Chronicles of Ryan the Wizard Chapter 1: The black shop in Ermida

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Three days passed quickly. After Faras used three times the rent, the three carriage drivers happily sent the Leis team to Ermida City. And Faras also ended her luxury vacation trip in the eyes of Ryan.

Elmida is a city located at the foot of the Hengduan Mountains. It is surrounded by rich minerals, especially copper mines, with high output, which is almost one-tenth of the annual output of the entire empire.

The surroundings of Ermida City seem to be very desolate, without the prosperousness of Elfa City at all. Its low retaining walls and rough roads make people feel bad about it. An impression.

The entire city of Ermida is divided into two areas, the business district in the middle of the city and the slums surrounding the outside. The city is not very big, but it has a population of more than 30,000. This population also includes the miners who work under the mine all day long. Although it may be the next moment, they will die because of the mine accident; but at this moment, they are still alive.

The carriage came to the south gate of Ermida City and was stopped by the soldiers guarding the city. Faras, who was sitting in the first carriage, walked down. She explained the identity and purpose of her party to the soldiers guarding the city.

Among the soldiers guarding the city, there was a guy who looked like a boss. He stared at Farasi's chest trivially, only to find the junior magician badge on Farasi's chest. Seeing this badge, the wretched little boss squeezed a smile from his face, and desperately fawned over Farasi.

After all, in the entire Eslar continent, magicians are very rare and even have a special status. If a junior magician like Falasi severely teaches a civilian, as long as it doesn't kill anyone, no one will take care of it. Even if it really kills people, as long as the person who died is not a powerful guy, at best, the Magic Guild will come forward to reprimand the magician who killed people, most of which is just a few words.

The wretched little boss didn't dare to make troubles, just pointed to the decree of the city lord past the city gate, and asked Falas to pay all kinds of taxes and fees.

There are a lot of taxes in the city of Ermida. Just to enter the city gate, you have to pay an entrance fee of 10 silver coins per person, and a carriage costs 20 silver coins, even the two ends of Ellendor. Wind Wolf also paid 5 silver coins per pet to enter the city as a pet.

All this shows that Ryan shook his head on the carriage. The city of Elfa, which ranks seventh among the imperial cities, is so prosperous, with a large number of people coming in and out every day, and there is no charge for this.

Although Ryan is not familiar with this aspect of business, after all, after staying in Elfa City for a while, he somewhat understands that the lord of Elfa City just issued various orders to give merchants more benefits through merchants. The flow of cities has promoted the prosperity of the city, and has obtained rich returns from the prosperity of the city.

This kind of city in front of me is so squeezing the passersby. I wonder if anyone would be willing to come here?

The carriage drove slowly into the city, moving slowly on the bumpy ground. Ryan looked out of the swaying carriage window, looked at the low houses on both sides, the dirty ground, and smelled an indescribable stench in his nose. It seemed that even the entire sky of Elmida was gray. Misty.

The carriage finally drove through the slums and brought Faras and his party to the central business district of Ermida City.

In the middle of the commercial area is a large square. The ground is paved with huge stones. Compared with the roads in the slums, it is almost a sky and an underground. Its area is even the same as that of Elfa City. That square is almost the same, although the total area of ​​Ermida is less than one-tenth of the city of Elfa.

In the north of the square stands a very luxurious house, which is in sharp contrast with the messy streets and low houses just now. There were many soldiers with long guns standing guard around the mansion. Ryan estimated that this should be the residence of the lord of the city of Ermida.

There are no prominent buildings in the other directions of the square, but some very ordinary shops. Ryan saw a hotel in the south of the square that looked pretty good.

The carriage brought Farasi and his party straight to the entrance of the hotel. Three brand-new carriages parked at the entrance of the hotel, and a very thin old man in his fifties hurried out to greet him.

Seeing a lady wearing a wizard's robe stepping on the carriage, the thin old man greeted her enthusiastically, with endless praises, and brought Falash and his party into the hotel. As for the carriages and coachmen outside, naturally there are mates to entertain them.

