"call."
Simon breathed a sigh of relief and dragged his heavy steps up the wooden stairs to the second floor.
The second floor is Simon's bedroom. The original animal skin curtain of the hunting house was placed at the door of the bedroom. Simon opened the curtain, and what he saw was the same as the third child in the previous mansion - the bed, the locked box, and the straw mat for the fat man and little Klein to sleep on.
But the only thing that made Simon a little dissatisfied was that there were only two small square windows in the bedroom on the second floor, and the animal skin curtains were closed at the moment, which made the room feel particularly dark and stuffy.
This made Simon, who was used to opening more windows for ventilation, sigh.
This lord's tower was renovated as winter approached. In order to prevent the cold wind from blowing into the house and causing people to suffer from frostbite, it is understandable that only two windows were opened. But if it is in the summer, it will kill people.
"It looks like we'll have to ask Ryan to come over in the spring and arrange for someone to open two more windows in the bedroom."
………………
The next day, the morning light penetrated into the room through the narrow gap of the animal skin curtain. Simon yawned and got out of bed, put on the thick padded armor, and touched his growling stomach.
There was no one on the straw mats of Fatty and Little Klein. Simon opened the door curtain and walked down the stairs. Sure enough, the fat man had already cooked a pot of dried meat porridge by the fireplace at Simon's instruction last night, and little Klein was holding a skewer of rabbit meat next to him. While roasting, he held a small wooden bowl underneath to absorb the rabbit fat seeping from the meat.
"Master, come down and eat. The dishes have been washed for you. My God, the water from the Rhine is almost freezing my hands to pieces."
As the fat man spoke, he placed a wooden bowl and a spoon neatly on the long oak table, and also helped Simon pull out the big fur chair.
"Master, I just met the new priest of our village when I came back. Looking at his red nose, I knew he was an old drunkard. You know, he didn't come to see you last night because he was drunk. Oh. God, why did the Cologne Church send us such a priest?"
The fat man pouted and shook his head. Simon could tell that he was very helpless and dissatisfied with this priest.
"The Cologne Church naturally has their own reasons. All of this is God's arrangement. We have to let nature take its course." Simon didn't care. He was afraid that a rigid old man who strictly abided by canon rules would come to the village of Verde to be the priest.
"Okay, Master." The fat man blinked and served Simon a bowl of steaming, steaming meat porridge.
At the same time, little Klein used a dagger to cut a large piece of rabbit meat that was roasted to a tantalizingly brown color and put it into Simon's porridge, and then poured a little rabbit fat into it.
Simon rubbed his hands, pinched a pinch of salt from the salt shaker, sprinkled it into the porridge, and then stirred it with a wooden spoon.
Just like that, a bowl of the richest breakfast Simon had seen in a month appeared in front of his eyes, and a deep sense of happiness arose spontaneously.
As mentioned before, people in the Middle Ages did not eat breakfast before the fifteenth century, except for Simon.
However, Simon spent most of this month on the road and basically didn't eat breakfast. Most of the time for lunch and dinner, he ate bland porridge and hard and chewy black bread. Occasionally he went to town. You can only eat oily, watery and meaty food when you are resting.
"It's not easy." Simon said with emotion.
At this time, he also came up with an interesting idea - to send someone to the blacksmith in Dorstenberg to order an iron pot and a shovel for cooking according to his requirements, and also buy some rabbit fat. When the deer oil comes back, we can renovate the fireplace and set up a stove, and then we can cook.
"Dong dong dong."
At this moment, Simon's beautiful imagination was interrupted by a knock on the tower door.
"Sir, Father James wants to see you!" came the voice of the guard outside the door.
"Let him in."
Just a few seconds after Simon finished speaking, the door was opened a crack, and a cunning cold wind took the opportunity to slip in, making Simon shiver.
"Boom."
The door was quickly closed, and the flames in the fireplace that were swaying and swaying fell silent. Simon looked up and saw a fat man wearing a gray monk's robe walking over.
This man has a tall nose, thin lips unique to Anglos, and a pair of blue eyes, but his eyes are a little evasive, maybe because he is a little embarrassed about being drunk last night.
"Your Excellency Simon, the legal owner of Fort Verde and the surrounding lands, the crusher of pagans, and the guardian of Christians, may God bless you!" Father James walked to Simon's table and said as he did so A sign of the cross.
