The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Vinaya Port mainly has two piers, one facing the outlet of the Pangbo River and the other facing the sea. The two piers are nominally controlled by the governors of the three countries, but in fact the control of the piers is in the hands of the United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce.

For ordinary people, the United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce is a commercial organization under the United Kingdom government, because the president and founder of the Chamber of Commerce is Rupert Fitz, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but those who really understand the structure of the Chamber of Commerce know that The General Chamber of Commerce is a purely commercial organization completely independent of the governments of various countries and composed entirely of businessmen.

In this organization, members of the chamber of commerce control the decisions of the chamber of commerce, and even Rupert Fitz, as the chairman and founder, cannot push his own plan arbitrarily.

At the earliest, there were only more than 30 members of the chamber of commerce, mainly factory owners in Lanxi. It's just that with the establishment of the United Kingdom, Rupert Fitz perfected the rules of the General Chamber of Commerce, and voluntarily handed over most of the power of the General Chamber of Commerce in his hand, and invited chambers of commerce from other countries to join, which made the number of members of the General Chamber of Commerce increase slightly. When it reached 130 seats, it became an international chamber of commerce organization.

In the last month, the General Chamber of Commerce is also discussing whether the title of the United Kingdom should be changed to Vinylon International Chamber of Commerce.

The reason why the General Chamber of Commerce was able to obtain the control of these two important terminals was mainly because they provided important assistance during the peace talks at Vinaya Port five years ago, and invested a lot of money in the subsequent urban reconstruction. After the restoration of Vinaya Port was completed, they obtained 50 years of management and control of Vinaya Port Wharf, as well as a quarter of taxation rights.

The steam cargo ship that Leo is currently on board belongs to a maritime trade company under the name of a member of the General Chamber of Commerce. When the ship was about to approach the pier, the captain ordered the crew to hang the flag of the General Chamber of Commerce on the flagpole, and then a small boat Approaching, talking to the chief mate on the ship, and leading the ship to dock slowly at the scheduled pier ahead.

Although steam engine ships with faster speed and larger loading capacity have been invented and applied, due to production capacity and other unknown reasons, there are not many maritime trade companies that actually own steam engine ships. It can be seen from the sails and semi-mechanical ships that the steam engine ship made of all steel is still a novelty for many people.

After the ship docked, Leo said goodbye to the captain, got off the ship, and walked towards the city. After watching Leo leave, the captain, first mate and others couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.

Because it is a free port, the control of the city is not very strict. An outsider like Leo who has no identity only needs to spend some money to apply for a temporary resident certificate at the general chamber of commerce office in the port.

Only Leo had to go to the local Chamber of Commerce bank to exchange the currency used in Venaya Port.

Five years ago, when the Kingdom of England was in control, the currency in circulation here was mainly the legal tender of the two countries of the French Empire and the Kingdom of England. Of course, the currencies of the Kingdom of Merga and Sigma were sometimes used.

It's just that as Vinaya Port entered the era of the three governors, the General Chamber of Commerce, which dominates the port's commercial trade, proposed to issue a currency that only circulates in Vinaya Port to reduce the losses and losses caused by the large number of currencies and the confusion of currency values. Trouble, in this way, Vinayacoin came into being.

The General Chamber of Commerce has set up three currency exchange points at the two wharves to exchange currency for merchants traveling to and from Venaya Port, and there is also a trading market at the currency exchange point. Almost all merchants who come here do not need to enter Venaya Port. In the inner city of the port, various transactions can be completed and the goods can be shipped out.

However, the vast majority of people who arrive at Vinaya Port will still go to the city, because of the convenience brought by the special business environment of Vinaya Port, the shops in the city can buy all the common and rare products from all over the world. Commodities, the monthly auction held by the Venaya Port General Chamber of Commerce is full of merchants from all over the world. Feast for nobles and collectors.

If the former Miria City was the center of the world's political culture, then the current Venaya City is the world's commercial and trade center, and with the promotion of telegraph technology, the simple trade of goods is no longer enough to satisfy Venaya City. Hong Kong's business model, so institutions similar to the stock exchange market have also begun to be established in Venaya City in the past two years.

