Chapter 48: The Smell Beneath the Progress Part 1
The morning began with a stench.
It seeped through the narrow alleys of southern Madrid, curled beneath doorframes, and clung to the linen hung out to dry. Bakers covered their noses as they opened shop. Blacksmiths cursed the rising heat for stirring the foul air. In the district of Lavapiés, the newly cobbled streets shimmered with a thin film of filth, and residents were already forming a line outside the municipal office by midmorning.
Inside the palace, Prince Lancelot read the latest report with a grim frown. The parchment crackled as he turned the page, the ink barely dry. Alicia stood beside him with her arms crossed, the heels of her boots tapping a steady rhythm on the marble floor.
"We’ve had twenty-four complaints filed in the last forty-eight hours," she said. "Mostly from the southern and eastern districts. The overflow’s spreading."
Lancelot looked up. "But the sewer system is active. We finished the fifth line last week."
"Yes, but the system was built to accommodate seventy thousand residents," Alicia replied. "Madrid has nearly a hundred thousand now. And more are arriving daily—from the countryside, from former Francois provinces, even from Britannia. Too many people, too fast. The city is not going to be able to keep up with the rapid increase of population."
He exhaled and set the parchment down.
"And the engineers?"
"Overworked. Some of the lower chambers are backing up due to poor grading. Others were blocked by waste not meant for sewers—bedding, rotting vegetables, animal bones. We’ve issued education notices, but no one reads them."
"They’ll read once their homes start flooding," Lancelot muttered. "Or if anyone knows how to read at all. The literacy rate is low, which is why we have to fix that as well through education."
Alicia didn’t laugh. "Sir, I think we’re facing a genuine sanitation crisis."