Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 296 - 8: Entering the City_1

Chapter 296: Chapter 8: Entering the City_1

The history of the Neville Federation is considerably long, it can be traced back to the reign of the Zeras Empire which existed around 2500 years ago. The Zeras Empire dominated the present lands of the Neville Federation, the Neutral Land, and a portion of the Falar Empire territory. When the Zeras Empire’s interior collapsed, parts of the land were taken up by the predecessors of the Falar Empire, the Neutral Land was turned into a buffer zone, and the main theme of the Zeras Empire split into nineteen unequally sized mini-empires.

After several millennia, these nineteen small nations underwent countless conspiracies and chaos, constantly collapsing and being rebuilt. Yet they remained divided. Finally, 500 years ago, their incessant encroachment on the Beastmen Prairie led to the transformative War of Man and Beast.

Before this war, humans had been the most populous race on land and bore a discriminatory sentiment towards other races. They believed that in the event of an all-out war, humans could overwhelm other races with their hundreds-fold population. Hence, they treated other races arrogantly, regularly bullying and oppressing the minorities within their borders. This attitude persisted even after the severe defeat experienced in the 214-Day War with the Elves 1200 years prior, leading to widespread hostility towards pure human nations and little interaction with them. Despite their international isolation, these pure human nations persistently caused friction with their neighboring nations, Beastmen nations being no exception.

Beastmen constituted the second largest race on land, making up almost a third of the human population. This species, created by the God of War, was still in a nomadic and tribal state due to race-based limitations. However, individual Beastmen were incredibly powerful for combat, as if they were born to fight. This fighting tribe, owing to its barbaric habits and geographical location, was frequently deceived and had its territory encroached upon by neighboring human nations. After losing a large portion of their land once again, the Beastmen Tribes Alliance could bear no more and initiated one of the fiercest wars against humans in two thousand years. The rapidly expanding war affected all of the mini empires within the current territory of the Neville Federation and lasted a full five years. At the end of five years, the United Human Army, having lost half of their population, declared defeat. They retreated from all occupied Beastmen territory, apologized for their previous aggressions, and the War of Man and Beast ended.

After the war, the severely weakened alliance of the nineteen nations failed to recover, and the command was seized by the old noble Neville Family. The Neville Family quickly annexed other nations through threats and bribes to establish the Neville Empire. The Neville Empire, learning its lesson, changed its previous attitude and extended a hand of friendship to other races and heavily promoted commercialization and cooperation. The Empire, therefore, rapidly recovered from post-war decimation, regaining its former vitality. But the rapid industrialization also led to the weakening of the central control. After only seventy years, the central power disintegrated, seized by dozens of commercial families, once again throwing the Empire into disarray. But this time, the division lasted only ten years and then it was reconvened into a federation, continuing to use the name of Neville, and thus, the Neville Federation, which lasted for over four hundred years, was established.

Due to the federation’s exceptional nature, the national atmosphere was noticeably commercial, the ideologies leaning towards materialism and monetary gains dominated, and large business consortiums held astonishing power. Poets once satirized that everything here, including human nature, conscience, and justice, were all measured in monetary value. This characteristic was not prominent in small villages or border towns but was everywhere in major cities with large populations. Evidently, Dilsaren was one of the top cities in the Eastern Neville Federation and the headquarters of the Church of the Earth Goddess’s Eastern district.

"Vroom, Vroom," the mechanical roar came from afar, reaching from the end of the road. Accompanied by the harsh roar, a golden magic-powered motorbike stirred up a dust storm, approaching rapidly from afar.

In the driver’s seat, Pannis wore a black wind jacket, a pair of windproof glasses atop his head, his hands firmly holding the helm, continuously directing his mana into the magical array on it to maintain the motorbike’s fuel energy. On the backseat, Lina’s silver hair danced in the wind. The dying sun shone on Lina’s white priest robe, adding golden light, giving off a sacred aura. Lina’s hands encircled Pannis’s waist, their bodies tightly pressed against each other, both leaning forward to resist the pressure from the oncoming wind.

Two days earlier, the pair had set out from the Holy City. A horse ride from the City of Knowledge to Dilsaren would take at least four days. To avoid delays, after weighing the pros and cons, Lina and Pannis decided to proceed on a magic-powered motorbike, while Mento and the Priest would return on horseback. The magic-powered motorbike was much faster than a horse and as long as it was sufficiently fueled, did not require rest periods like a horse, thus enabling continuous travel. Therefore, a trip that was expected to take four days on a horse, only took them less than two days.

