The climate has become quite warm. The sun quickly returns after the rain. The south wind blows on Parla's wrinkled face. She is full of hope for the future.
After all, she is a poor woman. Her husband mysteriously disappeared at sea. She did not choose to betray her feelings, let alone commit suicide to survive. Instead, she chose to be Odin's servant. Parla does not reject the new servants of Rurik who may arrive soon. By getting along with them, she may be able to find the feeling of being a mother.
Parla took away the soap-making tools from the longhouse, especially the forty wooden molds in batches.
These actions didn't matter to Bona, who was still drunk.
Bona's spirit was still dazed. She really enjoyed the feeling of being drunk, as if her soul was infinitely close to Valhalla on the other side.
Because Bona bought more than one jar of craft ale. She bought five altars and intended to use them to reward other priests who were loyal to her, even though each altar sold for up to twenty silver coins.
The bad thing is that Bona doesn't think her behavior is very extravagant, or that she doesn't think paying a hundred silver coins for wine is crazy. She just found a southern merchant who specialized in transporting wine and asked for the best wine. The merchant naturally brought out the ale with the highest alcohol content. Seeing that the other party was very generous, the merchant also took the opportunity to sit down and raise the price, never thinking that these Russian priests had no intention of bargaining.
In a sense, what Bona drinks is what is called "stout." At a time when hop technology was not yet popular, this beer was a high-grade ale brewed with deep rye.
The priests were almost in a semi-paralyzed state. The elderly Vilia looked worried and could only slap himself in the face with his old hands as old as dead branches. Villa even complained that Harozolson and Arik had robbed too much money. If it hadn't been for so much money, Bona and the other priests wouldn't have become like this.
She has seen enough to know that money has the power to corrode people's hearts.
"Rurik, I hope you will not be corrupted." Vilia prayed secretly.
Perhaps only the victory of the big leader can make Bona wake up.
Nowadays, Parla can no longer control his former colleagues, and the right way is to please the new "master" Rurik.
On the first day, Parla brought necessary equipment, such as large pottery urns and molds, to the "servants' quarters". Without a suitable workshop, she started working outdoors.
The next day, thick smoke billowed out from the "servants' quarters" and a woman started boiling oil. Some good people gradually realized that they could watch the priests making soap, and many people gathered around Parla.
By the third day, Parla had begun pouring the mixed soap into molds. The situation also exceeded her own imagination. She cast four molds at one time, and the molds filled with thick soap liquid were placed directly into the "servants' quarters" because the men responsible for the care claimed that Rurik prohibited it. They won't let idlers in.
As production gradually stabilizes, Parla's production efficiency is also improving.
In any case, it is impossible for Parla to produce sixty bars of soap alone in June, but it is perfectly possible to make thirty bars. She also understood that as long as she made thirty yuan, Rurik would give her the so-called salary of two silver coins and fifty copper coins.
Seeing that Parla's work was on track, it became urgent to build a real soap workshop that could protect it from wind and rain. Rurik hired a group of old men who lived a somewhat poor life at a very low price and asked them to build a small traditional wooden longhouse. This longhouse can even only need a thin layer of wooden walls with no middle A cold-resistant interlayer of soil and meadow is required, not to mention a wooden floor.
The cabin served only one purpose: a soap workshop.
As the simple wooden house was quickly built, Parla placed various equipment in the wooden house so that she did not have to worry about rain disrupting her work! What’s even more touching is that it was Rurik himself who paid to build a workshop for himself.
Accommodation, food and even workshops!
grace! A great favor!
Time is gradually approaching the summer solstice, which falls on June 28 in the Julian calendar.
Rurik became increasingly worried about his father, sister-in-law, and the large number of people under his command. They won't run into any trouble, right?
As a result, the summer solstice has arrived, and there is no news at all about my father and those tribesmen.
Life must go on!
Rurik didn't think so much for the time being, because his servant Rumia appeared in front of everyone in the form of a priest girl to the surprise of many left-behind tribesmen.
Summer solstice, nightless night.
There is no night in Roseburg on this day! When the sun sets below the horizon, it doesn't set again.
For the tribesmen, they feel that this is the favor given by Odin to everyone.
There are also many foreign businessmen who come here simply because of its reputation, because there is a legend also circulating among the businessmen that Odin may have really shown favor to the Russians.
