Angel on earth

After arriving in Chalek, Mikhail was not as leisurely as he seemed. Not only did he rush to other towns to attend mass, he took a few trips to the slums, and he also helped nearby people repair houses.

Perhaps because of fear of what the Sun Knights did in the Siegfried Federation, or perhaps for the sake of the church's face, the city government had long ago sent people to warn those upper-class families, focusing on describing the miserable end of the federal emperor, so Mi Hayle didn't see any disgusting incidents of bullying men and women, but he was very sad about the miserable situation of poor people.He told Arnold about this, but Arnold told him to go home and have a look. Noren, Iris, under the nose of the church, no one is better than the Siegfried Federation.

Mikhail helped him straighten the lid of a wine barrel, and said doubtfully, "Arnold, you are in a bad mood today."

"Really?" Arnold scratched his hair, looked up at him, lowered his head again, and muttered, "Maybe, sorry. I don't know why... Sometimes I just have a bad temper. You should leave me Stay away, it’s not good to be affected.”

"I used to influence others." Mikhail said with a smile, "Maybe I can cheer you up."

"Rollins will kill me before then."

"Rollins isn't that kind of guy...don't hold him grudges."

"Who would hate the saints?" Arnold rolled his eyes, parted his hair hastily, and pointed to the stairs, "Go up. There's nothing going on down there, and the air isn't good."

Mikhail stopped insisting and went briskly up the first floor.Arnold took him to wash his hands, and finally stuffed him with two bars of soap to stop his questions and compliments.Arnold reckons that Mikhail Kupala is really a goddamn angel on the ground, who can open his mouth to a hymn all day long, more annoying than the sound of beating in the factory during the day; and is full of energy and kindness Like a bird kept in a cage by a lady, he knows how to thank him for feeding, but he can't understand someone scolding him.

But Arnold always kept in mind that it was this innocent boy with no pupils who took the lead in killing blood in the Siegfried Federation.

When the summer rains are pouring down, the line between afternoon and evening is not so clear.Mikhail asked for some water to clean the gun, leaned it against the back of the door, and sat on the sofa obediently while waiting for Katerina to make dinner.

It was raining so hard that Mikhail didn't want to move, and the doctor didn't feel ashamed to drive him away.But he didn't eat anything at noon, and drinking tea and eating grass in the evening always looks suspicious, and a curious baby like Mikhail will definitely ask, if he doesn't give a reasonable explanation, he must go back and ask his elder Rollins, and then Rollins would raise his sword and blow the lower quarters flat.

Arnold listened to Mikhail tell some church anecdotes with a blank face, while thinking hard about a reasonable and satisfactory excuse for not eating dinner.Maybe a stomach bug does.Yes, stomach problems, but if you ask, you will know that you can't eat nothing if you have stomach problems.Bad luck, maybe have to eat something today.

Fortunately, half an hour before the stew was out of the pot, someone slammed on the door violently.

Arnold opened the door, and a gust of wind carrying warm rainwater poured into the room.The boy still maintained his posture about to knock on the door, and stammered, "Yes, I'm sorry, my dad..."

Arnold recognized this as the previous "Ivan".Ivan hastily retrieved a gold coin from his shoe, just as he had grabbed a copper coin earlier.Arnold accepted the gold coins, went into the house, put on a windbreaker, carried the medicine box, and told Katya to treat His Royal Highness Kupala well, then held up an umbrella and followed Ivan out of the lower district.

When Ivan came, he ran very fast and fell down. Arnold walked with him under his elbow. He was surprised when he heard him anxiously shouting "turn right" at the intersection.There are some good houses on the right, and you will get out of the lower district when you walk all the way to the end.Arnold had only visited the thatched hut where the Ivan family lived more than ten days ago, so it was impossible to admit his mistake.

While showing the way, Ivan told Arnold what was going on in a rather confused way:

After Catherine Lvovna Chicherin was rescued, Tit learned that the Chicherin family had offered a reward of fifty gold coins, so he came to ask for it, and finally got more than twenty gold coins, and returned home with a bruised nose and a swollen face. I went to work at the post office the next day. After all, I was only two days away from working for a full week, and I could get two silver coins as salary.Kit found an apartment on Minico Street, on the second floor, with a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a kitchen; the house was very old, and Kit agreed to help the landlord repair and clean it, and the monthly rent was only ten silver coins.Old Ivan was injured while working in the factory, and Morozov refused to pay compensation. He had to lie at home and compete with women for jobs.When Arnold visited the doctor last time, he said that he should get more sun. If possible, move the thatched shed to the upper air outlet in the lower area, so that the air will be better.Moving directly into the apartment this time was supposed to be good for recuperation, but last night, the family of three finished tidying up the new home, Ji Te bought a lot of meat, cakes and spirits to celebrate at home, and old Ivan ate a lot in one go. It was a little uncomfortable, and this morning he drank some wine and ate some bread, but he retched again and wanted to drink water. He didn't know where the pain made him roll all over the floor.Tit took leave to stay with him at home and asked Ivan to come to the doctor.

