Tingen was undergoing intense construction, displaying an air of vigorous rebuilding.
Of course, there were no wide, smooth asphalt roads, no bright gas lamps, no underground water pipes, and none of the other things that had appeared in Tang's memory from the late modern era. Lacking the necessary knowledge, the world's technology tree, only recently illuminated by Emperor Roselle, was somewhat limited in its development.
The carriage traveled on the stone road cleared by the city government. Tingen had just experienced a heavy rain in the early morning, and there was a lot of standing water on the muddy road. Consequently, there weren't many people or carriages moving about.
In this era, carriages were almost exclusively the transportation of nobles. Horses were precious resources, and carriages were rare tools for long-distance travel.
Those who could afford to keep horses invariably had ample land and wealth. Even barons often had to rent carriages from other well-connected nobles to maintain their dignity.
Frankly, Tang thought the world depicted in the books was more akin to the period after the First Industrial Revolution. While not as convenient as the modern era, an era with toilets and toilet paper was unimaginable compared to the current outhouses...
Okay, he really felt like crying a little.
Experiencing it firsthand, one would realize that in the Fourth Epoch, before Emperor Roselle's arrival to initiate the Industrial Revolution and reform the entire world in the Fifth Epoch, the various aspects of the Fourth Epoch were more primitive, pedantic, and cruel.
There were quite a few... corpses along the roadside. Wanderers, slaves who had died from infectious diseases, overwork, and other reasons, and the bodies of children abandoned by families who could not afford to raise them were not uncommon.
They died at night, died during every day and night of hunger and madness, and would be cleared away the next day and sent to the church for free cremation. The remaining ashes would then be thrown into the Tussock River—this was not the cremation culture brought by Emperor Roselle. In this world, the seven orthodox churches, which clearly understood the mysteries, had not yet undergone a long period of time to accumulate the ability to handle the corpses of an entire city. Cremation was the most convenient and cost-effective method of disposal.
After all, undead creatures like zombies, born from corpses, were not nonexistent, and cultists sometimes used large numbers of corpses to complete rituals that could have terrible consequences.
"These corpses that died along the roadside will soon be cleaned up," Tang lowered the carriage curtain, sighing silently in his heart.
This era was truly a cannibalistic society.
Of course, most of the dead were slaves.
The carriage gradually entered a section of road with better conditions, and the number of vagrants and corpses around decreased significantly. This could be considered the noble district of Tingen, the residence of high-ranking government officials and their families. Both the environment and other aspects were much better than the places they had passed along the way.
Tang took his mother to the residence of Viscount Beaker. The Viscountess, Jenny Beaker, was Baroness Boyanka's close friend, and visiting her first upon arriving in Tingen was a matter of courtesy.
Baron Ramd had not come, and neither Baroness Boyanka nor Tang was surprised.
After performing a divination and confirming his mother's safety, he also planned to go out for a stroll.
A Sequence Six demon of the Blasphemy Slate Sect had appeared in Tingen. The disappearance of an extraordinary being who could be considered mid-to-high level within this hidden organization should, and could not, go without any action from the Blasphemy Slate Sect to find the missing demon.
"I do hope they come looking for me. Of course, if it's a Sequence Four or higher demigod, then I'll have to let Father handle it."
Most others who came would likely become his marionettes hanging from strings.
However, the danger premonition that came with reaching Sequence Six should keep the higher-ups of the Blasphemy Slate Sect away from him and Ramd Town.
Tsk, that demon was really unlucky.
At the same time, Tang began to summarize his Marionettist principles.
"From my understanding, the core principle of a Marionettist lies in the marionette itself. As a qualified puppeteer, a Marionettist should try to hide behind the curtain behind the marionette, focusing the audience's attention on the puppet on stage, not the puppeteer behind it."
"At the same time, in a puppet show, each marionette has its own code of conduct, identity, status, abilities, habits, and characteristics that need to be highlighted, distinguishing it from the puppeteer and making a lasting impression on the audience."
"And making a lasting impression, even making the audience feel that it is a living person, completely distinct from the puppeteer, becoming two independent individuals, this will be the most crucial part."
'[Marionettist] Acting Method Principles Updated:'
'One, as a puppeteer who resides behind the scenes, personally appearing on stage is extremely impolite behavior. Please try to avoid such behavior.'
'Two, each marionette is an independent individual appearing on stage. Please arrange the order of appearance for each marionette and create a script for them.'
The current control limit for marionettes was one hundred meters, constantly approaching, but if he really wanted to stay behind the scenes, this distance was sometimes not enough.
He thought as the carriage moved along.
He didn't know when he saw a huge tent supported by heavy cloth curtains with red and yellow pointed tops.
"A circus?"
At this time, there weren't many people in the circus. Those who could afford the entrance fee had some savings, while the truly wealthy young masters and ladies had more refined forms of entertainment and disdained watching cheap circus performances with commoners.
Of course, if they were really interested, they might prefer to have the entire circus reside in their territory and perform exclusively for them.
Tang paid a few copper pennies and gained entry. After taking a seat, he realized that the circus mainly featured clown performances, and large beasts like lions, tigers, and black bears rarely appeared.
It wasn't much different from when he was Sequence Eight, still a Clown.
Somewhat desolate.
Tang looked around and saw only scattered groups of people in the entire circus, maybe twenty or thirty spectators in total.
A performance lasted about an hour, and the circus could put on at least eight shows a day, but judging from the current situation, the income here was definitely not good, possibly even a loss-making business.
When the performance ended, Tang had actually enjoyed it quite a bit.
"After all, the entertainment activities of this era are just these few. It can kill time, ah no, it can relax me, only watching circus performances and playing something like Fight the Landlord."
As for paper books, for Tang, who didn't have much fondness for ancient literature, they were quite good lullabies.
(End of this chapter)