After applying for a temporary identity card, Leo climbed up the gate of war and the 578th floor of bone stairs behind, and entered the urban area of ​​Venaya City.

The Gate of War and the Bone Staircase at Vinaya Port Wharf are two of the most important landmarks in Vinaya Port.

The Gate of War is a steel arch made of incomplete weapons abandoned in Venaya Port. It is not known whether it is because of the casting itself or because of the influence of some unpredictable force. After the arch was cast, some rust spots began to appear on the surface as the sea wind eroded, and these rust spots looked like faces with angry expressions and roaring loudly.

If the rusty human faces on the Gate of War were an unintentional special effect, then the Bone Staircase was a scene deliberately created by the builders of the city.

After more than a hundred years of war, tens of thousands of people died in the city of Venaya. Most of these people did not even restrain their bodies, and all of them were left in the city of Vinaya. Later, the casters of the Kingdom of England collected these bones, mixed them with mortar, and cast them into the bone stairs seen today.

Legend has it that the two bone stairs located at the north and south ends contain powerful power and mysterious knowledge. Those who walk on them may have the opportunity to pry into the mystery of death and gain knowledge beyond death.

At the very beginning, when the captain introduced the various scenic spots in Venaya Port to Leo, he focused on the bone staircase. At that time, he was also very curious about the bone staircase, wondering if there was a magic circle hidden in the bone staircase. , can affect people's mind and produce the so-called hallucination of death. But when he walked on the bone ladder, he knew that his judgment was wrong. This is an ordinary ladder where human bones can be seen.

However, walking on this ladder can still bring spiritual shock to ordinary people. After all, for the vast majority of ordinary people who have never seen a dead person a few times, stepping on countless corpses under their feet is like It's like walking with death, so the rumor that the mystery of death can be realized from it is not groundless.

Perhaps the Venaya Port authorities also knew that this road was too shocking for ordinary people, so they built an ordinary ladder road next to it for ordinary people with a bad mentality.

However, the construction of this ordinary ladder not only did not reduce the number of other people walking the bone ladder, but also made many people who were not used to this bone ladder brave enough to go up. After all, no man would like to be underestimated.

What's interesting is that some smart businessmen also saw the business opportunities here, and simply contracted the certification right of this ladder from the General Chamber of Commerce, and specially made some exquisite certification badges for this ladder. People on the ladder can buy an exquisite silver badge here, and people who wear this badge can get discounts in certain pubs and hotels in the city.

Just like the bone ladder, every thing that can be used for commercial operations in the entire urban area of ​​Vinaya Port has been thoroughly developed. The moment you enter the urban area, you can feel an extremely strong commercial atmosphere.

Roadside stalls, shops, hotels, hotels, horse-drawn carriages, newsboys running around, street salesmen selling stock purchase certificates, etc. people and things make people who come and go dare not receive the commercial atmosphere all the time.

It is also because of the special business atmosphere of Vinaya Port that some boring people can't understand it. They created a commercial goddess in the name of art, and made a statue of the commercial goddess and gave it to Vinaya Port.

The statues of the Goddess of Commerce are all made of coins from various countries to form a statue of a woman. The woman is blindfolded, holding a money bag in one hand and a scale tilted towards the money bag in the other, as if satirizing Venaya. Chambers of commerce in Hong Kong only value money, not fairness.

Faced with this almost humiliating statue, the General Chamber of Commerce, which is the commercial controller of Vinaya Port, was not angry. Instead, it was very generous to place this statue at the entrance of the city near the sea pier, and even built a commercial center nearby. Goddess' church, and looking for specialized religious scholars to perfect the teachings of the Goddess of Commerce, he just turned this ironic thing into a new religion.

Although the Church of the Goddess of Commerce has not yet been recognized by the Orthodox Church, judging from the attitudes of the chambers of commerce of various countries that have trade relations with Venaya Port, it will not be long before the Goddess of Commerce will be included in the Orthodox Church. in the roster.

