Iris, Les Herbiers. Rumm Champagne Chapel.
By the time Iver and the others arrived, it was already deep into the night.
"What a strange name..."
Isabel murmured, "It sounds like the name of some kind of wine."
This was Isabel's first trip abroad apart from getting married. And her first trip abroad had taken her to the nation of love and beauty. Although Les Herbiers was not the artistic capital of the Iris Flower Kingdom, its many novel and magnificent buildings still made her eyes widen involuntarily.
Iver smiled and reached out to stroke Isabel's hair, pulling the girl whose eyes seemed to hold stars into his arms.
"—Ah, that's because it really is the name of a wine."
Arsene was the one who answered Isabel.
At this, he smacked his lips. "To be honest, the wine's mediocre. Otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to advertise it."
Arsene did not think this was anything to be proud of. Instead, he found it somewhat embarrassing.
"The relationship between Iris and the Theocracy isn't good... Or rather, their relationship with the elves isn't particularly good, so the Theocracy didn't send any elven bishops to Iris."
Iver answered softly, "Of course... I think one important reason is that Iris is one of the few human nations willing to accept dwarves. And elves have never shown dwarves any courtesy."
At this, Iver could not help smiling.
He remembered a joke—Irisian culture had some similarities to France in his Previous Life. And France had a famous saying: the only things that could save France were women, dwarves, and foreigners.
The existence of dwarves had indeed allowed Iris, which worshiped the Path of Beauty, to develop technology normally. Iris's worship of art was just like his Previous Life's country's worship of science and engineering... to the extent