Unknown Knight

It turns out that the so-called punishment of the North Wind God is just a simple chemical phenomenon, namely carbon monoxide poisoning.

People of this era have no basic scientific knowledge. They don't know that incomplete combustion of fire will release deadly carbon monoxide. In order to keep warm in the winter, they make their houses airtight, but they still light fires inside the house, which leads to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Even if the poisoning is not serious and you are lucky enough not to die, it will cause serious damage to the body, which is also an important reason why people here have a short life span.

In fact, the so-called "hibernation" leading to the short life of people here is not determined by one or two reasons, but by various reasons that influence, promote and overlap each other. Based on what Igor said, combined with the various actual situations of this era that he knows, and the scientific theoretical knowledge he has mastered in the original world, Aix summarized the following four main reasons:

The first reason is the cold. According to the information obtained by Aix in the archives of the Royal Family of Zhivadin, the so-called white wind blows in this area every winter, and the temperature is so cold that people can freeze to death if they go out. Based on the knowledge in the original world, Aix judged that this is actually a rapid arrival of extremely cold weather. It is said that when the white wind blows, as long as you open the door, the cold will quickly freeze everyone in the room to death, so that people here have made this terrifying phenomenon a myth, calling it the arrival of the God of the North Wind.

The second reason is hunger. Imagine that in extremely cold conditions, due to food shortages, people here only eat one meal a day, and some families cannot even get a meal. In this situation of high consumption and low supply, you can call it weight loss in the short term, and malnutrition in the long term. It will cause serious damage to the body, and in mild cases, the body's functions will be severely reduced, with symptoms such as weakness, anemia, and premature aging; in severe cases, it will lead to organ failure, or even edema, and finally life-threatening and even death.

The third reason is lack of exercise. Admittedly, in the absence of food and clothing, less exercise, less consumption, and staying in a grass nest without moving is a helpless and optimal choice. However, this lack of exercise will lead to many problems in the winter, blocking a person's qi and blood, inducing various potential diseases, and in the long run, vasculitis and cardiovascular diseases. Don't think that only a wealthy life will cause such diseases, lack of exercise will also cause them.

Fourth, plague. After winter, when the weather turns warm, the bodies that have frozen to death under the snow will quickly cause plague, which is the so-called seasonal epidemic. What will happen if you encounter a group of people who have just finished hibernating and are all very weak? Even a small flu can kill people like crazy, which is why many people will get sick and die as soon as the weather warms up even if they survive the winter.

Combining the above four main reasons, imagine that when a family enters the hibernation state due to food shortage, this situation will quickly put their bodies in a very weak state. When the extremely cold weather comes, being in such a cold, damp, and moldy environment is such a torture, and how fragile it is. It is difficult to withstand the invasion of the harsh environment.

Some families can't bear it anymore and light a fire, which will cause them to die of carbon monoxide poisoning. They cannot open the door for ventilation. Once the door is opened, it only takes a few minutes for the indoor temperature to be the same as the outdoor temperature. (Friends in the south avoid this point, only those in the north can understand it.) It's also a death, but they are frozen to death.

If you want to live longer, you have to stay in the house without a fire. This situation is actually no different from hibernating animals. We have basically seen animals that have just come out of hibernation in movies and TV shows. They are all skinny and in danger. They have to eat and drink a lot for three seasons to save fat before winter comes, and then they can survive another winter with this fat.

The people here are in the same situation, except that it is fine when they are young, when their body functions are strong and their recovery ability is good, so they can recover quickly after winter. However, once people are over 30, their body functions gradually decline and their recovery ability becomes worse and worse. As a result, after just one winter, their physical condition will be worse than the previous winter. It is really like "Wang Xiaoer's New Year is worse than the previous year". After a few years of this, their bodies will collapse, and they will eventually die quickly in their forties, ending their short lives.

Thinking of this, Aix couldn't help but sigh for the people here, forty years old! Some people in the original world haven't even gotten married yet, but the people here are facing death. They are the same age, but facing different life events. Aix can't figure out which of the two is more tragic.

However, as a time traveler, Aix felt that he needed to do something. After all, he was still the lord of these people. They were nominally his personal property, and he had an obligation to rescue these people from the darkness and ignorance of the Middle Ages.

'Rejoice! My people! Your great Lord Aix is ​​coming to save you. I will make you healthy and long-lived, I will make you well-fed and well-clothed, and I will make you happy and joyful. I am your great Lord - Aixboye!'

