In the early morning, the village of Verde was filled with thick morning fog. At this time, the serfs had already picked up their sickles and walked to the public fields to start the day's work.
"The Vikings are coming soon." On the arrow tower of Foldwood Castle, Simon held his sword and looked at the gloomy sky.
"That's right, Master, I feel that the recent morning breeze is a little colder than before." In addition to wearing the sleeveless linen clothes that he had not washed for a long time, the fat man also wore an extra one from Dorsten at that time. The patched layers of clothing brought by Fort.
"We have to hurry up with the harvesting tasks in the past few days and try to harvest all the wheat and store it in the granary of the wooden castle before the Vikings attack." Simon looked through the fog at the serfs walking down the hill one after another and starting to work in the fields. They thought for a while and said, "If necessary, the militia team can suspend training for these two days to help collect food."
"No problem, young master." As he said that, the fat man pulled over a militiaman standing guard next to him and whispered a few words in his ear.
The militiamen listened respectfully, nodded, and quickly ran down the arrow tower, passed through the corridor wall, walked down the wooden ladder next to the big wooden door, ran out of the wooden door quickly, and disappeared into the increasingly thick morning mist.
"Wait, did you hear anything?" Simon suddenly heard the faint ringing of bells and the honking of horses in the mist.
"Master, don't be nervous, it's a caravan coming! Let's go take a look." The fat man was quite experienced.
It is worth mentioning that after the construction of the corridor of the wooden castle was completed, judging from the regulations in the contract, the stonemason Ryan had completed his task and could leave at any time.
However, this guy not only had no intention of leaving, but instead paid Simon a sum of money for room and board, hoping to stay and see how the corridors and arrow towers he designed performed in actual combat, and whether there were any improvements that needed to be made.
There was no other way. When Simon saw that he had made up his mind, he stopped admonishing him and arranged for someone to clean the vacant accounting room and build a new straw bed.
"You are quite good at swordsmanship. Where did you learn it?" Simon walked down from the arrow tower and saw the stonemason Ryan practicing sword dancing in the open space of the wooden castle, and asked with interest.
"Sir, I learned this from a famous local old swordsman when I was studying in Rome." Stonemason Ryan put the long sword back into the scabbard with a sword trick and wiped the dense sweat on his head.
"Interesting, maybe you can spar with Fatty Hoffman if you have time. I'd really like to see what kind of sparks the traditional Germanic swordsmanship and the swordsmanship of the southern Mediterranean region will collide with!" Simon smiled and walked towards the gate of the wooden castle, leaving Fatty and Ryan looked at each other.
………
Amidst the clatter of horse hooves and noisy conversations in various languages and accents, a mighty motorcade drove into the village of Verde.
"Hello, my dear lord, we are a caravan from Lübeck. We have been running non-stop all night. Could you please arrange some food and water for us," said the caravan wearing exquisite costumes. The leader looked very tired, "We will definitely pay."
"Of course. Village chief, go and make arrangements." Simon said to the village chief who came after hearing the news. At the same time, Simon noticed that most of the people in this team had thick dark circles on their faces.
"Sir, I would like to ask, why are you traveling all night?" Simon felt something was abnormal.
"My lord, you may not know that many damn northern barbarians have landed in the Principality of Friesland in the north recently. I heard that even the fortified Lyle Abbey in Oldenburg was looted," the caravan leader rubbed his hands. Rubbing his sore temples, "We don't want to become the prey of those terrible pagans, so we can only do our best to go south as quickly as possible."
"I see," Simon said thoughtfully, "it seems like there isn't much time left for me."
The members of the caravan tied their horses and wagons at the edge of the village, drinking water and discussing with worry. Several serfs arranged by the village chief were bringing several large plates of freshly baked black bread from the small bakery in the village and distributing them to the members of the caravan.
Although the village of Verde is still peaceful and quiet at present, the shadow of war has arrived invisibly and in advance, shrouding everyone's heart.
"My God," Kohler, the dwarf, was holding the bread and listening to a German merchant in the caravan describing the situation in the north. He couldn't help but look panicked. "Just listening to you, I can smell the smell of blood and burnt wood." .”
"Yes, kid, if you can, pack your things quickly, pay the caravan leader a sum of money, and follow us south." This textile merchant wore a cheap fur hat and old dyed long-sleeved soft armor. Said to Kohler.
