Getting into the city went smoothly.
Saira walked in front and flashed the patrol officer's sign. The soldier looked at it twice and got out of the way.
Lin Ze and Arthur were among a group of farmers driving their sheep. The sheep were screaming loudly, and the soldier covered his nose and waved to let them pass quickly.
After entering the city, Saira looked back at Lin Ze, signaled with his eyes, then led the pony into the crowd, and quickly disappeared.
Lin Ze looked back and blended into the queue entering the city. Arthur walked beside him and looked up at the huge stone plaque above the city gate, which had a line of words he didn't recognize engraved on it.
"What's written on it?" Lin Ze asked.
"The name of the royal capital." Arthur said.
"What's it called?"
Arthur opened his mouth, then glanced at Lin Ze with a subtle expression. "You don't know?"
"Why should I know?"
"... Forget it, I'll tell you later."
The scene in the city is different from the medieval city Lin Ze imagined.
The street is fairly spacious, paved with gravel on both sides, with carriages and horses in the middle, pedestrians coming and going on both sides, porters carrying poles shouting slogans, and pottery on the stalls neatly arranged.
Vendors selling dried fruits pushed wheelbarrows along the street, with red dates and persimmons piled in bamboo baskets. The colors were so bright that they stood out in the gray street scene.
The smell in the air was very mixed, the smell of wheat scones was mixed with the smell of horse manure, and there was also a sour smell coming from the dyeing workshop.
As the two passed by a spice shop, the smell of cinnamon and pepper was very strong.
There was also coking coal smoke coming from the blacksmith shop not far away.
Lin Ze was choked and his nose itched and he sneezed.
Arthur laughed and whispered, "A wizard can still choke on smoke?"
"What? Wizards are human beings too, and they have to choose their identity when they sneeze?"
The two of them walked along the main street, and it became more and more lively as they went deeper. There were a few drunkards squatting at the door of the pub, and a wandering artist playing the piano was surrounded by two children, playing intermittent tunes.
There is a small square at the corner of the street. In the center of the square stands a stone statue with words engraved on the base. The human figure of the stone statue holds a long sword in one hand and presses the other hand on his chest in a majestic posture.
Lin Ze took a second look at the stone statue.
"That's the stone statue of the founding king." Arthur noticed his gaze and explained casually.
"You seem to be quite familiar with the capital?" Lin Ze asked.
"I grew up here."
"Which street do you live on?"
Arthur's steps paused for a moment, then quickly returned to normal. "I moved a long time ago. There is no one at home now, I am the only one left."
Lin Ze nodded and did not ask any further questions.
The two found an inn on the edge of the square. It had a small front door and a golden deer painted on the sign. The words Lin Ze still didn't recognize it. Arthur said that the inn was quite clean and the price was fair, so Lin Ze paid for two rooms.
Before going upstairs, Lin Ze noticed a few people sitting in the corner of the inn lobby. They were not uniformly dressed, but they all had weapons hanging on their waists, and they did not look like ordinary traders or travelers.
The leader was a man with a beard. He was talking to the people next to him with his head lowered and his voice was very low.
Lin Ze glanced at it and then looked away, and followed Arthur upstairs.
Lin Ze Pushed open the door of the room, and a wave of moisture hit his face.
The room was not big, with a wooden bed, a square table with one leg missing, and a clay pot with a chipped mouth on the window sill, with a dry grass stuck in the pot.
There was a basin of water in the corner, with a few broken leaves floating on the water.
He closed the door, sat down on the edge of the bed, and pushed the window open a crack.
Someone was quarreling on the street downstairs. Lin Ze poked his head out and found two women yelling at each other with their arms akimbo. One said that the other's pigs had invaded her vegetable patch, and the other said that your vegetable patch had grown beyond the boundary. After the scolding, they started to talk about the shortcomings of the other's man, and a circle of people gathered around to watch the fun.
Lin Ze lay on the window sill and watched for a while. He felt that the scene was not much different from the vegetable markets of later generations. The expressions on the faces of the people watching the excitement were too familiar to him.
The men with weapons in the lobby downstairs of the inn were still there. One of them got up and went to the counter and whispered something to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper shook his head. The man asked again, but the shopkeeper still shook his head.
The man turned back to his seat in the corner and reported in a low voice to Beard. Beard frowned and drank all the wine in the glass.
Lin Ze closed the window and placed a defensive spell in the room.
When he was about to use the wand to add a few more little Charmss to the window, there was a knock on the door.
"Hey Lin, it's me."
It's the voice of Arthur.
Lin Ze walked over and opened the door.
But he saw Arthur standing at the door, holding an oil paper bag with oil stains on it.
"The barbecue I bought next door goes well with pancakes."
"Come in."
Arthur entered the room, put the oil paper bag on the square table, pulled up the only chair and sat down, Lin Ze turned a piece of wood against the door into a stool and sat on the stool.
The two of them shared the barbecue and cakes facing each other.
The meat is mutton, with alternating fat and lean textures, and it tastes delicious when paired with hard biscuits.
"What are you going to do tomorrow?" Arthur asked vaguely with half a piece of meat in his mouth.
"Let's go around the palace first."
"No one is allowed to approach the palace casually. There are guards at the door."
"I have a solution."
Arthur glanced at him, swallowed what was in his mouth, and hesitated before speaking, "Are you really going to find that Witch King?"
"Hmm."
"Tell me the truth, who is that Witch King?"
Lin Ze thought about it and felt that there was nothing to hide in this matter. Anyway, this young man Arthur had many doubts, so it was better to throw a stone to test the depth of the water.
"He may be a friend I know. I haven't heard from him for a long time."
Arthur's eyes lit up and he dragged the chair towards the edge of the bed. "Really? Then tell me about him. What kind of person is he?"
"Are you that interested in him?"
"Of course, there are too many rumors about him in the capital. Some say he is a devil, some say he is the messenger of the ancient gods, and some say he is actually a monster." Arthur whispered softly.
"Before we got here, we were actually completing a mission together, but then we were forced to separate because some mechanism was triggered..."
Speaking of this, Lin Ze stopped for a moment. He was thinking that with Sirius's character, he fell into this era three years ago, entered the palace by accident, and was left by the king to become the "Witch King".
With his character, he must have tormented the king a lot. Maybe the king couldn't stand it anymore and found some reason to put him in solitary confinement...
"Um... do you know why the king wanted to imprison him?" Lin Ze asked.
"I don't know." Arthur shook his head.
Then he added, "There are several versions circulated outside. Some say that the Witch King wants to usurp the throne. Others say that the Witch King refused to fight for the king and was imprisoned. Some even say that the king is afraid of his power."