Mark enjoyed the travel to the city very much. The sceneries were made gorgeous by the snow, making everything white and pure, covering all the blemishes one could usually find on a road near a city. The people were friendly and accommodating but the most important of all was, he was very comfortable. The ability to replicate all the creature comfort things anytime he wanted was the most advanced cheat one could ever have if one was going to be transmigrated to another world. He was most thankful for that glitch that happened in the universe that allowed the system to choose him because the boon that was given to him as compensation was priceless.
Mark was truly grateful that he had countless delicious foods in his inventory that he could replicate anytime. He had wondered why he was not returning to being a fatty for the amount of food that he consumed daily was massive. He made sure by checking if he still had his six-pack whenever he could. He could only ascribe it to the physical stats that he had, although being on the move all the time probably helped a lot since he kept up with the practice with the acrobat brothers.
Mark noticed that Nedertu was getting a bit chubby. The cat-man became shameless and kept on asking him for food these days and he couldn’t deny his caravan coach, so he just kept giving him different varieties of food, from bentos filled with all types of cooking from different countries of his home world to different varieties of cakes, donuts, pies, cookies and more. He was also getting addicted to sodas, and he wondered if he should stop giving those to Nedertu since he didn’t want the cat-man to develop diabetes. When he mentioned that to Nedertu, the cat-man just said that if that really happened, he would just pay a priest to cure him of any diseases he might incur.
Zenethor went to visit him once during the travel since Nedertu kept boasting to him that he had eaten the most delicious food, and the zoo leader couldn’t wait for the dinner invite that he was expecting from Mark.
Mark gave Zenethor a bunch of bentos and different desserts and bottles of sodas. The zoo leader went back to his own caravans happily bringing with him the loot that he had received from Mark.
Mark suddenly wondered what date it was and understood that he had a lot to learn, even the most basic things and he was glad that the elven sisters would teach him.
Nedertu suddenly pointed at the distance and told Mark that the city of Argent was now visible. Mark checked it out and saw a huge city. The city was surrounded by a massive wall, and he could see a long line of travelers in queue in front of a small gate beside the massive gate that he assumed was the front gate of the city. The ones lining the huge gate were caravans and the ones in the small gate were, he assumed, the travelers that didn’t have any cart or caravan with them.
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Mark could see the city after a few more hours and since the circus caravan was coming from an uphill road, he could see the details of the whole city. There was a palace in the middle, and it was huge and beautiful just like Cinderella’s palace in the movies. Surrounding the palace were huge beautiful-looking mansions he assumed as the noble houses and the abode of important people and there was a small wall surrounding it. Next were huge houses Mark assumed as the houses of people who had middle income like merchants or possibly those houses were businesses. There was also a small wall surrounding those houses. The outermost houses were normal houses he assumed as the residences of the citizens. He couldn’t wait to explore the city.
Mark was surprised that it took almost two hours before the circus caravan arrived in the last line of the queue at the massive gate. Nedertu stated that it would probably take a couple more hours before they managed to get inside the city since the guards were a bit strict in making sure that those who entered the city had citizens' cards or visitor passes.
Mark waited beside Nedertu, curious to see what the other citizens of the city of Argent looked like. He decided to step down to roam around. Mark noticed that the other people were looking at the circus caravan favorably and it was good to know that the people of this world liked these kinds of entertainment. It might be different in other parts of the world but from what he had seen so far, this behavior of looking at the circus positively was universal.
After a few minutes of looking around, Mark went back to his caravan. He would continue the exploration inside the city since the people in the queue were limited in variety. He got tired of waiting with Nedertu, so he went inside the caravan to play some Skyrim on his laptop.
Two hours later, Mark heard a knock and when he opened his door, he saw Nedertu together with a couple of city guards. His caravan coach told him the city guards needed to inspect the interior of his caravan and Mark shrugged and allowed the two guards and Nedertu inside. Mark asked Nedertu to explain the devices to the guards if they asked since the cat-man already heard the equipment description from Mark before.
Mark went outside to check with Hamil and saw the caravan leader speaking to someone with authority. When Hamil saw Mark, the caravan leader introduced him to the guard leader who was speaking with Hamil. He was introduced as one of the entertainers in the circus. After a few minutes, Mark and Hamil saw Nedertu running towards them.
“Hamil, Mark, one of the guards wanted to steal one of your equipment. They said they needed to inspect it for contraband. When I said that it would only run from a specific power source provided by you as the wizard who owned the caravan, they then left the devices alone.” Nedertu said it loudly that the guard captain clearly heard it.
“I apologize, Hamil. I will speak to those two guards. More than likely, they were part of the recruits.” The guard captain scowled and then left.
“Is there going to be a problem?” Mark asked Hamil.”
“No not really. Normally, if they knew that the caravan was owned by a mage, they usually left it alone. The elven sisters’ caravan and the witch’s cart were never inspected. Mages are highly respected in this city.”
After a few more minutes of speaking with the caravan leader, Mark went back to his caravan together with Nedertu so they could enter the city of Argent.