I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 85 The Thief from Bohemia

Luc and Gilles trapped the horse thief firmly in the stable. The bow and arrow in Luc's hand undoubtedly had a strong deterrent effect, and Gilles' fierce image with an eye patch and a long-handled blade made the horse thief feel terrified. After realizing that he had nowhere to escape, the horse thief decisively chose to surrender.

However, things were far from going so smoothly for Old Eike.

It turned out that there was not only one horse thief, but also an accomplice who was responsible for keeping watch on the periphery.

Realizing that their attempt to steal the horse had failed, the men outside abandoned their companions without hesitation and ran outside.

However, he didn't expect to run into Old Eike head on.

Old Eck remained alert, looking at the figure that suddenly appeared from the corner. Almost in an instant, he swung the flail in his hand. With a strong swing of his hand, the top of the flail covered with sharp iron nails hit the other person's head hard. The iron nails pierced the other person's eyes exactly. The sudden severe pain made the horse thief scream like a wolf howling, and bright red blood suddenly flowed out of his eye sockets, which was extremely eye-catching in the night.

Old Eike's face was calm. He loosened the flail, drew the butcher knife from his waist, and was about to cut the man's throat.

Even if this kind of thief is killed in Cooper Castle, the only penalty he will have to pay is a fine.

Old Eck drew out his knife, and a burst of hurried footsteps sounded from behind him. The big guy Hans rushed over with a sturdy wooden stool. Seeing the horse thief, he said nothing and slapped the horse thief on the back of the head with a bang. The powerful blow directly broke the wooden stool into pieces.

The horse thief's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the ground.
"Watch him!"

After giving Hans the order, Old Eike ran into the stable without stopping, and together with Jill escorted the surrendered horse thief back to the tavern.

The quiet tavern was disturbed by the sudden noise. Several mercenary leaders went out cursing and wanted to see what was going on. After being informed by the tavern owner, they calmed down and went back to the house to continue sleeping. After all, horse thieves were too common.

After sending the mercenaries back to the house, the tavern owner looked at the people standing or sitting in the hall.

Luc sat on the bench, looking down at the man lying at his feet. The man's weapon had been removed, that is, the dagger that cut the rope. Yes, it was a dagger, not a sword, which was quite rare.

Luc gripped the hilt of the knife, examining the notched blade, and heard the pleading voice of the horse thief.

"Sir, I swear I will never covet your warhorse again! Please, have mercy on me just this once. Short of death, I am willing to compensate you for your loss in any way!"

The horse thief kowtowed loudly and spoke with an awkward accent, as if he was not a local.

"Master, this guy doesn't deserve forgiveness. If he really stole the warhorse, you can't just ride the mule back to the mountains. It's better to let him go to hell with his friend!"

Ever since he encountered the bandits, One-Eyed Gil had no good feelings towards these robbing and sneaking people, including Hans. However, Hans had been bought and was a fool, so Gil couldn't say anything. But when he saw the horse thief, he immediately looked disgusted. If he hadn't known that Lord Luke would question him, he would have killed him long ago.

"No, no, no! Killing me will do you no good. It is better to keep me. I can bring you more treasures."

When he heard that he was going to be killed, the horse thief immediately shook his head, with a look of fear spreading across his face.

"Treasure?"

Luc stopped fiddling with the dagger and said, "Tell me, how can you bring me more treasure?"

The warhorse was safe and sound. Luc had many ways to deal with the horse thief. It was up to him to kill him or not. Killing him would just be like killing another thief who had already died, and it would deter other thieves who might be in the dark. But if it could bring benefits to himself, it didn't matter if he didn't kill him.

"I can steal"

".Where are you from?"

"Bohemia, my lord."

In the second half of the night, in order to avoid further problems, Luc and the other two took turns to rest until dawn when Old Eike went to the market to buy grain. Luc also asked the tavern owner to provide him with more food so that he could eat on the way back to the mountains.

Hans's behavior last night was indeed a bit silly, but fortunately he was still obedient, so Luc gave the task of pushing the wheelbarrow to Hans, while One-Eyed Gil took weapons and guarded around him just in case.