Feeling joyful for having solved a major case, Aix returned to his temporary residence in a hurry, dreaming all the way. He wrote and drew on the long table, and after spending the whole morning and wasting more than ten sheets of precious parchment, he finally produced a design draft that satisfied him.

He compared and looked at the final draft again and again, but still felt that there were some unsatisfactory aspects, which made him fully realize his own shortcomings. It seemed that professional matters should be left to professionals. He was not a good scientist at all. He decided to wait for Amanti to come here and then study it together. He just put the final draft on the long table and left it alone.

It is the warmest time of the year here. The warm wind outside blows into the house. I slowly open the parchment of the final draft. On it are two words written in Chinese: 火床. (Will I offend my brother by writing this? I just feel sorry for him O(n_n)O)

It only took more than fifty villagers and more than ten soldiers one morning to clean up the village. After eating a delicious meal of porridge, the villagers were full of energy and went to the nearby wilderness to collect mushrooms, wild fruits and other food.

Aix felt that the gains from these things were limited. Now that he knew how to solve the harm of hibernation, he should store more firewood. He let the elderly, the weak, women and children collect mushrooms and wild fruits, and the men around 40 years old chop wood.

He was possessed by Conan and became addicted to being a detective. He asked Ran Hu where the traces of someone having been in the village were found yesterday afternoon. Under the leadership of Ran Hu, Aix, Sophia and Igor came to a small house on the edge of the village. There was a forest not far behind the house.

"Has anyone lived here before?"

Aix asked Igor.

"My Lord, there was indeed a family living here before, and they made a living by hunting. But last year, the village was attacked by slave traders, and this family was looted by those beasts on the edge of the village. It was so tragic! Alas——"

Igor said with a sigh.

"Are there no other survivors of this family?"

Axe then asked.

"No, my lord. This man was a famous brave man in the village. He fought with the slave trader with a hunting spear, but he was still hit on the head by a hammer. His wife and one son and one daughter were all abducted. Since then, this house has been empty. Alas."

After saying this, Igor sighed again, seemingly talking about the misery of someone else's family, but also as if he was sympathizing with the same suffering.

Aix shook his head, not sympathizing with Igor. Most of the lower class people in this era were miserable, just like Old John, who was once the lord's royal merchant, but his legs were broken and his life and death were unknown. He had seen so many such things and was numb to them.

He pushed the door open and walked into the house. At a glance, he knew that someone had lived in this room before, because it was so clean. The table was spotlessly clean, the dishes were cleaned, and there was a familiar smell that he couldn't put his finger on. 'A woman should live here,' he thought to himself.

"Is there any place to hide nearby, like a cave or something?"

Aix turned and asked Igor.

"There's no cave, but this house has a pretty secret cellar, I wonder..."

"Take me there quickly."

Aix interrupted Igor directly.

The group came to a sunny slope behind the house. Igor pointed at the dead leaves camouflaged on it and said:

"Here, sir, the entrance is under these leaves."

Aix stepped forward and kicked away the dead leaves on top, then used his foot to lift the lid made of woven branches below. Just as he was about to look inside, a flash of metallic light dazzled his eyes, and he heard Sophia scream next to him:

"Ah, sir!"

Then there was a "ding" sound of metal collision, and Sophia, who was standing in front of him, shook and knocked him heavily to the ground.

Before the two men turned over and got up, a figure jumped out from the hole in the cellar. The man held a dagger in each hand and put it against the throats of the two men. Then he said to Aix angrily:

"Who is this woman?"

Axe took a closer look and realized who else it could be but Cress. He was so happy that he didn't care about the dagger on his neck. He laughed and hugged the girl in his arms. Cress was so angry that he struggled hard but couldn't get free. His face turned red from holding it in.

"elder brother!"

"Eiko!"

A cry of surprise interrupted Axe's oblivious action. It was made by the person who came out of the cellar right after Kress. It was Ran Hu's sister Ran Ying who had been separated from him for many days.

The brother and sister survived the disaster and never expected to see each other again, so they hugged each other and cried bitterly.

"Yeah."

A cry came from the ground, and Axe realized that Sophia was still on the ground. He reached out and pulled her up, and checked the blow on her back that Cress had just suffered. Fortunately, her Wootz steel armor was hard enough, and only a small dent was left by the dagger thrown by Cress, but it also showed how strong Cress's hand was.

If Sophia hadn't been there this time, Axe would have been seriously injured if not dead. But Sophia was not unscathed. Axe estimated that there was at least a bruise on her shoulder blade, so he asked Cress to check her.

After the two girls came into the house and checked, Cress came out and told Axe that there was nothing serious, but Sophia did have a bruise on her back.