Zhang Heng did not know that the Balance Blade had an internal conflict on whether to accept him into the organization.
Of course, such things didn’t concern him too much. Now that he was finally standing on the ancient Roman city streets, he could see what this ancient empire was like with his own eyes.
Ancient Rome had many similarities to modern society, such as the amazing drainage system. Some of which could still be used in modern times. And for the outstanding contributions to architecture, many people might not imagine that all these buildings were built in the first century. There was a surge in population in Rome, and it caused the shortage of lands to build more houses. To solve the housing problem, they had to build a lot of tall buildings.
One of the most famous buildings was called the Happiness Building. Zhang Heng spotted it from where he stood because it is ten stories high. Of course, a ten-story tall building was nothing spectacular in the later generations. However, it was hard to imagine the residents living on the top floor going up and down every day without an elevator.
The Happiness Building was like the Oriental Pearl TV Tower in Rome, standing in the middle of the city. Of course, it was one of the few unique buildings in Rome. In contrast, the apartments where the commoners lived on the roadside were far less luxurious. Generally, these were only four or five stories high. Every floor added to the structure would yield the owners more income. They were usually enthusiastic about making their apartments taller. However, doing so could endanger the residents’ life.
Firstly, the building wasn’t nearly as stable as the high-rise building with reinforced concrete structure in the later generations. Therefore, it was often heard that the building here would collapse from time to time. Those who got buried under the collapsed building could only blame it on their bad luck. Besides, there was no fire-fighting ladder in this era as well. Once a fire broke out, the people that lived on the upper floors would suffer the most. The gap between the rich and the poor in the apartment buildings was pronounced, where greedy apartment owners would build their apartments as high as possible. In the end, the empire had to come up with a corresponding law to limit the height of buildings.
Aside from the structural problem, once the building became taller, the frequency of someone tossing their garbage from the higher floors would increase tremendously. When Zhang Heng walked on the streets, he did see someone dumping their rubbish from the apartment’s top floor. Fortunately, he was agile enough to dodge all of that.
He also encountered a group of kids who were having their classes on the roadside. This was how the students In Rome’s elementary school studied. There were people coming and going on the streets, causing it to be constantly covered in dust. And the students were forced to listen to the vendors’ shouts and the donkeys’ braying.
Here, the teachers would teach their students basic spelling and arithmetic. After that, most commoners’ children would start working to earn money. Only the children of the rich and nobles would continue to receive an education.
In all fairness, ancient Rome had a reasonable literacy rate among the people. It was better than the previous era. However, those that could not read and write were still more than those that were educated.
Zhang Heng asked for directions from the two locals, then continued to walk down the street. It did not take long for him to arrive at the Probus Bridge. After passing this bridge, Zhang Heng would come to the south of the River Tiber. This river passed through the city of Rome. And due to the relatively large amount of sediment, River Tiber’s water would become golden when the afternoon sun shone on it. With the sycamore trees on both sides of the riverbank, it was indeed a unique scenery.
Zhang Heng walked across the Probus Bridge and finally saw the end of his trip.
The Red Nose Blacksmith’s shop was located in the building on the southern river bank. According to the information that he retrieved from his character panel, the game items he brought with him to this dungeon were stored in that shop.
Zhang Heng then walked into the blacksmith’s shop and saw the blacksmith crafting a dagger. The latter was a burly black man who was currently focusing on the work at hand and did not look back when he heard the footsteps behind him.
After a while, Zhang Heng said, “Vulkan.”
Vulkan was the god of fire in Roman mythology, husband of Venus, and the password for Zhang Heng to retrieve his game items. However, when Zhang Heng uttered the word Vulkan, the black blacksmith did not respond to him. Zhang Heng waited patiently for about five minutes. Only after the blacksmith finished sharpening the blade and stood up did Zhang Heng realize how tall the blacksmith aas. With a height far exceeding two meters, he was technically a giant.
“You are finally here.” The blacksmith said, “Someone deposited something here two months ago and said that you might come and get it at any time, but I didn’t expect to wait for so long.”
While talking, he turned and walked into the back room, and after a while, he carried the package out.
With a quick glance, Zhang Heng knew the package was meant for him because there was a game organizing committee logo on it. Since he was in Rome, the logo was painted using some of the most commonly used dyes in Rome.
Zhang Heng opened the package and took out a few game items that could be used in this dungeon. After that, he put the remaining game items back in the package and asked the blacksmith, “Do you still provide storage services here?”
“Yes.” The blacksmith nodded, “But it comes at a cost. One Sestertius every two days.”
The fees were quite expensive, but Zhang Heng has just made a fortune from the recent battle. Even after the gladiator school took a massive cut from it, he was still left with some money. He was no poor. After that, he took a gold coin from his pocket and tossed it to the blacksmith, “This is the money for the 200-day deposit. Keep my items safe.”
The blacksmith was puzzled after he took the gold coin from Zhang Heng, “You don’t know me, right? This is your first time coming to my shop. Why do you trust me so much? Aren’t you afraid that I will sell your things to others secretly?”
“This is a good question,” Zhang Heng said. “But fortunately, I can judge others quite well.”
Of course, Zhang Heng was not the type of person who would trust someone he met for the first time. The one that he trusted was not the blacksmith but the game organizing committee. Since the game organizing committee chose to store his game items here, all his game items would be protected with the highest security. Hence, Zhang Heng did not bother to look for other places to store his game items.
After paying the money, he left the shop. With all those game items, Zhang Heng was more powerful, and it gave him the strength to take the initiative in any battle. Next, Zhang Heng was about to look at the temple, but he suddenly stopped moving.
That was because he found out that the person that had been following him reappeared again. At first, Zhang Heng thought it was someone sent by Mark Reuss to follow him secretly in case he tried to run away. But now, it seemed like that was not the case. Zhang Heng noticed something hiding around their waist. While Zhang Heng was in the shop, they had gone to look for some weapons instead of staying idle. In other words, once they found the right place, they would not hesitate to attack Zhang Heng.
As for now, Zhang Heng was extremely valuable to Mark Reuss. He still needed him to earn more money for him and win the gladiatorial show that would be held more than a month later. Logically speaking, it was impossible that Mark Reuss would send someone to attack him.
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