Chapter 15: A Story Written on Stone(1) (1/2)

After 8 days of travel, the carriage finally reached the city of Abdera.

The city's design was dissimilar to that of Olep, as instead of one singular and interconnected city, Abdera was composed of fortresses inside of which were buildings that abode to the ancient equivalent of zoning laws according to the purpose of the fortress.

Nonetheless, Abdera is quite a bit larger than Olep, and even the short walls couldn't conceal the bustling streets and the thriving port.

When they reached the walls of the city, the crew asked Alex if they should disclose on who's account he was visiting the city, but he refused, not wanting to be in the same situation as he was back in Olep as he wanted to explore the city freely. To be sure that it was fine for the crew, he asked them if they had any urgent plans.

They all denied and informed him that the consul back in Olep had arranged for them a whole month of paid leave, largely more than the time required for a round trip from Olympus to Abdera.

It seemed like he knew that Alex would want to visit the city.....He applauded his careful observation.

With that out of the way, Alex gave some gold coins to the crew to restock their supplies and left the carriage, willing to visit the city, well, at least what he could visit with the sky darkening and artifical sources of light taking the place of the sun.

After asking around some locals about the city, Alex now had a general overview of the way the city worked.

Abdera was composed of seven large fortresses, each serving their own purpose to the city. The one he was currently in was the Plebeian's residential quarters, a fortress with living places for the city's commoners and a small shopping and food district. There was also similarly the Patrician's residential quarters in another fortress, which contained living quarters for the city's nobles.

There was also a port quarter, containing both the city's sea port and dry port. The 'industrial' quarter also looked interesting, containing the city's art studios, textile 'factories' and food processing sectors. Those were in fact, the city's main industries and exports.

Those 4 were the only fortresses with a free movement policy, as the rest, which were the administrative quarter, the religious quarter and the King's quarter, were only to be visited with a permit conferred by the King's council in each fortress.

As for the fortress with the best food, most of the locals seemed to agree that it was the port quarter, as due to to the influx of people and goods, held a really large assortment of food and mercantile businesses held by foreign residents and a great diversity in terms of the cuisines.

By conversing with some of the locals, Alex also discovered the reason behind the city's peculiar architecture; Abdera held its roots in the Mycenean Age, before most of the Olympians were even born and instead of new buildings being constructed, they only repurposed and renovated old buildings while only building new ones when it was absolutely necessary.

While following the direction of the coast to enter the fortress, Alex was astonished at how Abdera managed its nighttime lighting. There were tall lanterns made with fireproof materials, inside of which blazed fires ignited from the animal fat they recycled from their textile sector, brightening up the city at night and allowing for a myriad of human activities even when the stars were visible.

While maintaining clueless internal monologues, he unknowingly had sight of the short walls in the distance but his walk was interrupted by a figure that stood in front of him. Alex stopped in his tracks and looked at the devil in question.

It was an unfamiliar man who appeared ordinary in every way except his clothes. He wore a sleeveless white linen shirt and black silk pants. The entire outfit was wrapped in an orange toga and he wore a brass olive hairpin. He looked a bit.....stylish? Alex thought.

The man then spoke ”Sir, would you be interested in becoming our model?”

'Model? What is he talking about?' Alex was dumbfounded and looked at the man incredulously.

The man seemed to understand his gaze and started to blabber on ”Bla...Bla...Bla...Bla”

After what seemed like a 15-minute speech, the chatterbox finally quieted down.

Alex didn't pay attention to the man for most of his 'speech' but he got the general idea. It seemed that recently, several art studios started working with the textile hegemons of the city to create line-ups of artful and stylish clothing and as a means of promotion, they would have good-looking people wear their clothes, plastered with the trademarks of the art studio, and walk around, publicizing their studio. It was essentially the Antiquity prototype of an influencer.

After consuming Ambrosia, Alex did feel like he became quite good-looking and that was probably why he was approached. It was too troublesome, however, so he flat-out refused.