"I don't plan to implement this plan for now, because you are the only scholar I have here. I will see if I can find other scholars. If I can get Socrates here, I will try to do so. Of course, although Socrates is quite annoying and not particularly popular in Athens, he is a person who loves Athens very much. I think it is unlikely that he would abandon Athens and come to the Byzantine Kingdom."
“That’s true.”
Herodotus could only admit this.
The relationship between Herodotus and Socrates was not particularly deep. The two had contact, but after all, their research directions were different, and Herodotus was a more pragmatic person, and he didn't like to listen to Socrates's talk. But Herodotus still agreed with Socrates's views on virtue and knowledge, and he also understood Socrates' stubborn character very well. So when Hilde said she wanted to try to pull Socrates over, Herodotus thought it was probably just a joke.
"Anyway, I'm just telling you about this matter in advance. You can write it down first, and then think about how to do it better during this period of time. It won't be too late to do it later."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Herodotus also agreed.
"Then you should get ready. We are moving today, so don't leave these documents behind."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty."
After saying that, Hilde left.
When she just left Herodotus' room, she saw Sophia coming towards her. At this time, Sophia was wearing the purple cloak she made for her. She lowered her head so that her entire face could not be seen. The horns on her head were also covered by the wide hood. In this case, there should be no problem.
"Sofia."
Hilde smiled slightly and walked towards Sophia.
"Sissi, what do you think of me?"
"Very elegant..."
Hilde didn't know what to say.
After all, her face and body are covered, so we can't say that Sophia is very beautiful now. However, the cloak and hood made of such beautiful purple fabric do make Sophia look very mysterious. When Sophia raised her head and gently gathered the two sides of the hood with her hands to reveal her whole face, the beauty that bloomed from the mystery also made Hilde's heart beat.
"Sissi, what's wrong with you?"
I saw Sophia looked a little confused.
Hilde couldn't help but laugh and said, "Nothing, I just think you've become more beautiful."
"Sissi...you are talking nonsense again."
"These are all true. Why do you think I'm talking nonsense every time I praise you?"
As the two were talking about this, Aspasia came over from the other side. When she saw the purple cloak and hood on Sofia, Aspasia was a little surprised. She didn't know why Sofia suddenly wanted to wear this, but she didn't ask, she just walked over with a smile.
"Sissi, Sophia, are you ready to move?"
"Of course it's already been done."
Sophia nodded.
"I was just in my room and have sorted out all my clothes. If we move, we can just take them all away at once."
"Thanks a lot."
Hilde smiled and said:
"Today, let's move to the palace as soon as possible. It's almost time."
Hilde was very interested in the newly built palace, and she had always wanted to move there as soon as possible. After all, the palace was well-maintained. The area of the newly built palace was more than twenty times larger than the current residence, with a larger garden and more rooms. At the same time, Aspasia and Hilde lived far apart, so that even if Sophia's voice was loud at night, it should not be heard by others.
Of course...it's impossible to tell Sophia this.
Otherwise Sophia would definitely be angry.
In fact, Hilde did not want to build a palace at the beginning. After all, she felt that living in this place was already good enough. However, other people in the kingdom strongly suggested that Hilde must live in a special palace, otherwise it would be unworthy of Hilde's status. In addition, as Hilde brought all the servants from her family from Athens, the place where she lived now suddenly faced the problem of overcrowding caused by the population explosion. Scholars like Herodotus could only squeeze into a small room to conduct his research.
and so……
A larger palace became a necessity.
In the center of Byzantium, a relatively wide piece of land was specially opened up for Hilde to build a palace. The residents of Byzantium were very supportive of this decision, and they also wanted to see Hilde live in a very magnificent palace. However, since most Greeks were democratic, even the Greek city-states with monarchies did not have large palaces, so the task of building and designing the palace once again fell on the Persians.
So what does the palace look like?
Go see Xerxes' palace.
Look at Persepolis in all its splendor.
Now you know what Hilde's palace looks like.
