The two followed the team and slowly approached the city gate. Only then did I find out that it was because of the frequent activities of Warcraft recently, and the entry inspection has become stricter. All caravans and travelers are to be inspected for their belongings, as well as for any contraband related to Warcraft.

"What's contraband?" Ian looked at Sid's bag full of corpse carp materials, "It's okay, right?"

"It's okay, it's Warcraft material. Sid explained, "Contraband mainly refers to things related to magic elements, such as magic booster potions and the like, which most people don't have. ”

"That's good. ”

"And, of course, Warcraft smuggling. ”

"Oh......," Ian had heard. Someone in the slums of Black Eagle City once did this for money, but they were bitten and bruised by the three-eyed monkey they brought into the city.

When it was Ian and Sid's turn to be inspected, the merchants in front of them were still busy repacking their open bags and goods.

Sid opened the bag for the guards to inspect. The cat-man guards had actually noticed them for a long time, and the bulging bags had attracted a lot of flies, and the experienced guards had some guesses. But when he saw a bag full of scales and bones, and even a core, the catman's eyes were still wide.

"This is the material for the corpse carp...... The corpse carp you killed yourself?"

"It's us," Heathdra said to Ian, who was much thinner than him, "and he did it." ”

The guards were even more amazed, looking at the lean boy like a monster, only to realize that his arm was injured.

"It's a scavenging carp, but it's not easy to mess with!" the guard exclaimed.

When the merchants in front of him and behind him heard the name of the corpse carp, they all came over. Of course they know about this monster that eats people and doesn't spit out bones.

"I think it's outdated to say that it eats scavengers," said one merchant, "and lately the monsters have been so active and aggressive that I don't even dare to go by the water now." ”

"Okay, okay, don't block the road, the one in front of you hurry into the city. The guards saw that there were many people gathered, and hurriedly dispersed. He turned around and glanced at the necks of the two of them, and said, "You're not mercenaries yet, are you?" The mercenary guild in the city is recruiting new people, and after entering the city, walk along the main road and you should be able to see it in the square. ”

"Thanks, but we're going to get a doctor first. Sid asked where the nearest hospital was, and then walked with Ian into the city.

The wide, solid arched gate passage was dimly lit, and as soon as he stepped out of the passageway, Ian's eyes immediately narrowed with the contrasting light. When he got used to it, he saw a very wide road, which was so solid that one could not doubt that it was paved with huge stones. The road is flanked with two- or three-story buildings, each of which identifies itself through a sign hanging from the doorway beam.

Some are taverns, some are post houses, some are herb houses, and there are many shops where Ian can't tell what they're selling just by the patterns on the signs.

Looking into the distance, Ian realized that he had come to a mountain town.

The pastures and farmland they saw outside the city were scattered throughout the valley. The gates are located at the lowest point of the hill city, and the castle and tower are built on the highest point near the peak. When the cat-man guard said "keep going along the main road", it should actually be "keep going up".

Ian looked around curiously, and saw a number of intricate alleys between the houses on both sides of the main road. On both sides of these alleys, you can also see many large and small shop signs, layered on top of each other, facing the main road.

It is worthy of being a trade-centric country.

Suddenly, a young man about Zack's age caught Ian's eye. He was surrounded by a few children, chattering non-stop. One of the children pointed to a nearby vendor, as if he wanted to buy food, while the other pointed to the far side of the road, wanting to go up. The young man in the middle looked embarrassed, touching the child's head for a while, and squatting down to say something to the other.

Ian's eyes were a little misty, and the scene reminded him of Zach, Flynn and Andrew.

A strange beast's head burst into the picture. The beast's wedge-shaped jaw was thick and strong, its forehead was flat, and it had a disproportionately small eyeball in its deep-set socket. The beast's mouth poked gently into the head of one of the children.

Ian's heart tightened, and he subconsciously stretched out his left hand to touch the sword, only to remember that the sword was with Sid.

"What's wrong with you?" Sid noticed his strange behavior.

"What's that?" Ian pointed his dangling left hand at the beast.

"Ah, by the way, you haven't seen a land rhinoceros before. Sid was stunned.

"Harmless?" Ian asked, as he saw the rhinoceros gently stick out its pink tongue and lick the back of the child's neck. The sudden itching caused the child to shrink his neck, and the other children burst into laughter.

"Think of it as a van. Rough skin, thick flesh, firm, strong stamina, docile temperament, good at carrying weights," Sid introduced, "a federal specialty, many long-distance merchants will give themselves a head as long as they have some conditions." However, Black Hawk City does not allow them to enter. ”

Ian watched curiously as the land rhinoceros was playing with the children, just as the land rhinoceros owner's owner returned, seemed to reprimand it a few words, and pulled it away. The land rhinoceros has a wide seat on its back, and its mountain-like body is also wrapped in large and small bags on both sides, making it even more huge.

