Swords, magic, and martial arts

The caravan traveled through the night and arrived at a magnificent city just as dawn broke on the third day.

Glacier City is a giant city with hundreds of thousands of residents. There is a large river near Glacier City, which freezes over with thick ice every winter, hence the name Glacier City.

Because of a large river that allows for the transport of goods by water, Ice River City's economy is much better than Ice Stone City's.

Before the river freezes, Glacier City is the transportation hub of the entire northern Nord region. Hundreds and thousands of merchant ships would dock here and then transfer their goods to other cities by land.

The center of Snowwind Province, one of the nine provinces of the Kingdom of Nord, is Glacier City, where the Garfield family, who rule Snowwind Province, resides.

Baron and Rhodes chose to spend the winter in Icestone City instead of Glacier City mainly because prices in Glacier City were too high.

Glacier City has a lot of commerce and trade, and the average person's income is also higher, which leads to prices being much higher than in Icestone City.

In late autumn, after a period of internal struggle, Baron finally decided to move to Icestone City with Rhodes, for the sake of the gold coins, instead of the more bustling Ice River City.

This was also Rhodes' first time visiting Ice River City.

Upon arriving at the gates of Glacier City, Rhodes was stunned by the sight before him: a city wall over twenty meters high, entirely constructed of large black stones carved into square blocks and stacked together.

He never imagined that cities in this world could be of such a scale. Standing beneath the city walls, which were over twenty meters high, he found it hard to believe that such a magnificent city could have been built under such backward conditions without any industrial development.

"Isn't it spectacular? There aren't many cities like this in the Nords, but this is the only one built entirely by the Nords," Baron said, walking up to Rhodes.

"Then who built other cities this huge?" Rod asked curiously.

"I only know a little bit. For example, the legend of Dragonfire, the capital of the Nords, was built by the ancient elves and the Nords in ancient times. It was a dark age when dragons ruled most of the northern lands. They enslaved the Nords and ancient elves on the land and demanded that they build magnificent palaces and castles."

"So where are those dragons now?" Rhodes asked again, this part of history he had never heard of before piqued his interest.

"Later, a hero emerged among the Nords who killed the dragon leader and led the Nords to overthrow the dragons' rule. That hero was the founding emperor of the Nord Kingdom, and his descendants are the current royal family of the Nord Kingdom. I don't need to continue the story, do I?" Baron explained.

Rhodes probably knew what happened next, never expecting that the royal family of the Nord Kingdom would have such an origin.

"Didn't that hero leave his name in history?" Weber, who was listening with great interest, suddenly asked.

"You all know his name, he is the Holy Spirit August," Hammer added.

……

After arriving in Glacier City, the caravan will sell goods there and also purchase goods to transport to other cities for sale.

Rhodes was worried that waiting for them would take too much time, preventing Baron from lifting the curse in time.

However, since the caravan would continue their journey, Webber and Baron decided to rest in the city for a few days and wait for the caravan to finish its business before continuing their trip with the caravan.

A few days of rest would allow Hammer to recover from his injury and Baron to collect wine.

Rhodes walked alone on the streets of Ice River City, hoping to find a blacksmith's shop or something similar to repair his badly tattered armor. If possible, he wanted to buy a new set.

The iron armor he wore, pieced together from rusted iron plates, had played a significant role in his survival; without it, Rhodes felt he might not even have had the chance to stand here.

Rhodes stopped in front of a shop with a sign that depicted a hammer and a sword. According to the original owner's memory, shops with hammers on their signs were usually blacksmith shops, while those with wine glasses were usually taverns.

This blacksmith shop looks more impressive than the others nearby, so it must be a reliable shop.

Rhodes pushed open the door of the blacksmith's shop, and a small courtyard appeared before him. As soon as he entered, Rhodes felt warmth for the first time in the winter outdoors.

There were several furnaces burning in the courtyard, and the sounds of hammering and clanging were constant.

Facing Rhodes was a strong, middle-aged man, shirtless, hammering a red-hot sword blank with a forging hammer.

He saw Rod enter, glanced up at him, then looked down and continued with his work.

At this moment, a man who looked very shrewd walked over. He was clearly not a Nord, as Nords, regardless of gender, all had fair skin.

The man had dark skin, hair resembling a dirty braid, and was only a little over 1.6 meters tall, almost 30 centimeters shorter than the average height of Nord men.

Rhodes had seen a lot of Nords lately, so he was still a little unaccustomed to seeing people who looked like this. It felt like they were completely different from his own style.

"What do you need? We have the best equipment in Nord," the man said with a smile.

Rhodes surveyed his surroundings. There were many shelves in the courtyard, displaying the current mainstream weapons and armor of Nord.

"How much are your iron breastplates?" Rhodes asked.

Ordinary iron armor is relatively cheap on the continent, while steel armor is much more expensive. On the continent, the steel armor of ordinary knights is passed down from generation to generation.

As for magical equipment forged from special metals, most minor nobles don't own a single piece. If magical equipment were to appear on the market, it would quickly be bought up by powerful nobles to strengthen their families.

Rhodes only had a few dozen silver coins on him, and he didn't know if he could afford a whole set of iron armor.

However, the quality of iron armor is far inferior to that of steel. Just like Rhodes's previous armor, ordinary iron armor could not withstand a powerful sword strike from an ordinary warrior, while some meticulously crafted steel armor could withstand attacks from heavy weapons such as giant axes without breaking.

"Even if it's made of iron, we have many kinds here, including the chainmail that's currently popular in Nord, as well as the plate armor that's the most traditional in the Roman Empire," the man said.

Chainmail is popular among Nord adventurers because it is lightweight, offers decent defense, and is relatively inexpensive.

The dark-skinned man described the traditional plate armor of the Roman Empire as somewhat resembling the Milanese armor from the previous world—rounded lines, form-fitting, elegant, and beautifully designed, making it quite "flashy" to wear.

Rhodes's previous armor was the oldest type of plate armor, which consisted of iron plates connected and fixed together with steel wire. It could only protect the vital parts of the body, leaving the joints largely unprotected.

"How much are those chainmails?" Rod asked.

"This is the latest chainmail we just finished crafting yesterday." The dark-skinned man led Rod to a piece of chainmail. "It was made by our master blacksmith, Mr. Robert. Since this is your first time in our shop, I can give you a discount. The original price is 899 gold coins, but you can have it for just 700 gold coins."

Rod's heart sank when he heard the price, and he continued to ask, "Are there any others, something a little cheaper, and the style doesn't need to be so new?"

"How about this one? This is a scale armor made last year by the famous blacksmith Ryan. Although it's not as good as the previous one, it's still excellent, with defensive capabilities close to steel chainmail. I can also give you a discount; you can buy it for only three hundred gold coins." The dark-skinned man was now enthusiastically trying to sell another piece of armor to Rhodes.

"I mean, is there anything cheaper, like something that only costs a dozen or so silver coins?" Rhodes asked, blushing.

Daniel had just paid Rhodes ten silver coins as payment for this leg of the journey. With his previous savings, he had a total of more than twenty silver coins. However, considering that he would definitely have to spend more money later, he decided to use most of it, which was more than a dozen silver coins, to buy armor.

……

After saying that, Rod was kicked out and warned not to cause trouble again, or he would be given a good beating.

After being kicked out, he began wandering the streets again, determined to find a smaller blacksmith shop where the prices would be cheaper...