"How's it going, sir? Do you feel great now?" Simon rode his chestnut horse leisurely, but what was different from before was that there was a black-clothed man with a bruised nose and swollen face on the back of the horse who was tied up tightly. .
The poor guy's face was covered with bruises, his nose was bleeding, his whole body was sore, and he was placed on the bumpy horseback in a position that made him extremely uncomfortable. He felt fleas crawling all over his body, and at the same time he had to endure the stench of the horse that made him sick.
"Ugh!" Finally, the guy couldn't bear it any longer and threw up his head. But the vomit only ran on his face.
"What a disgusting bastard." The fat man riding Baron Karl's lost horse looked at the ugly horse thief in black with disdain, as if he was looking at a pile of excrement.
"Master Simon, we are about to arrive in Duisburg. Are you sure you want to return this horse to Baron Karl?" Miller, who carefully rode the docile traveling horse before, asked Simon, "I think we By bypassing Duisburg, we don’t have to return the horses and save money on the horses.”
"You think too simply." Simon shook his head, holding his forehead and explaining to the slightly green Miller, "Suppose we meet someone familiar with Baron Carl on the road and are mistaken for horse thieves. , what will happen?”
"We can say that this is our trophy, obtained by winning the battle with this guy." As he spoke, Miller pointed at the horse thief in black who had a look of despair on his face.
"So the suspicious Baron Carl will think that the Dorsten family hired people to carefully plan this horse-stealing show, which is a perfect excuse to provoke a private war." Simon continued to explain, riding his horse firmly to Duis dirt road in fort.
"Okay, sir, I understand. If we take possession of this horse privately, no matter what reasons or excuses we use, the secret will be exposed one day and cause endless trouble." Miller finally understood. , and finally gave up the bad idea of privately appropriating horses.
"That's right," Simon nodded, "be careful not to get into bigger trouble just because you are greedy for some small profits."
"Oh! I think we're here." After a while, Simon looked at the faint outline of the village in the distance and the rising smoke, clamped his legs around the horse's belly and accelerated his speed.
"No, sir, you can't send me back. I, I'm willing to do anything for you, anything, please!" The horse thief in black felt his heart numb and terrified, as if the person in front of him was not Duy. Fort, but a hell filled with demons.
………
"It's already noon now. I can't believe that Basel, you son of a bitch, you actually have the nerve to eat here!" Baron Karl, who had returned from inspecting the village, opened the door of the tower and saw the wine in the corner of the hall at a glance. Bazel, who was eating bread and soup on the bucket, was suddenly furious.
"No, I, my master..." Bazel's mouth was filled with bread. He was chewing while trying to explain something, and the crumbs in his mouth were flying everywhere.
"Shut up, let me finish eating before you talk!" Baron Carl took a step back in disgust, looked at the crumbs under his feet that were stained with the spit of Butler Bazel, and yelled at the corner almost like a roar.
"Yes, sir." Butler Bazel grimaced, shrank his neck, and carefully picked up the wooden cup placed on the wine barrel next to him. With the help of the wine, he quickly put the bread in his mouth down. abdomen.
"I still wishfully thought that my loyal butler went to help me find the horse," Baron Karl suddenly laughed angrily. He walked up to Bazel who didn't dare to move and smelled the strong smell of alcohol emanating from him. "It turned out that I found a place to hide and drank all morning."
"No, no, sir, I, I just helped you find your horse while drinking..." Bazel lowered his head, not daring to look directly into Baron Karl's eyes.
"Very good Bazel," Baron Karl stretched out his rough, calloused hands, "Look at my hands now. Do they look like the hands of a baron, or a noble?"
Bazel timidly raised his eyes slightly to look at Baron Karl's hand, somewhat confused as to what his master was up to.
"The answer is obvious. These are hands that only a farmer should have." Baron Karl retracted his hand and put on his somewhat worn deerskin gloves again, "So now I am talking to you as a farmer." Conversation, please answer me with the same confidence and domineering attitude you usually have when dealing with farmers, have you found that damn horse?"
"I, my lord, I don't dare. You are the absolute boss in this land. Even the king is not as good as you here." Butler Bazel's trembling reply was as low as a mosquito's chirp, but it made people feel uncomfortable. Baron Carl was very useful.
"I'll give you this idiot one more day. If you can't find the horse, don't come back! I'm not joking." Baron Karl waved his hand and walked straight to his throne. "To be honest, I just walked in. Finally, I really had the urge to draw my sword and chop you down."
Cold sweat continued to break out on Bazel's body. He knew that if he hadn't had a clever mouth that wasn't too stupid, he would have been dismembered just now.
"Master, believe me, God will definitely send your horse back to you intact. I pray for the icon to appear all the time..." Before the butler Bazel could finish speaking, he was knocked out by the door. The stable boy outside interrupted with his desperate shouts.
