One month later, Duke stood on the deck, faintly seeing the shadow of land on the horizon.
After that big storm, the Eclipse had endured several bouts of bad weather. Fortunately, the ship was sturdy enough, stumbling through the winds and waves.
"Ahead is the West Coast." Captain Blake said, puffing on his pipe.
He and Duke were somewhat familiar by now, and Duke often came to the deck to chat with him, taking the opportunity to learn a lot about the West Coast.
The West Coast is actually a broad concept, referring to the coastal areas on the western side of the Appalachian Continent, encompassing a wide range.
There are no nations here, only cities, each belonging to various factions.
The four largest forces on the West Coast are the Four Great Wizard Organizations, namely Thorn Holy Tower, Black Sail, Doomsday Bell, and Silver Hand.
Besides these four wizard organizations, there are also many medium and small wizard organizations with varying strengths.
In addition to wizards, there are also a large number of ordinary people on the West Coast, forming a relatively peaceful coexistence under a series of rules jointly established by the Four Great Wizard Organizations.
According to Captain Blake, long ago, wizards used to treat ordinary people like livestock, killing them at will.
Later, due to the massive reduction in population, the wizard community faced a shortage of new forces, prompting a gradual change.
After all, the new forces of wizards primarily come from ordinary people. Only when the population is large enough can enough wizards with excellent aptitude be born.
However, some ancient wizard clans still disdain this, believing that pure wizard bloodlines can produce more outstanding offspring, and there’s no need to favor ordinary people.
This is just the general situation of the West Coast; the actual internal situation is more complex, with each city differing, requiring Duke and the others to slowly understand it themselves in the future.
The Eclipse docked at a place called Jade Bay, which is a crescent-shaped port where many ships are anchored.
Onshore, in the distance, the city appeared large, with many tall buildings.
Duke saw a column soaring into the sky, estimated to be over a thousand meters tall; it’s said to be the Wizard Tower of a powerful wizard.
"This is it, fellows." Captain Blake waved his pipe as a farewell gesture.
Duke and Vivian waved back, then disembarked, stepping on land for the first time in over three months.
As soon as they landed, they still felt a bit disoriented, as if they were still rocking on the ship; this is a kind of dislocation effect from spending too long at sea.
The city beside Jade Bay is called Dusk City, which is Silver Hand’s territory, dominated by them.
Naturally, there are also many wizards from other wizard organizations in the city.
Normally, there isn’t significant warfare between the Four Great Wizard Organizations; a little friction occurs occasionally, but it generally doesn’t affect the cities inside.
After all, there are industries from various factions in the cities, and any influence wouldn’t be good for anyone.
Duke and Vivian looked at the people coming and going around them, and the distant, grand city buildings, momentarily feeling lost, not knowing where to go.
"Let’s go into the city and have a look." Duke thought and said, and Vivian had no objection.
There is a very straight road from Jade Bay to Dusk City, wide enough for ten carts to travel side by side, though it’s unclear why such a wide road was built.
Duke and Vivian had just reached the road’s entrance when they saw a pumpkin-shaped carriage approaching, driven by an elderly man with gray hair.
The old man opened his mouth and said, "Get in the carriage. Lady Grace has been waiting for you a long time."
"Lady Grace!" Duke and Vivian were somewhat surprised, not expecting Grace to have sent someone to wait for them here.
But neither of them boarded the carriage immediately, as they did not know the old man, unable to confirm his identity.
Duke and Vivian hadn’t told anyone about their business, but there’s no guarantee that wizards couldn’t use some means to find out such information and set a trap.
The old man understood their hesitation and laughed, saying, "I am Weber, Lady Grace’s steward at her estate in Dusk City. If you’re worried about the carriage, you can follow behind it; I’ll lead you to Lady Grace’s manor."
"This is Silver Hand’s city; you don’t need to worry about safety."
Silver Hand is among the Four Great Wizard Organizations, one relatively righteous, with a style closer to the early white wizard group.
In the chaotic times long ago, black wizards and white wizards were two opposing groups with entirely different ideas.
There aren’t strict divisions between black and white wizards now, at least with a basic stable order inside the city.
Yet, outside the city, it can sometimes be even more chaotic than during the chaotic era.
In the city, everyone is a white wizard; outside the city, anyone can become a black wizard at any moment.
At this time, Reagan suddenly appeared behind them, saying, "I know Weber; he is indeed Lady Grace’s steward. Rest assured, Silver Hand’s cities have strict laws, and law and order are much better than in other cities."
"Lord Reagan! Thank you for the reminder." Duke and Vivian turned around hurriedly to salute, not expecting Reagan to disembark a bit later than them.
Reagan himself is a Silver Hand’s wizard; this place is like his home turf.
Reagan only smiled a bit without saying much, with a flash, he disappeared, apparently heading into the city.
Since Reagan had proven Weber’s identity, Duke and Vivian didn’t hesitate and boarded the pumpkin carriage.
As Duke stepped into the carriage, he recalled that even Reagan addressed Grace as ’Lady,’ implying that Grace has a very high status even among wizards.
The space inside the pumpkin carriage was sprawling, revealing what seemed like a living room of at least a hundred square meters; inside, they felt no bumps at all.
"This..." Duke and Vivian were stunned upon entering and seeing the scene before them.
There was even a fireplace on the opposite wall, with flames burning inside, adding warmth to the place.
Carefully, Duke and Vivian walked over, sitting on the soft sofa, with several kinds of unfamiliar fruits, colored oddly, placed on the table in front.
They didn’t expect such a large space inside the small pumpkin carriage.
There were windows on both sides, and by drawing the curtains, they could see the scenery outside the carriage.
The pumpkin carriage was riding along the wide road and reached the city gate.
Dusk City has a total of six city gates, and this is just the southern gate.
The southern city gate is enormously large, with two fifty-meter-high doors wide open. On both sides stand two blue ogres, each ten meters tall.
"Ogres!" Seeing the ogres, Duke and Vivian were reminded of some unpleasant memories.