Feng Chou and Simon had stayed in the underground world for almost half a year. Not to mention their hair and beards, they had not even washed their faces. Although Feng Chou could not see himself, Simon's appearance was not much better than that of a barbarian. His disgusting hair and beards covered half of his face. The parts of his face that were not covered were covered in dirt and pitch-black. The inlaid leather armor on his body looked decent, but his hands that were exposed were as black as chicken claws.
Feng Chou squatted down and looked at his own reflection in the water. He seemed to be a little stronger than Simon, because he did not have a beard. His body was only seventeen years old, not yet at the age of having a beard, but it was not much different. Because his hair was also disgustingly tied together, it was almost impossible to see the originally beautiful golden red color. His face was also pitch black, and his hands were like chicken claws.
The two squatted by the river and carefully washed themselves.
They spent half a day and finally made themselves look like normal people.
After cleaning themselves up, the two of them crossed a stone bridge, passed through a field of farmland, and arrived at the north gate of Ferguson Town. However, Simon didn't plan on entering the town. He brought Feng Chou from the north of the town, and along the small path in the fields outside the town walls, they made a detour to the south, and arrived at the pier outside the town's south gate.
There was a hotel on the road from the dock to the town's south gate.
In front of the hotel was a courtyard surrounded by wooden fences, and there were a few carriages parked in the courtyard.
The main building of the hotel was a small three-story building with a courtyard behind it. Behind the courtyard was a row of warehouses.
Simon brought Feng Chou into the hotel. On the first floor of the hotel's main building, there was a tavern with a large area. There were many guests sitting inside.
Most of the guests here wore all kinds of armor and carried all kinds of weapons, but these people were not necessarily mercenaries. Some of them were merchants, and some were workers of trade caravans. This world was so dangerous that even serfs would carry axes and spears when they went out to work.
In this world, those who dared to cross the wilderness to do business were not weak. Some of the intelligent races in the wilderness especially liked to ambush passing caravans on both sides of the road, such as the Gnolls.
Many of the members of the caravan were retired mercenaries who had changed their profession. Many of the mercenaries also did small businesses on the side. For example, when they received a mission to a remote territory, they would escort a cart of goods over.
After entering the tavern, Simon knocked on the bar counter. "Hey, I need a guest room."
The manager at the bar stared at the two of them for a moment and asked Simon to pay the deposit first.
Although the two of them had washed up by the river, their appearance was still very suspicious.
Seeing Simon's troubled expression, the tavern owner immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum.
Simon could only remove a scimitar from his waist and hand it to the shopkeeper as collateral. Only then did he get the key to a guest room on the second floor.
After entering the guest room, he handed the bag containing his weapon to Feng Chou and asked him to wait for him there.
After Simon left, Feng Chou asked for another room on the third floor of the hotel.
This small hotel building was the tallest building near the pier. Standing in front of the window on the third floor, the view was very wide.
Feng Chou watched Simon walk into the south gate of the town.
He looked at the town not far away and couldn't help but fall into his memories.
This town was neither big nor small. It was surrounded by a square wall less than two kilometers long. The wall was more than six meters high, and every forty meters on the wall, there was a semicircular defense tower. There were four large defense towers at the four corners of the wall.
Looking past the wall, he couldn't see the ordinary buildings in the town, but he could see a few particularly tall buildings.
The most conspicuous of them was, of course, the castle in the middle of the town.
It was different from the castles that Feng Chou had seen along the way, which only considered defensive effects. This castle was more in line with Feng Chou's imagination of a castle. This castle was generally divided into two floors. The lower floor was the defensive layer, and this floor was similar to an ordinary castle. It was sturdy, thick, and had narrow windows.
But on the upper floor of the castle, it was completely different.
Above the defensive layer of the castle, there were two more gothic buildings. On these two floors, there were snow white walls with many wide and bright windows. The windows were inlaid with beautiful and expensive alchemy glass, which was different from the darkness of an ordinary castle.
These two floors were a bit smaller than the military layer below, and the roof of the military layer was built into a garden like balcony. Some flowers and ivy plants were planted, dyeing the whole building green.
Leo had been to this balcony before. From there, one could have a bird's eye view of the whole town, and even see the nearby manors. The view was very open, making one feel relaxed and happy.
The top floor of the gothic building was a beautiful arched spire. On the spire, there was a statue of Yang Jian on a horse. That was the statue of the God of Nobles and Knights. It clearly expressed the devout faith of the owner of this castle.
Leo's father was a vassal of Viscount Fergesack. When he was 11 years old, he went to the castle as the vassal's heir and swore allegiance to the viscount's heir. When he stepped on the balcony for the first time and looked over the whole plain, he swore to himself that one day, he would own a castle like this!
After that, Leo received knight training in the knight school in this town until he was 14 years old, when he was discovered to be a mage.
It could be said that Leo's familiarity with this town surpassed that of his father's frontier knight domain.
The second tallest building in the town was a majestic shrine. That was the shrine of the God of Nobles and Knights, Heller.
Alvendell was a magic empire. The big cities in this country were often the domain of the God of Arcane Magic, Bokabu, or the God of Knowledge and Alchemy, Sovann. However, the light of arcane magic couldn't shine on every inch of land in the empire. In some remote areas, the power of magic was often lacking. At this time, the nobles needed the power of knights to protect their domain. Therefore, these areas were the domain of the God of Nobles and Knights.
Leo's father was a follower of this noble god. When he was young, Leo often went to this god's shrine to pray. However, after he entered the mage academy, he changed his faith and became a follower of Bokabu.
Beside the shrine of the God of Nobles and Knights was a knight school. All the children of the nobles, gentlemen, and commoners in the viscount's domain were accepted for knight training. The tuition was quite high, but compared to the mage academy, it was much more convenient.
The yearly cost of the knight school was about 500 crowns.
Apart from basic martial arts training, knight training also included horsemanship training, tactical training, and etiquette training.
Horsemanship training included ordinary horsemanship training, lance combat training, horsemanship training, tactical training, command of troops below the size of a platoon, training of soldiers, organization of logistics, and so on. Generally speaking, a knight who graduated from a knight school would be qualified to be a mid-level or low-level officer. Etiquette training included simple heraldry and noble social etiquette.