After asking Marches few questions, Louie learnt a little more about the food situation in San Soliel.
When he had first seen the buildings of what was once Central City, as well as the manner in which its inhabitants were clothed, he estimated the cultural level of the place to be around the Medieval Era.
In the end he was absolutely right. It seemed that the average level of productivity here was quite poor. Marches and Sisna had reacted so strongly to his plans to share the wheat with the populace because it broke all norms of how the common peasantry was supposed to live.
Processing wheat, particularly in the Middle Ages, was an extremely labour intensive task. Scores of workers would often be required to strip the bran off of the wheat by hand, as against the mechanical techniques for doing so on Earth. Because of this, in San Soliel, refined wheat was a luxury only the nobility could afford. The majority of the populace had to make do with black bread.
How bad was black bread exactly? Taste – which was decidedly unpleasant – aside, it was extremely hard. So hard in fact, that numerous semi-plausible stories of homeowners using it to kill burglars often percolated through villages. It had the firmness of a brick!
Although black bread existed in modern society, it was definitely not the same as that of the Middle Ages.
The bran on the other hand, after being separated from the wheat was given to pigs on Earth. In a sense, even Earth’s pigs ate better than San Soliel’s peasantry, as the leftovers they would be fed from time to time at least had greater nutritional value than the average San Soliel diet.
Naturally not all levels of nobility could enjoy refined wheat to the same degree. The lower caste would often consume black bread, but would use refined wheat to treat honourable guests.
As a result, the royal families nicknamed white bread as ‘fine, sacred bread’. As for bread made with cream and other ingredients, only the most powerful of nobles and royalty could afford to eat it often, if at all.
With the constant wars and the variety of races as well as the lack of scientific advancement, people could only live at the mercy of the elements. Even if they had power, with the overall lack of resources, they were helpless to change anything.
Even so, the food that was cherished by royalty meant nothing to the urban and modernized people of Earth.
There was likely around one mage for every thousand regular people in San Soliel. Becoming that one required both significant resources in upbringing as well as talent. The first requirement automatically precluded the vast majority of the population, who simply couldn’t afford it. And the latter, though possible for the landed elite, still prevented the majority of them from undertaking the training since the talent requirements were quite high.
Master mages were proud and scarce existences. Asking them to waste their energy and magic for the peasants would hardly work.
After thoroughly understanding the economic situation of San Soleil, Louie felt that it was reasonable for the Terran civilization to call them savages. Even in his eyes as a modern person, they were simply too primitive. Everything from their economic productivity to their cultural norms reeked of barbarism.
The world had developed for tens of thousands of years, but remained so backward all due to the Gods. Gods were powerful, but losing faith would make them weaker. So they wouldn’t allow the world to have huge technological leaps.
Louie felt that living as an ordinary person in a world of technology was better. At the very least, he would have the resources to fulfill most of his needs.
Afterward, he glanced at Sisna, who was still stunned at the ‘mountain’, and wondered how many tons of wheat it would take to play with a beautiful elf.
“Marches and Sisna, go inspect the stuff over there. I do not know what humans can eat.”
Louie lazily pointed at the various boxes on the side.
Compared to the 200,000 tons of wheat, the weight of these boxes seemed lesser, but there were still 10,000 tons.
Sisna and Marches looked at each other. At this moment, they had both lost their arrogance. The two of them obeyed Louie’s instruction and began to check the next items.
Although 200,000 tons of refined wheat shook their minds and hearts, the next things that they saw still made their hearts beat wildly.
Frozen high-quality meat, unknown fruits, and various vegetables that would often only grace the tables of nobility.
At the place the two could not move and felt as if they had entered the Empire’s largest granary.
No, even the imperial granary was only filled with unrefined wheat, let alone the rest of the items here.
Sisna and Marches bitterly smiled and looked at the disinterested dragon, as if it did not understand the value of its wealth. They sighed and thought that the creature was truly worthy of its status as a demigod.
Suddenly, the sharp-eyed Marches saw something. He quickly picked it up, smelled it and even tasted it. He was shocked and exclaimed, “This is magic origin element!”