The area where mountains and plains meet fifty miles northwest of the city of Besançon. This is the northeastern boundary of the Province of Yona. Eighty miles to the north is the national boundary of the Principality of Burgundy, and fifty miles to the south is the city of Besançon.
In the pitch-black night, there was a glimmer of light from a campfire in a desolate grassland under the mountains.
A man wearing long cotton armor, a sheepskin jacket, a rabbit fur felt hat, sheepskin boots, and a crossbow dagger at his waist walked towards the fire from the dense forest line at the foot of the mountain with split legs. He held a large pile of collected firewood in his arms.
The man returned to the fire and threw the firewood in his arms aside. He glanced at the rye bread and half-baked bacon that were baking beside the fire. He said to another young man with a scar face who was feeding black beans and wheat bran to the horses: "Sir Ron, you come here to eat and rest first, and I will feed the horses."
Ron opened the wheat bran bag and lifted it up, asking the horse to put its mouth into the bag and lick the wheat bran, and got: "Aaron, you eat first, and after eating, sleep for a while, and you will keep vigil in the middle of the night."
This man named Alon was a direct subordinate of Ron, and belonged to the Guards of the Welsh Legion. He was a herdsman, and he worked as a groom in a caravan that sold horses before being recruited as a soldier. Because he was good at riding and shooting, he was selected by Ron as one of Art's bodyguards.
He often travels around with the cavalry, so he is familiar with the roads in the North, especially the Duchy and County of Burgundy and the Kingdom of France. After Ron was ordered to fly back on Pegasus, he chose this soldier to follow.
The shortest route from Paris to Besancon is 380 miles. In order to find a road that is convenient for riding horses, Ron chose to go east from Paris, cross the border of the Principality of Burgundy and then go southeast to Besancon. This route has wide roads and flat terrain suitable for horseback riding, but the distance is more than 450 miles.
Hate's order to the two of them was to rush back to Besancon as quickly as possible without any effort to report the message to Count Baldwin and Bishop Olof, so in the four days after leaving Paris, they basically slept no more than four hours a day.
Needless to say, I must be on my way during the day. In order to avoid running out of horses before finding a replacement farm to buy horses and crossing the property, they would stop every six miles during the day to let the horses drink and eat grass and rest for a while.
They set off on the road at dawn in the morning. Since most of the horses replaced along the way are ordinary riding horses, they can no longer run after running for sixty or seventy miles during the day. At this time, the sky has basically darkened, and it is no longer suitable for riding horses, so the two of them will hold hands while the night is still dark. Walking along the road, people and horses can rest for a while. After walking five or six miles at night, it is basically late at night. Only then will the two of them stop to look for accommodation or sleep in the wild, feed the horses, check the shoes, then make a hasty fire, make some food, swallow their stomachs, and fall asleep for a few hours.
It took four days and four nights of running like this, changing three horses along the way, before arriving at the border of the County of Burgundy. Ron had experienced this once before, but this time the journey was even more difficult. Even though he was used to riding horses, Ron still had several layers of skin on his inner thighs. Alon, who was traveling with him, was not much better. He had to open his legs even when walking.
Before the campfire, the soldier Aron didn't show politeness to the officer Ron. He grabbed half of the toasted bread beside the campfire and broke it off. He took off the sheepskin water bag from his waist and put it near the campfire to warm it up a little. He took out a wooden bowl from the saddlebag on which he was sitting. He chopped the toasted bread bit by bit with a knife and put it into the wooden bowl. When the water was warm, he poured it into the wooden bowl and mixed it into bread batter. He took a piece of roasted bacon and sucked it into his mouth in big mouthfuls.
After wolfing down the tableware, he wrapped himself in a woolen felt blanket and rested his head on the saddle for a moment before snoring...
Ron had already fed the horses. He patted the soil debris in his hands and returned to the campfire. He lifted up the hem of his cotton armor and untied his breeches and stockings, allowing the frayed and bloody flesh to dry slightly in front of the campfire.
After a while, he lifted up his trousers and picked up half a piece of rye and a large piece of roasted bacon. He sat down in front of his saddle and leaned against it. While chewing bacon and bread slowly, he stared at the southeast and said to himself: "Besançon, we must arrive at noon tomorrow. ‖
…..
On the last Friday of December, when Art set out from Paris with the money order in his arms, two fast horses had already arrived on the outskirts of Besançon, where the court of the Count of Burgundy was seated.
Ron asked Aron to stay in a tavern outside the city to look after the horses, put on a farmer's clothes and wrapped his head in rags to keep out the cold, then went out and spent three copper pfennigs to buy a willow frame of charcoal from a woodcutter who was going to the city to sell charcoal, and walked towards the city of Besancon...
Ron didn’t know that the surrounding area of Earl Baldwin’s mansion had been watched by the hawks sent by Bernard, but for safety and caution reasons, he did not plan to enter through the main entrance of the Earl’s mansion with great fanfare. Instead, he carried a willow frame of charcoal and staggered towards the back door of the kitchen of the mansion like an old man.
