First, I was wearing a dark green tunic like a dress, made of relatively good fabric. The pants were made of well-ventilated fabric, so movement was easy, and the shoe design was very peculiar. I didn't understand why only the toe part was so long and pointy with no practicality. Was it a trendy design?
The hat and coat hanging on the wall had a distinctive stench. They smelled like ammonia or something kind of foul. I didn't really want to wear them. This house had an L-shaped structure connecting a room, living room, and kitchen in order, and it was a two-story house: I lived on the first floor, and the landlord lived on the second floor.
Located in the northeast district of Breisburg, this was a residential area where the knight class lived. The knight class was classified as lower nobility in noble society. Nobles with titles (duke, marquis, count, viscount, baron) were upper nobility, and among these, upper nobles with territories were called princes and were like kings of a region.
Creak.
When I opened the door and went out, I saw a medieval European housing complex. Before I could feel like I was on a European trip, I casually noticed a lump of filth in a corner of the street. That seemed to be the source of the foul smell. That... no matter how I looked at it, it looked like excrement. Was this real reality, unlike the game?
Come to think of it, I'd heard that in medieval times there were no separate toilets, so people did their business in chamber pots and then threw it into the streets. Just thinking about it made me want to go home. Could I go back if I died again? In this unsanitary place, could someone like me who loved cleanliness endure? What if I got sick?
Even without the Black Death, it was a terrifying sight that made me feel like I'd die from disease. So I could understand why the hat and coat were hanging next to the front door. They were protective gear to shield yourself from the filth pouring from above.
Unpleasant, but I had to wear them to go out.
The long, cloak-like coat that came down to below the knees was called a surcoat, one of the representative garments of the Middle Ages along with the tunic. It had a hood attached, so wearing it made you look completely like you were in a robe. Wearing it somehow made me feel secure.
"..."
Similar brick houses lined up in a row, the large castle walls surrounding them in the distance, people in various medieval-style clothes walking the streets. And mixed among the people were livestock, hunting dogs, and children running around vigorously. Definitely not a landscape I was familiar with.
In the game, citizen NPCs didn't roam around in such detail. So seeing this scene made me realize this was truly a living world. These people weren't programmed to move. They were organic and clearly had their own purposes.
Each person's life, each person's existence.
I confirmed it.
I noticed the winding alleys and vagrants sitting here and there, and there were more of them than I expected. Among them, what appeared to be a Romani family had set up a small tent and was taking care of a newborn baby inside. There were dirty puddles on the ground, and the smell was terrible.
"Sir, please give just a coin to a poor beggar with an injured leg? If you want to receive blessings, donate to me. The kindness you show will be repaid by God."
A vagrant with a bandage on his leg, leaning on a crutch, boldly asked me for alms. God would repay it if I donated? When I said I couldn't give alms because I had no money, the vagrant smiled at me and said that if I came to give alms next time, he'd give me blessings. I was dumbfounded and left the alley.
A vagrant boldly demanding alms.
I'd never seen that even in the game.
There were more people who appeared to be vagrants and Romani than I expected.
Between the vagrants boldly begging and the filth pouring from the sky, I couldn't help but be culturally shocked. How long would it take to adapt to this medieval environment? It was definitely not a place where a clean modern person could live. Fortunately, this was an era after the Black Death epidemic had passed.
The game setting was a mixed era of the 15th and 16th centuries.
The Black Death raged in the 14th century and had now subsided.
The world of Medieval Knight was basically based on fictional history. While historically famous events and historical accuracy were reflected, it would be wrong to treat it as actual history. The Duchy of Beren that I belonged to ruled the Swabia and Baden regions, but it was a duchy that didn't exist historically.
Excluding the filthy ground and stench, I could definitely feel this was the most prosperous city of the Duchy of Beren. As befitting the duchy's largest city, there were many people, as it was a center of culture and economy, and the market was full of merchants selling all kinds of goods.
After leaving the maze-like alleys where beggars and Romani coexisted, the Cross Boulevards of Breisburg that I'd seen in the game revealed themselves. The cross boulevards, which divided into east, west, south, and north, also served as divisions separating each area into four major districts. I lived in the northeast district.
Coming out onto Kisling Boulevard (east), I could see the procession of carriages and people heading to the plaza.
Following this boulevard to the center, there was a huge plaza where all the boulevards converged. There was the government complex where the four government offices (administrative, military, financial, judicial) gathered and the execution platform, and the cathedral with its sky-piercing spire and massive Gothic style, Breisburg Cathedral, boasted its majesty.
The pointed Gothic style was very impressive.
Besides that, there was the duchy hospital and university, and a market displaying various goods. The grim execution platform also took its place in front of the government office, giving off a desolate atmosphere. People in various outfits symbolizing different classes could easily be seen in the plaza. All these facilities were gathered there.
The duchy hospital and university were run by the Church, and especially the university could be called a professional institution for training Catholic priests. Of course, besides theology, they taught law, medicine, mathematics, and more. When I played Medieval Knight, the duchy hospital and university were places I frequently visited, so I knew them well.
When people in monastic robes passed through the streets holding crosses, people offered prayers and showed respect. Then a thought suddenly occurred to me: I was a non-religious person who didn't go to church.
I realized this was quite a dangerous situation.
They wouldn't burn me at the stake unconditionally for being non-religious, right? I should at least pretend to believe. It would be best not to encounter Church people, but since the Church's influence was so strong in all aspects of life, I couldn't risk getting roasted, so it seemed wise to study enough about the Church.
Anyway, I'd received a repetitive quest at home, and looking at it, it seemed better to circle this plaza rather than run on the boulevard full of people. So I did some simple stretching. But some young nuns nearby saw me and giggled.
Why are they laughing? Is my posture strange?
After warming up, I started by running slowly at first, because a 35-year-old office worker has terrible stamina. But far from getting tired, it actually felt too easy, as though I'd gone back to my youth when I was full of energy. When I started picking up speed, that's when I felt all my muscles moving.
Running for 30 minutes. At first, I thought it was too hard a quest. How could I run for 30 minutes when I had such terrible stamina that I couldn't even run for 3 minutes, let alone 30? But my body was fresh, healthy, and very sturdy at 15 years old. So the more I ran, the more I felt energy welling up.
It had been so long since I felt like this.
In middle school, I boasted such vigorous stamina that I could play basketball for 8 hours under the scorching sun with friends without getting tired. Even in the military, I was confident in my stamina, but when I turned 30, my physical abilities gradually declined, and I became low-stamina in an instant. Even the flexibility I'd been proud of disappeared.
So when I started running, I really liked my current self, who didn't get tired even after running steadily without stopping for the first time in a long time. If I'd run this much before, I would have already been gasping for breath and bent over. My legs didn't hurt either, and I was energetic enough to run more.
A 15-year-old body was this sturdy and recovered quickly.
[Repetitive Quest: Training Complete]
[50 points, 50 copper coins awarded]
The 30-minute run ended quickly. A leather pouch appeared in the inner pocket of my surcoat. When I opened it, there were 50 copper coins inside. Is this how money comes in? The copper coins were smaller than I thought. About how big? A bit bigger than a dime?
Running definitely cleared the random thoughts in my head. I received another running quest. I wanted to run more. I wanted to enjoy this fresh body a little more. The prime I thought would never return after becoming a mid-30s person had come back to me.