Alien Knights

six hours in the morning.

A full six hours.

Todd read through two ecclesiastical books written in Latin, a rhetorical anthology, and several grammar essays.

If he hadn't used the method of pretending to be stupid and deliberately making mistakes to delay the progress of the course, the mad Master Myris would even have allowed him to read all the books on a row of bookshelves.

Walking out of the lecture, Todd felt smoke coming from his throat and stars in front of his eyes. The body, which could no longer be supported, collapsed on the grass, and rubbed his temples with two index fingers.

Suddenly there was the ringing of the clock tower, and people around him walked towards the main hall. Looking at the sun hanging above his head, Todd suddenly realized that he could finally have a full meal!

With the joyful mood of having a big meal, Todd followed the monks through the corridor, entered the dining hall, followed others to receive wooden bowls and spoons, and lined up in front of several large barrels.

Not the expected buffet, let him down a bit.

However, the scene of queuing for dinner reminded Todd of the scene in the university cafeteria... except for one, all males, no girls.

What made him a little strange was that the monks all bowed their heads, no one whispered to each other, and even the sound of coughing was barely audible, which made him feel a little uncomfortable, even a little creepy.

Looking in front of him, the white-haired old monk received his lunch from a young man. The former not only saluted respectfully, but also said in his mouth: "Thank you for the food."

Todd curled his lips disapprovingly. When it was his turn, he stretched out the wooden bowl, followed suit, and then looked up at the lunch in the bowl, the bright look on his face retracted directly into his throat.

What are these things? !

Boiled mushy oatmeal, a few green vegetable leaves are faintly visible, and a few small pieces of poor pickled radish are dotted on it.

Is this something for humans to eat?

The meals of Henry (male dog, 4 years old) and Sonia (female cat, 2.5 years old) in the previous life were a hundred times better than this!

Boom boom boom!

The cook looked at Todd blankly, and he tapped the side of the bucket with the back of his spoon, signaling Todd to step back when he got the food, so that the people behind could follow up.

Finding an unoccupied seat, Todd felt the "squirm" coming from his stomach, put his arms around his chest, took a deep look at the "delicious food" in the bowl, and began to think about the philosophical question of which is more important than wrapping his stomach and dignity.

Huggins found him again.

This guy is like a traveling merchant traveling in the wilderness, no matter when and where, he can take out different food from his arms.

Seeing an egg and an apple handed to him by the middle-aged man wearing gloves, Todd began to miss the days of traveling with him infinitely. At least the unrepeated eating every day always made him have different expectations.

"Eat more, or you won't make it through the afternoon."

ha?

What's the meaning?

The serious look on the other party's face made Todd have to re-evaluate the balance in his heart.

Gathering up his courage and closing his eyes, Todd tremblingly held the rice spoon and put the first bite of food into his mouth.

——————————————————————

The San Sidro Monastery was built on a hill in the northwest wilderness next to the Silver Ring Kingdom. It is close to the "source of clouds and mist" Falling Star Mountains in the north, Moonbrook Plain in the south, Watch Castle in the east, and Waiheke Island in the west. From the geographical point of view, it is located in the intersection of four different landform areas.

Inside the monastery, with San Sidro's Cathedral as the center, all the buildings will be arranged according to the structure of a cross. On the right side of this "cross" is the residence of the senior monks of the monastery. This also imitates the allusion in the holy books of the church. After the Son ascended to heaven, he sat on the right side of the Father's throne. On the left side of the cross is the collective residence of the monks. They live together and are equal to each other.

The place closest to the main entrance of the monastery is the closest to the secular world, housing visitors and the poor, as well as some other living areas. Farthest from there are the dead, whose holy souls are heading towards heaven—the communal cemetery of the monastery. The cemetery is often built in the east where the sun rises, which symbolizes the resurrection after death, while the visitor's residence is arranged in the west, which symbolizes the secular people and their "mortal" world.

At the foot of the hill on which the monastery stands, a cleared field is planted with the usual crops for the self-sufficiency of the monks.

The chill of early spring condenses the moisture in the air into frost, making the dirt beneath our feet icy cold.

Wielding the crude small wooden hoe in his hand, and turning over the hard lumps of soil, Todd finally understood the meaning of Huggins' words.

Straightening his waist, he patted his sore and swollen thighs hard. Looking at the farmland under his feet, he really wanted to ask someone why it was so different from his imagination.

Those monasteries in the literary works of the previous life often mentioned tens of thousands of acres of fertile land, countless serfs, clothes and food, and the wealth of the monks was even as rich as the country. Is that all false? !

Looking up from afar, Master Meris, who was wearing a patched and dilapidated cloth, was buried in the vegetable field, and Todd swallowed the complaints that came to his mouth.

"You don't look like a farmer's boy."

The whispers of the people behind him made his heart tremble.

Carrying a wooden basket on his back, Edgar picked up the stones and branches in the field, and looked at Todd with colder and colder eyes.

Todd, who had never been engaged in agricultural work, sighed and was about to bend down again, but saw a black smoke rising not far from the foot of the mountain.

"What's there?"

Edgar sniffed, looked back along Todd's hand, and replied indifferently: "Workshop."

The latter stared at the smoke and dust in the air, lowered his head, and secretly thought about it.

Two hours later, it was three o'clock in the afternoon.

This is also a rare break of the day at the Abbey of San Sidro.

Todd, who got a moment of respite, wiped the soles of his feet, put on his cloth shoes, glanced at Edgar, who was still following the little tail behind him, and came to the workshop built outside the monastery on his own.

It is said to be a workshop, to be precise, it may be more like a crude raw material processing place.

Two rows of stone-built studios, four or five craftsmen and a dozen or so apprentices, are busy with the work at hand around a firing furnace.

A square stove like a hearth, about 2 meters high, has a huge furnace pit in the middle, with a vertical baffle in the middle, and three openings below.

During smelting, iron ore is put into the material inlet, charcoal powder is put into the air inlet, and the air is blown while sprinkling water.

The most primitive smelting device in the Middle Ages in Europe is not even a cylindrical furnace in appearance, and can only be called a pit stove (bowl furnace).

Todd can't remember where this type of furnace was invented in the original world, and when it was introduced to Europe.

When he was a graduate student, he took a course on experimental equipment and historical evolution, and vaguely remembered that the lecturer mentioned this kind of stove, which seemed to be used in the northern European countries in the early Middle Ages.

Its name is impressive and hard to forget.

Farmer stove.