The week-long jousting was soon over, and the Count of Hugue, who had finally lost to Stephen de Blois in the jousting arena, returned to his territory in despair, and the English said goodbye to Paris.

Outside of Paris, the misery of the people of France was even worse than the previous one, and on the way south, Edgar found that the famine had swept the whole kingdom, and that twelve bushels of wheat could sell for fifty silver pennies, and a bushel of salt could sell for ten pennies, mainly because last summer's harvest was pitiful, and this year looked like another famine, and the peasants were quickly panicked by the harassment of the lords and knights who were rampant and plundering, and the grain was hoarded, and in normal years, February was the most scarce time of the year, However, this year's drought has been on an unprecedented scale, with fires raging and farmland crops failing, so much so that shortages began in the fall. The woman began to collect beech bark, which could be ground into flour and worked better than oats.

All indications are that many people will die this winter.

Despair spread, and those who thought they would not survive until next spring could turn into bandits at any moment, and the English soon found themselves armed with no more than ornaments, and after several raids, the king himself began to put on armor to intimidate any possible attackers.

"It's terrible, these pariahs are bolder than their knights." Robert Mallett said to the king.

"Where is the church? Why didn't anyone give them food? ”

"I'm afraid they don't have much of their own, Your Majesty." Robert whispered, "It hasn't rained for too long, and the land of the church has not been harvested, and the food in the monastery should be used when the dead are at most, and sending it out now will only cause more deaths." ”

"If I were their king......" Edgar seemed a little angry, as if ready to start attacking his host, but he eventually gave up, he had just enjoyed the French royal cuisine, and he had no position to blame Philip, not to mention that such words were likely to cause misunderstanding if they were to get out.

"Your Majesty, there seems to be some movement ahead." Robert Mallett pretended not to hear the king, "I'll take a look." ”

The convoy was stopped by a group of men, who looked like another ambush, strangely led by a crooked-necked monk, dressed even more shabby than his companions, the only difference being the donkey he was riding.

"What do you want to do? Don't you see, this is a pilgrimage procession! Robert Mallett took the lead and shouted condescendingly as a lord.

The Norman giant on his horse did not frighten the other, and the monk immediately replied: "My brother in Christ, is it not the virtue that my Lord himself taught us to share?" This group of people does not want much, they just want to feed their women and cubs, to survive in this land given by God, and the ranks of adults are as luxurious as an army of angels, can they not give up some worldly possessions, a little scraps, and save these good Christians from starvation? ”

What a hell of a thing. It was the first time Robert had seen such a bold madman, and if it had been a poor hermit in his own realm who dared to speak like this, he would have let the servants let the dogs go, but this was a pilgrimage convoy of the king, not his hunting horse, so he had to reply in a loud voice: "Take care of your people, monk, and don't try to be clever, I will first report to my lord." ”

Back in front of King Edgar, Robert told the truth about what had happened before, then grabbed the reins and waited quietly for the king's decision.

"Give them some food and move on." Edgar didn't want to delay his journey, his fleet was in the Atlantic, and he had to arrange everything in Italy before the fleet arrived.

The first thing was to settle Lady Glouoch and free her from the control of the King of Scotland once and for all, and more importantly, to have this unfortunate mother pray in the midst of the apostles' miracles, lest she go mad before she found the child herself. Then he had to discuss the Eastern question with the Pope, ready to provide assistance to the Greeks immediately after the arrival of little Gspatrick in Constantinople, lest Alexios again throw himself on the Venetians.

Byzantine politics was still manipulated by money, and even the most brilliant conspirators could not afford to gamble, and instead of letting the Venetians take advantage of the fire and rob, it was better for the English to eat what the Greeks were about to throw away.

The misery of the French also spurred Edgar to do so in order not to return the English to this precarious life, even if it would all start with the bloodshed of St. Mark's Lion.

At the front of the procession, the crowd that had received food quickly dispersed, and the hermit Peter, the leader of the crowd, disappeared into the woods on his donkey, and no one noticed his whereabouts.

After returning from Rome, Peter found that the situation in France was worse than that of Italy, which was at war, and he tried to persuade the lords and priests, but they would not lift even a finger, and he spent a month alone in the wilderness, and came across a group of hungry people who were poaching at the risk of being whipped, and who could only survive on crows and vole stews.

These people need a new life, and the French people today live like animals. Peter remembered what he had seen in Italy, where there were soldiers and refugees, and Rome had become a battlefield. It was a chaotic time, and there were people everywhere who needed a new life, and these people needed a piece of paradise, like the Israelites led by Moses, leaving Egypt in search of a promised land.

Following a dry stream, Peter led the bony donkey, like an ancient prophet, on his journey to the temple.