I was led by Alexei into the count's gate

On the way, he asked me about my experience during this time, and asked me why I didn't send a letter back, saying that I had mailed a few letters, but it was to Ivangelrod, and Alexei said that it was probably missed, that he had been in Valankov for more than a month, and the letter might have gone to Ivangorod

While we were talking, we had already reached the Count's door, and Alexei asked me to go in by myself

The Count, dressed in a loose nightgown and sitting in a high-backed chair, had drunk too much and was now slowly sipping a hangover drink

When he saw me coming, he beckoned me to sit down in front of him

While he drank that drink, he kept asking me about the winter, and I only told him about the freedmen who taught me to hunt, and made my words sound as if I had been in the forest all winter

He finally drank the drink, "Well, okay, now let's get down to business, Giovanni should have brought me some good news."

I nodded, took out the lacquered letter in my arms, and handed it to the Earl, "My lord, the letter is here."

He checked the seal on it, and after making sure it was correct, he peeled it off with a knife

Vrankov, church

While I was meeting the Earl, the reverend of Tom and Colwin's house was in the church receiving confessions from some of the soldiers' families

Since many of the children of the surrounding freedmen were drafted, many of their families entered the town together, and many of these people were not able to leave the town after the town was under martial law, and at this time they stayed in the church or the hotel, and whenever Anthony was not angry to accept the next person's inquiry, Tom could not help but take a look at the dilapidated church

The smell of decay permeated every corner, like the chill of early spring

Thinking of this, Tom couldn't help but wrap his coarse cloth clothes a little tighter

So far, the Varynkov Church has only left this chapel, and many of the fields and estates have not been taken care of, either by the Ivangelodes Church, or leased to merchants or town halls, which has reduced the income of the church a lot, and the Valancoff Church has no energy to take care of these properties, and it is even difficult to supervise the work of its employees, which has plunged the church into a long-term recession

In the last ten years, only Pastor Anthony and Pastor Sergei remained, but Pastor Sergei died in Riverland with the then Lord Valanin during the last Great War of the Riverlands, and only Pastor Anthony was left in the entire church, which made the last hope for the revival of the Varykov church hopeless

Now, all kinds of pagans are preaching privately in Varankov, these pagans have been expelled everywhere, they have learned how to disguise themselves, they will disguise their gods as gods, and the gods as prophets of God, in order to get by, but in Valankov, these pagans are amazed, the people here don't care much about this heresy at all, and the people here are likely to attend Mass in the morning, and in the afternoon, they will go to the temple of the god of thunder to pray, or go to the forest to seek the help of the druid's herbs

To the indignation of the infidels, the beliefs in this place were so mixed that the elders of the pagans had to be on the lookout for their followers to waver in their faith

Although the power of these pagans is numerous, they are not uniform, so there will be no major harm, but the Salanders are different, these people have special clergy, and give these people a lot of support, in Valankov, there are always some imams or dervishes who wander around and have a famine, these seemingly simple imams can always spend money to hoard a large amount of food, and the poor are told that as long as they listen to the imam's sermons, they can receive a day's food, if they come to listen every day, will be able to receive continuous assistance until the disaster has passed

This happened several times in Varykov, which caused the anger of the Ivangeloth Church, but the Ivangorod Church was just as weak, and the clergy were unmotivated and could only pray that God would not abandon Valankov

At the door of the Varykov Church, the God Stone Sculpture spread out his hands that could not be given again, and looked at the Vrankov earth with a melancholy expression

The clergy of Valan, who had been accustomed to this decay for decades, could survive as long as there was food and drink, the broken planks of the church to keep out the wind and snow, and someone to send them contributions, but this situation was obviously no longer sustainable, and the clergy of Valankov had only one priest, Antony, and a few apprentices to help