"It's like a small dirt slope that moves," Sid laughed, "and it's not a small walk, and the nobles of Black Eagle City don't like it." ”

As they spoke, the hill made a bend and came towards them.

"Ahead, let me grunt!" shouted the raccoon man, dressed as a merchant in the driver's seat, in a rude voice.

The land rhinoceros slowly walked past Ian, and he even felt a slight vibration under his feet. The grayish-white, rough skin of the giant beast was like a tall stone wall, and it moved away with a bang. The main thoroughfare of Babel and the exotic landscape for Ian reappeared.

This is already the territory of the Federation, and the main gathering place of the subhuman race. The streets are filled with lizardmen, cat people, and raccoons, and humans like Ian and Sid are rare. According to Sid, there are more raccoon people near Babel, and further west, there are cat people. Although the populations are different, they have become politically connected into a huge city-state, regardless of each other.

"Babel, I didn't expect me to be here. "Although I was gathering intelligence for the Federation, I really didn't expect to one day walk out on their soil — you know, that meant my identity was exposed." I used to think I had only one reason to come here, and that was to take refuge. Well, trade is really developed......" Sid sighed as he walked, "Although this city of Babel is not small, it is only built on the mountain. It is said that their capital, Abel, is a whole mountain, and all the buildings and roads are built on the surface of the mountain, and the layers are particularly spectacular. ”

"That's amazing......" Ian muttered. He looked up at the towering castle in the distance, imagining what Sid was talking about as the capital of the Union, the huge city of Mount Abel.

"Let's go, let's find a doctor to show you your arm first, then find an inn to stay in, and then go to the Mercenary Guild to have a look. Sid urged, "There's a lot going on. ”

The hospital is not far away, and it seems that the site was chosen near the city gate with the wounded and sick in mind.

"There used to be a lot of monsters, and a lot of people were injured and muttered," said the cronon man, with a grunt characteristic of this race, "so as soon as he came back from outside the city gates, he came here." ”

Fortunately, the reddish-purple color on Ian's arm was only a contusion and internal bleeding, and it didn't hurt the bone. After buying some medicines, the two left.

Ian followed Sid and began to walk up the city's main road. Although it was uphill all the way, fortunately, most of it was relatively slow. Halfway through, Ian caught a glimpse of the small alleys on both sides of the road that could also lead to it, but some of them were very steep ramps, and some of them simply built steps, and it seemed that although they were all shortcuts, they were probably more tiring to climb.

Finally, Ian and Sid arrive on the platform known as City Square. The square was built halfway up the mountain, as if a clearing had been carved out of the mountain. On one side of the square is a cliff. Ian walked to the side, leaning on the guardrail and peering into the distance. Somehow, he suddenly remembered: to the east, at the end of the horizon, a little further east, was the village of Breeze.

"The twelve gods have favored us and punished us!" Ian's impassioned tone caught Ian's attention. He turned his head, and following the prestige, he saw a man in a white hooded robe, standing on a stone bench by the guardrail on the other side of the square. More and more people around him were attracted by his voice and stopped to watch, and slowly gathered around.

"When the blue flames swept the earth, the power of the demons shook the nations!" the man was in his forties, but his eyes looked very old, and he was looking into the distance with his hands in vain, "Our ancestors were deceived and claimed to be gods, but they brought endless disasters and wars! This kind of arrogance is a heinous sin, but the twelve gods did not perish us because of it, they just took pity on us and then helped us to eliminate our arrogance!" he said passionately and generously, as if he had experienced the story he described. Ian recognized his outfit, it was the monk's uniform of the Imperial Holy See, but he didn't expect that the monk would run so far away to preach alone.

Onlookers included civilians, merchants, local noblewomen, and mercenary warriors.

Suddenly, someone interrupted his speech.

"As you say," cried a commoner-looking man, "are all those who use their spiritual powers now have their sins undone?"

"No, no, no," the speaker glanced down at him, "most of the subjects of the twelve gods have been washed of their sins. Those who are still using their spiritual powers are those who have been seduced by the devil. They thirst for divine power, but they can't. The demon took advantage of greed and turned them into his own avatar!"

Ian smiled bitterly, he had heard Zack say this divine punishment a long time ago, but no one had ever taken it to heart. In the slums where there is not enough to eat, who cares about those ethereal things. Now, he has become the demonic embodiment of the Holy See's verbal and written criticism.

Suddenly, someone cursed loudly, and it seemed that it was still the same civilian, rushed in front of the monk and pushed hard. The monk shook on the stone bench, fell backwards, climbed over the railing, and fell. The crowd stirred, and the screams of women could be heard. Immediately after, the civilian pushed through the crowd and fled into the alley by the side of the road. Soon, several patrolling guards arrived, and one leaned over to the fence to look at it, then turned back and shook his head at his colleague.