Knight and Wand

Chapter 65: Dragonmaw City

Following the caravan traveling on the Kingdom Avenue, Leon saw the ancient stone arch bridge across the river in the distance.

And the magnificent city outline surrounded by tall walls in the distance.

In any case, the three of them were refreshed when they saw the first destination of this trip, and their faces were free of the fatigue of the journey for many days.

Compared with ordinary towns along the way, the most famous city in Falair County, called "Dragon Throat" by merchants, is very close in size to the Holy City of Rolandar, the hometown of the original owner.

Especially when they saw the towering spires reaching the sky from afar, it reminded Lohak and Azerien of the Great Temple of Rolandar, which aroused a strong sense of homesickness.

Cross the long stone bridge across the wide tributary of the Rushina River and slowly queue up with the merchants to enter the huge city gate.

However, the knights of "Gray Fir Valley" do not have so many privileges in the Farayel district.

The officers and tax collectors at the city gate counted the heads, horses, and luggage, and charged Leon and the other two no less for entering the city.

According to the merchants who traveled with me on the road, unless the king came in person, you still have to pay a penny when you enter the door, even if you are the Duke of Westra.

Falaye has always valued money over people.

Everyone had no choice but to pay the money and enter the city.

What then unfolded before their eyes was a vibrant and prosperous scene.

Merchants from various countries were dressed differently in the streets and alleys, and there were even merchants wearing kantadar clothes selling their goods in the market, as if the two countries were not at war.

The wide market streets are filled with stalls and shops selling everything from fine cloth, blankets and jewellery to a wide variety of pottery and ironware, grain and spices.

The shops were bustling with travelers and merchants from all over the world, and the sounds of hawking and bargaining were extremely lively.

Passing by a jewelry store, Leon suddenly had the urge to buy some souvenirs for someone. However, considering that money is needed everywhere, he suppressed this little extravagant idea.

Walking through the streets, he found that the planning of the big city was very good, much better than the residence of his own lord. At least the filth that Leon saw on the way into the city from the east gate was much less than that of Farolis.

Of course, it is also possible that the Rushina River near Dragonmaw City is more effective in cleaning than the river in Farolis City.

The mother river has raised generations of Orland people with great care.

But the people of Aolander feed the mother river with feces and urine from generation to generation.
After asking a passerby for the address of a nearby Chamber of Commerce, Lohak stayed outside the building to watch the horses while Leon and Azerien entered the hall and asked the robed staff inside about the postal service.

".Three golden crowns?"

Leon's voice was a little high. This was ten times higher than the price he had heard from the merchants before.

"Respected Sir Pendragon, you have to consider that the routes that the messengers travel have been greatly changed due to the war in the central region, and price increases are inevitable."

The fat old man wearing small glasses behind the wooden window counter swiped his slide rule twice, not caring whether the young country knight could understand it or not, and showed him the calculation results of various expenses.

"Especially your letter, the destination is the farthest place in this batch, the price of three gold crowns is very reasonable, no matter where you are in Dragonmaw City, you will not find a place that charges cheaper than us."

Unwilling to give up, I took my friends to a few more places that accepted mail delivery.

As expected, once we stated the destination, the postage they quoted became even more outrageous.

Leon sighed and reluctantly returned to the original Chamber of Commerce. With a painful look on his face, he obediently paid the money.

After leaving the Chamber of Commerce, Leon thought that when he got the ransom in the future, he would have to reimburse the postage and travel expenses first, and then distribute the money to the leaders.

He went to find a hotel with his friends in a bad mood. Fortunately, the fresh things he saw along the way made Leon gradually forget the memory of being slaughtered. He was amazed at the figures with double horns passing by not far away.

Those "horned men" were tall and strong, each of them was over two meters tall, with thick necks, dark brown skin like rocks, and pale hair.

Their facial features are angular, their noses are high, their foreheads are broad, and their looks seem to be sculpted.

Of course, the most notable feature is the pair of upward-curved horns on its head.

Although he had seen humanoid creatures like the wild goblins before, those squawking creatures were obviously more like monsters.

Now we can see with our own eyes another truly intelligent race that is different from humans.

In particular, they blended into the noisy crowd around them very normally, and both local city residents and vendors ignored them.

Only travelers like me who are from other places will stop and look at those strange and tall "horned men".

"Is that a demon?" Lohak stared at the tall figures going away in amazement.

Leon couldn't help but glance at his partner when he heard this.

After all, Lohak was possessed by a real "devil", so it is quite humorous to speculate on the races of those horned men now.

"Do you know what race they are?" Leon asked another companion. The son of the noble was obviously much more knowledgeable than himself and Lohak.

"It should be Flores, also known as 'Dragon Blood People', 'Dragon People', and 'Half-Dragon People'. It is said that their country is at the southernmost tip of the continent, even further south than the Uriah people's grasslands.

I have only read about it in books, and today is the first time I have seen it with my own eyes." Azerien explained to his companions with an equally surprised look in his eyes.

"The world is so big, there are all kinds of wonders." Leon sighed, wondering if these people had a headache when they slept. With those big horns, how high would the pillows have to be?

Unfortunately, after seeing those dragon people, they never saw any other non-human intelligent races in the city again.

Leon knew that there should be dwarves in this world similar to the one he imagined.

"Hraen" means a short person in the Feru language.

Azerien said that the special steel used to forge the thorn blade came from the hands of dwarves named Heraen.

But in fact, according to Azerien, Heraen had disappeared for hundreds of years, at least in the western part of the continent.

Those short master craftsmen are hardly ever seen again.

As for the elves in novels and movies that Leon remembered in his previous life, there were similar beings in Serrian’s folklore.

But that is already a legend that is closer to a myth.

It's like people in the tavern bragging about having seen a dragon. It's vague and illusory, unlike the dwarves who have no real evidence of their existence.

And the orcs.
The Serian people have always described the Kantardars and Ulliyas as savage and brutal man-eating monsters with fangs.

But it was not until the Kantadar army actually broke through Rolandar that the original owner, a civilian, realized that although they were indeed brutal and savage, they were also humans with normal facial features and limbs.

In Selva, Leon occasionally heard similar descriptions of the existence of barbarians outside of Orlando from the children at home.

I just don’t know whether it is just another human race abstracted in the conflict, or real savage orcs.

(End of this chapter)