Ch. 132 Accepting Quests is an Important Part of an RPG!

Another day passed in the wild, and finally, they walked out of the mountains and stood at the peak.

They could see the end of the distant plains and the strait separating Anglesey Island and Wales.

It didn’t look like a strait at all.

From this end of the Welsh ‘mainland’, one could see the flat island on the opposite shore at a glance.

The green plains had few undulations and stretched as far as the eye could see, forming a sharp contrast with the rolling, barren hills behind them.

There was a city on the Welsh coast.

This city wasn’t large; looking from the mountain peak, it was located less than ten kilometers away.

It was surrounded by walls full of British characteristics, with gates in the walls and high towers atop the gates.

The town wasn’t big; looking from this spot, one could roughly estimate its population to be around ten thousand.

On the far side of the city, across the strait, there was a village facing the city from the opposite shore.

“That’s it,” seeing his hometown again, Isdis pointed at the island and spoke happily.

The caravan went down the hillside, the small path merging into a main road, and fellow travelers gradually increased.

Every ten minutes or so, they would see some merchant caravans heading south, either driving carriages or herding cargo-laden mules. Of course, there were also many teams like theirs heading north.

Transporting goods from one place to another and then bringing back goods from elsewhere to make a profit—this is the basic principle of commercial activity.

Two hours later, the caravan approached the city.

The small city was named Bangor.

The city walls had a strong ‘primitive’ style. The entire city, except for the harbor area by the sea, was situated on a mound. The city walls were essentially the cliffs where the edges of the mound had been dug out, then fenced with timber.

Therefore, the height of the top of the wall and the ground inside the city were almost the same.

The two ends of the city wall near the coast were blocked by high rock piles. These rock piles were like dams, extending ten meters into the strait, blocking the possibility of enemies circling around from the beach.

While visually not as impressive as those cities in the plains with towering walls, such a structure was a result of compromising with reality.

However, its defensive performance was not at all inferior to the walls built by the Romans on the eastern plains.

Before even entering the city, it felt like walking into a village first. Fields and houses were scattered outside the city, and the main road passed through the village below the city, leading to the city gate.

A squad of soldiers stood at the city gate.

Ordinary people didn’t need to pay to enter the city, but if they carried goods, they had to pay a tax.

The tax collector saw the two approaching carriages from afar. As a city tax collector facing a group of people of unknown origin, he and the soldiers didn’t move, waiting until Wilden drove the carriage pulled by Torrent closer.

The tax collector took a step back upon seeing the horned strange horse.

“You… you all…” he said, stuttering slightly.

Mia’s head popped out from the cargo bed: “We want to enter the city.”

“I know!” The tax collector glared, seemingly wanting to make up for his lack of presence. He said loudly, “This is the territory of the King of Gwynedd, Bangor City. Where are you merchants from? Regardless of where you come from, you need to pay ten percent of the value of your goods as a commercial tax to enter the city.”

“We aren’t merchants,” Mia explained, “just a group of travelers.”

“Travelers?” The tax collector looked behind Mia.

“Of course, that Soldier is a merchant.” Mia pointed at Isdis and explained.

Kay jumped down from the rear carriage, tidied his clothes, and walked toward the tax collector.

“I am the son of Sir Ector, the Lord of Wild Forest Keep,” he announced, revealing his noble status.

The tax collector looked down at the tax bill in his hand and muttered, “Never heard of that place…”

“There are plenty of places you haven’t heard of. We came from Glamorgan.”

“I need to inspect the cargo.”

“Be my guest.” Kay politely made a gesture of invitation.

The tax collector took small steps, bypassed Torrent, and came to the back of the cargo bed.

Mia considered how to be polite, then reached out a hand to him: “Want to come up and take a look?”

“Thank you.”

The tax collector climbed onto the carriage and inspected the goods under the watchful eyes of several people.

Food, water, tents, camping tools.

After a short while, the tax collector jumped down from the carriage: “These are indeed not trade goods.”

“However,” he changed his tone, “every horse and every carriage entering the city must pay a vehicle and horse tax.”

Kay frowned, thought for a moment, and then nodded: “That’s reasonable enough.”

The tax collector spent much more effort when counting Isdis’s goods.

Even though he had originally come from the city and had merely gone out for a trip without doing anything—even losing some goods—the tax collector still insisted on collecting the commercial tax.

The dispute grew more intense, almost reaching the point of a shouting match, until the others couldn’t stand to watch anymore.

It wasn’t until Kay stood up for him that the tax collector, not wanting to offend a noble scion, finally relented.

Kay paid the reasonable tax to the collector on Isdis’s behalf.

With this entire process, waiting at the city gate to enter had cost another hour.

Upon entering the city, the first thing to hit the senses was the bustling crowd.

A city was naturally more lively than a village. Here, more people relied on industry and commerce rather than agriculture and animal husbandry to survive. Thus, during the day, the city’s prosperity far exceeded that of a village where most people were working in the fields.

Shops lined both sides of the streets, ranging from small stalls with awnings to spacious storefronts. Whether it was wood-carved handicrafts, bread and grain, or even blacksmith shops specializing in weapons and armor or jewelry stores, they all coexisted within the city.

Of course, most buildings were residential.

Dense architecture, narrow streets like spider webs branching off the main road, and the sound of human voices coming from all directions.

Except for Mia, everyone looked amazed.

“What do you think of this place?” Mia asked Melina, leaning close to her.

“It’s very lively.” Melina nodded, her golden eyes scanning the surrounding people and things.

The Lands Between had countless magnificent castles and splendid cities.

In terms of architectural wonders, nowhere in Britain could compare to it.

But there was one thing The Lands Between lacked.

People.

A great nation, yet without normal citizens; the countless wonders were nothing more than legacies of the past.

If the current Lands Between were compared to a timeless masterpiece framed in a hall, then Britain was like a manga series—simple in depth, but clear, easy to understand, and still being updated.

Inside the city, except for one main road paved with stone slabs, the rest were dirt roads no different from those in the wild.

Similarly, most houses were made of earth and wood, except for the inner city where the lord resided.

Isdis, who was very familiar with the city, led everyone toward an inn with decent conditions.

The first priority was to resolve the accommodation issue.