The palace's promotion ceremony for this group of trainee knights was simpler than the canonization ceremony. However, as the lord of this group of palace guard knights, Ivrea, the Marquis of Burgundy, personally sat on the iron seat of the hall to participate in the promotion ceremony.
At and six other trainee knights stood in the palace hall. The other five knights who were seriously injured and performed meritorious services were attended by their attendants with heraldic flags. The palace herald used a pair of silver scissors to cut off the emblems on the heraldic flags for the twelve trainee knights. At the end, the twelve people who were promoted to knights half-knelt in front of the Marquis and followed the herald officer to swear allegiance to the Marquis of Ivrea. The Marquis personally rewarded each of the new knights with a pair of iron spurs, and then the palace clerk read out the enfeoffment of the seven new knights' fiefs in front of the palace full of dignitaries.
In the evening, the palace held a banquet for twelve people. However, the Marquis and most of the powerful officials and nobles did not attend the banquet. On the one hand, it was because the protagonists of the banquet were only a group of small knights, and it was not worthy for them to attend in person. On the other hand, it is also because the palace magnates are currently troubled by the war in the east and really have no energy.
Matt just showed up at the dinner with Ron and Angus and then left, because the knight Dean, who had become Art's life and death rival, was causing trouble for Art at every turn. He had many "friends" in the court, so naturally many small dignitaries joined Dean in isolating Art.
On the morning of the next day, the palace clerk sent someone to Att's military camp to deliver the documents of canonization of the palace guard knights and knight fiefs signed by the Marquis of Ivrea. After receiving the documents, Att went to bid farewell to Count Baldwin, deputy minister of the palace, and rushed to Lucesien with a dozen cavalrymen.
"Sir, that guy Dean is always making things difficult for you. When we return to Tyniec, we will definitely find an opportunity to beat that bastard to death." On the way to Lucesien, Ron said to Art, who was driving the horse ahead.
Matt replied nonchalantly: "What's the use of beating him up? I'll make him remember the name Art firmly and never forget it."
"Sir, you haven't seen Dean's look of wanting to tear us apart. If he hadn't known that we had brought a dozen elite soldiers, he would have dared to lead his troops into the camp." Since Art was promoted to a knight, Angus changed his name to Art.
"Sergeant Major, I'm not afraid that he will pounce like a wolf. After all, I am a knight now, and he has not the courage to kill a new noble with a lord for no reason. But wolves are easy to avoid and poisonous snakes are hard to avoid. We have worked with poisonous snakes and know the dangers of poisonous snakes." Art replied coldly.
"You mean they might set a trap for you? Or deal with you secretly?"
"There is a possibility. Since he can collude with the guild to seize our caravan goods, he may do more vicious things~especially since I have formed an unrelenting enemy with him."
“Then shall we strike first?” Angus raised his hand and made a gesture of wiping his neck.
"It's not possible yet. Don't do these things without absolute certainty. We are not in enemy territory now, and every move we make will be restricted by the king's law." Art rejected Angus's proposal, because now he is a knight and must have a bottom line, and this is not enemy territory, and there are restrictions on everything he does.
"The best way to defeat the enemy is to become stronger than the enemy. You two will always remember this sentence..." As Art said, he lightly pinched the horse's belly. The horse under him felt the owner's movements and slowly accelerated the pace of the gallop...
...
The group arrived in Lucesne in the afternoon of the day they left Besançon and stayed one night in a hotel in the north of the city.
In the early morning of the next day, Art brought Ron to the Hwov Cathedral. Art did not go directly to the church to visit Bishop Olof. Instead, he first found the deacon in charge of holy offerings in the church, revealed his identity, and then donated a huge holy donation of 5,000 pfennigs to the church. He specifically ordered the deacon to report this matter to Bishop Olof only after he left the church.
Everything was ready, Art took Ron, accompanied by religious guards, to Bishop Orlov's office. Bishop Orlov's guard was already familiar with Art. He kept asking Art about the war on the eastern border. Obviously, this was a guy who wanted to make meritorious deeds on the battlefield.
Seeing Art, Bishop Olof's face was as kind as ever, and his face became more and more rosy.
