Chapter 13: Holy Healing City and the White Witch
The central region of Crow Raven Continent had a spring-like climate year-round, unlike the western area where Su Xiao had been before, which had a long rainy season and a damp, cold climate.
Based on what Su Xiao had observed along his journey, over 60% of the land on Crow Raven Continent was undeveloped wilderness, overgrown with weeds but fertile in soil.
This continent did not lack resources; what it lacked was civilization. If just 10% of the land were cultivated, it could solve the food and clothing problems for most commoners. Unfortunately, war had reduced the world's cultivated land area to less than 4% — that was how extreme it was.
Witches, territorial lords scattered everywhere, slave plantations, indigenous tribes — as long as these problems weren't resolved, the commoners of Crow Raven Continent could only suffer from hunger and cold. The extremely backward information dissemination prevented commoners from even realizing this. In their eyes, most of the hunger was caused by the climate.
Don't think this was foolish. Most regions were informationally isolated. Even if the leading organization, the Holy Healing Church, were destroyed one day, commoners outside the central region would take at least a month, or even half a year, to receive the news. As for those indigenous tribes still living primitively, they simply didn't care about any of this.
During his journey, Su Xiao had finished reading the books obtained from the royal palace. Among them, "A Brief History of Crow Raven Continent" and "The Age of Witches" were the most valuable. "A Brief History of Crow Raven Continent" was written seven years ago by a prophecy-type witch named Seria. Given the development speed of this world, it was similar to newspapers from a few months ago — the information wasn't new, but it was all usable.
According to the description by this witch named Seria, Crow Raven Continent could be divided into three major parts. The central and western regions were both under the control of the Holy Healing Church, with relatively complete laws. The eastern region was mostly dominated by indigenous forces. When traveling there, one could easily become an indigenous barbecue skewer — extremely thrilling — but this area had the most witches and was a lawless land.
The northern region was icefields and frozen tundra. The commoners here mainly lived by hunting and gathering, with an extremely fierce folk character. They had no choice — the northern region had year-round winter and produced no food. Commoners fought daily with wild beasts for living space. Even breastfeeding women were fierce. One moment they might be nursing a child, the next they would grab weapons to fend off wolf packs alongside their husbands.
The Northern Border King of Fierce Winter City was highly skilled in combat but poor at strategy. Coupled with the barren resources of his territory, he could only hold his ground in the northern border. There were very few witches here, not because they feared the fierce local customs, but because it was simply too cold. Without understanding the environment, even witches could freeze to death. In fact, quite a few witches had frozen to death here — blizzards were no joke.
To put it simply, the central and western regions were stable, the east was barbaric with basically no laws, and the northern border was freezing cold. As for the south, that was witch territory — a human forbidden zone.
Su Xiao now had a preliminary understanding of Crow Raven Continent. He was gradually moving past the exploration phase. Currently, he was in the central region, only about five kilometers from Holy Healing City.
After entering the direct jurisdiction of Holy Healing City, Su Xiao rarely saw roving bandits or primitive indigenous people. Along the way, he had killed at least several dozen bandits. Every few kilometers, he would encounter one or two groups of bandits. These bandits didn't have the style of "this road is mine, leave toll money" — they wouldn't negotiate with travelers at all. They would just kill and loot the bodies for valuables.
Upon reaching the outskirts of Holy Healing City, Su Xiao saw many villages. These villages mainly relied on animal husbandry. They weren't particularly warm to travelers, but if travelers were willing to pay, they didn't mind letting them stay overnight.
The one-person-one-dog-one-cow squad continued forward for another 20 minutes before a magnificent city wall appeared in sight. This wall was about a hundred meters high, with visible patches of repair marks here and there. Judging by the damage, it was likely caused by witches.
Before even entering the city, Su Xiao saw pairs of patrolling soldiers. They weren't wearing heavy armor but rather more advanced and lighter scale armor.
Standing at a distance and looking at the city wall of Holy Healing City felt like looking at a mountain. Looking up close felt like a heavenly barrier.
It was unimaginable how, with this world's level of technology, they had managed to build this hundred-meter-high, over twenty-meter-thick wall. Or rather, this wasn't something humans had done.
As Su Xiao approached the city gate, he heard the bustling noise of people. After observing for a while, he found that entering Holy Healing City was much simpler than he had imagined. No fees were required, and no inspections were needed. The soldiers, each holding an old-fashioned shotgun, stood on both sides of the gate. Their eyes were as sharp as hawks, scanning every commoner entering the city. Once they spotted a suspicious target, they would conduct further checks.
"Stop."
Just as Su Xiao's group arrived at the city gate, five soldiers holding shotguns stepped forward. It was Amu who had aroused their suspicion.
A soldier took out an egg-sized yellow crystal from his pocket. Inside the crystal was a fluid resembling mercury. The soldier brought the yellow crystal close to Amu, but the crystal showed no change.
"Sorry for the disturbance. Enter the city. Have a pleasant day."
The soldier was surprisingly polite. He gave Amu a courteous smile before returning to his usual stern expression.
Just as Su Xiao was about to enter the city, a commotion broke out behind him.
"Slowly raise your hands above your head. Don't think we can't detect your transformation."
The soldier's shout caught Su Xiao's attention.
"Hey there, young man, no need to be so scary."
A lazy female voice came. Su Xiao looked over and saw a voluptuous woman wearing an off-shoulder long dress and black gloves. She held a thin smoking pipe in her hand, with a head full of wavy purple hair.
"Five, four, three..."
Several dozen soldiers at the city gate began a countdown in unison. When the count reached three, they simultaneously pulled back the hammers of their shotguns. After a crisp clicking sound, dozens of gun muzzles were aimed at the purple-haired woman.
"Oh my, I surrender."
The purple-haired woman exhaled blue smoke from her mouth. She slowly raised her hands and let out a soft yawn.
A soldier raised his right arm, signaling not to shoot for now. He tossed a yellow crystal into his mouth before slowly approaching the purple-haired woman.
"Origin, name, age, whether wanted. You have one minute to explain."
Clearly, this woman was a witch.
"Annie Claudia, a White Witch. As for age, that's a secret, of course. Wanted? It seems I'm wanted for tax issues. I came to Holy Healing City this time to deal with that. But the scenery here is beautiful, and I suddenly want to settle down here."
"Wanted for tax issues?"
The soldier squad leader was clearly a bit confused. It was the first time he had heard of a witch paying taxes.
"Of course. The protective armor you're wearing was all invented by me. The tax issues are giving me quite a headache."
"You are Ms. Annie Claudia Frederica Saxton?"
This time, the soldier squad leader was even more shocked.
"Impressive that you can remember my full name. Sometimes I even forget it myself~"
"Ms. Annie, please present your identification."
The soldier squad leader's attitude did a 180-degree turn.
"Almost forgot. I have the identification given to me by your Holy Church. I brought it with me when I came."
As she spoke, the purple-haired woman reached into her cleavage. Her black silk gloves contrasted sharply with her fair skin, causing every male bystander to swallow hard.
Su Xiao was also watching this purple-haired woman. His thought was that he seemed to have stumbled upon a big fish.