Chapter 11: Lord’s Mansion
“I’m really sorry. If possible, I would prefer to host you at the elegant restaurant in Saint Nali. This city has been built for too short a time and still has many imperfections.”
Fisher and Raphael followed Keken onto his carriage, which took them to his “Lord’s Mansion.” It was a building more complete compared to other structures, located right in the central position of the city streets, next to a few banks and government units of Saint Nali.
It was just a few streets away from the place where Fisher had shopped, so they could chat for a bit in the carriage.
“No worries, this is already a very good city in the Southern Continent.”
Fisher had seen many cities built by people from the Western Continent on his way down from Karl Port, and Keken’s city was considered one of the best among them. He remembered when he stayed in smaller cities, there would even be shooting incidents, where residents were killed and the perpetrators were not caught the next day; after a fruitless police search, they simply gave up.
Keken felt a little embarrassed by Fisher’s compliment and scratched his head.
“You’re overpraising me. I don’t know, Mr. Fisher, where are you planning to go now? Are you exploring further south or…”
“My destination this time is Karl Port, planning to return to the Western Continent from there.”
Upon hearing Fisher’s words, a look of regret appeared on Keken’s face, but he quickly thought of something and reminded Fisher,
“Ah, there probably haven’t been any ships going back to Nali from Karl Port in recent months. If you want to leave from Karl Port, you have to first dock at Shivali, and then return to Nali from Shivali. I heard the contract between the port and the Saint Nali Government has expired, and the parliament is not very satisfied with the annual fee currently requested by Karl Port. Both sides are still negotiating what a suitable annual fee should be this year.”
Fisher was slightly taken aback, then couldn’t help but sigh resignedly.
He was not surprised by anything that the parliament did; it reminded him of the saying passed down among students and professors at school:
“The parliament’s people combined can’t make up a complete brain.”
Just as he was about to speak, Keken had already voiced this saying ahead of him, and then he slightly froze, looking at Fisher and laughing,
“Sure enough, the tradition of the Royal Academy is to defame the parliament.”
“Provided that the parliament always has places that invite criticism.”
Raphael, sitting beside them, didn’t understand what the two were talking about. She leaned closer to the carriage window near Fisher and looked outside. Suddenly, she seemed to see something, and Fisher caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye as her pupils narrowed into a straight line, and her scales stood erect.
This sudden action startled Keken in the carriage; he looked at Fisher,
“Mr. Fisher, is this your slave you bought here?”
“Ah, research subject; you don’t need to mind.”
Fisher didn’t say much. He followed Raphael’s gaze outside and saw several cages along the street, and outside one cage, a man wrapped in bandages was soliciting customers. Inside the cages, a few subhumans were contained, evidently captured by local hunters in the wilderness.
In the top cage, a green male juvenile dragon race was curled up in a corner, covered in scars.
Seeing Raphael’s claws tightly grip the edge of the window, Fisher understood what she was thinking. He chose to keep this matter inside his heart and turned back towards Keken, continuing the previous topic.
“If Mr. Fisher still wants to take a ship directly to Nali, I suggest you head northwest towards Feilon City after leaving the city. The contract for Krit Port north of Feilon City has not yet expired. Besides…”
Keken showed a hint of envy on his face,
“Feilon City is the most prosperous city in the entire Southern Continent. It can hardly be compared to Saint Nali.”
Saint Nali?
Fisher felt a sense of doubt rising in his heart at the description he heard.
No matter how early Feilon City was established, it couldn’t have been built for more than five years, and yet its reputation could allow it to be compared to the capital of Nali, Saint Nali.
Should he say that the governance of the parliament is truly poor, or that the governance of Feilon City is surprisingly good?
“I see, I understand now. Thank you for the reminder.”
Keken smiled and nodded, indicating it was no trouble.
The carriage had already passed the streets where subhumans were sold, so Raphael also pulled back her gaze, though her pupils were still constricted, and her entire dragon form looked very aggressive, making Keken somewhat uncomfortable as he shifted his buttocks towards the driver. If he knew that Fisher had removed Raphael’s slave emblem, would he be scared enough to jump out of the carriage?
“We’ve arrived, Mr. Fisher.”
The carriage slowly came to a stop at the entrance of the Lord’s Mansion, and the guards standing there with guns looked a bit lazy but stood straighter upon their arrival.
Leading Fisher and Raphael through the mansion’s entrance, a woman with black hair and black eyes dressed in a cream-colored long dress stood gracefully at the door. Upon seeing Fisher and his party enter, she curtsied courteously,
“Welcome.”
Fisher also acted gentlemanly and returned the greeting. Keken walked to the woman’s side and raised his hand in introduction,
“This is my wife, Dora. This is Mr. Fisher, a well-respected gentleman in Saint Nali. I am treating him to lunch; could you please inform the chefs to prepare a bit more? Ah, and say a word to your older sister as well.”
“Of course, I’ll go right away.”
Dora smiled shyly, gave a slight curtsy, then left.
Fisher glanced at the two rings Keken wore on his hand and couldn’t help but smile as he spoke,
“She’s from Cardu?”
Cardu is one of the three great kingdoms alongside Nali and Shivali, known for its almost ascetic religious atmosphere. The religions currently honored by Shivali and Nali mostly derive from Cardu, but they have made some adaptations, leading Cardu to not recognize the orthodoxy of their religions.
However, Shivali and Nali don’t care about that, as not everyone can endure praying and bathing in holy water every day. Even their sexual unions must be planned for specific days; on other days, they must sleep in separate rooms to avoid “the sun and moon being reversed.”
In short, that is a very conservative country, yet surprisingly the homeland of magic. After reforms decades ago, Cardu has changed a lot; otherwise, Fisher couldn’t have learned about the “Complete Explanation of Magical Texts,” compiled by Cardu scholars, at the university.
Black hair and black eyes are the traits of its residents, just like Dora earlier.
“Yeah, that’s right, both Dora and her sister are. At that time, the seminary in Cardu exchanged with our school, haha,” he smiled gentlemanly, looking at the rings on his hand, “Although there are many downsides in the Southern Continent, there are still some benefits, for example, the marriage law here is practically non-existent.”
Here, there’s no legal commission scrutinizing whether you are committing bigamy; as long as you pay the parliament, they will grant you permission to build your city’s license—though the parliament has never declared sovereignty over this continent, it’s unclear where they get the face to do this. However, Shivali and other small countries do this, and while the parliament might not replicate everything, they will certainly learn from it.
This has led to a confusion of territories in the Southern Continent; most people delineate boundaries by cities, with the wilderness outside the cities defaulted to public ownership along with the subhumans living there, all treated as common resources.
Fisher glanced at Raphael beside him. She stood behind him, cautiously examining the luxurious decorations in the Lord’s Mansion, as though trying to see through any poisoned spike traps designed within, but after looking around, she found nothing and eventually started yawning in boredom.
“Lunch will be ready soon; Mr. Fisher, please come this way and take a short break.”
Keken respectfully walked over to take the staff and hat from Fisher’s hands, stepping ahead to hang them on his designated coat rack, before leading Fisher towards the dining room.
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(End of this chapter)
