Chapter 151 Country People Entering the City (Ⅰ)
Layton Port is located on the Layton Peninsula near the mouth of the Ivene River, facing Pico Bay. It is the second largest city after the "Midgard City" among all the colonial cities established by the Holy Ashean Empire in the New World.
As the industrial and commercial center and maritime trade hub of the Alfheim region, the market in Leiden Port has everything from fashionable goods from countries of the Old World. However, when it comes to local specialties, the first thing that comes to mind, whether local residents or tourists, is "tomato", so Port Leiden has naturally won the nickname "Big Tomato City".
The prosperity of a city is often directly proportional to its price, and this rule is especially evident in Leiden Port.
As early as last winter, when Qiao An first entered the city, she deeply realized that life in the metropolis is not easy, and it is difficult to move an inch without money in her pocket. At that time, in order to save a little travel expenses, he didn't dare to stay in a hotel, and slept under the bridge hole in the slums of the port area for a night under the wind and snow.
Returning to Layton City tonight, Joan no longer had Jamie as his companion. Thinking back to the experience of being robbed by homeless men under the bridge, and considering that he was carrying a large amount of tuition fees with him, and there was no half-breed winter wolf around to watch the night, Joe An Ke didn't dare to sleep in the slums anymore, so he could only bite the bullet and walked into a hotel near the city gate. After inquiring about it, he learned that a night's stay would cost 3 gold duga, so he was so scared that he didn't dare to say a word. He escaped in desperation.
There are street lights on both sides of the streets in the main city of Leiden Harbor. Joan walked under the soft lights, and couldn't help but recall the rumors about the street lights of Leiden Harbor.
The main road in Port Leiden has been lit up as early as the turn of the century, initially using old-fashioned street lamps fueled by whale oil. Since there are always homeless people breaking the glass lampshade to steal lamp oil, a groundbreaking resolution was made after discussion by the city council to use magic to replace the "whale oil" street lamp that had been in use for many years.
As a mage, Joan certainly knew that the most suitable spell to illuminate the city streets was "Immortal Flame". This second-ring spell is just like its name. Once it is blessed on the surface of an object, it will release a permanent light. It can last for a long time without adding any fuel. It can also automatically set the activation password. When the light in the city falls below a certain level, the blessed The street lamps with eternal flames will automatically light up, and when the sun rises, the magic street lamps will temporarily go to sleep, and the light is faint and almost extinguished. In addition, "Immortal Flame" has two other advantages - the light it produces has no heat, and the magic cold light completely eliminates the hidden danger of fire, and it can also illuminate passers-by in bad weather with wind and rain.
The above benefits are enough to prove that magic street lights have overwhelming advantages over traditional street lights, but they also experienced many obstacles at the beginning of their implementation. The obvious reason for the opponents is that the cost of magic street lights is too high. If you only look at the manufacturing cost of the magic street lamp, it is indeed more than ten times more expensive than the traditional street lamp, but considering the lamp oil and maintenance costs saved after being put into use, the magic street lamp is more economical than the traditional street lamp. The advantage of low price is more prominent, so as long as you think about it a little, you will find that the reasons of the opponents are untenable and nothing more than an excuse. Most of the opponents are closely related to the Whaling Association in Port Leiden, the Sailors' Union and even the Lamp Oil and Lamp Manufacturers Guild. The real reason for opposing the switch to magic street lights is that this policy will severely impact whalers, sailors, lamp oil and traditional lamps. manufacturer's interests.
In Leiden Port, there are tens of thousands of citizens who rely on the above-mentioned industries for their livelihood. These people form a huge interest group, and their representatives are also in the parliament. This interest group centered around the whaling industry failed in the end, mainly because their opponents—the Port of Leiden Mage Association, the Enchanter’s Guild, and the new lamp manufacturers who advocated the promotion of new street lamps—were more powerful. Powerful, finally won the final victory with a slight advantage in the parliamentary vote, and successfully brought magic street lamps that are fearless of wind and rain and more convenient to Port Leiden.
Joan stopped under a street lamp, looked around, and confirmed that no one was paying attention to him, so he untied his backpack, took out a quill and an ink bottle, and secretly drew the No. 4 rune Ansuz on the lamppost, through which " The rune of "Prophecy and Reveal" parses the constant "Immortal Flame" on the magic street lamp.
When passers-by saw his sneaky behavior, they all cast contemptuous glances, thinking that this country bumpkin dressed in rustic clothes was scribbling on the street lamps, writing "so and so came here for a visit" and other self-satisfied nonsense. Fortunately, Joan's movements were swift enough to complete the analysis of the spell before passers-by called the police and the sheriff rushed up with a big stick to stop him from destroying public property. He wiped the rune with his sleeve and ran to the lawn beside the road.
Joan's mind was full of the spell "Immortal Flame", and he didn't pay attention to the signboard next to the lawn, which said "No trampling", but saw a long wooden sign for passers-by to sit down and rest. The chair, excitedly ran across the lawn to the bench, leaving a series of dazzling footprints on the grass, once again attracting the disdainful eyes of the people in the city.
Unaware of people's strange gazes, Joan took out the spell book from his bag and spread it on the bench. Finding that there was still a newspaper hanging on the back of the chair, he spread the newspaper on the ground, knelt down on the newspaper, and buried himself in the chair to copy the incantation of the 2-ring "Immortal Flame". It took over an hour to write two large pages of dense elf text. Joan breathed a sigh of satisfaction, closed the spell book, and stuffed it back into the backpack along with the pen and ink.
Standing up and moving his sore joints, Joan realized that the night was dark and the streets were silent, only the street lamps above his head still emitted a soft radiance, and countless flying insects circled and danced around the lampshade.
Joan seriously considered the feasibility of lying on a bench wrapped in a blanket for a night, but finally gave up the idea, not only because the night at the end of March was quite cold, and sleeping on the street might catch the wind and cold, but more importantly, he found that a body A man in a patrol uniform and holding a big wooden club was walking towards him, looking at him with hostility.
Although Qiao An was a bumpkin from the countryside, he was not stupid. He immediately realized that sleeping on the streets was prohibited here. The patrolman on the other side of the road probably regarded him as a homeless man, so he quickly picked up his backpack and ran away.
The patrolman with a dark face waved a big stick and followed him unhurriedly. His leather boots stepped on the stone pavement and made Joan's frightening footsteps. I had no choice but to bite the bullet and sneak into a hotel by the side of the road, endured the pain, counted out three gold coins, and opened a room.