Simon and his party are getting closer and closer to Cologne City. On the roadside, there are also businessmen, pilgrims, and homeless people heading towards Cologne City. There are gradually more and more homeless people.
Pedestrians wear all kinds of clothes, have all kinds of looks, and go to the holy city in their hearts with different purposes.
"This kind lord, please have mercy on me. My children and I lost our home in the war. We have been displaced here with great difficulty. We haven't eaten for several days." A man standing next to the main road Under a tree, a middle-aged woman covered in mud and wearing a tattered linen dress hugged an equally dirty child and begged Simon with tears in her eyes as she rode by.
"Oh God," the pilgrims who were not too far away from Simon and his group sighed and shook their heads. Some of them had already begun to unload their bags and look for the few coins or food they had left. "For the sake of being Christians, For my sake, I can’t just die without saving him.”
"Master, just take a look, this woman might be richer than the richest free farmer in your territory," Gabrielle glanced at the woman and her child with disdain, as if looking at a pile of stinking "This is the third time I have come to Cologne, and it is also the third time I have met this woman."
"Oh?" Simon retracted his hand from the money bag at his waist, narrowed his eyes and looked at this woman who shamelessly defrauded travelers of money, and was a little annoyed, "Why can she keep doing this despicable and shameful business here, Cologne City? Is there no one in charge here to take care of her?"
"Oh, sir, I forgot to mention something," Gabrielle took a sip of beer and wiped her mouth, "Part of the money she begged for here will go into the purse of the soldiers guarding Cologne City, and in Behind this is a brotherhood composed of various gangsters."
"It's really disgusting." Simon couldn't help but cover his nose as he passed the woman. Gabriel was a little confused whether Simon felt that the smell of the woman made him sick, or whether this thing made him sick.
Fatty and Miller even spit on the woman when they passed by on horseback, making others think that Simon and his team were extremely cold-blooded.
"Hey, you guys," just as Simon and his party ignored the deceitful woman and continued to move forward, an old monk in the crowd of pilgrims behind them stopped them, "You guys, in such a sacred place, under the watchful eye of God, How could you do such a callous thing?"
"Ignore them," Simon continued riding without any care, without any intention of stopping, "if they like to give their money generously to those damn liars, just let them give it away. I'm not that generous."
"That's right, Master." Fatty and Miller nodded in agreement, riding forward without even looking back.
"I know," a goatee-bearded pilgrim who gave his only two Denier silver coins to a woman who thanked her repeatedly cast an angry look at Simon and others, "They are just a bunch of heartless people. Pagan, otherwise how could he be so indifferent and cold-blooded to our poor Christian lady!"
"Yes, those guys on horses looked well-dressed, but I never thought that they looked at me with contempt, and even spat at me! Fortunately, you are such enthusiastic gentlemen, otherwise My child and I just..." The woman holding her child and sobbing softly looked very pitiful, which made the unhappy pilgrims next to her angry and frowning.
"That's unreasonable," an old monk said angrily to a more prestigious monk next to him. "Brother Tang Bo, how can we allow such pagan scum to enter our holy city? Maybe they are here to cause destruction. Of!"
"I curse you, those riding horses in front of you, you bunch of hopeless bastards will not end well!" shouted a pilgrim who gave food to the "poor" woman.
"As soon as we enter the city of Cologne, we will ring the alarm bell and arrest you damn heretics and burn them to death!"
"Yes, burn them to death!"
"Ring the alarm bell and burn them to death!" The pilgrims were filled with indignation and raised their arms.
"Those damn pagans are abominable monsters in the eyes of God. They are all perverts and child killers. We cannot let them enter our holy land. That is blasphemy to God! Catch them and burn them to death!" Even , a frantic pilgrim waving his arms and shouting. However, many pilgrims around him gave him a strange look. It was obvious that his definition and argument of pagans had gone too far.
Simon finally stopped the horse and turned it around with endless ridicule and sneer.
"What do these fanatical guys think? This trivial matter can rise to the point of labeling us as heretics and burning us to death." Simon originally didn't want to pay attention to these pilgrims, but maybe after entering the city of Cologne, they He became more and more aggressive and made himself the devil incarnate, causing the whole city to panic and arrest him. Not to mention that the matter of giving gifts to the bishop fell through the cracks, and he also got into a lot of difficult and terrible troubles.
"Perhaps when they arrived near the Holy City, these pious gentlemen were too excited and defined everything that was not in line with Catholic virtues in their eyes as heretical behavior. I have been to Canterbury, where many farmers and priests went on pilgrimage. Had similar behavior and performance." Gabriel looked coldly at this group of pilgrims who were clamoring to burn his group to death, and just like a group of clowns, they were mumbling, discussing, shouting, and confronting He and his group pointed.
Simon sighed helplessly, and could only ride his horse back slowly, facing the unkind eyes of the pilgrims, and came to the woman's side.
"What do you want to do?" the pilgrim who first gave the woman two Denier silver coins angrily asked Simon and blocked the woman with his own body. "No matter what, we will not let you, a heretic, That hurt the poor lady.”
