Three carriages hanging with the Cecil family emblem were sailing on the streets of the royal capital. In the carriage led by the witch, Jipley, opened the cover on the window, with a hint of curiosity, but kept looking at the city with caution.

She was born and raised in the poor and backward southern area. Until she met Amber, her entire world was composed of dark and dirty gutter corners, low and dilapidated streets and rotten garbage dumps in the town. But like most Ansu people, she also had the opportunity to hear stories related to this great king - from the occasionally passing bards, boasting adventurers, and cunning and vigilant merchants, she outlined the imagined appearance of the city, she imagined the tall and majestic walls, the magnificent churches, the magnificent aristocratic mansions, and the "silver fort" covered with silver foil where His Majesty the King lived.

In those days when she was lying in the gutters and alleys as a liar and a witch, she knew that it was impossible to visit the capital with her status and ability. Not to mention visiting the capital, she might even be caught by the lord and whipped as long as she dared to step into a larger city. But fate is sometimes so wonderful - she was always used to fooling adventurers when wearing hoods and divination decks, but at this time she wanted to say to herself - under the arrangement of a wonderful fate, she became a decent person, a person loyal to the great nobles, and this capital that had only existed in her imagination was now in front of her.

It is indeed as majestic and magnificent as the bards and adventurers say.

But it shows old age and dirtyness everywhere.

Jiple frowned and saw the streets of the royal capital and the tall walls were filled with dilapidated streets and alleys. Along the way, she still saw the ragged poor people and the "untouchables" driven by soldiers. She felt that her beautiful imagination of the royal capital had collapsed little by little.

It is indeed a magnificent ancient capital, which is worthy of Ansu's head in terms of heritage and scale, but Gipley found herself preferring Cecil's clean and tidy streets and orderly towns, and the vibrant people and the law-abiding officials there.

But she remembered the task she received before leaving, so all the emotional changes were hidden well by her. With a graceful and decent smile, she lowered the cover of the carriage carriage and turned to look at the young arcane who was sitting opposite her: "Mr. Santis, let's go directly to the Duke's mansion?"

Santis was a little worried. After hesitating for a moment, he still spoke, "I want to... go home first."

Then he quickly added: "Of course, the Duke's mission is more important. If you think it is inappropriate, we will go to No. 4 Crown Street first..."

"No need to be so reserved, Mr. Santis," Gipley, the witch smiled slightly, like a real mage apprentice from a small noble or a wealthy businessman's family. "According to the Duke's order, you are the leader of this action, and Pierce and I will only provide you with the necessary advice and assistance. You can only act according to the plan you think is reasonable."

"Okay... OK," Santis nodded a little unaccustomedly, and looked away with a little guilty look, trying not to look at the "witch" opposite with long linen hair, wearing a long black dress and a beautiful and charming face. "Then let's go... to Cross Street first. By the way, the remaining two carriages can go to No. 4 Crown Street first, and you don't have to follow them together-the streets of Cross Street are very narrow."

The tall and thin man sitting next to him interrupted when he heard this: "Mr. Santis, if our carriage can enter the crossroads, then the other two will definitely be fine. I suggest that two carriages follow you-you should be as high-profile as possible when you go home. This is a gesture."

Santis was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "Ah, OK, Mr. Pierce."

"Quick Legs" Pierce, who was the escort, knocked on the wooden board at the front of the carriage and shouted to the driving guide sitting outside: "Cross Street!"

Three carriages turned a corner on the street and turned to the civilian area of ​​the royal capital.

Santis felt that his heart "float" in the process, and a feeling of nowhere to fall lingered around him. He took a few deep breaths, and a cold air mixed with a strong and fishy smell penetrated into his nostrils: the carriage was passing by Sturgeon Street, and the fishy smell here could even overshadow the odor of the stools of the urinating objects in the corners of the street.

Even though it is winter, the rotten odor is lingering because it has soaked every brick on the street, which is disgusting.

He couldn't help but open the window cover and look at the street scene outside.

The familiar street scene came into his eyes.

The low, messy, crowded houses piled up under the city walls like layers of moss. Due to the cold weather, there were only a few vendors on the streets, and there were very few pedestrians. The faces I occasionally saw were filled with numbness. Those numb people were shaking on the streets like walking dead. It seemed that the cold winter and malnourished diet had made these people lose all their expressions. However, they also suddenly became "live" - ​​when a carriage with aristocratic emblem drove across the streets, these numb poor people would crawl on the ground almost immediately, with their foreheads tightly pressing on the ground. Their reaction was so fast, as if this was their innate instinct.

