I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 80 Cider

The sun slowly sank, leaving a soft orange-red hue on the horizon.

With Luc sitting in the main seat, the dinner officially began.

The table specially moved out of the wooden house was placed horizontally in front of Luc. The entire wooden table was occupied by him alone. Ryan and Old Eck could only sit at the short table below, in order to highlight Luc's status as lord.

The dishes on the table were the most sumptuous ever: a bowl of thick soup with turnips was placed next to a plate of plump grapes that Luc had specifically instructed not to be put into the pot. On the left was buttered bread, diced cheese and a glass of kvass, and on the right was stewed bear meat. Further away, there was a roasted carp with salt. In addition, there were wild leeks that were specially cooked twice, a sweet sauce made from the juice of parsnips, and a hard-boiled egg.

Smelling the ever-filling aroma, Luc looked at the dining tables of the people below. Unlike his own neat wooden table, their tables were simply flattened wooden blocks, and the dishes on them also became simpler: various internal organs that were chopped and cooked with salt were placed on wooden plates, looking a bit bloated. In front of each person was a bowl of wheat paste with fish and meat. Apart from that, there were only some raw vegetables.

But even so, everyone was still very happy. Some people's stomachs had already started to growl, and they were eagerly waiting for Luc's orders.

Luke did not spoil the fun. He waved his hand and everyone started rushing in almost at the same time!
Luc picked up a piece of bear meat with a wooden fork and put it in his mouth to chew carefully. The bear meat was fishy and a little sour, not as delicious as he had imagined, but it was indeed very oily. After taking a bite, his mouth was full of oil. Luc was very glad that his body could enjoy such oil, otherwise he might have diarrhea if he rashly ate so much oil.

Feeling a little bit greasy, he picked up a grape and threw it into his mouth. Luc swallowed the sour and sweet grapes together with the skin and flesh, then picked a small bunch and handed it to Ryan, who was also eating with hearty mouthfuls. Apart from Luc, he was the only one who could eat bear meat instead of offal. The others had no objection, after all, Ryan's external identity was a "knight" squire.

In fact, old Eike could have had this treatment, but unfortunately he refused.

Delicious food can make people happy from the bottom of their hearts. When everyone was halfway through their meal, they couldn't help but start chatting. Julie was the first to finish her meal and kept jumping around the crowd. As the youngest child in the mountains, she was loved by almost everyone, especially some peasant women in Ward Village who had lost their children. When Julie was walking around the table, people kept handing the sweet parsnips or fragrant hazelnuts to the little girl.

Old Eike took a sip of the kvass Luc had gifted him, spilling some onto his graying beard, but he paid it no mind. The alcohol and the crowd's laughter reminded him of the destruction of Ward Village. Ward Village had been established a long time ago, nestled deep in the mountains, rarely visited. Even so, the fact that it had been invaded by bandits only suggested that the land was about to be thrown into chaos again. Yet, the fact that there was such a peaceful place outside the raging chaos filled Old Eike with both satisfaction and a hint of worry.

"My Lord, perhaps we should establish a guard."

Old Ek turned his head and whispered his thoughts to Luc who was sucking the bone marrow.

"Guards? We'll talk about it later."

Luc threw the bone to little Charlie, who was hovering under the table, and said to Old Eck:

"You're a veteran, too. You should know how difficult it is to build a full-time army. So far, even Ryan hasn't been able to concentrate on training in combat in the mountains. Let's talk about this again after the harvest next year. We don't have enough food to feed more people."

Old Eike sighed. He knew that Luc was right. "I was too impatient."

"Don't blame yourself. I know you don't want Shanlin to repeat the same mistakes as Ward Village. So, call that kid Gil up and have him train with Ryan every morning in swordsmanship. I think he has a lot of potential. Who knows, he might become an excellent soldier in the future."

"By the way, I'm going to build a lookout tower on the top of the mountain, right here."

Luc pointed in the direction of the former charcoal kiln. "The slope there is gentle, with a foothill in the middle. The surrounding trees have almost been cut down. We'll have someone repair it someday and carve a path. Then we'll build a small wooden building on top. Miller can go up there and observe the surroundings during normal times. He's quite clever, and he's not old enough for heavy work yet, so it's perfect for him."

Old Ek looked in the direction of Luc. The sky, which had not yet darkened, allowed him to roughly see the outline of the mountain behind. It was called a mountain, but in fact it looked more like a hill. He thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's a good idea." Seeing that Luc had a solution, Old Ek no longer worried about it and buried his head in eating the offal again.

The meal lasted from dusk until moonrise. After the meal, a bonfire was lit. Some people gathered together to listen to Old Eike telling stories about his youth. Miller and Julie's eyes were full of stars. In this era of lack of entertainment, today's day was even more exciting than their usual celebration of the harvest. Until they felt sleepy, they reluctantly returned to their respective rooms and fell into a sweet dream.
At dawn the next morning, Luc kept his promise. Sure enough, a one-eyed young man appeared in front of the shooting range, receiving combat training with Ryan, including the operation of a long-handled blade and fighting with a shield.

As everyone gradually wakes up, they continue to start a busy new day.

Mary took little Charlie to herd sheep early in the morning, while old Eck, Robert Gill and several farm women continued to cultivate the fields. Luc's original plan was to add two more acres of land, which would be enough. No more land would not be enough to sow crops, but it would still be a good thing if more cultivated land could be cultivated. After all, in this era, everything is still based on land. Only with more land can more people be fed.

Luc took Ryan and a woman named Amy to the picked apples to make cider.

The baskets of apples had been simply washed. At Luc's instruction, the three of them carefully removed the impurities on the surface of the apples, then pulled a piece of clean linen and placed the apples on it. Luc took out a dagger and chopped them all into pieces, then took a carpenter's hammer and smashed them all. Some fine juice splashed everywhere, but Luc didn't care because he knew that it was only a small amount of juice, and the real big part was still hidden in the broken flesh.

The pulp was put into the wooden barrels reserved nearby until both barrels were full.

Then comes the most time-consuming and labor-intensive stage - squeezing out all the juice from the pulp.

Fortunately, there is a primitive oil press in Luc. They wrap some fruit pulp in linen cloth, pound it continuously like they did when pressing rapeseed oil, and then collect it in a ceramic pot.

But even so, it was still a tiring job. Luke asked Amy to go to the field to replace Jill, and to cooperate with Ryan, the two young men hit the wooden stakes with all their strength.

dong dong dong.

The dull sound spread across half the manor, and a stream of apple juice with a pure fragrance gurgled into the clay pot.
Two wooden barrels contained nearly thirty pounds of pulp, and about eight pounds of apple juice were squeezed out. They were carefully sealed and placed in a relatively warm place. It would take about seven or eight days for the juice to ferment successfully.

The remaining dried fruit residue was fed to livestock.

Many times, the high prices of many foods are not due to the complicated production process, but are the result of gradual development. In the early days, it was simply because there was not enough food that they became luxury goods.

Just like when a person is extremely hungry, he would not squeeze apples to make juice or wine, but would rather eat them in one bite.

By the time Old Eck had cleared two acres of land, the cider was almost ready.

Praying that it wouldn't turn into apple cider vinegar, Luc excitedly opened the pottery, and immediately a special aroma of wine wafted over.

The cider was done.

(End of this chapter)