Chapter 96: Chapter 96

Over the next two days, Ron and the other apprentices followed the Territory Guard’s quasi-Knights in repairing roads and building houses in the east of town. During this time, he learned a great deal of much-needed experience and common knowledge from Nar.

Beyond that, there was his exploration of his body’s limits. He couldn’t precisely gauge others’ situations, but for himself, he felt he had gained tremendously.

Of course, this period also included further investigation into the effects of the Radiant Maxims.

However, since Ron was reluctant to personally recite the Maxims, he lacked a lot of first-hand information during his research. He could only obtain relevant data indirectly through passive exposure to the Maxims’ environment.

Consequently, his research progress in this area was quite limited, but he had basically confirmed the importance of the Radiant Maxims and the environment saturated with them.

When the territory’s repair work reached its third day, Arnold and the Lord’s Steward Severn arrived together, the latter bringing the Lord’s latest orders:

At the request of the populace, a new Radiant Church was to be built in the east of town, providing a venue for territorial subjects to collectively recite the Radiant Maxims.

The former, Chief Instructor of Apprentices Arnold, sought Ron out specifically, confirming the matter of his help in finding the critically wounded. Then he revealed a piece of news:

“Those fleeing cultists are still lurking and harassing around the territory’s borders. Young Master Waynes intends to organize a pursuit to eradicate them completely. The intuition you displayed previously would be very helpful for this pursuit, and he hopes you can join.”

“This…” Ron hesitated.

Actually, he had had this premonition a few days ago. It was just that no one from the territory had come looking for him during these past two days, so he thought the matter had passed. He never expected Arnold to bring such news now.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help with the tracking; he genuinely had no means to do so.

His so-called “intuition” was actually the direct observation of Pollution Secret Patterns, but the prerequisite was that the concentration of Pollution Secret Patterns in the entire spatial environment was low enough.

When the tracking target was a self-organizing system like a human body, the relatively low-concentration Pollution Secret Patterns would leave irregular flow traces in space, similar to ripples in water.

These could barely suffice for tracking.

But in an environment with a higher concentration of Pollution Secret Patterns, such as outside the territory, everything became a complete “mess.” As long as the distance increased even slightly, the ceaseless chaos was enough to obscure all information.

Additionally, the interference generated by the presence of his own group would be amplified to the extreme in such an environment, making it utterly impossible to track any useful clues.

The problem was that Ron couldn’t explain these issues. After all, he had already claimed it was intuition. If he backpedaled now, wouldn’t that needlessly arouse suspicion?

But simply agreeing wouldn’t work either. He genuinely couldn’t track the enemy. If a misunderstanding arose and the territory’s pursuit team fell into an enemy ambush, that sin would be on his head.

After a moment’s thought, Ron told Arnold, “Instructor, I think the territory needs to reconsider this matter. When I was searching for the wounded earlier, I already noticed something.

“My intuition works quite well within the territory, but the farther from the territory, the worse the effect becomes. Even within this small area of the east of town, there’s a noticeable decline.

“The reason I was able to find those wounded was mostly because the number of wounded was limited and their positions were fixed, providing enough opportunities for trial and error.

“If we’re outside the territory, the enemy will be moving, and there won’t be many chances for trial and error. If my senses are wrong and we stumble into an enemy trap, that would only hinder the territory’s plans.

“I hope the territory will reconsider this matter and not place too high an expectation on my intuition.”

After speaking, Ron met Arnold’s gaze directly with candid eyes, demonstrating his sincerity.

“Is that so.”

Arnold hadn’t intended for Ron to agree on the spot anyway. He was mostly here to convey Waynes’s intention. Even Waynes himself didn’t necessarily require Ron’s participation.

If he did, it would have been a direct order rather than having Arnold come ahead of time to divulge the situation.

“I’ll report what you’ve said truthfully to Young Master Waynes. Carry on with your work.”

“Yes, sir.”

…

After Arnold left, Steward Severn departed soon after as well, leaving behind only a revised construction plan. Since something like a church had never existed in the territory before, even with simple blueprints, the construction process remained very conservative.

“Ron, what did Arnold want with you just now?”

Beside Ron, the fact that he had been sought out by Arnold was what drew the most attention. Nar started prying almost the moment Arnold walked away.

Since the matter hadn’t been finalized yet, Ron didn’t want to casually disclose it to outsiders. He merely brushed it off with a casual remark: “Nothing much, just talked about helping search for the critically wounded a few days ago.”

“Did your reward come through? Tell me, what was the reward?” Nar was particularly eager about these kinds of things.

Ron found this a bit exasperating. “The instructor didn’t say, but there probably will be a reward. Alright, enough about this, let’s think about how to build it!”

How to build the church had nothing to do with Ron, Nar, and the others, but if they offered useful suggestions, the higher-ups would adopt them without hesitation. Under Sis Territory’s long-standing rule of law, the populace had also grown accustomed to submitting opinions to those above.

Just like the church now added to the revised construction plan: if the people hadn’t made the request, Ron suspected the Lord would never have proposed it on his own.

After all, the Kingdom Decree had been withheld until the very last moment. If it had been brought out earlier, it might have deterred the enemy’s attack from the very start.

Of course, whether the territorial subjects would still believe in the Radiant Maxims as firmly as they did now if it had been produced from the beginning was an entirely different matter.

But regardless, judging from past experience, the Lord rarely ever proactively proposed any administrative policies. He mostly drew ideas from the populace’s reactions before implementing them.

It was precisely for this reason that the Lord earned the widespread respect of his subjects.

When he heard Ron mention the church’s construction, Nar’s expression turned colorful. He excitedly told Ron, “I’ve already thought of several suggestions! I’ll go tell the Captain right away. What about you? Any ideas?”

“As for how to build the church, I don’t have any ideas. I don’t know much about architecture, so I won’t add to the confusion. But regarding the church’s use after completion, I do have a somewhat half-baked suggestion.”

“What suggestion?” Nar asked immediately, but then caught himself: “Don’t tell me, it won’t do any good to tell me. Come on, let’s go find the Captain and have them submit my suggestions along with yours.”

“Alright.”

Ron didn’t decline. This was his intention to begin with. After all, he might be living in Sis Territory for a long time to come, and the church’s existence was extremely important to him. Naturally, he hoped it would develop in the direction he desired.