Chapter 147: Talks Over Curry. [Release Version]

Yeah, I've read about "night watches" and the existence of bathhouses inside cities, including peasants washing themselves at home. Staying clean was important for people just as it was today.

Comiak

I know London (maybe it was another city, I don't remember) still have a sewer system that was made a long time ago and I think they still use it so some cities did have them but there are certainly historical mentions of people throwing the contents of chamber pots out the window. It was also illegalized to do so in many places. The most common method during that time was to simply carry the pot to the river and then dump the contents in the river. Cities that have been around for potentially thousands of years, like Rome, would keep their sewers, even if the city was burnt down a few times. Easier to simply repair. But newer cities probably didn't have a sewer system built, it's a large financial investment with little returns. It's cheaper to pass laws after all. There were also documents detailing "night watch" whose job included cleaning up the waste people threw out. That's not to say that the medieval city was not smelly, people took their farm animals in the city and other things, but efforts were made to minimalize it and bathhouses were common. There was a law that was passed to stop prostitution around bathhouses because the bathhouses were being used as brothels so we know bathhouses were around and used frequently enough.

The slime part with the sewage. I knew some medieval countries like the Byzantine empire would have had something like a proper sewage system to clean their large cities but I didn't think European kingdoms to have them since I knew people would have chamber pots and throw that out the window, giving me the impression sewages didn't exist. In a way, nobles would want to make their cities smell better, right? The noble district smells good in this story due to their care and the slimes, but since most nobles are like merchants in Greenveil, it would make sense for them to invest in a better smelling lower city. At least, a noble's mindset to always strive for improvement, it would make sense for an ambitious lord to attempt a sewage system with slimes. It was an idea that I completely ignored. About that rebellion part, which was your last last point, I already thought a bit on that. Remember the red-haired adventurer kid Hestia called "Roosterhead?" It would make sense for more able adventurers to find how nobles treat those lower than them disappointing, especially in less prosperous towns/cities.

Comiak

The waste eat slime or the rebellion part? With the slimes, you could start with a quest being given and go from there. As for possible rebellion, I think it's best to have the demonkin try to manipulate people into starting one if you want to go down that path seems like the demonkin would try something like that anyway. It would give you a lot of "outs" and give a clear bad guy on a morally grey event, which is the problem with the morally grey events. Hestia is sorta obligated to go after the demonkin anyway so your readers can't really complain about any "wrong" actions taken.

Point taken. I won't say that I'm a complete expert in medieval history, as I clearly am not. I thought it made sense that peasants wouldn't want to drink water over something like ale or wine, since the latter two tasted better and was considered safer to drink than well or river water. I knew peasants could drink non-mage-made water if they had no other options, but that they would rather avoid it. Thank you for your insight, especially the last part. I don't know how to implement this without retconning stuff, but I'll think on it.

Comiak

I don't mean to sound like I'm trying to tell how to write your story, I am just trying to point out some things that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, or things that isn't explored enough.

Comiak

While that explains cases like firwood it doesn't explain Cairin village, that village being next to a river bordering the forest would have a source of clean water. Also, contaminated groundwater would be cleared up through natural processes in a few months unless there is a continuous source of contamination. Also boiling water works just as well as alcohol in purifying water and is cheaper for the poor peasants. The myth that medieval peasants only drank ale is just that, a myth, taken from a few temporary cases and applied to the whole medieval times, a period of 1000 to 500 years depending on how you define medieval times. That's a long time, time in which people would have come up with ways to solve contamination issues. Throwing the presence of magic in only worsens your problem, like with the slimes, if the slimes only eat waste why not throw them in the wells? Toss them in public toilets. Medieval cities did have sewer systems for cleanliness and useful monsters can help the problem. It kind of seems like you took a medieval template (rife with misconceptions) and applied it to your world. It's fine to do that as long as you blend it in the setting that makes sense. What are the natural consequences of using waste eating slimes? Overpopulation. Like a good gut bacteria that grows out of control and causes problems, requiring occasional adventures to cull the numbers in the sewers. Well contaminated? Throw in a slime, easy peasy. That doesn't work? It might take a water mage about ten minutes to clean it. Why would nobles do that for peasants? To prevent the peasants from going all "let them eat cake" on the nobility. The system is an equalizer, it was designed to bring the less magically gifted races up to the level of the more magically gifted, this applies to the people too, it gives the peasants more power to rebel.

Lack of proper irrigation since the ruling bodies of a fief, the nobility, have access to their own access of clean water through magic tools and water spells. Waste gets eaten by waste-eating slimes. On the other hand, commoners and their lack of magical training and funds have no access to this luxury, They have to get their water from wells, get rid of their waste in a different way, and in general live a bit more like medieval peasants.

Comiak

You're going to have to explain why the country's water is so bad they have to drink beer. With the presence of magic getting clean water should be easy, maybe a plot point?

Diego Rossi

Thanks.

Termac

Relevant quote from chapter 136 (Chezaic Tea Party): > “While I wouldn’t want to speak ill of our neighbours, I have heard some rather unsettling rumors from the Lecartiglio duchy, so I wouldn’t recommend traveling there for now, Lady Hestia. Uhm, I am not belittling your abilities, I swear. I just wish to warn you as I heard the youngest daughter of House Moreschi was kidnapped from her house. Cedaraille or Griffonpeak would be great traveling points, and then you could visit the Morgiana duchy.”