Jul 28, 2023
To:Deleted User
You're 100% correct about that, and personally, that's one of the big problems I have with isekai too. These fantasy worlds are far too sanitary for the medieval European societies they're loosely based on. It actually gets touched upon in Ascendance of a Bookworm, but even then all the commoners are healthier and more beautiful than they have any right to be.
Having said that, I set this story in a bit of a different setting. Rather than basing it on medieval Europe, I modeled these societies on late Bronze Age or early Iron age civilizations. The Empire is loosely based on the ancient peoples of the Middle East, your Persians, Babylonians, etc. The Drakarnori are similar to the ancient Greeks, and the Myrindori are akin to people form the Indian subcontinent, though this doesn't really come up in the story. But the important point is, they bathe.
You're right about healthcare though. That's why Nalindra chided Thelian about being unmarried at "his age", even though we would consider him a young man.
Chika lived for many years as a peasant in this world, so she's acquainted with how difficult it is. That's why she "invented" many things to make things more comfortable. Still, she doesn't have fond memories of Earth. I originally planned to go more into that backstory, but it ended up being too dark and depressing for what's supposed to be a wholesome romance, in my estimation. Part of the puzzle is that she actually comes from our future, not our present, when climate change and advanced warfare have scarred the Earth more extremely than now, but again, not wholesome, so I left it to the reader to imagine how bad it must have been for her if she considers this an improvement.
