It must be said that Baron Iser's hospitality was attentive and thoughtful, and the food at the dinner was rich and delicious. Simon had not had such a pleasant meal for a long time.
At the dinner, Baron Iser was very interested in Simon's promotion to Baron in just two years.
So, after dinner, he and his courtiers sat around the firepit and listened to Simon's account of his rise.
When Simon talked about defeating Baron Quinnir, everyone burst into cheers. When it came to the death of Simon's father, Baron Dorsten, in battle, everyone couldn't help but sigh with regret.
After Simon finished telling everything, everyone realized that the time had reached midnight unknowingly.
The courtiers bid farewell to Baron Iser and left one after another, but the sealmaster showed no intention of leaving.
Baron Iser kept playing with his long beard with his hands, as if he was thinking about something in his head.
Simon put down his wine glass, raised his dizzy head and looked around, and suddenly found that there was no one else in the hall except Baron Iser, the sealmaster and the guards.
"Simon, my territory is adjacent to yours, and both have considerable military strength." Baron Iser cleared his throat, sat upright on his chair and said, "I have a win-win proposal. Why should we Why not form an alliance? In this time of war and chaos, nothing is more valuable than a reliable ally."
Simon's eyes lit up when he heard these words, and he even sobered up a bit. He rubbed his temples and did not rush to answer. Instead, he calculated the benefits he could get in his mind.
Baron Iser now has four knights, 80 private soldiers, and 400 levies. He is very powerful among the barons.
In addition to his close-to-enemy relationship with Baron Arnhem, he also got along well with the nearby lords. At the same time, his territory was not claimed by other lords.
Simon thought that Baron Iser would be a stable and reliable ally.
Once both parties form an alliance, both parties have the obligation and responsibility to send troops to help the ally if it is attacked or raises troops to attack.
"I don't think I have any reason to refuse," Simon laughed and raised his glass again, "Come, my friend, or my ally, have a drink for our alliance!"
"Very good," Baron Iser clinked glasses with Simon with a smile, and then said to the seal officer who relaxed beside him, "Robert, let the clerk help me draft two alliance agreements!"
Now, any enemy must carefully weigh the strength of this alliance before turning against Baron Foldburg and Baron Iser. If you piss off one of the two, be prepared to take twice as much wrath.
Simon got plenty of sleep that night.
Whether it's the repaired tower, the satisfying food at the banquet, or the strong sense of security brought by new allies, no matter from any angle, this place is much better than the Barony of Arnhem.
After lunch the next day, Simon said goodbye to Baron Iser and continued on his journey.
Before Simon left, Baron Iser patted him on the shoulder with some regret in front of the stables and said that if his youngest daughter had not been engaged to the son of another baron in the earldom, he would have facilitated the two. marriage between. However, this does not affect their alliance.
Simon looked at the little girl who was shyly hiding behind the Baroness and looking at him with curious eyes. He could only smile forcefully, hypocritically and politely saying that he felt sorry for this too.
In the Middle Ages, most marriages were not driven by love. On the contrary, marriage is usually a means for the family head to make profits for his family with the greatest political purpose and the desire to gain authority and benefits.
Marriage can bring about an unbreakable in-law alliance, and in some cases, the land and titles of the in-laws are eventually claimed and inherited by the descendants of the own family.
Therefore, in this case, a young unmarried aristocratic woman may be married by the profit-seeking head of the family to a high-ranking and powerful old man with half of his body buried in the ground, or she may be married to a woman who is still pregnant. The babbling young heir may also be married to a dwarf who holds real power but is ugly and even hunchbacked.
Simon didn't want to prematurely marry a noble of the same level and determine his upper limit in a short-sighted manner.
What's more, the other party is still a little girl, and it will take several years until she reaches adulthood before she can officially marry him and give him an heir.
He is still young, has great ambitions and a bunch of unfulfilled ideas. He believes that his stage will never be limited to this small world.
Leaving the territory of his old friends, Simon returned to traveling in the open air.
The sky was filled with heavy dark clouds coming from the north, which made people feel very depressed. A bolt of lightning swept across the earth like a scout riding a white horse. Soon, long and dull rolling spring thunder struck towards the open lowland plain like a slowly unrolling scroll.
Simon didn't want to take the risk of falling sick in the rain and become a drowned rat, but he also didn't want to delay his trip by taking temporary shelter from the rain, so he had no choice but to humiliate his beloved horse "Lucky" and let everyone clamp down on the horse's belly and welcome him. The wind was getting stronger and stronger, and the grass on both sides of the dirt road was ravaged by the wind and danced wildly, and they rushed towards the town of Deventer as fast as possible.
Perhaps because of the favor of the Lord, when Simon had just tied up the panting "Lucky" in the stable of the Deventer town tavern, the heavy rain came as expected.
The townspeople on the streets went home to take shelter from the rain, and the merchants put away their stalls and put on hoods to hide under the eaves.
The originally muddy main road of the town was full of stagnant water in the different depths of footprints and ruts. After a while, all kinds of garbage and excrement on the street flowed towards the lower town gate. The helpless gate guards were there. With the consent of the Sheriff, the originally closed town gate had to be opened to help the town drain water.
"My lord, are you looking for Deventer Church?" The shopkeeper, who was wiping wooden cups at the counter on the first floor of the tavern, raised his head and looked at Simon, who was wearing dark blue aristocratic clothing.
"Of course," Simon said, sitting on an empty table and chair in the tavern, "I'll leave when the rain stops."