Old Eike came back soon, bringing bad news. Baron Berry had raised taxes on his subjects by another 30% because he was about to go on an expedition. There was no extra food left to trade, and apart from buying some pea seeds, he returned almost empty-handed.

Luc nodded helplessly. There was nothing he could do. He said goodbye to the Hoffman caravan. They had come with three men and a horse, and now they were leaving with five men, a horse, and a mule, leaving Cooper Castle and heading back to the mountains. Yes, Luc had finally accepted the Bohemian horse thief, George, who was currently leading the mule in front, working with Hans to transport the goods.

Of course, Luc didn't expect him to help him steal things, but there was a lack of labor in the mountains, so asking him to work for him was a punishment for stealing the horse. Of course, if he didn't obey, Luc didn't mind turning George into the second Martin.

The number of victims has decreased, and it seems that they are pouring into the north along the Twolf Bridge, but the number of corpses of starving people on the road has increased.

The group walked and stopped, and finally returned to the valley after more than ten days.

The fool Hans just walked forward, but the horse thief George noticed with his sharp eyes that there was an object that looked like a building on the top of the distant mountain.

While I was wondering, a cloud of black smoke suddenly rose up from the side of the building and floated straight up into the clouds, becoming very conspicuous among the green hills.

"Well, it seems that Ryan has already built the lookout tower."

Luke squinted at the thick smoke. This kind of smoke signal was a special warning method he had arranged when he left.

He didn't have any bells or drums, and it was impossible for him to ask Miller to run down the mountain to inform everyone when he found something unusual, so Luke thought of the signal smoke.

The smoke stack is located at the foot of the lookout tower. If the lookout soldiers find anything wrong, they just need to climb down the ladder and light it.

Old Eike said with a smile: "It seems that Miller regards us as enemies."

"Well, that's no wonder. We have more people than usual, and we're so far away. Plus, Miller probably didn't expect an uninvited guest to show up so soon. It's normal for him to be overly nervous."

"But if it's true that every mistake is not good enough, we have to find a way to make Miller see more clearly and farther."

Old Ek turned his head in surprise, thinking he had heard it wrong. How could it be possible to make the eyes see farther and more clearly?

Luc ignored old Eike's surprise, because when several people walked to the front of the manor, they saw that the fence was tightly closed.

There was even a row of chevaux de frise outside, which were rows of strong wooden stakes pointing upward at an angle.

After the manpower at the estate increased, Luc never stopped building the fence. At this moment, he had already accommodated all the old and new wooden houses, as well as the stables, wells, sheep pens, chicken coops, shacks of the people in Ward Village, woodsheds, granaries, cellars, etc., except for the waterwheel and water mill, and only opened a gate on the south side.

Outside the fence wall, a row of deep trenches were dug, with chevaux de frise stakes placed inside, and at the gate was a movable chevaux de frise stake.

Luc jokingly asked Jill to shout at the door, and at the same time little Charlie inside the fence began to wag his tail happily, and Ryan then opened the wooden door.

"Master?! Are you guys back?"

Ryan looked at Luke and others in surprise. After knowing that it was a false alarm, he felt happy and ashamed. Miller, who reported the news, blushed.

Luke waved his hand and didn't care. Instead, he was quite pleased with Ryan and Miller's vigilance. He asked him to move all the supplies to the warehouse, and then asked Jill to take George aside. Since Jill disliked George and others, it was a good choice to have him take care of them.

Hans followed him. This fool needed to be trained slowly by himself. He waved his hand and called Ryan to his front to ask about his recent situation.

Ryan first glanced at Hans, then continued, "Master, everything is normal during this period. Except for the lookout tower, the fields are almost ready. I have asked Robert to lead the people to plant the wheat first."

"Well done! You need to take good care of the wheat. I hope to have white bread next year. So, how many acres does the field have now?"

"Almost eight acres, but there's only enough seed for three."

Luke nodded, it was exactly the same amount of grain he brought.

"Without further delay, let's officially start the autumn plowing tomorrow!"

　I will definitely make up for the two chapters I owe, most likely tonight. In addition, I have not updated well in the past two days, so I will add another chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)