Huh? Are they all real?...

There's no other way.

You can wear the goddess's hair ring on your hand normally, so that no goddess will wonder why you're not wearing a ring. When you meet another goddess, take off their hair ring and place it on your heart along with the magic ring!

It's very feasible, but a bit rough around the edges.

After nervously wiping away non-existent cold sweat, Moen pulled out the menu by the door and sketched out the meals he wanted.

They then left it at the door, waiting for a waiter to take it away.

This is how meals are served on this airship; you can go to the restaurant or have them delivered directly by the airship.

Of course, only passengers in second class or above can have this.

After all, the operators of ocean-going airships aren't running a charity.

Soon, the red borscht, landa greens, and white bread that Moen had ordered were brought to him by the waiter.

Looking at the delicious food in front of him, Moen couldn't help but think.

Red borscht, landa greens... Hmm, I don't think there's any ansa. Oh well, it's just food, it's nothing.

After shaking his head slightly, Moen began to eat happily.

In contrast, Ansa, who had already seen off the two goddesses, became increasingly agitated.

She felt like she had been losing somewhere all these days.

After glancing around suspiciously, Ansa could only shake her head and bite her fingertip, becoming even more suspicious.

-

After a ten-day voyage, Moen's airship finally arrived in Capua, the current capital of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Old World.

Of course, this was because the Eastern Roman emperors always insisted that Constantinople, which they considered their true capital, had only temporarily fallen.

Soon the generals and soldiers of the Eastern Roman Empire will recapture the capital and avenge their defeat.

Therefore, Capua, which has served as the Eastern Roman capital in place of Constantinople for thousands of years, is not officially called the capital to this day.

For this reason, they even appointed a governor and an administrator for Capua.

Of course, they were always in sinecure positions, because the real rulers of Capua were the Emperor and the Senate.

Their existence is merely to emphasize that Capua is not the capital, and that Constantinople is.

Even though everyone uses it as the capital, it's not called the capital!

And this point is so serious that anyone who dares to say it publicly will be stripped of their freedom and reduced to a lowly status.

Therefore, every time a foreign airship enters Capua, the crew will patiently convey this information to every passenger.

After confirming that they knew this, they told the passengers that their airship would rest for a day in Capua before setting off for the New World.

The New World was also Moen's destination on this trip.

There are no airships that go directly to the Holy City of Storm Church in Seven Hills; one must first travel to the New World where Storm Church is located to transfer.

After getting the latest departure time from the crew, Moen also left the dock.

I'm going to take a serious look at this capital that isn't actually a capital.

At first, it was fine; it was a very standard, bustling capital city.

A constant stream of people, vendors everywhere but not chaotic, and pairs of Roman soldiers that could be seen every now and then.

Although it looks similar to what Moen remembers, in the context of the supernatural world, it's already quite good that it remains unchanged.

However, as Moen moved forward, he discovered some things that didn't quite match his memories.

It's not that the setting is different; Capua wasn't a city built during Moen's rule, and Moen had never been to Capua before.

Instead, a concept that Moen did not have in his memory appeared—slaves!

They all wore collars symbolizing their status as slaves; they were emaciated, pale, and had a numb expression; they smelled terrible.

They were piled up haphazardly by the roadside, locked in iron cages where they could only curl up like livestock awaiting slaughter.

Each cage contained a wooden bowl, some broken and some damaged. The bowls were empty inside and dirty on the outside, suggesting that their food had once been stored inside.

Moen didn't know what kind of food it was, but he guessed it was worse than pig feed.

And so they appeared directly in front of Moen without any warning.

It was just like when Moen was a child, he went to the farmers' market and suddenly squeezed through the bustling crowd to see cages of chickens and ducks in the slaughtering area.

The difference is that chickens and ducks are just livestock; they have no souls, cannot speak, and are merely domesticated animals.

And here, there is a large group of living, breathing people.

Yet the two are so similar.

Their condition is even worse than that of the well-fed chickens and ducks raised by farmers.

It was just piled up haphazardly like a bunch of garbage.

If it weren't for the fear of them causing trouble and getting into problems, I probably wouldn't have even prepared an iron cage.

The people coming and going paid them no attention.

They simply covered their noses and moved away from the stinking place.

Because everyone knew very well that this group of people were slaves of low social status, and even among the least valuable of all slaves—the sick, the old and weak.

In short, these are all things that don't fetch a good price but waste food.

Get rid of the waste; keep it as an eyesore.

Both the owners selling them and passersby viewed each of them in this way.

Moen even saw a sign and a money bag next to their iron cage.

It says: Buy one get two free, each for only thirty copper coins. You can take them yourself, just leave the money. The key is on the wall.

This made Moen look down at the flock of ducks at his feet.

