The Cena continued on. Several nobles chatted with me and the other Chaldeans. They probed and prodded, trying to discern the strange new guests of the Emperor.
Some questioned my ability to bring victory, implying that I was a fake who managed to somehow delude the Emperor. It stopped once I started hovering casually.
After the appetizers came the main course, full of meat like multiple full-on roasted pigs and sheep. Beyond such common animals, more exotic ones were also served.
Silverware plates filled with giraffe necks cut into strips, whole boiled ostriches presented like how one might with a turkey, and even lions. Yes, lions— legs of skinned lions. Though the most striking of all was probably how the peacocks were presented: sauced and roasted whole yet their tail feathers were stuck near the butt of the peacock as if it was still alive and was spreading out in an attempt to attract a mate.
Even when there were still appetizers left, the main meal was served on Nero's order. Such a waste of food, I thought as I saw how the servants and slaves carried away the plates half-filled with food.
After the appetizers came the entertainment.
Singers were pouring their hearts out into their voices, musicians fiddling and playing their instruments, poets chanting long and thoughtful poems, and dancers displaying their acrobatic prowess as they moved with graceful motion. There were storytellers and a small theater play, philosophers discussing philosophy with the guests.
That last one had my own participation as I got into a debate with a philosopher trying to narrow down what exactly is a man.
"A man is a hairless monkey," I said.
"A man is not a monkey, though he is hairless. A man is defined by his virtue and ability to reason. Unlike beasts and monkeys who have neither."
"A man is as much of an animal as a lion or a dog." I can't exactly teach the philosopher evolution. Darwin won't publish On the Origin of Species for another 1800 years. "A monkey closest resembled man in form and function. If you observe the behavior of monkeys, you will discover many similarities with man."
"Then they are simply a bastardization of man. An inferior copy."
This was… fun. Yes, that's the word. Engaging in such philosophical debates was a very fun endeavor.
"All things are equal at the end. All things are equal before the inevitable end, be you high born or low born, man or animal..."
This philosophical discussion went well into the night. The main course quickly passed by, with the incoming desserts filling the table.
Roman desserts were simple, comprising fruits, nuts, and sweetbreads.
A piece of sweetbread in hand, I lay strung across a sofa as I continued my debate with the philosopher. Between us, a pot of peeled pistachios mixed with cheese served as snacks.
Our discussion attracted crowds as I used the knowledge I read from well-known philosophical books from the future and reframed them in a more Roman context, intentionally censoring references to stuff that hasn't happened yet.
Nero tried to join, but the content of our discussion confused her.
A tired Zvezdnyy lay across my lap late into the night while I was enamored with my debate with this philosopher that I still didn't know the name of. Only once I noticed how she was asleep lying on my lap and using my thighs as a pillow, did it dawn on me how truly late it was.
Many of the guests already left, including Mash and Ritsuka. I guess they saw how deep in the debate I was with this philosopher and decided it was best to leave me to it.
"Ah. The night ages. It's time for Zvezdnyy to rest." I said as I got up, carrying the girl in my arms effortlessly.
The philosopher, aged as he was given how he looked to be in his 50s, gripped the sofa's armrest to get up. The man straightened out the wrinkles present on his toga from sitting down for hours.
"Hmm yes. I should also take my rest as well. That was a fine battle of wits. I have learned so much from you, Goddess. And here I thought you were merely a powerful witch, but your wisdom truly speaks of the divine."
I felt like an imposter. I didn't come up with those concepts, they were mostly from the books I've read from the likes of Kant on critiquing the use of pure reason as championed by Socrates.
"The advocation of the empirical world over that inside one's mind, the very opposite of ancient Greek philosophers. Perhaps I should pay more attention to the women. If a woman can capture so much as a simple minuscule fraction of your wisdom, perhaps they are worth listening to."
I knew that Rome was a very patriarchal society, though it makes me wonder why isn't this sexism directed towards Nero.
"You clearly know of my name. All this time I've forgotten to ask what is yours?"
The old man bowed, "I am Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Seneca the Younger, advisor to Emperor Nero and philosopher of Stoicism."
