Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 378 Are you from Earth again?

A month and a half had passed since leaving Rostin City again on February 2. During this month and a half, Cloud Whale had flown over several small countries to the east and south of the Great Brittany Kingdom, including Lisde, Rogberg, and Lessenwell, and was currently located within the territory of the Republic of San Marino.

Among them, Lisde is a religious resort with the world-famous majestic Cathedral of St. Raphael. It is said that a prophet of animism once gave lectures here, attracting all spirits to gather here, thus leaving behind many holy sites. Roggborg is a country of snow-capped mountains and hot springs. A branch of the Alps passes through here. The Snow Moon and Ice Moon that just passed are the best seasons for enjoying the snow. Needless to say, Lessenwell is a country of grasslands and knights. Although the country is small, it has a long history. It has produced heroes and great men like the Lord-Granted Paladin King. Its international reputation is not inferior to that of the three major powers.

The City-State Republic of San Marino is a country in the mountains. As the name suggests, it is composed of many city-states in the Marino Mountains. To this day, it still retains the traditional city-state autonomy and joint representative system. There are many ancient city ruins scattered throughout the territory, the earliest of which can be traced back to the first brick built by human ancestors.

Although the cloud whale flew over these countries, it did not stay in the sky all the time, because staying on the island all the time would make people bored, no matter how beautiful the scenery and how comfortable the life were. Therefore, sometimes Alice would pester Yieta to find a deserted place to land temporarily, so that she could leave the island to play and experience the customs and cultural characteristics of different countries.

Because Metien was also among the group of people playing, Lingge turned a blind eye and did not criticize her for being too leisurely and having no sense of crisis at all.

After destroying the Earth Mother Titan together with the troops of the Balance of Order in the Salia Fields, Lingge was sure that he and his group must have entered the vision of the united cults. If he continued to act in a high-profile manner, it would be tantamount to seeking death.

Fortunately, Alice knew her limits, so she mostly enjoyed the natural scenery, such as snow-capped mountains, hot springs, forests, and towering mountains. If she wanted to go to a human settlement to purchase daily necessities, she would try to choose more remote villages and towns to avoid the sphere of influence of the united religious orders.

Unfortunately, the magic of favor [premonition] has never given Lingge any hint, and the whereabouts of the next young girl king is still unknown.

If we fly further, we will leave the Republic of San Marino and enter the border of the small coastal country of Bazia. It is called the "Pearl of the Sea" because of its developed commerce. In addition to several surrounding countries, its main trading partner is Metosh, which is also located in the Gold Coast area. The narrow and wide arc coastline from Bazivanilla, the capital of Bazia, to Elfaran, the capital of Metosh, is suitable for building ports due to the terrain. Therefore, many commercial cities have emerged. Since its history, commerce has been particularly developed. In the past century, the trade volume accounted for two-thirds of the entire Sigiriya continent. Almost all bulk commodity trade has to stop here for transit. People at that time said that "every section of the road where ships and carriages pass is covered with gold coins", so it got the nickname of the Gold Coast.

By the way, like the "Pearl of the Sea" Bazya, Metso also has a nickname called "The Lady of the Sea", which is mixed with some obscure and complex sexual connotations. In addition to implying that all countries at that time were eager to have relations with this enchanting, passionate and wealthy lady, it also implies that the Bazya Kingdom, which was also established by the True people, is still secretly controlled and controlled by Metso - after all, no matter how dazzling the pearl is, it is just an ornament on the lady's crown.

It should be said that Ling's guess was very accurate. The cloud whale flew along the famous "Giant Ridge Walkway" in the Republic of San Marino for a while, followed the "Sandgus Cloud Mass" all the way south, and crossed the towering Hogar Snow Mountain together. Then, the vast land sea appeared in everyone's sight.

Alice stood on a small hill at the head of the cloud whale, looking far into the blue and transparent sky. Countless ships were leaving the port with a huge lighthouse and heading for the more distant coastline. The sea water here was too clear, reflecting the pure deep blue and large clouds that looked like schools of fish, glittering and floating under the sea. For a moment, it was hard to tell whether these ships were sailing on the sea or in the sky like this big whale.

