63: Chapter 61: Hill’s Booming Business 63: Chapter 61: Hill’s Booming Business The first draft of wind that crept in during the early morning awakened the deeply sleeping Hill.
Hill opened his eyes and noticed the window was half-open; Cohen had gone flying outside early in the morning.
The light breeze turned fragrant over a hundred li, and the warm fog drove the clouds to envelop the earth and sky.
Hill stood by the window, watching Cohen soar among the clouds high above, filled with joy.
The king of the skies, the peregrine falcon, could only fly slowly at low altitudes in this world.
Despite its immensely proud nature, it struggled to soar through the clouds.
When Cohen had first started following Hill, it could only live atop the tallest trees, making forceful spurts towards the sky, yet it still couldn’t persist long enough to reach the clouds.
It was very happy then, for back on the plains, there were neither such tall trees nor such high mountains.
It had never been above the clouds before.
It was extremely proud of itself for answering Hill’s call.
Now, in Saral, above the high altitudes, the air currents were surging.
Cohen could easily fly up into the heavens and glide back and forth among the clouds.
It spent increasing amounts of time flying each day, and someday, at least in Saral, it would no longer need to travel by carriage with Hill.
Above the clouds, the cold wind was biting.
Below the clouds, the breeze was warm and gentle.
Such breezes had rarely occurred above the plains before.
Just like the windmills in White Horse City that were built on hilltops, utilizing the downward air currents to turn.
As time passed, Saral would likely see an increasing variety of winds.
The keen-eyed Cohen spotted Hill and swooped down with a tuck of its wings.
Hill could feel Cohen’s extremely delighted mood, even though each high-speed dive was a great shock to it, but it preferred to endure it.
The peregrine falcon was supposed to be the king of the skies with the fastest diving speed.
Initially, he wanted to leave Cohen in his estate, but being away from companions for a long time would be very agonizing for an animal companion like Cohen, so he decided to bring it out.
Looking at it today, it was a very correct decision.
After all, in the west, the air currents were still largely blocked by mountains, here in the south, the winds were stronger, allowing Cohen to soar in them, a rare opportunity.
Although it was still early morning, the inside of Black Rose City was still bustling with voices.
Hill knew that in this world, they did not need to sleep or rest.
But Hill really wanted to know how they managed the differing perceptions of time flow.
After spending three days in this world and then returning to his own, doesn’t it feel as if it were only a day apart?
Hill knew this was not something he could probe into yet.
Time still belonged to the realm of the Deities.
He also wondered whether he could grasp even a bit of it when he reached the Legendary status.
Hill sometimes thought about how he had studied physics for decades, only to end up like Newton, transitioning from science to theology, and he felt quite melancholic about it.
Hill looked at the players already waiting outside the door and decided to wash up and open the door.
These girls were really proactive, not willing to be late even though they had the whole morning.
But that was to be expected; to them, their enemies were not the male players, but each other.
It was just about kicking the odd ones out in a buying frenzy.
The morning sunlight was pleasant; Hill sat on the sofa, poured himself a glass of juice, and slowly basked in the sun while reading a book.
Today, the female players were busy making purchases and no longer visited the NPC they saw as Hill.
But Hill noticed some familiar faces from yesterday who had arrived early in the morning.
Perhaps, as Romantic Drunk Red Dust had said, just having a different kind of gemstone was enough to make it seem new to them.
Hill leisurely watched these hustling girls.
In this world of Nobles, only the girls from the Undead Tribe would brazenly buy expensive jewelry.
Self-sufficient women like Melanie were too rare, Female Mages struggled to reach the upper echelons because from a young age, they were educated to only seek things from men.
Female Knights were even rarer; the brutal competition among male heirs wouldn’t allow women they looked down upon to compete with them.
Before the era of the God of Nobility, there were many more professional women than now.
But no Noble would give up female inheritance rights; it was a fallback route they reserved for themselves, relying only on their daughters’ children.
Women’s status was higher than that of medieval women in Hill’s world because this was a fantasy world where women could also cultivate.
As long as there were women who were self-reliant, striving for betterment, no one dared to cross the line.
No one wanted to be offed by their own daughter one day.
However, the Goddess of Art and Love, affiliated with the God of Nobility, led noble women astray.
They became inclined to idleness, learning from a young age to compete in the backyards of men.
For girls from Mage families, it was much better.
Mage Aptitude mattered more to them than jewelry; they could like it and even learn to make it themselves.
It’s just that in this world, Mages were too few.
Seeing smart, self-respecting, independent girls always brightened Hill’s mood.
Midday, Perfect Bald rushed into the store with a group of people amid the piles of disdainful glances from the girls.
Hill looked up, seeing not many from Black Rose; probably allies of the Baldy Family had heard the news and came.
It took so long for the news to reach the allies; Hill thought that people from Black Rose were still pretty tight-lipped.