Chapter 770 — The Start of the Year
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 5
In the blink of an eye, winter was already half gone. The storm-tossed, eventful year of Ansu 738 (Year One of Cecil) drew to a close amid a bitter wind and snow in the depths of winter, and the calendar had now turned to the beginning of the year.
In the past year, far too much had happened in this ancient yet young nation: the curtain had fallen on the old royal power, a once-divided country had been reunified, a disaster that seemed like a heavenly calamity had struck, large-scale reconstruction had begun, the old noble system had been reshuffled, and a new era had arrived...
Somewhere unseen, it was as if a deity who held the threads of fate had suddenly overturned His desk that year, churning the entire kingdom into utter upheaval. Only when the dust settled did people belatedly realize: the world had changed.
In the southern part of Rockhold City, a brand-new arcane train stood quietly beside the platform, waiting for the order to depart.
The biting cold wind raged and danced beyond the platform, sweeping loose snowflakes and lightweight dead branches and leaves up into the air, but a faint, semi-transparent shield enveloped the platform's edge, blocking the wind that lashed toward the interior. On the long rectangular platform, furnished with two rows of benches, some passengers sat waiting for the train, while others were boarding the train beside them under the guides' direction.
Most of these travelers wore the close-cuffed coats and straight-leg trousers that had become fashionable in the Southern Region only in the past two years, garments that allowed easy movement, and on their heads thick soft caps or felt hats. A minority still wore old-style long and short robes, while most of the women wore "simplified long dresses" that balanced practicality with beauty, with cotton garments of quite good warmth layered underneath, and a few women even traveled in coats and trousers designed specifically for women.
To anyone newly arrived here, this was an incredible sight. Before Ansu 736, even in the Southern Region, few commoner women would go out in clothing like trousers, which "overstepped the rules," because the mainstream sects—the God of Blood, the God of War, the God of Holy Light, and others—along with the nobles of every region, tended to have harsh regulations on the matter:
Only noble ladies and young misses of high station had the right to wear breeches, fencing trousers, and the like when participating in hunts or martial displays, or to wear formal gowns of various colors, court gowns, and similar attire at banquets. Such garments were all regarded as "clothing befitting the content of noble life and respectable," whereas commoner women were under no circumstances permitted to wear "rule-breaking" trousers or shorts, nor "gaudy dresses" in any color other than black, white, brown, or gray (unless they had been registered as prostitutes). Otherwise, at the least they would be fined by the church or the nobility; at worst, they would face corporal punishment or even enslavement in the name of "offending doctrine" and "transgressing the rules."
It was not until the Frost Month of Ansu 736, when the White Knight led the people to smash open the great cathedral of Frostgate City and the Supreme Administrative Council issued an edict stripping all churches within the realm of their private armed forces and their religious judicial authority, that these prohibitions gradually began to loosen. Now, after more than two years of changing customs and habits, commoner women who were somewhat bolder and had received a general education had finally begun to go out wearing trousers.
Beyond the Southern Region, however, general education had only just begun, and the reform of local customs had only just gotten under way. Even though the Administrative Council encouraged the populace to embrace the new social order, hardly anyone would challenge those old customs that had not yet fully receded.