I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 259 Hugo's Thoughts

Life at Riverside Manor is far inferior to that at Knightsburg, but it has the advantage of being leisurely, with the gentle babbling of the stream flowing by.

Luke deliberately opened the wooden door to let the mountain breeze in, and breathing in the fresh air put him in a rare good mood.

"Sir, Mr. Ryan has delivered the last batch of grain, which is stored in the granary next door."

A slightly hoarse voice rang in his ears. Luke looked up and saw Huss standing properly half a step away from the door, reporting to him.

"The granaries here are too outdated, but fortunately the population isn't large. Huss, keep a close watch on the granaries; there can't be any mistakes!"

"I understand, my lord."

Watching Huss walk away, Luc smiled silently as he looked at the other man's broad back muscles.

This guy is a smart man, or rather, a very pragmatic one.

Not long after bringing Huss to the Riverside Estate, the archer who had served Berry met Bain and his servant.

Byrne and the other man recognized him almost instantly.

Huss also keenly realized, through details such as the fat man's physique, that the other party was the group that attacked little Joseph.

This discovery made Huss take a deep breath, but he didn't react much, after all, he had essentially abandoned Joseph Jr. in that battle.

Huss didn't think he had done anything wrong. He wasn't Berry's private soldier, nor was he a vassal enjoying preferential treatment. He was just a hunter who was constantly being recruited because of his good skills.

Helping in battle is fine in normal times, but when it really comes down to life, what's wrong with saving your own life? Hus believed that God would support his thoughts.

So when he learned that Berry wanted to kill him to vent his anger, he immediately fled, even running all the way to Auvergne.

When old Pons led him to Knightsburg, he knew exactly what the old and devout baron was thinking. He was not tricked into coming to Knightsburg as the other party thought; in fact, he had come to Knightsburg voluntarily.

As the Cluny movement progressed, many previously unknown aspects of Luc's reputation spread among the people through Raoul's poetry, pilgrims' accounts, and Hugo's promotion, at least within the Baron's territory. Of course, there was a great deal of artistic embellishment involved.

Huss was exceptionally skilled at unraveling complexities, a wisdom honed through tracking prey in the snow-covered plains and deep forests. Hearing these rumors and drawing upon his own experience, he concluded that Luc was desperately lacking and in dire need of skilled archers!

And that is also his advantage.

After all, he had heard during this time that there was a guy named George who was even better at tracking than he was.

"Looks like I made the right bet."

Huss smiled. He was now being used by Luke, and the identity of the shepherd was just a transition, a means to show his loyalty.

The shepherding work had been assigned to the mother of young carpenter Mayman. Judging from Luc's expression, it seemed he intended to include himself in the private army.

Husse, lost in thought, glanced at the crowd beside the dirt road. Groups of serfs, dressed in tattered linen clothes, were turning over the soil.

However, unlike a few days ago, these people seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally surrounding a curly-haired man, and they were no longer slacking off.

"Bauer, this patch is almost cleared, let's sow the rye seeds!"

A dirty serf excitedly stomped his foot on the ground and shouted at the curly-haired man's back.

Seeing Curly nod, the other man eagerly sowed the seeds, looking more engrossed than when serving a woman. Grimbald, watching from the side, rolled his eyes.

These damned serfs!
Huss observed everything without uttering a sound. Only a select few knew of Luc's plan; although Huss had begun to be employed by Luc, he remained outside the inner circle. Huss himself didn't want to get involved; he simply wanted to find an opportunity to impress Luc and prove himself as an excellent archer.

"Following Luke is more promising than following that guy Finn. Hey, I wonder if he's purged his brother's servants yet?"

Anyone with half a brain could see how wealthy Knightsburg was. Even if Berry hadn't killed him back then, he probably wouldn't have been kind to him once Finn took over—that wasn't a merciful lord.

The worldly-wise Huss knew very well that someone who had been humiliated for so long was likely to become a tyrannical bastard once he seized power—regardless of whether the person was intelligent or not.

Carrying a short bow, Huss walked toward a low house.

His bow was purchased by Luke from Maconshire, and it is said that it cost young William all his taxes during that period.

In fact, the ferry crossing on the Saône River and the bundle tax from the ten households were quite generous, exceeding Luc's expectations.

He originally thought the money would be just enough to fill a gap in his stomach, but he didn't expect that the well-developed transportation on the Saône River would allow a flat-bottomed boat to collect a considerable amount of ferry fees. Not to mention that as winter approached, many families began to stock up on firewood for the winter, and thus paid taxes on collecting and bundling firewood.

It's unclear what Kahn, the Golden Lion, was thinking, but he seemed quite interested in Luc. He had kept this money safe, without taking any, and handed it over to Luc intact. Of course, Luc guessed that this was probably also because Kahn didn't care about that small amount of Finney.

Huss gently pushed open the granary door, counted the grain, and was about to leave when he suddenly heard a commotion ahead.

A group of people, looking travel-worn, appeared on the distant horizon.

The group consisted of about twenty people, mostly on foot, surrounding a carriage in the center. Most were dressed in black robes with crosses hanging from their chests; some wore small round caps, while others had bald heads. Six guards armed with short spears stood in front, behind, and to the sides.

Huston's expression immediately turned solemn.

……

"Bishop Hugo, it's been a long time!"

Luc looked at Hugo with delight as he stepped down from the carriage, then strode forward and gave him a brief hug.

Strictly speaking, Luc should have kissed Hugo, both on a religious and secular level, but clearly neither he nor Hugo thought so.

Luke was surprised that Hugo would come in person. While asking about his recent situation, he glanced at the group of monks that Hugo had brought with him.