"Pagans, haha," not only Simon, but also Gabriel, Fatty and Miller laughed loudly behind him. "This is the first time I have encountered someone calling us heretics in the Kingdom."
"This..." After Simon came closer, the priests and pilgrims carefully looked at the guy who they just called a heretic, but he looked like an ordinary noble lord in the kingdom. On the contrary, behind Simon, Gabriel, who was wearing armor and clothing from all over the world, including Ross striped pants, looked more like a pagan.
"This is the destroyer of Norman pirates, the legitimate ruler of Fordeburg, Sir Simon from the Dorsten family in the Earl of Berg." The fat man spoke to the pilgrims in a long and rhythmic tone with displeasure. They introduced Simon.
"What, Simon of Fordeburg?" Among the pilgrims, several people with extremely tattered clothes and scars suddenly came forward, "You were the one who defeated the group of plunderers who looted Lyle at Fordeburg." Simon, the Norman pirate of the monastery!?" The pilgrim, whose face was full of vicissitudes of life and who looked like he had suffered a lot along the way, asked in disbelief.
"Is your territory the Verde village that has been blessed by God and has a miraculously increased food production?" an older monk with a scratch on his face asked with disbelief.
"Yes, it's me," Simon scratched his head confused, "If you don't believe me, I still have the pedigree certificate."
"This Lord Simon," the ragged monk cried bitterly under the surprised gazes of all the pilgrims, "to be honest, we were the monks who escaped from Lyle Abbey at that time. We witnessed those barbaric The atrocities committed against us, faithful servants of God.”
"Yes, we have nowhere to go. Every day and night we are thinking about what we did wrong to make God so angry and let these terrible barbarians punish us." The old monk paused and wiped Wiping the tears from his eyes, he continued, "On the way to the Holy Land to atone for our sins and seek refuge, we heard a bard talk about a lord named Simon who resisted and annihilated the group of marauding Raid in Fordeburg. Pirates of the Abbey, this news is really exciting for us! Thank you so much to God and all you have done!”
"But why do you think such a great Lord Simon is a guy who can't even give alms to a weak woman in trouble on the roadside?" The pilgrim who shouted the loudest just now questioned.
The monks from Lyell Abbey were momentarily speechless. Although everyone knows that lords cherish money, let alone rescue a wanderer in another territory that has nothing to do with themselves, such a defense is so feeble next to the Holy City and in front of the pilgrims.
"Because she is a damn liar, and she does not deserve the help of our pious Master Simon!" Fatty replied angrily as if he had found an outlet.
"Yes, I am willing to swear under the eyes of God and next to this holy city. I have met this begging woman every time I came to Cologne three times. I guarantee that the money she got from begging through deception is better than the money she got there. The combined wealth of all gentlemen will more than double..." Gabriel slowly stated everything he knew, tearing open a fig leaf and displaying all the dirty deeds of this woman and the local snake brotherhood behind her. in front of everyone.
"But your words are unfounded. How do we know if you are fabricating a story that sounds reasonable to throw dirty water on this poor woman to cover up your ruthlessness like beasts!?" Several people gave this to them. Well-meaning pilgrims for women's money and food couldn't believe it.
"Yes, why do you slander me and destroy my innocence?" The woman took the opportunity to cry and showed off her usual trick of showing off to more and more people gathered around her except for the pilgrims.
"I can testify," an old local farmer who was passing by carrying a basket of vegetables spoke at this time. Everyone's eyes were focused on him, "She has been begging here for seven or eight years, and every evening she brings her beggars." Most of your money was given to those gangsters. Your good intentions ended up being used by those gangsters to drink and have fun, and it all went into the bellies of those corrupt officials."
"Old Blaise, don't you want to live anymore?" The woman who was still suffering miserably just now seemed to be a different person, staring at the old farmer who spoke to testify.
This made the well-meaning pilgrims look dumbfounded and surprised.
"Bah, I've been unhappy with you for a long time. Why is it that my hard work is not as much as the money you earn by begging for food? Anyway, I've had enough of these oppressed days. I'm the only one left alive in my family. I am alone, I only have this miserable life, what else can I be afraid of?" The old farmer looked at the incoherent woman with disdain and said.
"Just wait, Domini the Vulture will make you pay the price." After saying that, under the unkind eyes of everyone, the woman slowly backed away. Before anyone could react, she suddenly turned around and ran like a wild beast in the forest beside the road. Deep down, it disappeared from everyone’s sight.
"My, my two Denier silver coins!" The goateeed pilgrim wailed after reacting, while the people next to him shook their heads and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Sir Simon. It seems that we have misunderstood you. I hope you can forgive us." The more prestigious old monk named Tombo closed his eyes in pain.
"Hey, then no one cares about these poor children who are manipulated by gangsters and sold into misery to make money?" Miller got off his horse and touched the child who was left behind by the woman with a confused and frightened look on his face.
"We will bring him to the monastery to raise him and get him back on track. In ten years, he will be a devout servant of God." Brother Tomb took off his wet hood, not caring about the mud on the child. , picked him up.