The sun did not set as expected, it stayed on the horizon, shining soft and dim light on the earth.
Many people think of Ragnarok!
However, the world is still bright.
Rurik, more than a hundred of his fellows, and even thousands of tribesmen participated in the sacrifice, and they witnessed the entire process as spectators.
Rurik's bad impression of Bona was getting worse now.
It wasn't just Bona who was greedy for alcohol. The lower-level priests had lived a drunken life for a long time, but when the time came for the sacrifice, they were still in a state of swaying.
But many tribesmen don’t know the inside story!
Some priests would eat some strange mushrooms, which would cause them to wander. They said they entered a trance state, as if they were close to the gods.
Of course, you can also feel ecstatic by drinking craft beer with a higher alcohol content.
As Bona was about to take over as the high priest, when she left, Villa interrogated her about her prayer recitation.
How could Bona forget the words? It was just out of confusion that she stumbled while reciting them.
Vilia has been resting since she fell ill. On the summer solstice, her body functions finally recovered.
Bona became unreliable, and Vilia had to put on the sacred antlered helmet again. Beside her, Rumia had already put on a gray-white plain robe with a hood, and with a very pious attitude, supported the slowly walking Vilia towards the sacred stone ship altar.
Poona, whose hiccups smelled of alcohol, was deeply surprised. How could a little girl who was a deer herder become a noble priest?
That's Vilia's decision!
Bona was a little upset that she shouldn't have drank yesterday, even though it was really good.
Since Wei Liya intends to host the sacrifice, that's fine.
An evil thought emerged in Poona's mind.
She began to fantasize that the reason why Vilia was so ill and seemed to be dying was because the Spring Festival consumed too much energy.
That's fine, if Vilya collapsed from exhaustion again on the summer solstice, I'm afraid he would have died!
The sacrifice was performed under the auspices of Vilia. This time, Rumia, who had learned a lot of etiquette, helped Vilia a lot in the stone ship altar.
Rurik saw all this, and so did the tribesmen.
"Very good, you are really training me to be an obedient future high priest."
Rurik turned to look at Bona, who was wearing ordinary plain robes, and he was shocked and cursed in his heart: "You drunkards, isn't sacrifice a national ceremony for you? You think you are noble, but you do blasphemous things. You like to drink alcohol , OK! When I have the ability to make pure water of life, you will drink it to death. In this way, I will train a group of priests who listen to me from scratch."
Rurik believed in a great being, and as for Odin...
"Oh! I really need Odin. I really need the noble status of Odin's Blesser to make it easier for my tribe to listen to my words. And give me some silver rewards, hehe!"
The priestly activities were over, and as expected, Villa had to take a good rest for this. She seemed to be very sick, but in fact she was not ready to die suddenly.
As for Bona and her gang, who returned to their normal lives, they forgot about their embarrassment and began to live a happy life of drinking every day again!
Bona indulged in pleasure, and in her daze, she really didn't know that she was wasting money.
So what? All the priests think this life is very good.
Vilia simply stopped caring about Bona. Of course, her physical condition did not allow her to talk nonsense.
The performance of the deer herder Rumia at the altar satisfied Vilia. Maybe this time she really didn't make a mistake.
She asked Rumia to study in the evening and then take care of her own daily life. Vilia wanted to teach this little girl everything she knew. She felt that this child, whose blood was different from that of the Russians, had a better future than her own people.
Ah, Odin spared her the inevitable fate of freezing to death after all.
After being a priest on the summer solstice, Rumia became more convinced of her unique destiny.
Life seems to have returned to normal, and the tribesmen are increasingly worried about the fate of Otto and other tribesmen.
Even though Vilia lied about getting Valhalla's will during the great sacrifice, the so-called great leader's fleet was delayed because it had done many great things, like last year's victorious expedition, and it was still on its way back.
For a while everyone believed it.
But many days have passed, where is the news?
does not exist.
But Otto was on his way back. Otto had indeed experienced many major events in the past two months.
For Otto, it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him in his life!
Otto and his party did encounter some troubles in Novgorod. After conquering the Pine Needle Manor, which was revealed to be unwilling to surrender, they no longer encountered any difficulties.
It was entirely because Otto and his tribe were frantically amassing money, coupled with the arduous task of building New Roseburg, that Otto himself was worried that he would not be able to arrive before the summer solstice with those who had to go back.