A few white sharp-billed gulls flew across the sparse sky, and giant petrels that were good at diving drew a graceful arc and then dived into the sea to prey on the fleeing fish. Their flying altitude was much lower than that of the cloud whale, but their shadows reflected in the sea were even more distant and smaller than the big whale.

Flapping its huge wings, the cloud whale flies towards the sea. Even the wind at an altitude of ten thousand meters seems to carry the scent of sea water. Taking a deep breath, the smell of fresh water vapor and slightly fishy smell instantly fills the mouth, nose and mind, making you feel refreshed.

"The sea!" Alice raised her hands and cried out, like a country bumpkin who had never seen the sea. "It's the sea!"

This excitement infected the other children, so Metien and Shemi also raised their hands and shouted: "The sea, it's the sea!" Even the lambs were shaking their heads and bleating. This scene was indescribably weird, like some kind of evil secret religious ritual.

Ling Ge: “…”

He had heard that some people who had never seen snow would scream and exclaim in amazement when they entered Rogue Castle. He had also heard that some people would do unexpected things when provoked. He didn't expect that there was someone around him who could combine these two types.

Fortunately, no arrogant and superior locals will suddenly appear at this time and sneer at you as a "country bumpkin".

They were flying over the port city of Elshin in Barzia, the "Pearl of the Sea". It was a commercial and trading city that had prospered since the Middle Ages. Due to its advantageous geographical location, it connected the inland areas of the central and northern parts with the prosperous Gold Coast, and served as a transit point for many important trade routes.

Looking down from the sky, one can see that countless sails are moving in and out driven by the sea breeze. Among them are huge three-masted sailing ships, as well as small and exquisite pilot ships; there are Kirk-type sailing ships from the Sonia Islands, as well as Flask longships from the Suer Alliance, and even several huge ironclad warships as big as mountains are spewing billowing black smoke from their chimneys, forcefully squeezing out other ships and monopolizing the waterway leading to the dock.

Ships come and go, and the shadows of sails, clouds, steel chimneys and the black smoke that fills the sky merge into one, vast and mighty, covering the sky and the sun, creating a spectacular sight.

They should be fleets returning from overseas colonies, loaded with colonial treasures and various rare goods, proclaiming to the crowds watching at the port the wealth and poverty of the continent across the sea, which are not essentially contradictory.

Since the end of the "Silent War" between the Kingdom of Great Britta and the United Empire of Yalas, the two sides signed the "Treaty of Noville", in which the former obtained the land of the Silent Bay and Storm Point and established the first overseas colonial city "Ocean City" Osher. Since then, the human and material investment of various countries in overseas colonies has been crazy. The fleet of a few steamships in front of us can only be regarded as a small fight. After all, Bazia has never been a powerful country. The three major powers with the largest investment, each time they sailed or returned victoriously, the fleets with expensive steam warships could reach nearly a hundred at most, not to mention the United Orders that dominated the entire colonial war.

Of course, the rewards were so amazing that Adam Smith, then Minister of Finance of the Kingdom of Great Britta, sighed: "The benefits gained in the distant oceans thousands of miles away are enough for us to launch fifty wars of the same scale. This is undoubtedly worth the money... I am once again convinced that there is no more appropriate and more legitimate economic means in the world than war."

What’s interesting is that after Linger gave everyone a brief introduction to this period of history, Alice took out the booklet she had been carrying for the first time in a long time and wrote it down while muttering: “Adam Smith, an advocate of economic liberalism, is also the founder of bourgeois classical political economics. He wrote economics books such as The Wealth of Nations and The Invisible Hand. He is known as the father of classical economics and the father of modern economics… How can he be both classical and modern? What’s going on?”

She felt like she had found a loophole.

Well, another philosopher from the Earth world.

Lingge had a numb face. He was somewhat accustomed to how these travelers wantonly interfered with and transformed the history of his world. Rather, he would be surprised if there was no history in which these earth philosophers appeared.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)