readx; Rosemary is a flavorful town, just like other large and small stone buildings in the Southern City-State Allianceщww..lā
This so-called "taste" does not refer to the ancient style and charm that have been polished and retained by them through history, as we use this word to describe a city or town other times, but in the literal sense. , tasteful.
And it has a very strong flavor.
The northern and western parts of the town, close to the forest leading to the west coast, are residential areas and commercial streets. The streets here are wide, clean and tidy with people coming and going, just like anyone who comes to the south for the first time will feel. It symbolizes It represents all civilization and beauty, and symbolizes wealth and health - but there is one thing that most tourists and mercenaries walking here rarely notice.
As we said before, the Southern City-State Alliance is far more stringent in the use of slaves than any other country in the world. If we follow this line of thinking, those clean and tidy streets where people are happy and smiling and peaceful What is missing is naturally self-evident.
When Avenella on the west coast was first established almost two centuries ago, the Southern City-State Alliance was actually like many places. The streets were filled with smelly and dirty slaves and the excrement and urine of livestock. , people dumped kitchen waste and other debris into nearby ditches and rivers, and the garbage flowed along them to the Morbigas Sea. The night and day lasted so long that in the end the main city of Ella became a "stinking city" surrounded by smelly black sea water.
Today's southern slang still retains a word that means to satirize the opponent's wealth and appearance, but the pronunciation is the variation of Ella. However, to master it, you must first learn how to change the tone of Ella after centuries of development. The Man language has a large number of southern slang words with huge differences.
All in all, the nobles at that time, who realized that they could not continue like this, united and spent a lot of money, moved the residents out of villages and towns, knocked down all the houses, and invited powerful architects from the Dwarf Mountains in the far east to serve as guidance. , it took a large number of slaves twenty-three years to build these extremely beautiful town fortresses today.
But there is one thing that even the sewer system of the dwarves cannot handle. After all, the South is a commercial land. Many of the things they produce far exceed the combined needs of the entire population here, and such a situation will naturally arise. A large amount of waste, coupled with the existence of slaves used for labor - the residential area can be easily kept tidy, but the industrial area, which covers a wider area and is constantly producing garbage, is even difficult for the dwarf masters. A daunting existence.
Of course, there are some theories today that the dwarves could not stand the practice of humans enslaving their own kind and therefore refused to use it. However, in any case, the nobles of the South, who could not use the power of the dwarves to achieve all this, could only come up with the lofty ideas of the human nobles. The method, naturally, was to simply and crudely isolate those dirty guys from themselves.
So, so, unlike the commercial street where there are all master craftsmen, they are either elite shops opened by top blacksmiths like Mike, or jewelry merchants, goldsmiths and silversmiths. In short, they are all top-level rare elites, gathered together. The industrial area where a large number of cheap mass-produced goods are manufactured using the powerful sea transportation capacity to be sold to civilians and lower-level mercenaries everywhere was planned with a wave of a big hand.
The people responsible for production here are all the lowest-level slaves. Even if they have basic craftsman knowledge, they will never get the treatment of craftsmen. The goods made with cheap labor costs are sold at the same price as those made by craftsmen. The merchants in the south made a lot of money, but no one cared about the lives and deaths of these slaves.
The processing of leather and the sale of finished leather products are a major output of Rosemary's place. To process leather goods, you need to soak them in water for cooked leather processing, and you also need to scrape off the rotten flesh, hair and fat. All these things are added together. Get up and plunge into the water, which naturally makes the water here deliberately separated from the residential area filled with stench and various types of flies.
Mira just came here and smelled this smell, so she couldn't help but stretched out her hand to cover her mouth and nose. The ground here was all sticky and wet, with a smell that had accumulated over the years. Black dirt, the smell of dead bodies and excrement in the air mixed with the smell of blood, sweat and a lot of other things made people feel acrid pain in the nasal cavity when they smelled it - Henry handed her a piece of cotton cloth , which was given by the person from the Felix Chamber of Commerce who led the way, and Mira tied it on.