This is indeed the case. Due to practical reasons, everyone inevitably missed the Summer Solstice Priest.
Everyone was relieved. People are drifting overseas. There are too many uncertain facts and dangers everywhere. People must always stay vigilant.
The construction speed of New Roseburg was very fast. When Otto and others returned to the mouth of the Neva River for the first time, a village had already sprung up.
At this time, it was already June 10th according to the Julian calendar.
He placed some tribute at New Roseburg to fully support the construction of the new settlement. With only one day to stay, he and his men hurriedly turned around to Novgorod and took away the stranded people and another pile of tributes to be transported.
Otto's return journey will still take some time.
But before that, the Ross people really gave some favors to the villagers of White Tree Manor who were like loyal dogs.
Blacksmith Kawei helped his parents-in-law, the Ligus family, with some farm work, and even lived with them as a full member of the family for many days.
"Maybe it would be good for me to live here for a few months every year." He told his wife Lilia about this idea, and Lilia changed hands and informed Rigus of the good news.
The entire White Tree Manor has already boarded the Russian ship. It seems that only with the long-term blessing of the Russian people can they be stable for a long time.
Maybe the daughter will believe in love, and the manor director Ligus's thoughts will be more rational.
He very much welcomed the idea of his son-in-law Kawei to move in for a period of time every year.
But he gave his eldest daughter Lilia a task that only she could do - give birth to a boy and train him to be a blacksmith willing to work for the White Tree Manor.
Indeed, only you can do this!
Lilia didn't dare to tell her new husband what was on her mind, so she could only treat Kawei as a family member immediately.
As for Kawei, he has received full praise during these days.
Not just him, but all the young people stranded in Baishu Manor, if they get a beauty, it is not natural for them to help their parents-in-law with some farm work. These young men, who have just grown up to about twenty years old, are very willing to show the bravery of men in front of their women.
The huge pine trees were felled efficiently using traditional and highly skilled Viking felling techniques.
The villagers of the White Tree Manor immediately brought their various stone axes and stone chisels to process the tree trunks. Because of the Ross people, the huge pine or birch trees that the residents of White Tree Manor were once unable to chop down have now become excellent building materials!
Many young people, who are now strong men, are worshiped by the residents of White Tree Manor.
Especially Kawei, who built a disposable small stove out of mud from the lakeside. As for charcoal as fuel, the Novgorodians fully understand the means of making it.
The very few iron tools in the entire White Tree Manor, such as some extremely worn axes and even bronze axes, were sent to Kawei.
People who had never seen a blacksmith at work gathered around to watch the blazing furnace, and many bold children climbed directly to the thatched roof and watched curiously as the Russians repaired the iron tools.
The rusty ax head was stripped of its wooden handle, and it was thrown into the fire and burned. And a stone mill was removed and used as a blacksmith's bench.
The red-hot ax head began to be finely forged by Kawei. After all, it was just for repair. The iron oxide on the surface completely disappeared. Because it had been burned in the charcoal block at low temperature for a while, the shallow iron had been carburized.
The soft iron block was smashed into a sharper blade. When Kawei felt it was suitable, the red iron block was thrown directly into the prepared wooden barrel filled with lake water.
In an instant, a strong steam erupted from the barrel. The bold Kawei waited for a while, then reached out and took out the iron block.
It has been hammered into the shape of a standard Nordic forest ax, and the carburizing and quenching processes used in its repair have turned this wrought iron ax into a treasure.
Kawei repaired a total of ten axes and three iron knives. Not to mention the carburizing effect, they have at least gone through the quenching process, and their strength has been far higher than before.
What surprised him was that the entire White Tree Manor, with a population of 2,000 people, only had this little iron weapon.
The shabby situation shocked him.
After all, in Roseburg, metalware is not expensive and can be used by ordinary people. Nowadays, only specially processed steel, whose only purpose is to serve as a weapon, is expensive.
Kawei gave a small hand ax that he carried with him to his parents-in-law. In fact, he gave it to his brother-in-law Medved, the man named after the bear.
Kawei's idea is very simple. Even a blacksmith has an ax for self-defense. How can a strong man not have a handy self-defense tool?
His gift made his wife very happy.
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Chapter 171 The Russians’ Summer Solstice and Kavy’s Achievements in Novgorod