Santis frowned slightly, and at this moment the carriage had already passed the short sturgeon street and entered the slightly better "cross block".

Cross Street is a place where middle-level "citizens" live. People with a little status and wealth will live here. Compared with Sturgeon Street, which belongs to the poor neighborhood, the houses here are obviously taller, and those walking on the road are obviously more energetic.

They do not have to crawl on the ground immediately when they see the noble carriage, but they must also hide immediately on both sides of the street and bend their waists to an absolute lower height than the carriage windows - civilians must do this to prevent them from staring at the nobles who may look out from the window.

Only in the higher, more-decent neighborhoods where wealthy citizens of baptism live, those "decent people" who have received the blessing of the church do not need to do this. They just need to stand on both sides of the street and bend over to pay tribute.

In the royal capital, there are naturally more rules than those of the barbaric lands on the border.

Santis, who was born in the Cross Street and promoted to a second-level arcane, is the "most promising child" in this neighborhood. His mage level is also the highest achievement that people living in this area can achieve so far. In the past, even if Santis was not satisfied with the mage's learning or how excluded he was, he was proud when he returned to the neighborhood. But now, when he saw those neighbors who were deeply bowing their heads on both sides of the street, he felt a little bored.

There was no change here, just like when he left.

This was the case last year’s Cross Street, the same was the case ten years ago, and the same was the case a hundred years ago!

But in Cecil, a year was enough to set up a city, enough to allow a group of children who didn't recognize words to learn to write their own names and their parents' and family, and enough to knock back the monsters from the wasteland of Gondor back twice!

Santis thought boredly, and then suddenly saw a little girl in the corner of the streets and alleys looking at this side.

The little girl was wearing a neat but old dress with only one patch on the dress. She was combed with two neat ponytails, her face turned red in the cold wind, and her hands were holding a bulging cloth bag.

She seemed to have just walked out of a street corner, so she didn't have time to bow to the noble carriage, but looked here with a little unresponsiveness.

Santis was stunned for a moment, then shouted, "Pepe!"

However, the little girl had suddenly ran away before he spoke, and seemed to have not heard his next words.

"Who is that?" Jipley, who was sitting opposite him, asked curiously.

"My sister," Santis said in a strange tone, "Why did she run?"

The little girl ran quickly across the street, ran to a house that looked slightly newer than the surrounding buildings, and hurriedly pushed the door and ran in. A middle-aged woman wearing an old cotton coat and an old apron grinding herbs in the middle of the house heard the movement and looked up at her little daughter in surprise: "Pepe? Why are you back so soon? Have you handed the herbs to Mr. Wien?"

Then she saw the cloth bag in the little girl's hand and frowned, but before she scolded her, the little girl had already stammered because of her nervousness: "Mom...Mom! Three large carriages came outside! They are noble! There are...the emblems hanging on the carriage, just like the ones that my brother drew on the letter last time he came back from sending a letter!"

The middle-aged woman was stunned for a moment, and suddenly her hand shook, and the wooden hammer used to grind herbal medicine fell to the ground.

She didn't care about picking up her, and immediately stood up and stared at her little daughter's eyes: "Did you see clearly? It's really that emblem? The emblem of the sword and the plow?"

The little girl grabbed the cloth bag in her hand, feeling nervous and scared: "I saw it clearly..."

"That's the emblem of the Cecil family... it was sent by the Duke of Cecil... Do you see anything else in the carriage? Is the coachman's hat or clothes covered with a sacrificial anus? Is there a strip of cloth with white petals hanging on the horse that drives?"

The little girl seemed to be frightened by her mother and couldn't speak nervously. The door leading to the inner room opened at this time. The male owner of the house heard the movement and walked out: "What's wrong? I heard it was very noisy outside."

"Dear, Duke Cecil, three carriages came..." The mistress of the house tugged her hands hard, "Will something happen to Santis? I told him that the Dark Mountains are a very dangerous place, so he must be careful, but he always says in the letter..."

"Calm down," said the middle-aged man, "Santis is just a second-level arcane. The Duke cannot send three carriages to inform..."

Just then, a knock on the door suddenly came.

The men and women were stretched out almost immediately. They stopped breathing for a moment and stared in the direction of the door, while the little girl standing closest to the door almost jumped up.

The knock on the door was still ringing, and the little girl was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously walked towards the door of the house.

"Wait a minute, I'll drive."

The middle-aged man said, and walked past his wife and daughter to the door.

He opened the door, and the cold wind blew over his face, and a tall and thin figure stood there.
Chapter completed!