After Fatty and Miller finally finished the cold food in their bowls, the drinkers in the tavern had dispersed and they all went about their own business.
But then Simon noticed that the bard sitting not far away had no intention of leaving. Instead, he moved a small mottled wooden chair and sat in a dark corner of the firelight and played his lute.
The torch hanging on the wall lazily illuminated the bard's profile and half of his body. The handsome appearance of this guy named Christine attracted frequent side glances and blinks from the tavern maid who was cleaning up the table and food leftovers. His eyes seemed to be hinting at something.
"Sorry to bother you, you look like a well-informed traveler." Simon took advantage of the gap between the minstrel playing a short song and sat down at an empty table next to him. on, "I wonder how the road from here to Weinsberg is doing these days. Are there any damn bandits or greenwood bandits?"
"Dear Sir, I bet that the road from here to Weinsberg is as white and smooth as the woolen cloth of Flanders, and there will never be any dirty bandits blocking your way. Just be together for several years. As before, trying to find a successful gang of bandits in this area is simply a fantasy!" The bard smiled lightly, his words full of confidence.
"Hmm," Simon became more interested. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up at the bard who was unsure whether he was confident or arrogant. He patted the dagger on his waist, "Why is this? If you dare to deceive me, , as long as I want, I can use this sword to move your head at any time!"
"Ah ha, relax my lord. In addition to the Wiesbaden Sheriff who often leads patrols to suppress bandits nearby with funding from the bishop, just a few years ago, in order to welcome King Heinrich With the arrival of Prince Otto, the nearby lords really slaughtered all the lawless people in this area, so cruel and bloody that the gangsters from other places would be afraid from the bottom of their hearts when they talked about Wiesbaden."
"Is that so?" Simon nodded thoughtfully.
It is conceivable that there must be a large number of lords from other territories who will follow the king and the prince. If other lords pass by and see that bandits are rampant in this territory, the people are in dire straits, and they are weak and easy to bully, I am afraid that it will not take long. There are powerful lords in other territories who forged a declaration of war against this lord.
In this martial age where strength is valued, weakness and keeping a low profile will not become life-saving talismans for the lords, but will instead become life-saving talismans that make them tremble.
"My dear lord, aren't you curious why King Heinrich and Prince Otto came to Mainz from distant Dresden?" the bard Christian said with his armband. The wrapped hand caressed his lute gently.
In the dim light of the fire, Simon could see a long line of dried blood under the bard's armband, which looked like a long wound. This bard must have had a different experience.
"Of course." Simon woke up from his thoughts and turned his attention back to the bard, but at this time, this clever and cunning guy was holding his empty wooden wine glass to his mouth with a frown and shaking it several times. A drop of crystal clear wine dripped into his mouth, shining brightly under the light of the fire. This guy hissed exaggeratedly and pursed his lips with a look of aftertaste.
"This acting is too exaggerated. I was really worried that others wouldn't know that he had no wine, so I almost didn't say it directly." Simon shook his head helplessly, turned to look at the man working hard not far behind him While quietly paying attention to the tavern maid in this corner, he asked her to bring over two glasses of good local beer.
"Ha, sir, I feel that the knot on my tongue has been wonderfully untied by this wonderful wine. Next, I will tell you everything I know," the bard who got the beer Christine smiled knowingly at Simon, put away his lute, and changed into a comfortable position with his back against the wall, "Just a few years ago, the aging King Heinrich, the handleless sword, decided Crowned his eldest son Otto. Oh, as for why I said that our respected King Heinrich was a sword without a handle, it was because he refused to receive anointing when he was coronated, and he did not hold any religious ceremonies, so in the church It seems that he is not a legitimate king."
"Is this why King Heinrich brought Prince Otto to Mainz to hold a coronation ceremony under the witness of the bishop?" Simon took a sip of beer and felt that in addition to the strong aroma of wheat, there was also an unknown smell. An unpalatable sour taste.
"Yes, the king hoped to use the power of religion to consolidate the kingship of his eldest son, Prince Otto. At the coronation ceremony that day, Prince Otto received the anointing ceremony. At the same time, the king asked all the Dukes present to swear that they would not die until his death. Later, he continued to be loyal to his heir Otto, but it is said that at that time, the dukes agreed on the surface, but secretly sneered at it." The bard Christine sipped the sour beer with enjoyment on her face, as if she was holding it in her hand. A cup of nectar. This made Simon wonder if there was something wrong with his sense of taste.
"I have a question, why are the Dukes so dissatisfied with King Heinrich and this young Prince Otto?" Simon simply put down the wooden wine glass full of sour beer and curled his lips.
"Sir, maybe you don't know something. The Dukes are pressing forward step by step to obtain various privileges on the condition of recognizing King Heinrich. In fact, the King can only rule by his own territory. In addition, the Sea King Inrich did not follow the ancient Frankish tradition and adopt the method of divided inheritance, but wanted to completely hand over the power of the entire country to Prince Otto, which naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Dukes." As the bard spoke, he casually wiped the wine drops stuck to his mouth with his arm tied with an armband. The dried blood on the armband was like a long-drought sweet field that had received the blessing of rain and dew, and regained its strangeness. dark red.
"I see." Simon lowered his eyes and tapped the large, greasy oak table with his thumb. Then he stood up and walked towards the fat man and others who were joking with each other after finishing the meal.
"Sir, you forgot your wine!" The bard Christine drank the wine in her glass in one go, but found that Simon's wine was almost untouched.
"gave it to you."
………………
The next morning, the scorching sun of late autumn brought a hint of warmth, driving away the pale traces of frost left between the trees last night.
Simon and others came from the endless forest to the vast "prairie" with gentle hills.
