Chapter 111: Chapter 28: City of Freedom 2
The lands of the Northern Continent are rather barren.
All along the way, there are no proper towns to be seen, only some backward villages.
Initially, many of the people who arrived here were mercenaries, criminals, and adventurers, which lead to the local populace being quite fierce. Coupled with the prevalence of smuggling trade, the people here have intricate ties with the gray forces.
Slavery still exists on the Northern Continent, with slaves coming from the Human Kingdoms of the Southern Continent.
They are held captive on farms and in mines, working desperately, sometimes sold at high prices to non-human entities.
Since humans colonized this world and took the dominant position, they have successively defeated elves and dwarves, expanded territories, and then expelled other aliens, ultimately establishing their own kingdoms to slaughter each other. Now in the Southern Countries, elves, dwarves, and gnomes are scarcely seen; halflings are even more rare, and the persecuted targets have slowly turned to female warlocks and demon hunters within the human ranks.
It is said that according to the oldest records, humans colonized here because their world was destroyed.
City of Freedom.
When Su Ziyu arrived at this legendary city, his expression was quite surprised.
Because he saw a rather grand and magnificent big city, the city walls here were more majestic than Lund’s. From afar, many towering buildings with a stylish and grand architectural style could be seen, featuring numerous pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and flying buttresses.
Honestly, he almost thought he was arriving at a grand Renaissance-era city.
This city is completely unlike the style of the entire Northern Continent!
If he had seen such architecture in some Royal Capital in the Southern Countries, he might not have been too surprised, but witnessing such a prosperous city amidst the barren Northern Continent left Su Ziyu quite stunned.
"This city was originally built together by the withdrawing elves," Lady Inid’s voice sounded beside him.
Her expression held a hint of sadness.
Unable to withstand human expansion, the native races of this world—elves, dwarves, and gnomes—were forced to retreat. Initially, elves even fought against humans but were defeated and lost much fresh blood. No race in this world can resist the expansion of humankind, and out of hatred, elves would rather destroy their own cities than leave them to the expanding humans upon withdrawal.
Survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle.
The primitive indigenous people of the Northern Continent were similarly massacred until none remained.
"This place is a bit different from what I imagined," Su Ziyu chuckled.
The team’s procession gradually neared the city gate.
As soon as they reached the gate, Su Ziyu felt a slight tremor from the clover talisman on his chest, his gaze naturally falling on a man dressed like a guard.
This man is not a vampire.
There was no cold scent typically associated with vampires on him. Su Ziyu didn’t know what he was, but the clover talisman evidently detected something.
"Don’t act rashly," Van Helsing whispered.
He seemed quite knowledgeable about the City of Freedom, lowering his voice beside Su Ziyu, "This place does not welcome us."
However, the city does not exclude outsiders.
Yet it doesn’t look very safe here either; prosperity and decay coexist here. Su Ziyu saw many fierce-looking mercenaries and adventurers, and some were escorting a group of shackled humans. They could be criminals, bankrupts, and deserters, but now they were just a group of slaves awaiting sale.
Su Ziyu saw elves, dwarves, and gnomes here.
Contrary to his imagined elves, the ones living here, apart from being more handsome, appeared similar to humans in other aspects. They were shrewd, bargaining with merchants, lacking the legendary elegance, and some even purchased human slaves.
Dwarves weren’t as honest as imagined, though they indeed care greatly about their beards and seem quite hot-tempered.
The most surprising were the gnomes.
Because Su Ziyu saw a steam hammer inside a gnome-run blacksmith shop, the weapons and equipment forged here seemed to be popular.
Unlike the Southern Countries, through streets here, one openly finds alchemy shops, filled with many strange curiosities. Such a shop in the Southern Countries would likely be dismantled by the Church’s Knight Order the same day. Recently, even humans studying alchemy would be caught and tried by the Church.
Of course.
The Church actually holds a vast amount of alchemical knowledge. Otherwise, their alchemical fire oil would not be more potent than demon hunters’ power. Occasionally, they capture demon hunters, but as far as Van Helsing knows, many fanatics within the Church have consumed potions similar to those used in demon hunters’ trials.
"Let’s go inside," Lady Inid said softly.
Su Ziyu did not expect Lady Inid to have a guild in this place, seemingly operated by elves.
The surrounding land and houses are owned by the guild.
Elves treated Lady Inid with great respect, calling her ’Wise One’ using a special language. If Su Ziyu wasn’t a Master of Language, capable of translating, he might never learn what the term meant.
Once safely here, the female warlocks visibly relaxed considerably.
Here Su Ziyu saw halflings for the first time; they are about one meter tall, with a pair of furry large feet, and have a lively character with a reputedly excellent culinary skill. These halflings seemed dependent on the elven merchants here, treating everyone with great humility.
"This place is indeed quite unsafe." Opposite Su Ziyu sat Van Helsing.
The two had just begun a game of Gwent card battle.
On the way to the guild, the clover talisman on his chest had vibrated at least three times. However, owing to the crowd, no abnormalities were discovered. Vampires here can’t be identified from appearances, and they aren’t much afraid of sunlight; high-level vampires even sunbathe.
Many aliens are hidden within this city.
"There are many vampires here."
Van Helsing’s expression was very serious while playing cards, he said slowly: "Griffin."
"I know of a brothel run by a vampire banshee. How about visiting it tonight?"
Are your tastes this diverse?
"Dwarf Defender," Su Ziyu said, brow furrowed: "Vampire banshee? Have you tried it?"
"Yes. What else?" Van Helsing smirked, "They’re rather special."
This guy must be bluffing me.
Thus, Su Ziyu decided to focus on playing cards, no longer listening to his nonsense.
.........