Chapter 56: 56 Arriving at Horse Ranch City

Chapter 56: Arrival at Mumag City

Long before the Orlante Empire crumbled into dust, the Ironhoof family already existed. Though it was merely a minor knightly fief back then, it possessed no small reputation.

Subsequently, through more than two hundred years of chaotic warfare, it grew and expanded step by step, eventually becoming a vassal to the Wushan family.

After Rulance Wushan was enfeoffed as a marquis of the kingdom, the Ironhoof family smoothly advanced to a viscounty, establishing its stronghold in Mumag City.

This city, which had never changed hands over several centuries, boasted an exceptionally high level of stability, thereby attracting merchant chambers from all over to trade here, making Mumag City one of the most heavily trafficked hubs in the Wushan domain.

The primary business of the Ironhoof family revolved around various kinds of horses, ranging from old nags, draft horses, and pack horses at the lower end, up to common warhorses, fine warhorses, and exceptional warhorses.

It was even rumored that within the pastures of the Ironhoof family, there were warhorses possessing the bloodlines of magical beasts—such precious mounts would likely cost over a thousand gold coins each!

Yet, speaking of fine mounts, the ultimate comparison still had to be drawn with the Thunder Windchaser owned by Rulance, the master of the Wushan domain.

This was no mere horse, but a genuine magical beast, and a fifth-rank creature capable of rivaling a silver knight!

It was said that the Thunder Windchaser carried the bloodline of legendary dragons, so its appearance resembled a dragon, and when clad in armor, its visage was peerlessly domineering.

Ever since birth, the original owner of this body had heard tales of his grandfather’s military exploits; it was said that when the Thunder Windchaser galloped, it conjured a powerful lightning field, which, blended with Rulance’s own surging battle aura, allowed him to charge through battlefields utterly invincible!

Regrettably, even as the eldest grandson of the direct line, Romon had rarely found any opportunity to approach this magical beast mount, only ever catching a few stolen glimpses from afar.

Magical beast mounts were exceedingly rare, particularly those of high ranks.

Generally speaking, one had to first possess the capability to subdue the creature, defeating it in frontal combat, before breaking through its psychological defenses to finally sign a master-servant contract.

Defeating a magical beast was relatively easy, but shattering its psychological defenses to make it willingly agree to a master-servant contract was immensely difficult; some proud or untamably wild creatures would rather die than submit.

Aside from these factors, contract scrolls were also extremely expensive and rare; theoretically, only a seventh-rank grand archmage possessed the ability to craft such items.

Grand archmages were already a rare sight, and those capable of crafting spell scrolls were rarer still.

Consequently, ordinary people who lacked connections with powerful mages did not even have a channel to purchase them.

This also meant that even for nobles, acquiring a powerful magical beast mount remained a formidable challenge.

After Romon and his party found an inn at a small manor outside the city to rest for the night, they set out to enter the city early the next morning.

Mumag City truly lived up to its reputation as a major city; to accommodate the horse trade, its thoroughfares were constructed to be exceptionally wide and spacious.

Along this Mumag Avenue, staggered knightly manors lined both sides, an environment remarkably similar to the surroundings of Wushan Avenue.

However, the manors here did not seem to cultivate much grain; Romon saw mostly pastures instead, with many peasants herding cattle, sheep, and horses.

This was a matter of the Ironhoof family’s strategic positioning; they specialized in the equine industry, supplemented by the sale of dairy cattle and flocks of sheep, whereas their allocation of wheat fields was not high.

Mumag City saw a constant flow of merchant caravans, so there was no shortage of traders selling grain; the money earned from selling horses and other livestock was more than enough to purchase abundant provisions.

In the future, once Romon finished developing the lands of Shanlin Town, he could consider bringing his surplus grain to Mumag City for sale.

However, a question suddenly crossed his mind: if Mumag City were to be tightly besieged, how long would the grain inside sustain them?

Very quickly, Romon tossed this thought to the back of his mind.

They were all neighbors after all, and unlike the Sayan domain, Mumag City had never plundered Shanlin Town, so how could such wicked thoughts surface in his head?

Moreover, Viscount Marvin Ironhoof of Mumag City was a silver-rank knight, and to maintain order within the city and protect the caravans, he maintained nearly an entire knight order under his command; who among ordinary men would dare harbor designs against Mumag City?

Upon entering Mumag City, Romon no longer kept his party moving as a single group.

