Todd was stunned by the scene in front of him. When he reacted, Huggins was being stepped on the ground and rubbed repeatedly by the old man in full armor.
He grabbed Edgar and Jerry who were rolling up their sleeves and wanted to fight. Todd stepped forward, pointed at Huggins who had given up his struggle, and said to the old man: "Sir, I don't know who you are.
I don’t know what happened, but this man is my guard, please let him go first.”
The old man shook his beard, glanced at the person at his feet funny, put some force on his legs, and said in a deep voice: "You little bastard! Why haven't you told Father Todd my identity yet!"
Huggins raised his head with difficulty, and a smile uglier than crying appeared on his face covered with dirt: "This is Baron Cumberland, my main knight (the master who follows the knight as a squire), I
The commander of the former battle group..."
"Um..." Todd froze on the spot. He looked back and saw that at some point, all of Huggins' subordinates who were standing behind him had completely disappeared.
After thinking for a while, Todd, who was trying to organize his words, said to Cumberland: "Baron, Huggins has a last resort..."
"A deserter is a deserter! What's more, I personally witnessed his knighthood ceremony back then. This bastard is the first knight I have seen in my life who abandoned his fief, his title, and even his honor!" Campbell
Lan kicked Huggins hard twice and shouted angrily: "Do you know that because of your incident, I have been laughed at by my colleagues and friends for a whole year!"
Huggins was disgraced and ashamed.
Todd felt that things were getting more and more troublesome, and quickly dissuaded the Baron: "Mr. Cumberland, please calm down. There are many complicated reasons for this happening, and no one wants to see it happen. But Huggins is now
He is my follower, and as a master, I am willing to do everything possible to make up for his mistakes."
"...Oh? That's good." The anger on the old man's face disappeared without a trace in an instant, and he nodded calmly.
Um?
What's going on?
Todd looked at Cumberland, whose face changed faster than the sky, and his brain was shut down for a moment.
The baron patted the dust on his trousers and said as if nothing happened: "Forgot to get down to business, Father Todd, His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Queen invite you to come to the palace for a gathering. I don't think you will refuse, right?"
"
The muscles on Todd's face twitched, and he forced a smile on his lips: "I'm extremely happy..."
————————————
On the way to the palace, Todd chatted with Baron Cumberland.
The old man's temperament was completely different from the first impression he gave. He was funny, talkative, and quick-thinking. Todd vaguely understood that Huggins' character was influenced by who he was around.
Cumberland was born into a poor family. At the age of fourteen, he joined the war with the northern barbarians as a peasant soldier. This fearless and heroic figure on the battlefield made him noticed by the lord at the time.
After that, there were nearly a thousand wars, large and small
, returning triumphantly in the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the name "Cumberland" was engraved in the hearts of every enemy. And with his military exploits, he became a sergeant, a knight squire, a trainee knight, a knight, and finally was
Created a non-hereditary life baronet.
"Lord Baron, may I ask His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Queen why they are looking for me?" Todd still has some psychological shadow over what happened at yesterday's banquet. If the royal family recruited him this time just to stand up for the nobles, then
It's better to make plans to run away as early as possible.
Cumberland looked at the priest, smiled and said, "I don't know."
Todd was speechless.
The meeting place was not arranged in the audience room or the side hall, but in the government hall of the palace. This surprised Todd because it was a bit unreasonable for the royal family to receive a young priest.
The moment Todd stepped into the hall, the bustling crowd in the hall made him dizzy.
While he was observing everyone in the hall, others were also observing him.
With an aura of mystery and glory, this priest, who was only fifteen years old, became tall and difficult to predict in the eyes of everyone.
Todd only found two people he knew in the crowd. One was naturally Queen Mary, who was sitting beside the throne, and the other was Viscount Kennard, who had made a fool of himself at yesterday's banquet.
Slowly walking to the center of the hall, Todd held the cross on his chest with one hand and made a cross in the air with the other hand. He read a blessing prayer towards the king and queen and nodded slightly to show respect.
Seeing the priest's actions, people in the hall began to whisper, some louder, and you could faintly hear words like "Even the bishop would not dare to do this...".
Comparing the dissatisfaction and comments of others, Guy VI just frowned slightly, exchanged a look with Queen Mary next to him, and then said to Todd in a friendly manner: "Father, do you know the legend about you?
The story has been spread in every corner of Silver Ring City."
Todd shook his head and said: "What people praise is the power of Heavenly Father and has nothing to do with me."
The king was stunned for a moment and then asked: "I heard that this time you brought a strange flower. Different varieties of roses grow on the same tree?"
“That is the flower of the gospel in the miracle place ‘Muxi Town’, and it is a gift from Heavenly Father.”
Guy VI moved his body and asked with interest: "Can you tell me specifically what's going on?"
"A farmer in Muxi Town inserted the fallen rose flowers and roots together one day, buried them in the soil of the town, and irrigated them with well water. The next day, the farmer discovered that the roses
It grows on the roots of trees..."
