The year's frost raged from the previous winter into April, something that had never happened in living memory, and Robert of Normandy and King Edgar of England arrived at the royal estate of Buckingham in the south, stopping in the direction of the fort built by Alfred.

Robert was quite short and had a somewhat bulging belly, but he was quite dignified in appearance, perhaps because the beautiful color of his hair added a lot of luster to his beauty—like his father and brother Loufus, Robert also had golden-red hair, which was so densely accumulated, according to English custom, that it looked like the head of a lion from a distance.

The King's retinue was not very numerous, but they were heavily armed guards, who lowered their spears and flags as the two noble princes passed by, and King Edgar began to talk to Robert about the recent news.

"The Holy See has lifted the Emperor's excommunication." Edgar was not surprised at all, he knew the news before the Bishop of Canterbury.

Robert obviously hadn't heard about it, and he subconsciously said, "How is this possible?" ”

Last year, Emperor Henry and the Holy See were still violently cursing each other, and such a vicious quarrel almost tore the whole of Christendom apart, and even the princes of Hungary and Bohemia were affected by the conflict.

"Emperor Henry, who escaped the pursuit of all enemies, miraculously arrived at the castle of Canossa, Lady Matilda, waited in the snow for the night, and finally the Holy See allowed him to enter the castle with grace, after which the emperor's excommunication was lifted."

"So, what happens next?" Robert had never heard of such a thing, and he was a little absent-minded, and his eyes couldn't help but widen at this time.

"I think the princes of Teutoni are probably going to be out of luck." Edgar commented softly, of course he knew what would happen next, Henry was the emperor of the Latins, although not Latins, according to the tradition of Charlemagne's time, he was the successor of the Roman emperors. In the land of the Latins, people had their own rules of doing things, but in the northern lands of the Teutons, these laws did not apply. The Roman clergy may have been able to produce great theological results, but among the Germanic peoples, Sanctissimus-Rex could never have been created without swords, axes, and sometimes poisons.

Now that Emperor Henry has removed the biggest obstacles, it is time to settle accounts with the rebellious princes, especially the Duke of Swabia. However, in Edgar's view, Emperor Henry was far from solving the problems of Rome, because if he allowed the Pope to anoint him, he would in fact admit that the power of the other party was above him, and if he grabbed the Pope's robe and threw him into the Tiber, it would pose a great threat to the Holy Church and even to God, even more than the ancient Hun king Etzel, who could not find a figure in the world who could define his power but would not stand above him.

In front of Robert, Edgar didn't want to act like a prophet, he just made a few casual comments and digressed from the topic. Another topic closely related to Robert is the fall of Bishop Odo, which is not known much from the outside world, and Robert does not know the specific situation, even if he knows that his father's target is actually Bishop Odo's estate, he will not take the initiative to tell Edgar, so the two princes only talked for a moment, and then they both shook their heads and expressed their incomprehension.

As the two men moved farther and farther away from the fortress, and the squire's costumes, brocades, swords, and armor vanished, King Edgar suddenly saw a group of ragged men appear in the direction of the sound of the stream.

"There are bandits!" Edgar reacted quickly, but he was wearing only a Saxon dagger for decoration, and Robert was unarmed.

There was no shelter on the flat land, and looking at the group of thugs who were obviously ill-intentioned, Edgar and Robert began to run in the direction of the nearest woods. Several arrows struck after themselves, landing crookedly on the grass behind them. Edgar didn't care to draw his sword, so he ran to a group of holly trees, the group of attackers seemed to speak the language of Mercia, dressed like the most ordinary robbers, if Edgar had a long sword, he could repel this rabble alone, but for now he could only run away with Robert in Normandy, like the weakest sheep.

There were many bandits in pursuit, but only one vicious old man with a sword, and he clumsily brandished the weapon that was clearly not his own, and chased after him with a roar.

The arrows from the hunting bow were bounced off by the branches and fell under the trunk, and the sound was like a bird's nest crushed by the snow. Edgar had already hid by this time, covering the top of his head with his brown shawl, and did not forget to pull Robert, who was unfortunately hit by an arrow at this time, and the sleeve of his coat was torn between the bushes, and he looked embarrassed.

The two of them hid without saying a word, and heard the group on the other side shouting something, followed by several barks. Edgar peeked through the moss-strewn branches to see the bandits on the other side fleeing.

Then the king saw the archer who had wounded Robert fall to the ground as if he had been struck by a hammer, and all the remaining attackers began to flee.

A middle-aged man wearing a Phrygian felt hat appeared in the distance, and the greyhound immediately ran in his direction, and Edgar heard the man shout in his direction, "It's all right." ”

The king lifted Robert out of the woods, and one of his boots had been cut by a bush, and he stepped forward and immediately recognized the man before him, the shepherd he had watched for a long time.

There was a movement from a body lying on the ground, and Edgar looked closely, and the other man had a quiver hanging from his waist, and his hair was covered in blood as if it were a stone.

The shepherd pulled out his sling, and Edgar realized what had scared the attackers off.

"You're pretty good." After seeing the dead bodies lying on the ground around him, the king couldn't help but sigh.

The shepherd shook his head, not seeming to think it was anything remarkable: "I need to drive away the wolves and protect my flock, and there is nothing more useful than this." ”

Glancing at the sling, Edgar thought to himself: the shepherd in front of him clearly did not know what a deadly killer he was.

The king took Robert in his arms and said to the shepherds sincerely, "Thank you for your help, what is your name?" ”

"Everyone else calls me 'The Boneless' Theowulf."

Then the king of England said, "Theowulf, now you are a rich man. ”

The shepherd, apparently unaware of what the nobleman in front of him was saying, shook his head again and said, "I must go back at once, or the adults will be angry." ”

Edgar suddenly remembered his own comment that there is no glory in the life of a shepherd. Remembering this sentence at this time made him feel a kind of shame.

Robert's arm was still bleeding, and he groaned to draw the king's attention, and Edgar followed his gaze to see that the archer on the ground had opened his eyes.

"Who are you, and why are you attacking us?" Edgar immediately asked, but the archer only made a painful sound, and the king told the shepherd to leave the place first, and then drew the Saxon dagger and pointed it at the archer.

A terrible wail echoed through the cold meadows, and the king and Robert got all that the poor fellow knew, and then departed, leaving the archer's body behind.

Robert's lips trembled a little, the content of the other party's confession was very small, after all, he was just an ordinary bandit in Mercia, not even the leader of this group of attackers, but when he heard the appearance of the person who hired them as he described, especially the baldness of the other party, Robert immediately decided that this was a Norman.

He didn't know who wanted to kill him, maybe it was Lufus, maybe it was his father, and as for Henry's little child, he didn't doubt what a child less than ten years old could do?