Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 695 - 649: Problem at the Banquet

Although it was a banquet specially held to welcome Perfikot, overall, it seemed somewhat dull.

At least, it was dull for Perfikot.

The banquet procedures were the same as before, so much so that Perfikot could complete the entire process with her eyes closed.

She knew how many steps it took for someone to introduce themselves at the entrance, how long to smile, show how many teeth, how many people would come up to self-introduce and shake hands, or need a few seconds before waiting for others to applaud...

It can only be said that with social development, when society reaches a certain level of prosperity, all these will naturally form a fixed process.

Even a powerful aristocrat like Perfikot is also bound by these things.

She couldn't really do whatever she wanted, even if she could.

Unless she wanted to see everyone drop their jaws in shock, she couldn't do it.

The premise of doing whatever you want is being able to bear the consequences, and genuinely not caring about the troubles it might bring.

Perfikot could bear the consequences of acting freely, but she hated trouble, especially the kind she could avoid.

So, although she felt very bored, she dealt with the entire banquet process appropriately, while casually observing others, scrutinizing their attire and behavior, and observing details at the banquet that concerned her.

Judging from the people she saw at the banquet, their lives were still able to maintain some form of dignity and glamour, not the kind where they were putting on an act to appear prosperous, but within the limits their means allowed.

Although compared to the scenes she witnessed during Langton's prosperous times, they had degraded more than just one notch.

However, judging by the level of elegance in their clothing, and the materials used, their standard of living, although indeed has declined, still remains at a level that is quite luxurious or rather, in line with their social status.

For instance, in terms of fabrics, in the past, the skirts of noblewomen used to be made of valuable velvet or silk, crafted by the best tailors by hand.

Now, they still wear the finest natural fabrics from the Northern Territory, rather than the synthetic fibers Perfikot used to solve the clothing issues of ordinary people.

The furs draping over them are of the best quality available, clearly not old stock.

As for the men, the drop in clothing quality isn't as noticeable; their attire and accessories are largely unchanged from their days in Langton.

This is understandable because, for aristocrats, their appearance is embodied by these clothes and jewelry, which can be passed down through generations, gaining more value the older they become.

But clothes, relatively speaking, need to keep up with trends, needing to be replaced frequently, to ensure they are at the forefront of fashion and not considered outdated.

Perfikot once mocked Eldest Princess Annie for having clothes in her wardrobe she hadn't worn even once in seven years, and now her own wardrobe also contains clothes she's unlikely to wear.

This isn't because she is extravagant, but instead, there are some outfits she wouldn't need to wear even once a year.

Moreover, every appearance must be maintained in the most dignified and elegant state, which means either spending considerable effort maintaining and caring for them, or simply making new ones.

Perfikot is relatively frugal; she developed some special alchemy tools for maintaining these clothes, ensuring they would not deteriorate due to long-term storage, without incurring high costs for upkeep.

These small tools were later taken by the thrifty old steward to be produced and sold on a small scale in the upper circles of Chernobyl, and sales were good, even supplementing the daily expenses of the Lord's Manor to a certain degree.

So, in some sense, the money Perfikot spent on clothes and appearances was indeed less than these people did.

However, from the current perspective, at least within Beloburg's upper-class society, basic necessary expenditures are still within their tolerable range, which means the local economy at least has a baseline support.

Comparatively, what truly reflected the consumption level of these people should be the food and beverage standards at the banquet.

Perfikot could tell that today's banquet was prepared with care, but the ingredients indeed reflected the current state of the Empire.

The once vibrant exotic foods on Langton's tables have basically disappeared, and the roast peacock that appeared at almost every banquet was replaced by a gigantic turkey.

The quantity of fruits was less than fresh meat, and vegetables appeared even more scarce.

After all, meat could still be obtained through hunting, and for the Northern Territory's size, this was relatively not particularly difficult to obtain.

At least relatively speaking, even the average affluent citizens could manage to have meat on the table once a week.

This information came from Perfikot's inspection tours of various towns, as well as reports from the Northern Territory's civil affairs department, so the data is generally reliable.

But fruits and vegetables have already become scarce.

Or comparatively, their scarcity level has matched that of meat appearing on the ordinary people's tables, so the situation is naturally very apparent.

Although the vast majority of common people in the Northern Territory currently rely on compressed biscuits to maintain subsistence, under Perfikot's efforts, at least there is still a supply of fruits and vegetables visible on the market.

According to her original plan, every shelter was supposed to have a greenhouse for growing vegetables, fruits, and proper grains, to ensure food supply for the shelter.

Even though she has now solved the major food supply problem by creating compressed biscuits through alchemy, these greenhouses have neither been dismantled nor repurposed; they continue to serve the function of providing food for the people in the shelters.

It's just that, relatively, the vast majority of common people do not consume these much. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Almost all shelters unanimously delivered most of their produce to the cities in exchange for other living supplies.

There's nothing wrong with that, but in Perfikot's view, it somewhat broke her original setup and plan, causing some issues.

At the very least, the greenhouses that were originally designed to meet everyone's needs now show a lack of numbers, unable to satisfy everyone's demands, which naturally becomes an issue.

Even though the surrounding towns have transported the produce like vegetables, fruits, and grains to the city, the amount of vegetables and fruits at the banquet held to welcome her can still be described as scarce, which does indicate some issues.

"It seems the focus of the next phase will be agricultural issues because the current agricultural level of the Northern Territory is really insufficient," Perfikot slightly shook her head, but inwardly felt that today's banquet hadn't been in vain.