Chapter 361, Goodbye Old Friend

?When Ryan and others set foot on the land of the empire, it was already a week later.

The giant ocean-going ship arrived at Fort Marien. Ryan and Tegris and his party did not stop at Fort Marien at all, but continued to march up the Reek River. After meeting, Ryan originally wanted to chat with Grand Duke Schulz of Marienburg, but when he saw Teclis, he didn't want to stay and could only say hello and leave.

When they arrived at Calcate, the border city of Marienburg and Rickland, Emperor Karl Franz had already led the Rick Guard and the Brunswick Great Swordsmen, the Kronburg Great Swordsmen and the Many troops in the capital are waiting for the arrival of Teclis. The Empire expressed the warmest welcome to Teclis and extended the highest standard of etiquette to thank Teclis for everything he has done for the Empire in the Great Holy War. At the same time, the Empire He also welcomed Ryan who was accompanying him. This Britannia star rose very fast, and he had a deep connection with the empire. Killing Egil benefited both the west and the north of the empire, which made the imperial people who took advantage Everyone has a good look at him.

Although Ryan felt that there might be a lot of fear in it, Ryan's strength also made the empire feel afraid.

The group stayed temporarily in Calcutt. Karl Franz had arranged a hotel and an open space in the town for the high elves to camp. Teclis, Ryan and others all stayed in the hotel.

The spacious hotel suites are luxuriously decorated, clean and tidy. Both Teresa and Veronica are pretty good. They are no strangers to the empire, but Suria is curious about many things. The female knight opens the window of the hotel, from Looking from the fifth floor, a prosperous, dirty, vibrant and chaotic town appeared in front of the female knight.

The towns of the empire are not like Brittania. The towns of Brittania are often built around castles. The lords and nobles will plan the towns vigorously, but this is not the case in the empire. The towns of the empire are often developed from villages As a result, the local nobles prefer to live in villas and mansions in the corners of towns, or even build castles outside the city.

Calcutt is a town with 5,000 people. Although it has not reached the city scale, it is very close. It is full of merchants from Marienburg or other imperial provinces. The land is fertile and the business is prosperous. Towns of Carter's size are dotted throughout the Rickland. As the most prosperous, civilized, and powerful province in the empire, Rickland has a population of nearly 5 million, which is almost equivalent to 80% of Brittania. The total population and the hard work of the Karl-Frantz family allowed Reickland to have the most powerful army in the empire. This is also one of the few relatively stable provinces in the empire that are less likely to face wars.

The other two territories are Averland in the east and Wessenland in the south.

Ryan embraced his wife from behind, buried his head between her golden hair, breathed in the fragrance of the female knight, and asked with a smile: "What's the matter? Suria, are you curious about the empire?"

The female knight held Ryan's big hand: "Yes, the Empire... is different from Brittania. It is more energetic and energetic here. Many residents like to walk with their heads up."

"Let's go to the streets?" Ryan was also very interested. On the way into the city, he at least saw many guilds, such as the Boatmen's Guild, Blacksmith's Guild, Dockmen's Guild, Doctors' Guild, as well as the Church of Justice, the Church of Life, and the Church of Goddess of Mercy. , even in the middle of winter, the streets are still very lively.

"Well, won't you delay the dinner?" The female knight was obviously very moved, but she still had to remain reserved.

"No, we'll just hang around and be back in a while." Ryan continued to seduce.

"Then... alright." Suria agreed, and Emperor Karl Franz would entertain them with a banquet in the evening. The time is now in the afternoon, and they still have a lot of free time.

So twenty minutes later, Ryan took Suria and her maid Sylvia to wander the streets together. The streets of the empire were dirty and chaotic, and both the people and the houses gave off an old and messy look. I feel that the old and new buildings on the side of the road are different. Human beings wear thick cloaks, exhale the cold air, and do business and work. There are many idlers on the street. Whistle gracefully.

There are many great swordsmen and groups of knights patrolling the streets. This is obviously because of the emperor's visit. The officials appointed by the lord are collecting taxes from house to house. Their attitude is rough and arrogant. Many patrol soldiers of the lord are also on the street. Let's go, they show two extremes to people. They are humble and flattering to those patrolling soldiers because of the emperor's great swordsman and imperial knights. To those civilians, the soldiers are fierce and domineering. Money generally doesn't leave their pockets.