Fortunately, Tom joined in, he doubled the number of clergy in the entire Valan area, and the Valan church made gratifying progress on the road to revival, and since Tom was recommended by the earl, the Anthony priest of the Corwin family quickly passed his status as a trainee pastor, which is very unruly, Tom crossed the probation period, the baptism period, and the study period, and directly became a quasi-pastor. It is likely that Tom will become the only priest of the Varan Church, and the Evangelodes Church will probably only recognize him as the abbot

At this time, a woman asked Anthony about her son in a slurred manner, this woman had a gray head, a layer of yellow oil spots on her face, and it looked like there was something wrong with her liver, but when she talked about her son, her cloudy eyes would flash a little shiny

The only information she could give was: "My son's name is Ivan, Ivan of Oran, he has a head like fire, and you will definitely find him like his father, because his father is a Nord and their heads are the same"

This woman had been in the city for many days, and after martial law was issued, she did not choose to go home, but stayed in the city to see if she could see her son, who was helping others in a wool workshop, and in the winter, beating the wool in the ice water with wooden sticks and hands, and then constantly adding polyester to the basin, and then rolling the wool with a shovel

Tom noticed the fine wounds and chilblains on the woman's hands, Tom sniffed, tried to make an indifferent expression, and listened to Anthony's conversation with him

"Okay," Anthony nodded, "we'll find him, you're going to bring this basket to him, yes?" ”

The woman showed a happy expression, "Yes, sir, this is an egg, thirty in total, and a small piece of bacon, God punish me, yesterday I was so hungry, I ate two eggs myself, these are all my work in exchange, please be sure to bring him, Ivan, Ivan of Oran"

This woman had to work every day from dawn until the moon rose, she could eat two meals, beans boiled in salted water, and black bread drizzled with broth, and in addition to these foods, she would get three copper coins a day, with which she spent a copper plate to get a bundle of hay to sleep on in the hotel and a corner, and the remaining two copper plates were exchanged for eggs and bacon, and it took her more than half a month to prepare these things, and she did not know if she would be able to see her son now

Anthony's eyes rolled, "Woman, I'm afraid no, your child is from the second squadron, they were out of town last week, you can't see her, give me the basket"

"Can't I watch you hand it over to him?" The woman hesitated

"In the name of God," Reverend Anthony said, with a deep expression, "why do you hesitate? Isn't it enough that God brought you to me and made me tell you where your children are going? Rest assured, leave the stuff to us and we'll help you bring it to the red-headed Ivan, from Oran."

The woman thought for a moment, "Yes, the same as his father"

The woman cried to herself again, leaving a basket of food, and bent over to go and grabbed Anthony and Tom's hands before she went and kissed them, Anthony pulled his hand away, Tom didn't, he felt the woman's hand cold as iron

After the woman disappeared, Anthony laughed, "What a poor stupid woman, there are thousands of people named Ivan, where to find such a person, haha Tom, we can add food, this is God reward us"

Tom immediately laughed and said, "You're right, Father."

At the same time, a cavalryman with a torch piercing the darkness with a torch pierced through the darkness and walked towards the gate of the church, and the civilians at the door flashed to the side, not knowing who it was

Anthony saw the cavalryman from afar, hesitated, and told Tom to meet him at the door

Tom smiled and went to greet the cavalryman

"Father Anthony," the man called from afar

"It's Forava" Anthony recognized the man, it was Konstantin's nephew "It's so late, what are you doing here"

"That's right," said Frawa, "the Count feels that a good priest is needed for this expedition, and we will be out tomorrow, and the Count will let us inform you to get ready."

"What?" Anthony was like a bolt from the blue, "Didn't you say okay, you don't need a military chaplain?" ”

"There was a priest in the earl's house, but the priest died in Ivangelrod in the winter, so he had to be sent from the Varan church," Forava explained

"Nonsense," Anthony cried, "Kalinin, thief," Anthony gave Tom a disturbed look, and Tom was stunned, looking at the children running around as if he hadn't heard, "they were sent by the Council of Ivangelodes, and the military priest was looking for them to go, what do I do"

"But," said Frawava, "the soldiers this time are all from our Valans, and you should know best that if you don't go, we will be helpless Lord Constantine, Ivangorod's army is less than a thousand, but there are six priests."

