Women only affect my ability to spread the fire

The church is right in front of us.

098 Old Shepherd

Although the church is as low as the villagers' dilapidated houses, it still has a two-story bell tower and a heavy bronze bell.

The square in front of the church was in a mess, with several extinguished bonfires piled up and the smell of burning oak. The north wind blew, spreading black ash all over the sky.

Russell and his party came to nothing. There was only a young bell ringer in the church, but no parish priest.

It’s not that the parish priest avoided Russell and his party, but it was because he was unable to do so.

Because just three nights ago, Father Klaus, the highly respected parish priest in Meldorf, was called by God and bid farewell to the world that he was reluctant to leave.

The night before yesterday, in order to mourn the parish priest, the whole village was in mourning. The funeral bells rang all night, the dogs barked, and even the local noble knight, Lord Henry, kept vigil all night until dawn.

This is also an important reason why the whole village looks listless.

The messenger who delivered the obituary to the church had just set off yesterday, and it would probably take some time for the next parish priest to take up his new post.

"Please allow us to express our condolences to Father Claus as well. Could you please tell us the location of Knight Heinrich's manor? We would like to visit him."

Russell forgot Margaret's warning and continued to speak politely to the bell ringer, which scared the bell ringer to death.

Listen, listen, listen, listen, I heard these people came from the sea...

The Knights Templar and the Church forbid going out to sea, saying that those who go out to sea will be possessed by demons. Only demons can come from the sea. Could it be that the demons murdered Father Claus and then came to check whether the priest was really dead?

The bell ringer was so frightened by himself that his teeth were chattering.

However, when the bell ringer heard Russell mention the knight Heinrich, he became bolder.

Humph, these demons are so ignorant as to want to challenge the Knights! That's great!

So the bell ringer plucked up his courage and showed Russell and his party the way to Heinrich's manor.

After Russell and his party said goodbye, the bell ringer breathed a sigh of relief with cold sweat all over his body. He felt that he had saved his life.

Then, the bell ringer was inspired by his brave deeds in fighting the devil. He walked out of the empty church excitedly and boasted to the villagers.

Unfortunately, most of the villagers were not as pious as the bell ringer, nor did they believe in the church and the Knights Templar so much. They just thought that the bell ringer was having another hysterical attack and made fun of him.

They could both watch the lords from the city and amuse the young bell ringer. In just half a morning, Meldorf had two amusement events. What day was it today? Carnival?

The villagers rarely woke up from their numbness and showed a little happy smile.

…………

"Don't be lazy, drive the cattle seriously, we will soon reach Master Heinrich's estate, Mark." The old shepherd scolded his son, "Stop dreaming about going to the city, and work hard!"

Mark has been in a bad mood ever since he ran away from Russell with his father.

Although he did blindly believe the church's words at the beginning and regarded Russell and his group who came from the sea as demons, his mind became active after the old shepherd corrected him that these people were nobles from the city.

After hearing the descriptions of the kingdom's capital, Gritzburg, from several traveling merchants, Mark has always longed to go there and see the world.

He originally wanted to start by trying to please the "master from the big city", but his father forcibly dragged him away, which made him very depressed.

"In my opinion, the master is very kind and easy to talk to. He speaks gently to us servants. He is not as scary as you say, father." Mark muttered to himself.

Mark had a very good impression of Russell, and at the same time, he did not like Margaret who was mean to him and his son.

The old herdsman sighed and said, "Alas, the noble lords are talking to us in a friendly manner, which means they have murderous intentions. Mark, if you encounter such a situation, you must run away."

Young Mark did not understand at this time that all those unreasonable rules were almost all lessons learned by the older generation after suffering and even paying the price of their lives.

Therefore, he did not take his father's words to heart at all, but felt completely impatient with his father's pedantry in his heart.

The old herdsman sighed again. He originally wanted to take his young son to Master Heinrich's house, kowtow to Master Heinrich, and see if he could find a job for his son and ask for food.

The old herdsman felt that he could no longer work. He had been herding cattle for Master Heinrich's family all his life, and he hoped that the son he had adopted and raised with great effort could inherit his business.

Mark didn't think herding cattle for Master Heinrich was a good job at all, and he had no interest in it. It was hard to say whether he was deliberately acting difficult to ruin the situation.

