I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha

Outside the harbor town, Roland looked at the new magic carpet in his hand with a look of surprise.

Although Roland did not cultivate the Path of the Black Abyss, he had read dozens of books on the Black Abyss when he was in the Straw High Tower.

He had a lot of understanding of the philosophy of the Black Abyss.

In addition, he touched the truth in the bottom world all day long, so after chatting for a while, he understood.

However, he only had a smattering of knowledge, so he just instructed the senior to modify his magic carpet.

After the senior modified it, the entire picture changed again.

Roland glanced at his Aleyah Notes:

【Path of Truth: Shepherdess of Black Sacred Blood I】

【Current: Glimpse of the Doorway (Zeroth Order)】

【Attributes: Holy / Shadow】

【Characteristics:

1. Purification +2, All-series Magic Resistance +2, Requiem +2

2. Deterioration +2, Magic Effectiveness +2, Mutation +2

3. Desecration +1】

【Effects:

1. Probability of advancing to Tier 2 Wizard +2.5%;

2. Probability of advancing to Tier 2 Wizard +7.5%;

3. Probability of advancing to Tier 2 Wizard +2%;】

Roland was overjoyed.

Black Sacred Blood. This is a path created based on three paths!

Senior definitely has good things in her hands!

Not to mention the probability of promotion, it is now 2%. After he comprehends Tier 1 and Tier 2, and continues to discuss with the senior, then there will be a half-percent more possibility of promotion.

As for desecration…

According to Roland's understanding of Black Abyss magic, and the detailed notes in the book, it can be understood as a more powerful, but polluting, magic penetration.

Curse-type magic, or weakening-type, or dot-type magic, once it has the effect of desecration, the enemy's condition will rapidly deteriorate.

Moreover, this is a power of hell, a more powerful force of erosion. It is effective against those things protected by gods, and even against those gods who ignite divine fire by relying on faith.

These things protected by gods may have been immune to many states or even magic, but this effect has little effect on desecration-type magic.

Once those strange objects with holy attributes are desecrated, the effect will be greatly reduced.

If Roland's power of desecration is higher, then he can even directly defile a pseudo-holy sword.

The magic on this modified 'Shepherdess and Demon' was originally the magic of the abyss, but now it has also increased the magic of hell.

Roland was happy here, but the senior was secretly distressed.

It is becoming more and more difficult for her to learn secretly. One day in the future, she may have to ask openly as a student.

How can she maintain her dignity in front of Roland?

Catherine was thinking too much. Roland would not put on a high and mighty mentor's airs just because he could teach her something, just like her.

He would only take the opportunity to play all kinds of tricks on Lady Catherine.

During the conversation, the group unknowingly entered this harbor city.

This was the first time Roland had seen so many people in a town in this world—it is said that there are more than 70,000 residents here!

And that's just counting the registered local residents, not including the floating population and a large number of unregistered residents!

So the actual population of this city may exceed 100,000.

If it were before the crossing, Roland would have said, 'The people in the small towns in my hometown are much more than this'.

But in this big harbor, Roland deeply realized how big a city of more than 100,000 people is.

The buildings in the city are arranged like fish scales. Standing on a high slope and looking forward, thousands of buildings are connected to the sky!

The entire city is divided into four major areas. Straw Town is not small, but two or three of them together are not as big as one of these areas!

If the floating population here did not account for a large number, and there were fewer fixed residents, then this city would be twice as large!

The terrain at the entrance of the city is higher. Roland stood here and looked at the ships on the distant harbor—the large and small ships on the harbor and the sea were like stars!

He estimated the distance. It would probably take ten or twenty miles to walk from here to the harbor!

Wizards and mortals live together in all parts of Twilight Territory, especially in the harbor. Therefore, the city's productivity is very high, and the city is particularly prosperous.

The architecture here is very interesting. It is in the 'Gothic Revival' style. Among the crowds of people coming and going on the streets, many decent gentlemen are wearing vests + tailcoats.

The overall clothing is based on dark tones, and paired with trousers, linen shirts, and exquisite bow ties.

A word suddenly popped into Roland's mind—the Regency era!

Jane Austen, 'Pride and Prejudice', Napoleon, sailing battleships, steam trains... and some court ladies who are unwilling to abandon crinolines and maintain the Rococo style.

Roland couldn't help but sigh to Catherine in a low voice: "It's been more than two hundred years, do you feel like the world has changed so much?"

Catherine sighed: "The change is quite big. I remember a few hundred years ago, the popular clothing in the south was more simple. It seems like something called 'silhouette style' was popular? Now you can't even see newsboy caps."

Roland was slightly stunned after hearing this.

Roland didn't quite understand what silhouette style was, but he knew that the newsboy cap wasn't a 20th-century garment?

It was more than a hundred years later than the Regency era!

