The road from Crow Valley to the royal capital was very long, and even though Lin Ze occasionally used magic to hurry along, the two of them actually walked for several days.
Saira held an old map that he had exchanged from the village of the East, and poked a vague ink dot with his finger. "Go southwest, pass Blackwater River, and then pass through a hilly area called 'Anvil', and you will reach the Royal Capital Avenue."
"How many more days do we have to go?"
"According to our current schedule, we will arrive in about a day or two." Sela said, calculating.
"Looking for supplies on the way?"
"Blackwater River There is a ferry next to it, and there are many shops there. I used to rest there when I went on missions with my team." Saira put the map away and said.
The two of them walked restlessly along the ridge to the southwest for less than a day before completely exiting the eastern mountain range.
Further south, there is an endless plain terrain. From a distance, you can see people sowing seeds in the fields, and you can also see smoke rising from behind the trees.
There were gradually more and more pedestrians on the road, people pushing carts, carrying burdens, and driving sheep to the market.
Many people came up to say hello after seeing Saira's outfit.
At noon the next day, the two climbed over a low hill and came to the Blackwater River.
Blackwater River turned a big bend at the foot of the hill. Although the river was not wide, the water was dark in color. There were several wooden houses dotted beside the ferry. A broken flag protruded crookedly from the roof with ugly words written on it.
"This is it." Saira led the horse downhill.
The stores here are generally not big, so the two chose a tavern and planned to get some food to fill their stomachs.
As a result, there was a smoky and oily smell as soon as I entered the door.
Several long tables were filled with people, including traders on their way, farmers carrying hoes, and a table of men wearing old leather armor who looked like private soldiers of some lord.
Saira chose a corner in the back and sat down, taking off his scimitar and placing it on the table.
Lin Ze sat opposite her, with her back against the wall, and could see what was going on in the entire tavern.
The landlady was a broad-shouldered woman, wearing a greasy twist apron. She scratched the table with a rag twice and said, "What would you like, sir?"
"Two bowls of stew, one plate of bread, and if there is meat, cut it into a plate." Saira took out two silver coins and put them on the table.
The landlady took the money, turned around and shouted at the kitchen.
Lin Ze leaned back in his chair and scanned every face in the tavern.
He suddenly felt a little dazed. He was sitting at Ministry of Magic a few months ago, but now he was sitting in an era without electricity, waiting for stew.
The stew was served, with more than half a bowl of radishes and a few pieces of meat with bones in it. The two were stewed together, making the soup thick with a layer of oil.
The bread should be rye, so hard that it needs to be broken into pieces and soaked in the soup before it can be chewed.
While the two were eating, the door of the tavern was pushed open.
A young man came in, he looked about seventeen or eighteen years old, tall and thin, with unusual light brown hair, messy and sticking to his forehead.
He was wearing an old blouse that had been washed white, the cuffs were frayed, and he had a short sword on his waist. There was not even a decent ornament on the scabbard, only a few turns of old leather ropes.
He stood at the door, glanced around the tavern, saw an empty stool next to the table Saira, and walked straight over.
"Is there anyone here?" he asked, his voice deeper than Lin Ze expected.
Saira raised his head and glanced at him. "No."
"Thank you then."
The young man didn't see anyone else, he just pulled up the stool and sat down, shouting to the landlady, "A bowl of stew."
He didn't speak anymore after he sat down. He put his hands on the table. There were a few fresh scratches on his knuckles and the backs of his hands were tanned.
Lin Ze noticed that the little finger of his left hand resting on the table was slightly bent inward, as if it had been broken before but not connected properly.
"Have you ever injured your hand?" Lin Ze asked casually.
The young man was stunned for a moment, looked down at his little finger, and grinned. "I fell off a horse when I was a kid. My brother said I was the stupidest rider in the world because of this."
"Do you have a brother?"
"Yes, but we are not together now."
The young man took the stew brought by the landlady, grabbed the bread, broke it and soaked it in the bowl, "He went to the north."
Saira was eating quietly beside her, never leaving her hand with the knife. This was a habit she had developed as a patrol officer. Even when she was drinking soup, she would put the scimitar on her knees, let alone in this crowded place.
"Where are you going?" The young man ate quickly, his cheeks puffed up, and his words were slurred.
"The Royal Capital." Lin Ze said.
"What a coincidence, I'm going to the royal capital too." The young man swallowed the bread in his mouth and wiped the corners of his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Are you a businessman? I see that your boots are not cheap, although I don't know what kind of leather they are made of."
"That's right." Lin Ze didn't explain much. He couldn't tell this young man that he was wearing a pair of Dragon Hide boots.
The young man didn't ask any further questions. He lowered his head and took a few mouthfuls of stew. Then he suddenly raised his head and asked, "By the way, did you hear anything about the Witch King on your way?"
Saira's hand stopped for a moment, and then quickly resumed scooping soup.
"What happened to the Witch King?" Lin Ze asked without changing his expression.
"I heard that the king locked him up." The young man lowered his voice and moved closer, his brown eyes reflecting the flickering candlelight on the table.
"But I think the Witch King is a good person and has done a lot of good things for the country."
"Do you know this Witch King very well?" Lin Ze asked.
"Well... how to put it, I don't know much about it, but he appeared in the palace without warning three years ago, which did cause a commotion..." The young man chewed something, and his mouth was a little slurred.
"You are from the royal capital? You actually know what is going on in the palace?" Sela asked immediately from the side.
"Ahem..." The young man seemed to realize that he had said something wrong, and immediately coughed to cover up his embarrassment.
"Well... I am indeed from the royal capital... but this is just what I heard from the hearsay... ahem..."
Lin Ze looked at the young man's impressive acting skills in amusement, well... he was a bit green and still needs improvement.
"Tell me, what do you know about that Witch King?" Lin Ze took out a Galleon with the pattern erased from his pocket. Lin Ze felt that this so-called Witch King might have something to do with the Mordred who stole Morgana's "life" phalanx.
"Oh!" The boy's eyes immediately widened when he saw the gold coins.
Then he took the gold coin and put it in his mouth and bit it. Regardless of whether the food left in his mouth was stuck to the gold coin, he immediately stuffed the gold coin into his arms.
"That... I actually heard it from hearsay..." The young man pondered for a moment and continued, "I heard that the Witch King suddenly appeared in the palace three years ago, causing a commotion in the palace. After investigating that the Witch King did not have any malicious intentions, the current king kept him in the palace. During this period, the king kept asking the Witch King to use witchcraft to help the country solve some problems..."
"For example?"
"For example, some places are extremely short of water and cannot irrigate food. For example, neighboring countries threaten the country with force to marry the princess to them. Oh, speaking of this, the Witch King gave our country a bad taste at that time. He turned the prince who came to force the marriage into a pig-headed man. Hahaha, you don't know that the envoys from their country were so frightened that they hid under the table, and even the prince who turned into a pig-headed man was so frightened that he became incontinent and peed directly at the king's dinner party." The young man said, waving his fists in the air with excitement.