We officially traveled to Parabun, three weeks later.

During this time, Count Robert took Annia on a tour of half of East Rhodok.

When she returned, Aniya was in high spirits, and she kept telling me about the wide walls of Viruga, and she said that there were many places on the walls of the walls inlaid with stone statues of the Chanda era, and at the gate there was a bronze one-eyed blind man, and at the feet of the blind man, there was a bronze plaque with the inscription 'Beware of the Swadias!' ’。 The limited land in the city of Viruga has gradually disappeared in order to house more and more civilians, and now the small buildings with gardens and front yards are in vogue, and now there are several storeys of apartments, and there is a five-story apartment house with washerwomen, the lower three floors are made of stone, and the top two floors are made of wood, and even the caretaker of the apartment does not know how many people live in it. The only exception is Yuandun Street, which is a wealthy area, where all the houses still retain their courtyards and are adorned with orange trees, an imported plant of Salander, which often attracts the envy of the poor.

What Aniya liked most about Rhodoc was the river lanterns they saw in a small town. The custom is said to have originated in a country southeast of Saland, where the people worship a thousand deities, each with a huge bun wrapped around their head, and women wearing a colorful headscarf. Since the Rhodok people borrowed this custom, they have adopted it as their own, and every year at harvest time, the inhabitants gather in the upper reaches of the river, and at night, they will put down the river lanterns and let the golden stars shine on the river.

For Aniah's excitement, Count Robert was a little uninterested. When he travels around the world, he mainly likes to buy weapons or handicrafts there. Either that, or a relic from the Chanda period, this time he spent three hundred gold coins to buy a bronze head from the Chanda period. It is said that this is the great emperor who ended the Chanda Republic. He was more angry when he was bathing in a bathroom in Rhodok and was warned by the waiter there not to enter the bathhouse of the female guests. The waiter said that the Svadian nobles had this problem, and jumped to the woman's side if they were fine. Robert felt insulted and said that it must be the scum of the Swadian nobility who had smeared him.

Copernicus accompanied them, but did not see much of the scenery along the way, but visited many scholars and villages, and when he returned, he began to write some papers, and from time to time he said to me that perhaps these things would be useful to me in the future.

Arrived at the bereviage of Count Robert. They are two Swadia merchant ships belonging to the same trading house. Attracted by the honor of serving the royal family, they hurried to the ship empty after Aaron had sold his goods. Robert was pleased with their captain and paid them a symbolic payment. After that, we registered for our departure from the port and left Djerkhala in a hurry. Maybe I'll come back to Rhodoc in the future, and this time, I'll have to stay in Djerkhara for a short time.

I also looked up the list of students in the same class as my father. Among them, there are very few Swadians, and there are many Kugit people. If it weren't for the fact that Victoria's father was studying in Swadia, I would have even wanted to check if there was any record of her father. The University of Rhodok seems to be in decline nowadays, too, in my father's time. The students of the seminary make up only a small percentage and are completely subordinate to the university, nowadays. The colleges of the seminary actually occupy a large part of it, and many of the colleges whose names I can't read have been disbanded. The scholars who were called madmen were kicked out of the universities and had to teach alone in the city. The tolerance of the civic era has also disappeared. Discrimination against the Salanders and Kugits is widespread, and there is a renewed perception of differences between people and that some ethnic groups are inherently defective and cannot be corrected by education. I don't know what caused Rhodoc to become wealthy and conservative at the same time. Perhaps Rhodoc was once the most promising country, humbly absorbing everything, and when it began to show signs of strength, it began to believe that everything about itself was excellent and eternal. The Rhodoks even asserted that history had come to an end, that all peoples would eventually become copies of the Rhodoks, and that there was nothing left to progress.

Copernicus sighed on his way to Palauven. The Rhodoks, once the hope of the entire continent, are now gloomy.

I was more concerned about the small thing, the statue carved with six brave students, which was asked to be removed several times by the townspeople, who believed it was a scar on Djerkhara's face. In the past, the Djerkhara University student union rebelled against the citizens, but now the seminary students have begun to support the citizens, believing that the childish era of the past should be over, the conflict between the university and the citizens should be ended, and the statue should indeed be demolished. However, there was one person who opposed the demolition of the stone sculpture, and I don't know why. This man is Grand Duke Garcia, the former Garcia general. It is said that a female relative of Garcia's family would often sit quietly near the stone sculpture for a while before riding a carriage back to the city of Viruga. She comes once a year, when the sunflowers are in full bloom.

