Chapter 60

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As the military music echoed through the city gates and the cheers of the people rose in waves, Cook knew that the emperor was holding a grand welcoming ceremony for the Melif couple and the returning army. Cook felt a bit sour inside, as he should have been the main character in that scene, but now he was just an unknown guardian knight. However, when he saw the figure of Conknee in the carriage in front, he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I'll get this back from you sooner or later!"

But then Cook's head started to ache. To squeeze Conknee, he first needed to detoxify her, and the amount of poison she needed to drink had recently increased, indicating that the scorpion's venom had developed resistance.

After entering Roland City, Cook felt no shock, only curiosity. No matter how grand it was, it was still just a city of wood and stone. Even the most luxurious decorations couldn't change that. Cook's soul had seen skyscrapers with glass facades and giant neon advertisements, so these buildings had no impact on him. If anything was shocking, it was the city wall, which was over a hundred meters high.

The rest was not particularly impressive. Cook sat in the carriage, carefully observing the surroundings. The imperial capital's streets were not very wide, only wide enough for four horses, which seemed rather shabby compared to a four-lane road. The streets were paved with stone slabs, and on one side was a drainage ditch with flowing water, clearly fed by a river. There were no plants on this street.

The buildings on both sides were of various types, but all had pointed roofs and were no more than three stories high. Flocks of pigeons often flew by, and carriages moved orderly on the road. Armored knights slowly rode their high horses, patrolling the streets and alleys.

"Wow, this is the imperial capital I've always dreamed of! Boss, look at those windows, they're made of crystal! And those doors, with copper nails! And those tall street lamps!" Mike exclaimed in awe.

"Ha ha!" Cook laughed. If you saw those hundred-story glass skyscrapers, you wouldn't know what to think.

"Boss, look, that woman is giving me a wink!" Mike excitedly stood up and waved his arms.

"Mike, that's a tavern. See the giant wine glass? Those women are trying to attract customers." Cook pointed out, somewhat annoyed.

"Hehe, those barmaids are prettier than in other places." Mike said shamelessly.

"Cough, cough!" Cook was speechless. It seemed that the grass was always greener on the other side.

"Stop!" Just as Mike was shouting, the three carriages finally arrived at a place similar to a city gate. They had encountered such places five times on the way. Cook knew this was a unique layout of the cold weapon era, designed for street battles. However, while the other places had soldiers guarding them without any checks, this place was guarded by fully armed knights, while the others were just foot soldiers in leather armor.

"Blind as a bat, can't you see the emblem on the lantern?" The squad leader of the Crescent Moon Knights leading the way immediately cursed.

"Hmph! No matter who you are, you must dismount here and walk in. This is the first command issued by Emperor Roland I." One of the black-clad knights, clearly the leader, coldly said.

"Damn it, open your eyes, we're the Crescent Moon Knights. This is... ." The squad leader of the Crescent Moon Knights angrily shouted.

"Alright, thank you for your escort, but we don't need you here. You can return now. If you hurry, you might still make it to the emperor's banquet." Before the squad leader could finish, Loli emerged from the carriage and waved her hand to give orders.

"Yes, Miss Loli!" The squad leader of the Crescent Moon Knights glared at the knights guarding the gate, then waved his hand and galloped away.

"Miss Loli, please!" The black-clad knights, upon seeing Loli, quickly approached and smiled. Loli was a regular visitor here, so it was strange if they didn't recognize her. However, this time Loli didn't use her family's carriage, so the knights didn't know she was inside.

"Captain Muff, you're still as dedicated as ever. I'll go in first. These three carriages are with me." Loli smiled from the carriage and said.

"Miss Loli, you flatter me. Please!" Captain Muff waved his hand, and the heavy metal gate slowly opened. Behind the metal gate was a thick wooden door, covered in a layer of thick copper. Although both the metal gate and the wooden door had small doors, they were clearly not wide enough for carriages to pass through.

