Chapter 518 – Entering the Inner City

Vasida’s hands gripped the little wooden horse tightly. She didn’t even dare look at the ground, wishing she could push the wooden horse to full speed and get through this manure-covered road as quickly as possible.

But unfortunately, Green City’s main road wasn’t like Lance City’s — it wasn’t divided into carriage lanes and pedestrian walkways.

People and carriages, those entering and those leaving the city, were all mixed together.

Vasida not only had to watch out for pedestrians and other carriages, but she also couldn’t get too close to other vehicles — otherwise the manure splashed up by their wheels might land on their carriage.

Just imagining that scene made her want to vomit.

So their speed, far from increasing, actually slowed down considerably.

The carriage windows were tightly shut, but the carriage had been traveling along this manure-covered road for so long that even with the carriage’s decent sealing, they could all sense a faint stench seeping in.

Lilith suddenly recalled something from when they had been setting up their stall at Apprentice Square: “No wonder those mages from Green City smelled so strongly of perfume — it was like they’d soaked their mage robes in it!”

“Oh right! Perfume!” Sylph was reminded, and she quickly found a bottle of plant-based aromatic essential oil she had made, diluted it, and sprayed it around the carriage interior.

As the fragrance spread, everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Vasida felt her nose was no longer suffering, but her eyes still were. She couldn’t help confirming with Mo Lan: “Mages really don’t have any magic similar to the Cleaning spell?”

“They don’t,” Mo Lan said firmly. “The Cleaning spell looks simple, but it actually requires extremely flexible elemental control.”

No matter how high a mage’s elemental affinity was, no matter how much their spell structures amplified their psychic power’s control over elemental force, they could only strengthen that control — never achieve the level of flexible manipulation required.

Spell structures were both amplifiers and limiters: they enhanced elemental control while restricting elemental flexibility.

“Then our carriage…”

Sylph couldn’t bear to think about it — they would have to drive this carriage with manure caked in its wheels all the way to Etherlance.

“Is that the inner city up ahead?”

Through the lookout window, Vasida spotted tall black walls rising beyond the old, dirty, and dilapidated streets and buildings.

Those walls appeared to be regularly maintained, completely different from the weathered city walls they had just passed, which had manure stains at their base.

Inside the carriage, no one could answer her.

No one dared open a window at this point to take a closer look.

The carriage pressed on, finally arriving at the base of the tall walls.

Outside the walls, there was actually a small river. Many carriages were parked along the riverbank, and numerous young commoners, bare-chested and wearing only shorts, were hauling water from the river to wash carriages.

Separated by a single river, the walls and roads on the other side were spotlessly clean — not a trace of manure in sight. The ground showed only damp water marks left by carriage wheels that had passed through.

At the river crossing, soldiers stood guard.

Their magic carriage was stopped.

Sylph covered her nose and opened the window, displaying Mo Lan’s advanced mage badge.

The soldier immediately straightened up with respect: “Esteemed mage, we are most honored by your arrival! However, the filth from the outer city cannot be brought into the inner city. Would you please park your carriage by the riverbank first? We’ll send someone to wash it for you right away!”

Vasida steered the magic carriage, following the soldier to an open area by the riverbank.

The soldier who had been so courteous and friendly to them turned around and barked fiercely at the people in the river: “Hurry up and wash the mage’s carriage wheels clean! If you delay the mage’s business, you’ll answer for it!”

“Sir! The payment…” one of the men in the river hesitated for a moment before asking with an ingratiating smile.

“This is the carriage of an esteemed advanced mage! Being allowed to wash it is an honor in itself!” The soldier certainly hadn’t dared tell an advanced mage: your carriage is too dirty, please go pay to have it washed over there before you can enter the inner city!

It was Sylph who noticed a handful of copper coins being tossed from a nearby carriage and quietly mentioned it to Lilith.

Only then did Lilith fish a silver coin from her coin purse and toss it out.

Mo Lan also spoke up in a suitably deep tone: “Hurry and wash it! We’re in a rush to find an inn!” Though it wasn’t as nauseating here as before, the smell of manure still lingered in the air, and every extra moment spent here was torment.

The man in the river caught the silver coin, carefully tucked it into his waistband, and immediately set to work scrubbing their carriage wheels with gusto.

The soldier let out a cold snort: “Clueless fool!”

Damn it! A silver coin! Lucky bastard!

He turned back and addressed the carriage with eager attentiveness: “My ladies! If you’re looking for an inn, you’ll see them as soon as you enter the inner city. There are plenty of inns right near the gates.”

“Mm!”

Hearing the cold, indifferent response from inside the carriage, the soldier awkwardly cut himself short: “Well then, I’ll head back to my post. If you need anything at all, just say the word!”

After the soldier left, Sylph sprayed the aromatic essential oil again and again until her nose had nearly gone numb. Finally, she heard the voice of the carriage washer from outside.

“My lady, it’s all done! Does it meet your satisfaction? If not, I can wash it again!”

Not a single person inside the carriage was willing to step out.

After all, the water on the ground had been used to rinse off manure.

“That’ll do!” Vasida called out, then swiftly turned the carriage around and raced toward the inner city.

The moment they entered the inner city, it felt like emerging from the Abyss onto the surface — a sudden, breathtaking openness.

The inner city’s main road was several times wider than the outer city’s — so wide it resembled a plaza.

Though there was still no separation between carriage lanes and pedestrian walkways, even with many carriages traveling along it, it didn’t feel crowded at all — if anything, it felt rather spacious.

Most importantly, the inner city streets were finally not covered in manure everywhere.

After hearing Vasida describe what it was like outside, Sylph and Lilith finally dared to open the carriage windows and take a look.

“Oh my! The difference between the inner and outer city is just too enormous!”

The shops lining both sides of the street finally had a touch of that Lance City feel, unlike the outer city’s decrepit, long-neglected appearance.

The pedestrians on the streets all had rosy complexions, and judging by their attire, they were mostly mages.

And at the far end of this extraordinarily wide main road stood a Mage Tower, slightly taller even than the Lance Mage Tower.

Green City’s Grand Duke had built the Mage Tower at the very center of the inner city and personally governed from there.

Just as that soldier had said, there were many inns near the city gates, one right next to another.

“Let’s keep going a bit further. Let’s pick an inn that’s farther from the inner city gates,” Vasida said.

That road had left too deep a shadow on her — the farther from the inner city gates, the farther from that road.

Sylph and Lilith agreed.

Besides, the inner city clearly became more prosperous the closer one got to the Mage Tower at its center.

In the end, the carriage stopped in front of an inn halfway along the main road.

“The Green Phantom Inn — sounds like a high-end mage inn just from the name, and it looks impressive too. The storefront is bigger than any of those near the city gates,” Vasida said.

“Let’s go with this one!” Lilith couldn’t wait to get out of the carriage.

She felt that even after the carriage had been washed by the river, it was still dirty.