At dusk, Art led the horse back to the cabin. Due to the disturbance of other chores this autumn, Art's hunting was not as rich as last year. The barley reserves harvested in the autumn were also sharply reduced due to the arrival of the Scott family. But what made Art more anxious was not the food and drink of everyone in the valley, but the drastic changes in the external situation that made him feel that the time had come, but he was alone and weak, hiding in this deserted place, how could he take advantage of the chaos and rise.
"Emma, Ron is nowhere to be seen during this period. If he is not helping to build the wooden house, where does he go all day long?" Art asked Emma who was milking the goat.
Seeing Art return from hunting, Emma quickly stepped forward to take the reins, bowed to Art and said, "Back to Master, Ron has been wandering around the mountains and forests during this time. He said that even if Master does not accept him as a follower, he will recover the lost prey for Master."
"Nonsense, why didn't you tell me earlier? Do you know how dangerous this forest is! What if a guy who knows nothing goes into the mountains alone and is targeted by a wolf? What should he do if he encounters a brown bear and wild boar?" Art was very anxious when he heard this.
"Cooper, Scott, come in." Art faced the two people outside the wooden fence who were digging the foundation for the new wooden house.
"If you don't tell me such a big thing, what will you do if something happens to Ron!!! Do you know how dangerous it is in the forest." Art became more and more angry as he spoke.
The two of them stood silently in front of Art without saying a word. After Art's anger subsided a little, Cooper said softly: "Master, Ron is a child who knows shame and is also a stubborn child. He insists on going into the mountains to hunt a deer and bring it back to Master. We can't help him. Besides, he is no longer a child. He knows what he is doing."
While Art lost his temper in the wooden house, Ron held a wooden spear as long as one person in his left hand and led a wild goat tied to hemp vines with his right hand into the small yard dejectedly. He still did not hunt the deer...
Everyone stopped talking and looked at Ron.
Ron drove the wild sheep into the sheepfold, dragged his tired pace and tattered clothes to Art and said: "Master, I'm useless, I couldn't hunt back the deer..." As he said this, Ron buried his head covered with old and new scars deeply.
Matt looked at Ron and then at the wild sheep in the yard, and all his annoyance disappeared. He looked at Old Cooper, then at Scott, and then asked Ron in a soft tone: "Can you ride a horse?"
Ron was confused by the sudden question: "Master, I have never ridden a horse, but I used to ride a donkey."
After dinner, Art called Old Cooper, who was preparing things for tomorrow's trip, and said: "Cooper, I will be out for a long time this time. During this period, you have to take Scott to guard this place, stay as close to the hut as possible, and remember not to go out of the dense forest to the north of the valley. It is very messy outside now. In addition, the work in the fields has ended now, and during this period You need to clear away the trees and weeds near the wooden house, make a clearing, and then cut more wood to build a long wooden house, just as I told you before." Old Cooper nodded after listening to Art's words, and then said to Art seriously: "Master, are you really ready?"
"Cooper, the troubled times have arrived, this is the last darkness before dawn." After saying that, he picked up the fine-grained Utz steel sword lying on the wooden table with both hands, rubbed the row of inscriptions on the sword, and silently said in his heart: "Until the lamb turns into a lion."
At noon the next day, Old Cooper and the Scott family bid farewell to the two people who were about to go out in front of the gate of the small courtyard
At noon, Art didn't know how long it would take to return from this trip, so he made full preparations.
Yate wears a semicircular iron helmet on his head, a long gown inside, a cowhide light armor, a bearskin turtle on the outside, cowhide boots on his feet, and a fine iron dagger stuck at his waist; underneath him is a maroon horse, with a horn riding bow and sheepskin water bag hanging on the left side of the front saddle, a fine steel long sword and a small leather buckler hanging on the right side; a sheepskin felt blanket is tied behind the saddle.
Ron was also wearing a hooded gown, a sheepskin jacket, cowhide boots, and a dagger and a wooden-handled dagger hung on the cowhide belt around his waist. Under his body was a green mule, with a water bladder hung on the front, a large bundle of fur mountain products and a large piece of smoked venison tied on the back. A set of horse mattress covers was tied behind the saddle, which contained a spliced animal blanket, a bag of wheat bran, a deep-bottomed copper pot, two sets of cutlery, a few black bread, and some scattered items.
· Money was useless in the valley, so Art took all the money away, because he would need a lot of money next...
· · .....
