Chapter 139: We Are Home

George and the others were slightly delayed in Greywood Town due to the wedding, but they did get a relatively rich lunch from the Mayor. On the rest of the journey, George and his group rode their horses at full speed. Fortunately, they were no longer slowed down by the merchant caravan, and once they entered Bolerum Territory, the roads were much better than before. Although they could not go at full speed to keep up with the carriages, they hurried and rushed and still made it back to the territory before the gates of Poitou closed.

The tall and thick city walls not only served as defensive structures against external invasions for cities, strongholds, and castles, but they also gave the people living behind them a great sense of security.

This world was different from the modern city George had traveled to before; basically, there were no cities that never slept. Under the cover of night, many dangers and crimes found ample shelter. At such times, to improve safety within the towns, the city gates would be closed. According to the rules of Bolerum Territory, the gates usually opened at around 6 PM in winter and 5 PM in summer. The closing time was around 5 PM in winter and 6 PM in summer. During spring and autumn, the times were adjusted within this range based on specific situations.

Without special circumstances, the city gates would never be opened at night. Although George, by his identity, could indeed make this happen, it would be a waste of time and also a trouble for the guards on night duty. Although the teak doors reinforced with iron were relatively easy to open, lifting the multi-ton iron bars completely with a winch would take quite a lot of effort. Also, raising and lowering the drawbridge over the moat was not an easy task either.

George, riding his horse, looked up and saw the sunset hanging in the half-sky, like a jade plate. It shone on people’s faces, making them look as if they were plated with gold and covered in oil. It shone on the surface of the moat water, making the river float with golden light, as if magical little stars were twinkling. The clouds reflected the setting sun, and the horizon turned a drunken red, setting off the deepening twilight. The evening breeze carried the coolness of autumn, and as the twilight deepened, the layers of trees were dyed, and falling leaves danced with the wind. An indescribable sorrowful beauty rose naturally in George’s heart. The shadow of the sunset was cast on the drawbridge in front of the gate tower, scattering a trail of faint afterglow.

A few plane trees on both sides of the road, having shed all their splendor, were left with only dry branches. But under the sunset, they still cast mottled tree shadows, which seemed like a kind of persistence.

As the actual manager and future owner of the territory, George was very well known in Bolerum Territory. Although Sir Val led the way in the group, the guards patrolling the city walls spotted George from a great distance. Before George and his group even reached the drawbridge, the guards at the city gate had already cleared the pedestrians and merchants entering and leaving the area near the gate. This created relatively convenient conditions for George’s party to pass through.

All these actions were carried out in an orderly manner. By the time George and the others stepped through the city gate, those guards had already returned to their posts. The coordination was so smooth like the gears in a clock, far from being a result of just one day or two of work.

In George’s view, the line of guards at the gate stood as straight as green pines. They wore semi-covering round helmets, and from George’s angle on the horse, he could not see their faces completely. However, even from the visible parts, it was clear that their expressions were absolutely serious.

A large piece of cured leather hung from the brim, covering their necks. Outside a breathable cotton and wool blend undershirt, they wore lightweight paper armor, a specialty of Bolerum. On their hands, protected by iron cuffs, one hand held a spear flashing with cold light, while the other held a kite-shaped wooden shield reinforced with iron, featuring a semi-circular notch on the upper left. A short sword and its scabbard were fixed to a brown cured leather belt around their waists.

On the linen sleeveless short tunics worn by these guards, the unique emblem of House Bolerum was embroidered. Similarly, their shields depicted a white edelweiss and green ivy decorating a blue scabbard with a partially drawn longsword. Since the colors of the emblem were mainly blue, green, and white, the tunics worn by the soldiers were also based on these three colors.

In fact, there were no more than five territories in the entire Nohan Kingdom that equipped guards with such tunics, mainly because the price of dyes was quite high. Unless Alchemy could be used to synthesize some dyes artificially, it is likely that no one in the entire Duchy could afford such things. Although alchemical products were slightly expensive for commoners, compared to natural dyes, they were just a drop in the bucket.

By natural dyes, we refer to dyes obtained from plants, animals, or mineral resources without artificial synthesis, rarely or never undergoing chemical processing. For example, a pale yellow can be extracted from pomegranate peels, and an ochre color from walnut peels. Also, yellow can be extracted from ginger juice, a crimson red from cochineal insects, and an orange-red from sappan wood. They are known for their scarcity and high prices. To say nothing else, just ginger on the Western Continent costs 10 Gold Coins per ounce, while the most beautiful natural red dye, saffron, costs a sky-high 65 Gold Coins per ounce.

