The Verde Village in autumn is shrouded in large tracts of trees and grass that have begun to turn yellow and green. Under the caress of the cool autumn wind, sometimes fallen leaves dance gracefully down from the trees.
Wearing extremely well-maintained armor that gleamed in the morning light, the old Baron Keother rode his beautiful black horse and walked slowly toward the dirt road leading to the east at the edge of the village.
Following behind the old baron was Sir Lange, who looked listless, but his seemingly lazy eyes were constantly scanning the surroundings vigilantly, and Jonas, the financial controller with thick dark circles under his eyes. Behind Lange and Jonas were three high-spirited noble heavy cavalry wearing soft armor linings and hooded mail. At the back were five free peasant light cavalry who were making vulgar jokes to each other and wearing padded cotton armor or just a slightly thicker jacket.
"I feel like I've gone back to the time when I taught you how to control a horse when you were a child. That little kid held the reins of my horse and walked in front of me just like you do now." Old Baron Keother looked at helping him in front. Simon, who was holding the horse, couldn't help but fall into the memories of the good old days.
"Let's stop here Simon, I can walk the rest of the way by myself." Old Baron Keother looked at Simon who was holding the horse for him in front.
"Take care on the road, Keother." Simon stopped and handed the reins back to Keother's hands.
"Of course, no one can hinder my progress in my territory." Old Baron Keother laughed and rubbed Simon's hair. "Child, the priest who held the funeral for the dead soldiers and twenty The soldiers from Dorstenburg will be here soon, don’t worry.”
“I simply have no words to express my gratitude!”
"Okay, okay, Simon, we have to get going." Old Baron Keother waved his hand.
Simon nodded, retreated to the side of the road, and looked at the figures of Keoser's group of people gradually retreating away.
Simon finally decided to ask his father to send troops to garrison for a period of time, but the price was far lower than that offered by that insidious and cunning guy Jonas.
Now the wooden castle in Verde Village needs to be repaired, the lord's villa needs to be transformed into a tower mansion, and the church planned to be built not far from the wooden castle needs to be started as soon as possible.
"After the war in your own territory ends, a lot of troubles will follow." Simon rubbed his temples with a headache.
………
"Master Simon, you are saying that you want to continue to employ me for a while, right?" In the accounting room temporarily used for Ryan's residence, Ryan, who spread the drawings on the table and kept changing and drawing, raised his head and said nothing. Not surprisingly, Simon walked in.
"That's right, now my territory is in urgent need of an excellent stonemason to help me repair the castle, renovate the villa, and build a church." As he spoke, Simon took a small, bulging, pinging cloth bag from his waist and put it on the On the drawing in front of Ryan, "There are twenty Denier silver coins in it. As for the contract, just change a few words from the previous contract."
"Okay, Master Simon, don't worry, I've got everything covered!" Ryan smiled happily and put the small cloth bag containing the silver coins into his large waist bag.
The weather is getting colder, and some of the wealthier free farmers in the north of the kingdom are wearing woolen robes to protect themselves from the cold. However, in the village of Verde, even the most impoverished serf, who only had a tattered thin linen vest, was now wearing a thick Viking-style long-sleeved robe.
Serfs were one of Simon's important properties. Simon certainly didn't want these guys who provided him with unpaid labor to get sick or even freeze to death, so Simon simply distributed the captured Viking clothes, pants and shoes to those who were unable to withstand the severe cold. of serfs.
This moved the serfs who had initially lowered their guard against Simon after the battle of the wooden castle to tears, and each one more excitedly vowed to serve the lord well.
Those free farmers who wanted to obtain Viking clothing had to pay a large amount of money, or agricultural products of equivalent value.
No wonder people often say that it is better to be a serf under a wealthy and generous lord than to be a free farmer under a stingy and exploitative lord.
For a time, the castle in Verde Village, the hilly roads, farmlands, and in front of private houses were filled with people wearing Viking-style robes and trousers, making foreign travelers passing by think they were in a Norman village. A village built by pirates.
In the militia of Verde Village, almost every surviving soldier was assigned soft armor lining, chainmail, various helmets, and various wrist guards.
The surviving archers were assigned stuffed turbans, leather vests, leather gloves, and more arrows.
Hunter Bill was very interested in that longbow, so he picked a young man who he thought was very talented in archery, and asked him to take another longbow and hunt with him in the forest or near the village. Practice in that simple archery field.
"I think it's time to go to Dresden and sign the creeling permit," Simon thought to himself.
"But if you go to Cologne to sell with such a small manpower and so much loot, it will be easy to get robbed." The fat man expressed his doubts.
"We are not short of money now. We can not rush to sell the luxury goods in the loot." Simon thought it was better to be cautious. "Except for the part of the loot from Lyle Abbey that will be brought to the Archbishop of Cologne, the rest are placed on the wooden floor. In the storage room of the fort.”
"Okay, young master," the fat man nodded in agreement, "How many people will we take with us this time?"
"Just me, you, um..." Simon held his chin and thought for a while, "plus another Miller."
"Master Simon, what about me?" Little Klein didn't know when he ran behind the two people who were talking.
"You," Simon squatted down and looked into little Klein's clear eyes, "just help me take care of my property at home and supervise their work with the village chief."
"But I also want to go. I can serve you, help you find food, feed your horses, and do anything else." Little Klein seemed to be really eager to wander around the outside world.
"Listen, little Klein," Simon looked at little Klein's blue eyes, "Now the village is in dire need and needs manpower everywhere, and there are only a few people I can trust around me. So, I I need you to stay so that I can go on the long journey without any worries.”
"Master Simon..." Little Klein wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything. He just nodded heavily.
"Very good," Simon stood up and patted little Klein on the shoulder. "I'm going to leave in the next two days. Please talk to the village chief and ask a few serfs to help me prepare the things I need to bring."
………
Kohler, the dwarf, was walking in the fields wearing a stuffed turban that had not been cleaned of blood stains and a thick Viking brown woolen robe full of sweaty odor.
In order to reward him for bravely standing up to support the precarious castle defense line in the battle, the village chief specially rewarded him with a pair of captured leather boots when distributing the Vikings' clothing.
Although they were a pair of leather boots with peeling skin and severe wear, and exuding an unpleasant musty smell and foot odor, the dwarf Kohler, who was too poor to even wear shoes, didn't care.
The only thing that makes people think it's funny is that these boots are too big for poor short-legged Khloe, which makes people feel like they want to laugh after seeing a clown.
"Hey, Kohler, you have to thank me. If I hadn't persuaded you to rush to the castle gate with me, you would have been thrown into a cripple by now." Kohler suddenly heard the thin man coming from his right. The voice of the old serf made him look over.
"Old guy, it turns out it's you. You're doing well," Kohler looked at the old serf who was also wearing a woolen robe and leggings boots and laughed. "I heard that you killed two people. The lord will take care of you when he finds out. The seized hen is divided between you and gives you the right to raise livestock for him.”
"Hahaha, that's right," the old serf laughed heartily, "I only have to hand in five eggs every week, and the rest belongs to me."
"You old man is so lucky." Kohler, the dwarf, was extremely envious.
"Ah ha, you should pay more attention to yourself. Do you think everyone has been calling you something secretly since you put on those crappy boots?" The old skinny serf looked at the confused dwarf Kohler, " Kohler the clown! Haha, we didn’t realize you had such potential to be a clown.”