"Well met, Seneca the Younger." I nodded.
Seemingly done with the conversation, a nearby slave approached me.
"I shall show you to your room, Goddess." He said as he held a candle.
I fought really hard to keep the grimace from appearing on my face.
"... thank you…" I eventually uttered those words.
"There is no need to thank me, Goddess."
I was led to a large room on the palace's west wing.
"These are called a Cubiculum. We like to place our beds on the westside since we'll be greeted by the sun as it rises in the morning." The slave explained. "The Emperor figured you'd like to sleep with the child. As such, there is only one bed to prevent separation."
"..."
The inside of this Cubiculum is much more elaborate than most sections of the Domus Transitoria other than perhaps Nero's bath.
The walls were covered in drawings. Artistic depictions of Rome triumphing over Carthage during the Punic Wars. The flickering light coming from the candle seemed to only make them more alive as the occasional darkening and brightening helped to bring certain sections into focus.
There was also a map of the Mediterranean. It was inaccurate, but ancient Rome didn't have satellite mapping technology yet, so it's understandable.
I placed Zvezdnyy on a bed that was different from the ones in Chaldea. It looked more like a table or a chair with how high the legs and the mattress were.
"I shall leave you to your rest, o' Goddess." The slave bowed and left.
I stared at the man's disappearing form as he exited from the room. A single, casual breath from me was all it took to blow out the candles.
I was immediately bathed in darkness.
I stewed in that abyss as I stood next to Zvezdnyy's sleeping form.
"..."
I'm kinda bored. Compared to a few minutes ago when I was still debating with Seneca I was really, really bored.
"...?"
Sensing something, I turned to the doorway. The empty doorway with seemingly no one around.
"..."
I stepped out into the hallway that passed by this room. There, I said, "Come out, Archer."
Right there, in front of me on the other side of the hallway, manifested Archer. He was leaning on the walls with his arms crossed.
"I thought I asked Ritsuka to make sure you're never close to Zvezdnyy."
"He used a Command Seal to make sure I was never within earshot of Zvezdnyy. And well… I'm not am I?" He shrugged.
Archer wasn't wrong per se; he was annoying with that 'technically correct' schtick. Seeing that, I turned around and started walking away, intent on speaking with Boudica about troops and the upcoming war plans regarding how the United Roman Empires were going to be dealt with.
"Preaching about being a hero yet allowing slavery to go unpunished. How hypocritical, o' Goddess Kukulkan."
I froze into a statue, resembling the very picture of absolute stillness. Slowly, I turned around, my head first, then along with my body like a snake changing directions until I fully faced Archer.
"What."
"You're a hero are you not?" Archer got off the wall and started walking toward me, "Shouldn't you be busy freeing these slaves instead of planning with their owners to prolong this system?"
The Servant was entirely unaffected by my growl. Furrowing my brows, I said, "This is not the time Archer—"
"Isn't it? If your ideals possess such hypocrisy and holes such as these, then how strong is it? Don't you think it'll shatter at the slightest touch?" He was right in front of me when he stopped talking.
My left eye twitched.
Is he actually going to question my ideals?
"Archer. I have saved a world, I think my ideals are strong enough—"
"You saved a world because of your own personal strength, not the strength of your ideals."
For some odd reason, a sense of anger bubbled up from within me at his insinuation that while my strength was incredible, my mental foundation was weak. This rage felt different… almost personal.
What a joke.
"Who are you to judge me?" I said, getting right up to his face until I was about an inch away, "Who do you think you are to judge me, Archer?"
My foot left the floor as I began to hover. I was now above Archer in height.
Looking down at him from this height, I admitted, "I could do what you say. I could easily throw down the slaves' masters and destroy the United Roman Empire at the same time. I don't need these allies. I alone, am worth millions of soldiers."
My arms jutted outward as I looked to the sides around me in an expression of 'what can you do?'
"And what then? What good would that do? After capturing the Grail, the Human Order would wipe away this Singularity, annihilating this successful slave revolt so cleanly that the only evidence of its existence would be the memories in our minds."
I paused for a bit to collect my thoughts.
