Crusade against the Pope

Chapter 98: Fulfilling Jacques's Last Words
"How can that be possible!" Charlie smiled and touched the back of his head.

"By the way, Charlie, can I stay at your house? It's raining, and if the horses are not properly settled, I'm afraid they will get sick."

"Okay! I happen to have a stable at home! I'll show you the way."

"Don't lead the way, just get in the car." Simon said this and moved his butt to indicate that there was room for one more person in the driver's seat.

Charlie greeted his brother in the pavilion over there, then stepped on the pedal, climbed up, and sat on the high seat of the carriage.

Following Charlie's instructions, the carriage bypassed the butler's mansion and headed towards a village in the manor.

The rainy night enveloped the village in the manor. The whole world seemed to be swallowed up by darkness and grayness, and any traces of life were wiped out by the drizzle.

Even Simon would unconsciously shrink his neck when he drove through the streets.

This place is completely different from the gloom and despair of Skarl Village. It lacks vitality and seems to be slowly being swallowed by some invisible force.

Even Charlie, who was sitting next to him, became depressed after his initial excitement.

"My family's conditions are actually quite good. We have a two-story house, 30 acres of land, and we raise horses, cows, and sheep. Even among the free people, it's pretty good."

"But I don't know why. I have been feeling depressed since I left Skarr Village."

“Everything here is so depressing that you can see a lifetime in one glance.”

"The priest in the church is boring at the weekly mass, the housekeeper is only thinking about exploiting and squeezing us, and Jacques' father passed away in an accident, leaving the family without a pillar."

"By the way, how is Jacques now? If possible, can he be brought back? After all, who would have thought that a good person would die inexplicably..."

Raindrops from the eaves beside the road kept dripping onto the ground, splashing tiny ripples and making tiny sounds, like countless whispers lingering in the ears, chilling and chilling.

Faced with Charlie's question, even Simon was at a loss for an answer.

He turned and asked, "How is the Jacques family doing now?"

"Jacques' mother and sister supported the family, and he also has a six-year-old brother. Now his family lacks a capable man, which is very sad. Even if I can help a little, I can't interfere too much..."

Charlie's voice was a little vague, and gradually faded into this gray world.

Just when Simon was about to say something, Charlie suddenly tugged at his clothes.

"Look, that's my home. We're here!"

Along with Charlie's excited tone, the coldness and silence around him also dissipated a little.

With Charlie's help, Simon drove the carriage into his backyard, took the two horses into the stable, and dried them.

While all this was going on, the door of the carriage was pushed open from the inside, and a man stepped out.

When Charlie saw him, he was stunned, and then asked with some doubt: "Prophet?"

He was not quite sure, because the temperament of the person in front of him was completely different from those he had seen in the past.

If the prophet he had seen in the past was like a star that illuminated everything around him, then the Gellis he saw now was no different from a Frankish peasant.

The worn-out linen clothes and the dust stains on his face made him blend perfectly into this dark and gray world, no longer different from the past. "Charlie, long time no see. I came here to tell you something. Jacques agreed to your marriage with Emma."

"what?"

For a moment, in Charlie's eyes, the whole village had transformed from a gloomy dream into a colorful world. The non-existent light seemed to break out of the night, dispelling all the chill brought by the rainy night.

A smile also appeared on Gellis's dusty face, which was no different from that of an ordinary Frank. That smile was as gentle as the morning light, completely wiping away the remnants of darkness.

……

When the morning light shone into the room through the window, Gailis woke up from his sleep.

According to the original plan, he was supposed to let Simon take him directly to Karak Castle in a carriage, but after anointing the wounded last night, Gailis changed his mind.

Since it was on the way, Gaillis planned to visit La Brett Manor and Jacques's family first, and try his best to help if he could.

And if you want to collect interest in advance, you also need to prepare in advance. It is very convenient to start from this manor.

On the other hand, Gellis had completed a basic survey of the peasant villages and Arab towns under the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

However, there has been no systematic understanding of the manors under the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Unlike the self-cultivating peasant villages far away from the center of Reynard's governance, the manor was the real cornerstone of the rule of the feudal lords in Western Europe.

The serfs' compulsory labor on the lord's land brought the lord the most direct land output.

While owning large plots of land, free people would receive military training and, like good family members of the Celestial Empire, become the main force of conscripted soldiers.

The wealthiest freemen among them could even take on cavalry service. Although they were not knights, they were also the backbone of the battlefield.

But how did all this process work? Gellis was actually not very clear. The knowledge from later generations gave him at most a rough impression, which might not even be correct.

The original historical records of the Kingdom of Jerusalem had already been burned in flames following Saladin's invasion.

And Gellis spent most of the first half of his life in palaces and castles, so he didn't know much about the real life at the grassroots level of a manor.

Therefore, for future development, Garys must continue to go deep into the grassroots to understand people's lifestyles and their sufferings and pursuits.

Unlike his previous disguise as a monk, since there are often decent churches in the manors, in order to avoid trouble and to better gain the trust of the farmers, Gailis chose to wear the most common worn linen clothes to make himself look no different from an ordinary farmer.

In fact, it was easy to disguise one's identity. He could just say that he was Charlie's relative and that he had come here to seek refuge because his original village had been hit by banditry.

Charlie's family is considered to be at the upper end of the social ladder in terms of status and wealth in Labret Manor.

Because of their status as freemen, they were not bound to the land like serfs, and it was actually quite normal for them to have some distant relatives that the people in the manor had never seen.

Now, a new preliminary investigation has begun. Garys will not spend too much time here. A few days will be enough to leave a general impression and fulfill Jacques's last wishes.

　First update, today I started to rub my hands slowly to get a feel for it

　　
　
(End of this chapter)