Hildes' Palace is a smaller version of the Royal Palace in Persepolis. Since the Byzantine Empire liked to use bricks as the main building material, the construction cost was much lower than that of other places. Therefore, although Hildes' Palace was much smaller than the Persian Palace in Persepolis in terms of construction cost and construction time, the overall area was not much smaller than that of the Persian Palace in Persepolis.
The reason for maintaining such a large area was actually Xerxes' request. Xerxes felt that when he came to Byzantium next time, he must live in a large palace, so Hilde had no choice but to follow Xerxes' wishes and really built a large palace in Byzantium.
Fortunately, no one objects...
Now, 90% of the palace has been completed.
Only the outer walls of the palace are still under construction.
Chapter 4, Section 7: The Extremely Luxurious Palace
Therefore, now that Hilde and others have moved in, there are no problems at all.
Early in the morning, Hilde and others began the plan to move the palace. The first things to be transported were Hilde and Sophia's daily necessities. Fortunately, the quantity of these things was small, and Sophia had already packed them in advance. The palace was also basically fully stocked, so they could move in directly with their bags.
Afterwards, the servants quickly packed up their things and prepared to move into the palace at any time. The most important thing is that the palace is very large, and their previous cleaning habits must be changed. So in the next two days, Sophia, who is responsible for managing all the internal affairs of the palace, will perform her duties as the head maid just like she did in Athens and arrange some hygiene matters of the palace in an orderly manner.
Where Hilde used to live.
With more than 30 people in the fortress, it was indeed a bit crowded.
But the new palace.
With more than 30 people living in it, the area is simply too sparsely populated.
There is even a special barracks in the palace, which can accommodate about 1000 soldiers. In this way, Hilde's guards can be stationed in the barracks of the palace. The barracks of the palace only occupy a small part of the palace, so Sophia and Hilde have no idea how many servants are needed to maintain the cleanliness and order of the entire palace.
“When I first saw the construction, I didn’t realize it was so big…”
Sophia and Hilde walked inside the palace.
She couldn't help but let out a sound of surprise.
"I feel like I'll get lost if I walk around the palace randomly from now on."
“It’s okay once you get used to it.”
That was all Hilde could say to comfort him.
"But……"
"The area here is really large..." Hilde looked around. The square in the center of the palace alone was large enough for hundreds of people to stand here. It was almost as big as a school playground. "To be honest, I'm afraid I won't be used to living here. After all, this place doesn't really feel like a home."
"Xixi, if we want to live here, how many servants do we need to keep it running normally? I estimated that based on the area I have seen, at least 100 servants are needed to keep this place clean. Otherwise, it will be impossible to clean it up."
"normal……"
Hilde smiled wryly and nodded.
"Here, the number of servants was taken into consideration when it was designed. Xerxes had at least 1000 servants in the palace in Persepolis. But we can't be so extravagant, so when the entire palace was designed, the number of people considered should be around 150, including servants in charge of food and hygiene."
“150 people!!”
Sophia was very surprised.
“Do you need so many people?”
"In fact, what we have seen is just the tip of the iceberg of this palace. Except for the barracks where the soldiers are responsible for cleaning, the rest of the palace needs servants to operate. There are fountains in the palace, pipelines for supplying spring water to all places, ice cellars for storing food and ice in winter, all of which need special people to take care of. The palace is very large, and there must be a lot of food stored, including things like mice, so there are cats and dogs in the palace to catch mice..."
"My God..."
It seems that what Hilde said really exceeded Sophia's imagination.
But these are necessary for a royal palace.
The palace is such a place. Since the person living here is the king, and since such a large place has been specially prepared for the king to live in, the standards cannot be lowered in many aspects. Otherwise, it will be no different from living in other places. In addition, the palace is also a place to receive some important members from other city-states in the future, so it also has certain diplomatic and ceremonial significance.
Therefore, many aspects must be taken into consideration. Otherwise, there is really no point in building a palace. It would be the same without a palace.
