Lord: I have a Mount & Blade panel.

A sweltering breeze swept in from the Palume Desert, caressing the majestic city of Baiya.

A regular caravan loaded with goods slowly approached from the direction of Gundon.

Two silver-armored halberd soldiers guarded a wooden box half a person's height, collecting varying amounts of entry tax from each person at the city gate.

When it was the caravan's turn, the caravan manager, with a broad smile on his face, approached calmly and shook the soldier's hand: "Sir, please take good care of me."

The Kingdom of Empe boasts diverse customs and traditions across its east, west, north, and south, some of which are quite different. However, there is one thing that can be used throughout the entire country—money!

The halberd soldier glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then tucked the object into a hidden compartment in his armor and opened his hand again.

"What are you doing?" The caravan manager looked at the soldier with a blank expression.

"What are we doing? What else could we be doing! City entry tax!" The silver-armored soldier sneered, "Fifteen gold coins for entry tax, don't even think about entering if you don't pay a single coin less!"

The caravan manager almost cursed out loud. He had just secretly given the other party a full ten gold coins—ten gold coins! And they had just pocketed them.

He had long heard that from nobles to ordinary farmers selling vegetables, the people of the bountiful land were all consumed by insatiable greed, and today he had truly witnessed it firsthand.

The mercenaries guarding the caravan noticed this place, and their faces showed disgust in unison. Several burly men walked over.

"What are you doing? What are you doing? Trying to cause trouble?"

The silver-armored soldier slammed his halberd to the ground, the iron hilt striking the stone slab with a crisp sound. The city guards inside the gate immediately became alert, their hands gripping the hilts of their one-handed swords at their waists, their eyes fixed on this direction.

The caravan manager quickly turned around, waving his hands repeatedly at the mercenaries, forcing a smile that looked more like a grimace: "It's nothing, it's nothing, gentlemen, it's just routine business, routine business."

He turned back, pulled a heavy money bag from his waist, poured out fifteen gold coins, and counted them one by one into the soldier's outstretched palm.

With each one he placed, the muscles at the corner of his mouth twitched.

The silver-armored soldier weighed the gold coins in his palm, then nodded in satisfaction and stepped aside: "Wouldn't it have been better to do this earlier? Go in."

The convoy restarted, the wooden wheels creaking as they rolled over the cobblestones.

The caravan manager walked at the front, his face ashen and his lips pressed into a thin line.

As a one-eyed, vicious mercenary passed by, he spat and muttered, "Goblin bastards!"

A scholar once said that there is nothing in the world that is completely useless, but goblins are very close to that concept.

Short, cowardly, cunning, and ugly, with a perpetually repulsive stench, its only skill is to reproduce like rats, only to die off in broods when food is scarce.

Therefore, in the local dialect of Empire, the word "goblin" can be used to refer to disgusting, filthy, foul-smelling, or even all negative concepts.

A simple "I bet you have some kind of relationship with the goblins" is enough to send even the most elegant nobleman into a tirade, quickly turning her into a notorious shrew.

The mercenary's words were incredibly malicious, but unfortunately, the creaking of the wheels prevented a conflict from breaking out.

The streets of Baiya City are wide and straight, with silver-leaf trees transplanted from the northern provinces planted on both sides. The trunks are straight as spears, and the leaves turn grayish-white in the hot wind.

Shops lined the street, their calls echoing through the air. The aroma of roasted meat and spices mingled together, carried by the hot wind into the nostrils of every passerby.

The caravan manager led the caravan into a secluded alley, and only then did he let out a long sigh of relief.

A burly man with a full beard, named Bazel, spat on the ground upon hearing this.

"Twenty-five gold coins," he said through gritted teeth. "Just getting into the city cost me twenty-five gold coins."

They were a group of mercenaries from the western province of the Kingdom of Empert, employed by the new King Detyl Rasheen.

Detyl Rashen, who had sworn to kill all Augustus, could not tolerate an Augustus who was still alive and active in front of him.

However, since the Blood Cross's attention is currently tied up in Gondor, the enemy has spent a lot of money to buy off a team of mercenaries with decent strength.

They were tasked with eliminating the dragon cub before it reached High Cliff Fortress.

And now.

The ranger among the mercenaries followed the scent of the other party and finally seized the opportunity; Richard Augustus stopped in Baiya.

The complexity of the city greatly increased their opportunities to carry out assassinations.

……

Richard ultimately did not go directly to the tavern.

Instead, he led Lilia, who was following behind, on a brief stroll around Baiya.

His first stop was the Holy Light Church, the central altar of the Holy Light Goddess, located in Baiya.

I finally got to experience firsthand just how high the status of this so-called Goddess of Holy Light was in the hearts of the people of the Kingdom of Empe.

The Papacy's base is very high. Looking up from the hundreds of milky-white marble steps, one can see the lifelike goddess statue carved at the entrance of the Papacy's main hall. The goddess statue is at least six or seven zhang tall.

She wore a long, pristine white dress, her unforgettable beauty adorned with a kind and compassionate expression that seemed to love all people.

He held a law book in his left hand, and a luminous pearl about half the size of a person was placed on the staff in his right hand.

Twelve massive granite columns symmetrically spread out on both sides of the entrance to the main hall, supporting the enormous dome of the Papacy. Each column is carved with a lifelike image of a Libra Knight imparting knowledge to the world, clearly the work of a master craftsman.

The young and beautiful Sisters of Holy Light were singing the Gospel in the main hall.

As Richard entered the main hall, the nuns stopped chanting and stared blankly at the prince as he walked in, their eyes fixed on the handsome Richard standing in the center, even forgetting the Holy Light Admonition they had just recited that morning.

If you were to ask Richard what the greatest pain in life is, he would definitely say it's being as handsome as the readers.

Being too handsome won't get you struck by lightning, but it will definitely make girls fall for him and men jealous enough to want to duel him.

Richard had already discovered that the attributes provided by the system panel were not achieved overnight, but rather gradually improved over time.

When he first transmigrated, his 25 points of charm didn't have such a significant effect, but when he woke up this morning, even Sylvie couldn't help but be momentarily dazed when she looked at him.

The most obvious change was that he noticed his strength had increased.

He estimated that this change would be completely over in another day or two.

An elderly nun, whose age was unknown, hurried over, first politely greeting Lilia and Sylvie, then looking at Richard with admiration: "Handsome sir, even the elves would be envious of your beauty. Is there anything I can do to help you?"