It's been two or three hundred years, why is it going backwards?

Roland suddenly remembered a sentence Catherine had said before, and he thought to himself: 'Piano... This guy knows the piano. So, there were pianos in the Alexandrian era two or three hundred years ago?'

In fact, the War of the High Walls was tens of thousands of years ago. The steam age had already appeared thousands of years ago, but then it reverted to the Middle Ages, and repeatedly cycled between the Middle Ages and the steam age.

For wizards, some technology trees do not have to be clicked. Magic can satisfy everything. Moreover, mystery is something that does not follow logic, so many civilization technology points are clicked in the research of the 'Chaos System'.

The technology that Roland is familiar with is not very important to magical civilization. The technology tree is too different, it's not the same.

The clothing in Blacksail City is quite mixed. There are also many sailors wearing tricorn hats and long-row button coats, with handguns hanging on their bodies.

Roland also saw a witch with a wrinkled face and a large hooked nose at a roadside fortune-telling stall. She was telling the fortune of a pirate.

A Bloodless Lord told Roland that there were people from the South and the North here. But most of them are outsiders—those who don't wear shoes, or carry or push things, or are dirty are the locals.

Or rather, the local mortals.

Roland sighed: "These people are living pretty well. Wizards have brought endless wealth here. Look, the children on the street all have pants to wear."

Catherine suddenly turned her head to look at Roland. She seemed very shocked: "What do you mean? When you were a kid... I mean, did the little Muggles in the secular world not wear pants?!"

Roland said seriously: "Countess Catherine, pants are expensive. How can farmers be willing to spend money to buy them? My family is okay, but in the next village, only those who go out to buy things wear pants. Who wears so many clothes when working in the fields? They will be damaged."

Catherine was stunned for a long time, and sighed: "Magic should be popularized. The South is doing much better in this regard."

Roland pulled her towards a store that looked very good: "Stop talking nonsense. We look like ancient people dressed like this. Come on, let's buy some new clothes too."

He said he was buying clothes, but in fact, Roland planned to look at the styles, and then pick a Bloodless mage robe or something to modify.

But after entering the door, Roland had the idea of buying a few more sets.

He just casually entered a store, and the clothing inside was very high-end. Moreover, there were various styles, including various clothes from the South. These clothes are very suitable for wearing as everyday clothes in the South.

Roland thought that entering a store at random was very high-end - but this is actually a kind of survivor bias.

Or rather, Roland is now well-informed, and his vision is no longer comparable to that of the little sword-wielding servant of that year.

Therefore, the stores that he feels are very good are really very good.

So he thought he just entered a store at random, but in fact, he chose a very high-end aristocratic store.

It's just that this store looks like it's newly opened, so there are not many people. The store is indeed newly opened, but the main reason why there are few people is because not many people dare to come in.

Roland saw some Southern Holy Knights' clothing.

There are many types, one is classic retro style clothing, a bit close to the feeling of the Middle Ages. It reminded Roland of the knights in important festivals with red cardinals participating.

It seems that the knights and monks in the South also wear this classic retro-style clothing, or wear ceremonial armor, on certain occasions.

One type is gorgeous knight's clothing with a long row of buttons, wearing breeches and long boots. You can wear a 'bicorne' or a high-top feathered hat. Suitable for swords, and also suitable for matching with firearms.

Roland felt that the shape of this knight's clothing was a bit like a tailcoat.

His feeling was right. The tailcoat evolved from the clothing of cavalry. The original purpose was to make it easier to ride a horse.

Since the front hem of the long coat was rolled up and fastened backwards, revealing the inner pattern, it unexpectedly appeared very beautiful and generous. Therefore, the tailcoat gradually became a fashionable and decent gentleman's clothing, and no longer existed as a professional cavalry equestrian outfit.

Before long, the shop owner came over in person.

These guests were obviously nobles, with a master, a madam, a maid, and a knight.

These people were obviously big customers.

The shop owner directly invited them to the inner room.

This place is quite unique and spacious, and the sofas are all new.

Roland and Catherine sat on the sofa, with their attendants either standing behind them or sitting on the adjacent sofas.

Inside, there were five or six shop assistants and two models. These seven or eight people, plus the owner, were dedicated to serving Roland and Catherine alone.

Some served tea and water, others presented Roland with exquisite catalogs, the owner gave them personal recommendations, and still others prepared the clothes Roland showed interest in. The beautiful or handsome professional models would then put on the garments for Roland and Catherine to see.

It was like a fashion show.

Roland couldn't help but sigh inwardly, 'So this is how wealthy people buy clothes. Luckily, I didn't let the owner outside take down any clothes for me to look at.'

This was self-deprecating, as there were no clothes hanging on the walls outside, and there weren't even many clothes in general. It didn't look like a clothing store, but more like a salon.