"Is this the royal palace?" After entering the gate, Cook found that the area was filled with tall trees, with no buildings around.

"The royal palace! Boss, you can visit the royal palace for a fee. On the first Sunday of every month, the palace is open to the public. For one gold coin, you can tour freely. For ten gold coins, you can enjoy royal cuisine. This isn't a place where money can buy entry. Many important figures never get to enter, as this is the most loosely guarded area of the imperial capital. Only two squads of knights are stationed here, but the defense is extremely strong. This is where the empire's three guardian deities reside, with several magic towers of various sizes. Do you know what magic towers are?" Mike quickly explained in a low voice.

"Yes, I know! They are buildings with extremely powerful defensive and offensive capabilities." Cook nodded, as he had heard Loli talk about them before.

"Actually, we just came from the city gate. This is usually where carriages pass. There's another road inside the Mage Guild that leads directly here, but carriages can't pass through. And we can't enter the Mage Guild this way." Mike pointed to another direction.

"Mike, how do you know this?" Cook asked, puzzled.

"Who am I? I'm an all-knowing bard." Mike replied arrogantly.

"Tsk!" Cook found the area to be quite large, with wide roads and bright street lamps, but no people in sight. Just as Cook was puzzled, the carriage stopped in front of a building over two hundred meters tall.

The building looked like a lighthouse or a thick chimney, with a diameter exceeding a hundred meters. Cook muttered, "Is this a tower? It looks more like a certain part of a man."

"Lily!" As the carriage stopped, a middle-aged man walked up and waved to the carriage.

"Uncle Rody!" Loli smiled and bowed.

"Lily, your grandfather is very worried about you. See how you'll be punished this time." Rody held Loli's hand and carefully examined her, only smiling when he saw she was unharmed.

"I know Uncle Rody loves me the most. Uncle Rody, this is Micky, my student, a naturally awakened fire mage. Micky, quickly greet Uncle Rody. Uncle Rody is very generous!" Loli pouted and pulled Micky forward.

"Grandpa Rody." Micky bowed gracefully.

"Micky, stand up. This is a fire amulet made from a level six fire core. It's the first magic item I made when I was young. I'll give it to you." Rody accepted Micky's bow and handed her a necklace.

"Grandpa Rody, this is too much!" Micky looked at the beautifully crafted necklace, which emitted a faint magical glow, and tried to refuse.

"Micky, take it! This amulet is used like this." Loli took it and put it on Micky while teaching her how to use it.

"Uncle Rody, this is Cook, my guardian knight. This is Conknee, my good friend. This is Mike, my follower, a bard. This is Micky's maid, Mary and Martha." Loli then introduced the group to Rody.

"Alright! The rest is up to me. Go up, your mentor is waiting." Rody looked deeply at Cook and said, but in his heart, he decided to thoroughly examine Cook's abilities, as Loli had taken a liking to him. Rody had devoted his life to magic experiments and had never married or had children, treating Loli like his own daughter. Some even said Rody had a secret crush on Alice, but Melif had beaten him to it.

"Alright, Mary and Martha, stay here." Loli gave orders and immediately led the group into the magic tower.

"Interesting, interesting. Hmm, this boy has five life signals. One is his own, one is a hamster, and this one... this one, the big mouth, looks familiar. What kind of creature is it? And the other two? One is in the bag, with a very long life signal. And the other?" Inside the magic tower, a magic crystal displayed Loli and her group, showing various colorful patterns, indicating a large detection magic array.

"This boy is also interesting. I wonder if he's a mentalist or a wind mage. What does this dark green indicate?" Munky Clary stood beside the magic crystal, looking at the results with many questions.

"But it seems Loli has advanced. A mage at 20 years old, not even a month away from 20. Not bad." Munky saw Loli about to enter a door and closed the crystal, speaking with excitement.

Loli led Cook up a long staircase. Cook had a feeling that someone was watching them. The walls were made of an unknown material, neither stone nor wood, with intricate patterns. On both sides were large crystal lamps, emitting a familiar light, like that of a light stone. Each lamp used at least five light stones and had a transparent crystal cover, mounted on a golden bracket. The walls were occasionally adorned with beautiful paintings.

