The crowd in front of the city gate formed a long dragon.
Some walked on foot, others rode horses, and a few rode upon special demon beasts, and of course, there were carriages too.
Of course, the most eye-catching were always those steel steam locomotives bellowing black smoke.
On the tall gray-white city wall, there were one large and two smaller gates—a total of three.
The middle one, which was also the largest, was closed tight, only the two smaller gates on either side were open.
Although called smaller gates, they were at least seven or eight meters wide and about ten meters tall.
In front of each, several queues lined up.
The queue on the left clearly had many fewer people than the one on the right, probably only about one-tenth.
With just a glance, Colin understood the situation.
The crowd on the left, either dressed in wizard robes or riding special demon beasts... were all likely wizards.
Taking Renee and the others to the smaller gate on the left, he chose the shortest queue and got in line.
Looking ahead in the direction of the slowly moving queue.
There, several silver figures were inspecting the wizards entering the city, one after the other.
Helmets, breastplates, leg armor, and so on, connected seamlessly as if one whole... somewhat similar to the patrol knights he had seen before on Bananka Island.
If not for the classic knight armor's design... they looked more like robots from a science fiction world.
These were clearly creations by the hands of wizards... what their strength was like was unknown.
Looking back at the crowd.
Most appeared to be wizards who, like him, had come from far away.
Some apparently didn't have storage rings and used horses and other beasts to carry bags of supplies.
The most eye-catching among them was a merchant convoy in the middle of the queue.
Several unknown demon beasts with triangular head crests, large in stature, and judging by shoulder height, they had to be at least three or four meters tall, resembling an enlarged version of an ox.
They pulled specially-made iron-frame carts behind them.
The carts were covered in black cloth, obscuring whatever was inside.
Colin withdrew his gaze and continued to follow the queue.
Before long, it was his turn to enter the city.
"Pass," the silver-armored knight watched him, his voice mechanical and indifferent.
Colin frowned slightly and shook his head.
"Move forward to the inspection and registration," said the silver-armored knight without pause, pointing behind him.
"Next."
Renee, leading Demi, stepped forward.
The silver-armored knight looked up at the two, a brief flash of light from the eyepieces of his helmet, and then asked, "Mortals?"
His voice remained unchanged, still mechanical and cold.
"She's with me," Colin quickly explained, "The next three as well."
"Hmm," the silver-armored knight glanced at Delaisi and the others, nodding his head, "Go together for registration."
Colin motioned for Delaisi and the others to come forward with him to the registration point.
The information needed for registration was not extensive, primarily just basic details like names.
After he paid one Magic Stone for each person, the silver-armored knight took freshly made passes from a pure black machine beside him and handed them to Colin.
The black passes were only the size of a thumb, shaped like a square with rounded corners, with a small hole at the top, likely to thread a string through for easy carrying.
Entering the city.
The bustling noise hit them.
Ahead was a bustling commercial street.
Neat and spacious.
On either side, a dense array of various shops lined up, and on the roadside, there were also some wooden cart vendors... mainly snacks.
The aroma wafted over.
Colin stopped and turned to see Delaisi and the others curiously looking around, and he said,
"Let's rest here in Eliel for a while, have some lunch, and then we'll continue on our way."
Although they had arrived in Meredith Kingdom, they were still a considerable distance from Merredith City, at the heart of the kingdom.
"Alright, Lord Colin," Eliel replied, slowly approaching on horseback.
Delaisi and the other person kept their distance, following behind.
Colin looked away, surveying the area, looking for a suitable place to eat.
He was supposed to deliver Eliel and the others to Merredith City in the heart of the kingdom, before taking the transmission array from there to Neustadt City.
A month earlier, the day after they left the cave, Delaisi suddenly approached him and handed over a different badge.
At that time, he was testing Eliel's potential as a wizard with the crystal ball.
As expected, Eliel's talent was first-class... quite naturally, as someone with such talent would undoubtedly not possess inferior aptitude.
And that badge, according to the information it contained, was a token of admission to a school named Viting.
Unfortunately... the age requirement for the exam was fifteen and under, and he was already eighteen that year, thus not meeting the condition.
So, in the end, he returned the badge to Delaisi.
"Let's go there."
The street was full of eye-catching delicacies, and after scanning the varieties, Colin, a bit overwhelmed, finally chose a nearby store at random to save time.
Time still needed to be tightly managed.
If they were to travel on horseback... they probably wouldn't reach the heart of the kingdom and Merredith City until tomorrow.
Meredith Kingdom might only have this one city, but that didn't mean it was small.
In fact, this one city was equivalent in size to the total area of some smaller countries.
And if that was all, that would be fine, as some provinces and cities in his previous life were as large as entire small countries.
But...
Colin turned to look back at the tall gray-white city wall behind him and couldn't help feeling a sense of awe.