Legend of Hidden Dragon

Chapter 9 Scenery Along the Way

“Hey, can I talk to you about something, Tolly?” Joseph honeyed, “You know, I always think that you are broad-minded and generous. You see, I’ve carried you for such a long time, can you come down and let me have a break for a while?”

As he had said that, Joseph kept wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. You know, I’m so weak now that I simply can’t have the strength to get off your back.” Tolly replied with a big smile on his face, “And you are totally wrong about me! I am always narrow-minded and stingy. I’m not the sort of man to forgive and forget.”

“I can put you down if you can’t get down yourself!” Joseph replied immediately.

“I remember that you’ve just said before Miss Smith that you are strong! How is it possible that you can’t continue the journey and want to have a break after such a short walk? Are you trying to be lazy, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean by such a short walk, Tolly? Don’t you know I’ve already walked for miles? And don’t forget you’ve always been on my back!! Have you heard what an ancient philosopher says? He says that even if you are holding something as light as a cup for too long, it’s going to hurt your hand. I’ve been carrying you on my back for miles, you know, not to mention the fact that you weigh at least a hundred pounds! You’re killing me!” said Joseph in exasperation.

“Then you should thank me for being slim and not as heavy as an elephant. And to tell you the truth, Joseph, I’ve never heard any ancient philosophers saying something like that. You have probably made it up yourself, but I do hear constant dripping water wears through a stone. Come on, Hang in there! The Duke’s Mansion is not far away!”

Feeling like he was riding on a sturdily-built beast, Tolly waved in the air with such a delight that he even wished he had a whip in his hands. He was sure that he would have slashed it on Joseph’s buttocks.

"By the way, Joseph, the advice you’ve just given me was brilliant! The same piece of advice for you: If you can't walk, you can crawl back slowly!"

With that, Tolly giggled behind his hands.

‘An eye for an eye! I feel so damn good at the moment!’ Tolly thought while giggling.

Joseph was lost for words, his face livid with rage. What went around came around. He simply couldn’t find a word to contradict Tolly. All he could do now was walk on, trudging towards the destination with so damn evil Tolly on his back.

However, the road was by no means flat. Joseph accidentally stepped on a small pebble, which caused him to lose his balance. He stumbled, falling on his forehead. A gush of blood oozed and streamed down his face.

“Ouch, that hurts!” Joseph shouted.

“All right, Joseph. It seems that you were talking big before. You are not strong at all, why did you lie to Miss Smith? See? It’s the consequence of having been dishonest. Honesty is the best policy, you know? I hope you won’t make such a mistake in the future! I’m a nice person or you can tell I’m a humanitarian at least. I’ll never treat you like a beast, although you do look like one. I’m not going to wear you out anyway. Come on, let’s take a short break now!” Tolly chuckled looking at him gleefully.

Then he took a hankie from his pocket and handed it to Joseph.

Joseph wiped away the blood on his face with the hankie Tolly had passed him, but he was too tired to retort back. He lay there on his stomach without making any struggles, and Tolly still remained on the back of him.

“Joseph, you’ve just got a nice trip, huh? You should be grateful to it, for it wins you a break.” Tolly said ironically, “But I have to say, we can only take the break for a few minutes. You know, Lord Fanta is anxious to question me in the Duke’s Mansion. We can’t afford to lag behind.”

About five minutes later, Joseph felt reinvigorated and gained his strength. He bit his bottom lips tightly and managed to get back on his feet. He hit the road with Tolly on his back once again. Now they were bringing up the rear for the long procession.

About another mile’s walk, some city walls came into their sights. Apparently, they would soon reach the Duke’s Mansion. Joseph put on a long-lost smile on his face and let out a long exhalation. He was like a thirsty man in the woods who suddenly saw some waxberries hanging high on the trees, which quickly made his mouth water and thus quenched the thirst. The city walls were simply like those waxberries. At the sight of them, Joseph felt reinvigorated again and gained a new impetus to move forward.

The city walls, however, meant the other things for Tolly—some data that he could use to predict the size of the city. From the scale of the walls, Tolly figured out that the Fanta city was about as large as a metropolitan city like New York.

A hint of excitement crept over Tolly. He was supposed to live in such a wonderful city soon. Above all, perhaps he was going to live in the most luxurious house in the city—The Duke’s Mansion. It was like a dream to come true. He had never thought such a thing that would happen to him in his previous life.

And what’s more, he enjoyed the journey very much. During the journey, he saw the carriage Miss smith was riding on always had a little jolt now and then. Although her carriage would be comfortable enough to ride on because of the shock-absorbing effect from the runic formations on the wheels, it was no match for his human carriage—Joseph.

