Rendezvous in the Romanowskian Empire

21. A disastrous promise

Althea

I spat the piece of meat, staring it in disgust.

Currently, sitting in the warrior camp, I was sitting with my dinner. I could eat meat, but the fact it was undercooked and possibly raw on the inside made me want to puke.

The terracotta bowl contained figs, olives, and a humble piece of meat that I'd just couldn't swallow. And this was supposed to be my dinner.

Sigh

Humble because I had seen slaves having only those barely digestible desert fruits. While master invader was gracious enough to raise me from the slave bracket by tossing a chunk of half-cooked meat.

I could be wrong as well. People in olden times worked their asses off so it could be a reason for their excellent digestive system that they didn't need to overcook stuff.

But oh yeah, the E. coli bacteria.

Eating whatever few olives I could, I picked the figs and discreetly buried them in the muddy ground of the camp. Fruits must be juicy, not a shrivelled excuse of a fig.

My only hope was the meat, which could also have the infamous E. coli. A bacterium which makes a person throw up multiple times if not destroyed during the cooking process.

My guess was that people here had an intestine, strong enough to digest the bacteria itself.

I got up with the half-eaten piece of meat and stood at the camp's entrance. Master invader had warned not to step out, or he would chain my ankle with those melon-sized iron balls.

With the only food dangling in my hand, I peeked out to check if he was there or any other recognizable face. My gaze shifted to the night sky.

The sky was buzzing with stars. Literally packed that it was difficult to view the dark blue shade of the night sky.

I looked up in awe.

Back in the twenty-first century, because of elevated buildings and ground level lighting system, the starlight got shadowed. Not to mention the nasty rule of pollution, one ends up staring at the blank sky, which in reality is crowded by a shimmering glow.

Similar camps were set all across this area, which was a border to another city. Men sat around small bonfires, having drinks and chuckling at each other's wild fantasies.

My stomach growled, reminding me of the starving state.

Since Julian was an important companion of Alexander, it could be possible he was in one of the camps. After I had parroted everything written in the AI book, he had taken it back and gone out after warning me.

He didn't return until this time.

Stepping out of the camp with utter caution, I tiptoed around for one last check.

Surrounding clear. Now I needed a little fire.

Searching the area, I only found hulks of men sitting closely around the one thing that could soften my meat to an eatable entity.

They made female slaves to sit on their lap as the probably drunkards yelped like a pack of jackals at sexist jokes.

The poor women would flinch at the voices, causing their masters to make them the centre of attraction.

"Look at that. She fears my voice itself." A warrior gripped his slave's chin, planting sloppy kisses down her neck. Everyone leered at the depiction.

"Man, she looks like a lamb in a lion's arm, doesn't she?" another suggested, smiling smugly.