"At the end of the day, all my changes were for naught. The happy faces of those freed slaves… the dead masters— all of it will be gone, wiped away, and there is scarcely anything out there crueler than false hope."
I was reminded of that Star, back when Bright and I returned from our visit to the Church of the Broken God. That Star granted me hope for a chance at victory, only for Ion to cruelly steal it away as he showed the sheer gulf of power between the two of us.
There, in the depth of despair in my room within Site 19, I came to the following realization:
False hope was one of the cruelest things out there.
"So you'll only rescue people if it makes a difference?" Archer concluded.
"..."
I had no come back for that. Archer was correct in a way. I don't want to give out false hope. "I require meaning in my action. I desire a lasting change brought about through the impact of my choices, not something that can be wiped away so easily. Giving someone false hope is cruel."
"Heh, a generous goddess alright. After all whatever actions you do in a singularity will get corrected by the Counter Force, so it's better to let them be than give them false hope to satisfy that vanity"
I crossed my arms, offended by what Archer said.
"What vanity?" I asked, "What could I possibly be vain about?"
"Just like Zvezdnyy, you don't save people for the sake of those people. You save them to satiate your own ego."
"..." I felt incredibly offended. I, who has suffered through so much… I, who has embarked on a journey across the infinity of the Waifu Catalog to find a cure for death… and Archer dares to accuse me of doing it all to satiate my own ego?!
"As befitting of a Goddess, you possess the perspective of a divine being." His steel-gray eyes stared into my own. "When you gaze upon a puzzle, you see the whole picture instead of individual pieces. You value the entirety of a life, instead of the moments within it. You don't bother fighting for the rights of these people because it is 'meaningless' in your eyes, yet it is everything in theirs."
I controlled my anger. If I lash out physically against someone in a verbal argument, then I might as well be admitting defeat.
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, then did it really make a sound at all?" I countered. This Singularity is a memory, and just like how memories of the past aren't the actual past themselves, any change I bring will equal changing that fleeting memory rather than the physical past.
Everything is already locked in stone.
"Yes. Because we are here to bear witness to the tree's fall."
"..."
Archer is determined to think I should fight for these people even if it doesn't matter in the end. Since I am here, I can cause a change, even if that change is minuscule or meaningless as the World itself reverts it.
Why would I bother wasting the effort for something so transitory?
Instead of a fruitless search for a cure for someone with late-stage cancer, sometimes it's best to just… stay with them. Ease them as they pass.
"I am a Goddess. Logic dictates that divine wisdom cannot be comprehended by mortal minds. Do not try to relate me to a mortal, Archer."
_____
It was when a ray of sunshine stabbed into her closed eyes that Zvezdnyy woke up. Placing a hand over her eyes to block out that ray of sunshine, the girl opened them to see a wholly unfamiliar room compared to the one in Chaldea.
It was far more luxurious compared to the rather sterile room inside Chaldea. The oddly familiar smell of frankincense pervaded the room.
"Hmm? My Polkovodets, where have we found ourselves?" Zvezdnyy asked as she got up. Hearing no response, the blonde asked again, "My Polkovodets?"
The Goddess wasn't there besides Zvezdnyy's bedside like she usually was.
"Uhhh…" Zvezdnyy furrowed her brows. That's strange, usually her Polkovodets was always there when the girl woke up, almost always with a book in hand.
Apparently, her Polkovodets had no issue reading in the darkness of midnight. Even in an abyss without light, her Polkovodets claim she can notice the tiny temperature difference between the black letters and white pages, something about 'infrared'.
Where is her Polkovodets? A pit began to open in Zvezdnyy's stomach. "I wish I was next to my Polkovodets."
Zvezdnyy immediately teleported right next to her Polkovodets. "There you are, my esteemed Polkovodets!"
"Wha—?"
Before her Polkovodets could finish that word, Zvezdnyy jumped and held onto her Polkovodet's body like a koala with a tree. The young girl tried desperately to wrap her hands around the Goddess' body but failed as her limbs weren't long enough.
"I'm hungry."