It seems Hugo took this Inquisition very seriously, given the large number of participants.

"What's wrong, Bishop Hugo? I've noticed you seem to have something on your mind."

The riverside manor was very simple, and the nearly twenty-person monks brought both surprise and fear to the local serfs.

They didn't know why the other party had come here, but that didn't stop them from giving up their house for the monks to stay in.

Inside the room, after hearing Luc's words, Hugo remained silent for a moment before speaking:

“Luc, it’s a pity you weren’t elected to the Inquisition, but I think you’ll have your chance in the future.” Hugo’s eyelids lifted slightly. “As you said, I do have some things on my mind.”

About two weeks ago, I discovered a group of heretics in a remote village south of Makon County. They were a group of heretics who used the name of God to make money for themselves.

Their leader looked like a runaway monk who kept preaching about restoring the Ten Commandments. Ha, the Ten Commandments are certainly a good thing, but this damned fellow used them to amass a huge amount of pennies and even raped more than a dozen peasant women.

"And when we found out about his condition, my friend, do you know what he did?"

While Christianity was dominant in Western Europe during the Middle Ages, it was by no means devoid of so-called heretics and cultists. Otherwise, Luc would not have proposed the Inquisition.

Luc was not pleased with Hugo's words. To put it bluntly, many monastery bishops did similar things to the person Hugo described.

“What happened?” Luke asked.

"After his scheme was exposed, he actually burned fifty of his followers alive!"

"Among them were eight children under the age of ten."

"When I arrived, the hut was already on the verge of collapse, and the people inside were burned to a crisp. Believe me, it was an absolutely gruesome sight."

As Hugo spoke, his jaw clenched tightly, and it took him quite a while to gradually relax.

Hugo did not reject burning at the stake, but that was their method of judging heretics, not a form of torture used by heretics to destroy their traces.

That's right, that guy has disappeared.

Luc opened his mouth slightly. Now he knew why Hugo was so angry. This was a cult, wasn't it?

Before he could process this shocking event, the upright monk before him uttered a series of jaw-dropping messages.

"Last month, the Pope publicly announced his marriage, and was subsequently deposed from the papacy and expelled from Rome."

"According to Dean Ottilo, he heard rumors in private that the pope, after abdicating, did not want to give up the papacy but was afraid of taking risks, so he secretly sold the papacy to another bishop for 15,000 pounds."

Hugo's hands had unconsciously clenched the cross on his chest, his fingertips turning slightly white from the force, and he looked at Luc expressionlessly.

"Luc, what do you think is the difference between a pope who violates the doctrine and a heretic?"

Looking at Hugo's ashen face, Luc, who always considered himself incredibly audacious, was at a loss for words.

"So after seeing your letter, Luc came here in person, firstly because I will not allow any heretics to exist in Macon County, and secondly because I wanted to tell you."

"I have confirmed with Dean Ottilo and Count Macon that you will soon become a true baron!"

"Of course, it's not about replacing Fane, but about making you independent of Fane, turning all your existing fiefs into an independent barony. Of course, for a baron, your territory is currently very small."

"However, at least you will have greater autonomy, and your lord will directly become the Count of Macon!"

"If you'd like, I'll go the extra mile for you a few more times to make sure this gets done smoothly."

Hugo's words dissipated in the air. Luc was shocked when he heard them. He hadn't expected that Hugo would actually find a path for him to become a baron.

Then, I began to consider the pros and cons of both.

As for Finn's thoughts, neither Hugo nor Luc discussed them further.

Seeing the knight silently calculating before him, Hugo did not interrupt him.

His efforts for Luc were not due to personal friendship or kindness, but rather because the Pope's affairs had deeply moved him.

He knew that religion had been poisoned by ideologies like Siemens, but he didn't expect it to be this deep, to the point that even the Pope behaved this way.

This dampened the initial excitement surrounding the successful implementation of the Cluny movement in the Duchy of Burgundy.

The reform movement has a long way to go!

Therefore, Hugo planned to intensify reform efforts.

Reform inevitably involves secular lords.

Therefore, Hugo took an even closer look at Luc, who was the one he found most pleasing to the eye.

After all, isn't it only natural to make one's staunch allies more powerful?

He knew why Luc had previously rejected Kahn's offer to recruit him.

Because Berry was still alive and had connections with the Duke of Burgundy. Furthermore, he could acquire more land.

But now that Berry is dead, the new Baron Finn has barely seen the Duke of Burgundy. Perhaps the Duke will still be willing to contact Finn to maintain a balance of power, but the closeness between them will certainly not be what it used to be.

Hugo has already found a way to solve this problem.

The only problem is whether Fein will let go.

It should be noted that, regardless of the circumstances, Luke was Finn's nominal vassal.

If he absolutely refuses, even if Luc joins Kahn's side, both Kahn and Luc's reputations will be damaged.

He didn't want his secular allies to be burdened with the title of betraying their lord.

Touching the cross, Hugo suddenly thought of the murder case that Lynn had previously reported, which involved a suspected heretical totem from Coopersburg. Hmm, perhaps this Inquisition could give it a boost.
"By the way, there's one more thing."

Seeing that Luc seemed to have made up his mind, Hugo didn't rush to ask, but instead brought up another secret:
"The Duke of Lorraine, Gotzelow, died not long ago, and his son, Gotzelow II, unsurprisingly inherited only Lower Lorraine. Upper Lorraine was granted by the Roman Emperor Henry to Frederick of Luxembourg."

"If you want to reclaim the territory in Upper Lorraine that once belonged to your family, you should contact them as soon as possible, but I think the chances are slim."

"Alright, now tell me about the heresy you mentioned."

(End of this chapter)