The Free City is a semi-military and semi-commercial city, and the radioactive streets are divided into twelve large districts, three shopping districts, four military districts, one guild district, one religious district, and one entertainment complex, and the remaining two are comprehensive areas with residential functions as the head. In addition to the twelve districts, there are five port districts on the outskirts of the city, which together are about the size of the city, and in addition to the necessary docks, there are also a large number of warehouse facilities and living services to provide the necessary services for sailors and travelers who come to the free city by boat.

Among the twelve districts, the guild district is the administrative center of the entire city, and the mercenary guild also serves as the responsibility of the city hall, and the two administrative systems operate in the guild district at the same time, and most of the mercenary-related affairs are decided by the mercenary guild, and all other city affairs are handled by the city hall. The religious district is the religious hub of the free city, and all the accepted denominations in the religious district can apply for a area to build a shrine and preach peacefully within the city, the city hall provides a fixed place and protection for the temple and the religion, and in turn the temple also contributes to health care and peace of mind, and this mutually beneficial cooperation makes the relationship between the city hall and the temples closer. In the four military districts, ten large mercenary groups occupy two large areas, and the remaining land is divided among the rest of the small and medium-sized mercenary groups, as long as the mercenary group is registered in the mercenary union, after paying the deposit, you can get a piece of land to establish the headquarters of the mercenary group according to the size of the team and the number of deposits, as long as you pay enough rent every year, you can use it for a long time.

The entertainment complex is one of the most prosperous places in the Free City, from casinos, hotels, and theaters to cafes, taverns, and massage parlors, and all kinds of entertainment-related facilities are spread throughout the entertainment area, and visitors can definitely find the entertainment activities they are interested in and participate in them after walking in this area for ten minutes, of course, provided that they have enough gold coins in their pockets. Many people believe that the setting of this entertainment complex was stolen from the City of Innocence decades ago by the previous president and lord of the city, but no one would be stupid enough to ask both sides to verify the truth of this speculation.

The rest of the infrastructure, such as banks, hotels, restaurants, etc., have been built in various areas for the convenience of visitors, but the area with the most facilities such as hotels and inns is still considered a comprehensive entertainment area, after all, most visitors to the city are still willing to live in such bustling entertainment venues. Catherine's choice of the Kate-Blue Hotel is one of such service establishments in the integrated entertainment district.

This is a mercenary city, nearly half of the city's residents are mercenaries or have been mercenaries, walking on the street, you can see groups of mercenaries wearing the same standard armor everywhere shuttling back and forth on the street, indifferent to life and death, rude and indulgent, drunk and lustful, Unruly, because they are more likely to approach death than adventurers, these habits have long been carved into their souls, and with the exception of a few mercenaries who need to support their families, most of them have the belief that they will live to enjoy a day to their heart's content, and squander the income they have earned with their lives.

However, the mercenary union is actually very humane, they are deeply aware of the bad habits of this group of peers, in order to make this group of mercenaries who are accustomed to fighting and killing not be impoverished after retirement, the guild has a hard rule that each mercenary group only pays 90% of the monthly salary of mercenaries, and the remaining 10% is handed over to the guild as a reserve. When the mercenary quits the mercenary group for legitimate reasons or simply retires due to age after many years, the guild will return the reserve to him in a lump sum, and if the mercenary dies in the middle of the journey, the reserve will be returned to the mercenary's family along with the normal pension, only if there is really no family, the reserve will be returned to his mercenary group after paying the mercenary's funeral-related expenses. Since this rule, these indulgent mercenaries have become even more unrestrained in their profligacy, and they don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

As soon as you step into the urban area of the free city, you will feel the atmosphere of the free city. In this free city, the most important thing is to have the courage to show your individuality, and the ordinary and ordinary will only be looked down upon. As a result, the streets were filled with strangely dressed strangers, not only the city's residents, but even some mercenaries who were supposed to be dressed in standard equipment, mostly young people, who flocked in droves shouting and screaming at various entertainment venues. Although the sky is already a little dark, there are still many street artists standing on the street, whether it is singing, dancing, painting, or reciting poetry, most of them are not to make a living, but to show their talents and personalities to others.

