52 – 8. Mountain Village
A knight’s duties can be broadly divided into two.
One, it is only for a certain period of time, but it is listening to the master’s orders. Two, protecting the land and serfs.
From Noble mtl dot com
In that sense, I can say that I successfully accomplished my assigned duties.
After arriving in Alpen, I devoted half a year to hunting wolves and bandits.
Of course, some of the bandits ran away to the Alpine Mountains and disappeared, so it was difficult to chase them down through that wide area.
But now that winter is slowly approaching, I can only assume that nature will take care of it. They say winter in Alpine is quite cold.
And so peace finally came to Alpen.
I became unemployed.
“… So what do we do now?”
“Tell me a story from the past!”
“Well, today I’ll tell you a story called ‘The Whale is Too Strong.’ “Once upon a time, there was a whale called Moby Dick-“
Licia studied on her own using a magic book that I somehow obtained from the church.
Anyway, I was given the biggest house in the village, and unless thieves came to plunder, there was no one to look for me.
Of course, the manager of the village next door often made a fuss about sightings of thieves, but even he never barged into the house without warning, so there was little fear of being caught.
Lysia’s room was probably not a bad choice because no one entered it for the same reason.
However, in case something unexpected happened, the girl asked if it would be better to practice in my room so that I could properly cover it with my authority. She decided to do it because it seemed reasonable.
I spent some time solving a bundle of stories I knew one by one from time to time to the girl who got bored while studying.
After completing my duty, all that remains is my rights.
From now on, all you had to do was laze around on the land you were given, collecting taxes from the cute serfs.
In the summer, I walked around the fields with Lisia and secretly sprinkled blessings, and when it was time to harvest grains in the fall, I hit the jackpot.
The taxes collected here, as well as the items and gold dropped by wolves and thieves, all went into my pocket.
Now that there was no need to go out to earn money, the only thing that could be called work was riding around the village on top of Licia and Sancho to secretly heal the sick.
As winter came, even the robbers who were occasionally seen on the streets disappeared from the cold. In this way, the world seemed peaceful at first glance. At least on the outside.
But I think that is not far off. After finishing today’s story, I spoke to Lisia.
“Give me the status window.”
“Yes.”
Pararak. The girl took out a book containing her oath and important documents from a bookshelf near her, opened it, and showed it to me.
The pledge that adorns the front page is still a kind of identification card, and its appearance has not changed either.
However, in the past, the name was simply written as Laven, but now the modifier ‘Alpen’s’ was added in front.
I turned the book and opened the last chapter.
The parchment, which had once been rolled up and sealed with a seal, still showed signs of folding.
It was a long-awaited quest that came from the Count of Canossa.
It was more of a conveyance of information rather than an order, but since it was the master’s order, it was necessary to understand it.
A letter with similar content to the one I received was delivered to everyone who attended the Count.
If you remove the greetings and high-level rhetoric such as “How are you doing?” Or “How are you doing with your serfs?”, What you want to convey can be summarized like this.
‘Heinrich was soon stripped of his title as emperor.’
When the Pope excommunicated the emperor, he also declared that he would not be recognized as emperor unless the matter was resolved within a year.
This could be seen as a warning message cast by the Pope in preparation for the emperor’s excommunication being passed over. And the deadline is less than two months away.
I didn’t know what the provoked emperor would do now.
He could have raised an army and invaded the Papal States, or he could have pushed the empire into civil war.
Therefore, I was given a mission to be more vigilant about my surroundings.
The only thing you can do in Alpen, where there are only about 20 guards, is to gather troops, so the only thing you can do is patrol harder.
Licia, who knew very well how the world was going by picking up information passing by next to me, asked.
“Will there be war soon?”
“You never know. The Pope and the Emperor, if one side bows, it will all end…….”
“It won’t be easy to give up your pride.”
It is human to find it difficult to even apologize to a close friend.
It would be nice if this tense situation could be resolved with just a few words, but based on common sense, it seemed like it would be far from being resolved.
“Is there any possibility that the Emperor will apologize to the Pope?”
“If he cares about the peace of the people, it will happen. And it would be perfect if it were resolved peacefully like this.”
The girl only raised the possibility that the emperor would bend first. The Pope was not considered.
What is disappointing is that he was an emperor. He was threatened with treason in real time, and as time passed, his allies were falling away.
And if he closes his eyes and breaks his pride and authority just once, wouldn’t the Pope have no choice but to accept the apology from the head of the empire?
All the elements that are bothering you will disappear at once. Even if you are a powerful person who lives and dies from pride, it is something worth doing.
This is the completion of a world where no one is hurt except the emperor’s pride.
However, there was one big problem.
“But doesn’t that seem physically difficult?”
“That’s it again.”
There are two ways to go from the Empire to the Papal States.
One is the road that goes around the mountain range, and the other is the road that crosses the mountain range.
But the way back was blocked by a nobleman who was hostile to the emperor.
Then the only remaining option was to cross the Alpine Mountains. If you can call this a road, that is.
“Hmm, what if we come over that mountain?”
As the girl said, I imagined climbing up and down that steep cliff using just a cane.
At that moment, a little snow was falling on the window frame and then melting repeatedly. It snowed especially heavily this winter.
The mountain that stands out clearly and alone in a world dyed white was beautiful to see from afar, but as you get closer, the frozen future becomes apparent.
Unless they are thieves running away in search of a way to survive, the roads are narrow and slippery. Who on earth would go to a place like that?
“Then we can say that he truly has great will and ability. “It’s not even summer now.”
“Ahahahaha… “I guess so too, right?”
“Why, because I’m afraid the emperor will come over that mountain?”
“No, I just imagined it. “I wonder if he would ever do something like that.”
The girl laughed sheepishly, saying she had a stupid idea.
*****
It was winter, a year with unusually heavy snowfall.
It was the season when even serfs would gather warmly at home with their families.
It was not recommended to leave the house. Because it was a time of rest after a long day of farming, the serfs strictly followed the instructions.
And it was crazy to leave for the wild where the animals had run out of food and would be starving. Haven’t you worked hard all year to avoid doing something like that?
However, during this time when biting cold enveloped the world, there was one person who went completely crazy.
“This is suicidal…… !”
“I know. Still, I have to go.”
The leader of all people.
An emperor who has the authority to rule on behalf of God over all believers of the Europa Church.
Heinrich, accompanied only by about 50 attendants and his family, stood in front of the Alpine Mountains.
The ground was so frozen that it was obvious that some people would fall off and not return, but there was a reason they kept walking.
If we were to avoid ending this conflict in war, it had to be now. This was the last moment when I could meet the Pope as Henry the excommunicated emperor, not as Henry the excommunicated human being.
The path back to the mountain range was blocked by other nobles.
For an excommunicated emperor to cross the land of another kingdom is equally as crazy as to beg to be captured.
So the emperor decided to do something less crazy.
“Um, I have to climb that?”
“Be aware of your position. “Stop whining.”
“Wouldn’t it be okay to just crush the arrogant feudal lords with our powerful army? The Pope changes things like the previous emperor did…….”
“Whoa, you need to learn more about how the world works.”
The crown prince tried to persuade his father why he had to do this and whether there was another way.
The emperor chose to remain silent rather than argue with his ignorant child about differences in military power, political issues, and the cause of peace. The crown prince’s voice, which accepted the silence as a success in persuasion, gradually became louder.
And the princess was looking at this disgusting behavior in front of her attendants with her rotten eyes.
The future seemed bright for the family to be so harmonious.