"Uff!" For a brief instant, Zvezdnyy could feel how her Polkovodets tried to push her away but stopped. Then, Zvezdnyy felt a hand touching her head, brushing up against her hat. "Alright, alright, let's go for some breakfast."
"Heh." Boudica chuckled at the scene.
There were some more chuckles among the soldiers present. "I'll be back, General Boudica."
Her Polkovodets led her through the streets of Rome, all paved with cobblestones. Without an incoming Imperial parade, the streets were far less sanctioned and sterile as the smell of spices wafted out of nearby shops. It was just as chaotic as any other city as different people hurried about in their days.
As Zvezdnyy traveled through the streets of Rome, she noticed something: while there were many women and elderly people with many wrinkles on their faces, she couldn't find any young men in their 20s or 30s.
"The Romans didn't exactly have a 'breakfast' equivalent compared to us," Her Polkovodets explained, "Instead they only had two meals a day, the Prandium and the Cena. The former is the midday meal while the latter is the dinner."
Zvezdnyy absorbed the information, assuming that her Polkovodets would probably be looking for these in the essay.
"However, that doesn't mean no one is selling food at this early hour. Thermopolis are the Roman equivalents of fast food—"
Zvezdnyy instantly perked up, "Does that signify the presence of fried chicken?!"
From Zvezdnyy's point of view, fried chicken was the second most delicious thing after pizza. The way the crunchy skin just fell apart as she bit into the juicy flesh … oh, it is very, very delicious!
"Uh, no." Zvezdnyy deflated like a pufferfish after the threat had passed. "But they should offer sausages and other barbequed goods."
"Hmm, very well. Let us partake in a repast at this 'Thermopolis'."
With the morning plans completed, it didn't take long for her Polkovodets to find such a Thermopolis. The cook shop faced the streets, with a mason counter that held multiple pots and pans as long strings of sausages hung from the ceiling. Next to those pots were stacked loaves of bread and cheese.
There was so much food…
______
"What would you like to eat, Zvezdnyy?"
The girl looked at all the offerings with a sharp gaze. Bringing a finger up to her mouth, she leaned forward to stare more closely at the food.
"I want two sausages."
"Alright. We'll take three sausages."
The shop owner took a look at me. The woman's eyes widened before saying, "Usually, I wouldn't bother selling to some barbarians. Just for you protecting Emperor Nero? I'll give you three sausages for the price of two."
"... Alright."
I gave her two quinari—small silver coins minted with Emperor Nero's head—and she ripped out three sausages from the ones hanging from the ceiling.
The ability for on-the-spot fabrication of local currency offered by the Company was truly useful.
With the exchange done, I handed Zvezdnyy her sausages. Munching on the meat, I could feel how my saliva got more savory as the salt from the sausages dissolved. The meat was hard, and dry as well.
"What do you think?"
"The sausage is far too salty, and the meat too tough! It pales in comparison to the sausages back in the Authority, with their tender flesh and lesser greasiness!" Zvezdnyy complained.
I smiled at her. At least I'm not alone on that front.
"What do you think about the Roman Empire?"
"'Tis but a pit of opulence and decadence. A far cry from the frugality displayed by the French peasants."
Zvezdnyy continued munching on the meat while my smile became strained, "I— uh, I see. Alright, that's an interesting viewpoint. Do you want to explain why?"
Communication Talent helped me recover from Zvezdnyy's words.
In all honesty, I didn't know where to go from here. Considering everything that's happened, I originally planned for Zvezdnyy to say some nice things about the Romans. After that, I would've tried to start a lesson about how expensive these luxuries are. That plan is thoroughly destroyed.
Did Zvezdnyy know about this…? I briefly glanced at the girl. She was two-thirds my height, yet her intelligence often surprised me.
Just then, my ears picked up the sound of heavy footsteps all over the streets nearby. Following that was the clanking of metal plates.
Soldiers? Why are there so many soldiers here?
Piercing through the crowd of people, I spotted the armored form of a Roman soldier. The man was in a pair, and once he saw me, he yelled, "Goddess! You're needed in the palace, General Boudica just received a report that the United Roman Empire is invading Gaul! Caesar is leading the army!"
Now? It hasn't even been a day yet since we've returned!