"Are you Father James? Sit down, would you like a bowl of fragrant rabbit porridge?" Simon pointed to the wooden stool next to the table.
"Oh, my dear Sir Simon, the sun has just risen and it is not yet noon..." Father James raised his sleeve and wiped the slender man on his head. He thought Simon had got the time wrong, but he didn't. I've seen people eat lunch in the morning.
"I think if people have the conditions, they should eat breakfast, lunch and dinner three times a day, so that they can have enough energy to deal with the things they have to do throughout the day. Of course, if you insist on not wanting to eat, I won't force you." Simon said. He waved his hand, picked up the wooden spoon and ate the meat porridge.
"Okay, Sir Simon, thank you for your kindness, I won't eat it." Father James scratched the back of his head, pulled out his chair and sat down cautiously.
He murmured in his mind that Lord Simon looked so young, but his schedule was different from other lords.
"I heard that you like drinking very much, right?" Simon glanced at the tip of the priest's nose from the corner of his eye. It was as red as the fat man said, just like the wild strawberries along the trail.
"Ahem, this..." Father James cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed.
He also didn't expect Simon to talk about being drunk last night before even saying a few polite words.
"Actually, personally, I think as long as you are devout to God and teach His people carefully, drinking a little wine doesn't matter." Simon continued without waiting for Father James to speak.
Simon speculated in his heart that since he was a priest who could get himself drunk by drinking, he would definitely not be so rigid in abiding by canon rules. As long as he showed tolerance and understanding for him at this time, the relationship between the two would definitely heat up quickly.
"You are absolutely right, Lord Simon. This is the first time I have met an open-minded lord like you!" Father James gradually relaxed his nervous and uneasy brows and smiled appreciatively.
He had just prepared for the worst, thinking that Lord Simon would use this as a threat to report the matter to the Cologne Church. In that case, there will be absolutely no good fruits to be gained.
"After the wine and meat pass through the intestines, God will keep it in his heart." Simon smiled and shook his head, chewing the roast rabbit in his mouth.
"By the way, dear Lord Simon, I have something to ask for. As you know, we monks usually open up a field belonging to the church and grow some vegetables to be self-sufficient. But after the church is built, I plan to plant the land next to the church. When a piece of open space was opened into a field, the village chief told me that although you would definitely agree to it after knowing it, in any case, this is your land and it must be decided by you when you come back, so you..."
"Of course, no problem," Simon nodded without hesitation, "I agree."
"Thank you, Sir Simon. God will definitely repay your kindness!" Father James finally let go of his nervousness and restraint and laughed heartily, but at this time, his stomach couldn't help but growl.
"Fat man, bring another bowl over and serve Father James a bowl of hot porridge." Simon ordered the fat man who was adding firewood to the fireplace.
"Oh no, this is not possible. Dear Lord Simon, I accept your kindness. For me, the first meal of the day really cannot be eaten at this time." Father James said anxiously, but he touched it with one hand. Under the gray robe, there is a somewhat round belly, which looks very contradictory.
"You can get drunk even with wine, so what does it matter if you eat a meal early? Just treat it as lunch early!" Simon estimated that the priest missed dinner because of drinking last night, and he must be very hungry now.
"Then, then, well, Sir Simon, thank you. To tell you the truth, I am indeed very hungry right now, and my stomach is almost empty. But I still have to remind you that eating in the morning is not allowed. Let outsiders know that what happened this morning must be kept secret, otherwise it will be troublesome if someone takes the case and takes it to the church." Father James looked around, put his face close to Simon and whispered.
Seeing Father James' mysterious look, Simon was still very puzzled.
In his opinion, eating breakfast is just a little different from other people's habits. How could it involve the church?
After Father James' explanation, it turned out that the church advocates that people should not eat too early after getting up. They call the first meal of the day "breaking the fast" and advocate eating at noon. This reminded Simon of the "breakfast" in later English. ".
Clergy, nobles and civilians all abide by this rule, but Simon has no impression of this rule in his memory. Maybe it has been a common living habit for people since he was born, and it is not usually deliberately used. Referred to.
Father James originally planned that if Simon threatened him with drinking, he would threaten him with breakfast, but now it seems that all this is unnecessary.
"Come with me to the village after dinner." Simon finished eating the meat and porridge, took a linen handkerchief from the fat man's hand and wiped his mouth.
"Of course, Sir Simon."
