When the Saintess Arrives, No King Exist-Chapter 699 - 657 Long Embankment City and the Witch Solan
Long Embankment City is built on an ancient embankment, but due to the river's course changing, the embankment became part of the city wall.
Louise, with over a hundred senior members of the Ruo'an Faction, was waiting early at the city gate.
Traveling from the wharf to the city gate, Horn disembarked smoothly under the escort of hundreds of black-clad soldiers, and people around immediately started scattering flower petals.
The honor guard on the boat followed suit, playing trumpets and lutes. A row of tall honor guards formed a human wall, and the Black Snake Bay people in robes and shawls around them glanced repeatedly.
After disembarking and following Louise to the residence, Horn was constantly looking around along the way.
He hurried over without getting off the boat much, so he didn't have a detailed understanding of Black Snake Bay, today was just the right opportunity to take a look.
Long Embankment City's layout is different from Joan of Arc Castle's; the ground is paved with handmade colorful tiles, with colorful drapes and flags hanging high on both sides of the road.
Similar to the colorful tiles, the houses in Long Embankment City are equally vibrant.
They are predominantly red, orange, yellow, and white, with terraced or domed roofs topped with spires or flags. Some roofs even have wind chimes hanging, creating pleasant jingling sounds as the wind blows.
Horn couldn't help but marvel, are the pigments or dyes here free? Built so luxuriously?
As Jeanne stepped onto the street, she immediately covered her nose; the mixed smell of horse manure, sheep dung, and incense was really uncomfortable.
Yet her gaze couldn't help but be drawn to the exotic fruits and vegetables being sold in the market. Holding the Dragon Language Alchemy Society's plant manual, she was comparing and murmuring, "Purple egg, brown orange, pearl rice, sweet beans…"
Seeing the strange fruits and vegetables on the stalls, Horn was intrigued and said to the attendant beside him, "Buy some of these fruits and vegetables and their seeds later and send them directly to the ry Court Barracks for Catherine to take a closer look."
"Are those toads in the straw cages?" Looking at the citizens carrying toad cages in the misty market, Jeanne couldn't help but turn her head to ask Louise, "What do they need toads for?"
Louise glanced at the toad sellers squatting by the roadside and shook her head: "These toads are for licking."
"For licking? Why?" Jeanne asked with a disgusted frown.
Louise glanced sideways: "The skin of these toads secretes a hallucinogenic slime, which the witch's familiars use to relieve nerve pain. This is a business in Black Snake Bay; many people actively breed these poison toads."
"That's really…" After holding back for a while, looking at the Black Snake Bay people sticking out light blue tongues licking toads' backs, Horn finally said the second half, "quite unique."
Compared to the Thousand River Valley, Black Snake Bay indeed seems like another world.
Everywhere is filled with swirling incense, people wear open-chest shirts and straw sandals even in winter, with tattoos all over their bodies.
The most peculiar is the decoration; it might be the long-term Secret Faction life and the necessary secrecy that have ingrained a mask and headgear culture into the Black Snake Bay people.
On the bluestone street, five out of every ten people wear various masks and headgear, some even covering their entire heads, regardless of whether their necks can support such weight.
From disembarking at the wharf to the short distance to the Ruo'an Faction's Moonlight Palace, Horn saw spiral horn headpieces, red-faced devil masks, green-haired rat headpieces...
Of course, the most common are the simplest black cloth hoods with white wood masks.
"But, if this is the case, if someone commits a crime and their face can't be seen, how do you catch them?" Looking around, Duvalon couldn't help but ask, "For example, if I wear a hood and rob an apple from a stall."
With a bitter smile, Robert explained: "Either catch them before they leave your sight, or just resign to your bad luck, or you can pull something off them and find a Divination Master to divine it."
Duvalon quickly instructed his accompanying personnel: "Then we must watch our luggage carefully."
"No need." Louise laughed heartily, "They're not foolish enough to mess with you; our Long Embankment City is unlike elsewhere."
"You mean, Long Embankment City is considered well-managed in Black Snake Bay?" Horn looked around with a hint of hesitation and asked.
"Unfortunately, you are entirely correct," Louise looked at the thief grabbing a breadfruit and running while eating on the roadside, both sympathetic and helpless.
Horn, however, fell into deep thought. If Black Snake Bay has a custom of valuing openness and freedom, then the national model he constructed in the Thousand River Valley may not be suitable for Black Snake Bay.
On this journey, after learning about Black Snake Bay's history, Horn gradually understood why the Black Snake Bay people always had deities appearing and possessed a rich anti-mainstream culture.
Since the Imperial Calendar 1000 years ago, the Empire has been exiling criminals, demon-possessed (mentally ill), wizards, cultists, and others to Black Snake Bay.
With the first witch using this place as a base, a large number of witch's familiars also gathered.
This led to a major problem, namely, the various deformations and mental illnesses caused by the mana's nerve pressure.
In such a fermenting and fostering environment, it's a wonder if there would be idle people.
"Alright, we've arrived. This is the Moonlight Palace, the headquarters of the Ruo'an Faction."
The Moonlight Palace is actually an ancient altar of an evil god, but the Ruo'an Faction spent twenty years rebuilding and repairing it, hence the current structure.
It features snow-white exterior walls and multi-tiered golden domes, with marble spherical domes covering the vertical palace. Unfortunately, it is overgrown with moss and climbing plants, and a weed-covered ruin can be seen in the palace.
Entering through the main gate, climbing the steps, Horn ascended dozens of steps to arrive at the Moonlight Palace's podium.
As he entered the Moonlight Palace, a woman with wheat-colored skin, showing her navel, bowed to him: "Greetings, Mr. Horn. I am the Shadow Council's master assassin, 'Shadow' Solan Hoftharn."
According to prior information, this should be the witch who was the first to side with Horn in the Witch Council.
She looks only in her twenties, but her actual age is unfathomable; she wears a white top, with baggy pants revealing her slender ankles.
"Nice to meet you." Horn stepped forward to shake hands with her. After some small talk, they each sat down, "I thought as a student of that Bishop Killer Toluya, you wouldn't support me, the 'Pope.'"
"On the contrary." Sitting cross-legged on a fragrant vine cushion, Solan picked up a pottery jar and stiffly poured Horn a cup of orange fruit wine, "Master Toluya killed the bishops not because they were bishops, but because they were sinners... This fruit wine is homemade, with no alcohol content."
"You don't resent the Miseria faith?" Horn smiled, sipping the sweet and sour fruit wine, which indeed tasted good, with no alcohol content.
"The Shadow Council's predecessor was actually a group of outlaws who robbed from the rich to give to the poor," Solan placed the wine cup under her veil and took a sip, "As for us now living by assassination and smuggling, it's simply to survive."
"You don't have to smuggle anymore." Horn smiled, "Black Snake Bay has many things we need, such as those pearl rice, sweet beans, and purple eggs, brown oranges, and other fruits and vegetables earlier."
"I can also exchange these with you for cheap cloth and daily supplies." Solan raised her wine cup, "Toasting to you."
Horn drank the fruit wine in his cup in one go: "Are you a Black Snake Bay person?"
"I am a Norn, born in the Codfish Castle of the Norn Kingdom, the daughter of a fisherman." Solan caressed her wine cup, "Those damned Demon Hunters burned our fishing boat, so I fled to Black Snake Bay."
Though Solan spoke lightly, Horn still sensed a deep hatred.
"Let's get back to the main topic." Horn quickly steered the conversation back, "What do you think of my proposal for the Black Snake Bay Confederation?"
