Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21: Gerson City
The carriage rolled slowly along the country’s dirt road.
It kept going until the sun was already slanting westward.
The light in this other world spread crimson clouds across the sky, tinting the wheat fields on both sides of the road with a faint red glow.
A gentle breeze swept through the fields, setting them rippling like waves of grain.
It also brushed across the traveler from another land.
His long black hair drifted in the wind as Jiang Lin sat astride the edge of the carriage, one hand resting on his knee, quietly enjoying the mild breeze.
It was probably early summer by now, and the wheat fields had already begun to turn golden.
Before long, it would be the season of harvest in Wheatfield Town.
At least on the surface, this sort of ordinary life did not seem all that bad.
The driver was a slightly plump middle-aged man, and Jiang Lin knew him as well.
He was a regular at the Golden Traveler Tavern.
The man had stolen quite a few glances at Jiang Lin along the way, as if he wanted to say something, yet seemed restrained by some concern or another.
Jiang Lin, however, had no intention of talking.
He could hardly be bothered to hold their vulgarity and ignorance against them.
Even if those people had exposed him in the tavern before.
There would always be arrogance and prejudice in this world. It was not as though he could kill them all.
And so, in silence, he watched the scenery the whole way. Only shortly before nightfall did the carriage slowly pass through the gates of Gerson City.
By then, Jiang Lin had already put his hood back on.
The soldiers guarding the gate gave him a few extra looks before hurriedly waving him through.
Jiang Lin jumped down from the carriage and looked at Gerson City, already lit up for the evening.
The broad main road was paved with stone bricks and stretched all the way toward the center of the city.
On both sides stood houses and buildings in the style of this world, most of them three stories tall.
Although it was nowhere near as brilliantly illuminated as the mortal world of Zhongzhou, it still counted as prosperous.
At the very least, it had a distinct flavor of this world.
Jiang Lin smiled faintly and walked down Gerson City’s main thoroughfare, eyeing the shops along both sides of the street with interest.
As the territory ruled by the Gerson City Lord, and the only city in the surrounding area, Gerson City’s shops carried quite a dazzling array of goods.
It was just that, perhaps because the old lord had only recently died, there were not many people on the streets at the moment.
The taverns, however, were completely unaffected.
Jiang Lin pushed open the door of a tavern, and a tide of noise and clamor flooded his ears. Beneath the orange-yellow lamplight sat a crowd of drunks, drinking and boasting loudly.
His arrival did not draw anyone’s attention.
“A cup of water, please.”
After asking for a cup of water at the counter, Jiang Lin found a seat in the corner and sat down, listening to the conversations of the patrons.
They were much the same as the customers at the Golden Traveler Tavern. These people also loved to brag.
Once they were drunk, they were all the same.
The only difference was that the people here were far more vivid storytellers than the drunks in the small town.
“The old lord didn’t actually die of illness. You all know he was still young.
I heard he was killed by someone.”
“You can’t just say things like that. If the wrong person hears you, you’re finished.”
“Heh, it’s fine, it’s fine. No one’s going to hear it. They’re all busy preparing the old lord’s funeral right now. Why would any of the lord’s men come here to drink?”
“But I heard it was because the old lord offended another lord, and that’s why he was…”
Jiang Lin listened for quite a while, but he still did not hear anything definite amid all the gossip.
He shook his head. Perhaps coming here had not been a very good choice.
After a moment’s thought, Jiang Lin stood up, preparing to leave. But just then, the tavern doors were thrown open, and a knight led a squad of soldiers rushing inside.
In an instant, the tavern fell silent.
The drunks who had been gossiping about the old lord were so startled that one of them lost his grip on his cup, and it crashed to the floor.
With a clatter, the sound rang out sharply in the silent tavern.
The knight at the front wore a cold expression as his gaze slowly swept across everyone in the room.
The tavern owner hurried out at once, a smile plastered across his face. Looking at the knight with both panic and caution, he asked in a trembling voice,
“Sir Knight, what is it? Have you come to drink at our tavern?
You brought so many men with you, haha…”
The knight ignored him. His gaze continued to pass over every face and body in the tavern.
At that moment, Jiang Lin quietly reined in his aura and presence.
Only after scanning the room for a while did the knight say flatly,
“Members of the Demon Race have infiltrated the city recently. Everyone, leave at once.”
“What? The Demon Race?”
The moment those words were spoken, low murmurs broke out across the tavern, and the drunkards all widened their eyes.
Even the tavern owner looked stunned, and his slightly bloated body began to tremble a little.
With a sharp metallic hiss, the knight drew his longsword.
That single motion instantly shut everyone up.
“Didn’t you hear me? Move!”
When dealing with people like these, courtesy was sometimes far less effective than force.
The patrons immediately rushed toward the door in a panic, and Jiang Lin mixed in with them as he headed outside.
Inwardly, he could not help grumbling at his luck. What was this supposed to be?
But just then, the knight suddenly reached out toward Jiang Lin.
Without changing expression, Jiang Lin shifted slightly aside, causing the knight’s grasp to miss.
He was already prepared to make a move.
“Hm?” The knight lowered his head and looked at his empty hand in confusion. Then he turned to Jiang Lin and said,
“You dropped something.”
As he spoke, the knight bent down, his armor clanking softly, picked up a coin from the floor, and handed a copper coin to Jiang Lin.
Jiang Lin stared at the coin for a moment. He had thought he had been exposed, but he had never expected the knight had only stopped him for something like this.
“Thank you.”
Jiang Lin accepted the copper coin that did not belong to him and turned to walk out of the tavern.
“Sir Leon, everyone has been evacuated,” a soldier reported with lowered head.
“Understood. On to the next one.”
The knight named Leon nodded. He looked at the now-empty tavern, then turned to the owner.
“For your own safety, keep the place closed for the next few days. Reopen only after the danger has passed and the City Lord gives the order.”
“Y-yes, of course…” the tavern owner said hurriedly, nodding again and again.
Knight Leon did not linger any longer. He led the soldiers away toward the remaining taverns.
At a corner of the street, Jiang Lin slowly stepped out as he watched the squad disappear into the distance.
“The Demon Race…”
“Could the old lord’s death have something to do with the Demon Race?”
Jiang Lin walked as he thought. He did not know much about this so-called demon kind.
Or rather, he knew nothing at all. But after he returned, he could ask Trelis.
The streets were even more deserted now, perhaps because that knight and his men had begun clearing the area.
Jiang Lin did not remain outside any longer and instead entered an inn.
After paying thirty Copper Coins, he went up to a room on the second floor.
The room was not large, and the furnishings inside were simple as well: only a bed, a table, and chairs.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jiang Lin slowly stirred his Divine Sense and spread it outward.
Within the area covered by his Divine Sense, Jiang Lin could perceive everything with perfect clarity.
He could tell exactly what all the nearby residents were doing.
And unlike in Zhongzhou, he did not have to worry about his Divine Sense accidentally brushing against some old monster.
In this world, there was no need to worry about that at all.
At least so far, he had been free to investigate as he pleased.
That counted as one of his advantages.
Of course, Jiang Lin did not have such crude tastes that he would insist on peeping into what other people were doing.