Simon dragged his tired body and rode with the fat man towards the tavern where he stayed during the day.
I have to say that Simon’s harvest today was extremely rich.
In addition to returning most of the holy relics of Lyle Abbey to the bishop, Simon also offered to take in a group of refugees who were displaced due to the war in the two counties of the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and temporarily settled next to the church to receive church assistance.
These refugees begged in the city of Cologne every day. In addition to causing dissatisfaction among the townspeople, they also consumed a large amount of rations used by the church for relief, giving Bishop Wade Fred a headache. In addition to occasionally complaining and cursing the two earls who started a private war because of silly things, the bishop prayed the most for the lords of these refugees to stop the war as soon as possible and let the refugees return to their respective territories.
However, these refugees who gave the bishop a headache happened to be the best source of supplementary labor force in the village of Verde, which Simon saw as depopulating after the war.
The large amount of food harvested in Simon's territory in late summer can fully support this part of the refugees, and it can also take the opportunity to open up a lot of farmland that was abandoned by the Viking pirates in Verde Village in the past two years.
Simon could even foresee that after this group of refugees settled in Verde Village as his serfs, the food harvest in his territory would have to be doubled next year.
Bishop Wade Fred expressed great joy and appreciation that Simon helped him solve the two major problems of rebuilding Lyell Abbey and the refugees outside the church. In addition to promising Simon to provide him with protection when he encountered danger, he also resolved Collect a batch of supplies and send them to the village of Verde together with the more than 80 refugees.
In this way, Simon also saved a lot of money and materials for building houses and churches for the refugees.
"Finally back." Simon and Fatty tied up their horses, rubbed their hands, and walked towards the door of the tavern.
When he opened the filthy and scratched wooden door of the tavern, the familiar and disgusting smell hit his face. Whether it was feces, urine, sweat, vomit, or the moldy and hairy apple core in the corner, Simon had no appetite to eat in this dirty, crowded, and damp place.
Business in the tavern in the evening was particularly good, and it was crowded with townspeople who had worked hard during the day and were smelling of dirt and sweat, and apprentices from handicraft shops who looked a little shabby. There were also some dusty strangers and strong and rugged people wearing large traveling robes. mercenaries.
A bard wearing a short red robe and a gray cloak was sitting on a small bench in the corner of the tavern, playing the old lute in his hand, singing romantic songs loudly, and occasionally arousing other people who were drinking and talking. The customers applauded.
It's autumn now, and the cold wind at night makes people shiver with cold. Many qualified customers wore coarse cloth coats, hoods, or cloaks. However, there are still some poor people who just wear thin and dirty linen clothes and order a glass of the cheapest ale in an attempt to find some warmth in this crowded and lively tavern.
Simon struggled to pass through the narrow passage leading to the stairs on the second floor of the tavern, but when he passed by an old farmer with buck teeth wearing a stuffed turban, he was almost struck by his strong body odor and the fact that he had not taken a shower for many years. The stench of sweat made me vomit.
"Okay, I originally wanted to eat some jerky when I got back to the room, but now even if the honey cake is brought to my mouth, I don't want to take a bite." Simon held his breath and tried not to spit it out.
"Hey, you son of a bitch, do you want to taste my sharp sword?" At this moment, a loud and angry shout came from the mottled wooden table next to the stairs.
"I'm sorry, sir, I said the wrong thing. It's my fault. Please don't get excited." A town citizen wearing a dirty brown sleeveless robe said with an apologetic smile on his face. His apologetic voice was trembling with fear, " I’ll get out now, I’ll get out now!”
With that said, the cowardly town citizen stood up and ran towards the door of the tavern in a panic, even bumping into several drinkers in the process, causing several exclamations and curses to be heard in the tavern.
"Sir, I think I've had enough to drink today..." Several other townspeople at the table obviously didn't want to cause trouble, so they slowly stood up from their seats and walked to the side.
For a moment, a table was vacant in the crowded tavern where only one person was sitting and drinking, but no one else dared to come forward and drink with the irritable man at the table.
"Huh? What are you looking at, you filthy thing?" Just as Simon passed by the table and glanced at the irritable man, the irritable man just raised his head. In an instant, the two people's eyes met, and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.
Simon just felt extremely tired and didn't want to pay attention to this drunk maniac whose face was red. He just squinted his eyes and looked him up and down before looking away and getting ready to go upstairs.