Minico Street is not far from the Lower District, so it's no wonder Ivan came to find Arnold.But when the two arrived, old Ivan had passed away for a long time.Later, according to the testimony of Tit Ivanovich, it was almost as though little Ivan ran out the door, and old Ivan died.

The two stood at the door of the apartment, drenched all over.In the end, it was Jitter who spoke first: "Doctor Edwards, ah, I'm sorry, I'll trouble you to come here... It's nothing—no, please come in, please come in, have a cup of hot tea, and there is still some wine here."

He rubbed his head in a trance, and stood up: "Father is in the bedroom. He has a bad temper these years, but he called me Titushka just now... I'm sober, I know... and the little one This Ivan is waiting for me to take care of him. Please, doctor, please don’t dislike me, this tea... please prescribe some medicine for Ivan. He shouldn’t be exposed to the rain, although the children in the lower district..."

"It's all the same." Arnold interrupted impatiently, "Children are equally prone to diseases. Since you ask so, I will prescribe medicine. You have one too. I don't want patients to fall when I walk on the front foot. "

There were a lot of regular medicines in his wooden medicine chest. After Ivan and Jit were given medicines to drink, the doctor fumbled in his clothes and found 24 silver coins and ten copper coins and put them on the table."Change. Ivan paid for the consultation," he said, before Git's feeble rage flared up.

"...Sorry, doctor."

"I understand how you feel, Tit Ivanovitch. But Ivan will be better off with copper coins in the future, and you too, because you are young and you will be watched.—What's next?"

"Bury him," said Kit softly. "At least, at least now there is money to give him a decent funeral. If Yulia..."

His final pronunciation was not very clear, Arnold didn't care, just regarded him as nonsense, helped little Ivan dry his head, patted him lightly, and left.

Mikhail waited for him outside with an umbrella.

In the dark sky and the dense rain curtain, the white and straight military uniform was as dark as a painted table on the corner of the street, and even the starry sky and lightning-like eyes lost their amazing expression.But at the moment when he opened the umbrella and saw Mikhail, there was still a warmer emotion than guilt that hit Arnold Edwards.

Mikhail's hair was also wet, limp against his face, but his clothes were not.He won't mess up the couch when he gets back to the clinic.

Arnold quickly changed clothes and dried his hair.Both Mikhail and Katya suggested that he take a hot bath, and the former offered to help heat the water.But the doctor scratched the short hair that was still a little wet, waved his hand and rejected the kindness of the two, and reminded Kajia that it was time to go home.

The rain has lightened a lot now, and it always falls heavily when people go out without umbrellas.Katerina had to go home to cook dinner, and the doctor allowed her to take home the half bottle of fruit wine she drank today.She was familiar with the doctor's temper, so she didn't try to persuade him any more. She gave Mikhail a sympathetic look, changed her clothes and left.

The stew was still on the table, and the two sets of knives and forks were left alone.Arnold took a deep breath, covered his face, and decided to leave Mikhail alone and leave him sad for a while.

However, after he sat on the sofa for a while, Mikhail silently leaned over and patted his back.

The strength used by the young knight does not match his body shape.Arnold glanced at him through his fingers, and he smiled.

For a moment no one spoke, only the sound of rain and firewood.After a while, Arnold said uncomfortably: "Okay, Misha. I have to remind you...uh, this is a relatively intimate gesture. You shouldn't—"

"you are my friend."

"You are a saint."

Mikhail puffed his cheeks and leaned back, looking rather frustrated.he asks:

"what is his name?"

"Ivan." Arnold added, "The old one is Ivan, the eldest son is Kit Ivanovic, and the one who came to the clinic is also Ivan, Ivan Ivanovic."

Through the glass window blurred by rain, Mikhail looked at the mountains and the sky in the distance, maybe even further: "I also have Ivan."

"Really." Arnold twitched the corners of his mouth, as if he wanted to laugh, "You are also an 'Ivanovic'."

"The morning after we arrived in Chalek, he jumped from the bell tower of the monastery."

"A monastery." Arnold complained absently. "It's not a good place. If it's not really pious, or desperate, the devil will go."

"However, as far as I know, Mayor Kozlov's sons and daughters are inside the Chicks Monastery, while the children from the upper and lower districts can only run around outside."

"Listen, Misha, Your Highness Kupala." Arnold laughed nervously, "Those people also look down on you, they won't talk about this with you, and they don't think you need to know. To them, you are just a Symbolic, they believed neither in Mithras nor in virtue, they believed only that poverty was an innate defect that made man incapable of being human. Of course there were some poor people in the monastery, but most of them were similar in appearance to Those timid guys in the lower district are different! How can defective products serve the true god?"

"It shouldn't be like this!"

"It's all like this." Arnold said, "What you see in Potosi is also the future of the Federation, and Potosi will become the next Noren, the next Iris. Not the Crescent Islands is already very good .”