“Stop and check!”
When the imperial princess’ carriage reached the toll station, it was directly stopped by a male elf.
Naturally, neither the princess nor Commander Derek knew what a toll booth was. They just thought that it was a guard post. Derek was a bit suspicious as there were no warnings at all.
“This elven gentleman, what do you want to inspect?”
Derek said with a solemn face. If this elf said that he was going to check the inside of the carriage, he would never agree. The inside was not a place anyone could get on. Moreover, he could not just allow anyone to inspect the imperial princess’ carriage.
The male elf glanced at him. Although Derek’s appearance intimidated him a bit, his pride as a resident of Dragon City allowed him to boldly say, “I’m not here to inspect anything, but here to collect a toll.”
“So it’s a toll.”
Derek nodded with understanding. This rule of paying to enter also existed in many cities. It was just that the toll booth seemed to be far, too far even. Dragon City should still be at least many kilometers away from here.
“How much does it cost?”
“It depends on how many you are. One person is a Subilan copper, while a carriage is one Subilan silver. It shouldn’t be expensive seeing how you people are nobles. The road behind is the ‘highway’ that the lord just established. If you are willing to take the side path with the commoners, it could be cheaper.”
The elf was trained to take advantage of the noble’s love for appearances and encouraged them to spend. Any noble with a little more money than normal would choose to take the so-called ‘highway’ instead of huddling with the commoners.
Derek frowned a little. Although he thought that the price was a little expensive, he did not care about this little money and silently took the coins out and handed it over.
The elf looked disgustedly at the silver coin of the Subila Empire and said, “It seems that you don’t know the rules of Dragon City. We don’t accept metal money here. You need to exchange it for banknotes issued by the lord. There is a banknote exchange office over there. You can go exchange some for the toll first and when you get to the city, don’t forget to exchange your coins. Otherwise, you will not be able to do anything in Dragon City.”
Explaining the rules of Dragon City to first-timers was also one of the main tasks of the elf working in this toll booth.
“You…”
As the princess’s guard, Corvin had never encountered such a situation before and only felt that the princess he admired had been insulted.
Derek quickly pressed his shoulder and said, “Do not cause trouble. This is not the Subila Empire but Dragon City. I see a lot of people exchanging for the so-called banknotes over there. His words aren’t done to make things difficult for us but reflect the law here. Corvin, go exchange some money.”
In the face of the powerful legendary rank warrior, Corvin did not refuse. Among them, his identity and strength were the lowest, so he obediently went to exchange.
It didn’t take long for him to return to the carriage and pass the money to the people inside. Whether it was Princess Andrea, Roselia, or Derek, they all curiously inspected the banknotes.
“There are traces of magic on them by using a magic potion. Forging it would be uneconomical as the cost of doing so would be greater than the value of the note itself”
The experienced Derek immediately saw the anti-counterfeiting system of the banknote.
After paying the toll to the elf, then he become solemn, placed his hand on his shoulder, and piously said, “May the Dragon God bless you.”
Other than Roselia, who was a believer of the Goddess of Morning, no one else felt anything wrong with the words. They drove the carriage on the so-called ‘highway’ after being allowed to go.
“Huh? What did the elf just say?”
After passing the toll booth, Derek began to wonder.
“What’s wrong Commander Derek?”
Princess Andrea blinked with pure eyes as she curiously asked.
Before Derek could explain, Roselia cut in, “The elves are believers of the Goddess of the Silver Moon. As believers in the Goddess of Morning, we are hostile to the followers of the Goddess of the Silver Moon, so we know a lot about them. Most of them grew up in the Forest of the Moon, and they placed their faith in the Goddess of the Silver Moon, but the elf just now said that he believed in the Dragon God.”
The paladin paused for a moment before continuing her explanation, “The Dragon God church is the church that the lord of Dragon City had just established not long ago. It is a faith that was based on the demigod dragon.”
“The paladin lady is right. I also felt that that was strange.”
Normally, in a world where gods existed, it would be hard to change the faith of someone who had it since young, but because the gods had disappeared and could not be fully perceived by their believers, faith had become more spiritual. Even if the Silver Moon Goddess had been ruling the elven kingdom as the queen and forced people to believe in her, the faith would not be as firm as the believers during the age of gods.
Being able to see god and perceive god would definitely create firm faith, but if the god’s seat was empty, then it would just be a habitual faith.
Moreover, this group of elves in Dragon City had been the poorest in the Silver Moon Kingdom. When they came to Dragon City, they obtained an identity as residents and lived a good life. It was easy to change the faith of these elves who had been fed. With a god sitting on the throne, their faith naturally became unshakeable.
Now, other than some elves who had a high position in the Silver Moon Kingdom, the ordinary elves had long changed their ways. They stopped believing in the Silver Moon Goddess and instead believed in Louie, the Dragon God.
Just as several people were talking, Princess Andrea suddenly said, “The road here is so smooth.”
The princess’ words stirred up Derek’s heart. He quickly lifted the carriage curtain to look outside. He noticed that the road they were on was actually a smooth tarmac. He was simply shocked.
‘The elf called this a highway, but how in the world did they get a road this smooth?’
To become rich, it was important to build roads. Although this phrase did not exist in San Soliel, everyone understood this logic. The more economically developed a place was, the more convenient the transportation, but even the capital of the Subila Empire did not have roads as smooth as these.
“Look there.”
The paladin pointed a short distance away from where there were many workers repairing the road, but their method of repairing the road was completely different from normal people. There were some mages in robes who were consulting with a few foremen. Then they used spells to turn rocks and those uneven roads into muddy water. The workers quickly went up to pave the road and the mages once again solidified it with spells, immediately creating an unbelievable flat road.
“It’s [Create Stone] and [Create Cement] just these two spells. So these roads were being repaired by mages… But actually being able to make those mages fix the roads, how did that lord do this? And where did he get so many mages from?”
These people from the Empire and the Theocracy, even the princess who claims to be well-informed, and the paladin were all shocked. They felt as if they had entered a large garden maze with many unknowns. This Dragon City was completely different from any other cities that they had been to. Just by looking at the pure white walls of the city, they felt that it was endlessly mysterious.