Maybe about ten or fifteen minutes later, they reached the entrance to the city. Tolly looked up and saw a big tablet on the wall which read in capital letters: FANTA CITY.

‘I wonder where Fanta City is located on the island of Wesilver. It would be nice if I could get a map now.’ Tolly thought.

What a coincidence! As Tolly was thinking about the map, a peddler dressed in a blue old costume came over to him with a small basket in his hand.

“Young master, would you like a map of Wesilver? It’s the latest edition. I guess it’ll help you.”

Tolly thought that there must be some eggs or something like that in the basket. However, the peddler took a paper map out of it.

‘What the hell! Paper has already been invented here on Goldearth? Wow! Inventions from different ages are combined together. What a funny world!’ Tolly thought.

“What are you talking about? From which aspect can you see that he’s a young master?” Joseph said to the peddler angrily.

“From every aspect!” the vendor replied quickly, “Look! You’re carrying him on your back! Isn’t it obvious enough? You won’t think that you’re the master, do you?” the peddler retorted ironically.

Then the peddler turned to Tolly and asked again,

“Please get a map for yourself, young master. You’ll need it!”

“Okay! I happen to need one. How much is it?” Tolly asked politely.

“Just a fifty-Fanta coin.”

Tolly subconsciously fumbled in his pocket for money. Luckily, he felt something like coins in it and took one of them out. If he wasn’t wrong, the coin was actually made of bronze. He looked at it closely and found out that there were some neat letters printed on it: FIFTY.

Tolly quickly handed it to the peddler. This was the first time he had spent money in this world. it seemed quite good.

After taking the coin from Tolly, the peddler handed him the map respectfully.

“Can we only use Fanta coins to pay here?”

“No, young master. It looks like you are a true nobleman. I guess the servant you ride on does most of the shopping for you. Actually, you can also pay with other currencies, such as feather coins. according to the current exchange rate, one feather coin can be exchanged for a hundred Fanta coins. But of course…”

“Damn it! Since when did I become his servant?” Joseph interrupted him with a roar.

“I can’t believe it! As a servant, how can you be so grumpy? A piece of advice for you: As a servant, you have to obey your master always and don’t butt in when others are talking. It’s rude, you know?”

The peddler turned to Tolly once more and suggested,

“Fire the guy and find a better one, young master.”

“I will, thank you for your advice.” Tolly smiled.

“Good luck then, young master, see you around! Goodbye!”

With that, the peddler took his leave.

Tolly waved him goodbye and then made a quick scanning of the map in his hand before putting it into his pocket on his chest.

“Damn you!”

It looked like the peddler irritated Joseph so much that he kept calling him names all along the way to the Duke’s Mansion. But before he knew it, they eventually arrived at their destination. What greeted their eyes was a large luxurious mansion.

Tolly saw two big statues of stone standing right before the gate of the mansion. What were carved on them were unknown animals, which were partly like dragons with big pointy horns on their heads and partly like unicorns with horse-like faces. They were odd yet imposing.

 ‘It must be a child of a dragon and a unicorn!’ Tolly thought to himself when his eyes fell on those stone statues.

Miss Smith and Luna had gotten off the carriage and gone straight into the front gate of the mansion, which must be the Duke’s Mansion. And Sure enough, Tolly noticed the silver-colored words above the gate: Duke’s Mansion.

“Finally, I can get your ass down here!” Joseph said in a tired voice.

“Okay!” Tolly got down off his back nimbly and went after Miss Smith and Luna towards the front gate. However, he had barely got one foot inside the gate when Luna stopped him.

“Are you thinking you’re a big shot? Don’t you know that the front gate is only for members of the Smith clan and their distinguished guests? As the lowest-level servant in the house, you’re only allowed to go inside through the side gate.”

Tolly was left dumbstruck at first, but he quickly came to his senses, smiling at Luna and saying,

“Don’t you know that Lord Fanta is in a hurry to talk to me, Luna? you know, it must be quicker to go inside by the front gate!”

Luna’s lips curled at what he had said in a contemptuous sneer.

“But I’m afraid you’ll bring back luck to the house if you go through the front gate. You are the one who was struck by lightning. Being struck by lightning is a low-probability event, after all. However, it occurred to you, which means you’re definitely a walking disaster.”

“But Luna, you’re also a servant, so what’s the difference between you and me?” Toly spat back.

“Me? I’m Miss Smith’s personal maid. If you do want to go inside by the front gate, that’s fine. Look, there’s a little door over there!”

Luna held out her hand and pointed with her finger to a small hole in the corner of the wall near the front gate.