Knocked on the wooden door a few more times, "Master, buy some charcoal～"
Creak～
The back door of the kitchen of the mansion opened, and a middle-aged man who looked like a servant came out, "You untouchable! This is the Earl's Mansion. If you dare to knock on the door again, I will have your fingers broken off." The price was expensive, so he quickly changed his words: "Rye, rye bread is fine."
The middle-aged slave glanced at the dark and dirty willow frame and the relatively high-quality firewood, "Okay, go in and pile it up in the firewood shed. I'll get you some bread."
After saying that, he opened the door to avoid the dirty old man with a stooped waist, closed the door and walked towards the kitchen.
Hearing the sound of the door closing, the stooped old man straightened up and dropped the willow frame hanging on his arm.
The servant who was holding two loaves of rye bread was startled and the bread in his hand fell to the ground.
Ron lowered his voice and said: "I'm not a bad person! If I don't move, call the manager of the mansion to see me right away. Just say it's an emergency for our friends in the south!"
The slave retreated into the kitchen in panic and ran towards the mansion. He didn't know if he heard Ron's words clearly.
Obviously, the slave didn't hear Ron's words clearly in his shock. He led two palace guards armed with short swords through the kitchen to the backyard and prepared to capture Ron.
Ron closed his eyes, held his head and knelt down, allowing the mansion guards to hold him down...
...
"Brother Ron, I'm really sorry. Those slaves and guards don't know you, so you suffer." In the back courtyard of the Earl's Mansion, the manager of Earl Baldwin's Mansion untied Ron while constantly apologizing.
"But you are too dressed up~" The steward smiled and handed a set of clean clothes to Ron.
"Butler, there is nothing we can do. The past two months have been too dangerous. I dare not be careless." Ron took off his rags and put on the clothes handed over by the supervisor.
"Well! Your caution is not unnecessary. That old fox Bernard has recently placed a lot of eagle eyes around the mansion. If you come in from the front door, you will definitely be stared at."
"Hurry up, the Earl is waiting for you in the official room." The steward took Ron and walked towards the inner chamber of the mansion...
"...My Lord Count, this is what happened. My Lord guessed that the Paris Inquisition will arrive in Besançon soon to start investigating the trial. He suggested that you start taking action immediately, and we will start to fight back as soon as the people from the Inquisition arrive." In the secret room of the Earl's mansion, Ron told Count Baldwin exactly what Art told him.
After hearing this, Baldwin repeatedly studied the secret letter in his hand written by Art himself. He already knew in advance what Art was going to do in Thorn City, but he didn't hold out much hope at the beginning. After all, Thorn City was Bernard's lair, and it was conceivably difficult to take away the heretics in his lair.
But Art did it, which made Baldwin think it was an opportunity to defeat the opponent.
"There are heretics and heretics in Thorne City, and Bernard cannot completely get rid of the relationship no matter what. I will arrange for people to collect all kinds of evidence of Bernard's crimes, and take advantage of this heresy incident to kill the opponent. Even if I can't bring down Bernard and the gang in the inner court, I will cut off a few of their arms." It's still no problem." Baldwin expected that Bernard must have been prepared. It was difficult to find evidence that could directly accuse Bernard, but other minions in Bernard's camp could not have the power of Bernard, so he planned to cut off the group of minions around Bernard to weaken the opponent's strength.
"Send a message to Bishop Olof right away, and I will also handle it on the palace side. As for what your master plans to do, you can start immediately, and I will handle it on the palace side."
"Once the Inquisition enters Besançon, I will see who has the guts to protect the Dean family!"
Baldwin put the secret letter on the candle and lit it, and a burning smell filled the secret room. "Sir Ron, you have done a good job in this matter. Go to the steward to receive a reward and then go back to action immediately."
Ron completed a mission, bowed and left the secret room.
After a while, a stooped old man left from the back door of the kitchen, with two large loaves of warm rye bread stuffed in his arms...
At noon on the second day, the two arrived in Lucese. Ron disguised himself as a praying believer and sneaked into the Hwov Cathedral, and handed Art's personal secret letter to Bishop Olof.
Bishop Olof realized the importance of this matter. Once this matter came out, both the Bishop of Thorne and the Archbishop of Besançon (the Archbishop of the County) would be affected. If done properly, it could not only weaken the power of the Bernard camp, but also shake the status of the Archbishop of Besançon. .....
Leaving Hewulf Cathedral, Ron sent Aron to find Kenem, the steward of the Southern Goods Store in Lucese, and asked him to prepare four good horses and command him to control the eagle eye in the north, pay close attention to the movements of Besançon and send back the news in time.
After resting for half a day in Lucese, Ron and Aron ran towards the south on the snowy road in the early morning of the next day.
Two days later in the evening, three horns sounded in the wasteland town of Boulder in the southern part of Tyniec County.
..............