Dinner was horse meat.

Griffin's meat is firewood and dry, and it is never a good food choice. Under the premise that horse meat could not be wasted, the griffins were dismembered, disposed of into strips, and hung in the castle courtyard to dry, where they were kept as a reserve meat for the winter.

Icepeak Fortress doesn't have a dedicated chef, but it looks like everyone handles the food. Their style is the same: washing, setting up a pot, adding water, making a fire, and throwing the meat and bones into it.

The chubby Ramsden brought some spices, including garlic, ginger, green onions, and flour made from something I don't know what to grind. He kept using a spoon to skim off the foam from the broth, and when it was almost clear, he threw the spice in.

The dining room is the hall of the castle, and a table is placed in the center, a few chairs, and a large wooden bowl for each person. The wooden bowl here is similar to the sea bowl, only deeper, and clearly older. Their surface was smooth and shiny, except for some places where some of the burnt black remained.

Giles helped the old man Kiplin to his seat, and then moved a chair himself. He gestured to two locations, indicating that it was where Feige and Eddie were. Tron, the eldest of the boys, also sat down, and the younger ones, Witch Mama and Ramsden, followed Kailie and stood by the pot to prepare the broth for the people.

"Hey, fatty," said Calley, pulling Ramsden to his side and lowering his voice, "Listen, you'll be holding this bowl of soup to that boy in a moment." ”

As he spoke, he scooped a horse spoon into the pot, and a horse eye slipped into the bowl. Then he found two more pieces of meat and covered them with soup: "Remember, if he doesn't eat this, you will make a noise and drive the guy away." ”

"What if he eats it?"

Kylie glared and slapped Ramsden on the back of the head: "Stinky boy, do you think he can persevere in physical training? I promise to him to death before winter! Don't talk nonsense, be smart." ”

So the bowl came to Feiqi without any problems.

As everyone sat down, Old Man Kiprin raised his hands for everyone's attention, then took the necklace from his neck and held aloft the holy emblem on it—two lightning bolts in a cross. "Under the gaze of the goddess, we are grateful," he said.

"Be grateful to the Creator who created everything in the world;"

"Thank you to the Goddess of Thunder for protecting and perpetuating the existence of all things;"

"We are grateful for the skills taught and passed down by our fathers, so that we can get food and shelter;"

"Thank you to each and every one of us for our work, so that we are worthy of the harvest in front of us. ”

The crowd said together, "Remember." Then the old man put away the emblem, picked up the spoon, and everyone could begin to eat.

It is a relatively simple and universal prayer that is presided over by the pastor of the church and is suitable for situations where both congregants and non-congregants are present. There are also more solemn and elaborate ceremonies that take place only on special occasions within the church, which last for an hour.

Obviously, there is no need to prepare a hot dish in that case.

Each one is a big bowl of broth with bones, a carrot, brown bread to take for themselves. Feige looked at the bowl in front of him and suddenly understood what it meant to be "happy is a feeling that comes from comparison." ”

The food culture of this world is rough, simple, primitive and low, and there is nothing to praise about it, so it is reasonable to say that it is difficult to arouse Feiqi's favor. He is not the steppe man of hundreds of years ago, and he does not eat horse meat at all.

However, after the crossing, he either traveled on horseback (escaped) or suffered from withdrawal, and the only thing he ate along the way was a chowder stew, a biscuit, or simply put: dry food.

Put everything that can be eaten, including flour, turnips, minced meat, cabbage, in a pot and boil for two hours, then place on a frying pan to dry it while increasing the amount of flour. When the moisture is almost gone, knead the rest into a ball and make it into "dry food".

It can be eaten as is, or it can be brewed with light wine and eaten as a paste. There is no bottled water in this world, so the drink that can be safely carried during the trip is actually weak wine, with a little alcohol to act as a preservative.

It's a terrible food, and Feige needs to muster up the courage to put it in his mouth every time, and the taste always makes him feel like he's in hell right away.

Happiness depends on comparison, and as such, he looks at the first truly hot meal in a few days, and his heart is filled with happiness.

He felt that everything was fragrant, including a piece of meat that tasted like a bouncy ball. From the tongue to the stomach, it became warm, and the vitality of life slowly filled this weak body.

The bones were gnawed clean and laid flat on the table, and Feige picked up the bowl and poured the soup into his mouth. "Can I have another bowl? This soup is delicious. ”

"Of course, you can eat whatever you want. Old man Kiplin said with a smile.

Feige went to serve another bowl, put more soup and less meat, and fished two garlic from the bottom of the pot. This time he slowly drank the soup with hard dry black bread, filling himself up without any waste.

The people here are not polite to eat, especially three plus a young man. The table was full of this gobbling sound. Everyone quickly finished eating, and no one was wasted.

Food is sacred, this is a clear sentence written in the canon of the goddess of truth thunder. As a result, eating together became a sacred ritual, especially under the auspices of a formal priest: "We shared the same food from the same pot with the same spoon, and in this way we formed a family-like bond." Even if you are not yet a full member of us, you will be sheltered under this roof. ”

After the old man finished speaking, Eddie suddenly stood up. Very deliberately, he pulled out a letter from the place close to his chest and handed it to the old man Kiplin with both hands.