"But I can't leave even if I want to." Kohler sighed sadly. He is just a serf with no rights, not a free yeoman.
"What are you afraid of, Kohler, the dwarf monkey? Lord Simon's wooden castle has been built, hasn't it?" When you die of old age, why are you still afraid of the Vikings destroying the city?"
The old and thin serf also felt a little unsure, but he knew that this was the time when it was most necessary to stabilize people's hearts.
………
"Sir, sir," Claude, a free farmer wearing a large gray linen scarf, a red and white coarse cloth coat, and an iron military mace on his waist, came to Simon's side at some point. "I want to sell you the land and then join this caravan to adventure south."
"Oh? Going south for adventure?" Simon couldn't help but sneer, "I think you're going south to escape, right?"
"Okay, sir, if you think so." Behind old Claude were his wife and children. At this time, the three of them were all carrying large cloth bags, and it seemed that they had brought all their valuable household items and property with them.
"So how do you plan to sell your land?" Simon knew that the old Claude family was free, and he had no right or reason to force them to stay and face the difficulties together. However, although Simon understood that this was human nature, he still didn't have a good look on this guy who ran away from the battlefield.
"Sir, I have here a land certification document issued by the tax collector at that time. There is a price on it. Look." As he said this, Old Claude took out a wrinkled and somewhat yellowed document from his pocket. Proof, handed to Simon.
"Village Chief!" Simon had a headache when he saw these Latin words, and immediately shouted to the village chief who was talking to the caravan leader not far away, "Come here and take a look at this document."
"Okay sir," the village chief ran over quickly, took the document, squinted his eyes and looked at it carefully, and murmured in a low voice, "Well... the document is true, sir."
"That's right, sir, I don't dare to commit a crime like forging documents that is punishable by hanging," Old Claude nodded immediately, looking at the caravan members who had already rested and walked to the horse to pack their things, and said hurriedly He said, "Back then, I paid the old baron two Denier silver coins, so Sir, you might as well return those two silver coins to me now."
"Ha, that's a good idea." Simon was really pleased with this old guy's peasant cunning. "You want to escape in such a hurry now, doesn't it mean that the value of this land has been greatly depreciated now?"
"Master, what is depreciation? I don't understand." Old Claude was a little uneasy.
"Think about it for yourself, this place is about to be plundered by the Vikings. Even if you sell this land for ten copper coins, you are guaranteed that no one will take it over."
"This..." Cold sweat broke out on Old Claude's head. He wanted to refute, but he felt it made sense and didn't know what to say.
"So, my bid is ten copper coins. To be honest, I think I'm quite generous." Simon smiled slyly, looking at Old Claude's cloudy gray-blue eyes flashing with anxiety and anxiety. .
"No, sir, this is robbery!" Old Claude was about to cry without tears. His wife and children behind him were also sobbing softly, looking very miserable.
"What are you talking about?" Miller, who was standing next to him monitoring the caravan members, shouted loudly. He held the dagger at his waist tightly and stepped forward quickly. "Don't forget who you are talking to. Take care of it. Your own foul mouth!"
Old Claude was so frightened that he stepped back repeatedly, stepped on a stone on the muddy ground, and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily.
"So do you want these ten copper coins or not?" The village chief also looked at this disgusting guy like a wallflower with disdain.
At this time, the caravan members nearby had begun to mount their pack horses under the leadership of the leader, boarded their respective carriages, and headed for the road to the south.
"Okay, ten copper coins is ten copper coins!" Old Claude looked at Simon, the village chief and Miller with a look of pain on his face, disgustingly.
"Bah." Miller spat at Old Claude's back as he left with the caravan, "I didn't even see the shadow of the enemy, and he so easily abandoned the home he relied on for survival after hearing such a slight disturbance. .”
"He is old and no longer wants to take risks. Forget about this man, he will have nothing to do with us in the future anyway." The village chief was calm, shrugged and went back to supervise the serfs in the fields harvesting barley and oats.
"By the way, village chief, why haven't I seen Elsa recently?" Simon looked at the village chief who had just turned around with some confusion.
"I, I asked her to go to Toxondria County to find my relatives some time ago. But don't worry, sir, I swear to live and die with our castle!" the village chief said resolutely.
