There are Aristos in France, but they act more like bohemians, or something like that? Like Japanese "idols" for the common people. Aristo, Dunois among them, do not spit on ordinary people, are not afraid to communicate with them, quite friendly, but do not cross a certain line. The "nouveau riche" are not included in the circle of the "chosen", because the presence of big money does not automatically add "plus one hundred and fifty to the charisma".
Here aristocrats are educated, cultured people, well versed in many spheres of state life, so even if rich, but "bullshit" is not welcome. Yes, aristocrats hold business in their hands, not all of it, but a serious enough share to guide the course of economic development.
A part of business, especially small and medium business, is left to the private sector to stimulate the market and society. I did not learn this in a day or two, but the reasonableness of the system is undeniable. However, the magical world is strongly connected to the world of simpletons, if only by the fact that quite a few consumer goods of the domestic market are produced by simpletons. Need I remind you of what's been going on in Europe for the last few decades?
In France in particular, the problem has been the influx of Chinese and Arabs with a strong Muslim bias. This issue attracts a lot of attention from the aristocratic magicians, because they understand the danger of the internal market being overrun by outsiders who are not afraid to establish their own laws, organize bandit formations, as well as import their magicians and sorcerers to strengthen their influence.
It should be added that not all emigrants are bandits, there are also normal people who dilute the gene pool and do not set the capture and subjugation of the natives as an end in itself. Such people get better conditions, and their gifted children can study in Beauxbaton. The mages and wizards of France keep a close eye on the degradation and genetic degeneration of the nation, so various closely related crossbreeds are not found here.
The time I spent here revealed more and more interesting and new things to me. I often went for walks, alone and in the company of new acquaintances. Living on their estate also revealed some details of French character, and the gardens and the greenhouse, made of pink and blue patterned glass, were much more beautiful than I had expected. I also walked around normal Paris. What can I say?
The city is like a city: the main streets are beautiful and well maintained, the alleys and lanes are different, both dirty and not so dirty. In the dark alleys there are a lot of small shops and restaurants of different cultural affiliation, and also a lot of criminals, like cheap prostitutes as women, drug dealers, gopota, and such sullen men, with cold eyes, watching everything around from some shadows.
Five broken arms from pickpockets, two castrated dogs, and a dead junkie who decided to stab me in the kidney. On the main streets, clean and bright, I felt the "spirit of France" — a kind of ease of communication, smiles, lots of music, clowns and mimes, stacks of open cafes and a sea of light.
In the evening on such streets there are a lot of people walking, both young and not so young, but there is no such noise. On one of my walks I came across a music store where I stayed for a few hours.
I did not take cassettes and reels, laser disks have already appeared, but simple CD disks, so I chose vinyl and a rather expensive but very high quality player of these same vinyl disks. I chose classics from what I remembered at the edge of my consciousness, i.e.
Bach, Mozart, Paganini, Sibelius, Strauss, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Chopin, Wagner, Grieg. The salesman recommended a few operas, which I did not refuse. And then my eyes fell on modern things, and I couldn't refuse Depeche Mode, Rammstein, Pink Floyd and other "venerable".
In the process of shopping, I had an interesting idea, which I thought about for a while, and even started to add some options, but quickly came to the conclusion that I would need help with one of the "options".