Arrival at the Capital

Hill still had to settle purchase prices with the owners of several shops. Though he had no idea how the players' experience system was set up, he had to be prepared to receive massive quantities of goods.

Herbs, food, meat and hides, minerals and jewelry—he had to set purchase prices for each, while leaving some room for flexibility.

After having them draw up a purchase list, Hill told them to compare it with Falan's trade caravan. With the two places so close together, the prices had to remain consistent.

He gave the inn one final look. This three-story, concave building with more than a hundred small rooms was the largest structure in the village. The five maids Hill had sent over had all been hired to manage it.

Every family in the village had a fixed job and allocated land. They could be considered prosperous free citizens.

Hill had to remind the inn's manager not to panic no matter what happened if the Undead arrived.

If they ran short on meat, they could issue hunting quests to the Undead. Someone would always go hunting.

Hill would return after attending the coronation ceremony. If there was anything they could not handle, they were to wait for him. Though the Undead were all professionals, they would not casually attack ordinary people.

Hill sensed that the managers were all fairly calm. After all, Falan was a Magus, and Hill himself was now an Archmage. In the eyes of the natives of this world, such backing should be enough to keep them safe.

Hill felt the worst they would suffer was a bit of psychological trauma. That deity would probably still shield the players from some of their excessively bizarre words and actions.

It would be better to wait until he returned before serving them the players, that extra-spicy feast.

No matter how conflicted Hill was, Falan still grabbed him and flew straight toward Salar's capital.

This was Hill's first time entering Salar's capital.

The city called Obastian was immensely grand and magnificent. Three solid rings of city walls protected it from the outside in.

The outermost wall was built from dark bluish-black boulders.

The capital's enormous outer city was not like those in typical fantasy novels, where the outskirts were rings upon rings of slums leading inward to the middle class.

How could the poor be allowed to live near the city walls? At each of the four corners of Obastian's outer city stood a massive military camp. The families of the officers and soldiers lived around the camps, while the security forces responsible for maintaining order in the city formed another ring with their families, serving as a barrier between the camps and the commoners.

In this city, people so destitute that they could not survive were extremely rare. This semi-slaveholding society turned all impoverished people into slaves. And in this world, not just anyone could own slaves. Those without titles could only hire laborers.

Then came the lower-middle classes: craftsmen, peddlers, and those employed by officers and merchants. Various criminal forces also existed among these people. The truly oppressed poor of the city actually lived in the few areas controlled by criminal organizations, such as gambling dens and brothels.

Beyond them were the middle classes. They possessed a certain degree of education and enough money to hire workers and open all kinds of shops and workshops. The capital's lower-ranking professionals generally lived here as well, so this ring was packed with taverns and inns. These people also formed the outer city's vast commercial district.

The ring closest to the inner city wall was generally home to untitled children from branch families and the relatives of the Royal Guard.

Even professionals could only join the Royal Guard if they had clean, verifiable backgrounds and families that had lived in the capital for generations.

To put it bluntly, most who entered the Royal Guard were nobles' children without inheritance rights. But this at least reassured the majority of professionals living in the capital. For the sake of having descendants join the Royal Guard, they would not easily break the law.

The inner city wall was entirely made of obsidian, with magical arrays shimmering across its surface.

Few cities used obsidian for their walls. It was expensive stone usually reserved for border regions. Only wealthy Salar, which possessed the continent's largest gold-element mine, would use it.

The outermost ring of the inner city was occupied by clusters of temples dedicated to the various gods. Not one of these temples, all claiming to serve the people, dared to stand in the outer city. Even churches could only be established in commoner districts by the Lord of Justice and the Goddess of Springwater. How could people truly impoverished and oppressed possibly have the means to pass through the inner city's guards?

Then came layers upon layers of noble districts. Dukes, marquises, counts, viscounts, barons, and knights were arranged in crescent-shaped sections around the palace according to rank, from low to high.

A broad central avenue in the inner city led directly to the palace. For the first thousand meters, the shops on both sides largely belonged to great nobles. Within the thousand meters nearest the palace, every shop belonged to the royal family.

The entire palace stood atop a gold-element ore bed. Within this city of stone, the white palace complex was especially eye-catching. The palace's outer wall, separated from the noble districts by a moat, was covered in magical arrays etched in mithril across white stone.

