The three days passed quickly, and after Faras had used three times the rent, the three coachmen happily sent Lace's team to Elmida City. And Faras also ended her luxury vacation trip in Lane's eyes.

Elmida is a city located at the foot of the Hengduan Mountains, and it is surrounded by rich minerals, especially copper, which is very high, almost equivalent to one-tenth of the annual production of the entire empire.

The surroundings of Elmida City seem to be very desolate, and there is no such prosperity as Elfa City, and its low parapet walls and rough pavement make people can't help but have a very bad first impression of it.

The whole city of Ermida is divided into two main areas, the commercial district in the middle of the city and the surrounding slums. The city is not very large, but it has a population of more than 30,000 people, and this population also includes the miners who work under the mine all day, although maybe the next moment, they will die because of the mine accident, but at this moment, they are still alive.

The carriage came to the south gate of the city of Elmida, where it was stopped by the soldiers defending the city. Faras, who was sitting in the first carriage, stepped down, and explained to the soldiers who were defending the city who she was doing and what she was doing.

Among the soldiers defending the city, there was a guy who looked like a leader, and he stared lewdly at Faraz's chest, only to find the junior mage badge on Faraz's chest. Seeing this badge, the obscene little boss just squeezed a smile out of his face, and desperately stammered the farath.

After all, in the entire Eslar Continent, magicians are very rare, and even have a special status. A junior magician like Faras, if he taught a civilian a hard lesson, as long as he didn't die, no one would care about it. Even if he really kills someone, as long as the one who dies is not a powerful guy, at most, the Magic Guild will come forward and reprimand this magician who killed people, most of them are just a few hasty words.

The obscene little boss didn't dare to make more trouble, but just pointed to the city lord's decree posted on the side of the city gate, and asked Faraz to pay the various taxes and fees that were required to be collected.

The tax in this Ermida City is really a lot, just to enter the city gate, you have to pay 10 silver coins per person to enter the city, a carriage costs 20 silver coins, and even the two wind wolves of Allendor have paid a pet entrance fee of 5 silver coins each as pets.

All this made Ryan shake his head in the carriage, Elfa City, which ranked seventh among the imperial cities, was so prosperous, with a large number of people coming in and out every day, and there was no charge for this.

Although Ryan is not very familiar with this aspect of commerce, after all, he has been in Elfa City for a while, and he has some understanding, and the lord of Elfa City just issued various orders to give more benefits to merchants, and promoted the prosperity of the city through the flow of merchants, and obtained rich rewards from the prosperity of the city.

The kind of city in front of you is so oppressive to passers-by, I wonder if anyone will want to come here?

The carriage slowly drove into the city, slowly moving on the potholed ground. Ryan looked out through the swaying carriage window, looking at the low houses on both sides, the dirty ground, and smelling an indescribable fishy smell in his nose, as if even the whole sky of Elmida City was gray.

The carriage finally drove through the slum and took Faraz and his party to the central business district of Elmida City.

In the middle of the business district is a large square, the ground is paved with huge stones, compared to the road in the slums, it is almost the same size as the square in the city of Elfa, although the total area of the city of Elmida is less than a tenth of the city of Elfa.

To the north of the square stands a rather luxurious dwelling, in stark contrast to the chaotic streets and low-rise houses just now. There were a number of soldiers with spears standing guard around the mansion, and Ryan estimated that this should be the residence of the lord of Elmida.

There were no particularly conspicuous buildings in the other directions of the square, just some very ordinary shops, and Ryan saw that in the southern part of the square, there was an inn that looked pretty good.

The carriage led Faras and his party straight to the door of the inn, where three brand-new carriages stopped and a very thin old man in his fifties hurriedly greeted him.

Seeing a lady in a magician's robe stepping down from the carriage, the thin old man greeted him very warmly, and the words of praise came out one after another, and brought Faras and his party into the hotel. As for the carriage and coachman outside, there were naturally men to entertain them.

Under the arrangement of the thin old man, the members of Lace's team sat around a table in the lobby of the inn, ready to eat. The thin old man stood respectfully aside, always smiling on his face.

But Ryan always found the smile on his face strange, and the thin old man had a striking resemblance to the two wind wolves that smelled the smell of roasted meat.

Faras took the menu from the thin old man's hand, and she looked at the beautiful menu carefully, ready to order. Unexpectedly, Faraz, who spent extravagantly along the way, was still intimidated by the price of the various items on the menu: 10 gold coins for a roasted whole Talon sheep, 4 gold coins for a roasted Thari beef, and 20 silver coins for even the cheapest refreshing juice.

Enraged, Faras threw the menu at the skinny old man and told him to call the innkeeper.

The thin old man's smile did not diminish in the slightest, he took the menu, pointed to himself with his other hand, and said, "I am the innkeeper." ”

Faraz pointed to the menu on the thin old man and said, "Your inn is too expensive, isn't it? A glass of cool juice at the Imperial Capital Dream Bar is only 10 silver coins, which is the most luxurious place in the country." ”

The thin innkeeper's face immediately changed, and his grinning smile quickly turned into helplessness, which made Alendo, who had always had absolute confidence in his speed, out of reach, and sighed in his heart.

The thin innkeeper sighed and said, "Alas, business is not easy these days." This noble lady, you must have come from an aristocratic family and have seen the world since childhood. I believe that many noble people are guests in your home. How do you know the suffering of our civilians? ”

At this, the thin innkeeper seemed to squeeze a tear out of his eyes, saying that it was a turn, because it only turned in his eye socket for a moment, and then went back.

The lean innkeeper said in a proud tone, "Look at my inn, this decoration is the best in the whole city of Ermida. Except for the residence of the city lord, who in the whole city dares to compare with me?"

Speaking of this, the thin innkeeper's tone changed: "As for the price on this menu, I won't tell you, in fact, I can't make any money at all." It's better to just take this glass of cool juice, although I collected 20 silver coins from you, most of them had to be used to pay the various taxes of the city lord, and then deducted my costs, and I earned a few silver coins in one cup. ”

Red patted Farath on the shoulder, signaling the latter not to be angry, and he said to the thin old man, "Why are your things here so expensive?

The lean innkeeper's face was unpredictable, and he quickly squeezed out a helpless look, and said to Red with a wry smile: "Do you think I want to? I have to pay taxes for my hotel, and I also have to pay health tax for cleaning every day. All the food sold here is subject to a large tax. In fact, if you spend 1 gold coin, I'm afraid that there will be less than 30 silver coins left in my hand, and after deducting the cost I already have, there will be no profit. ”

Red asked strangely, "Why does the city lord collect such a heavy tax?"

The lean innkeeper said, "According to the rules of the Empire, the lords of various places pay a tax to the imperial capital. Otherwise, the lords of the city decided on their own domains, except that the amount of taxes collected could not exceed the amount of taxes paid to the empire. ”

"The Empire does have such a rule, but it specifically adds the restriction that 'the amount of taxes collected by the lord himself cannot exceed the amount of taxes paid to the Empire'. According to you, isn't the tax collected by the city lord here far exceeding?"

The lean innkeeper shook his head and said, "No." The city lord is not a fool. In this city, there is only one profession that is not taxed, and that is miners, and all miners who enter the copper mines owned by the city lord do not have to pay any taxes. ”

Red and Faras glanced at each other, surprised by the city lord's actions. The thin old man said, "Therefore, the lord of the city does not pay much tax every year, because the city is almost entirely made up of miners who work for him for free." ”