"Father! The peasants you are talking about are those runaway serfs who have betrayed their sacred contract, right?"
As soon as this statement came out, everyone was shocked.
Todd, who was interrupted, looked towards the place where the sound came from.
Several well-dressed nobles stood together and cast evil looks at him.
Todd said in a questioning tone: "I think there is something strange in what you said. These farmers who betrayed the 'sacred' contract should be punished by God, but why did the Heavenly Father use their hands to achieve miracles?
Woolen cloth?"
Seeing the nobles pause for a moment, Todd continued: "I think these farmers came to Muxi Town after being inspired..."
"What nonsense!" Several nobles were furious. Just as they were about to refute, the king, seeing that the situation was not right, quickly changed the subject: "Father, I heard that you won 30 million silver coins through gambling at the banquet yesterday.
moon?"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall immediately became excited. Yesterday's crazy gambling game has spread throughout the streets and alleys.
Todd still looked calm and said slowly: "Your Majesty, that is also Heavenly Father's holy decree and has nothing to do with me."
Viscount Kennard suddenly shouted: "You were cheating yesterday!"
Todd gave him a funny look. His skills at the card table were not good, but his ability to catch thieves was first-rate.
Standing next to the young Viscount, a fat middle-aged bald man stood up and said: "Father, I think the bet between you and my son is unfair. There is no reason to change the rules at will in a bet."
Todd curled his lips and sneered in his heart. He had been making trouble for a long time, and it turned out that "the son got angry, and I took the blame."
"What Count Nar said makes sense." The king smiled and tried to smooth things over: "How about we all make concessions?"
Todd looked at the father and son calmly, paused for a moment, and suddenly said something that everyone was baffled by: "The royal guards who escorted me yesterday are the most disciplined and solemn army I have ever seen."
Although Guy VI didn't understand why the priest mentioned this, after all, he was praising his own guards, and he still had a proud smile on his face.
Queen Mary, who was sitting next to him, frowned. She looked at Todd's mouth and her body tensed up.
"But what makes me sigh is that the fur on their saddles has been worn bare, the bottoms of their scabbards are rusty, and even dinner is a bowl of meat porridge shared by two people."
The smile suddenly disappeared from the king's face.
He couldn't understand the reason for these situations: lack of money.
Some people may find it strange that as the richest country in the Western Continent, the royal family would have no money?
But the fact is that when the Silver Ring Kingdom was first established, it still adhered to the medieval law that "the king should support himself". However, with the frequent wars and the expansion of palace expenses, the real estate income of the royal domain and the income of the lordship
And judicial income is far from covering the royal family’s expenses.
Taxing the subjects has become the only option, and the tax rates and types of taxes have become more and more stringent with the needs of the monarch. The people in Silver Ring City have even begun to spread this saying - "Taxes are as harsh as rats, fattening oneself harms the people."
But what the aloof king didn't know was that most of these huge amounts of taxes flowed into the hands of the nobles who held financial and taxation power.
Seeing Guy VI's face become solemn, Todd suddenly said: "I voluntarily give up my right to recover gambling funds from the Viscount..."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone felt at ease, but what they didn't expect was that the priest hadn't finished speaking yet.
Just listen to him continue: "Without the all-night guarding of those royal guards, I even doubt whether I could sleep peacefully last night. Therefore, I hope that Earl Kennard and Lord Viscount can see that these guards are doing their duty for the kingdom.
For the sake of defense, donate a little money to improve their equipment and food."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the hall had different expressions.
The guards standing inside and outside the hall cast grateful looks at Todd. Not only because the priest fought for their interests, but more importantly, the royal family and nobles always asked them to do this and that, but rarely did they do that.
Someone can pay attention to the hard work and dedication of the Guardsmen.
The nobles had no objections, but nodded. On the one hand, it was because Todd voluntarily gave up the right to recover the astronomical gambling debt; on the other hand, no matter day or night, the royal guards did protect him.
It was entirely reasonable for the priest to seek a small reward for his safety.
Guy VI couldn't help but smile. Firstly, after Todd listened to his suggestion, he immediately gave up the right to recover gambling debts. Whether it was face or honor, he really gave himself enough; secondly,
Come on, the reward is said to be for the royal guards. Doesn't it have to fall into your own pocket first before it can be divided out? When the time comes, you can take the big head and the guards take the small head. Wouldn't it be another profit?
Queen Mary's expression was probably the strangest in the hall. She stood up, first widened her eyes and looked at Todd, and then saw her husband's happy face. She opened her red lips lightly and wanted to say something.
, but didn’t know how to say it, and the expression on his face became more and more panicked and helpless.
"Father, your inner nature and your conduct are truly perfect and true." Guy VI coughed and looked at the father and son expectantly: "My two beloved ministers, what do you think?"
The earl and his eldest son discussed with embarrassment for a long time, and finally raised a trembling finger: "One...a hundred silver moons?"