After entering the city gate, George and his group parted ways very tacitly. Sir Val arranged for Hiren to take Craig, that little guy, to his residence in the city. This was not out of fear that Craig would encounter any danger. After all, although the safety level of Poitou City might not match the Inner City of Karada, under normal circumstances, the difference was not very large. Besides, Craig himself was not a scholar with no strength; as a Red Iron Rank Squire, he was stronger than ordinary elite soldiers.

However, that kid had a naturally restless nature, and it was hard to say if he would immediately go home obediently—children always love to play. But if the servants or butlers at Craig’s home did not see him before the curfew, it would inevitably cause a scene of chaos. Sir Bart, Craig’s father and an assistant or security chief to Viscount Bolerum, had stayed in Karada. Sir Val, who was his friend and Craig’s Knight Instructor, always took responsibility in this regard.

As for why the safety of Poitou City was not as good as the Inner City of Karada, there were mainly two reasons. One aspect was the difference in permanent residents. The Inner City of Karada was inhabited by the powerful nobles of the Duchy of Nohan, their servants, and the clergy of various Churches. Not only did everyone know each other well, but they also had many entangled interests. Similarly, there was extremely strict management of access control.

Poitou City in Bolerum Territory, on the other hand, was a city where people from different social classes lived mixed together. As an important commercial transit point, there were also quite a few outsiders here, especially traveling merchants and their guards and Adventurers. While these people brought economic prosperity, they were also a source of instability, although they mostly did not dare to cause trouble in the city. If the Inner City of Karada was like a conservative small town, quiet and peaceful, then Poitou City was more like the chaotic and mixed city of Shanghai before George’s transmigration.

The other source of threat came from various wild animals. Do not think that wild animals are easy to deal with. Many of them were ferocious creatures, and some were even Magical Beasts. Although the large-sized ones could not escape the guards’ patrols, the smaller ones might sneak into the city through the sewers. As for those that could fly, if they were not large and had the ability to move at night, although it could not be said that they could enter and exit as if no one was there, they were still difficult to discover.

Therefore, regularly cleaning up creatures in the city that might endanger human safety was a problem that city managers had to face. In fact, for many Adventurers, this task was often an important source of their livelihood. Nobles also liked this approach of solving problems with money, rather than sending their valuable Private Troops to deal with those little monsters hiding in unknown corners. It was better to leave professional tasks to professional personnel. Sending a lion from the battlefield to drill into a sewer was not a good idea.

As for ferocious animals, although they seemed fierce, they were not a major threat to the residents of the city, because only small creatures could enter the town. There were not many examples of people being directly bitten to death by ferocious creatures in towns on the entire Western Continent each year, but the plagues that accompanied them were a big trouble. In smaller towns, if this situation occurred, those unlucky ones without medicine could only endure it. Those with good luck might survive, while those with bad luck would have to prepare their shrouds.

But for slightly larger cities, the most harmful were two types of rodent creatures.

The first was the famous Ash Rat. They spread fires in towns, fields, and forests. Ash Rats were a fatal threat to any civilized society. These wandering little monsters were often the source of large-scale fires. They obtained the food they needed from heat in an unknown way. These little creatures’ bodies were so hot that any flammable material they touched would start to burn.

According to records by scholars who had studied these little animals, they were 2-foot-long rodents with orange eyes. Ash Rats generally looked like mice, and their fur could be black, gray, or brown. Their protruding teeth were a dull yellow. However, most witnesses found it hard to describe the appearance of Ash Rats precisely, because black smoke with a permanent effect spread around them, blocking the witnesses’ vision.

However, the harm these little creatures caused to human civilization was only due to their physical traits. If possible, Ash Rats would usually flee from battle. When drawn into combat, Ash Rats would only fight defensively, spitting fire at enemies that threatened them. Contact with the body of an Ash Rat caused pain due to the high heat, making cautious enemies avoid fighting them in close combat.

If the disaster caused by Ash Rats had little to do with their own will, then another creature, the Moon Rat, was in a way a conspirator.

In fact, unless under the moonlight, Moon Rats were just like ordinary mice. For these mice, moonlight produced a creepy effect, making them smarter, stronger, and more ferocious than ordinary mice. On nights when the moon shone, Moon Rats would come out in a swarm, absorbing this pale moonlight and spreading fear to the human world. In battle, Moon Rats attacked like ordinary mice, biting and tearing with their teeth.

Under the influence of the moon, Moon Rats would gain the ability to organize, converse, construct complex plans, and operate complex devices. Their leaders could even remember things done or knowledge learned days or even months ago. When the moon was full, Moon Rats could plan and carry out deeds that would take more than a dozen full moon nights to accomplish. These conspiracies were usually both cunning and tricky, making it hard for careless people to link seemingly accidental events to the evil plans carefully devised by these Moon Rats. By the time they realized it, it was usually too late. In accidents like collapsing houses or breaking dams, Moon Rats were responsible for a large part of the damage.

