"Whoa!"

With a shout, the carriage halted, and Milante, who was sleeping in the cabin, abruptly fell forward onto the chest of the woman opposite.

The voluptuous curves provided a perfect cushion.

"Such a pleasant scent."

He murmured.

The woman also realized what happened, but did not push the man away; her face turned as red as a cooked lobster.

Because Milante was incredibly handsome, with shoulder-length golden hair, and sharply defined features that seemed sculpted by an artist.

In addition to his tall stature, his short tunic and long pants couldn't hide his graceful demeanor.

The woman had never seen such a handsome man.

Even the wandering bard who visited the village before seemed so ordinary by comparison.

So she was willing to let him sleep a bit longer, or even have a bite if he wanted.

Milante woke to the soft sensation, looking at the skin within reach, sun-bronzed wheat color, slightly rough on the surface.

But they were indeed impressive!

"Sorry!"

Startled, Milante quickly pulled back.

The woman, blushing deeply, replied: "No, it's fine, it's the carriage bumping."

This gesture made the chubby man nearby feel envious, thinking if it were him falling, he'd likely get slapped.

His heart burned, and he shouted: "Driver, what's happening?"

Speaking, he opened the panel between the cabin and the driver's seat, and looked out the window towards the front.

A ragged group had cut trees blocking the road, each wielding gleaming knives.

"It's, it's bandits!"

The man showed a terrified expression, and most passengers inside the cabin also showed panic.

"Why are bandits appearing in the Tulip Kingdom?"

"It should be related to Kusha; I heard from the caravan people before, Kusha has changed kings.

The new king, Ganishka, is young and ambitious.

In his childhood, he poisoned his own brother and drove his own mother to death, continuously eliminating other rivals in palace intrigue.

Last year, the old king fell from an elephant and was stomped to death; many say it was actually Ganishka's doing.

After seizing the throne, within a year he invaded the neighboring country Saka; these must be Saka's defeated troops, their knives carry the unique snake patterns of Saka."

Milante, being knowledgeable, immediately recognized these people as remnants escaped from war.

Experiences truly deserving of pity.

But they can't be called humans anymore.

"Hey, you, get down here and hand over anything valuable."

Someone waved a knife and said such lines, walking to the back of the cabin, his eyes lit up seeing the women inside.

Like a hungry wolf discovering a piece of meat.

Three women shrank their shoulders in fright.

Milante kicked the ground, lunging forward.

A fist as big as a sandbag smashed into the man's face, then he snatched the knife from his hand.

With one knife stroke, he slashed through his neck.

No smile appeared on Milante's face; he then leaped at the second man, fiercely piercing through his chest, stabbing the heart.

He grabbed another knife and charged towards the next one, the movements extremely ruthless.

In a matter of moments, all thirteen soldiers were dead, without a drop of blood on him.

The driver sat there, utterly shocked, saying: "Who, who exactly are you?" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"My name is Milante, and I'm a scholar with an interest in history."

Milante discarded the curled knife in his hand.

He didn't like holding knives and didn't like killing, but traveling across the Eastern Continent, without a bit of strength, bandits aside, occasionally monsters from the Demon Realm cause headaches too.

Though the probability of monsters appearing is not high, whenever they do appear, it essentially spells destruction for a village, even an entire city.

Milante was not an Angel Envoy.

He was merely a scholar pursuing historical knowledge, thus strengthening his physical training. His strength was low, able to fight only some weaker monsters.

...

With the trees cleared, the carriage moved forward, arriving at Tulip City's Royal Capital, Tulip City, by noon.

According to Milante's understanding, Tulip the First wanted to make Tulip his capital in a safer central area.

However, the local nobles, who became wealthy here, didn't want to move the power center elsewhere.

They opposed that proposal, even suggested that as a king, he should have the courage to guard the national gates.

Tulip the First had to put the proposal aside, and before he could bring it up again, he suddenly died one night.

No one mentioned why he died.

Milante did discover in a chat that a guard saw the shadow of someone holding an axe by the window the night the king died.

True or not unknown, no one else brought up the idea of relocating the capital.

Saying farewell to the driver and fellow passengers, Milante opted to head to the Tulip's Royal Library.

His willingness to come to Tulip City was thanks to the policies of Tulip the Second.

The king welcomed scholars, establishing a Royal Library, reputed to hold the most complete collection of books on the Eastern Continent.

Tulip was also referred to by some scholars as the Nation of Scholars.

He walked through the orderly streets, arriving before the Royal Library.

"This is the Royal Library!"

Milante was amazed, looking at the massive building that stood thirty to forty meters tall.

The stone pillars and the large domed roof exuded a dignity rivaling that of The Palace.

No wonder people referred to this place as the Nation of Scholars.

For Milante, it was the first time seeing such a grand library; his heart was filled with emotion as he took out his Scholars' Guild certificate from his bag.

By presenting this, he could freely enter the library.

He could read any book, even his meals and accommodation were provided by the library.

"Respected Scholar Milante, may I ask what you wish to read in the library?"

"I would like to read books about the Era of Gods."