Chapter 98: Ryan City
Herag would not stay in Brown City, because the border was not so peaceful and the people were quite complicated.
He needed to go a bit further into the Doris Kingdom, and for a carriage, a driver was necessary, Ed was just right.
Herag planned to settle in a suitable place and simultaneously conduct magic potion experiments while inquiring about the Moonstone Grass.
The Moonstone Grass, like Dragon's Beard Grass, is a high-tier magic potion material, extremely rare.
He only knew that the Doris Kingdom produced Moonstone Grass, but was not sure exactly where.
The Doris Kingdom is so large, he didn't know where to start looking for a while.
The queue for the border check was moving very slowly; Herag had waited for more than half an hour before it was his turn.
"Jelant Logan?" The one responsible for the check was a middle-aged man. After carefully reviewing the identity proof and entry documents, he looked up at Herag.
The age and external features roughly matched, and after confirming that there were no issues, he stamped the document, allowing Herag to legally enter.
In this era, there were no photographs; identity proofs only recorded general physical characteristics, and a simple comparison was considered a completed identity check.
This Jelote's physical characteristics were similar to Herag's, and most importantly, they both had black hair.
In this world, black hair was rare, and no one knew where Milo found a nobleman with black hair.
So Herag's identity didn't need much scrutiny; as soon as you saw black hair, it was unmistakably him, a very distinctive feature.
"I also have a slave." Herag showed Ed's slave identity proof, pointing to Ed behind him.
The middle-aged man glanced at Ed and didn't even look at the slave identity proof, directly said: "Hmm, one slave is fine. If there were more, it would involve slave trading, which requires extra tax. You can go in."
Herag took back his stamped identity proof, returned to the carriage, and said to Ed: "Continue driving."
"Yes, master!" Ed was very excited, jumped directly onto the carriage, and grabbed the reins.
The carriage slowly entered Brown City. After Herag bought some supplies at several shops in the city, he left Brown City straight away.
Herag sat in the carriage, holding a map of the entire Doris Kingdom, marked with various cities and major roads.
His destination was a city named Ryan, located at the intersection of several major transport routes, a transportation hub.
Because of its geographical location, Ryan had been a large city since ancient times.
The Doris Kingdom now had stable governance with very few major disturbances.
A stable kingdom leads to population growth and more prosperous businesses.
Ryan had a resident population of seventy to eighty thousand, and all kinds of goods were available in the city, making life convenient.
Brown was not far from Ryan, and the carriage could reach there in six to seven days along a major road.
Herag occasionally lifted the curtain to observe the surroundings while on the road.
He discovered that the Doris Kingdom was indeed unusual, as he rarely saw any displaced people.
There were often villages alongside the major roads, and the villagers seemed to be in good spirits, rarely looking pale or thin.
However, it could also be because these villages were near the main roads, so their basic living security was not a concern.
"The Doris Kingdom, under the jurisdiction of Dream Island."
Herag recalled the information he had gained before departing, the Doris Kingdom was within the jurisdictional range of the wizard organization Dream Island.
Dream Island was the wizard organization Dino belonged to, and Herag arrived at the Kala Continent by his ship.
He had spent several months on the ship and had a pretty good impression of Dino.
The main activity area of Dream Island was at sea, with relatively little contact with other wizard organizations like Moonlight Forest and Green Cottage.
The West Coast of the Doris Kingdom had a long coastline, with numerous ports, making sea trade very prosperous.
Every day countless ships set off from the West Coast, though not every ship could safely return to port.
Seven days later, Herag could hear the bustling noise of a market from a distance.
He lifted the curtain to sit at the carriage head and saw a lively scene.
Ryan City had tall city walls, with markets on both sides of the main road outside the walls.
Countless people were setting up stalls and selling, with people coming and going, creating a din of voices.
Herag observed for a moment; these people's outfits were obviously different and clearly from all corners of the land, hence the varied clothing styles.
As soon as his carriage approached the market area, some merchants came over, holding their goods and began to shout to sell.
"Sir, take a look at the quality fabric!"
"The fine liquor from Cui Feng County, young brother, would you like to try some?"
...
These people crowded around, forcing Ed to slow down, otherwise, he might accidentally run over them.
Selling fabric and liquor was one thing, but a wily-looking uncle with a towel wrapped around his head also came over, whispering: "Young man, I have beautiful girls here, do you want to take a look? I have all styles!"
Herag smiled, pulled down the curtain, and returned to lie in the carriage.
Seeing Herag return to the carriage, these merchants didn't continue to push their sales; they didn't expect a slave driving the carriage to purchase their goods.
The carriage halted at the city gate; Herag jumped down from the carriage, handed over his various documents to the soldiers at the gate.
After a careful check by the soldier confirming nothing was wrong, he was allowed to enter.
Upon entering Ryan City, Herag's first impression was that the roads here were very spacious, wide enough to accommodate three carriages side by side.
Herag first found an inn to settle in; he originally wanted to book two rooms, but Ed insisted on staying next to the carriage.
He said he was afraid things might get stolen from the carriage, but Herag felt it was because Ed didn't think he deserved to stay in an inn room, which didn't match his identity.
In this era, many concepts were deeply ingrained, and Herag knew if he insisted too much on his own way, he might be seen as an oddity, so he might as well adapt to local customs.
Herag came to the first floor and saw the innkeeper was also present.
The innkeeper was a thin middle-aged man, who greeted Herag enthusiastically as he came down: "Guest, are you here to order some food? Let us know what you want, and we'll bring it to your room once it's prepared."
"Hmm, just prepare any two dishes and bring them to my room later. Also, make sure to prepare something for the slave who came with me," said Herag.
The innkeeper listened attentively, quickly wrote it down on a piece of paper, and handed it to an assistant beside him: "Please wait a bit, it will be over soon."
Leaning against the table, Herag continued chatting with the innkeeper: "Do you know where I can rent a house?"
"Are you looking to rent a house? I can help introduce you. I know quite a few people in that area," the innkeeper said with a smile.
Herag nodded: "Yes, then please help with an introduction."