Xiao Chen pushed open the wooden window of the bedroom, and the cold wind swept into the room wrapped in fine snow. He let out a hot breath from his hands and propped them up on the windowsill.

The snow is getting lighter and lighter these days, and spring is just around the corner.

From this third-floor room, you can see a thin layer of snow on the courtyard below, the street outside the door, and the surrounding rooftops. In the days of unwitting struggle, the world is already about to pass the winter. It has been more than half a year since they, the Earth immigrants, came to this world. However, Xiao Chen still didn't dare to say that he had adapted to this world, and there were always times when he felt that he was in a dream that was difficult to wake up from.

Xiao Chen dipped his fingers in a snowflake on the windowsill, and the slight coolness brought him a sense of reality.

The three-storey house was the property transferred by the Earl, with more than ten rooms plus two courtyards in front and back. Even in the wealthy area of Wangdu, it is a pretty good house, and now it is the school's office in Wangdu. Oh, no. It is the office of the Chinese delegation to the Kingdom of Iberia. Now the people of the school have openly declared themselves Chinese, from a powerful country far away. In this strange world, such a name will undoubtedly give people a kind of sustenance.

Most of the surrounding houses are made of pale yellow rock, and the roofs are a continuous crimson color. Even if this hue is mixed with patches of snow white, it doesn't look too cold. Further north is home to the mansions of the great nobles and the royal palace, which is more of a tall castle than a palace. It was built on a hillside four or five stories high in the city, and the outermost edge was a stone wall at least seven or eight stories high, making the palace seem unattainable. Behind the palace was the Dragon Slaying Mountains, which were like natural walls to the north of the royal capital, cutting off any possibility of attacking the capital from this side.

There are two buildings in the city that can compete with the royal palace, one is the Royal Mage Tower, and the other is the Temple of Nature.

The Royal Mage Tower is located in the southwest corner of the royal palace, it is not a single tower, but a combination of five towers, five silver-gray towers of different heights, fat and thin, concentrated together, connected by arched bridges between towers. Even the shortest of the five towers surpassed the main building of the royal castle. A large arched bridge connects the tower from the podium of the palace to the lower end of the tower, connecting the tower to the palace.

These five magic towers represent the lineage of the five Sages, who have existed far beyond the kingdom itself. When the Black Dragon Empire existed, they were the Royal Mage Tower, and they still are.

The Temple of Nature is located near the edge of the aristocratic quarter, across the river from the commoners.

In Xiao Chen's eyes, this temple was the most unique building in the entire royal capital. Quite different from his imagination of a Greek-style temple or a medieval-style church, the main body of the temple was six large cyan stone blocks. The stones are slightly oval-shaped, each twenty meters wide and seventy or eighty meters high, and they are planted straight into the ground and formed in a circle, like six giant black rice cakes. Dense green vines clinged to the surface of the stones, connecting the gaps between the stones, like thin green threads wound around them. These vines are evergreen all year round, and in this early winter, they are also full of small yellow and red flowers. The temple had no roof, no walls, and no idols, and these stones, vines, and flowers were the objects of worship and prayer.

Xiao Chen had to admit that even though he was full of vigilance and suspicion of the gods, this temple was still a shocking beauty.

Xiao Chen's gaze looked farther away, a river passed through the city through two water gates, and on the other side of the river, the gray and brown wooden houses belonged to most of the civilians in the capital, most of these houses were crowded and crooked, and there were no regular windows and doors, opening up and down the walls, and from a distance they looked like layers of wooden strips full of cavities.

However, it is these dilapidated houses that inhabit eighty percent of the city's population, and these people who work hard like ants are the organs and blood that feed the royal capital.

Although the sun had just risen, the streets and squares on the other side of the river were still silent, and many people were already running around for the day in the poor alleys on the opposite side. The cold weather made these thinly dressed people, with their backs bent and their heads tightened, coming and going in a hurry.

Ciro said that civilians don't like winter. Winter was a different kind of scenery for magicians, priests, and princes, and the cold was just a matter of adding a few heating circles, but for most commoners it was the beginning of difficult days. Even in the royal capital, many people freeze to death and starve to death every winter.

Thinking of this, Xiao Chen looked at the city in front of him decorated with snow, and felt a little depressed in his heart.

Xiao Chen retracted his gaze, just as there was a knock on the door. He closed the window, straightened his mage robes, and opened the door.

Caterina was standing outside the door. In order to better find out the news of the royal capital, reliable local mercenaries are indispensable. Therefore, Caterina followed Xiao Chen to the royal capital, and would walk all over the streets and alleys every day to collect intelligence.

The girl who awakened her fighting spirit had a little more restlessness in her expression, she had not fully controlled her fighting spirit, and there was always a little restlessness in her look between Gu Pan, and her appearance had evolved from a cat to a little female leopard.

"Brother Xiao, today is a big day. That's the Royal Mage Tower in the three major resorts of the royal capital. I never dreamed of stepping into a place like that. After Caterina came to the royal capital, her mood became much more cheerful and she regained a bit of her lively girlish nature.

"Haha, it's just to participate in an assessment. My strength is here, isn't it?" Xiao Chen felt a little lighter when he heard the girl's chirping, he took the door and followed Caterina downstairs.

"You're not nervous at all, aren't you worried?"

"Hey, little Katarina, to be a man, you have to cultivate this face. Xiao Chen pointed to Katarina's cheek, "Even if you are in a panic, you have to look usually calm." Those who are clearly worried and afraid, let them appear to be fearless. Otherwise, you will be seen through your mind at a glance, and you have to learn something. ”

"I don't want to, it's too fake. Caterina turned her head away and dodged Xiao Chen's fingers, "Besides, how can it be so easy to see my mind clearly, can you see my mind clearly now?"

Xiao Chen looked left and right at her, and saw that the latter's face slowly rose red mist, "Your secret, it must have been made delicious." ”

"How do you know?"

"Otherwise, why would you come to urge me to eat?"

Caterina snorted, hung her head, and walked a few quick steps, leading the way.

After walking for a while to the top of the stairs, she said, "I bought turmeric at the market yesterday, and today I got up early and made some gingerbread, you have to try it." I want to practice my craft, and in the New Year, I can make all kinds of gingerbread figurines for everyone to eat. ”

"I'll just say there's something delicious. Xiao Chen smiled, "The Mage Tower is often available, gingerbread is not often, and for me, the temptation of food is much better than magic." ”