"We need to build a new urban open-air stage. As they walked through the city, the five members of the adventuring group had just approached a small square full of people when they heard a loud voice coming from the square: "This is what all the citizens of the neighborhood are looking forward to." ”

All five of them were stunned for a moment, and at the same time showed a wry smile. This is one of the most characteristic activities of the citizens' council. In this metropolis of 600,000 people, every citizen can initiate a proposal, and if more than 5,000 signatures can be collected, the proposal can be submitted to the city hall. If the town hall refuses to accept the proposal, it must organize such a public meeting in a public place within 10 days, at which the proposer and the opponent will openly debate, and after the debate is over, the person who previously signed the proposal will vote again. If, after debate, less than two-thirds of the signatories voted in favor of the proposal, then the proposal is null and void, and if there are more than two-thirds of the supporters, then the town hall should theoretically accept the proposal. However, if the town hall has good reasons to refuse after the vote has been passed, then both parties need to apply to the arbitration tribunal in charge of the city's laws. Although most of the time, unprofessional proposals put forward by citizens are rejected at the citizens' councils, for more than 100 years, there have been many very creative citizens' proposals that have been passed and achieved good results.

Several people shook their heads and walked quickly away from the small square. The citizens of the Free City are particularly keen on this kind of activity, but tourists from other cities may not understand their hearts, and whenever they encounter this kind of thing, they can only sigh that this is indeed a free city.

Leaving the small square and crossing several streets, the five people walked through a residential area and slowly approached the entertainment complex. Along the way, they met a lot of pedestrians, and the five of them also deeply realized another characteristic of a free city, that is, the folk style is outstanding. In just over half an hour's journey, several people encountered eight disputes, four of which developed into skirmishes, one developed into a medium-sized scuffle, and the other three had not had time to develop into a fight, and several people had already walked away without seeing the result. And the people around seem to have long been accustomed to this kind of behavior, when they see someone fighting, they are not dissuaded or left, but they smile and enjoy the surroundings, and there are even people sitting around to bet on the wins and losses of both sides, and the most excessive, there are actually city guards who come to check among the people who bet, which makes it difficult to understand what they are here to do.

Among these fights, there are battles between mercenaries and mercenaries, there are battles between ordinary residents, and there are actually mercenaries and residents fighting, although this is a mercenary city, but ordinary citizens are not afraid of these mercenaries at all, and they have no scruples about fighting, even if the opponent is a professional of the black iron rank, a dozen strong ordinary people may not lose under the siege.

"This phenomenon is entirely caused by the laws of the Free City. Finding that although the girls were aware of this atmosphere, they were still a little confused about the reason, and Pannis explained in a low voice: "You see, these citizens are not afraid of mercenaries at all, and that is because the identities of the two sides are completely equal. In Free City, the mercenaries are ordinary citizens first, and then mercenaries, unless it can be proved that the mercenaries are performing city-related tasks during the fight, otherwise disputes will be handled by the arbitration and tribunal hall of the city hall. Moreover, as long as this kind of street fight does not cause serious injuries, no one will generally apply to the court for handling, otherwise it will be despised by the people around them. Because of this, everyone has long been accustomed to these fights, and even the garrison is watching the excitement. ”

"I know that, but I always find it hard to understand. Freya shook her head and said, "In the Holy Capital, many laws are more inclined towards adventurers and mages, after all, that is the headquarters of the two guilds. ”

"You have a big misunderstanding here. Pannis said: "The laws of the capital of knowledge are not inclined to adventurers and mages, but like the laws of various countries, they are only inclined to high-level professionals, because there are more high-level professionals among adventurers and mages, so some people will misunderstand." It's the same here, it's just that it's not obvious that there are more low-level professionals and ordinary people among the mercenaries. ”

"Well, maybe that's what you said. Freya nodded and said, "After all, I have fewer opportunities to contact low-level professionals, eldest sister, you should have had more contact before, do you feel this way?"

"No, my father had a good relationship with the city guard and some municipal institutions when he was alive, so he was always very well taken care of, and he certainly didn't feel it. Catherine said, "But I think Pannis has a point, because I feel that people I don't know have suddenly become extra respectful of me, after I have been promoted to the Silver Rank." ”

"Smack. Lina suddenly closed the book in her hand, and one of them gave a roll of her eyes: "Is this common sense, you two guys who have no common sense have been discussing so seriously for a long time, it's really infuriating." Let's go, I'm going to starve. ”

Catherine and Freya smiled wryly at each other, completely unable to argue, and could only quickly catch up with Lina.

"Hey, how about you. As soon as I turned the corner, I heard a young girl's immature exclamation in front of me. (To be continued.) )