161 The Bright Pearl of the Sea (1/2)

Chapter 161: The Bright Pearl of the Sea

Translator: Kris_LiuEditor: Vermillion

Natasha was sitting in the complete darkness of an underground room in an abbey in Aalto, reading a long letter from her friend with her Dark Vision.

It seemed that she was already used to the dark environment, and the blue veins on her hands and face were already hard to see.

From time to time, she gently hummed the melody written in the letter with joy.

When she came to the last page of the letter, Natasha grinned, ”Lucien, you’re exactly copying what I did. I’m looking forward to the next issue of Music Criticism to see how you will wish me a happy birthday.”

Then she sighed a bit and talked to herself, ”It ’s really nice to have a friend, or I would definitely go crazy at this place.”

...

The ocean-smelling breeze blew away the sultry feeling in October. The waves were, from time to time, flapping the embankment and splashed the white foam everywhere. The ocean was boundless and the sky was clear. The birds were flying free in the sky and shifting to different formations all the time, and below there were boats moving through under arched bridges.

Sturk, the bright pearl of the sea, was similar to the city, Venice, that Lucien knew from a movie that he watched in his original world. Sturk consisted of more than 100 small islands which were connected to each other by numerous canals just like a complicated spider web, around which there was a long embankment protecting the city.

Sitting in an unique, point-headed boat, Lucien saw the buildings along both sides of the canal slowly moving back. He felt very peaceful, just like a real traveler.

”In Sturk, every canal is just like a street in other cities,” introduced the boatman enthusiastically. ”This is St. Mayo Church… That building… That building belongs to Monastery of the Holy Spirit, and that one… We call the bell tower Truth Tower, and that one Pray Spire…”

”I see…” Lucien listened to the boatman’s introduction with interest, ”So this area is Sturk’s Religion District, I take it?”

No matter if it was a city, a town, or a village, there was always a church. The area where the religious buildings gathered together was called Religion District, for example, the eastern area in Aalto close to Golden Cathedral.

”Yes, that’s why this area is not crowded.” The boatman grinned while paddling. ”When we get into the Commerce District, you’ll see the real Sturk.”

Lucien’s boat went across several bridges and then entered Sturk’s Commerce District. All of a sudden, the surrounding environment became very busy. Lucien saw many pointy-headed boats tied to the wood stakes along the canal, and many were moving through the bottom of the buildings through the bridge openings.

Lots of different accents speaking common tongue could be heard in the air. Words like ”Fell”, ”Nar”, ”Bank”, ”Mortgage”, ”ten grams”, ”Sturgeon”, ”Sea Bream”, ”Orange”, ”Iron”, ”Wood”, ”Slaves”, ”Trade” and others immediately brought Lucien from the world of necromancy to a world full of common people’s daily life.

The whole Commerce District here was even busier than that of Aalto.

The whole city was full of vitality. And even the ocean wind smelled like money for trading.

”The market is even more prosperous than I thought…” Lucien praised what he saw sincerely. He really enjoyed the atmosphere here in Sturk.

”For sure,” said the boatman in pride. ”Sturk is located right beside Storm Strait and owns a natural deepwater port. The city connects the south and north, the east and west, and here’s the best transit place for seaborne trade. Because of this, we people from Sturk are born with the talent of doing business. The first Goldsmiths’ Association and the first bank were all founded here.”

”Connecting the east and the west?” murmured Lucien. When someone talked about the country to the east of Sturk, obviously, it was Holm and the rest of the countries across the strait that the person was referring to. However, Lucien did not know that Sturk could connect directly to the eastern countries.

”Yes, of course. That’s why you can see lots of precious goods being traded here in Sturk.” answered the boatman with fervour, ”The fine fabric named Black Nightingale from Holm, the porcelain from Colette, the spices from Calais, the best tobacco from Brianne…”

”Only nobles can have access to them,” agreed Lucien.

The boatman got even more excited, ”These four countries are right across the strait. However, due to the great profit, the Church owns the monopoly in those trades. Only the noble businessmen from the nine big families here can send their boats there for trading. Umm… Can’t believe how wealthy the nine families are…”

”Which nine families?” asked Lucien with curiosity. He guessed that maybe Granneuve was one of them.

”The family of Viscount Wright, Baron Kap, Baron Moncache…” listed the boatman. However, Lucien did not hear the name that he was seeking for.

”What about switching our topic to the buildings again?” said Lucien as his interest in listening to the names of the families faded.

”Sure.” The boatman nodded, pointing at the several buildings on the right side, ”Over there… That’s the bank owned by Viscount Wright, and that’s Moncache Hawthorne Bank…”

”I see. What about that one… the shining building?” asked Lucien.

”Oh, that’s Epic Gallery. Next to it is Michelle Sculpture Gallery… And that one, the ShinyGold Bank,” explained the boatman.