These two highly dangerous creatures could be said to have caused damage to humanity second only to natural disasters and wars over the recorded thousands of years. Of course, some so-called natural disasters were not necessarily naturally generated. However, given such painful lessons, human efforts to strike and prevent these creatures have always been relentless. Unfortunately, there is no rule that one can catch a thief for a thousand days and guard against them for a thousand days, so incidents caused by them still occurred frequently. However, with technological progress and experience accumulation in various aspects, and even the use of specific magic at times, the frequency of these incidents has become lower, and the damage caused after they occur is far less than in the past. Of course, this is mostly the result of strict prevention. Once relaxed, these two species might really cause great chaos!

In this regard, one very important reason why Poitou City was not as safe as the Inner City of Karada was the Outer District of Karada. Compared to the Inner City, it acted like a tightly guarded isolation belt. Most wild animals caused a lot of trouble in the Outer City before they even reached the Inner City, or they were accidentally discovered by citizens. They completely lost the chance to reach the Inner City of Karada.

Back home, George took a bath under the arrangement of Craig’s butler, and at the same time, he arranged for someone to prepare dinner. However, after enjoying the marble bathroom in Karada, George felt something strange when facing his large wooden bathtub again in Poitou. Although George experienced this once every year, the huge gap still made him feel a sense of loss. Fortunately, this feeling was quite easy to adjust, especially after George’s “Doumu Yuanjun Visualization Method” reached a small success, he adjusted his mindset in an instant.

At this time, George was lying on his side, resting his head on his arms, leaning against the edge of the wooden tub. Beside him, the Little Maid Elena was using her small hands to knead George’s back. Although her technique still seemed a bit immature, it was clear that she had put in some effort. However, the massage techniques in this world could not reach the level of blind massage George was used to before his transmigration. That was a traditional method based on stimulating acupoints on the human body through pressing, rubbing, grinding, and rubbing to achieve the three-way flow of muscles, blood, and meridians. It was said to prevent shoulder periarthritis, cervical spondylosis, bone hyperplasia, back and leg pain, and relieve fatigue. Plus, absorbing many foreign techniques including French massage, back stepping, kneeling back, and bone loosening, massage could “straighten the upright and remove evil,” making people’s blood and qi flow smoothly, yin and yang harmonize, internal organs thrive, and meridians circulate, enhancing human immunity. It achieved the principle of “no pain where there is flow, and pain where there is blockage.”

George dared to say that basically no one in this world could achieve the points mentioned above. But for George, what he truly enjoyed was the feeling of Elena’s tender hands, which had been specially shaved of calluses, kneading his body. Through her soft and gentle technique of pushing, rubbing, and kneading on his muscles, his whole body was relaxed. His fingertips gently stroking his body stimulated blood circulation, giving the feeling that someone was deliberately teasing him. This slightly ambiguous feeling was something George had not experienced in the more than ten years since his transmigration.

‘Truly, sending Elena for intensive training at Head Maid Sarah’s place was an absolutely correct decision! In the past, it was impossible to enjoy such service. Speaking of which, if I brought this little girl into the bathtub right now and executed her on the spot, would she mind?’ Thinking this, George slightly shook his head, ‘But let’s save it for now. Even if we don’t wait until the Golden Core is formed, at least wait until the Jade Pillar Golden Body Technique closes the gate. By then, my own qi and spirit will not become turbid in the intimate blending with others.’

After controlling his own blood and qi to make the giant python that had been hiding underwater and starting to rise become calm again, George began to peacefully enjoy Elena’s gentle service. After all, she was already in his bowl; whether eating early or late, it was all the same. If he delayed cultivation over such things, it would not be worth it.

When George finished relaxing and came to the hall, a specially made seafood feast was presented before him. There was a cheesy onion seafood soup made with squid, shelled mussels, and shrimp. There was pan-fried Atlantic cod, golden and crispy on the outside but tender on the inside. The cold dishes were oysters with herb sauce. What satisfied George the most was the mixed seafood risotto, mainly made of crabs, or rather, sea spiders here.

George stopped his spoon and asked the steward beside him, “Steward Craig. Where did the rice in this meal come from? I remember we don’t have any stock of this at home!”

“This was cargo carried by a caravan that passed by a while ago. I saw that Young Master liked it in the past, so I took the liberty of buying it,” the Old Steward answered with his calm and steady tone.