Chapter 210: Entering the Mainz Kingdom (2)
Chapter 210: Entering the Mainz Kingdom (2)
The lodging we were shown to was far more worthy of being called a reception hall than the so-called reception halls or VIP rooms of the Marie Kingdom along the road. Surprisingly, the curtains of the room, the tablecloths, and the sofa covers were all silk fabrics. Even going into the bedroom, everything that touched the skin of the bed was silk. The reception halls of the Marie Kingdom... no, let us stop saying that. All the lodgings along the road had been cotton. Of course in the Rear Palace the royalty used silk, but except for the head maid and the higher-ranking maids the ordinary maids wore cotton. And from the capital all the way to the border I had never once seen silk fabrics at the various inns. Entering the Mainz Kingdom and suddenly being flooded with silk fabrics felt like awakening. This is where the disparity of wealth shows itself, isn’t it.I believe the people who had been in that room earlier under Director Hōkun, even though it was ceremonial dress, had all been wearing silk. The director is of course expected, but for even low-ranking officials to be supplied with silk ceremonial dress by the nation is an impressive thing. This must be an expression of the nation’s financial leeway.
"Lily, let me ask — does the Marie Kingdom have a silk-weaving industry?"
At my question Lily said,
"Ah, Robby-sama noticed after looking at the furnishings in this room. Yes, these must be products of the Mainz Kingdom’s silk-weaving industry. The Marie Kingdom also has a silk-weaving industry, but in both quality and quantity the Mainz Kingdom overwhelmingly surpasses it. Therefore a large amount of silk fabric is imported from the Mainz Kingdom. It is more expensive than Marie Kingdom products, yet members of the royal family, high-ranking nobles, and wealthy merchants all use Mainz Kingdom silk goods. Silk fabric is a symbol of status, so everyone wants to use good things."
"Is that so? Then do lower-ranking nobles never wear silk?"
"I do not think as everyday wear. Normally it is cotton or linen. If a lower-ranking noble possesses silk fabric, would it not be only a single set of formal wear for when they appear before His Majesty the King?"
"What!?"
"That is how it is. It is that precious."
"And of course that is paid for out of one’s own pocket?"
"Of course it is out of one’s own pocket. There is no way one would receive it from the nation. In my own house, while my parents were still alive, my mother would mend my father’s clothes. She would sew the holes made by insects so that they could not be noticed. My grandmother used to say proudly that those clothes had been newly made in my grandfather’s time. For a knightly house, newly making such clothes is a major event. Formal wear of that kind for appearing before the king is inherited across many generations, so the style is whatever was fashionable at the time, and the appearance differs considerably. Therefore when one newly makes them one shows them off. Yet even if they are old, if they are of luxurious make one flaunts them and says things like ’These clothes of mine are from fifty years ago’ or ’These clothes of mine were made in the time of the head of the house three generations ago.’"