Chapter 58, Holidays in Italica (Part 2) (Wish everyone a happy Lantern Festival)
Although the empire is in the midst of a bloody civil war, and it is now a desolate winter, the luncheon held at Count Formal's mansion is still very extravagant. The demihuman maids brought out barrels of wine and wine from the cellar. Ale, dishes include ham, mutton, veal, venison, gelding, duck, chicken, rabbit, river fish, shortbread, oranges, cheese and eggs, as well as roasted boar's head with apples in the mouth and roasted feathers swan. It’s hard to imagine that just over two months ago, this city was on the verge of falling into a terrible famine.
In addition to wine and food, the maids at the Earl of Formar's mansion also hired folk artists from unknown places to perform wind instruments, tambourines, and harps during meals, as well as perform somersaults, imitate bird calls, perform tricks, throw plates, etc. Plant acrobatics for fun. In the originally empty banquet hall, tapestries, colorful flags, etc. were hung as decorations, trying hard to create a festive and lively atmosphere...
However, hosting and preparing a banquet of this scale is quite lengthy and cumbersome. Just cooking and roasting a calf would take several hours. In order to prevent the distinguished guests from another world from sitting at empty tables and waiting hungry, White Rose Captain Penny Pearl had people serve oranges, shortbread, and new brews with spices in advance. While drinking wine, I wanted to light the candlesticks on the dining table with my own hands - because the walls were too thick and the windows were too small, even though it was still daytime, the light in the hall was still very dark.
But for some reason, maybe because she was used to being served by others, she took the flint and the fire sickle and banged them for a long time, but failed to light the fire. In the end, Li Wei felt tired just looking at it, so she had to dig out the fire. He bought his own gilded silver-shell lighter: "...I'll do it!"
Then, with a soft click, a blue flame lit up in the dark hall, lighting up the three silver candlesticks on the long table one after another, making Penny Pearl's eyes light up, "... …What is this? Your magic prop? It’s so amazing.”
"...Magic props? No, they're just ordinary gadgets! Well, since you like it, I'll give this to you!"
Levi, who was not short of money, curled his lips and threw the lighter into Pei Ni Zhu's arms. Then, looking at this heroic female knight playing with a lighter like a child, he couldn't help but want to laugh at first, but recalling his past experiences, he couldn't help but sigh - he was still trapped back then. When you were a knight in medieval France, you would have been ecstatic if you could get a lighter, right? I remember that at that time, I was just like the female knight in front of me. I could only slowly beat it with flint and steel, or try to find ways to borrow fire.
Just like the same silver, which can produce the most advanced integrated circuits in modern industrialized countries, can only be made into plates and candlesticks here, many small objects that seem commonplace to modern people are actually the products of countless past scholars. And the inventions and improvements of craftsmen were finally created. During this period, I don’t know how much wisdom and sweat of the ancestors were consumed. In Li Wei's view, it is obviously very wrong for some modern young people to enjoy all the achievements of their ancestors, but look back and despise their hard work, wantonly ridicule the ancients for being so backward and ignorant, and have no respect for their ancestors.
However, after experiencing so many time-travel adventures, Levi couldn't help but secretly hope that one day in the future, their generation would look so ignorant in the eyes of their descendants. Because human technology at that time should have been extremely advanced, and could even travel across the stars at faster than light speeds and exploit the massive resources on alien planets. No one would be short of food and clothing due to lack of material, and no one would die of incurable diseases. Terminal illness... Human beings at that time may also wonder why the "ancients" in the 21st century would They did not hesitate to kill each other for a pitiful amount of wealth; they wondered why tragedies such as the annihilation of the Jews and the Rwandan genocide occurred, and they wondered why mankind would shrink back to the cradle of the earth within half a century after exploring the moon. Here, like a frog in a well, unwilling to explore the wider universe...
In the eyes of modern people, how ignorant and stupid the ancients were, then people in the future will probably look at modern people in the same way - after all, from the Stone Age to the Internet Age, human civilization and society have always been developing and progressing. And it’s progressing faster and faster, isn’t it?
If human civilization on earth really has that day, then as a "foolish ancient", he may also be able to smile.
