The Demon King's Paladin Part 1 Vol 2.

Chapter 318. Roads Are Key To Life

" Are you sure that we only want some sheep from them, My Love?"

" Yeah, we have farmers to look after them after all. Besides, this town can't afford to pay what it would cost to fix the road to Paradise. Let alone what Lady Cindy and Byron have gone through... I think it's fine, we scratch their backs with some food and a decent road for that food to arrive quickly and we get sheep to allow our people to start playing around and making things that might become good sellers for visiting shoppers. I say it's a win-win, wouldn't you?"

" I understand where you're coming from, Darling, but we can't afford to look too kind. If so, others might come and seek us out to solve their problems."

" Believe me, I won't have issues telling people no in the future. Besides, they're not random strangers to us, they're our neighbors. At first, yes, I thought it might be best to just use this as an opportunity to raise the anticipation for Roseland Products and announce when we'll be taking in orders, things can change, they're not bad people. I thought that with them not coming to welcome me was a blatant sign of protesting a Human being a Marquess here in Diablos. In actuality, Gasha broke her leg during training, so Gordon and Lady Diana decided to stay put and make sure Gasha healed up properly. Then the Sarks were struck with bad news as well, Phil's mother was deathly ill at the time, so the Sark Family all left for Phil's father and mother's retirement villa in the Southern part of Diablos. Then there's Count Tye, he misread Gordon and Phil's decisions and just followed their lead since he's younger and they're his elders. I think we can cut them a break, don't you? If something actually does happen, I'll react accordingly."

Sarah and Anna looked at me with a contemplative look on their faces. This conversation had started as soon as we entered our room for the night. After Lily showed them the spell that would revive the lands around Zana, we all decided to call it there and eat dinner. We were all still pretty tired from the battles last night, so we decided to call it a night and head to bed. It was an early time to go to sleep, but I'm sure Byron and Lady Cindy wanted to take some time to think about a few things and to grieve. I'd imagine they'll be doing that for the next few months. I know it took me years before I felt like I was even ready to try and move on from losing my parents. I hope they can pull through their grief in time.

" Very well, we'll try it your way, but I still think it's too light a price for all of the work you're going to be doing. You're basically providing them back their lifeblood and a lifeline to Paradise and in return all we're receiving are 50 sheep that we most likely could've bartered for elsewhere for a way cheaper price than the work you'll be doing."

Sarah was not a fan of what I was doing, but she decided to back me on this. I know the concern is coming from a few places, both not wanting to look weak to outsiders, not the Counts that we've already befriended from all the chaos we've had to deal with since coming to Zana, but pretty much everyone else. Warrick did tell me while King Alan and Princess Alice were busy picking clothes for Princess Alice to take with us to Paradise, that I should be careful moving forward since Roseland Products has a real good chance of stepping on the toes of other businesses in the food industry of Diablos. I think the strength of ice cream and the other associated foods should be enough to silence any negativity, but Sarah and Anna are more concerned about assassination attempts rather than losing in a business competition. Since I got poisoned, you'd think I'd be a bit more concerned, but with Holy Heal being such a powerful neutralizer of any kind of damage I could be given, I guess I just feel assured in my abilities? I guess I should work on my perspective along with my training, I know back in my old world the business world is a cutthroat place regardless of it just being filled with Humans.

" We're just worried is all, Darling. I mean, you did so much already, are you sure you can handle all of the work?"

Anna also was concerned about the workload I placed on myself. It was a lot, but when I think about how many people would go hungry without the farmland around Zana, I can't just sit back since the people here are technically under my watch as the acting Fief Lord of this whole area. Warrick did tell me that the Rose Swamps were a huge area, but I thought he only meant the area around Paradise, it wasn't until he showed me a map of Diablos that realized I was in charge of an area that in sheer size is around 25% of Diablos's size. The only issue was that it only had 4 decent-sized cities but not a lot of anything else. Paradise used to be something special, but when we showed up it was a ghost town. That's why my long-term plan was something I've been wondering how to make a reality for a while now.