"Boy" Anthony's face swelled, "Pay attention to who you are talking to, I am the abbot of the Valankov Monastery, from the Corvin family, Varankov used to have three families, and now there are four, but it's not just you, Lucasino's family"

"Father," said Folava, with a look of disgust, "I have no intention of arguing, but I have come to inform you, there is no need to shout at me that tomorrow morning, we will send someone to help you carry your luggage, please be ready, of course, if you have nothing to bring, I think the Count will prepare it for you," Folava turned, and the cold on his body had not yet warmed up, and he was ready to leave, "I take my leave"

"Hey," Anthony shouted behind him, "what about the people here, Valan, there are people who have to do their deathbed confessions, there are people who have to pray, and I have to do Mass, there are so many people here"

Forava stepped onto his horse and walked away

"Oh" Anthony slumped in his chair in frustration, "Damn, go to the battlefield, isn't that going for my life, bones, sewing flesh, listening to those soldiers babbling before they die, hell this is my errand"

"Uh," Tom hesitated, "it seems like it's your errand."

Anthony jumped up, "My errand is to stay here, to protect the temple of God, to bring comfort to the hearts of all, to go to the battlefield, no matter what happens to me, do you know how Sergei died, and how I could have surgery, damn it"

Tom said, "Hehe, I know a little, I was beaten too much when I was a child, and I learned it naturally."

Anthony muttered, "But what about the church, I'll take care of it"

Tom laughed, "Father, I went to see the attic yesterday, and I almost stepped on a rotten wooden plank and fell off it, and it doesn't need to be taken care of here, wait for it to collapse on its own, and then rebuild the rotten wood and broken stones, what's there to worry about"

"You idiot," Anthony was a little angry, "what's the use of saying this?" In the end, you'll only kill me, what are you doing with what you say you are so capable of, you can operate, you don't have to take care of the church, that thief Kalinin will send me to the battlefield when he hears it, you idiot"

After hearing this, Tom just shook his head, "No, Father I think it would be nice to only need to go to the battlefield alone."

"I'm not going," Anthony closed his eyes

"Of course, you don't have to go," said Tom, "but I won't hear prayers, nor dying confessions, can I learn these things tonight?" ”

Anthony slowly opened his eyes and looked at Tom in astonishment and hesitation, and soon, he understood what Tom meant, "Is the trainee going to the battlefield alone?" ”

"If you will allow you," said Tom respectfully

Anthony puffed out his chin and thought about it carefully, "Of course, there is no precept that does not allow this, but you have to learn a lot tonight, Brother Tom."

"Shall we begin?" Tom asked

"Now on" Anthony jumped up and ran towards the room tonight, he was going to formally accept Tom as a priest and teach him something that only the senior clergy could learn, just so that Tom would not be exposed when he went to the battlefield

Earl's Residence

Kalinin carefully read the letter written by Giovanni

Then he fell silent, as if considering a reply

"Victor," he asked, casually, as he looked at the letter, "who have you seen when you have returned?" ”

"Uncle Yuri, Alexey, and you and the Messira"

"Oh?" He looked up with a smile, "The little girl ran to see you?" ”

My heart tightened, and I felt that I had leaked my mouth, so I hurriedly remedied it and said, "No, I wandered around and saw him."

The Earl said 'oh', "Okay, I'll get back to you tomorrow and you go to rest first, and I'll look for you again when I have a problem."

I am pardoned, "Yes, my lord"

I walked towards the door, and as I reached the door, the Count suddenly looked up and asked me, "Victor, have you stayed in the barracks all winter hunting?" ”

His eyes were as quiet as the surface of a lake, large and peaceful

I was a little panicked, but nodded anyway and said, "Yes, a winter."

The Count looked at me fixedly

"I know to go out and remember to close the door".