Chapter 42: Visiting Uldin
The conversation with Aisha had been, on the whole, pleasant.
That evening, Hikigaya was grandly entertained as Aisha's guest and an "ally" of the Roman army. The "high society" of the city understood Hikigaya's importance perfectly well. They held a banquet for him; providing abundant food was merely the baseline—the real theme was the Roman-version "young ladies."
Hikigaya did not rate this highly. To put it bluntly, on one hand, a frontier city like this wouldn't have any Roman nobility in the true sense; on the other, these so-called high-society girls had failed to learn anything good while mastering every bad habit. They hadn't picked up much of the refined side of Rome, but their emulation of the legendary profligacy of Roman noblewomen was a case of the student outstripping the master.
Even if Hikigaya were truly a man who couldn't go a night without "meat," he couldn't muster any interest in these women who had already been thoroughly used. Even when they brought out sister or mother-daughter combinations, it didn't work.
However, looking at it from this perspective, the long-term pressure applied by a character like Uldin had clearly left the mental state of these people quite abnormal. What maintained the basic order here was likely Aisha's Authority.
There was an extra program that night: Uldin sent a messenger with a letter.
The messenger was a Hun, riding a massive Wyvern that seemed impervious to blades and spears. He landed in the plaza as if entering no-man's land. Then, under the fearful and loathing gazes of the Romans, he respectfully handed the parchment letter to Hikigaya.
The text was written in Latin. After the Huns entered Europe and took root, their upper class had Romanized very quickly; Latin script and language were widely used, and until Attila took power, no Hunnic leader felt dissatisfied with this phenomenon.
The content of the letter was simple. The gist was that Uldin had waited around all day and found no sign of Hikigaya, so he formally wrote to invite him to his place. Condensed even further, it said: Chasing girls isn't nearly as fun as drinking!
After thinking it over, Hikigaya felt that staying in Lauriacum for the night was indeed rather dull. He had already gathered the information he wanted from Aisha; staying longer would just be an intrusion. So, he gladly accepted the invitation.
However, he refused to ride the same dragon as the Hunnic messenger. There was no way he was going to share a mount with a rough man who smelled of pungent musk.
Impatience getting the better of him, he shooed away the Hun who attempted to act as a guide. Out of a sense of contractual spirit, Hikigaya still said goodbye to the Roman commander in Lauriacum and bid farewell to Aisha at the church before leisurely leaving the city to find Uldin.
The letter didn't specify Uldin's exact location. But for a Campione looking for a nearby kin, there were far too many ways to find them. Hikigaya settled it with a single use of the Eye of Horus.
Coincidentally, Uldin's residence was the very riverbank fortress Hikigaya had seen when he first arrived in this world. Activating his power to fly, it wasn't long before Hikigaya appeared once more above the Rhine of this era. He looked down; under the veil of night, the fortress looked like a giant boulder—heavy and solid.
Of course, that was a normal person's perception. With a Campione's night vision, it looked no different from daytime. For instance, Hikigaya could clearly see several Earth Dragons prowling in the river water beside the fortress, leisurely swimming and occasionally rolling over. Unfortunately, they lacked the world-class cuteness of the giant panda; even though they were doing the same rolling motion, the sensation it gave off was the exact opposite. Hikigaya had no desire to pat their heads, though he did feel like giving them a "buff."
As Hikigaya approached, the fortress gates swung open.
"Brother, you finally came!"
Accompanied by a joyful voice, Uldin appeared at the gate, waving at Hikigaya. Hikigaya descended, and the moment he landed, the King of the Huns impatiently grabbed him and led him inside.
"Come, come, come! We drink all night today!"
This fortress had clearly been "borrowed" by Uldin from the Romans; its layout was identical to the garrison fortresses in Lauriacum. After passing through the main gate, the two entered the central plaza. This was once the place where the former masters of the fortress conducted military training, but in Uldin's hands, its purpose was markedly different.
"Today we entertain the most distinguished guest! Bring out all the wine and food!"
Under Uldin's command, the servants busied themselves. There were only a few Hunnic warriors in this fortress; most people were non-Hunnic foreigners of various ethnicities, including Romans. Obviously, Uldin used this place as a "villa." As a Campione, he didn't need an army for protection; servants who could provide lifestyle services and maintain the building were far more useful.
Servants brought out long tables and chairs, arranging them in the plaza. They set out meat, fruit, bread, and wine, and lit a bonfire in the square. Their movements were practiced; this was likely Uldin's daily routine.
As Uldin announced the start of the banquet, the present Hunnic warriors took their seats and began to feast. A group of beautiful girls dressed in very light, revealing clothing entered the field to dance gracefully. However, this scene strangely reminded Hikigaya of the late-night food stalls he used to frequent—except for the lack of bikini-clad girls dancing to liven things up, everything else felt the same.
"Come! Brother!" Uldin snatched up a wine cup and downed it first as a gesture of respect. The reason for "snatching" was that the cup was indeed quite large.
Hikigaya clinked cups and drank, realizing that in this era, "gourmet food" by modern definitions hardly existed. Unless it was something like Kaiseki cuisine, it couldn't really compete. So, he chose to talk instead.
"Your dragons seem to really like the water."
"That's right. But it's not just that they like it; if they stay in a waterless place for too long, they might die. Sometimes they wander too far and just die for some reason, so I prepare several of them and let them play on their own normally."
Uldin casually exposed a bit of the foundation of these Divine Beasts. Given that he could probably summon them as easily as playing a game, he didn't care if others knew the dragons' weaknesses. In any case, as long as it was an Authority usurped from a god, an absolute weakness didn't exist. Both Uldin and Hikigaya understood this perfectly well.
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