Under the arrangement of the thin old man, the members of the Leith team sat around a table in the lobby of the hotel, preparing to have a meal. The thin old man stood aside respectfully, with a smile on his face.

However, Ryan always thought the smile on his face was strange, and this thin old man looked surprisingly similar to Ellendor's two wind wolves that smelled the scent of barbecue.

Faras took the menu from the skinny old man. She looked at the exquisite menu carefully and prepared to order. Unexpectedly, the extravagant Falasi along the way was still scared by the price of each food on the menu: a grilled talun whole lamb 10 gold coins, a grilled tacre beef costs 4 gold coins, even the cheapest cool. The juice also costs 20 silver coins.

The angry Farras threw the menu at the skinny old man and asked him to call the innkeeper.

The skinny old man’s smile was undiminished. He took the menu, pointed at himself with another finger and said, "I am the owner of the hotel."

Faras pointed to the menu on the skinny old man and said: "Your hotel is too expensive? The Imperial Dream Bar only costs 10 silver coins for a glass of refreshing juice. That can be the most luxurious place in the country."

The skinny innkeeper immediately changed his expression, and his grinning smile quickly turned into helplessness. This speed made Alando, who had always had absolute confidence in his speed, also missed the dust and sighed in his heart.

The skinny innkeeper sighed and said, "Oh, business is not doing well these years. This noble lady, you must come from a noble family and you have been used to seeing the world since you were young. I believe many noble people are The guests in your house. How do you know the suffering of our common people."

Speaking of this, the skinny innkeeper seemed to squeeze a tear from his eyes, saying that it was a turn, because it only turned around in his eye sockets, and then went back.

The skinny innkeeper changed a proud tone and said: "Look at my inn, this decoration is the best in the entire city of Ermida. Except for the house of Lord Lord, who is in this city? Dare to compare with me?"

Speaking of this, the skinny innkeeper changed his tone: "As for the price on this menu, let’s tell you, I don’t make any money at all. It’s better to just use this glass of refreshing juice, although I accept it. You have 20 silver coins, of which most of them have to be used to pay the various taxes of the city lord, and then my cost is deducted. After calculating one cup, I made a few silver coins."

Reid patted Farasi on the shoulder and motioned to the latter not to be angry. He said to the thin old man, "Why are things so expensive here? Are you afraid that others will never come again after they come here?"

The face of the skinny innkeeper was unpredictable. He quickly squeezed out a helpless look, smiled bitterly and said to Reid: "Do you think I want to? The taxation here is endless, born every month You have to pay a head tax. No matter what you do, you have to pay tax, you have to pay for eating, sleep, you have to pay for bathing, and you have to pay for the hut. My hotel, please pay the tax, and clean it every day. You have to pay a sanitation tax for sanitation. All the food sold here has to pay a large tax. In fact, if you count it like this, you have spent 1 gold coin, I am afraid that there are only less than 30 silver coins left in my hands. , Except for the cost that I already have, there is no profit."

Reid asked strangely: "Why the city lord collects such a heavy tax?"

The skinny innkeeper said: "The rule of the empire is that the city chiefs in various places pay a tax to the capital. In addition, all the city owners' own territories are determined by themselves, except for the amount of tax collected. It cannot exceed the amount of taxes paid to the empire, and everything else is ignored."

Falas interrupted and said: "The Empire does have such a rule, but it deliberately added the restriction that the amount of tax collected by the city owner cannot exceed the amount of tax paid to the empire. According to your statement, the city owner collects it privately. Isn’t the tax far exceeded?"

The skinny innkeeper shook his head and said, "No. The lord is not a fool. In this city, there is only one profession that does not charge taxes, and that is miners. All miners who work in the copper mine owned by the lord don’t need it. Pay any taxes."

Reid and Faras glanced at each other, surprised at the actions of the city lord. The thin old man said: "So the city owner does not pay much tax each year, because the city is almost all miners who give him free work."