In addition to the manor house within the high walls, the Abbey of St. Fonso has an attached village outside the monastery, and the villagers have been a little worried lately, they know that their abbot has changed again, and the former abbot Robert has fled after losing the war with the Wendell family, and now the original Hough. Abbot Hannes became the new abbot, but it didn't matter who became the abbot for the villagers, they still had to pay taxes to the holy abbey, and they were terrified because of the rungies of the Wendell family, if the victorious Wendell family learned that the fugitives in their territory were harbored by the monastery village, it was hard to say that they would not be angry and set fire to the village.

"Elder Bichar, this is a very bad decision, we must get rid of those who come from the Black Swamp village." In the gloomy house of Elder Bichar, some of the villagers with some prestige in the village sat together, and they were dissatisfied with Elder Bichar's unauthorized acceptance of fugitive slaves, as it threatened the survival of the villagers.

"And the mercenaries stationed in the monastery now are none other than Lord Wendell's second son's men, do you think he will ignore this?" Another villager stood up excitedly, almost pointing at the tip of Bichar's nose and scolding.

"That's right." The villagers in the house nodded to each other and said that they may not have any knowledge or culture, but this does not mean that they are stupid, on the contrary, these villagers facing the loess with their backs to the sky are unusually shrewd in matters that are closely related to them.

"So what do you say to do?" Although Elder Bishar was the elder elected by everyone, he could not protect the fugitive slaves in Black Marsh Village for his own selfishness. Even in fugitive slaves there were his distant relatives.

"Get rid of them."

"No, if Lord Wendell investigates it, what should I do, I think these people should be arrested and sent to Lord Arrod, the second son of Lord Wendell, and let the nobles deal with these matters themselves."

"Yes, that's a good idea." The villagers thought it was a good idea, not only to offend the nobles, but also to shirk responsibility.

Arold was busy in the monastery at the beginning of the war against the West Slavs, but he encountered several difficult things, namely a complete ignorance of the terrain, aristocracy, and military power of Mecklenburg. Sun Tzu's Art of War is a cloud of knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent, so that one can not be defeated in a hundred battles. He was not a wandering knight who would have no idea that he could defeat the West Slavs by faith and brute force, but he did not worry about this for long, because a merchant approached Arold through the Council of Monks and Presbyterians.

"Your Excellency, Lord Earl Arrode."

"Who are you?" Arold looked at the balding man in front of him. The wrinkles on the face are open like chrysanthemums because of the smile. The respectful attitude is impossible to hate.

"Oh. I'm Jeff, a contractor at St. Fonso's Abbey, a humble contractor man. Jeff held his floppy hat in his hand, and he curled up his neck as much as he could. Wearing a blue woolen shirt on his body, he looks very rich.

"Oh, why are the contractors looking for me?" Arold was surprised to know that the monks often entrusted some of the monastery's properties to special merchants to take care of them, after all, the monks who focused on the spiritual realm did not have much effort to waste on sinful money.

"I have heard that the gallant Lord Arold is about to march against Mecklenburg, and I offer you a grant of three hundred silver nassos in the hope that the gospel of the Lord may be spread to the lands of the heathen." Jeff said with a kind and harmless smile.

"Well, Jeff said, you are looking for me not really to spread the gospel of the Lord, are you?" Arold was not fooled by Jeff's smile, a businessman would not have found himself if he had not smelled profit, but there was something in Mecklenburg that could attract him.

"Ha Luha, Lord Arrod is really different from other noble lords." Jeff was also stunned, he knew these nobles and monks, they claimed to be from the upper class created by God, the nobles were guarded by swords, the monks prayed to God, and the other classes such as merchants and farmers could only carry the burden of the whole society, but their social status was extremely low, and the nobles and monks looked down on merchants and farmers at all, thinking that their work was mundane and sinful.

"Without interest, would a businessman suddenly put money in his pocket into my hands?" Arold smiled,

"Okay, I'll be straight to the point, Lord Arrod, what do you see what this is?" Jeff pulled out a dagger from his bosom, and when he pulled it out, John Berg, who was standing next to Arold, frowned, stepped forward and put his hand on the hilt.

"It's okay, if I am killed by a merchant, I deserve it." Arold stretched out his hand to stop Johnberg, a majestic knight, how could he be assassinated by this stocky merchant, and Jeff seemed to realize that he was a little abrupt, and with a humble smile he placed the short sword in his hand flat in his hand and handed it to Johnberg, who handed it to Arryd.