Hilde and Sophia walked in the palace for nearly 10 minutes before they arrived at the room they were going to live in. When they pushed open the door, Sophia was shocked again when she saw what was inside. It was a very spacious room with an expensive Persian hand-woven carpet on the floor. There was a fireplace on the east and west sides of the room for heating, very delicate wooden cabinets, a desk for Hilde to work, and a wooden bed that was much larger than the one they had lived in before. The carvings on the wooden bed were also very exquisite. It was made by the best carpenter in the entire Eastern Greece.
"This will be our home from now on."
Hilde pulled Sophia and slowly walked into the room.
"How does it feel?"
"This is so beautiful..."
"Yes, and it's much more convenient here than before. If I want to drink water, there is a special spring water pipe here. Because this palace is built on a spring, these endless spring water can be supplied to each room. If you want to drink water, you don't have to go out. Of course, if you want to drink hot water, there is also a fireplace that can provide water heating, and you can use it to keep warm in winter."
"Wow……"
Sophia ran back and forth in the room.
She looked left and right, and took a close look at every place.
She wanted to see all the decorations in the room, the patterns on the walls, and all the new things she had never seen before. Since the room was large enough, Hilde could even place a water clock in it to calculate time. In ancient Greece, there were no clocks, so the only way to calculate time was to use the gravity of water. But with this thing, Hilde could know how long it took her to do something.
There are many other convenient things in the house.
Hilde liked all of these very much.
She saw how happy Sophia was and she felt happy too.
Hilde actually felt a little guilty about spending so much money to build the palace. After all, the money was collected from taxes. It was not spent on the army or on building the country, but on her own residence. Hilde felt a little embarrassed.
But...
Chapter 4, Chapter 8, Invincible Sophia
On the one hand, the financial support for this palace came largely from Xerxes, and Xerxes' money was really wasted.
On the other hand, Hilde felt it was worth it to make Sophia so happy.
"If you like it, fine."
Seeing Sophia so happy, Hilde felt relieved. The gloomy mood caused by the change in Sophia disappeared without a trace. The tax problem was still not solved, but it seemed that Sophia was not so troubled by her new change. In this case, Hilde could at least breathe a sigh of relief.
"Sissi! This place is amazing!"
Sophia suddenly ran to Hilde's side.
At this time, Hilde reached out and gently lowered Sophia's hood.
"If you're indoors, you don't need to cover it up."
"But……"
"Don't worry, that's all."
Sophia now has horns on her head, which looks a bit strange at first, but now it has a different charm after looking at it for a long time. Moreover, Hilde couldn't help but pay attention to the horns on Sophia's head. She couldn't help but think that people often use girls' ponytails as handlebars when driving at high speed, but with a pair of long horns, can't the horns be used as handlebars? And it's more solid, and the grip is better, and it won't hurt.
But... even if I think this way, I lack the ability to provide feedback.
Hilde suddenly felt a little sorry.
Although she had no regrets about becoming a girl, she still had this thought in her mind. However, Hilde shook her head and shook off the thought. Then, she changed the subject and said, "From now on, only the two of us can enter this room. Others must knock on the door before entering. This is the palace rule."
"Including Lady Aspasia?"
"That includes mothers, too."
"Where's Dione?"
"The child is sleeping in the room next door, but you have to knock on the door before entering this room." Hilde gently grabbed Sophia's hand and slowly pushed her to the bed. "Remember, this room belongs only to the two of us. No one else is allowed to come in. Even if it's Xerxes, I won't let her enter this room."
"Sissi..."
Sophia heard this.
Suddenly my nose felt sore.
"You're so nice to me..."
"I'm good to you, isn't that what I should do? Don't worry about it so much. Right now, the most important thing is to live a good life."
"Ok!"
Sophia's optimism really made Hilde feel relieved.
Perhaps this is why Hilde, who has such a gloomy personality, can still maintain a good mood in the current world. After all, Hilde was also a pessimistic person in the past, and it was easy for her to be in a bad mood, but seeing Sophia so happy, Hilde felt much more comfortable.