While Roland was secretly amazed by the lives of the wealthy, the owner was also secretly shocked by the great noble.

Because he couldn't discern the value and material of the clothes the nobleman was wearing. Even the handkerchief the lady had used to wipe the nobleman's face was beyond his comprehension!

He used to be a professional tailor!

Not to mention the nobleman and his lady, even the maids and knights were no ordinary nobles. Their attire and demeanor were extraordinary, exuding an air of superiority, each one like a queen!

And these elegant noblewomen were all attendants to this newlywed couple!

This wasn't just any big customer!

Listen to advice and you'll eat your fill. The owner originally didn't want to open such an expensive store in a port city, as it didn't seem appropriate.

But based on the customers he'd seen in the past few days, the 'magician lords' from the north were truly loaded!

They used gemstones as currency!

He heard that back home, they were planning to replace 'silver pennies' with something else.

Paper! Replace them with paper!

The lords of the Church were truly sucking the blood dry!

After looking at the catalog for a while, Roland asked, "I saw some gentlemen on the street wearing top hats and a kind of 'round, black' lenses. What are those called? Not monocles, but for both eyes."

The owner suddenly realized what he meant and quickly told a shop assistant to buy a few pairs of sunglasses from outside.

Roland picked one up and played with it, feeling quite novel.

Roland had seen sunglasses before, but these were very retro, the small, black, round kind. They looked like something a纨绔 (wán kù - good-for-nothing son of a high-ranking official) would wear.

They reminded Roland of the 洋墨镜 (yáng mò jìng - foreign sunglasses) from Hail the Judge.

Roland asked, "How much does this cost in the south?"

The owner looked at the shop assistant who had gone to buy the sunglasses with a questioning gaze.

The shop assistant smiled discreetly and said, "Sir, this pair is quite expensive, as it uses high-quality quartz. It usually costs eight shillings."

Roland took out eight 'Twilight Silver Dollars'. The owner glanced at the silver coins and quickly said, "Sir, these are silver dollars, and large silver dollars at that. One is worth four silver shillings."

The owner knew that Roland didn't understand the currency of the south, so he explained it to him.

In the south, wizards and mortals lived together. They didn't use magic stones as currency because their alchemy wasn't advanced enough. They didn't have philosopher's stones and couldn't create magic stones.

So using magic stones as currency was a very, very extravagant thing for them.

They treated magic stones as a strategic resource.

The main currencies in the south were silver and copper, and there were also gold coins, but they were rarely circulated.

The currencies were divided into gold pounds, silver shillings, and copper pennies.

1 gold pound = 20 silver shillings = 240 copper pennies.

A gold pound could originally be exchanged for a pound of silver. But now, with rising prices, 1 gold pound was worth far less than that.

The same was true for silver shillings, which represented about 1 gram of silver.

Twilight's silver dollars were of very good quality, weighing about 4.5 grams with a silver content of 92%. And they were made very exquisitely, so one Twilight silver dollar was worth about 4 silver shillings.

After listening, Catherine was stunned for a long time. She asked, "Such good quartz only sells for two silver dollars?"

The last time she had someone buy one in South Port, the maid told her that person asked the steward for more than twenty magic stones.

That's a difference of more than a thousand times!

Lady Catherine had been ripped off by her servants!

However, it was common for lords to be deceived by their servants. Everyone would turn a blind eye. They secretly skimmed money from the lord's side, and even the most loyal female officer could be a major embezzler!

So, although the people around the lord were aware of these things, they would not actively expose them, as it would offend too many people and damage their own interests. The water in this castle and court was deep.

After listening to Catherine's words, Roland was also dumbfounded. He pointed outside and said, "My sister, selling these sunglasses for eight silver shillings is already expensive enough, let alone two silver dollars!

You have to know that the clothes worn by the commoners outside are only worth two silver dollars. Is that right, sir?"

Roland looked at the owner.

The owner said with a smile, "Yes, sir. Commoners' clothing usually costs 6-13 shillings—that's not including shoes.

If you buy a good pair of boots separately, it will cost 10-12 shillings. Shoes are more expensive than clothing.

As for the more upscale gentlemen's clothing or women's clothing that you see outside, it usually costs around 1-3 gold pounds, and horse gear costs 10 gold pounds or more. It's more than twenty times more expensive than commoners' clothing."

Roland said, "So, Miss Catherine, a regular piece of clothing is worth 2-3 silver dollars, and these sunglasses are worth two silver dollars, which is quite expensive. It's as expensive as boots."

Catherine asked curiously, "But... aren't sunglasses a luxury item? Are shoes too?"

Roland was silent for a moment, then said seriously, "Catherine, places like the port are deeply influenced by the south. There's no distinction between Muggles and wizards. People understand some magic, and factories are being built, so productivity is very high.