This is different from Britannia again. Ryan held Suria's hand, and Sylvia, who was following behind, complained: "Miss, the people here are really annoying, are all people in the empire like this?"

"Don't underestimate the imperial people, these people just whistle every time, just look at your lady." Ryan said with a smile: "They are all smart, and Suria's dress can tell that she is a big nobleman, they can't mess with her." started."

"Then what if I dress a little more 'simple'?" Suria is wearing a standard Britannian women's marquis dress today, with a fox fur coat outside, and just replaced the long skirt with a more convenient one Over-the-knee skirt and high-heeled boots, the female knight is beautiful and heroic, coupled with Ryan, who is dressed in aristocratic clothing and has the Holy Grail Knight badge on his chest, everyone knows that they are not easy to mess with.

"Then they should come out and strike up a conversation." Ryan smiled: "The imperial people don't care about this."

Suria didn't say any more, she heard her father say that the empire was different.

After the end of the Great Holy War 160 years ago, the savior Ludwig publicly declared: "All people have the right to be paid for their labour."

The order of the savior ushered in a new era for the empire. In the south of the empire, especially in the three most affluent provinces of Rickland, Wissenland, and Aviland, farmers cultivated their own land. They only need to ask the emperor Or the electors pay taxes, and the remaining products can be sold by themselves, in exchange for a large amount of income, and accumulate wealth. The local lords can only draw taxes from their sales. When the emperor or electors need recruits, these farmers are all The best source of soldiers, they are eager for war, so that they have the opportunity to take the first step towards the nobles.

But in the north of the empire, the situation is no different from that of Brittania. Farmers are forced to hand over most of their harvest, so they are also eager for war, because they can eat their stomachs in this way.

But in any case, a country, a people, a faith, all imperial people are proud of their country.

There are many beggars and homeless people on the street. They beg everywhere: "Sir, please do me a favor. I haven't eaten for three days. I just need a few copper coins, just a few. If I can't do it, I can do it... The shop opposite The bakery is clearing out old stock, you can give me a copper coin to make me a full meal, and Lady Thalia will bless you."

Seeing this, Suria couldn't bear it. She had never seen so many beggars. In Britannia, serfs were the property of the lord, so there would be no beggars, but it was different in the Empire.

Freedom has a price.

Ryan stopped Suria from asking Sylvia to take out a copper coin: "My wife, you can't help everyone."

"But..." The kind female knight still couldn't bear it.

"Your Excellency Malcador is right, Your Excellency the Marquis, there is no need for you to sympathize with these people." At this time, a mature male voice came from one side, surrounded by a dozen Rick guards, dressed in plain clothes The emperor Karl Franz approached with a smile, and the emperor's flag bearer Ludwig Schwarzhammer followed behind him. The emperor had a warm and sincere smile on his face: "Everywhere in the town In recruiting, even the lowest-paid manure collectors, bone pickers, and waste pickers earn enough money to fill their stomachs, don't encourage them to get something for nothing."

"Hello, Your Majesty Franz." Ryan stood up straight and stretched out his hand towards the emperor.

Rick's guards were fully armed. They were dissatisfied with Ryan's slightly rude behavior, but they didn't say anything after thinking about the great achievements of the person in front of them. They just calmly guarded the emperor in the middle.

There are patrolling imperial knights and great swordsmen everywhere on Calcate, so there is no need to worry about safety issues. Ryan thought that Emperor Karl Franz might have the same idea as him, so he came out for a walk.

The strength of ordinary imperial knights is slightly stronger than that of Britannia's ranger knights, but much weaker than that of kingdom knights. Due to the richness and large population of the Rick collar, there are more than a dozen knights in one collar alone, a few thousand smaller. knight.

"Hello, Your Excellency Ryan, Mrs. Suria, haha~ You are also walking on the street like me?" Sure enough, the emperor took the initiative to shake hands with Ryan, with a smile on his face all the time: "Welcome to Reikland, the most powerful, oldest and richest province in the empire, is also my hometown."

Ryan thought that the identities with the longest history should be Midden Land and Talabek Land, but he had no intention of correcting them.

