Early in the morning two days later, two four-wheeled carriages departed Suxite, traveling northward along the post road toward Telier.
Surfaced with gravel and crushed stone, and reinforced with paving stones where the terrain rolled significantly, this network of roads covered the kingdom's major regions and connected most towns and cities. Direction signs and milestone markers stood at regular intervals on either side, making it the preferred choice for nearly all long-distance travelers, freight caravans, and mail carriages.
Xialuote and her maid, Laila, rode in a four-wheeled carriage built specifically for long journeys. Drawn by four horses, its body was spacious, and complex metal leaf springs were installed between the chassis and the wheels. While they could not completely eliminate the jolting, it was far more comfortable than the carriages commonly seen within the city.
Lawu'er and his personal manservant rode in the carriage behind them. Two servants doubling as bodyguards sat outside with the hired coachmen. A portion of their clothes and daily essentials was secured atop the roofs of the two carriages, while the rest of their bulky luggage had already been sent ahead toward their destination with servants who departed earlier.
To arrive within three days, they traveled roughly sixty to eighty kilometers each day, making several stops along the way to let the horses drink and feed and to give passengers and coachmen a brief rest. Whenever they passed a post station, they switched out the exhausted horses to maintain their traveling speed.
In this era, there were few options for transportation to begin with. Short distances could be covered on foot, on horseback, or in small carriages, while long-distance travel required following arterial roads equipped with post stations. Nobles possessed their own carriages and horses, whereas commoners could only take scheduled stagecoaches.
Yet those stagecoaches were not only cramped, but also exorbitantly priced. For low-income workers and peasants, the money required to travel to another city could amount to several months of savings, which left many people never having stepped beyond their birthplace for their entire lives.
Of course, Suxite also enjoyed the convenience of waterways; commodities like silk and timber could be shipped along the Laien River to other cities. However, ordinary cargo boats offered nowhere near the comfort of a carriage that could halt for rest at any time. When traveling against the current, they were even slower than overland travel, their sole advantage being cost.
*Even if the fare were only a tenth of the overland route, Father would never take me by boat. He would consider it insufficiently respectable...* Xialuote pictured spending several days crammed inside a tiny cabin, and suddenly felt that this carriage, despite its occasional bumping, was not so unbearable after all.
Laila, sitting opposite her, was thoroughly enchanted by the journey. Every now and then, she leaned toward the window to look out at the green farmland, low hills, and scattered hamlets.
Xialuote had watched for a while at first, but soon grew bored. She could only lean back against the cushions and rest with her eyes closed, taking the opportunity to reflect on everything that had happened in the two-odd months since her transmigration.
She was now a Sequence 9 Arbiter. She had acquired a preliminary grasp of the potion's power and figured out the knack for acting, able to clearly sense the potion's feedback to proper conduct.
Yet there were not that many disputes needing arbitration within the Suolun residence, nor could she run out into the street every day to volunteer to uphold justice for strangers, so opportunities to act were few and far between.
*Perhaps once we reach Telier, a metropolis whose population far surpasses Suxite's, I can pick up the pace of acting. After all, nobody there knows me. As long as I'm careful, even if I do things unbefitting a noble lady, word won't reach Father's ears...* Anticipation rose within Xialuote. She immediately reached down to touch the hard object concealed beneath her thick corset belt.
It was a dagger encased in a leather sheath emblazoned with a golden Sun Holy Emblem—Sealed Artifact 3-1452, the Dagger of Judgment.
Before leaving Suxite, she had received formal approval to carry this Sealed Artifact on her own and record its effects and side effects during use.
The Purifiers had also found a safe method to contain this Sealed Artifact, which tended to attract shadow creatures. As long as it was kept inside the dedicated leather sheath and anointed daily with holy water imbued with purifying power, it would not easily draw the notice of shadow creatures.
In a way, this limited the use of the Dagger of Judgment. Xialuote could not produce holy water herself, so even upon arriving in Telier, she would have to turn to the local Purifiers for help.
Fortunately, with this weapon, her combat prowess had improved considerably. An Arbiter was inherently skilled in close combat, and the Dagger of Judgment could deal additional damage against the guilty, as well as briefly restrict a target's movements by calling out their crimes. Provided she could close the distance, Xialuote felt she had a strong chance of victory even if her opponent was a Sequence 8.
Of course, the disparity between different Beyonders could hardly be judged by Sequence rank alone. Against a Barbarian like the Purifier Qiao'er Wo'en, if Xialuote failed to incapacitate him the instant she pronounced his guilt, she would have no way to withstand his counterattack. Conversely, against a Beyonder like Zhuli'an, who relied on shadows and lacked strong direct combat capabilities, she was confident in her odds.
Between different pathways and Sequences, abilities and fighting power differed like night and day... After all, this was no game; it didn't pursue balance. A Savant like Luosaier could be pinned to the ground and beaten by just about any Sequence 9 who had combat enhancements...