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Compared with some high-minded, arrogant and arrogant aristocratic ladies, the delicate-minded Baroness Petunia should be regarded as a more suitable chat partner, especially when Miss Petunia lowers her body and bends her body. It is even more pleasurable when you are trying to please and flatter - for a man, even if he has no such thoughts, it is a very decent thing to be so welcomed by a beautiful woman.
Then, seeing that the atmosphere had become harmonious, Miss Pei Ni Zhu tried to raise a question that had been buried in her heart for a long time.
"...Well...Mr. Levi, I have a question. I wonder if I can ask you?"
"...Huh? What's the problem?" Levi put down his wine glass and raised his eyebrows.
"...Uh... Forgive me. From what I have seen, most of the officers and soldiers in your country seem to be wearing strange green clothes. Even those who do not wear green clothes, their dressing style is similar to Our country is very different. Only your appearance is similar to ours. If you walked into the city alone wearing this armor, we might think that you were a centurion of some army or a wealthy mercenary!"
Miss Pei Nizhu asked curiously. At the same time, she first pointed at the Chinese soldiers wearing camouflage uniforms at the other end of the table, and then flicked the half-body armor on Levi's body with her fingers, "...can you tell me about this?" Why? Mr. Levi, is it purely a coincidence, or is there some secret? ”
"...Haha, this is indeed a very complicated issue. But it's not a secret, it's just very troublesome to explain... How should I put it? In the world where I was born, no soldier would dress like this. However, before coming to your world, I once I have stayed in other different worlds for several years, well, a different world similar to yours, and became a knight there, owned a manor, and served as a military leader in a colony... This armor is A souvenir purchased at that time.”
Levi rolled his eyes and thought for a while, feeling that there was no need to keep secrets in front of the indigenous people, so he told the truth truthfully.
"...Wow! I didn't expect that you have so much experience in the past! No wonder your martial arts skills are so good..."
Miss Petunia showed admiration in her eyes, "...So, what kind of place is that other world where you became a knight?"
"...That world...well, it's really not a good place. It's much worse than your living environment. If you experience it for yourself, you will feel suffocated by the huge contrasts - then It’s a place where no one wants to go…”
Levi sighed and shook his head, while looking up at the Earl's Palace banquet hall that was blackened by oil smoke - he once owned a decent manor on the outskirts of the Port of Marseille in France in the Middle Ages, and there was also a huge stone fortress like this. The built-up living room feels familiar at first glance.
But overall, in terms of living environment, the port of Marseille in medieval Europe was much worse than the cities on the Falmat continent.
Although a long time has passed, as soon as he closes his eyes, Levi can still clearly recall the picture of his life in medieval France - the stone mansion looks grand from the outside, but in fact it is both... It is small and dark and damp all year round. Even on the sunnyst days, there are always mushrooms growing in the corners of some rooms. The walls of castles and cottages are always covered with moss and dirt, and the streets of cities are always filled with sewage. Even in cities, most people live with livestock under the same roof. The excrement dumped casually by citizens means that the mud on the streets of Marseille and Paris will never dry out, and people walking on the streets will become real "mud legs." No matter inside or outside the city, you can see groups of thin and naked children everywhere, wading in the muddy water with their bare feet and dirty bodies, playing with geese, pigs and sheep.
Most of the craftsmen in the city's guilds work in sheds with drafts on all sides. The shops of ordinary merchants only have a few curtains made of linen, but they are still very difficult to guard against thieves. The shabby tavern was always bustling with people, filled with drunken drunkards and violent elements, and from time to time a few corpses would be carried out. Most of the people defending the city were peasants and soldiers in ragged clothes holding dung forks. What's even worse is that everything from the slums to the mansions of wealthy businessmen were equally filthy, always surrounded by excrement and all kinds of rancid waste; there were swarms of buzzing sounds. Mosquitoes, flies and squeaking rats will "attack" the residents there every night. Once the rainy season arrives, the air is always filled with the strange smell of human and animal excrement and rotten food.
In comparison, the city of Italica is already extremely clean. Except for the slums, the rest of the streets are either paved with flagstones or cobblestones, and people are responsible for cleaning the streets and removing garbage every day. The city's streetscape is very different from medieval Europe, and more similar to Italian city-states during the Renaissance or Paris in the 19th century. It simply made Levi feel like a "medieval theme park in a fantasy game."
