Once Duke Ethel received his title, he gathered together a group vassals of both military and non-military prowess, finished making the necessary arrangements, and immediately crossed the sea to the south. As the turmoil on the continent continued—
“That all the necessary functions of government are somehow still operating around Whitesails is the result of His Excellency’s excellent governance.”
The situation seemed to be pretty dramatic.
As we talked about all these things, we walked up a road with fields on either side. The ears of wheat rustled in the wind. The air was cold; we were still in winter, but I could detect a hint of spring.
When we reached the top of the hill, the faint salty scent of the sea tickled my nose. Spread out before us was a horizon of ocean.
It was the bay.
Long stretches of land spread out on both sides, as if it were hugging the sea. The blue sea was busy with boats with white sails coming and going, and right in the inlet was a large town. My eyes caught the vivid red and brown tiled roofs, then the rows of white houses lining the slope towards the sea, the steeples, and the bell tower. And was that beautiful series of arches running along the outer edge of the city an aqueduct?
This was a city, an actual, living city. Several thousand people were probably living here—maybe even close to ten thousand. There were city streets filled with people. There was activity, the busyness of people going about their daily lives. Even though I was looking at it all from a great distance, I could feel the the city’s vibrancy like I was there in the middle of it all.
A city. An assemblage of human activity. It was a symbol of what Blood, Mary, and Gus had risked their lives to see protected.
As sunlight glittered on the surface of the sea, I remained gazing at the bustle of that dazzling city until Menel and Bee called my name.
Chapter 4
Whitesails was a wealthy city. The people walking through the streets were wearing clothes dyed in all kinds of colors, and I could see certain tendencies in their hairstyles and accessories.
In short—get this—trends existed here! They had the time and money to think about fashion! Just that fact alone was shocking to me.
In fact, my first shock had come before that, when I entered the city. There was no kind of check required, and no toll to pay to pass through the city gate. I’d subconsciously been assuming that there would be that kind of thing based on what I knew about medieval cities, and I’d been prepared to be kept waiting, but they just let us right in.
“That’s one of His Excellency Ethel’s policies. He’s the one governing this city,” Tonio explained to me.
A huge volume of goods was being sent into this city via the sea route to the north, and spreading to the rest of Southmark via the land routes and waterways as if they were blood vessels. Because there was such an overwhelming amount passing through, stopping it all at the city gate would be a recipe for chaos, and in fact would create a hotbed of smuggling.
So His Excellency Ethel brought in the money needed to run the city by imposing fees for the ships to dock at the wharves, rental fees for space at the market, taxes upon the companies setting up shop within the city, and avoided interfering with the movements of people, goods, and money as much as possible. That was the direction he’d taken, at least for Whitesails, Tonio told me.
I hmm’ed, somewhat impressed. I wasn’t that well versed in economics, but I got the impression that this was quite a progressive, open-minded, and liberal policy.
The way people speak about Duke Ethelbald seems well deserved, I thought as I walked around the city. “Hm? What are those?”
Some kind of pillar-like objects were lined up along the road. Each had something like an... umbrella at the top...?
“Uh, those are streetlights.”
“Streetlights?!”
What?!
“You didn’t know what those were? Oh my God, Will, get with the times! They have the Word of Light engraved on them. Apprentices at the Academy of Sages come around in the evening and light them up. The apprentices get to practice binding mana to Signs, and the city people get to have light during the night as well, so that’s pretty useful.”
“Exactly. It is good training for apprentice sorcerers, and an avenue to earning a little bit of pocket money as well. Similarly,” Tonio said, pointing at a large building ahead of us, “that is another large source of income for sorcerers-in-training. It makes frequent use of the Words of Heat and Purification, after all.”
“Is that—”
“Hehe...” Bee gave me another mischievous laugh. “I bet even you know what that one is,” she said, spinning around on the spot just to be funny. “You guessed it, it’s the balnea!”
Balnea...?
“Hm? Something up, Will?”
“Is something the matter?”
Wait, I knew that word! Wasn’t that a public bathhouse?! I could take a bath there?!
“Let’s go!” I announced without a second thought. The other three looked surprised.
To cut a long story short, my first bath in some time was a wonderful experience.
After all, considering the time period, I’d honestly been considering the possibility that the water would be dirty, unhygienic, and carry all kinds of diseases, but the Word of Purification was doing its job, and the water was crystal clear. The problem of needing an immense amount of fuel to maintain the temperature had been solved by the Word of Heat. Wonderful. I’m repeating myself, but it was wonderful.
It wasn’t like the Japanese-style bathhouses I was familiar with—instead, there was a sauna-like hot bath and a cold-water pool—but even so, it was amazing. The travel fatigue that had accumulated in all the muscles throughout my body melted away in the heat and disappeared as I relaxed. It was a moment of bliss.
After exiting the public bath, I felt like a whole layer had slipped clean off my body like the shell off a boiled egg. My body felt toasty warm, and the breeze felt good against it. Even while on the road, I’d been keeping clean with the Word of Purification, but a proper bath was something else.
The three of us men killed time in the open area outside the bathhouse, and after a little while...
“LA LA LA...♪” Bee came out holding the things she’d left with the bathhouse owners. She was singing a tune to herself and was clearly in a very good mood. “It’s really nice to have a bath every once in a while,” she said.
“Absolutely.”
“Won’t deny it, but I don’t like packed places like that very much.” Menel had attracted an awful lot of attention because of his beauty and the fact that it was rare to see a half-elf in the first place. Normally he could get around this by wearing a hood or something, but there was just no way for him to conceal himself like that at a bathhouse.
At this very moment, he had his hood firmly down over his eyes with a sour look on his face, so we decided to hurry up and change locations. “Lessee,” Bee said, “how about we get something to eat at a tavern, and then...”
“What next?”
“I suggest we head to a temple,” said Tonio. “Will is a priest, so I imagine he will want to pay them a visit.”
“Oh!” I said. I’d had my attention pulled in so many different directions that I’d almost forgotten. I had to make contact with an established temple. I was technically a proper priest bestowed with a god’s protection, so I was hoping they’d make time for me, but I had my doubts.