25 The Contrac (1/2)
Li made his way around the main square of Riviera. This was the first time had had entered the city without his hood, but there hadn't been any issues. The guards standing by the main gate always had a perpetual look of sleepiness to them, and when they saw Li, they raised a brow but shrugged and let him pass.
Li had given them an appreciative nod and they had smiled in return. Riviera was a city of peace and progress, housing Soleil's finest university and philosophers. They were the only of the four cardinal cities to have banned pit fighting and even allowed some minor immigration on part of non-humans from the north.
Compared to a wolfman or elf, it made sense that Li wasn't that much of a surprise. He always wondered why Old Thane had ever been so protective as to make him wear the hood, but that was a question to ask the old man himself at a later time.
As Li toured the market square, he tuned out the cacophony of shouts as sellers peddled their wares. Blacksmiths made their apprentices roar out their daily sales on blades and armor, emphasizing how beautiful they would be to display on a rack at home. Food vendors moved around carts while shouting at how savory their meat pies or how sweetly their cakes would melt in mouths.
There were quite a few hinterlanders, people that were native to the dry plains west of Riviera, selling their own wares. Their smiths sold curved blades and hooked daggers while their vendors roasted great spits of meat and carved out kebabs.
Li did not appreciate this chaos. Though it was far less hectic than the cities of his past life, they still reminded him of the unending rows of towering apartments that blocked out the horizon. The smoke that rolled out of industrial factories which blackened the skies. Cars and drones screamed as their engines worked, the harsh sounds of traffic only ever punctuated by the deafening roar of hyperloop trains making their way around.
Li shook his head and pushed forwards, ignoring countless requests for him to turn back and taste a little this or that. He preferred the quiet of the farm, and he only ever came here when he had to.
Past the market square, at the center of Riviera, lay the city hall, a massive, domed building of marble. Four towering pillars of white stone stood in front of the entrance, their tips carved into images of the four great gods that had defeated the first demons and spread magic to the world more than a millennia ago.
Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
Beyond the pillars sprawled a great stairway up to the upon doors of the city hall. The doors were impressive works of art, fashioned of polished wood emblazoned with the symbol of a dove – the house sigil of Lord Lys.
Li made his way up the stairs. Many people passed by him either moving in or out of the city hall. Here was Riviera's heart, after all, where all judicial and administrative processes were held. Citizens could come here to forward complaints and suits against businesses or others or, as in Li's case, take aptitude tests for certain professions.
Li made his way into the city hall, feeling the cool and clean white marble beneath his feet as he made his way towards a sprawling counter where behind magically reinforced glass, city hall employees aided visitors, directing them where they needed, giving them necessary paperwork, and so on and so forth.
Thankfully, there weren't too many people in line. Usually, there was a decent wait to get a spot at the counter open, but Li made his way up without any wasted time. He found himself talking with a beastman, and upon closer inspection, he could tell she was a Feli, possessing certain cat-like features such as pointed, furred ears and sharp, yellow eyes with slit pupils.
”Here to take the herbalist's exam,” said Li. He looked behind the feli where dozens of employees sat at desks scribbling on papers, recording every little thing that transpired. At the wall, a great golden clock stood, its long and short hands reading half past two.