Chapter 26: First Arrival in Bayam

Chapter 26: First Arrival in Bayam

After the large ship belonging to the resistance army docked, the people of the City of Silver, all changed into round-collared shirts, brown jackets, wide-legged pants, and dark flat caps, followed Lord Danitz the divine envoy down from the vessel. They prepared to pass through the docks and enter Bayam, the City of Generosity. Those clothes had all been prepared in advance.

“Dressing like this feels really awkward. It isn’t very suitable for fighting…” As they walked, Liaval moved his arms and legs and spoke to Elder Derrick in a low voice.

Derrick nodded gently.

“But this makes it easier to hide ourselves. We won’t be too conspicuous or become the focus of others’ attention.”

There was nothing wrong with Derrick’s analysis. After all, they were now outsiders, and there were only twenty-one of them. If they could avoid drawing attention, it would naturally be best not to attract any. However, he seemed to have forgotten one critical detail.

“B-but they are all looking at us…” Candice quickly looked around and whispered.

The workers on the docks, some simply dressed and others bare-chested, as well as travelers of all sorts moving to and fro in different attire, all turned their gazes in their direction.

“So tall…” a Bayam resident with bronze skin and slightly curly hair could not help exclaiming.

He was only around 160 centimeters tall. This was the common height of male civilians in the colonies of the present era. As for the people of the City of Silver, aside from Derrick, who had only just passed two meters, the rest averaged over 2.3 meters tall, with the tallest surpassing 2.5 meters.

When such “half-giants” walked across the docks and through the crowd, they were equally conspicuous no matter what they wore.

“Feysacians?” A Loenese man wearing a top hat, formal clothes, and carrying a cane turned his head toward his companion. “Has the slave trade begun again?”

He believed the people of the City of Silver were Feysac war captives the Rorsted government had purchased from the Loen Kingdom. After all, in this world, the only people he could think of who possessed such height—and not merely one or two of them—were those barbarians from Feysac who called themselves descendants of giants.

His companion shook his head, faintly frowning.

“They don’t look like it. Most Feysacians have pale blue eyes. Besides, even among Feysacians, very few can exceed two meters unless… unless these are noble or officer prisoners of war…”

In Feysac, although there was no explicit law, all walks of life—especially the military—had the phenomenon of determining status by height. Of course, this was not the only condition. One’s family background, title, rank, and other factors were also considered.

Because of this “custom,” the descendants of Feysac nobles and the upper ranks of the army were generally over two meters tall.

This was actually only the surface phenomenon. In essence, it was the influence brought by Beyonder characteristics.

Those who could become high-ranking officers in the Feysac military were either of noble birth or had already reached at least Sequence 5. The latter, after repeated influence from potions of the Warrior pathway, also known as the Giant pathway, would definitely “meet the standard” in height. Those who chose the Red Priest pathway would also gain some height increase, but it was not as obvious as the Giant pathway in the early stages. The total increase might be only a few centimeters, and a qualitative change would only occur after becoming a demigod.

As for noble descendants, their ancestors had more or less been “giants” or had intermarried with “giants.” Regardless of whether they inherited Beyonder characteristics, the corresponding genes accumulated generation after generation and would certainly make their normal height exceed two meters.

Among them, those families that still grasped portions of the Giant pathway’s potion formulas and possessed a certain inheritance had descendants who displayed a situation even closer to that of the City of Silver.

The imperial family, which held the Red Priest pathway, maintained the height of its descendants through intermarriage.

Under one examining gaze after another, the people of the City of Silver grew increasingly uneasy, as if they had returned to that cursed land and were walking through deep darkness, watched by monster after monster.

Derrick, however, remained very calm and composed. He looked left and right and said to the members of the pathfinding team,

“They bear no malice.”

After confirming that Mr. Hanged Man was in this city and knew of his arrival, Derrick no longer felt isolated and helpless.

This did not mean he distrusted the envoy designated by Mr. Fool. Rather, he believed that trivial matters of daily life should trouble a deity as little as possible. Those that could be resolved by himself were best handled by himself.

And when it came to solving things personally, Derrick was, after all, not very familiar with the outside world and did not have great confidence. At such a time, an experienced, exceptionally wise, meticulous, and trustworthy “local” was absolutely the best helper.

Of course, Derrick also knew that Mr. Hanged Man probably would not openly have contact with him. The other party belonged to another faction and was not a believer of the Sea God. If he showed too much enthusiasm regarding the City of Silver, he would definitely invite suspicion.

Still, there will always be a proper reason and a suitable opportunity for us to meet… Derrick thought with anticipation.

As various thoughts swirled, he and the City of Silver’s pathfinding team followed Danitz out of the docks and onto the street.

Their field of vision suddenly opened. They saw even more people than before and heard all kinds of sounds.

