The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 15: The City of Knowledge, Ilma. Part-2.

Ethan was very excited to tell Alex about the city of Ilma, as he wanted Alex to have a favorable impression of it.

He knew that Alex didn’t want to leave the royal palace and didn’t want to leave that comforting life behind.

So, he wanted to let Alex know that the city of Ilma wasn’t that bad of a place to stay either.

"Uh... the church is currently not in the best condition, but everyone there is kind and gentle!"

"The city of Ilma is the domain of the count of Ilma, and the current head of the count family is the kind Lord Foley Von Ilma!"

"The Ilma nobles are mostly from one family, and they have been protecting the city for centuries now!"

Alex narrowed his eyes at the mention of the nobles of the city of Ilma.

’I see, so I have to deal with this Lord Foley first to get control of the entire city...’

It’s not that Alex has any personal grudges with the other party or anything; his main motive was just control and power.

In this dog-eat-dog world, if Alex wanted to spread his knowledge and wisdom, and if he wanted to collect the entire world’s wisdom, he needed resources, power, and control.

’I need to assess the situation of the entire city and either I have to make this ’Foley’ guy my subordinate or I have to make someone else sit on the seat of power as my puppet...’

Alex grinned evilly as several dozen plans started to appear in his mind automatically.

"Aside from the nobles, the population of the city is around 200 thousand people!"

"There are all kinds of food and unique cultural things that you will never get bored of them!"

While leading the horse, Ethan smiled as he continued speaking.

"The city is massive! It has thousands of soldiers and several dozen knights protecting it day and night!"

"There are hundreds of believers of the god of wisdom in the city, and there is always something new and interesting happening in the city!"

Alex nodded his head and replied in a calm tone,

"I see... it sounds like quite an interesting place to live..."

Ethan nodded his head at Alex’s words.

"The cooking made by Sister Melissa is truly unique and delicious; I am sure you will like it too!"

Alex, who was used to eating protein bars and surviving on energy drinks, didn’t have too high demands in terms of food and taste.

As a scientist, he was often very busy and barely even had time to have a proper meal.

Unlike other colleagues who had friends, family, or a lovely wife who cooked meals for them, Alex didn’t have that luxury.

He was either eating snacks or processed food most of the time and was drinking copious amounts of energy drinks throughout the day, which affected his health tremendously.

’Sigh, even after having quite a bit of money, I lived my life like so carelessly... thankfully I got a second chance, otherwise I would have really been miserable...’

Alex shook his head and looked forward to the delicious cooking.

As they say, even villains need food and money so that they can have the energy to behave like villains and do villainous things. (Source: Trust me bro...)

’Sigh... it’s all good and nice from Ethan’s perspective... but I am not sure how much of what he’s saying is true though...’

’He’s an airhead; he might not be able to see things in detail...’

Alex didn’t want to interject when Ethan was explaining things so happily, so he just stayed silent and listened to him quietly while thinking of various future plans in his head.

’According to what he’s describing, the armies here are still using swords and spears etch as main weapons...’

’It seems the era of guns hasn’t arrived in this nation as of yet...’

Alex knew that there’s no way that every one of those soldiers and knights was a powerful superhuman.

There’s no way there can be so many talented and powerful beings; most of those soldiers and knights must be ordinary humans.

’Perhaps those with the title of ’Knight’ might be a bit above ordinary humans but there’s no way that everyone of them is as strong as this airhead, right?’

Alex couldn’t sit still, so he asked Ethan that question.

"You think I am very strong? Well, perhaps I might be one of the few strongest among all the warriors in the city of Ilma but when it comes to the entire nation..."

"I am still too far away from the actual powerhouses... compared to the royal knights and the generals, I might just be a slightly larger ant!"

Alex didn’t expect such an answer and was quite surprised by Ethan’s words.

’Does that mean Alex’s mother... who was the commander of the royal knights, was a top-level powerhouse of the empire, many times stronger than Ethan!?’

Thinking about this matter, Alex sighed.

If the original Alex’s mother was still alive, he might not have been kicked out of the royal palace and might have been able to live a long life of luxury and wealth!

Then he would have a lot of power and influence as a prince, and he wouldn’t need to make sinister plans to rule cities just to make his wishes come true.

’Err... I guess things don’t always go your way; I will have to force them to go my way somehow...’

"So, do you stay in the city all year long, or do you go on missions every month?"

At Alex’s question, Ethan shook his head and replied in usual calm voice,

"No, usually I stay in the church and train the next generation of paladins for the church; only when some important missions come do I need to leave..."

"You don’t have to worry, your holiness! I will always be at your service! No matter the situation, I will always protect you!"

Alex smiled at Ethan’s words.

"Hehe, no wonder you managed to get yourself a loving wife and succeeded in life!"

"Despite being an airhead, you have quite a way with your words! If I were a girl, I would have fallen for you by now! Quite clever!"

Hearing Alex’s teasing tone, Ethan was embarrassed and couldn’t find words to retaliate.

While laughing and talking, the two of them made their way forward, and by the time it was noon, they had already reached the city gates!

Looking at the massive city walls, Alex was quite impressed.

’Oh, so they do have concrete here! Nice!’

The entire wall was made up of giant stones stacked one upon another and fixed in place with concrete.

Alex could even see hundreds of soldiers walking and patrolling on top of the walls.

There were dozens of soldiers standing guard near the massive city gates, and they were inspecting all the caravans and people wanting to enter the city.

"The security here is quite good; I was expecting them to only have just two random guards standing and taking bribes from everyone to let them pass..."

Ethan smiled at Alex’s words and replied in a calm tone,

"Well, the monster activity in the nearby area has increased recently so the security has been improved a lot..."