As the city neared, the number of pedestrians on the road increased, so the pair had to slow down the motorbike and navigated after the horses and vehicles towards the city gate. Along the way, many pedestrians cast them quirky looks, their eyes filled with envy and disdain.

Outsiders would hardly tell the difference between a magic-powered motorbike and a crystal energy motorbike. Only those with substantial mechanical knowledge could identify the dissimilarities. Magic-powered motorbikes are driven by the magic power of the rider, while crystal energy motorbikes are driven by crystals. Only magic users can ride magic-powered motorbikes, while anyone can operate crystal energy motorbikes. The biggest drawback of crystal energy motorbikes is that each refuel needs a 5000 Tael crystal. Without it, the charging array cannot be activated. The energy from a 5000 Tael crystal can only sustain a 500 km journey before needing another recharge. The cheapest dark-attribute crystal would cost around 1000 gold coins which, compared to a 500 km journey, is a significant amount. Therefore, in people’s opinion, those who ride crystal energy motorbikes are no different from the rich showing off their status. Added to this, both riders appeared very young and therefore were assumed to be children squandering the wealth left by their parents. Hence, these individuals would inevitably attract both disdain and jealousy from onlookers.

"Stop." As they cautiously passed through the city gate, a guard standing on either side halted Pannis’s vehicle. "Who are you, where did you come from, and what are you here for?"

"Eh?" Lina expressed her surprise, "I’ve been in and out of here many times before but never have the guards queried every passerby. Has there been a new regulation recently?"

"Are you a local?" The guard eyed Lina with confusion, "You have such distinct features, how come I’ve never seen you before? Due to some recent unique circumstances in the area, we need to strictly inspect all incoming and outgoing strangers."

"I’ve been away for almost ten years." Lina smiled, taking off her backpack and started searching for the emblem of the Church. While looking, she asked, "Is it because of those recent four cases? You guys must have a hard time dealing with them."

"How do you know?" The four guards at the city gate immediately rested their hands on their weapons, "Tell us, who are you? You say you’ve been away for ten years, how could you know about these incidents?"

"What do you think?" Lina pointed at the priest robe she was wearing that represented the Church of the Earth Goddess, "I was called back to join the inspection team because of this matter. Ah, got it."

"You are a member of the inspection team?" The chief guard immediately became respectful. After carefully checking the emblem that Lina handed over, which proved she was part of the Church of the Earth Goddess, he apologized with a smile, "I’m terribly sorry to have kept you, but this is our duty. We hope for your understanding."

"Of course, and in fact, you do not need my understanding. Upholding duty is the essence of your work." Lina gently extended her hand, motioning in the air over the guard’s head, "May the merciful God bless you all with good luck, faithful guards."

"It’s hard to imagine, in a purely commercialized federal country, that the guards would be so honest." Not long after the two passed through, they saw a man, probably a smuggler, trying to bribe his way out of inspection but was promptly rejected by the guards. He was then handed over for city patrol processing. Pannis clicked his tongue, "I’ve encountered many people before, who all believe that in places where money matters most, corruption thrives, especially in the eyes of the people of the Falar Empire, where the Neville Federation is almost a hell of money. But often in places where commercialization is developed, corruption is less. This cannot be described as anything other than magic."

"Indeed, it’s like this." Lina nodded, "The headquarters of the Church is located in the Neville Federation, so I saw this quite often growing up. Although the human touch here is somewhat light, it’s indeed as you said."

"Why is it so?"

"Maybe because a commercialized country needs a higher level of transparency, who knows." Pannis shrugged, turned his head to look at the stranger behind them, "Who are you, anyway?"

"Eh, sorry, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." Behind them stood a beautiful man. Yes, this description was accurate, a beautiful man. Skin as delicate and white as a woman, as seductive and delicate facial features as a woman, and a slender figure like a woman. However, Pannis was confident through his over a hundred years of experience that this was definitely a man: "I’m Enbow, a protector under the Temple of Balance. Twin Sword Warrior Enbow. Pleasure meeting you both, and it looks like we might be working together for these next few days. I hope you both will take good care of me then." (To be continued. If you like this work, you’re welcome to vote for it on qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile phone users can read on m.qidian.com.)