The white-haired Luoan girl could not imagine that someone could live in such an environment, but it was true - most of the slaves were still working during this time, and only a very small number of them were outside. Wandering around, they leaned their dirty bodies against the pillars of the equally dirty wooden houses, casting somewhat gloomy glances towards them.
Mira stared at them. Many of them were skinny. She felt a little unbearable, and her steps slowed down. The sage in front and the middle-aged man leading the way stopped and looked at her: " Miss, I advise you not to care too much about these people. Most of them have suffered this kind of behavior by themselves and have no regrets about it."
Noticing the girl's gaze, the middle-aged man said this. Mira could roughly understand what he was saying, although she didn't know whether he was defending himself because he was from the South or whether it was true. He continued: "If there is a chance, they will pounce on you like a lizard and tear you apart. There have been many incidents here where young ladies and ladies walked to the industrial area and then disappeared. It's better for us to move on quickly."
"..." Mira paused for the last time, turned her head and glanced at those people again, and then quickly followed the two people in front of her to leave the outermost leather workshop in the southern district and continued to go deeper inside.
Nowadays, she is no longer the simple girl who only feels sad when she sees bad things and tries to help each other. Some of the historical things Mira has learned about Sivalier are often like the source of this culture. As the Lamanites believed, they would intentionally or unintentionally promote a theory about fate, cause and effect, and reward. Among them, what impressed her most was the fact that many families and even the empire had their own shortcomings. And things that perish.
poor person must have something mean. Henry had told her a long time ago about not helping others casually when you don't have enough ability. But after she learned to read and started reading books, good people who did bad things with good intentions or were good people were killed by the people they helped. For example, Mira also went from being shocked and disbelieving at the beginning to gradually understanding and better understanding the reasons for many details of her teacher's life.
Human nature is a very complicated thing, and many people who have stumbled and lost their lives inexplicably have overestimated their control over everything. They make one-sided generalizations and feel that their ideas are also the ideas of most people, so they enthusiastically start doing things they think are good things - most of which are self-satisfaction, even if they are really sincere. There is a good part for the other person, and the good deeds that ignore the differences in origin, growth environment, and status often do not end well.
"Human beings are meant to be enslaved, conquered, and disciplined." This statement from Cesario I, the great emperor of the Laman Empire, who declared that slavery is the right way, is still controversial to this day. Most of the Nobles, commoners and businessmen all support its existence, while some top scholars and magicians often condemn it - after all, among the five major races that exist on the continent of Rigar, there is no such thing as treating the same kind as livestock. , only humans.
But everything is necessary as long as it exists. There is a proverb on the West Coast: "If you give a person a danno every day, and one day you don't give it, he will hate you; and if you give a person a danno every day, he will hate you. Slap, if you stop giving it one day, he will be grateful to you."
People are never created equal. Maintaining force and majesty is because they are afraid of those ordinary people who dare not offend. Once a nobleman or a wealthy businessman who is overly loving will be in conflict with those who have not experienced any culture. If the poor people who have been struggling with food and clothing all their lives get too close, they lose this layer of mystery and sense of distance. When the other party realizes that they have the ability to touch you, greed will start to get ready, and they want to Get more, get a decent life like you, get three delicious meals like you.
Even if you are a woman, they will want you.
Aristocracy, elite rule, slaves, rewards and punishments - all of these things are derived from the endless greed and, in order to maintain one's own life and life, such class divisions and various kinds of class differentiation and various All kinds of corresponding rights - Just because you came here and saw how miserable these people's living conditions are, you try to change everything?
Today's Mira is no longer so naive.
If you want to change an entire system that has been around for thousands of years, then you must first invent a system that can replace its existence. Otherwise, even if you overthrow the seemingly evil slave owners, you will have to destroy the entire southern city-state alliance. All the dark things in the world are completely eliminated, and it is only a matter of time before they reappear - even if they are really capable of doing all this, after the position of the person in power who holds the most interests is vacated, in order to fight for this The benefits of status will inevitably lead to greater bloodshed and social unrest.