The king's residence stood at the very center of a pentagram magic array. At each point of the pentagram stood a Mage Tower controlled by a Magus. At the two points where elements converged to either side of the king's residence stood two Legendary Mage Towers.

The entire palace, along with its Mage Towers, was actually used to suppress the elemental tidal vortex formed by the elemental mine.

It was said that when mining began, the elemental tides had formed an enormous vortex that several Legendary mages had needed to suppress together. To excavate this mine, the Legendary mages had entered the Elemental Realm to negotiate with the gold elementals. In the end, they used mithril to construct the palace complex. This was probably the most expensive palace in the world.

Hill had read all kinds of books about Salar's founding since childhood, and he had always been curious about this palace. At last, he could see it with his own eyes. Hill begged Falan to let him see more of the city, and Falan noncommittally held him aloft above the inner city gate.

Flying above Obastian's inner city was forbidden. After giving Hill half an hour, Falan finally descended impatiently at the inner city gate.

Hill was actually already quite satisfied. The outer city did not matter. No matter how prosperous it was, it was still just that. A large city made of Western-style buildings could not hold the attention of a modern man.

The inner city was different. Temples of every exquisite and distinct style drew Hill's eye. These majestic buildings were dazzlingly colorful, imposing, and magnificent.

Past the temple district lay the splendid noble residential area. Elegant estates of all kinds were ingeniously designed, flourishing like a dream, poetic and picturesque, delicate yet profound, as if he had stepped into a fairy tale.

All right, Hill thought. This really was a fantasy world. No wonder Adrian had not found the town Hill designed all that beautiful. Only its plumbing system had been worth praising.

Falan impatiently told Adrian to keep an eye on the absentminded Hill and walked through the city gate.

A commotion drew Hill's attention.

Even Falan stopped walking. "The Undead have arrived already!"

The inner city guards apparently had yet to realize that these scantily dressed women were high-ranking Undead professionals.

In frivolous tones, they told the women not to enter the noble district looking for business.

Adrian asked in confusion, "Can't they see the names above the Undead's heads?"

Hill asked, "Why aren't the guards professionals?"

"Only professionals can see them? No place would have knights guarding the city gates!" Adrian said. Falan added, "Their names are elemental fluctuations. How could non-professionals see them?"

He asked Hill, "And what's with those clothes?"

Hill stared at the exquisite short formal dresses and was rendered speechless. You would have been better off wearing armor and mage robes!

After steadying himself, he said, "Their entire race consists of professionals. They're probably used to dressing lightly. Don't elves also like short skirts and shorts?"

Falan frowned. "It's normal to wear less when living in the forest. Elves wear plenty when they go out!"

Hill could only answer, "The Undead never care about other people's opinions or stares."

Falan could only accept that assumption and told Adrian to deal with it. A large crowd had gathered, apparently all wanting to see how the Undead would treat the guards. No one stepped forward to mediate.

Falan had no interest in waiting.

Unfortunately, those Undead girls had finally understood the vulgar implication behind the guards' words.

Fireballs that suddenly appeared burned off the guards' outer clothing. Screaming, they threw down their weapons and covered themselves with their hands, while several earthen walls trapped them in a chaotic enclosure.

Hill heard a female voice say, "Their asses are pretty white."

The onlookers all fell silent. No one dared make a sound. Even the wildest female adventurers were not this fierce.

Adrian halted, then retreated to their side. "Hill, was it like this when you went to see them?"

"Didn't you go there too?"

"They were all wearing hemp clothes back then. Every day, they hunted, built houses, and farmed. They argued often, but I never saw anything like this..."

"They were busy when I went too. William's subordinates were very polite to them, and no one provoked them. But they fought and cursed each other viciously. The girls cursed too."

"Adventurers curse too, regardless of gender. But they would never do this. Few men would dare."

"Are there mages among adventurers? Their status gives them confidence."

Adrian considered it. "That's true. But are all Undead girls this fierce?"

Hill said nothing, sneering inwardly. Who cares about their image in front of NPCs?

Falan suddenly spoke. "There's even a priest! This is allowed? That one really doesn't care about her believers!"

Hill could only keep muttering inwardly. A healer is just a profession.

The female Undead squatted atop the earthen walls, utterly unconcerned by the watching crowd. They pointed at the cowering guards inside, whispering among themselves as they evaluated their figures and faces.

At that moment, a squad of knights rushed out from within. Their leader shouted, "Ladies! Show a little mercy!"

Adrian almost laughed. "William's guards."