from Ruby to Mrs. Victoria and Kim.

I think I should introduce them quickly." Emily, Ruby. Please mee-"" Hey! Matthew! How come it took you so long to come back!?" Prince Delcan quickly ran up to us and interrupted my introductions. I'd have a few words to say to him if not for the fact that he could have my head for lese-majeste. I quickly move to looking at Prince Delcan as I looked for some kind of response in my mind. /THUMP! /" Just cause you're excited, doesn't mean you get to be rude, Del!"

Thankfully, Charlotte seemed to realize it was rude and she reacted accordingly. Maybe Prince Delcan needed someone who was willing to give him a whack every now and again?" Oww... What's the deal, Char? You act like you weren't bouncing off the walls yesterday when the Scouts sai-" /THUMP! /" You honestly have no tact!" It looks like they were beginning to do a comedy routine." Anna, how was your trip? Did everything go well?"" For the most part, yes. Every trip has its issues, right?"

Anna and Lucas began to have a conversation between each other. I figure I can leave the siblings to themselves. I'm sure Lucas will tell the Mori Family about Anna's trip. Speaking of which, I'll need to plan for when Liz arrives. I'll need to make sure that our ice cream selection is in tip top form when the time comes. Just as I began to think about the options that I should have, I felt a tapping on my shoulder. I turned around to see who it was."

My Love, I believe everyone is waiting to greet you, it would probably be a good idea to do a proper greeting."" I guess I should?" I turn around from Sarah to look at the crowd." Everyone, I'm back!"" Welcome back, Lord Matthew!" A loud roar burst out of the crowd of Demons and Humans. I guess they were really happy to see me?" Say, Matthew, did anything interesting happen in Zana?" Ruby looked pretty nervous as she spoke to me, I guess she really wants to know about my journey." Oh, well, you know, Ruby.

There're problems that happen on any journey... But I think the biggest thing was that we fought an Evil God."

"..."

"?"" EVIL GOD!?"

"!"

"!" All of the chatter that surrounded us vanished into thin air. Ruby's voice echoed off of the walls around us. Emily and Charlotte quickly ran and lined up next to Ruby. Grip! Grip! Grip! Like trained soldiers, I felt all 3 of them grip onto my arms. I could tell from their eyes, they looked worried." Relax, we're fine. I mean, sure, it was dangerous and I got my head smashed a few times, but we won! And we couldn't have done it without Anna and Princess Alice.

Who would've thought when I saved her from being held hostage that she would've landed the most important blow in the fight? Funny how it all works out, huh?"" Saved her how!?" Charlotte seemed really interested in how I saved Princess Alice. Maybe it's because she's a Princess too?" Well, I caught her out of the sky, like this." I moved my arms out to show them how I caught Princess Alice." What does that mean? How exactly did you catch her? Was she facing the ground... Or the sky?"" Ladies, please!

Allow me to show you!" / Woosh! /"!" Grip! Wrap! Soft! Sarah, without missing a beat, used some of her Wind Magic to levitate above my arms and landed in my arms. She then wrapped her arms around the back of my neck as well." It was just like this! Oh, but I should reward My Savior now, shouldn't I?" Kiss!" Sarah... I understand wanting to appeal to him, but..." Something seemed to flash through Anna's mind, Sarah just smiled with a knowing grin." What?"

Princess Alice called out to Anna as she was also wondering what Anna was thinking." Oh nothing, I just remembered that we all needed to catch up after all of this time apart." Anna quickly flashed a simple smile and Sarah followed her up before I could ask any questions. Release." As a matter of fact, I should join them as well, My Love. You have paperwork to do, don't you?"

"... Dammit..." Sarah let herself down from my arms and I felt the coldness of stamping my name on paper after paper begin to creep into my mind. Time passed and for now, I had Sarah and Anna explain to Mrs. Victoria and Kim that their house would be done in about 5 days, until then, they'd need to stay with us in the mansion. Safe to say, Mrs. Victoria will no doubt be giving me the side eye since she already doesn't trust me that much since I'm a Human.

All I could do was sit in my chair and just do my best to show her I have no ulterior motives." Haaahhhh..." I sat down in my chair finally and sighed. Once I was done, I looked at the giant piles of paperwork in front of me. No use just staring... Grip... I grabbed the first paper and gave it a speed read...." Oh, come on!!!!" /WHAM! /" Lord Matthew!?" I shouted and that caused Catherine to burst into my room, I guess I scared her?" Everything's fine, Catherine... Just... Could you answer a question for me?""

S-Sure? What is it?"" What day is it?"" Uhmmm... Thursday, the 27th?"" Thank you, Catherine." I looked down at the paper and reread it to make sure I wasn't crazy. It read simply." Marquess Matthew Drake, We, Leonard Nyx and Crystal Nyx, are sending this letter in advance, to alert you that we'll be arriving in Paradise on the 30th of the 12th month. May all the Gods Blessings be upon you."