Olov helped up Art who was half kneeling on the ground. He put his hands on Art's shoulders and looked at Art up and down. He smiled and said: "Very good! I can come back here from the battlefield intact."< br/>
"Your Majesty Bishop, it was the light of the Holy Lord that illuminated me, otherwise I would have died under the crossbows fired by the enemy." After Art said this, he took out the cross presented to him by Bishop Olof hanging around his neck.
"Hmm, I already know about your heroic deeds in enemy territory from your letter. Although many of your actions fail to uphold the traditional moral principles of knights, when dealing with a bad wolf, a smart hunter will never fight it face to face."
"Child, you must always remember that you must learn to be half saint and half devil, treat your enemies as fiercely as the devil, and treat yourself as kindly as a saint." Bishop Olof is a person who has returned from the Holy Land. He knows that Art's tactics were learned from pagans. Olof is not a pedantic saint, so he does not resent Art's endless "conspiracies" when dealing with enemies.
"I took note of it!" Art nodded heavily.
"Well, by the way, has the palace given you a description of your merits and rewards this time? I haven't received a report from the palace yet." Bishop Olof has always been very concerned about the issue of rewards for Art's military achievements. In order to prevent the helpless Art from having his achievements forgotten by the powerful ministers of the palace, he wrote twice to the deputy minister of the palace, Bowen Bowen. Count Baldwin hopes that he can help Art fight for a fair treatment. It is precisely because of Art's outstanding military exploits and Bishop Olof's special instructions that Earl Baldwin will try his best to fight for Art in the court meeting, even though this favor is mixed with the struggle between the two powerful men, Baldwin and Bernard.
Att told Bishop Olof, who had not yet received the report from the palace of Besancon, that he had obtained a knighthood and two knightly fiefs.
"I didn't expect that the struggle between the various forces in the palace is so fierce now, that a warrior who has done meritorious service can't even get the most basic fair treatment." Bishop Olof still felt regretful and resentful that Art was not granted a decent knightly fief.
"You will eventually have to return to that dense forest and deserted valley, but are you sure you can build that place into a real knightly realm?" Orlov was still a little worried about Art's plan, because Orlov had no idea of the current situation in that deserted valley.
"Your Excellency, my father's bones are buried in that desolate valley. Wherever the Wells family falls, I, Art, will stand up from there!" Art said firmly.
Bishop Olof looked at Art's firm eyes and made the sign of the cross on his chest with his hands. After a long time, he asked: "My child, is there anything else I can do to help you?"
"Mr. Bishop, thank you for your generosity. In addition to reporting my current situation to you and personally thanking you for helping me several times, I really have two things to ask of you." Art didn't want to make excuses in front of his father's best friend. He knew that Bishop Olof was really willing to help him.
"Child, tell me, if I can get a job, I will do my best." Olof said.
"The first thing is that I now have my own knight's territory. There are some farmers and soldiers in my territory. They live with me in the wilderness and they really hope that God's light can penetrate the dense forests and wild valleys and shine on every saint who believes in him. Therefore, I plan to build a small church for the Lord in my knight's territory. , but I need a parish priest who is willing to shepherd the saints for God. If not, it would be good to have a priest who spreads the gospel of our Lord in my territory." Art plans to build a small church in the valley. Instead of being forced to send priests by the church in the future, it is better to ask the church to send one.
Bishop Olof has devoted his life to spreading the gospel of God, and he will never refuse such an initiative to seek religious blessing for a saint.
“This is a good thing to spread the gospel of God. I will definitely help you with this favor. What is the second thing you said?” Olof asked.
"Your Majesty, Bishop, I believe you already know from what happened last time that my caravan was seized in Besançon..."
Att told Bishop Olof in detail about his plans to rely on trade to make money to build his territory and support the army. He made calculations and clarified the biggest problem currently encountered by the caravan. He expressed the hope that the church behind Bishop Olof would support his caravan. In return, Art was willing to donate one-twentieth of the caravan's profits as the church's religious property income, which would be used to build churches, spread the gospel, and provide relief to the congregation.
The second thing was not a matter of a word from Bishop Olof. Bishop Olof was hesitant, but he finally agreed to carefully consider the second thing proposed by Art.