Workers might earn 40-80 gold pounds a year, and maids can earn 30-40 gold pounds a year. Everyone can afford to spend a dozen shillings to buy a decent set of clothes.

Middle-class families will grit their teeth and spend a few gold pounds to buy two sets of decent men's and women's clothing for social occasions. If they have a little more money, they might spend an extra 5 pounds to get a second-hand silver pocket watch.

So, for southerners, shoes aren't really a luxury item. Even boots aren't a luxury item, they're just slightly expensive everyday items.

But for many places in our Eastern Territory's interior, for the people under your rule, shoes are a luxury item!

Even clothes and bedding are luxury items!

Because everyone can only save a few silver dollars a year, or maybe a dozen silver shillings.

Not to mention the country folk, 1/2 a shilling can buy 4 pounds of bread. The money for a pair of boots or a set of clothes is enough to buy 80 pounds of good bread!

And the farmers who grow wheat usually can't afford bread. Dark bread is what the rich farmers eat. Ordinary people eat mush.

The money for a pair of shoes can feed a family for a long, long time.

And for most people in this world, being able to eat a full meal is their lifelong pursuit.

Mercenaries are considered a wealthy group, but they are also "poor". Shoes and clothes are also very valuable to them.

When we used to suppress bandits, we would definitely take the shoes and clothes of the captured prisoners and send them away to exchange for money.

When bandits caught people, they would strip them naked before killing them.

When knight lords and lord lords rewarded their subordinates, they would reward them with old quilts, old clothes, and old sweaters.

These things can be worn and keep warm. They allow a family to live decently. And they are more practical than gold and silver. Because in our inland areas, even if you have silver dollars, you may not be able to buy much clothing. Productivity is there. Muggles aren't like wizards. Making a set of clothes is difficult—someone in the family has to stop working. If one less person works, the children in the family might starve to death.

But the situation is very contradictory. If you have one less piece of clothing, everyone can eat enough and one more person can survive.

But if you have one more piece of clothing, one more quilt, the children in the family might not die this winter.

So, if a lord rewards an old quilt or an old sweater one day, that's a great favor!

These things aren't afraid of being old, after all, everyone wears clothes to live, not to be decent. What does it matter if they're dirty or old.

Therefore, all cotton and wool fabrics are more practical hard currencies than gold and silver. They are currencies that can be worn and used.

If you encounter a disaster year, selling this sweater or quilt can help a family survive the disaster."

After listening, Catherine sighed for a long time, and then she asked curiously, "So, why do bandits strip people naked before killing them?"

Roland said, "Because clothes stained with blood are worthless. Bandits bleed people when they kill them. Living people bleed easily, so if they kill them like that, the meat can be sold."

Catherine was stunned: "Sell human meat?"

Roland said, "Yes, Miss Catherine. This is how it is in many places in the interior.

To be precise, they sell human meat as beef.

Because if you know how to cut it, the cut human meat looks almost the same as beef.

And 99% of people have never eaten beef in their lives, so when they eat beef and human meat, they can't tell the difference.

There are unscrupulous lords who specifically use human meat as beef to reward their subordinates, after all, the value of a cow is much more expensive than a person."

A healthy slave costs only 4-6 silver coins, cheaper than clothes. And they're not picky eaters. When a slave is used up, you can slaughter them and eat the meat, making use of the waste.

But a cow costs more than 20 silver coins, and they're picky eaters and difficult to raise; you have to take good care of them. Cows are precious, and you can't bear to use them to death like slaves. You're even more reluctant to kill them.

Therefore, the beef on the market—I mean, the beef on the secular, lower-class market—is mostly not beef... it's human meat."

This time, the shop owner was dumbfounded.

What kind of business has this lord done before? Was he a slave trader? Otherwise, how would he know so much?

He didn't know that this was something Roland had heard about. Of course, he had encountered similar things while doing missions with mercenaries on the way to Inari Town.

But more of the knowledge came from the Valeria mercenaries; they had been all over the world and knew many, many stories.

And in Roland's impression, only the Valeria people lived well; the surrounding areas were so poor that people had no pants to wear.

Every country is the same; this era is just like this.

In this medieval era, there are black-hearted lords who treat people like sheep.

As for the things Roland said about the inland, Catherine was deeply shocked.

She had never paid attention to these things before.

She looked at the bustling, fashionable district outside the window, recalling the affairs of the Muggles, lords, and wizards under her rule, and was unable to calm her mood for a long time.

The South is already so prosperous, but the Eastern Territory is so dark and barbaric.

In her previous life, she had never paid attention to the secular world, and had only a burst of enthusiasm, but in the end, she had not changed anything.

I'm afraid that even if she had succeeded at that time, the species 'human' and the species 'wizard' would still be isolated and would still be two species. Nothing would still change.

This time, it will never be like this again.