"The children surrounded us, begging us to help Lady Nora, but there was nothing we could do. It felt so frustrating." Alfred said with little enthusiasm, "Sometimes I wonder if we, as paladins, aren't supposed to uphold justice and lend a hand to the weak? But I've encountered this kind of situation several times."
"Heh, Afu, you must understand that human power is limited and also precious." Seeing this, Laine sat down as well, looking at the dim sky and sighing, "If justice doesn't require a price, does it mean that justice itself has no value? If you don't respect order, does the existence of order still hold meaning?"
"I know that too, and if there's no talk of cost, the power of a paladin can easily be exploited by those with ulterior motives..." Alfred quickly recovered, standing up to brush off the snow and mud from his body, returning to his cheerful demeanor, "That's about it, let's head back!"
"You guys go back first! I still have something to deal with." Laine, however, indicated that he had some personal matters: "It's my personal affair, you don't need to get involved."
"Personal affair? What kind of business do you have to attend to in this abandoned manor at night?" Teresa was puzzled, her beautiful face full of curiosity, "And why alone? Didn't we agree to face things together?"
"This is different. This is my personal matter, I need a bit of private space, alright?" Laine shook his head, clearly not wanting the two to continue their involvement.
"Alright, alright, Lady Trovik, since Laine doesn't want us involved, let's just head back!" Alfred came out to mediate, his words giving the female sorcerer a way out. Teresa reluctantly glanced at Laine, her red lips softly asking, "Will you come back for dinner tonight?" Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs nοvelfire.net
"No." Laine shook his head, walking towards the depths of the manor, the female sorcerer helplessly using her Space Ring to store the Scorpion-tailed Lion's corpse, heading back to Mijordenhaven with the paladin.
The interior of the manor had already fallen into serious disrepair. It was evident that since the manor was abandoned, few thieves or scavengers visited, possibly deterred by the Scorpion-tailed Lion. Laine walked up a small uphill path towards the collapsed manor house.
This type of manor was quite common in Nord, typically featuring a large house or castle surrounded by fields, cottages, pastures, and woodland. In most cases, the manor could be self-sufficient. Some surplus goods could be traded with other manors to complement shortages, and generally, a manor would have ten or more tenant farmers, dedicated to providing for the life and production of the Manor Lord.
The situation of tenant farmers varied, with some receiving more shares and partial ownership, while others were no different from peasants—they not only had to pay seventy or eighty percent of their yield but also were responsible for organizing and caring for the Manor Lord's daily needs and life.
Charlemagne himself was born as a tenant farmer. The founder of the Human Empire spent his childhood herding cattle, farming, chopping wood, and forking manure. The great builder of the Human Empire did not consider these things shameful but rather took great pride in them. The story of rising from tenant farmer to emperor deeply inspires generation after generation of young farm lads to bravely embark on adventurous paths.
However, the large house that appeared before Laine was already severely damaged. The doors and walls of the house had all sorts of large holes, the roof had completely collapsed, revealing glimpses of the broken furniture and flooring on the second floor, with snow also having fallen into the interior of the house.
"Truly fitting the definition of an abandoned manor, Lady Nora will have a lot of work ahead if she wants to move back in." Laine snorted twice.
In fact, as long as the demons were cleared out and relative safety was guaranteed, Nora could rebuild this manor with the help of the Life Church. As for tenant farmers... there were plenty of farmers unable to survive without land—recruiting some tenant farmers wouldn't be hard. Just as long as they could have enough to eat and not freeze to death, it would suffice.
This isn't the main issue, the main point is... the relics of the Ancient Saint are right here!