Chapter 58 Norris’ Story

Gawain's sudden question made Norris feel a little dazed for a moment. He was already prepared to be scolded, but he didn't expect that he would be faced with such a question - should he answer yes or no at this time? Which one is against the law?

After thinking for a long time, the old farmer decided to admit it honestly, because there was more than one person who knew that he could read and write. Once the lord went to someone else to ask the truth, he would really It's about breaking the law.

"Yes...Master," Norris said nervously, grabbing the buttons on his chest with his hands, "I have learned...reading and writing."

Gawain He raised his eyebrows, thinking that his judgment was indeed correct.

Although Norris didn’t write a word just now, he was just sketching, but many problems can be judged just from the posture of the other person when picking up the pen: whether the person who can read and write is holding the pen. The feeling was completely different. In this world where nearly all the people were illiterate, he had seen how illiterate people grasped the penholder and drew lines on paper in a clumsy way. But the farmer in front of him The pen holding position is obviously pretty standard.

Even Hetty looked at Norris with some surprise. It seemed that she had just discovered this fact.

"Don't worry, it's not against the law to be able to write, and it's not against the law to teach others to read and write." Gawain realized that his sudden question might have frightened this honest farmer, so he softened his tone, " Who taught you how to read and write?"

After receiving the lord's promise, Norris felt a little relieved. He rubbed his hands and showed a slightly embarrassed smile: "Master lord, don't be afraid to say it. You're joking...I almost entered the church and became a priest serving the goddess of harvest. I learned the ability to read and write from a teacher at that time..."

A son of a farmer, He almost entered the church and became a priest?

Such a wonderful experience immediately interested Gawain, so under his questioning, the story of farmer Norris finally became known.

The other party did come from a farmer's family and was a free citizen who had lived in the Cecil Territory for generations. Although his family had a few acres of thin farmland, like most common people of this era, he lived in Food and clothing are on the line. Originally, his life would be like that of most civilians, being tied to the land all his life, busy among the seedlings and ditches, and the only way for him to deal with those high-ranking priests and churches was to go to the church in the town every once in a while. Say a prayer, or receive a sermon from the priests when they came to the countryside - but at the age of eight, an opportunity came to Norris and his parents.

A priest of the Harvest Goddess who came from the Holy Spirit Plains and traveled and preached came to the Cecil Territory and temporarily stayed in the village where Norris lived. For farmers, the priest of the three fertility gods passed by. It was a very rare and lucky thing, so everyone in the village immediately pooled their money together, and according to the rules of the three gods of fertility, the village elder took a few childrenThe children went together to "offer a gift" to the priest so that the priest could bless the village's farmland.

Then the priest looked at eight-year-old Norris and said, "This child is blessed to be with the land. He inherits the blessings of the harvest goddess."

Just because In this sentence, after the priest left, Norris's parents sold almost all the valuable belongings in the family. The old people in the village also tried their best to collect some money. They went to beg the knight in the manor for some money. After obtaining a pass, Norris was finally sent to the Mother Earth Church in Tanzania Town, allowing him to become a "servant apprentice" - Although the Three Gods of Fertility are three sects with independent inheritance, they are also extremely closely connected. , and the Earth Mother Goddess, as the chief deity of the Three Fertility Gods, usually enshrines both the Harvest Goddess and the Spring Goddess in her temple, and the candidates for priests of the Three Goddesses generally receive the same education before receiving formal blessings. After completing their education, they would choose which god to convert to based on their "spiritual talents." Therefore, when the Church of the Harvest Goddess could not be found around, sending Norris to the temple of the Mother Earth was the only choice his parents had at that time. .

Norris studied in the temple for five years, and then received a determination from the upper-level church:

“The apprentice does not have the spiritual talent of the Fertile God System.”< /p>

To this day, Norris still remembers how happy everyone in the village was at first after the letter with this sentence was delivered to the village - because they were not literate at all, and the messenger who delivered the letter was He was so drunk that he didn't tell the villagers or Norris's parents what was written in the letter.

It wasn’t until Norris returned to the village with his luggage that everyone knew that the letter was not good news sent by the church.

Norris told his story quietly. There was no trace of sadness or joy on his wrinkled face, and there was only peace in the deep-set eye sockets, as if those things were indeed true. He had gone far away, as if he had nothing to do with him anymore: "In the next few years, life was very difficult. We hadn't paid back the debt we owed, and the family had long been empty. My father didn't survive the winter of that year, but We still had to live our lives, and we had to pay back the money we owed everyone.

