บท 38: A Bet
บรรณาธิการ: Henyee Translations
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.
Most 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."
"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.
It 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.
They 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.
This 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."
"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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