Looking at his son's naive look, the old herdsman finally sighed.

No, not today.

Wait until Mark is properly disciplined and his bad temper is smoothed out, and then take him to kowtow to Master Heinrich.

The old herdsman glanced at Mark and said, "Forget it, forget it. Go find something to do on your own. I don't dare take you to see Master Heinrich in this state. Master Heinrich's niece is still here. What if you offend them?"

The old shepherd shook his head and drove his adopted son away, then drove the cattle to Heinrich's estate.

The old herdsman had a smooth journey. The servants and grooms he met along the way were used to the old man coming back from herding cattle at dawn every day.

They were used to his presence and treated him as nothing. They just counted the cows to make sure that no one was missing and left it at that. They were not even bothered to say hello to him.

They cared about the cows far more than they cared about this old man with almost no teeth.

Master Heinrich would not take it to heart if an old cowherd died; but if a cow was missing, then expect Master Heinrich's wrath.

The old herdsman was used to this kind of cold treatment. He let the cows into the pen one by one and milked them with buckets.

Finally, the cow that was about to be separated from its calf kept mooing. The old shepherd felt pity for her and let the calf follow her into the pen.

"For the last time, look at it and lick it. Look at it again, for the last time." The old shepherd said to the cow.

Then he said to the calf, "Taste a few more mouthfuls of milk, for it will no longer be yours."

Then the old herdsman heard an angry shout: "You old bastard! How dare you let the calf steal my milk!"

Immediately afterwards, the old herdsman was hit hard on the back of his head with a stick. He saw stars and fell to the ground.

Ah, it's Master Heinrich. Why is he here in the cowshed today?

This was the last thought in the old herdsman’s mind before he passed out.

As a well-known philanthropist in Meldorf, the knight Adrian Heinrich, who was already old and enjoying his retirement, would not beat his servants just for a few sips of milk. There was indeed a reason for this incident.

Early in the morning, Adrian Heinrich climbed up from his niece Elda Heinrich's body. His niece's pretended joy but actually deep disappointment could not be hidden from Adrian, a veteran in the world of romance.

Adrian wanted to explain that his poor performance this morning was due to his vigil over the spirit of the immortal Father Claus the night before.

But seeing Elda's pretended convulsions and loss of consciousness, Adrian kept all the reasons back in his stomach and left his niece's bed in shame.

Adrian paced back and forth in the courtyard angrily, feeling that his male self-esteem had been deeply hurt.

It's all that damn old Father Claus' fault! First, he accused me of incest with Elda, forcing me to kill him, then he made me keep vigil all night, only to have a poor performance in the morning!

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

Adrian was furious, his face flushed, and he rushed into the cowshed - if he hadn't lost his mind, he would never have come to this place filled with the smell of cow dung.

Then the knight used the old shepherd as a tool to vent his anger and knocked him down with a stick.

Then, Adrian punched and kicked the old herdsman violently, uttering obscene words that were unbearable to the ears.

After venting, Adrian still felt a surge of anger, but the hard work of the previous night and lying on his niece in the morning had consumed a lot of energy. Feeling weak, the white-haired knight gasped for breath.

Today's sunshine is particularly strong, and it is the sunniest day this winter.

Such sunlight made Adrian feel more and more dizzy.

Maybe spring is coming. Yes, with such sunshine, spring must be here.

I, I am really fucking old... By the way, what is the name of this old bastard?

Adrian Heinrich found that he could not remember the old shepherd's name.

Suddenly, he felt dizzy, staggered a few steps, then fell to the ground with a thud and fainted.

At this time, the cow lowered its head to chew the grass in the trough, while excreting feces.

As luck would have it, Adrian Heinrich's head and face were covered with cow dung.

Outside the cowshed, the sun shines brightly, even in this year of severe drought.

The author says:

Author's words: Thanks for the tips and coins without a nickname

Thanks to Bloodthirsty Bronze Bull for the reward

Thanks to Wang 18 for the coins

099 Visit

When Russell and his party were about to reach Heinrich's manor, they ran into an old man with blood all over his head.

The old man looked so disheveled that Russell and the others could not connect him with the old cattle shepherd they had met before.

The old man was confused and his mind was not very clear. He was filled with the stench of cow dung and seemed to be walking only on instinct.