“So my mother took my younger siblings and me to the Viscount’s castle. Oh, Viscount Cecil was still Rebbe at that time. Miss Ka's father, we went to kowtow to the Viscount, saying that we couldn't live any longer. The Viscount was so kind that he waived the land tax we had to pay, and lent us seeds and half a bag of grain. We relied on those seeds and half a bag of grain. With food and wild vegetables that were growing particularly well that year, we managed to survive.

"After that, I farmed the land and helped others with chores. I did the work of two or three people by myself, and I could read. When there were merchants in the village, I helped them. Let's count the pounds, so we can exchange for a few loaves of bread. In a few years, we will pay back the debt we owe, and we will also pay for the grain and grain from the Viscount..."

Norris slowly paid off. raiseHe looked back with pride on his face: "The year my mother died, our whole family had a meal of meat."

Farmer Norris's story ended, Gawain just frowned, But Hetty couldn't help but press her chest: "I...I never knew anything like this had happened in the territory...We have always tried our best to give alms..."

"Alms can't save anyone, Because that can’t solve the root cause, and this kind of thing happens every day, it’s just invisible in the castle.” Gawain shook his head, and then looked at Norris curiously, “I just noticed your gesture... you still believe in harvest. "Goddess?"

"Believe it, why don't you believe it?" The wrinkles on Norris's face piled up, "The harvest goddess protects all the fields in the world. Whether the harvest is good or not is the life and death of the family. , Who doesn’t believe in the Harvest Goddess?”

Gawain looked at the other party quietly: “Even if you have suffered so much because of this belief?”

Norris was silent for a moment. , lowered his head: "Master, it's my bad fate, how can I blame the gods? And compared to others, I at least learned something and knew the words - although knowing the words is not good for people like us "It's useless to read." Gawain looked at the farmer seriously, "Norris, you must be good at farming, right?" /p>

Speaking of this, Norris suddenly became even more proud: "Master, I dare not say anything else if you ask me, but when it comes to farming, my skills are very good - if it hadn't been so difficult at first How can you survive?"

Gawain asked again: "You know how to read and count, and you have received church education, so I asked Hetty to read you the new rules and the rules I designed. It should be easy for you to understand the forms that record the workload, right? If you were asked to fill in the forms and calculate the land and output, would you be able to do it?"

This time, Norris? He nodded first, and then asked hesitantly: "Master, do you want me to be... a supervisor?"

Due to Gawain's implementation of the system that requires counting and evaluation during this period, In the labor system, the usual supervisors who can only wield whips but cannot read a word are no longer useful. The supervisors in the territory are all selected family warriors and even Hetty herself (some of the family warriors are knights) Squire, at least knows a few numbers and can write some simple words), so when Norris heard Gawain's question, he couldn't help but think of this aspect.

"No, it's not just about overseeing the work. In fact, if you can do it, I plan to let you manage the entire reclamation and even the later food production," Gawain said, "Of course, it's impossible to do it all at once. I will give you such great power, and I won’t let you do it at will. I will let Hetty ‘assess’ you and tell you what you should do at any time.”

Norris’ face. His expression suddenly changed: "Old... Master! I don't quite understand... Are you asking me to be your housekeeper? But the housekeeper is not just in charge of food......"

"This is a kind of position, but it is not a steward," Gawain laughed. "If you have to say it, let's call it... agricultural supervisor first. And I want to tell you first, this position is different from any position in the noble domain in the past. You cannot pass it down from generation to generation as a title, unless your child has enough talent - it is not valid for life, If you fail to do a good job, or if you take advantage of your position to do something that violates Cecil's law, you will be removed and punished. From now on, many of the positions I have established in this land will be like this - do you understand? ”

If Gawain hadn’t warned of so many restrictions, perhaps Norris would still be afraid to accept this “good luck from heaven” in fear—because this good luck from heaven really looks like it. When he was eight years old, the priest came to the village and said that he could "receive divine grace", but after Gawain's warning, he thought about it seriously and thought it should be true.

(I have to go out today, and I’m afraid I won’t have a chance to touch the computer all day and into the evening. I can only code out a chapter and set it to automatically update. There is only one chapter today.)