"It's such a rich and beautiful land." Suria also reached out to shake hands with Emperor Karl Franz. The emperor raised the female knight's little hand by about two centimeters, which was considered a hand kiss: "Welcome, welcome, I'm here to wish you a happy wedding."

"Your Majesty is so free?" Ryan is now a nobleman in Brittany, but he has a deep connection with the empire. After thinking about it for a while, he still showed respect to the emperor.

After saluting, the faces of Rick's guards looked much better.

"Things are arranged by my subordinates, so even though my flag officer Ludwig disagreed, I decided to go out for a stroll." The emperor smiled, and he patted Ryan's arm: "It's just right, Lady in the Lake's Is God's Chosen champion interested in walking around the streets with me?"

Ludwig, the flag officer behind the emperor, snorted unhappily, as if he was very dissatisfied with the emperor's reckless behavior.

"Of course." This was an invitation that was difficult to refuse, and Ryan had to agree.

So the three became a group, the emperor went to the market to check the prices, and discussed with Ryan the price curve fluctuations of grain and ironware, and how much the damned Marienburg merchants had affected prices, and what happened recently thing.

Neither Emperor Karl nor Ryan tacitly mentioned the intention of Teclis's visit.

Turning the corner, a mercenary guild appeared in front of everyone. A huge corpse at the entrance of the guild aroused the interest of Ryan and Emperor Karl.

It was the corpse of a Cyclops, which was erected high above the entrance of the mercenary guild using wood, and the broken tip of a lance pierced into the huge one-eyed giant's eye. There are dozens of horrific wounds on the giant's body, and the bones can be seen deep in each of them.

This corpse shows that humanity has once again won the war against evil.

"I don't know which warrior did such a feat? If I can see him, I will reward him well." Emperor Karl walked directly into the mercenary guild. Ge hurried to the front, protecting the emperor behind him.

"Let's go, let's go in and take a look." Ryan took Suria's hand, and some memories flashed across his face: "When I was a knight-errant knight and a knight of the kingdom, I often came to the mercenary guild to have a look. Is there any task that can be accepted?"

"Are you going to accept the mission now?" the female knight smiled with interest.

"That depends on whether they can afford my appearance fee, hehe." Ryan said with a smile. His status is not what it used to be now, and it is unlikely that he will take on missions like before, and others can't afford his commission , as the God's Choice Champion of the Fairy of the Lake, and already an Earl, his appearance fee is already sky-high, and he needs to be personally approved by Morgiana and even the Fairy of the Lake.

After entering the guild, a sound of quarreling reached the ears of the Ryan couple and Emperor Karl. The Rick guards subconsciously held the sword handles at their waists. These Rick guards had the right to kill any dangerous person on the spot .

"Captain Boris! You obviously haven't figured out the situation! Five gold marks for killing a group of bandits is already a lot! Don't be greedy!" In the hall of the guild, a staff member of the guild impatiently talked with a group of people. The gang of mercenaries said: "You don't want to do it, naturally there are people who are willing to take this job! If you don't want to do it, get out!"

"But... sir, your price is too low. According to your information, this is a group of thieves who are fully armed. They not only have shields and axes, but also two crossbows. Five gold marks are too little." Right?" The visitor was arguing endlessly with the receptionist behind the bar: "How about...eight? If it doesn't work, seven will do."

"Five gold marks is not enough? Did you see that Cyclops outside? That expeditionary knight named Callard solved it alone, and he only asked for thirty gold marks, and he solved it alone. A whole tribe of goblins only received 20 gold marks, you country bumpkins from the north are not strong enough, so don’t blame us for the lack of money!” The front desk staff yelled rather impolitely: “I don’t want to accept Just go, no one is forcing you to do it."

There were about thirty or forty mercenaries in this group, and a mercenary flag with a bloody ax fluttered among the crowd.

Ryan smiled, acquaintances: "Your Majesty, I know them."

"That's a coincidence." Emperor Karl nodded with a smile, and he signaled the Rick guards to put away their weapons.

Ryan walked forward alone, and patted behind the big man who was arguing with the mercenary receptionist.

"Hey, Captain Boris, Deputy Captain Wilt, we meet again."

"Lai...Your Excellency Earl Lane?!"

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