"Master, the horse has been found, Master, the horse has been found!" The faintly excited voice of the stable boy reached Baron Karl's ears. He couldn't help but stand up and quickly walked towards the closed door of the tower.
"This is," Butler Bazel opened the door and saw the horse that almost cost him his life at first sight. The expression on his face instantly became fanatical, "This is God's arrangement, everything is God’s arrangement!”
"Or Simon's arrangement." Simon led the baron's horse into the castle courtyard and looked at Baron Karl who looked surprised. "Dear Baron Karl, I also brought you a gift. You can decide as you like. What to do with him—that damned horse thief who stole your horse?"
As he spoke, Miller behind Simon threw the black-clothed horse thief who was tied up on his shoulders onto a pile of horse manure beside the stable. The guy with undigested vomit spit.
"You really surprise me, just like your father, Simon." Baron Karl laughed and clapped his hands, walked to the horse, and stroked its mane.
"Of course, Lord Carl," Simon smiled softly, but his eyes were constantly looking at Baron Carl and his castle.
"Compared with Fuldeburg, it's still a little worse." Simon made a preliminary evaluation in his mind. The wooden wall piles in Duisburg are slightly loose, and even in some places with large gaps, you can directly see the light coming from outside the wall.
But Baron Karl was only wearing a dyed linen lining that smelled of sweat and was different from ordinary civilians. At this time, he seemed to be talking to himself: "Perhaps God really showed up and allowed me to recover this beautiful horse." , and sent that damn horse thief to me."
With that said, Baron Karl's private soldier changed his usual decadent and listless look, put his hand under the horse thief's armpit and lifted him up.
"Oh," Baron Carl looked at this disgusting thief with great interest, "Who gave you the courage to come to my territory and steal my horse?"
"All this was ordered by this lord named Simon," the horse thief looked angrily at Simon, who could be said to have ruined his life. "I was originally hired by this lord to steal horses for him, but... This lord thinks that my salary is too high, and he is afraid that the matter will be exposed in a disgraceful way, so he actually designed this trap to get rid of me with your help!"
"You're farting!" the fat man yelled, stepped forward and punched the horse thief in the stomach, causing him to retching and even vomiting out stomach acid.
"Hmm," Baron Carl narrowed his eyes and looked at Simon, "I think the words of a dying thief are far less true than the son of an old friend who has been with me for many years."
"That's right, Lord Karl, I believe you can tell whether he is making nonsense to sow discord between us." Simon was very magnanimous, raised his head slightly, and looked at Baron Karl with neither humility nor arrogance.
"Very good," Baron Karl had the answer in his mind, and his eyes fell back on the horse thief who was still exaggerating and lobbying hard in an attempt to show mercy to the baron. "Come on, go to the village and call the executioner. I don't want my hands to be stained." The dirty blood of this lowly, despicable fellow.”
…………
"Eat, my friend, as you would at home."
In the warm lord's tower, Baron Karl elegantly picked up his wine glass. Just when he was about to say that he had no more wine, butler Bazel had already handed him another glass of fresh and cool beer.
"Lord Karl, please forgive my presumption," Simon munched on goose meat, accompanied by white bread and wine. "I wonder if the reason why the Earl summoned all the barons in the territory to a banquet some time ago was because of the Earl of Loon on the other side of the river. What?"
"You are quite well-informed." Baron Karl was in a better mood and his appetite increased greatly. He shouted to the guard at the door of the tower, "Hey, let the kitchen roast a few more larks."
"That's it." Simon nodded, feeling increasingly anxious. He had already smelled the smell of war, but he suffered from the fact that he had just endured a bitter battle and the army lacked new blood.
"But I don't think the fight will start so soon. It is very likely that the earl will launch an attack when the snow melts in spring next year." Baron Karl shook the wine in the wooden cup in his hand. "It is also possible that the earl cannot wait that long. Before winter, Or launch an attack in winter."
"Hmm..." Simon silently thought about the next path in his heart, but the more he thought about it, the more he got a headache.
"Forget it, fuck it." Simon simply shook his head, rubbed his sore temples, drank the fragrant beer in the glass in one gulp, and stopped thinking about these troublesome things.
"In addition, Lord Carl, I have something to ask for." Simon looked at the baron who was happily drinking and knew that this was an excellent time to make a request to buy a horse.
"Oh?" Baron Karl drank a little too much, and his face and neck began to turn slightly red at this time. "Simon, I have to say that you are really my lucky star. So, if you have anything to say, just ask Within the scope of what I can satisfy.”
"I want to buy a horse from you," Simon said with a slight smile on his lips, "I'll buy the horse you lost."