The white-haired Luoan girl understands not only how a person with abilities like the sage handles many things, but she is now able to understand more or less why he has abilities, which may even be enough to change everything. But they often turn a blind eye to something and have no reason to take action.
"If you let a monkey put on armor and ride a war horse, it will not become a knight, and the same is true for civilians." - This sentence written in a book about riding in Siwaliya can also be used to explain by analogy In many cases, the force training and knowledge teaching that noble knights receive is their most powerful thing. A person who suddenly gains great power instead of training from childhood will usually use it in the wrong place, because there is no strength commensurate with the force. With their inner and calm minds, they can easily make wrong judgments, causing things to get out of hand.
A truly strong man can't just be powerful with force. Like Henry, he must have a commensurate heart and can truly exert 100% of his abilities, and will not do stupid things like trying to change everything by force alone.
There is no shortcut on this road. The combat power that is suddenly improved by relying on some mysterious alien treasures is not truly powerful. The strength that is accumulated over time through hard work and diligent practice is the real strength—— As time goes by, the white-haired girl becomes more and more aware of what she should do now and study seriously. Before her, many people have followed this path and gone further.
Henry must be a leader among this group, and the person they have been together with for more than a month is also the person they are looking for now, Juan, the deputy leader of the mercenary group of the Felix family. This is another typical example.
"Be careful of an old man, especially when he is engaged in an industry where many people die at a young age." The experience brought by time is terrible, even in an industry like mercenary work where death is a companion. For people who have never been able to reach a very high level in their lifetime, who have seen battlefields - whether hunting or war - and survived, you'd better be more vigilant towards them.
The footsteps were stepping on the dark and dirty road that was a mixture of wooden boards and dirt. The pungent smell of smoky smoke was coming even through the wet cotton cloth covering the face. There were crackling sounds and thick black smoke rising into the sky. The nearby water has the same putrid smell and turbid color as the previous leather workshop, but also has a layer of black carbon ash floating there - this is where soap is being made.
Personal hygiene products made from animal oil and plant ash are very popular in wealthy areas like the South. Although it requires a large amount of plant ash to make, the price remains high, but fortunately, a piece of soap is usually enough for many people. For a long time, most people are still willing to spend such a small amount of money to ensure that their bodies do not smell like those slaves.
"Cough cough - cough cough cough -" The billowing black smoke blew towards them due to the change in wind direction. Fortunately, the girl and the middle-aged man in front were all coughing for a while because the road was slippery. Mira almost slipped and fell into the smelly ditch. Fortunately, Henry pulled her up, and then the three of them continued to move forward together.
As the road progressed, the air here began to get better, and after walking for so long in a dirty industrial area with basically no other people except slaves, they also Finally reached the destination of this trip.
Hidden in an alley to the east of the industrial zone, walk to the end and climb to the top of the east slope, knock on a hidden door, pick up the torch and follow the stairs to the end, and there is Felix inside. The family's huge hidden mansion.
"Welcome, my friend." Hidden in the smelly industrial area, this mansion faces the residential area to the north. Its facade is hidden in the woods, and its large lighting windows are located high up. It had an unobstructed view of all of Rosemary—apparently befitting the town's greatest aristocrat.
"It seems that you have already met my wife." Old Juan still has a squinting goatee, but his hair has been carefully taken care of. He is wearing an exquisitely crafted short-sleeved shirt from the southern nobles, a dark blue snake and dragon skin vest, and bloomers. He looked completely different from before. He was holding a glass of red wine, and then stretched out his hand to signal Henry and Mira to sit on the wicker chairs opposite.
"What do you want from me? I have roughly learned something about it through the raven. You, Jill, and I are not people who like to beat around the bush. Although we have already paid you, the life-saving grace cannot be compensated by just a few rewards, so this Come on, I'll help." He put down the red wine, then folded his hands and bent down, his eyes slowly opened with a serious expression and sharp eyes.
"But I have to warn you first, my friend, you will be in big trouble if you do this."
"I mean - even for you, it would be a big problem."
He said this and Henry shrugged and smiled.
"Appreciate further details."