To be honest, this place has nothing to do with the grassland. Simon saw dense tree stumps of different thicknesses scattered among the grass on the hills on both sides of the road, and not even a complete green tree could be seen. Looking around, in this area, only tree stumps are green grass, and only green grass is tree stumps. There are no rabbits, roe deer, or a few flying birds, which shows how serious and destructive logging has been done before.
Not far away, Simon saw a few poor farmers with disheveled faces cultivating the land under the lash of a butler who also looked not much better. Next to them, there was an old cow that looked so thin that it was about to fall to the ground at any time. It had a plow on its body and was chewing fresh grass with its head bent.
"These poor people, poor animals, may God bless you." Peidi shook his head with emotion, feeling how precious and hard-won the food carried on the back of the packhorse was.
After crossing a vast field, a shabby little village appeared in front of everyone.
This village has neither tall pointed wooden walls nor strong lord towers. Instead, it only has some dilapidated half-ground earthen shacks and an eye-catching wooden and stone house with a stable.
The villagers were working in the fields near the village, and at this time, standing in front of the wooden and stone house, was a middle-aged soldier with wrinkles and stubble on his face.
This middle-aged soldier wore a linen turban on his head like ordinary town residents, and cheap patched cotton armor. The hunting boots he wore on his left foot had a big hole in them, exposing the black toes inside.
Simon noticed the rust on the iron spearhead of the short spear held by the middle-aged soldier. In addition, Simon doubted that the curved spear handle would be ruthlessly broken by the user with just a little force.
"This distinguished lord!" The middle-aged soldier, who was dozing with squinted eyes, was awakened by the sound of horse hooves. His eyes widened and he looked at the road outside the village. He discovered that it was a troop led by a knight in full armor. Behind the armed horse team, they immediately ran forward without saying a word. Panting heavily in the middle of the road at the entrance of the village, they stopped with spears in both hands and looked nervously at Simon and his party.
"Welcome to the village of Myrten. The lord here is Ser Linton of House Crovis, the terrible Hammer of Ogret, the conqueror of the great Hopfegen, and the Earl of Weinsberg. Mishi, oh no, a loyal supporter of Earl Ruterbert." The middle-aged soldier took off his dirty turban and wiped the fine sweat that continued to pour out of his forehead.
"Ah ha, this is the destroyer of Norman pirates, the legal ruler of Foldburg, Sir Simon of the Dorsten family." The fat man raised his head, gently tucked the horse's belly forward, "The recklessness in your mouth We do know who Count Tebert is, but what I don’t understand is, what the hell are Oglet and Hopfegen, and why have I never heard of them?”
"Ah, this," the middle-aged soldier's face slowly turned red and his eyes were a little evasive. It seemed that he was a little embarrassed to answer the fat man's question, "Okay, to tell you the truth, the prefix of these two titles is my Mr. Linton. I added it to myself not long ago after conquering the nearby villages of Oglet and Hopfegen."
"Hahahahahaha, the terrifying Hammer of Ogret and the great Conqueror Hopfegen, I'm almost laughing to death!"
As soon as the middle-aged soldier finished speaking, Simon's cavalry burst into laughter. Gabriel even spit out all the fruit wine in his mouth. The scene was very funny.
"Damn it, who is making such a noise over there!" At this moment, a roaring sound was mixed into the cheerful air at the entrance of the village, and everyone stopped laughing in unison.
I saw a man wearing a square-topped helmet with a slender peephole on his head, a worn-out sleeveless chain mail, leather gloves with iron plates on the backs of his arms, and a pair of old cavalry leather boots. The man touched the hilt of the sword on his waist and walked slowly towards the entrance of the village.
"Master Linton!" The middle-aged soldier took a small step back in fear as if he had seen a ghost, but he immediately put on an awkward and blunt flattering smile and went forward.
"What happened?" Sir Linton, who was wearing a hooded helmet, squinted his eyes through the peephole on the face of the hooded helmet and looked at the strange knight on the horse in front of him who was wearing a wolfskin cape and seemed to have come from the distant wild north. .
At the same time, Simon was also looking at the arrogant Sir Linton. To be honest, Simon had never seen such a flat-topped helmet since he came to this era. The entire face-covering helmet is spliced together and divided into square iron helmets and face-covering armor. I saw a nose strip in the center of the slender peep hole on the visor, and several regular and symmetrical small rectangular breathing holes at the nose and mouth below the peep hole.
"Stranger, you seem to be very disdainful of my title. Good, very good. I will teach you a lesson and leave you with a lesson that you will never forget until you take it to your grave!" Sir Linton's words The roaring sound coming from the visor was extremely dissatisfied, and Simon could tell that this grumpy guy was trying hard to suppress the anger in his heart.
For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Simon. The fat man lowered his eyes slightly with some guilt. He felt that it was his fault for asking the origin of this unheard-of title for a moment, which caused Simon to get into trouble out of thin air.
"Bah, I'd like to see how you, an arrogant fool like you, can teach me a lesson!" Simon smiled disdainfully and then spat on the ground.
Although he didn’t know why Sir Linton’s territory was so poor but he had such a good visor, Simon knew that if he bowed his head and apologized to Sir Linton now, he would have to make up a famous title by conquering a small village. Judging from the guy's urine, he might make up some outrageous story and describe himself as a complete loser to enhance his reputation.
At that time, it would be a good thing for Simon to lose some prestige and ruin some popularity. What he fears most is that he will be called a "coward" and be widely praised, and he will not even think about going well in the future.
"You, you," Sir Linton also wanted to spit on the ground in reply to Simon, but he found that he was wearing a visor and had to give up. "Damn it, I want to duel with you, a stupid and arrogant northern donkey. Defend my reputation!"
For a moment, Fatty Miller and the others stared at the two of them with their hearts in their throats.