"This sword is a good sword." Arold held the hilt of the sword wrapped in fish skin, and when he drew the sword, he could hear a crisp sound, the body of the sword was made of fine iron, the cold light was pressing, and the sword body was carved with beautiful patterns, Arold flipped the sword over, and this pattern would change in the light.

"This is the sword of the Sithlas, who used to sell it throughout the northern part of the empire, but because of King Henry's hostile policy towards the Sigoslavs, they have stopped selling it." With a greedy look on his face, Jeff explained to Arryd.

"You're for this sword?" Arold's brow furrowed, a nation with such superb swordsmithing skills was not easy to deal with, which made him wary of the West Slavs, and it seemed that his policy towards Mecklenburg should be reconsidered.

"This kind of sword is very rare, although it is precious but it is not worthy of my attention, Lord Arold is this kind of iron, this kind of sword is a self-produced item of the West Slavs, which shows that they have iron ore." Jeff knew that in order to make Arrod tempted, he had to make it clear that the demand for iron throughout Europa was extremely huge, and the martial nobles needed iron to make weapons and armor. The endless private wars of the nobles also made iron, a strategic material, very demanding, if you can monopolize an iron mine, you can definitely be rich.

"Oh? Iron mines, so you mean that if you take Mecklenburg, it will be possible to get an iron mine? Arold was very interested in finding news, being able to capture an iron mine was a leap forward in improving his military strength, but what interested Arold even more was that the short and bald Jeff in front of him actually knew so much about the affairs of the Sithras, which made Arold want to win over.

"That's right." Jeff carefully observed Arold in front of him, although he supported Brother Robert at the beginning, and because Robert became the dean, he received many benefits. However, he soon discovered that the iron ore mines of the Abbey of St. Fonso were close to depletion. If the iron ore in this iron mine is dug up, then he will face a situation where he will have no money to make, and it is here that the Wendell family defeated Robert, no. His intelligence is known that Arold defeated Robert. He then launched an investigation into Arjod.

What he didn't expect was that this young lord was very good at fighting. He defeated the Duke of Saxony's Count of Berengaard, a military aristocrat known as the hungry wolf, and then the Duke of Mason gave Arold the title of Count of Mecklenburg. If an ordinary nobleman is given an empty title, he will either act irrationally and rebel out of anger, or accept reality and become a laughing stock, but this is not the case with Arrod, who is planning to attack the land of the Sithlas, who even King Henry is careful to do.

"He's either a gambler or a wise man." The one-eyed man who reported to Jeff commented on Arrod.

"Then I'm going to meet him for a while." Whether a gambler or a wise man, it was necessary for Jeff to see that if Arold succeeded in seizing the land of Mecklenburg, then he could become an important figure in Arold's regime, better than being a contractor of a monastery forever, and if Arold lost, it would only be a big gamble failure, and he would only lose some money.

When Jeff saw the young lord, he was a little puzzled, he had the impression that a knight who could defeat the Earl of Berengar should at least be a strong and powerful warrior, but Arold was strong but polite and full of gentlemanly demeanor, even in the face of a merchant of humble status like himself, there was no sarcasm and contempt.

"Mr. Jeff, let's have dinner together, so we can have a good talk about Mecklenburg." Arrod invited Jeff to dinner, which was the greatest honor for the humble contractor, and Jeff agreed in a panic.

Arold's dinner at the Monastery of San Fonteau was also held with Brother Barth, after all, Brother Barth was the nominal master, but Brother Bart did not dare to offend this lord who had a group of mercenaries in his hands, when Jeff joined the monks' banquet, even if the monks showed disgust and displeasure, they could only be silent, and Arold didn't care about this, he chatted with Jeff about all kinds of information about Mecklenburg, while munching on the food on the plate, the wine in the monastery was very delicious, The feast was extremely pleasant for Arold and Jeff, who soon came to an agreement of some kind of alliance.

"Jeff, what about Robert?" When night falls, Jeff burps and steps into his carriage, and a shadow appears outside the carriage, a one-eyed man in a cloak.

"Continue to support Robert and let him carry out his own plans at Fort Mason." Jeff sat comfortably in the carriage and whispered to the one-eyed man.

"Do you want to bet on both ends? But don't forget Hough. Dean Hannis is a relative of Arrod. The one-eyed man reminded Jeff.

"I don't need you to tell me this, we are businessmen, always chasing profit, and going to Arold will not know about it." Jeff waved to the coachman, and the carriage wagged down the dirt road.

"Intelligence, well, I need my own intelligence network, this businessman is not reliable." Almost at the same time, Arold stood at the window, looking out into the dark night sky, muttering to himself. (To be continued......)

PS: (I'm here waiting for you whether you come or not, at the beginning)