"The Flame Sword Blade is the seal ring pattern of the Hall family. The old man examined the seal, opened the envelope, and pulled out two pieces of paper from it.

One of the paper sheets is colorful and green, with intricate drawings full of various stamps of red, red, green and green. The old man squinted his eyes and looked at it, and suddenly said in surprise: "The bill of Latis Bank actually has two thousand gold coins?"

Kylie stood up suddenly, and an "ah" blurted out. Then, he looked at Feige with a strange gaze, and then sat back down with a twisted expression on his lips. Giles took the bill handed over by the old man, sniffed it, looked at it, and nodded.

Eddie rubbed his hands together, looking a little nervous. He always obeyed orders and worked, and there was almost no case of his own speech: "The master confessed, and when the young master was sheltered, he handed over this letter to the person in charge of the fortress." If ......"

He stopped, bit his lip, and looked at Feige nervously. "What happens if I don't get shelter?" Feige asked.

"Then take the young master and run away, hide with the money inside, and hide as incognito as possible. ”

Feige exhaled, he didn't know about it. All along, he thought that the less than 100 gold coins left in his wallet were all his belongings. "Thank you for taking care of me all the way and not running away on your own with the money. ”

Eddie smiled, grinning at the corners of his mouth, shaking his head repeatedly, forgetting to say "no thanks".

"Lord Earl values and appreciates our work on the frontier. He attached such importance to it that he sent his second son over for training with a donation. The old man Kiplin explained as he read the letter: "The bill of two thousand gold coins can be withdrawn from the branches of the Latiss Bank, or it can be used as collateral for credit in any bank. At the same time, the Earl would set aside a portion of the income from a particular manor every year to pay for Feige's training in the area, which amounted to about five hundred gold coins a year. ”

A farmer who cultivates the land entirely by his own strength, and when the wind and rain are good, there is no illness or disaster, and the net income is about fifteen gold coins per year. He certainly won't get that much money unless he doesn't support his wife and children, and he doesn't make some emergency investments for disaster years. In fact, if Fei Qi could accept the standard of living of the peasants of this era, five hundred gold coins a year would be enough for him to leave his labor and wait for him to die.

"In other words, as long as we find a way to keep Kid Feige alive, we will have five hundred gold coins every year?" said Kyle, scratching his ears and cheeks, and banged his fist on his thigh. He looked at Feiqi with a constipated expression: "It's too difficult, isn't it?"

How much do you want to fuck me to death?" Feige rolled his eyes, then looked at the three teenagers with sympathetic eyes, especially for a moment longer at the still bruised and swollen Witch Mama.

"Giles, you take a trip to Dorin City, where there's a Latiss bank. If you go well, you'll be able to come back before the snow closes, and you know what we need here. ”

Giles nodded, "Tomorrow morning." ”

With a wave of his hand, the old man Kiprin told the three teenagers to leave the table and do their homework for the evening. When they had gone, the old man said, "I see that you are of noble descent, but this letter is really beyond my expectations. Although it is remote and half of no man's land, we cannot ignore the influence of an earl, especially Earl Hall. ”

"Now there are three options. First, you can be a clerk here, and you can just write letters and copy books, and you don't need to train - we will pretend that you have completed all the formalities. This has always sheltered you, and the outside has nothing to do with you. ”

Kylie's face flushed, clearly not liking the choice. He endured and endured, and his eyes lingered for a long time on the bill of two thousand gold coins and the letter paper promising five hundred gold coins a year, and finally he still didn't say anything.

"The second option, the letter says that you can do alchemy, then you receive the most basic training, simply exercise your physique, and become an alchemist here. Truth be told, we need alchemists more than clerks. It's just that alchemy requires contact with toxins, and sometimes you have to go to the wild to collect them, and your current physical fitness is definitely not good. This option is safer than the first one, the church's annual inspection will not find problems, and you will have the opportunity to earn indulgences by accumulating alchemical items. ”

"The third option, everything comes according to the strictest. You train as much as you can over the course of three months, and Giles comes back with a copy of the material. It just so happens that we captured the griffon today, and with its glands, three months is enough time to deal with it, and then we will be able to start an enhancement ceremony. ”

Kylie couldn't help it and said, "The next one to perform the ritual should be Tron. ”

"Five hundred gold coins a year is enough to change the order, and Tron can wait. The old man Kiplin said slowly: "We have a bad winter here, and the ritual is good for him. ”

"But will his body be up to the standard of the ritual at that time?" said Kellet, glaring at Feiqi, "It's not a good choice for you, you know, I will never show mercy to my subordinates, or have the slightest discount! Nine times out of ten, you will die in the process of training!"

Feige was already tempted by the third option, after all, a stronger physique meant a better chance of survival, especially in a world infested with monsters. Still, he blinked and stared at Giles with an inquiring gaze.

The bald man had been staring at the "enthusiastic" gaze, and after a while, he sniffed and hummed in a low voice: "The ceremony is rare." ”

"I'm embarrassed to live with you if I can't be as strong as you guys - so I'll choose the third one. Feige raised an eyebrow at Kele: "Tell me a lot, I want to be stronger." See if I'll die in the process. ”