· The sky was already gray and black, and from a pile of huge rocks in the wilderness, there was the clang of iron tools.
“Ron, don’t just focus on the sword in your hand. Remember to keep your feet stable. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, step forward with one foot, point the toes of your front foot forward, rotate your back foot externally, and sink your waist slightly.”
"When holding the sword, put your right thumb on the sword. Don't feel weird, just do it like this. Okay, now try to chop me in the pear position..."
Since the two arrived here before sunset, Art began to teach Ron the most basic swordsmanship. Unfortunately, Ron had never had a foundation in swordsmanship. Ron was still unable to achieve the most basic effect that Art wanted until everything was dark. However, as a farmer's son, Ron has a lot of brute strength. Although he doesn't have any skills with the sword, swinging the weapon with his brute force can still help a little.
After an afternoon of "slashing, stabbing and blocking", Ron's limbs were sore and his face was white and his lips were purple. He never imagined that practicing swordsmanship would be so hard. But he didn't want Master Art to feel that he was too weak, forcing himself to make fires to cook, and to feed the mules and horses...
Matt found it funny to see Ron limping and holding on, but he had no intention of going over to help him. If Ron was content to become a farmer's son, perhaps Art would relent, but since he chose to be his follower, he had to withstand the test and grow up quickly, because there wouldn't be much time left for Ron to grow up...
On the second day of the trip, the two of them were already approaching Tyniec.
Along the way, the two of them experienced the impact of the war in the south. Less than half a day after riding north from the boulders, on the commercial road leading to the north, there were people fleeing in twos and threes from time to time. Most of them were in ragged clothes and as thin as dry wood. Many of them could not make it to the next inhabited place. From time to time, corpses lying in bed could be seen on both sides of the road.
Even if they were lucky enough to reach the next village or manor, they were either expelled by the devil as an evil spirit that had invaded their bodies, or they were used as serfs or even sold as slaves by the lords because they were unable to pay the huge "transit tax." There were even extremely greedy and cruel lords who led their troops to massacre the refugees, plunder property, and kidnap people.
The cold winter is approaching, and the journey north will be even more difficult...
The two of them avoided large groups of refugees and the hunting lord's cavalry all the way. When they arrived at the outskirts of Tyniec, it was already noon on the third day. At this time, Tyniec was in chaos.
At the foot of the city wall, the refugees had built a messy circle of shacks with dead branches and weeds. There was a pottery pot on the bonfire, and unknown soup was boiling in it. When Ater and the two rode past, these people either raised their heads and looked at them in a daze or stretched out their hands to beg. Their spirits were listless and their faces were full of hunger. Among them were women holding babies who were waiting to be fed.
"Two handsome gentlemen, look at my beautiful daughter. I only need one Fengy." When Art and Ate walked out of the edge of the refugee shantytown, a middle-aged woman who looked like a fat pig grabbed Att's reins. Att followed the fat woman's hand and pointed towards him. Several skinny and trembling girls were sitting at the door of a broken house. Art stared with disgust at the fat woman in front of him who was wearing heavy and low-quality perfume. He turned the horse's head and the reins broke away from the fat woman's hands.
The fierce look in Art's eyes made the fat woman feel nervous. She quickly got out of the way, spat at the backs of the two people as they left, and then started looking for the next target.
"Help~" Just as he was about to leave the refugee area, the screams of women and children suddenly came from the edge of the refugee camp on the right. Ron immediately pulled out the dagger from his waist, and Art also put his hand on the hilt.
“Go over and have a look.” Art said to Ron beside him, and then the two of them rode towards the remote place where the sound came from.
From a distance, Art heard the muffled sound of sticks hitting flesh. He turned around the corner of the city wall and saw five city gangsters wearing shabby linen beating a man. The man had been beaten until his face was bloody, but he still firmly protected his wife and daughter behind him. Art made a cautious advance gesture towards Ron, then bent down and tried to avoid the dead branches under his feet, but Ron accidentally knocked over a broken clay pot and made an abnormal noise. The gangsters stopped what they were doing, stood up and looked back.
"Come on, they found us." Art gritted his teeth, drew out his sword, and ordered to Ron. He was already sure that these people were urban gangsters who bullied the weak.
"What's going on? Is it the Sheriff?" The gangsters saw two warriors holding swords suddenly jumping out from behind the city wall, but unlike the town guards they usually saw, the two men were wearing animal skin armor. They hurriedly picked up their sticks and turned around to charge towards Ater and the two, and there was a clear sound of the collision of weapons.
