I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 68 Bandits
The dim light flickered in the room filled with animal fur and swords. The wind blew gently, stretching the shadow on the bed little by little.

Old Eike had a very long dream. He dreamed that God was calling him. There was a river leading to heaven, which was white and sacred. Old Eike was standing on a stone bridge, but suddenly the bridge broke. He fell to the bottom of the river, covered in mud.

Then came endless cold and pain.
Just when he was about to get rid of the pain, his left shoulder suddenly felt a sharp pain as if it was broken. Old Eck suddenly opened his eyes and took a deep breath like a drowning person.

"you're awake?"

A familiar-looking man sat on the chair next to him, slowly turned his head, and opened and closed his mouth.

It took Old Eike a while to hear what he said. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't control his cough.

"Ryan, pour the village chief a glass of water. You're seriously injured and you're so old. To be honest, it's a miracle that you're still alive."

Old Eike coughed violently. He felt his forehead was a little hot, but not dizzy. While coughing, he had already remembered who was in front of him!

That troubadour!

“I’m not thirsty”

Old Ek pushed Ryan's water cup away. He also recognized the slave from Cooper Castle.

"Can you tell me where this place is? How did I get here?"

"This is my manor, you can think of it as mine. As for the second question, I think I should ask you."

Ignoring Old Eck's somewhat surprised look, Luc turned the wooden chair towards Old Eck, staring at him with a pair of hawk-like eyes.
"What on earth happened in Ward Village?"

Ever since he learned it was the Ward Village chief, a bad premonition had been lingering in Luc's heart. Ward Village, as the village closest to the mountains and forests, was neither far nor near. Seeing the village chief's distressed appearance, he knew that something must have happened in Ward Village. Luc needed to know the details. He helped the village chief into the house, intending to go and see what had happened in Ward Village himself, but he didn't expect him to wake up so quickly.

"So, you're really not a bard. You're a descendant of the nobility?"

Old Ek didn't answer directly, but first swept his eyes around the interior of the wooden house. Thanks to Julie's hard work, the house was very tidy. A pair of huge deer antlers hung on the wall. Next to the antlers, Old Ek noticed a half-unfolded stag flag with a white background. That was the family coat of arms!

Luke looked in the direction Old Eike was looking, and immediately understood what the other person was thinking. He hesitated for a moment, but did not say anything.

But this silent attitude was seen by Old Eck as a tacit agreement. Old Eck was not surprised that Luc did not speak. Many descendants of impoverished families did not like to talk about the glory of their ancestors because they felt that their current predicament was not worthy of their once prominent family.

Old Eike took a deep breath and said, "Well, let me tell you what happened to Ward Village."

“We were attacked by bandits.”

"bandit?!"

Luke's brows were furrowed, and Ryan's eyes widened.

In this era, bandits were not uncommon, and could be said to be everywhere. To put it bluntly, if Luc wanted to, he could become a bandit leader in the next second, taking Ryan and Robert to recruit several bankrupt farmers and citizens to rob them.

But just because you can become a bandit doesn’t mean you will like bandits.

"Tell me in detail, what exactly happened?"

Luc's tone turned serious.

Old Eike looked lost in reminiscence. "I'm sorry, I don't know what time it is now, but that group of bandits suddenly appeared in our village in early July, when the cabbages were just ripe."

"There were seven or eight of them, and at least half of them had iron weapons. One of them, a bald man, had a shield and a long-handled blade he'd gotten from somewhere."

"He even has a vest."

Old Eike had been to the battlefield and gave a detailed account of the number and equipment of this group of bandits.
"They sneaked into our homes on a night like this. Although the village dogs woke us up, I believe you also know what the final outcome will be." Luc nodded. After hearing the number of bandits and their equipment, he indeed knew the outcome.

As expected, confirming Luc's guess, Old Eike said in a heavy tone:

"The other men in Ward Village and I quickly stood up to resist, but we were met with nothing but slaughter. Including me, there are only seven adults in Ward Village. To be honest, when I first saw you, I was worried that they wouldn't be able to resist you, not to mention this group of extremely brutal bandits."

"This group of bandits is definitely not a bunch of bankrupt farmers, at least the leader isn't!"

Old Ek's eyes revealed sadness. "That bald guy was very accurate. He killed three young men by himself. I have a hunch that he might be a deserter. I only survived because of that foolish boy Gil. He pushed me into the river at the last moment and told me to go to Cooper Castle to ask Baron Berry for help."

"In the final moments before I fell into the river, I saw the entire Ward Village engulfed in flames. Those damned bastards killed every man in the village and took away all the food and women."

"Ward Village is finished"

Old Ek's tone revealed deep sadness. He actually had no relatives in the village, but he had long regarded other people in the village as his family. Facing the broken families and deaths of the people in Ward Village, two lines of tears slid down his bark-like face as he spoke.

Luke and Ryan just listened quietly. This kind of thing was normal in this world, and they didn't feel too much.

Ryan grasped a key word and asked, "Baron Berry? The owner of Cooper Castle? Did you really go to ask for his help?"

"Ha, what do you think?"

Old Eck smiled miserably. "Gil is kind, but also naive. Let's not even talk about whether I can meet Baron Berri. Even if I did, what would happen? How could Baron Berri possibly care for a village without a lord? He's only active when collecting taxes. He doesn't intervene when the village is attacked. Besides, we haven't paid any taxes to him."

Ryan showed a look of understanding, well, this is very lordly.

"Then what are you going to do now?"

Luc took over the conversation and asked about old Eike's future plans.

".have no idea."

Old Eike sighed heavily. "I'm almost sixty. I'm blessed by God to have lived this long. In my early years, I traveled extensively with a mercenary group, but they were eventually destroyed. In my middle age, I served as a caravan guard, but they failed to properly handle their relationships with local guilds and were ostracized and bankrupted. In my later years, I thought I'd spend my final days in a peaceful village, but this happened to me instead."

"I really don't know now whether I am a person blessed by God or a person cursed by the devil."

Old Eck couldn't help coughing again because of sadness, then raised his head and looked at Luc:
"Actually, I already knew the lair of that gang of bandits. I crawled out of the river and followed them to find their hiding place. It was a cave, a very hidden natural cave. Unfortunately, I couldn't do anything by myself even if I wanted to take revenge."

Luc felt Old Eck's slightly fiery gaze, knew what he was thinking, shook his head, and decisively refused:

"Don't even think about it. I can't possibly avenge you."

"Just rest and recover. Considering our previous friendship, I can reserve a job for you in the manor."

Old Eike sighed deeply. He really hoped in his heart that Luke could help him get revenge.

"By the way, where is the lair of the bandits you mentioned?"

Luke stood up, suddenly turned his head and asked.

"North of Ward Village, about three days' walk away, there's a wild boar cave. That's where the bandits are stationed."

"Wild Boar Cave!"

Luke and Ryan suddenly looked up and couldn't help but speak in unison.

(End of this chapter)