The thought of Luosaier brought the Suxite Weekly back to Xialuote's mind.
A single issue of the weekly was priced at two ricks, or one-tenth of a feierjin, comparable to the price of a jin of wheat bread. Published every Monday, even if all one thousand copies were sold out, the monthly revenue would be only four hundred feierjin. Factoring in shop advertisements, and deducting paper, ink, wages, transport, and the sellers' commissions, it might bring in only five to ten gold louis a month at the start—or even run at a loss.
Compared to the funds and effort the partners had invested upfront, this meager income could hardly be called generous.
Yet one thousand copies was merely the foundation. If each issue could sell five thousand or ten thousand copies, the proportion occupied by fixed overhead—such as printing equipment and facilities—would drop sharply, and more merchants would be willing to pay for advertisements. The monthly profit might then reach two hundred gold louis, making two thousand four hundred coins a year, which approached half of Baron Suolun's annual income.
If every resident of Suxite developed the habit of reading newspapers, and then this model was replicated in Telier, eventually blanketing the entire Kingdom of Yindisi...
Picturing herself sitting atop piles of gold coins, the corners of Xialuote's mouth curved upward uncontrollably.
"Miss?"
Laila's puzzled voice pulled Xialuote back from her reverie. She hastily stifled her smile and opened her eyes to find the carriage was already slowing down.
"This is Beimang Town. The coachman said we would have to pass two more post stations before reaching the next town with accommodations, and we wouldn't make it before dark. The Baron decided we will stay here for the night," Laila pointed out, gesturing to the sun outside the window, which had already dipped noticeably toward the west.
*Travel in this era is far too inconvenient. Once I have money, I'll build a steam engine first, then lay tracks across the entire country, and completely wipe out this backward way of travel with trains!*
Xialuote grumbled internally, treating all the gold coins from her fantasy as already her own.
Beimang was situated on a gentle hillside. Its main street wound upward along the incline, flanked by houses topped with protruding domes that resembled white straw hats. The two carriages first drove into the town's post station, where the coachmen settled the tired horses and checked the wheels and suspension springs. Accompanied by servants, Xialuote and her father made their way to the town's only inn.
Named "Bifu'er," this inn operated a restaurant and tavern on its ground floor. The floors were swept reasonably clean, and there were enough rooms to accommodate the Suolun party.
Once lodgings were settled, Lawu'er remained in his room to rest, while the manservant headed to the post station to check on the carriages and map out tomorrow's route. Standing by the inn's doorway, Xialuote watched several townsfolk herding sheep back into town from the nearby pastures, feeling increasingly bored.
Glancing at the sky, which had not yet grown dark, she turned to Laila and said, "Go ask the inn staff if there's anything worth visiting around here."
The words had barely left her mouth when a young man carrying cargo nearby paused and said ingratiatingly, "Noble young lady, there's nothing interesting in Beimang. Aside from looking out over the surrounding scenery from the hilltop, the only thing worth seeing is that ancient church."
"A church?"
Following the direction of his pointing finger, Xialuote could only see a few buildings on the crest of the slope partially obscured by other houses. There was neither a tall bell tower nor a golden spire.
Both the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the Church of the God of Craftsmen favored building conspicuous churches that often served as the visual centerpieces of an entire village or town. Yet this church, hidden among ordinary buildings, bore no indication of which deity it belonged to, which instantly piqued her curiosity.
She led Laila up the hillside along the main street. Only when the houses grew sparse and the gravel-paved street narrowed did she spot the so-called church behind a few trees.
It was a two-story, off-white building. There was no holy emblem before the door, nor any small plaza for believers to gather; it looked barely distinct from the surrounding dwellings.
*Could it be a monastery closed to the public?* Xialuote hesitated for a moment. But on second thought, she was already a peripheral member of the Purifiers and was carrying an introductory letter written by Weiyefu to her counterparts in the Telier diocese. Even if she mistakenly wandered into Craftsman Church territory, she wouldn't be treated harshly. She told Laila to wait by the roadside, lifted her skirts over the threshold, and slipped inside through the half-open door.
She had expected to see the golden Sun Holy Emblem symbolizing the Eternal Blazing Sun, or the gear-and-lever triangle representing the God of Craftsmen—or perhaps, even deep in the heartland of the Kingdom of Yindisi, the crimson moon encircled by stars of the Evernight Goddess, or the raging wind, thunder, and ocean waves of the Lord of Storms. Instead, what met her eyes was merely row upon row of black high-backed pews.
On a wooden table in front of the pews sat a crude shrine. Enshrined within it was a palm-sized icon depicting a bare-chested man bearing a cross—or rather, appearing bound to one.
Beside the shrine stood a middle-aged priest in a white robe. His thick beard covered nearly half his face, and his eyes were so pale as to be almost colorless, yet his gaze was gentle and warm.
Seeing Xialuote enter the church, he spread his hands in a gesture of welcome and said in a slow, gentle voice, "Welcome to the Temple of the Creator."
Chapter 50