Chapter 38

A broad road lay behind the gate of Delpon . There was a crossroad every dozen meters . Square buildings of different heights stretched to the horizon, too .

There were many peddlers on the street, and many skinny beggars with ragged bowls placed before them .

Since it was morning, there weren’t many people on the street, but it was already quite lively .

Roland and Betta simultaneously held their noses when they came in, because it was too smelly .

Animal and human excrement was everywhere on the street . Feces were floating in the drains .

Red Mountain Town was not very clean, but definitely much cleaner than this .

However, it was very medieval .

Roland and Betta attracted almost everyone’s attention, but most people moved their eyes away after a peek at them .

Nobody wanted trouble .

Betta sensed the atmosphere, too . Blocking his nose, he said, “I feel that people in this city are terrified of nobles . Both the merchants outside and the residents here are so wary . People in Red Mountain Town were not so scared of me . ”

Roland thought for a moment and smiled . “Red Mountain Town is just a remote town . The highest authorities there are Falken and the mayor . Both of them are gentle elders . Naturally, the villagers of Red Mountain Town have never suffered the intimidation of nobles . But things are certainly different in a city of a million people . There are bound to be some temperamental big shots here, and they may do terrible things . ”

Betta thought for a moment and realized that it did make sense . The more people a place had, the more freaks there would be .

They walked on the street . All the passersby subconsciously avoided them .

Soon, they found a pool of sewage ahead .

The pool was long and wide, occupying the whole street . Neither Roland nor Betta could jump over .

1Most passersby walked on tiptoes through it, ignoring the feces and urine inside . As civilians, they did not really care about it .

The nobles traveled on wagons and were not worried about this .

At this moment, a young man on the third floor of the building on Roland and Betta’s right observed them with great interest .

“A young noble and a spellcaster who I’ve never seen . ” The young man turned away and said to his partners, “But they seem in trouble now . How do you think they will fix the problem?”

Another few nobles leaned close to the window and looked down .

One of them said, “I’d take a detour . ”

Another suggested, “If I were them, I would spray some coins and let the pariahs crouch on the ground, so that I could step on them . ”

5“Not a bad idea . ”

The other nobles agreed . The noble who came up with the idea was satisfied .

The first noble said, “If I were them, I would go back and hire a wagon . They are obviously not locals, and they may get lost if they take a detour . Using civilians as steps is too high-profile and will affect their impression about us . ”

“Hahaha . John, you are as ‘merciful’ as always . ”

The young noble named John chuckled . “Let’s make a bet . ”

“What bet?”

“If the two people down below use any of the three methods we mentioned, I’ll pay for your entertainment in this place . ”

“What if they use other ways?” asked a noble .

“Then, every one of you must take part in my sister’s birthday party the day after tomorrow . ”

“Hahaha . Okay, not a problem . ”

Everybody was happy . Both having fun in this place or taking part in John’s sister’s party were good things . They wouldn’t lose anything whatever the result was .

Down on the street, Betta was at a loss before the dirty water . He said, “Why don’t we take a detour?”

“That’s unnecessary . ”

Roland pointed his finger, and a concentration of cold air surged out and paved a road of ice on the dirty water .

2It was a derivative spell of Ice Ring that Roland invented recently . It was not powerful, but Roland thought that it could be useful as a rapid freezing method on certain occasions, like right now .

On the third floor, all the young nobles fell silent . In the end, John laughed . “What an interesting spellcaster . I’ve never seen anyone squandering magic power like him . ”

Betta also said in amazement, “Magic is really useful . ”

The civilians nearby were shocked by the magic, but they gradually calmed down seeing that Roland and Betta did not intend to hurt them .

Walking over the ice bridge, Roland and Betta continued .

5They had questioned the city guards when they entered the city . The white tower, which was the highest building in the city, was the headquarters of the Association of Mages .

2This magic tower was at the end of the road .

Delpon was a large city . The white tower seemed close but was actually far away .

It took them half an hour to reach the tower .

They found themselves in a square made of blue and white bricks . It was clean, lacking the garbage that littered the rest of the city .

The magic tower was exclusively built with white rocks . There were no gaps, as if the rocks were naturally one great rock .

The tower was rather enormous . It was at least seventy meters in radius .

Raising his eyes at the tower, Roland sensed patterned, invisible waves emanating outward .

“Is this a magic creature?” Roland mumbled in a low voice .

At this moment, Betta suddenly said, “Brother Roland, I won’t go in with you . I’m not a Mage anyway . I’ll wander the city and see if I can trigger any quests!”

Roland frowned and asked, “Then how should we meet up later?”

“I saw an inn named Lamb Girl on our way here . I’ll stay there . You can come to the inn if you want to see me . ”

9“All right . ” Roland nodded and said, “This is a large city . It’s not a bad idea that we explore it separately . ”

Betta waved at Roland and ran off excitedly .

Staring at the gate of the Association of Mages, Roland walked closer .

When he reached the gate, one of the two guards there stopped him . “I’m sorry, but the magic tower is open to members only . Do you have a Mage certificate?”

After a brief daze, Roland asked with a smile, “How should I get this certificate?”

The guard said rather awkwardly, “I’m sorry, but I’m not clear on that, either . ”

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