"Grandpa!" Loli pushed open the door and rushed in, calling out. Cook was sweating, as he had used his magic eye and saw magical lines on the walls, doors, and ceiling, indicating the presence of magic arrays. The lines were similar to those on his magic cleaver, though much finer. Cook felt as if he were being pointed at by numerous machine guns, which were rotating. The magic cleaver's small array had such power, so the massive arrays here must be even more powerful.

"Hmph!" When Cook and the group entered, they found Loli hanging on a middle-aged man, who had a blank expression and grunted.

"Grandpa, don't be angry! Didn't you say that one doesn't grow without experiencing storms? Look, I've advanced this time." Loli ignored this and shook the man's neck, pouting.

"Smack! If you do this again, I'll make you stay in the magic tower like your younger uncle." The man, seeing Cook and the others, and Loli's behavior, lightly tapped her head and glared.

"Ouch! Grandpa, you'll make me stupid!" Loli rubbed the spot and exclaimed, but Cook was sweating, finally understanding why Loli liked to tap people's heads. He couldn't help but think, "It's genetic!"

"Hmph, introduce your companions." Munky Clary ignored Loli's exclamation and grunted.

"This is Micky, my student, a naturally awakened fire mage. This is Cook, a hunter and my guardian knight. This is Mike, my follower, a bard. This is Conknee, who is quite famous, known as the 'Ceylon Fox.' And this is Little Gray, a magic bear. This is Little Bad, and this is Big Mouth, and this is Kaka!" Loli introduced them in detail, even pulling out Little Bad to show.

"Uh!" Munky scratched his head. This was an odd group: a hunter, a bard, and a mage, with no warriors or knights.

"Grandpa, that's not important. I want to show you our biggest gain this time, a magic pet." Loli gestured for Cook to open the leather bag on his back.

"A magic pet?" At this, another muscular man walked out from a corner, puzzled.

"Oh, Uncle Bal, you're sleeping again. This is Uncle Bal, an eighth-level fire crow, my grandfather's contract partner." Loli ran up and rubbed Bal's red hair, then ran away.

"Lily, I've told you not to rush with a magic pet. What kind of magic pet could you encounter? I said I'd go and get one for you... Uh! So big!" Bal nonchalantly fixed his messy hair and said, but when he saw the large egg Cook took out, he was shocked.

"Ta-da! See, a dragon egg, and it's a thunder dragon egg!" Loli tried to pick it up but couldn't, so she patted it and said proudly.

"Clang! Thud!" Munky, upon hearing this, leaned against a tall candle stand, and Bal fell to the ground.

"Dragon egg!" Bal and Munky immediately rushed to the egg, pushing Cook aside. They touched it from all sides, then looked at each other, eyes wide, clearly confirming it was a dragon egg. Their gaze then shifted to Loli.

Loli sat proudly in Munky's seat and invited Cook and the others to sit down. Seeing Munky and Bal's reactions, she said with a smile, "Grandpa, isn't this a good magic pet?"

"Could this be the child of the dragon that destroyed the capital of the Yalan Empire?" Bal squinted and asked.

"I don't know, Loli, where did you get this dragon egg?" Munky, surprised, walked up to Loli and asked with a smile.

"Grandpa, let me tell you, this time we... ." Loli chattered and explained the whole story.

After hearing the story, Bal and Munky's gazes toward Cook changed. Bal patted Cook's shoulder and said, "Good boy, you have the courage. If it were me, I might have hesitated. But your luck is really something!"

"So, this is the child of Rimlan. Who would have thought that there were dragons in the Angons Mountains, and they've been there for over a hundred years. It seems this is your luck." Munky's face was full of surprise. He couldn't believe that an apprentice-like person could successfully steal a dragon egg and accidentally lead Rimlan to the Yalan