A simple and narrow wooden bridge connected the two banks of the Ponta River.
In the middle of the river, a central shoal had been built up with wooden stakes to form a watch post.
This was clearly a civilian passage, and that outpost was a toll station for merchants and peddlers who wanted to cross the river.
Past this toll station lay the territory of Redania, one of the four major kingdoms of the Northern Territory.
Therefore, the toll station also doubled as a customs post.
The river water had a sharp smell, partly because the slow current allowed dirty sediments to accumulate nearby.
A layer of green algae covered the river's surface, a result of the water's eutrophication.
However, the 'nutrients' of nature smelled like long-fermented manure to the human nose.
The corpses of dead waterfowl, fish, and even water ghosts floated up and down among the green algae.
Occasionally, they bumped into the wooden bridge's piles with a 'thud.'
