The Demon King's Paladin Part 2. All Out War.

Chapter 432. Blizzards And Country Placement

                                                                     John Ericsson's Point Of View

" Of course, I do... Huh? Wait... Did... Did something happen?"

" Hm? What do you mean, John? Everything is fine?"

I finished accepting Asha's apology, but something seemed off... It's like I felt a weird pulse or something? I felt confused for a moment... But when I asked if anyone else felt or saw something, Cynthia seemed confused about it and said it was fine. Everyone else looked like they shared Cynthia's thoughts about it... Maybe I didn't get enough sleep?

" Well... Everything technically isn't fine..."

Charlotte said something that surprised all of the girls. I was just relieved; I thought I was going crazy for a second.

" What isn't fine, Charlotte? Did you see something?"

" No, Mat... I guess I can call you John again? For now, at least... It's not what I see, it's what we all don't see. Where is King Warrick and Aqu... I mean, Queen Aqua? They were supposed to meet us here, right?"

 " Huh? Oh.. Right... Well... Yeah... They're missing, but also, Alice isn't anywhere to be seen as well."

For a second, I thought I had an ally, but it turns out, Charlotte had a completely different idea about the current situation. I guess I should just give it up, before I'm looked at with pity from everyone. Instead of dwelling on it, I just asked another question. Alice and Cynthia ended up leaving with Warrick and Aqua after Aqua examined me and Warrick used me as a punching bag for the rest of the day. Cynthia was here to greet us, but Alice was conspicuously missing for some reason?

" Oh, well, Mother and Father are in an emergency meeting right now."

" Emergency meeting? Did something bad happen?"

" Kind of, it's just that a mudslide has caused the main road to the North to be unusable, they're currently working with Uncle Crest and Aunt Dorothy to see how big of a squad should be sent to clean up with Duke Malakai and the local Lords where the mudslide happened."

" Duke Malakai? So, it near Grudge?"

" Yes, about 30 or so miles away from Grudge."

" I see... Hopefully it's nothing major..."

" From the reports, the only injury was an old man broke his arm from a falling tree. It's been set and put in a cast, so it should heal up fine."

" That's good..."

Cynthia filled us in, she mentioned Duke Malakai. Whose full name is Bradley Malakai, was a Duke in charge of the biggest city in the Northern part of Diablos. From what I understand, since 4 of the Dukes had left along with their families, which means the successors to their positions, I.E their children left as well. the remaining 8 Dukes were given the split-up lands of the deserters. More or less every Duke got about 25% more land than they previously had. Granted, it's only temporary. Just until Warrick and Aqua can find proper replacements. From what I understand, they're looking all throughout the country for anyone that's proven to be outstanding in multiple needed fields. Such as business, politics, war potential and reviews of the people around them. So far, no one's been able to achieve passing marks in all of the subjects. Maybe that's the silver lining of this war? Gifted individuals tend to rise to the top during wartime. That held true fin my world and there's stories ad nauseam here in Diablos of all of the High-Nobles having ancestors that achieved great feats during wars. So, Cynthia's answer helped us understand why Warrick and Aqua were missing, but what about Alice? I wasn't the only one to notice that we still didn't know about it. Sarah quickly asked Cynthia for Alice's whereabouts.