When he mentions the war, Sebastian revises his estimate of Jack's original timeline and moves him considerably further ahead than he'd originally guessed -- mentions of a war in Italy and spaceships probably put him well out of the 21^st century. Maybe even further afield, if it's somewhere like Novo Novo Space Florence.

While haggling with the spice merchant over a packet of incense, Sebastian reorders his thoughts and decides that he ought to be bold, if not entirely polite. Faints hearts, fair ladies, and all that. "What year is it, where you're from, I mean?"