"Oh woo~~." Art held a long sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left hand. He used the long sword to attack and defend with the dagger, and he used his bow to kill the gangsters steadily. Seeing Art forcing the gangsters back, Ron also surged into bloody courage. He used his brute force to slash with his dagger, knocking a gangster in front of him to the ground in two or three strokes. The other gangsters stopped when they saw their companions being chopped down.
"Get out of here!" Seeing that the gangsters had been frightened, Art shouted loudly at the gangsters with his long sword.
Several gangsters quickly picked up their companions who were bleeding on the ground and fled quickly...
Ron stepped forward to check on the man surrounded by women and children. The man slumped on the ground. When he saw Ron coming up, he quickly stood up and dragged his wife and daughter to their knees. He kept saying thank you for saving his life.
? Ron stepped aside and Art came to the man, looked at him and asked, "Are you refugees fleeing the war?"
“Sir, we are villagers from Alsburg in the Poge Mountains in the southeast. In the autumn, more than twenty bandits came down from the Poge Mountains. They killed the lord and occupied the village fort. The bandits committed all kinds of evil in the village fort. I fled here with my wife and daughter. As soon as I arrived, I was targeted by these gangsters. Not only did they want to take away my belongings, but they also wanted to take away my wife. Fortunately, the two adults saved the lives of my family~" The man took a rag handed over by the woman and pressed the bleeding wound on his head.
Hyat saw that the man and his family were fine, so he asked them to leave here quickly, to prevent the gangsters from coming back to seek revenge.
A small episode did not change the two people's plans. When they arrived at the southern city gate of Tyniec, they had to pay the full commercial tax before entering the city because the gate guards who were familiar with Art had been dispatched to eliminate the bandits.
When I entered Tyniec, I found that the city was already overcrowded. The inn called the Liberty Buffalo was now filled with wealthy businessmen and squires who had fled from the south. They hugged naked women and yelled at the bartender for drinks in the lingua franca of a strong southern flavor; Pimps and homeless beggars can be seen everywhere on the streets. The slums in the northeast and the slave markets in the northwest are already crowded with homeless people and slaves for sale. Although the sheriff tirelessly patrols the streets and alleys with town guards, theft, robbery and murder have not decreased but increased.
· The chaotic situation has seriously affected the normal operation of the city's commerce. Many caravans and vendors are unwilling to come here to trade. The large influx of population and the decline of commerce have caused chaos in the city's security and reduced tax revenue. Therefore, the Lord's Hall has to increase business taxes and impose city entry taxes, and collect more taxes to hire soldiers to maintain order.
At this time, Art only exchanged all the fur mountain goods for less than 250 copper pfennigs, but Art didn't care too much. This money should be the cost of the two people's journey north.
That night, the two spent four pfennigs and spent the night in a leeward spot in the free market. There were patrols and escorts of tax officials and tax collectors in the free market, which made it much safer than other places in the city. The two had a good sleep.
The next morning, the two of them swallowed a piece of rye bread with a large bowl of oatmeal paste at a stall in the free market. As soon as the sun rose, the two of them packed up and set off out of the north gate, heading towards the most prosperous city of Lucese in the southern part of Burgundy.
The two men traveled non-stop, and after passing through Lettersui and Engelberg, they arrived in Lucerne at noon on the third day. From Provence to the County of Burgundy, Ron had seen the giant fortress, but he was still amazed by the width of the city of Lucesne, the density of the population, the grandness of the urban structure, and the prosperity of commercial trade. He couldn't help but open his eyes wide and look around.
The circumference of Lucesien Castle is about two miles. The city wall is fifty feet high and fifteen feet thick. The road on the top of the city wall can accommodate two horses driving together. There are towering stone towers at the four corners. There are horse faces and arrow towers every one hundred and fifty feet on the city wall. There are inlaid hanging grids that are twenty feet high and fifteen feet wide in the east, west, and south of the city wall. Behind the hanging grid is a giant iron-clad oak door; outside the city is a moat surrounding three sides. The city is lined with shops, squares, churches, monasteries, and lords' halls, connected criss-crossed by spacious and flat stone avenues...
The two of them led their horses and followed the caravan entering the city, walked across the drawbridge, passed through the heavily guarded city gate, came to the city, and found a secluded hotel to stay.