He instructed Tom to accompany Galen and the guards to procure a batch of wrought iron; once they returned to Shanlin Town, he would need Kales to forge various kinds of tools.

Shanlin Town lacked iron mines, so its demand for wrought iron remained very high; this time, Romon planned to purchase two thousand pounds first.

On the market, the price of wrought iron varied according to its quality, generally ranging between thirty and fifty-five copper coins per pound, a reasonable cost.

However, if that wrought iron were forged into tools or weapons, the price would skyrocket to unknown heights.

Romon did not have Maken accompany Tom this time, which was actually a test for this professional knight.

He could not keep David or Maken permanently bound to Tom; that would be a waste of an extraordinary individual's value. Sooner or later, he would have to assign tasks to them individually.

During this recent period, Tom had performed without complaint, and his conduct was indeed acceptable.

If, despite this, the man was merely feigning surrender to cause trouble, Romon could only marvel at the depth of his acting skills for managing to deceive even him.

What he did not know was that in Tom's eyes, this liberation was a sign of the lord’s growing trust in him.

Ever since his surrender, Tom had always been flanked by either Maken or David, and he understood exactly why the lord made such arrangements.

As a newcomer, and given that the risk of leaking Maken’s true combat capabilities could not be tolerated, it was only natural for him to be monitored by the lord.

But today, since the lord was willing to let him handle matters as a professional knight independently, it signified that the lord's trust in him had ascended to a new tier.

This was a good thing.

Tom silently vowed that he would ensure this mission to purchase wrought iron was completed flawlessly, without a single hitch.

On the other side, Romon took Maken and Elrond to explore the commercial district of Mumag City.

The commercial district was vast, with a chaotic jumble of roadside stalls selling piglet litters, cattle, sheep, and all sorts of livestock; it was a noisy, bustling, and sanitary nightmare, far inferior to the farmers' markets of his memory.

What Romon wanted to buy were magic crystals and magical beast pelts, items rarely found at small stalls and only available in roadside shops or the standalone buildings of large merchant chambers.

Merchant chambers, especially large ones, could be understood as a potent force operating somewhat detached from the nobility.

Of course, while called detached, the masters of these chambers practically all possessed ties to the nobility, with some even being retainers to nobles, or nobles themselves.

For instance, the kingdom’s Minister of Finance had more than one merchant chamber under his control; they worked for the king while simultaneously serving the finance minister.

The larger the merchant chamber, the more prosperous their business, with shops scattered across every city and town in the kingdom.

There were several merchant chambers within the commercial district of Mumag City, including those belonging to the Ironhoof family as well as external ones.

Romon first stepped into the Ironhoof Merchant Chamber, only to find that their business primarily revolved around warhorses, including horse sales, matching saddles, barding, reins, and the like, with no business related to magic crystals.

However, the other party pointed out a clear path for Romon—at the northwest corner of the commercial district stood a building belonging to the Silva Magitech Merchant Chamber, where items like magic crystals could generally be purchased.

The Silva Magitech Merchant Chamber had been founded by Earl Belaro Silva of the Auduin Kingdom, and it was the largest chamber operating mage-related businesses within the kingdom's borders.

It was said that this earl’s fief was exceedingly small, its area comparable to that of an ordinary barony.

Yet, this earl’s business was incredibly prosperous, the fundamental reason being Belaro’s formidable personal strength.

Belaro Silva was not only a mage, but a long-renowned eighth-rank archmage; whether in the Auduin Kingdom or the Tricia Kingdom, his strength placed him among the very elite.

His disciples and apprentices were scattered everywhere, their exact numbers unknown.

This led some to say that the Silva Magitech Merchant Chamber merely wore the skin of a commercial enterprise, while its inner essence could be viewed as a mages' association.

Having acquired this piece of intelligence, Romon led Maken and Elrond toward the Silva Magitech Merchant Chamber.

He had thought it would take some time to locate the chamber building, but upon arriving at the northwest corner of the commercial district, the eye-catching structure came into view immediately.

It instantly brought a specific term to Romon's mind—a wizard's tower.

Having listened to the readers' suggestions, and combined with my own hesitation, I have modified some settings for the three characters Maken, Elrond, and the other, allowing them to increase their strength through their own cultivation until they reach the rank corresponding to their aptitude (nothing else has changed, it does not affect reading).

(End of this chapter)