"Okay, I can tell you," the tavern owner with red spots on his face lowered his head again and continued to wipe his glass while replying, "You can go out from the main road on the east side of the town and go straight until you see the second Turn left at the three-way intersection. You won’t miss that intersection, there is an old street sign there. After turning left, continue walking along the path for half a day and you will be there.”
"I know, thank you." Simon nodded, ordered a glass of cider and a roast chicken, and sat on the tables and chairs in the tavern.
He would wait here for a day, waiting for the heavy rain to pass, before continuing on the road.
Churches in many territories are not actually in towns, but are located near towns, with large tracts of land and farmers, who use them to pay for the various expenses required to maintain the operation of the church.
The next day, Simon and others found the ancient road sign according to the path pointed by the tavern keeper, and headed towards Deventer Church in the humid air and wet dirt road.
Around noon, farmland and livestock pastures appeared on the empty grassland in the distance, and the outline of the chapel was looming in the mist.
Due to the invasion of the Vikings, all the churches along the coast suffered basically. They were trampled on by the Norse barbarians without any defense. The gold and silver sacred vessels used for ceremonies in the churches were often swept away.
So, now Simon can see that Deventer Church is surrounded by a solid stone wall, which is said to have been built with the money of the pious Count Zutphen.
In addition to a monk in a gray robe who was bending over to feed chickens, there was also a soldier holding a spear and wearing a robe with the emblem of the Earl of Zutphen at the door.
"What do you want?" The soldier guarding the church door looked warily at the four strangers riding horses with weapons on their waists.
"Don't be nervous, this is Baron Simon from Fort Verde, here to see his brother Brother Linde." The leading light cavalry at the front said to the soldiers.
The soldiers had obviously been given instructions in advance. He bowed slightly to Simon and saluted, and moved out of the way without saying anything.
Everyone tied the horses in the stable, and a stable boy with a snotty nose came over and took off the saddles one by one. Simon noticed an older monk emerging from the church and walking toward the stables.
"May God bless you, Simon of Woldburg. I am the priest of the entire parish. You can call me Hervald. Ahem," the priest's voice was not good. He covered his mouth with his arm and coughed a few times. He said, "I'm sorry for what happened to you and Brother Linde's father. Brother Linde is in the scriptorium now. Let me take you there."
Simon felt a little excited about meeting his brother who had the same blood flowing in his body. Unlike Lange, who is a sinister and cunning villain, Linde should be easier to get along with as someone who has been serving God since he was a child.
The priest pushed open the heavy wooden door of the scriptorium. The first thing that caught Simon's eyes was a wooden bookshelf. There were not many books on it, just a few books.
Standing at the copy desk next to the bookshelf was a young monk. He had the same brown hair as Simon, but it was shaved into a monk's Mediterranean hairstyle.
Hearing someone coming in, Brother Linde carefully stopped writing and put the quill back into the ink bottle. He raised his head and saw a strange man with facial features somewhat similar to his being brought in by the priest. If he guessed correctly, this man must be his brother Simon.
"Father," Brother Linde greeted the priest, then turned to Simon and said humbly, "I am Linde from Gayten."
"I am Simon of Verdeburg, your brother."
"That's right," Brother Linde nodded, "I heard that Kooser encountered misfortune some time ago. I have been praying for him day and night, hoping that his soul can ascend to heaven as soon as possible."
Simon found that the expression on Lind's face did not change much. It seems that Keother's relationship with him is somewhat distant. To him, his father is just a man who brought him to this troubled world.
After all, as an illegitimate child with no identity, Keoser would not take him to live with him. This made this child who had never experienced his father's love since he was a child inevitably feel a lot of injustice.
But no matter what, they are brothers, and their blood connects them closely. This is a fact that no one can change.
The priest went out to deal with other matters soon, and now there were only two brothers in the scriptorium. Simon chatted with Linde, and he learned that Linde was currently transcribing a Bible, which was ordered by a count from a nearby territory.
As the chat progressed, Simon discovered that his brother was extremely knowledgeable.
Take the sermons that Simon was not interested in, for example. Brother Linde could quote scriptures and vividly preach each truth and teaching in the most understandable language. I think the farmers in the nearby areas must like to listen to his sermons.
In addition, his logic is very clear and he can always give sharp suggestions to the point.
After listening to Simon describe the current situation of the newly established Principality of Cologne, Brother Linde pointedly said to Simon: "You must take good precautions against our brother Lange. Who in the entire principality wants you to die in an accident the most?" , that person must be Lange.”
Simon was a little surprised. This was something he had never thought of: "Why? Lange has reached an agreement with the Duke of Cologne. In exchange for him becoming an earl, he will no longer claim Fuldeburg and transfer me to the Duke. "
"Yes, but think about it, once you have an accident and die unfortunately, who will inherit your territory?"
An unexplained chill crept up Simon's spine.
The reason why Langer didn't attack himself now is because he just took over the new territory and is currently improving his control over the new territory. In addition, the Principality of Cologne has just been established, and as one of the two newly created earls in the Principality, he has attracted much attention. It is unlikely that such a conspiracy-like thing will happen at the cusp of the storm.
And once he gets a firm foothold and looks back and finds that Simon is still alone, maybe he will really look for an opportunity to arrange an accident and inherit all of Simon's territory in the most legal way.
As long as Simon has no descendants, the first heir to the Barony of Foldburg is his brother Lange. Similarly, for Simon, as long as Lange has no descendants, the first heir to the Earldom of Dorsten is himself.
"What a wonderful move by the Duke of Cologne. At least in the short term, there is absolutely no possibility of easing the relationship between Lange and I."