After Aaron, we sailed all the way to Swadia, then we made a short stop in Costamo before heading to Parabun.

Paraven.

When the building that stretched across the horizon appeared, I couldn't hide the horror in my heart, even if I tried to feign calm.

The population of Paravon alone is likely to be more than 100,000, or even 120,000. I can't imagine how these people could survive in a city that is also full of poor people.

I used to think that the white port of Little East Lake City was already the most beautiful port in the world, but when I saw Parabun, I felt that Little East Lake City was too far away. The port of Paraven is covered with Zenda-style pillars, but nowadays, there are no more triumphant generals on them, but angels, and the only mortal is the pillar of Harauth himself: Harauth is holding a crossbow and stepping on Frederick, and King Nord and King Vekia are depicted as two bare-bottomed cherubs flying beside Haraus. For such a Ji Gongzhu, even I felt a little embarrassed when I saw it. No wonder the Nords and Vecchians always complained that Emperor Haraus was too arrogant.

The harbor has four long white stone entry stacks, and we stayed at the third stack. Countless ships from various countries are moored on the surrounding waters. Vecchians in leather coats, Nords in velvet hats, Rhodoks gathered and whispering, and arrogant Svadian soldiers, these people mingled in the port of Palauven, making it almost a condensed continent of Kalade. After the Valan soldiers stepped off the Swadian merchant ship, they were also attracted by the noisy scene in front of them, these soldiers from the countryside of Vecchia were quite shocked by what they saw, they had imagined the appearance of the western city countless times, but the limit of their imagination could not compare to the prosperity of the city in front of them.

The walls of the Palauvon seafront are quite beautiful and are made entirely of white stone. Each stone has a small protrusion, which makes the walls look exquisite. On the top of the city walls, brightly armored soldiers walked around with spears and halberds, and their gates could be entered by twelve horses at the same time, for a total of three iron gates. The walls stretched far along the coastline, and it is no wonder that it would be impossible to enclose such a huge city without extremely long walls. But when I got acquainted with the city of Paravon, I knew I had made a mistake. Because the walls of Parabun are triangular in shape, they only enclose the old town and the royal palace, and in the outer part of the city, although it is inhabited by a large population. There were many gardens, baths, workshops and warehouses, and churches, but only intermittent walls, and several barracks were built in these areas. If a foreign enemy is in the city, then these barracks may be the only defense of the outer city. The Svadians, though, don't seem to believe it. There really was no enemy who could lead an army to attack the capital of Paravon, so they did not wrap all the citizens with walls. This idea is also popular among the townspeople, who believe that Parabun will never fall. Although, historically, both the Nords and the Vycians have attacked Parabun.

The Royal Palace of Palauven.

It was said that it was a small city built with gold and silver, and that everything was built in a lavish way. But when I saw it, I realized that it was actually quite simple, and the small castles in several palaces were indeed very beautiful, making people think that they were gifts from the emperor to his daughter, rather than fortresses to defend against enemies. Inside the palace, there is also a river that leads from the river Tuchon, which floods the palace with a huge garden with six flower houses built purely of glass and marble, which allows His Majesty the Emperor to fill his vase with his favorite flowers when he wakes up all year round.

The walls of the palace do not look new, but they are cleanly kept, and the shadows it casts make every flower under the walls majestic.

As a result of His Majesty's commendation, I was allowed to ride into the outer walls of the palace. But as soon as I entered the garden, two soldiers asked me to dismount, and they offered to lead me with Robert to visit His Majesty the Emperor.

The emperor was betting with a group of nobles on a small horse farm next to the palace, and it is said that the emperor won money today and was in good spirits.

Count Robert led me through the great garden, and from time to time I met women sitting in the garden and talking, most of whom were dressed in rather modest clothes, but I could not discern any of the material of the clothes. The ladies of Vecchia like to highlight their nobility with shiny leather coats and sparkling jewelry, and the women of Swadia don't seem to have any intention of doing so, but even a lady-in-waiting in Swadia's palace is faintly noble, which is really breathtaking. Soon, though, a noblewoman known as the Duchess gave me the feeling of a Vecchian woman, with a crown almost as tall as her arms, covered with gold thread, and two wings woven with silver thread. A few of my Varan soldiers looked at the Duchess curiously, her eyelids drooped, she reached out and let Count Robert kiss her hand, asked a few casual questions, and then left with a few women beside her.