After Leo climbed the steps, the first thing he saw was the Goddess of Commerce who was created out of ridicule and now became the symbol of Venaya. It is customary to call it Goddess Venaya.

"Spiritual response?" In the eyes of ordinary people, the Goddess of Commerce is just a statue, but in the eyes of Leo, it is a very powerful wizard wonder. He can feel the strong spiritual energy fluctuations on the statue. According to his estimation, this The fluctuation of the spirit energy has at least level six or above.

The abnormality of the statue aroused Leo's interest. After looking around the statue, he soon found something interesting from the base of the statue, a magic circle composed of Turing radicals. And looking back from the edge of the magic circle, you will find that the magic circle spreads to the surroundings. The streets and houses seem to be part of the magic circle, and all the content related to the magic circle is hidden in the patterned reliefs on the walls and roads in the form of decoration. , if you don't look carefully, you can't recognize it at all.

Seeing this scene, Leo couldn't help but take a deep breath, because he was sure that there might be a large magic circle hidden in the entire urban area of ​​Venaya Port, and what is the function of this magic circle? It is not very clear, but it is certain that the person who buried this magic circle has a lot of intentions.

Although he doesn't know who designed this magic circle, Leo can be sure that the person who built this magic circle must be the United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce. Because only the General Chamber of Commerce in charge of urban reconstruction has the ability to arrange such a large-scale magic circle. In addition, this statue that looks like some people humiliated Venaya Port may have been secretly planned by the General Chamber of Commerce in order to logically set up the statue in one of the eyes of the magic circle, and also to allow the Goddess of Commerce The church appears.

Because of the speculation in his heart, Leo couldn't help his strong curiosity. Instead of finding a hotel to settle down, he went directly to the Church of the Goddess of Commerce not far from the statue of the Goddess of Commerce.

Although the appearance of the Goddess of Commerce seems to come from a mocking joke, the General Chamber of Commerce did not treat this matter as a joke, whether it is writing scriptures, building churches, recruiting clergy, The General Chamber of Commerce established the Church of the Goddess of Commerce as a real church.

The shape of the Church of the Goddess of Commerce imitates the church of the ancient three goddesses of wealth. The statues of fifteen pillars around the church have changed from the original three goddesses of wealth to fifteen goddesses of business with different postures, and each statue is inlaid with different National coins, corresponding to fifteen different countries in the Velen world.

Although the appearance looks the same as the three goddesses of wealth, the interior is completely different. Except for the church that is mainly used for praying, the rest of the interior of the Goddess of Commerce is more like a bank, and it is indeed a bank, because ten of the General Chamber of Commerce The United Bank of Five Nations is located here, and there is also a huge vault under the bank, which is specially used to keep the valuables of the merchants in the city.

Among the gods in the world of Velen, there have never been gods related to business, but there have been gods related to wealth. However, the Three Goddesses of Wealth are not involved in business. They are only aimed at the wealth itself. They have no requirements on how to get the wealth. For example, wealth obtained by robbery, wealth obtained by stealing, etc. The list of protection.

It may also be because of this paranoid teaching on wealth itself that the three goddesses of wealth were quickly banned by the governments of various countries after a period of prosperity. The Three Goddesses of Wealth quickly disappeared from the religion of the world of Velen, and there was not even a single underground church.

After Leo entered the church, he entered the prayer hall of the Goddess of Wealth directly with others. At this time, the priest of the Goddess of Wealth was preparing for his daily routine. There were already many people sitting in the prayer hall. Judging by their clothes and demeanor, they should all be businessmen, and Leo was a little surprised that so many people would waste precious time listening to sermons.

It's just that this accident didn't last long. When the pastor began to preach formally, he realized that the teachings of the so-called Goddess of Wealth are some business instruction manuals that teach others how to do business, and the most interesting thing is at the end of the sermon. There will also be a piece of valuable commercial information attached. For example, this time it is to tell everyone that there is a famine in America and California recently, and the price of food will increase significantly.