Journey

As soon as Belik's neck was severed, Belicha approached.

"Belik has quite the bounty on his head in various countries, but the basic requirement is to capture him alive. What a shame!"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

After the interlude, Ronan sold Belik's head to a merchant for 100 gold coins. He heard that Belik's head could fetch 300 gold coins in Gaoling, and 700 if captured alive, but Ronan didn't have the time to go to Gaoling. Furthermore, preserving a head required embalming, and carrying a severed head around was rather bizarre.

Although Ronan was quite upset about losing out on the bounty, the 237 reputation points and 2 honor points he gained from his performance eased his gloomy mood.

After a period of rest, the caravan set off again, heading for the next town, Mazan. Once they passed Mazan, they would enter the heartland of the Holy Cross Kingdom, where there wouldn't be as many bandits, and the journey would be relatively much safer. After passing through a few more cities, they would reach Whiteport, the border between the Holy Cross and Sinterland. Whiteport was a port city and the most economically developed city in the Holy Cross Kingdom, with many merchant caravans from another continent frequenting it.

Ronan knew very little about the other continent. He only knew that they seemed to have a city-state system, as most of it was desert terrain, unsuitable for human settlement. Between the two continents lay countless islands, inhabited by people who called themselves Sea People. They were usually fishermen, but when they took up arms, they became pirates, causing a lot of trouble for the merchant caravans traveling between the two continents. However, with so many islands, it was difficult for the army to capture them.

Despite the rampant piracy, merchant ships still sailed back and forth continuously because the profits were too high. As long as they managed to complete one trip, they would earn a fortune.

After several more days of travel, Ronan and his companions finally arrived at Mazan. The first thing the travel-worn group did upon reaching the inn was to take a bath, especially the women led by Daisy. Ronan also felt quite uncomfortable, as a modern person in his past life, he found it difficult to adapt to living without bathing for such long periods.

Fortunately, water resources were abundant in this world, and most inns and households had a bathtub. It wasn't like in the books Ronan had read, where some ethnic groups only bathed twice in their lives: once at birth and once at marriage.

While Ronan and the others rested at the inn, Belicha took two guards to handle the cargo. Ronan had no idea what Belicha had told Daisy, but he managed to do so without arousing her suspicion.

Ronan relaxed lazily in the bathtub, feeling the warm water wash over his body, and closed his eyes comfortably.

"Ah, I wonder if there are any hot springs in this world. If I find one, I definitely have to try it."

Feeling drowsy, Ronan stood up, dried himself, put on his pajamas, and collapsed onto the bed to sleep.

The next morning, Ronan was woken up by his biological clock. Since coming to this world, Ronan's biological clock had become increasingly precise and earlier. His sleep had also become much lighter, and he would wake up at the slightest disturbance. Ronan could only attribute this to the changes brought about by the Great Serpent and the Guardian Template.

There were many merchant caravans coming and going around Mazan, and it was also close to a prosperous area of the kingdom, so the produce was extremely abundant. This breakfast was better than any breakfast Ronan had ever eaten. There was white bread, honey, sausages, mashed potatoes, steamed lamb with peas, turnip cream soup, and Ronan even saw some tables ordering a whole roasted chicken. However, Ronan didn't want to eat something so greasy in the morning, so he didn't order it.

Belicha, Daisy, and the other caravan members also woke up. Ronan quickly beckoned them over to eat breakfast as they came downstairs. Having just made a fortune, Ronan decided to be generous and treat them to breakfast.

However, it ended up costing Ronan a little bit. Even if the unit price was cheap, there were still many people, especially the Nords, who could eat almost twice as much as normal people. Ronan had to worry about future food expenses, as the number of troops would surely increase.

With the cargo gone, the caravan became much lighter, and their movement speed increased significantly. They would likely arrive about a third faster than originally estimated.

After passing Mazan, they would reach Whiteport after passing through a few more towns such as Bart, Malda, Yellon, and Qinghe. Walking for less than five days past Whiteport would allow them to cross the border into Sinterland and reach its southern fortress, the Tree Wall.

However, after passing through the fortress, it would take about a month to reach the capital of Sinterland, Teldrasil. This route did not pass through the capital of the Holy Cross Kingdom, Tongshi City, which slightly disappointed Ronan, as he hadn't visited any major cities since arriving in this world.

The rest of the journey was smooth sailing, as if the Moran Kingdom had given up. That was understandable, as this was already the hinterland of the Holy Cross, and it wouldn't be easy for the Moran side to infiltrate their forces. After all, the elite troops from Moran were very distinctive.

The peace along the way also made Daisy cheerful again, restoring her usual lively personality. Perhaps it was because they had gotten more familiar with each other, but Daisy often played small pranks on Ronan. However, after falling for a prank once, Ronan, who had learned his lesson, was extremely cunning, and in the end, Daisy's pranks would often backfire on herself.

Watching Daisy's unwilling expression after failing her prank, Ronan let out a mischievous laugh. After a journey of wits and battles, Ronan and his group finally arrived at the last city of the Holy Cross Kingdom, Whiteport.

Whiteport was built by the sea and was the largest port on the Holy Cross Kingdom's not-so-long coastline, with merchant ships arriving and departing every day. It was the Holy Cross Kingdom's largest import and export base and seafood supply center, ranking among the top three in importance for the country.

This was also the largest city Ronan had reached since arriving in this world. Whiteport had a permanent population of up to 50,000, making it the most populous town in the Holy Cross Kingdom besides the capital. It had a permanent knight order of fifty knights and about five hundred professional soldiers, with over two thousand remaining militiamen and mercenaries.

The reason why Whiteport had so many standing troops was the pirates who called themselves the Sea People. Whiteport dispatched fleets every month to patrol and drive away pirates to ensure the safety of the sea routes. Fortunately, Whiteport's tax revenue was very high, otherwise, it would be difficult to afford the daily expenses of these professional soldiers and the commissions of the mercenaries.

After being inspected by the guards, Ronan and his companions successfully entered Whiteport. On the streets, Ronan saw many people with yellow skin walking around. Out of curiosity, he asked Belicha about it, as everyone Ronan had seen since arriving in this world had been white.

"They should be merchant caravans from another continent. The people on that continent generally have yellow and black skin."

Nodding in understanding, the sense of familiarity with yellow skin made Ronan decide to visit the other continent if he had the chance in the future. However, his immediate priority was to finish his current work and then find a way to earn a large sum of money, as traveling to another continent would require travel expenses.