"Who is this woman?" I asked Count Robert curiously.

"Duchess of Hallen Goldsburg." "Her husband only gave her gold coins and didn't sleep with her," Robert said. Look at what she's become now. ”

"This'''"

"If you're short of money, write her love letters. Her lover is now rich in Parabundu, these little white faces. ”

“```”

He looked at my surprised expression with a look of disdain. "This kind of news is everywhere in the palace, you can seduce a palace maid casually. You can know a whole lot of stories. He quietly approached me and said, "As long as you take Annia with you." The male nobles in the city will curry favor with you, and you will know everything after half a year's banquet. Bow your head ''' On the other side came the lover of His Majesty the Emperor. ”

Robert and I bowed our heads together, and behind us the Valan soldiers split up in two columns, and two young noblewomen grabbed each other's arms and giggled as they passed between us. As they walked away, a young noblewoman looked back at me.

"Which is the Emperor's lover?"

"The ugly one." Count Robert said, "Countess Albert." ”

"What about the one next to her?"

"That's the Duchess of North Sea. A good friend of the Countess of Abbron. ”

"Duke of Beihai?"

"It's General Wright," Robert keenly noticed the change in my expression. "What's wrong, scared?"

"No''It's just that I'm a little nervous to see so many people today."

"Yo, isn't Lord Boyard a berserker who drinks blood, and will be nervous when he sees a few women?"

We chatted in whispers all the way through the large garden, crossed a chic stone bridge, and then, we entered a garden full of animal cages. It smells terrible, but there are many animals that I haven't seen before. Finally, we came to an open field with a semi-arc of stands. Many male aristocrats sat in the stands cheering, and in the circular field, the riders of six horses were struggling to urge the horses to run. I liked the horses very much when I saw them. Almost every horse was well-proportioned and strong, and the black horse was like an inky black Salander jade. The white horses are like a waterfall splashing from a stream, when six horses run. The momentum is almost as strong as a boyar cavalry squad.

The Valan soldiers were stopped on the periphery of the racecourse by a group of court guards.

I was led by Count Robert to see Emperor Haraus.

One aristocrat, fat or thin, handsome or ugly, all sorts of faces slipped before my eyes.

Then I saw His Majesty Emperor Harauth.

I couldn't help but clench the scimitar in my hand.

Two guards walked up to me and held out their hands to me, "Your weapon, the boyars from Varan. ”

They commanded me, and I didn't seem to hear it, for I was looking intently at Emperor Haraus.

Robert drew my sword and glared at me, and I came to my senses.

Harlaus was a somewhat balding man, of medium build, with sincerity in his eyes.

When he saw me, he laughed from afar, "Ha, look who this is." ”

Count Robert pressed his chest and bowed to Harlaus.

Haraus stood up, paced slowly to Robert's side, patted him on the shoulder, but shouted to the other man, "Alberton, although you have lost, I sincerely invite you to come and see this Valan. Look at his eyes, like a wolf. ”

Count Alberon walked over with no interest, "Your Majesty, these foreigners are like wolves, you should beware"

Before Count Albert had finished speaking, he drew his dagger, and several of his guards drew their daggers and laid them on my neck: for I had bypassed Count Robert, and had come directly to Harlaus, and had seized his hand.

"Stand back! Wikians! ”

His Majesty Haraus was also quite surprised, and I held his hand, and the dagger around my neck was so sharp that I felt that my neck had been cut.

I looked up at Harlaus, "Your Majesty" Thank you for your protection of me, and I ask you to accept my allegiance. "My eyes were red, and I looked at Harlaus with wide eyes, and tears flowed down almost instantly, and I bit my own lip and almost bit it.

The nobles took me away from Haraus, and held me down by the shoulders and made me kneel, while I struggled, and it seemed that I had offended quite a few nobles at once.

Haraus, who came to his senses, waved the nobles to let me go, and said easily, "Looks like I had good luck today." Not only did I win the horse, but I also won the loyalty of a boyar. Come, come to me, Varan, and tell me your story. (To be continued.) )