"...The country in the other world where I was made a knight is incomparable to your country on the Falmat continent. The city is as dirty as a garbage dump and smells like dung soup... Well, it seemed like it was about to eat. It’s not appropriate to say this. In short, there are constant wars, plagues and famines.”
Livy, a former member of the Knights Hospitaller, sighed and briefly described his life in medieval Europe, "...the people were generally so poor that the vast majority of farmers and citizens could not afford to light candles at night, and could only use pine branches and dipping sauces. A small piece of rope covered with rosin instead, even for a noble lady, a beautiful skirt. The clothes have to be worn for more than ten years, and some are even passed down from mother to daughter. As for the poor, the clothes are even more ragged, and some people can only wear a sack to keep out the cold... But no matter the country, rich or poor, Human beings all have one thing in common: they don’t take a bath all year round, and they take pride in not taking a bath all their lives.”
"...Ugh...how can there be such guys who are proud of being dirty and smelly? Are they humans or goblins?"
Miss Petunia was stunned when she heard this, "...Even the barbarian tribes here are usually not so disgusting..."
"...because the gods in that world have a brain convulsion, and regard not bathing and being dirty as a sign of piety. Mortals can't help it no matter how disgusting they are."
Levi shrugged helplessly, "...What's even more frightening is that the priests in that world also work as judges. They have a large number of spies under their command to catch those who take a bath secretly at any time and throw them on the fire to be burned to ashes. Instead of People who took baths contracted the plague and died one after another because their bodies were too dirty..."
"...This...I don't even know what to say! Isn't that world ruled by the God of Plague?" Pei Ni Zhu continued to be stunned.
"...Well, maybe it's possible! Anyway, a super plague (Black Death) broke out there later, and at least four-fifths of the entire continent's population was killed (Various additions of time travelers and Murphy's Law ), hundreds of cities were reduced to deserted ruins, and crowns were left on the ground without anyone picking them up. So, when the opportunity to escape came, I left the manor and the property over there without hesitation. Real estate, returned to my world with gold coins.”
Levi shrugged again, "...if it were you, young lady, you would probably make the same choice as me, right?"
"...I think so. Being forced to not take a shower for the rest of my life, surrounded by people who never take a shower... What kind of torture is this! Even the slaves here are not so miserable. The treatment...if it were me, I might have committed suicide!"
Miss Petunia shook her head and sighed, "...Okay, let's not talk about these unappetizing things! Mr. Levi, let us enjoy lunch first!"
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——While they were chatting casually, the maids going back and forth had already brought out hot dishes such as fragrant roast lamb, grilled fish, onion minced meat soup, fried cheese balls, etc. In addition, there were a few that also came in winter The shelf-stable fruits that could be found, such as apples and oranges, were also put into baskets and placed on the table. Although these purely natural, green and pollution-free original oranges have not been grafted or genetically modified to improve the varieties, they are really small and sour compared to the fruits of modern earth, but when eaten with sizzling and oily meat, It's also just right for appetizing and relieving fatigue.
At the same time, the nominal owner of this city, the eleven-year-old Countess Miyu, accompanied by the head maid, sat at the other end of the long table and timidly raised her A silver cup filled with grape juice announced the start of the luncheon to all the guests.
However, just as everyone was getting ready to eat and drink, there was a sudden commotion outside the hall, and then several faint exclamations could be heard one after another. Next, the oak door of the banquet hall was banged open from the outside. Captain Shirley Pluto Diluhagan of the Red Rose Squadron, who had been sent by Princess Pinna to deliver a message to the Senate and the Emperor, was haggard and dusty. Servant broke in and brought explosive bad news.
"...What? The emperor died in the battle outside Rendel City? The Imperial Senate was also destroyed?! His Highness Soshar became the new emperor?!"
——At this moment, Levi, who dropped the roasted lamb leg in his hand, realized that his vacation in Italica was probably about to end. The false friendship and peace have dissipated as quickly as dewdrops in the sun; and the wheels of war and destruction are about to rumble and turn...