Varankov

I rode my horse and followed Joey and watched the drawbridge fall in front of us

Joey was dressed as a boyar cavalryman, and he was my flag bearer

I hadn't seen him ride a horse before, and his horsemanship was quite sophisticated, comparable to that of the free cavalry of Vecchia, and it was said that Joey's family had a little bit of cavalry aristocratic blood, and Burke's noble cavalry had to learn more than fifty different skills from training to official enlistment, which made Burke's cavalry enjoy as much reputation as Rhodok's mountain infantry regiment

Joey's old attire was that of Burke's infantry, so his current attire strikes me as a little strange: a tall hat and a gray cape, a foliage armor that covers most of his body, a helmet that covers his cheeks, revealing only two eyes and a small area of his nose

I was dressed almost identically to him, and I was followed by four attendants who were responsible for keeping me safe

As a courier, I enjoyed the boyar's treatment in advance, but this time the actual leader of the team was Joey, who whispered to me to be ready when the drawbridge fell

There are no more pedestrians on the streets, and although I already know this, I was still a little shocked by what I saw: the garbage on the road had been cleared, the wooden planks on the ground had been removed and replaced with gravel, the open manure tank was gone, and Valankov had turned from a dirty bazaar into a barracks

As I walked through the square, I saw a large contingent of soldiers marching from there

The soldiers looked pretty well equipped, wearing hats embellished with iron plates, thick overcoats, a few wearing armor over their overcoats, and their weapons were varied, but most of them were iron weapons, spears, spears, axes, and javelins

The soldiers formed a continuous procession of earthy gray, and they walked all the way over, raising dust, and the priest of the Corwin family and one of his retinue were blessing the soldiers on the road, and the two clergy were holding icons to bless the soldiers passing by, and I glanced at the retinue hastily, and it felt a little familiar, but at that time I didn't know that this was Priest Tom

The scene was really depressing, and the soldiers finally disappeared into the thick dust, and walked to the corner of the street, which is the soldiers who have completed today's training, and it is said that these soldiers can do simple interspersed lines, and when the enemy's cavalry appears on the horizon, they will not panic, but can tie up the horse or fence the deer village under the supervision of the whip

A few scattered soldiers gathered on the corner of the street, these people who seemed to be uncommanded, who played the shamisen and ate fried dough, and talked to each other about women and the farm, and as we walked by, these people just looked at us indifferently, and those who saw that we were boyars nodded in greeting

The long flag in Joey's hand became the only thing I was familiar with

Some of the women looked at us through the dark windows, Valankov had contributed more than a thousand husbands and sons, and now their women were hiding by the windows and watching us, wondering if I was wearing thick armor that would make them not recognize me, and there was nothing alive in the street except the soldiers, who looked excited, and they were looking forward to a quick and brilliant victory to compensate for their labor and taxes

I have a feeling that the only thing I have forgotten about is Varankov in the spring, and it is still a harsh winter

Finally, I arrived at the door of the Earl's residence

The changes in the past few months have been greater than I can imagine, the scattered shanty at the entrance has been cleared, the entrance has been made of stones, more than four meters high, and the two ends are being built at the same time, it seems that the Count is ready to turn the official residence into a small fortress in the city, and when you walk through it, the whole Earl's official residence can be seen in full view, but now, the higher and higher stone walls block everything inside, and no one can see what is inside

I dismounted at the door and lifted my visor

An old servant of the Romanov family welcomed me, "You're late, Master Viktor"

I was surprised to see this old man here, he was supposed to be in Ivangelrod, and he gave the reins to Herman and Jack, who looked at me incessantly, and I winked at them to show that I had not forgotten them

The old servant asked the two horse boys to take our group of horses away, and then began to explain some things to me

"The master is meeting with the messenger from Ivangorod, you go to the side hall first and wait for Master Richard and they are there, they have already eaten, but there should be a share of yours"

"Are all the people from Ivangorod's side here?" I asked the domestic servant

He pursed his lips, "A group of people have come over, after all, serving the lives of adults, outsiders still don't take advantage of it"

"Is the Messiah coming?"

The old servant gave me a reproachful look, and seemed to mind me asking this bluntly, "I don't think so, Miss Victor is better to stay in Ivangorod, this is not a place to talk, I will settle the people with you"

Joey took off his helmet, his face was a little pale, and the other four knights also looked a little dissatisfied, I didn't receive the proper reception, and even they felt that they had received a cold reception

"Give them food and wine, arrange beds; Feed my horses, mix salt and oats in the forage," I instructed the old servant, but he looked at the courtyard with some impatience, muttering that Ivangorod's messenger still needed to be taken care of, and I frowned, "No, I changed my mind, I'll eat with them"

"No, your place is in the side hall," he said, "let me take you there."