"What's wrong with you, old man? Do you need help?" Although the unpleasant smell of cow dung made Margaret frown, she still took the initiative to step forward and ask.

As she got closer, Margaret recognized the old herdsman. "Oh, it's you! What happened? Where's your son?"

The old herdsman's eyes were covered with blood and he could hardly open them. He stumbled around in a daze, groaning non-stop.

The old herdsman instinctively grinned at Margaret, revealing the few shaky teeth he had - the beating just now had caused him to lose two more teeth.

He instinctively used his aging facial organs to piece together a humble and flattering smile.

It was obvious that the old herdsman didn't understand what Margaret was saying at all. He staggered towards the village, blood spilled all the way.

Russell followed behind and observed for a while with concern. Later, the old shepherd's son Mark came running over in a panic.

Mark noticed Russell and his group following the old shepherd, and he suspected that these "masters" had beaten his father like this.

Since his father had always been kind to others and the villagers had a good relationship with him, Mark could not imagine the scene of his father having conflicts with others.

Therefore, in Mark's mind, the first suspects are naturally these outsiders.

Now Mark began to believe what the old shepherd taught him.

"Alas, the noble lords are talking to us in a friendly manner, which means they have murderous intentions. Mark, you must run away if you encounter such a situation."

His father's words were still ringing in his ears. Mark looked at the two swords on Russell's waist. He supported the old herdsman with anger but dared not say a word. He did not dare to say anything and hurriedly took the old herdsman home.

The old shepherd returned to his shabby home, and with Mark's help, he lay down on his equally shabby bed and fell asleep again immediately.

Mark held the sickle for cutting grass tightly in his hand. If those foreign nobles dared to come and bully him, he would fight them to the death.

Russell and the others obviously didn't understand Mark's thoughts. They saw the old shepherd and his son return home, and some villagers carrying a few pitiful supplies to their dilapidated homes, so they temporarily put their minds at ease and headed back to Heinrich's estate.

"Dad once said that some knights have the bad habit of taking out their anger on their serfs. This doesn't even violate the customary law of the Kingdom of Usedom, and not even Dad can interfere. Perhaps this old shepherd was bullied by Knight Heinrich."

Margaret sighed and found the truth of the matter based on stereotypes.

Russell was speechless for a moment.

Unlike the old herdsmen, Russell and his party received a very attentive reception at Heinrich's manor simply because of their attire. They were welcomed into the reception room by the butler and servants and served freshly brewed beer.

In fact, there was quite a bit of controversy among the servants about whether or not beer should be served. After all, there had been a severe drought throughout the winter, and the coming year was bound to be a famine year. Beer, which needed to be brewed with grain, became even more precious.

It was the housekeeper who overcame all objections.

The butler guaranteed that his eyes would not be wrong. These people were obviously people of noble status, especially the blonde lady. The emblem on the sword at her waist was the emblem of the Walhausen family.

When the servants heard that it was the Walhausen family that had protected the kingdom, they no longer had any objections.

"Please wait a moment, we will go and notify the master to come over." The butler said with a nod and a bow, not daring to glance at Margaret and Rosaline, for fear of upsetting the guests.

The flustered servants couldn't find their master Adrian Heinrich for a while, so Russell waited in vain for a long time.

Until a young lady with red eyes appeared in the reception room.

The young lady brought bad news.

"Greetings, guest from afar. I have the unfortunate honor to inform you that your friend, the great and virtuous knight Adrian Heinrich, Lord of Meldorf and my uncle, has just been murdered by a treacherous servant and has been summoned by the Lord."

After barely finishing these words, Miss Heinrich cried so hard that she was out of breath and almost fainted.

"Oh, my poor uncle! Oh, my poor uncle! He was so kind, how could he be murdered by a wicked servant? Lord, please punish his murderer!"

Heinrich was wearing plain clothes and crying, which made him very lovable and sympathetic.

She seemed to want to faint in Russell's arms, but the vigilant Margaret did not give her the opportunity and cleverly stopped her.

Russell and Margaret looked at each other. They were not sure what the old shepherd had to do with Adrian Heinrich's death.

After being stopped by Margaret, Miss Heinrich seemed to calm down a little, and her face blushed with shame for her rudeness.

"I'm so sorry, everyone! I was so shocked and saddened to hear about my uncle's death. Please forgive my loss of composure!"