They were carefully kept in a large cage, with enough fine food and water as food, and the price was forty copper coins per animal, with slaughtering and bleeding free, and plucking costing extra.

Are humans really not even as good as ducks?!

Moen had seen and heard about such things many times in games and books.

However, this was the first time he had seen it with his own eyes.

This is even different from those girls, who are precious commodities, rare commodities worth traveling the world to purchase for great nobles.

Each of them will be carefully cared for, just to leave them in the best condition.

The slaves here might be killed that very night because they couldn't be sold quickly enough, in order to save the very little food that could be saved!

Furthermore, why did Rome have slavery?

During the Republic period, Rome abolished slavery itself!

Moen looked at the vendors beside him.

Pointing very seriously to the large pile of iron cages, he asked:

"Sir, are those slaves?"

The duck vendor, unfazed, said:

"Ah, you must be a guest from another continent? Hmm, then you're a slave. I've heard that there are no slaves on other continents anymore, it's hard to imagine."

"However, if you are going to return to your own country, I suggest you carefully ask those merchants whether your country allows you to take the slaves back."

"Don't worry, they've been buying and selling slaves for many years, and many of them are even ancestral property. They know perfectly well which countries allow it directly, which countries can circumvent the law, and which countries don't even need to think about it."

After saying that, the vendor also gave a serious suggestion:

"Also, sir, if you really want to buy a decent slave, I suggest you pick one out of those cages first. Then experience what a slave is really like."

"Don't worry, even though they're like this, they're still qualified slaves. They won't attack their masters and will obey their every command. Plus, they're very cheap. Outsiders like you can just spend a little money to experience it for yourself."

"If you've had your experience and think it's good, then go buy a real, good slave."

"Experience? What if you don't like it, or what about the slave himself?"

Moen was a little surprised.

The vendors, however, remained unfazed and smiled, saying:

"You've probably asked this a million times already. Outsiders like you are really easy to spot. Hmm, as for your question? It's too simple. Kill it, throw it away, or resell it—it's all up to you, isn't it?"

"Anyway, it's just a few dozen copper coins."

The other person's answer made Moen look at the passersby on either side.

They all heard these remarks, but none of them thought there was anything wrong with them.

Slavery had become deeply ingrained in their minds and had even become a part of their lives.

It can be said that if one of them unfortunately became a slave, he would never curse the ignorant and backward system of slavery, but would hate himself for being beaten into slavery.

After glancing once more at the iron cages that resembled those for holding livestock, Moen asked:

"How long has this system lasted? I remember that slavery was abolished long ago in the time of Augustus."

For the first time, the vendors showed a look of surprise:

"What? When did we ever stop the buying and selling of slaves?"

"The Age of Augustus".

"That Augustus?"

Moen continued to explain:

"The Age of Augustus Julius, the Second Age."

"Well, we've had many Augustus Julius the Greats. Ah, you mean the first one?"

"Yes, the Augustus before the division of Rome."

The vendor then understood and said:

"I don't know the specifics, but it seems that's how it ended after he died."

"What? This is how it is now that Augustus is dead? Immediately?"

The emergence of Rome and the archives of Augustus were all just the beginning of Moen's purpose—to clean up the mess left by the war of the apocalypse.

After doing all that and managing to piece together the broken world into something semblance of normalcy, Moen ended the save file.

Moen knew that even if Rome successfully integrated the world, it wouldn't be able to maintain everything under the circumstances at the time.

The gradually recovering divine authority, and the increasingly restored various races.

Everything destined the world to be divided.

All he could do was maintain Rome while he, a mere mortal, was alive.

But if he were to die, or if he were no longer a mortal, Rome would surely fall apart immediately.

Because of him, the tacit understanding between him and many forces, and the newly born gods—the necessity of mending the broken world—has been personally resolved by him!

Therefore, Rome's glory was destined to be short-lived, and Moen arranged a tribute-style farewell before reaching the pinnacle of glory—the death of Caesar.

Although his core purpose in establishing Rome was merely to mend the world, Moen truly did not expect that everything he left behind would be instantly overturned after his death.

Were we in too much of a hurry back then?

If we're not in a hurry, how can we mend this broken world, which has been nearly destroyed by the eldest sons, in a short time?

The vendor shrugged and said:

“I don’t know, sir. I’m just a duck seller. You should ask the scholars; they know more about these things than I do.”

As the vendor spoke, he pointed to the luxurious buildings next to the iron cages:

“You’re in luck. That house is the largest slave trading guild around here. Well, they’re not the best-known place, but if you’re just asking about the history of slavery or something, they’ll definitely have enough information.”

After glancing in the direction the other person was pointing.

Moen then took out a vampire silver coin and gave it to the other party as a token of his gratitude.

Then, amidst the other person's beaming smile, Moen asked seriously:

"Sir, can you imagine life without slaves?"