Provincial Capital or State Capital

The journey went on for another week before reaching the end of the gloomy forest.

More than fifteen days have passed since the journey started for Daniel. For some other juniors like him, this time could be as high as thirty days.

Even though the carriages are moving at an average speed, the distance covered during this time is very massive.

Daniel did some rough calculations and found some facts. The area of this single province (or a state) is double the entire area of the Australian continent.

On this scale, it will be hard to imagine the total size of different counties in this world.

'I am looking forward to an amazing adventure!' Daniel's interest in this world is already high by this time.

Lily, the only girl in the room, who is watching the scenery suddenly, raised her voice, "Look there are people and buildings over there!"

Following her voice, everyone saw a vague shadow of a town at a distance.

"Is that our destination!?" One guy raised the question that is on everyone's mind.

"No! Definitely not! How can the capital of the province be so small! That town can almost hold a million people! It does not have grandeur a capital should have." Lloyd gave his opinion at this time

"Yes! You are right! It is not the capital! It is just one of many border towns surrounding the capital 'Castle Rock'. The people here mainly live by doing business with the main city" The well-informed sleek guy nodded at Lloyd and started telling what he knows.

"How big is the Capital city!?" Enthusiastic Lily turned towards the sleek guy.

"I don't know much about the capital. But I heard the city holds more than 150 million people!" The sleek guy finally got the attention of the girl but sadly he couldn't build on it.

'It really is a big number for a provincial capital! On this scale, the human population in this world could be in trillions or even more!? Will there be other types of intelligent life forms?!' Daniel thought it is reasonable to imagine the existence of non-humanoid life forms.

Discussion in the carriage continued but Daniel did not pay much attention to it anymore, because most of it is nonsense.

After some time their guess came true. The lineup did not take a turn towards the town but went straight towards the main road.

...

"Did you really hunt the Feather Bird this time!?" White Bearded hunter asked the Scarface Man leaving the high bushes at the edge of the forest.

"Ha! Ha! I got lucky this time" Scarface hunter took out Colorful birds bigger than chicken from his backpack with a hippy smile.

"You struck rich this time! The demand for these birds has risen exponentially! They will earn you at least a year's worth of income! You must pay for booze this time" White Bearded man grabbed on to his friend and is unwilling to let go until he got a promise.

Scarface did not want to be a party pooper so he surrendered quickly, "Fine! Fine! I will invite everyone for a happy event after we go back to the town. But you must come with me to bargain at the city market first. Is that ok? "

After agreeing to help his friend both fellows hit the main road leading to Castle Rock city.

In fact, there are thousands of nomadic hunter groups like this here who live on day to day basis but dream of striking rich every day.

Both of them kept their pace for a few hours to reach halfway mark. Since they are traveling by foot they decided to take a short break under the shade of a tree.

Just when they are quenching their thirst a noise came from the horizon.

Looking in the direction, they saw a long chain of dozen carriages approaching them and moving towards the city. Both of them took the side immediately to avoid any kind of misunderstanding.

Within a few minutes, the carriages passed by them at full speed leaving behind a dust trail.

"They must be rich to afford such a line up" Scarface showed envy when he spoke.

White Beard also showed envy with undisguisable regret, "Can't you see, the front two carriages are made of Iron Wood and are driven by Dragon Horses.!? Obviously, they are Martial Art Seniors from one of three major sects of the 'Castle Rock' city. You and I will never be able to reach their status"

"Yes! You are right! But if we also had the qualifications to practice Martial Arts then we won't be living such a lame life" Scarface agreed with him on it.

Whitebeard looked at his innocent friend and said, "Just the qualifying standards won't do. If anyone wants to join the big sects then they must have good or excellent qualifications. People with poor and limited qualifications can only be casual cultivators"

Both gave one last longing look at the carriages before resuming their short break.

…..

After leaving the forest, the juniors in the carriages finally saw human traffic.

Many of them are hunters armed with bows and arrows. But some are carrying big baskets and are pacing behind the hunters, they must be the gatherers.

Leaning back on his seat Daniel thought, 'According to the information given to us, the lineup will only be staying in the city for one night! That means the sect I am about to join is not under the governance of the city. So the sect must have established its town and it must be within a convenient distance from the city'

As the lineup got closer and closer to the city, more and more people joined the main road from other routes.

There are horsemen, carriages of different types and sizes, walking civilians, merchants, and all kinds of people going to the city. When they got even near to the city, the traffic increased to thousands.

With the increase in traffic, the carriage speed got slowed down

Finally, in the evening the carriages reached the much-awaited city. At this point, everyone in the carriages got to see the magnificent city 'Castle Rock'.

From the bird's eye view, a huge city with a radius of 200 miles (320 Km) is surrounded by a stone wall is seen. The city wall is fifty meters in height and ten meters in width. This makes the city invasion very difficult either for man or animal.

The complex and planned road network paved entirely with bricks tells the story of management's economic backing.

High-rise buildings made from marble rocks and the underground wastage network emphasize the clean and tidiness of the city.

The juniors are really surprised and amazed by the grand structure present in front of them. Most of them have never seen such high walls and heavy traffic in their entire life.

Here, Daniel who has seen too many mega constructions is not fazed in the least by the city's demeanor. But he is a little surprised how they completed this mega construction without the help of complex machinery.

Under the awe of guard soldiers and queue merchants, the carriage lineup got into the city through the huge gate after a simple checking.

After entering the city, they drove through the heavy traffic on the wide roads for more than an hour to reach the resting place. It is a five-story mansion with a huge courtyard and many gardens.