After talking for a long time in Bishop Olof's office, it was not until almost noon that Art left the church with a letter written by Bishop Olof and took the letter to Serenkov Monastery...
…………
"What? Why should I go?" In Serankov Monastery, monk Hamish, who was wiping the floor of the Holy Church, learned that the abbot of the monastery assigned him to a small church in a deserted valley that had been abandoned for hundreds of years to spread the gospel, he immediately refused.
The priest who delivered the order glanced at the guy in front of him with disgust and said, "Why? Just because you are only half a saint!"
This monk, known as "half-saint", is Hamish Matthew, who is twenty-five years old. His father was once a businessman, and his pagan mother died in childbirth because of giving birth to him. His father could not accept this little devil who took away his mother's life at birth, and believed that this little bastard was God's punishment for him. So Hamish was thrown into the monastery by his father when he was five years old. Since then, his father has never appeared again. He doesn't know whether his father is dead or alive, but he doesn't care.
Hamish, who grew up in a monastery, did not become a devout saint. He was not a law-abiding child since he was a child. He always did some naughty and bohemian things when he was a child. He not only cut off the monks' hair, but also stole holy food. Not only did he like to tease the confessing saints, but he also often went to the nunnery to peek at the nuns changing clothes. In the past twenty years, he stayed in five or six monasteries (churches), but no monastery could tolerate him for more than three years.
However, Hamish had a talent. He could read the Bible well at the age of twelve. By the age of sixteen, he could memorize the entire content of the Bible and write beautiful Latin. It is precisely for this reason that so many monasteries (churches) are willing to hold this guy in his arms.
Serenkov Monastery was the only place where he stayed for more than three years, because the former abbot of the monastery, the current Bishop of Luzern Diocese, Olof, was a very tolerant person. He took a fancy to Hamish's extraordinary talent for the Bible, magnanimously tolerated his shortcomings, and promoted Hamish to deacon soon after he came to the monastery.
However, after Bishop Olof was promoted to the bishop of the diocese, the new abbot was not so polite to this guy. Last week, after Hamish sneaked into a hidden tavern in the city and got drunk and was carried back to the monastery, the new abbot locked him up for two weeks and then punished him to kneel in front of the icon and wipe the floor for a month. This kind of thing was so common to Hamish that he was used to it.
However, when he heard that the abbot of the monastery was planning to send him to be a priest in a dense forest valley on the southern border of Burgundy, which had been deserted for hundreds of years, he instinctively refused. Although his life in the monastery was not comfortable, at least he had food, clothing, food and clothing, and no worries about his life.
He immediately left the temple and ran to the abbot's office to argue.
The abbot of the monastery received Hamish in a very rare event and patiently persuaded him: "Hamish, this is what Bishop Olof meant. He said that our monastery should choose a young monk with profound knowledge and extraordinary talents to accompany a knight to his territory to spread the gospel of the Holy Lord and bring the Lord's light into the darkness. Is there any young monk in the entire monastery who is more knowledgeable than you? So after discussion between me and the elders, I will send you."
Of course Hamish would not agree. Having grown up in a monastery since childhood, he did not have much awe or affection for these guys shrouded in holy light. He knew with his toes that the dean and the elders wanted to take this opportunity to drive him out of the monastery and eliminate a scourge for the monastery.
"Master Dean, you said this was what Bishop Olof meant. Did Bishop Olof ask me to go by name?" Hamish would not be so easily fooled.
"No! When the bishop left the monastery, he asked me to study the Bible with concentration and understand the holy meaning. I haven't understood the essence of the Bible yet, and I can't leave here yet." Hamish started to act rogue.
The abbot of the monastery was a little helpless to deal with this guy. After holding it for a long time, he still took a breath and took out the "candy" he had prepared. He said: "I have discussed it with the elders. If you are willing to go there, we will promote you to the rank of parish priest! Twenty-five-year-old parishioner Priest, this is a miracle. "
This "candy" was tempting enough for Hamish...
In the end, Hamish agreed to the arrangement of the monastery and agreed to be a parish priest in the knight territory.