Lynn and Ria walked together toward the site of Ivreya's palace.
As they walked, they took in all the sights of the Royal City.
It was an ancient city.
If you could ignore the pale-faced victims in the tents along the roadside, and the sight of an infantryman every thirty paces.
It was a bustling metropolis with a population of several million.
As the two strolled on, they gradually reached an area overrun with vines. Withered roses and vines lay everywhere.
A group of ragged people were cutting the vines with sickles.
When Ria reached the area, she slowed her pace considerably.
She silently observed everything around her.
First, there were the most common sort: rough-looking men, filthy from head to toe and in poor physical condition.
Because of her past adventures, Ria wasn't entirely unfamiliar with life among the poor.
There were many reasons these people were dirty and didn't care about cleanliness.
One was simply that they'd gotten used to it.
The most important reason was that they had no money.
Bathing required the right conditions.
They needed firewood to light a fire and an iron pot to heat water.
Either one was extremely difficult for them to obtain.
Iron pots were valuable.
So was firewood.
After all, the land across the continent belonged to someone. They couldn't cut even a bit of wood; the lords wouldn't allow it.
As for unoccupied lands and forests, those were all extremely dangerous places, inhabited by monsters and demonic creatures.
Though magic could start a fire easily, magic was even more out of reach for them.
Magic was a toy for the nobility.
Under such circumstances, if they couldn't bathe in hot water, they simply went without bathing.
After all, bathing in cold water in winter would give them a cold.