To the people of the City of Silver, this was even livelier than their homeland’s grandest Harvest Festival. There were so many people that they could not be counted at a glance, wearing clothing that was distinctive yet equally strange. Some hurried along, some strolled leisurely, some held large fruits and sucked the liquid inside through tubes, and some carried food that resembled those delicious pies from the ship, taking bites from time to time.

Besides these things, the horse-like animals pulling carriages, the metallic objects that made ding-a-ling sounds and ran extremely quickly, and the various spice scents permeating the streets all made the people of the City of Silver feel as though they had arrived in another world.

To them, this was indeed another world.

Although they were somewhat afraid, somewhat uneasy, and not very accustomed to such a scene, every one of them could clearly sense the vigorous vitality hidden within it.

It was like sunlight within the heart, shining in resonance with the blazing sun in the sky.

Is this the place where we will survive, fight, and reproduce in the future? Derrick, Liaval, Candice, and the others instinctively had similar thoughts. They felt a little uneasy, but not the slightest bit resistant.

Danitz looked with satisfaction at this group of huge fellows who had been somewhat stunned by Bayam’s bustling scene. Inwardly, he muttered,

“This is only Bayam. If you went to Trier or Backlund, would you kneel and kiss the ground?”

This world-famous great pirate restrained his impulse to mock them, because he was now Mr. Fool’s envoy and could not damage the deity’s image.

Together with some sailors, he led the people of the City of Silver to a fairly luxurious hotel. While signaling the sailors to handle check-in, he used fluent Giant to say to the guests,

“It’s almost dark. Stay here for one night first. Tomorrow, we’ll leave the city.

“The place where you’ll establish your city has already been arranged. It is beyond the jungle, on the other side. There is a natural deep-water harbor there, and there are several roads leading to Bayam—heh, to this city. Later, we’ll widen the main road and build a railway to your place.”

Railway… Derrick, who had received supplementary lessons during Tarot Club gatherings, knew what that meant. He nodded gratefully and once again praised Mr. Fool in his heart.

Danitz continued,

“We have already helped level that area in advance and reserved space for infrastructure such as water pipes and gas pipes. When you begin constructing houses, we’ll send a team over to help handle those matters.

“Also, the corresponding building materials and temporary tents have all been prepared for you. Thank Mr. Fool. Uh, the Church of Storms also helped with this. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to purchase so many things. But their main purpose was to earn some extra funding.”

The new Rorsted government had not been established for long, and its various connections with the outside world were still not smooth enough. What they had not expected was that, regarding the matter of the City of Silver, the Church of Storms had actually taken the initiative to provide help.

Water pipes… gas pipes… Derrick gradually began to lose track of what was being said, but he still assumed an expression as if he were deep in thought.

Danitz, who had nearly let the word “shit” slip out several times, stopped speaking about that and turned to introducing the hotel.

“This is the hotel Feysacians most enjoy staying at when they come to Bayam. For you, the ceiling height might still be a bit low, but at least it won’t make you bump your heads.”

At this point, Danitz smiled.

“Turn right at the end of this street, and you’ll find the Red Theater…”

He showed a smile that all men would understand.

However, the people of the City of Silver did not understand at all.

Seriously, the Emperor once said the oldest profession of humanity is selling one’s body. How can they not know what I’m talking about… The corners of Danitz’s mouth twitched slightly, and he gave up on the topic.

After his second mate and third mate helped finish checking them in, he led the people of the City of Silver to the second floor and assigned rooms.

When that was done, he took out a stack of cards that had been written in advance and distributed them to the members of the pathfinding team other than Derrick.

“Each card has some local words and the corresponding Giant words on it. If you need any service or food, ring the bell here and have the attendant come over, then show him the card. Of course, he may not understand it, but he will definitely find someone who does.”

This was a simple and easy-to-understand method. The people of the City of Silver very quickly grasped how to use the cards, secretly excited that they could finally carry out preliminary communication with the people here.

Next, Danitz demonstrated how to turn water taps on and off, how to use the toilet, and how to light the gas wall lamps. Watching this, Derrick, Liaval, Candice, and the others felt as though they had arrived in a divine kingdom.

A switch that produced water with only a twist; a machine that carried away excrement with only a press, leaving behind no obvious trace; a lantern that could shine continuously once lit—these were all things they could not have imagined in the past.

And these things would form their new life.

By the time the people of the City of Silver had begun adapting to the hotel, the sky had completely darkened, and night began ruling the city.

Although Derrick and the others had long since confirmed that the outside world’s night held no danger of monsters attacking, they still instinctively feared it. Thus, some emitted light from their bodies, while others lit the gas wall lamps.

At that moment, they saw the streets outside the glass windows. In nearby and distant houses, gas lamps lit up one after another, driving away the darkness in their own areas.

Those lights, whether bright or dim yellow, reflected in the eyes of the people of the City of Silver like the Milky Way of the night falling onto the earth.