"boom!"
"Hey, you damn bastard, I just asked you what you were looking at!" This drunk maniac felt that he was being ignored by Simon. He suddenly became anxious, stood up with anger, and slammed Patted the wooden table.
The drunk man immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the tavern, and the cheerful music that was playing just now stopped abruptly.
"I'm not sure, maybe some kind of animal." Simon sneered at the drunkard.
Being pointed at the nose by a lowly drunkard and scolded twice in a row in a very unkind tone in front of all the customers, even the clay figure was a little angry.
The fat man behind Simon touched his hand on the armed ax on his waist, but Simon waved his hand slightly, indicating that he could handle it alone.
"I will make your silly smile disappear completely from your stupid face." The crazy drunkard slammed the wooden wine glass in his hand to the ground, then took out the short sword from the scabbard on his waist and looked at it. Xiang Simon's eyes seemed to be looking at a dead person.
This red-faced drunkard wore a scratched leather studded helmet with a hood, a padded soft armor stained with wine and blood, and a pair of muddy boots. The arm bands were wrapped around his arms, and he looked like a guy who used a sword to make a living.
The drunkard shouted angrily, kicked over the wooden table with the wine glasses and the tavern maid before they could clear away the plates, and rushed towards Simon waving the dagger with a cold light in his hand.
"Ah, let's go!" Some timid townspeople and businessmen nearby were frightened and quickly screamed and backed away, fearing that their innocent bodies would be affected and have their heads chopped off with the sword of the drunken lunatic.
"clang!"
Simon regained his energy and quickly drew out the sword from his waist to block the attack on his left shoulder, and then stabbed the reckless drunkard in the throat.
Seeing that he was unable to hit the target, the drunkard staggered and tried to take a step back to dodge. However, the alcohol may have made him dizzy. He actually stepped on the soup spilled from the dinner plate that had just been turned over on the floor, and fell down. .
When he tried to get up again, Simon's sword tip was already at his throat.
The drunkard felt the cold touch coming from the skin of his neck. He was so frightened that he woke up. His lips twitched and he stared blankly at the frowning and cold face. He had a sword in his hand and could decide whether to kill him at any time. life of young people.
"Kill him, kill him!" Some townspeople had not seen such an exciting scene for a long time. Boring work day after day is definitely not as interesting as seeing someone's blood splattered with your own eyes.
"Yes, sir, stab this son of a bitch to death with one sword. He is a scumbag. He does not deserve your mercy and forgiveness!" The cowardly town citizen who had just been scared away by the drunkard came back at some point, standing next to him. The onlookers shouted loudly, not at all like they were apologizing to the drunkard just now.
"No, no, sir, please forgive me, it's all the fault of the damn alcohol." At this time, the drunkard began to cry and beg, and he was exactly the same as the arrogant and irritable guy at the wine table just now. , "I still have two children waiting for me to feed, please!"
"My dear lord," the unshaven tavern owner, who was wearing a leather apron and with a big belly, squeezed through the crowd and came to Simon, "I saw that it was this damn guy who caused trouble first. Of course you have the right to decide who he is." Life or death. But I still sincerely beg you to let this guy live, after all, it is not a glorious thing to spread the word about someone's death in my tavern."
"So this guy just pulled out his sword and tried to take off my head in your tavern, so it was a glorious thing?" Simon asked coldly, leaving the tavern owner speechless for a moment.
But the tavern owner quickly weighed it in his mind. If this drunkard dies here today, the strong mercenaries and unsuspecting merchants will still come to consume in the future, but the timid townspeople and apprentices in the city may come Drinking at the "Lame Horse Tavern" not far from here. This is really going to cost me my life, it’s so damned.
"Dear Sir, let's do this. I will pay this poor guy a sum of money to buy his lowly life." The tavern owner gritted his teeth in pain, "I will send this damn guy to the Sheriff right away. Then he will receive a whipping, and when he has finished enjoying it, he will have to work day and night for me to redeem himself!"
"Yeah, okay." Simon stroked his beard and slowly moved the tip of the sword away from the neck of the drunkard who was breathing heavily and nervously, fearing that he would die in the next second.
Since the tavern owner paid for the drunkard's life, there was no need to kill him. Although it would be very satisfying to pierce the drunkard's throat with a sword, it would not only make him and the owner of the tavern enmity, but also make him become a murderous person, which would not be worth the loss.