"You go there and serve the grown-ups, don't worry about us, just get the food, we'll take care of it ourselves," I walked inside, "tell the Count that I've brought a reply"

"Young Master?" The old servant didn't seem to expect my reaction

I know what he thinks

Serve me, you won't be seen, his hard work Maybe he is annoyed that he didn't have the opportunity to show his dutifulness in front of the earl Compared with Ivangorod's distinguished guests, I am just an insignificant small role, and besides, I am my own person, or an illegitimate child, no matter how much effort I put in, it will be in vain at this time, as a servant, the most important thing to serve is Ivangorod's guest, at least it should be my own young master, at this time, even if I am usually lazy, it doesn't matter, You have to show yourself in front of the lords at a critical time to receive miraculous results

Many servants are good at this and do less work, but when the master is present, they desperately rush to do the work, so that they can always get a lot of rewards and promotions

The old servant followed me, and chased me to at least go to the Count first

I looked at Joey, who nodded at me and I knew in my heart that I had just come back and there was no need to hand over the enemy

I took off my iron gloves and helmet, and there was no one to help me, so I shoved them into Joey's hands and I walked down the hall, where there was a lot of noise

Some male and female servants were walking happily in it, the butler was instructing the servants to serve food and pour wine, and a clown was turning his head in the middle of the table, a dwarf was shaking a bell and teasing a dog, most of the diners were people I had never seen, except for some people from Lucasino's house, I had no impression of anyone else, I was surprised, Daddy Peter, he had a faint expression, looking old, curled up in the corner, his eyes flickered when he saw me, I don't know if this counts as a greeting to me

I smelled strong food smells: cooked beef, roast lamb, smoked pork, different meats piled up on the plate and passed to each other; Pigeon soup, beetroot soup and some cold soup were spooned and distributed to each table; Deep-fried dough, turnips and radishes are boiled in a chowder, thick soups made of mushrooms and pureed meat fill jars large and small, and pears and roasted chestnuts are piled up in inconspicuous corners for everyone to eat

The old servant kept a smile at the guests, and with a stern expression motioned for me not to be lost, and led me all the way to the center of the banquet

When I was passing through a group of women, a woman suddenly hugged my face and kissed me, I was taken aback, and pushed her away, which caused a burst of laughter This is a girl, I immediately reacted When I was in the barracks, I was used to the appearance of this kind of person, and the image of the two military men intriguing with each other appeared in my mind, so that I just wanted to stay away from these people These women and some Ivangelod fat guys in black were already drunk and were shouting loudly and saying some amorous words ** each other

Yuri saw me and raised an eyebrow at me

"Yuri is here too", I thought to myself He pointed to the other end of the banquet, I looked in the direction he pointed, now Alexei was chatting with a few officers, Alexei didn't see me I nodded to Yuri, and continued to walk forward

Before I saw Count Kalinin, my heart was pounding, and faster and sooner I was already disappointed in Kalinin, and quite complained about him, before I saw him, I was always curious about how he would face me, but when I got closer and closer to him, I began to feel weak again, and at this time, I realized how afraid I was of him, and I was not ready to face Kalinin directly

Finally, Kalinin appeared in front of me

He looked more majestic than he had been at the time of parting, his beard had been shaved, his lips flashed to show that he was in the prime of life, his shiny forehead and his head had given him a resolute temperament, and his eyes were still bright and powerful

The old servant stopped me and told me to stand in a proper place, and he himself stepped forward and whispered a few words in the ear of Count Kalinin

The earl's eyes widened, he looked back at me, and with a clean and hearty smile, he stretched out his hand and beckoned to me, "Victor, you're back, come and let me see you."

A few people at the table near him laughed and glanced at me casually

I walked up to the Count, and awaited his questioning, and I had already intended to finish my mission here, and handed over the reply, and then politely told the Count that I was going to leave for the barracks to-morrow, "That is my duty, Count," and I had already planned it

"Count Victor" laughed, he patted my forearm, "this outfit suits you perfectly"

"Yes, sir," I said cautiously

The old servant said to the earl at this time, "I have brought the young master to you, and I am sincerely glad to see you reunited, but you see, there are so many guests, I can't take care of my own pleasure, I have to help with some things, those young lads are not busy."

The Count glanced at him, waved him to get busy, and the old servant finished his words, and went away satisfied

The Count smelled of wine, and I waited for his tricky questions

But he scratched his head, "Victor, go find something to eat first, I'll see you later"

I drove for most of the day, covered in sweat, and was perfunctory by this old servant, and came as soon as I got off the horse, and at this time beat me away again? If I had known that I would stay outside and not come in, let that old thing go back to my life in a hurry, and I will be gone for a few months, Earl, don't you have anything else to say?

Kalinin looked at me and didn't leave, and looked at me suspiciously, "Vidor? I said I'll see you later."

"Yes," I hesitated, "I'll wait for you to summon me, my lord."

I bit my lip and walked outside, feeling like an idiot as I passed through the side hall, I saw Richard bragging about himself to a group of Valan young nobles, I walked to the side and glanced at them There was an empty spot next to Richard, he saw me coming, shrugged his shoulders, threw a coat into the empty place, signaled that the place could not sit The group appeared to me, and their conversation stopped with an embarrassed smile

I thought it was boring, and I walked away with my head held high, and I heard a sneering laugh coming from behind me

A quarter of an hour later, Joey and I, along with four horsemen, sat down on a straw pile and began to eat, when a bonfire was added to our between, and a maid brought us beer and butter, and roasted half a sheep over the fire, and a plate of hot sauce, a basket of wheat cakes, and white bread

She asked me what I wanted and I said, "No, thank you."

She looked around, there was no one else, and finally showed a close smile, "It's good that you can come back safely, Master Wei"

I was stunned for a moment, and suddenly it dawned on me that this was the best hospitality I've ever received today.