Angel on earth

Mikhail talked to Aaron for a while, didn't tie him up again, got dressed and went out by himself.Mikhail promised to come back before dinner time, and before that, he had to inquire about the former site of the Emerald City.

Wakefield has changed a lot. More than 200 years ago, it was an endless field, much larger than the "Emerald City" castle where the Edwards family lived.Even if Aaron is awake at this time, he may not be able to find his bedroom 300 years ago through the intricate streets and alleys.What's more, none of them knew whether the ruins of the castle would have been at the foot of this new city after more than 200 years.

While thinking about the future, Mikhail took a bite of the pie and chewed it slowly.This unnamed pie was horribly unpalatable, filled with sweet and sour meat and jam with a stale fishy smell.Even though he had eaten a lot of undercooked animal meat and sour wild fruits in the past few months, he still found it unpalatable.After all, he was Mikhail Kupala, the best Templar Knight of the Church of the Sun God. The wild ingredients were simple but fresh, and he would not be too unpalatable in his hands.

The only problem is that when he is not Mikhail of Lieyang City, the fruit beasts in the wilderness have owners one after another. This forest is the land mortgaged to Hunter Bank last month, and that area is Jones The family hunting grounds, and such, were no longer a free gift of the gods, so he got into a little trouble sometimes.

He ate his late lunch standing at a busy intersection, hesitating where to go.He has never been to Noren, and there are many things he doesn't know.

An old woman with a stooped back and a shriveled cloth bag was staring at him.Mikhail couldn't see it, but he could feel it.Many people stared at his pie, but the old woman had a particularly strong gaze.

After hesitating for a while, Mikhail broke off the unbitten half, squatted down, and stretched out his hand tentatively towards the old man.The old woman clutched her pocket tightly and stuck it against the base of the wall. There was no one around her. I don't know if it was because others were avoiding the smell on her body, or because she was afraid that others would steal her food.As soon as Mikhail turned around, she jumped in fright and subconsciously wanted to run away, but seeing Mikhail's expression, she felt relieved again, swallowed, bravely stretched out her hand tremblingly go.

"Thank you, thank you...!" After a long time, the old man snatched the pie almost ashamedly, and stuffed something as hard as a rock into his hand, "Please, please accept this."

After speaking, she wrapped the pie with the hem of her dirty and torn clothes, turned around and ran away.Mikhail felt other people's gazes on the old woman almost as soon as he stretched out his hand. At this moment, with a daze, he slowly stood up and stopped the two homeless men who were about to follow her.

Mikhail was tall and tall. Although he was thin like a young man, his size alone was enough to frighten the two of them.Finally, they spat and cursed "blind meddling" and shuffled hungrily to the other side.Mikhail was worried, and followed the old woman all the way to the edge of the city.

The old man walked with some difficulty and swallowed several times, but he still walked into a textile factory.Mikhail vaguely heard her talking to two girls, one six or seven years old, the other four or five years old, sharing the half of the pie with them.He heard them call her mother, but the old man patted them on the head and told them not to tell father.

Mikhail was stunned.Listening to her voice, almost half of her teeth have fallen out, and the breath of aging, tiredness, and death around her cannot be faked.However, according to the church's statistics on the average childbearing age and life expectancy of residents in the Norn slums, she may not be older than 25 years old.

"That's 'Nobody Wants Nancy'." A sympathetic voice sounded, it sounded like a teenager, judging from the position, it was about a head higher than Mikhail's waist.

Mikhail lowered his head, feeling that the other party was also looking at him.

"Hello." He nodded and greeted.

The young man pointed to the rock-like thing in his hand, and said without any fuss: "If you don't want to eat it, give it to me. Seeing how curious you are, I can tell you about Nancy. "

Mikhail raised the thing in front of him, and said blankly, "This is...?"

The young man gave him a surprised look: "This black bread is very good."

Mikhail was even more surprised than him. When he pinched his hand vigorously, he felt that he had broken a piece of gravel.He picked out a small "rock", bent down and stretched out his hand in embarrassment, and handed the rest to the young man.The other party thanked them and swept them into a small cloth bag cherishingly.Had it not been for the unfamiliarity, Mikhail thought he would have licked the crumbs clean.But even if there was no licking, there wasn't much left, and Mikhail didn't even have to wipe his hands.

In return, the young man handed over a badly deformed jug, the water in it was quite fresh, and Mikhail could smell the fountain in Emerald Park.The young man said cheerfully:

"It looks like you haven't suffered a lot, but don't worry, there are many people like you, and you will get used to it soon. I took your bread, and I will give you a few suggestions: First, drink a sip of water while eating bread , soaking for a while will make it easier to swallow. If possible, it’s best to boil it in hot water.”

Mikhail thanked him, silently stuffed the small piece of black bread into his mouth, tentatively bit it, and forcefully, and then an unbearable bitter taste filled the whole mouth and nose.He tasted bran and earth and sawdust, and the moldy flour in it was like a wretched little finger stuck in a swamp.

The young man chewed the black bread calmly, took a sip from the kettle from his hand, swallowed it easily, and laughed loudly:

"That's all right! Cheapest bread sold at Hop Manor, and they have to be split with an ax when they sell it!"

Mikhail couldn't imagine what it was like. Mikhail, who grew up eating white bread and honey, only learned a few things before meeting "Arnold". For example, poor people eat porridge and black bread, so he As the "harvest priest" of the church, it takes extra effort to get people to eat white bread.When he actually saw the black bread, the anticipation of him was over, and the priests began to compose new hymns, and went back to entertain him with a richer supper.

The young man is a little younger than Mikhail, but Mikhail almost stopped growing after he was seventeen or eighteen years old, and he has not changed at all since he left Lieyang City. He has a pampered, healthy and strong skin, look It looked more like a child.

"My name is Victor."

"Misha."

Victor stretched out his hand as he spoke, but was stunned when he saw the clean, soft, white, and delicate big hand, shyly withdrew his hand and wiped it on his clothes, looked up at him, Seeing that he had been stretching out his hand, he shook it quickly, and his heart was pounding.

Mikhail was silent for a while, and changed the topic: "Nice to meet you, Victor. As you said, please tell me the story about Nancy, okay?"

"You are so strange." Victor said, "You can speak Norren very well, even better than me. You look like a gentleman, but you come here to meddle in your own business."

Mikhail was noncommittal, and Victor said with a smile: "Okay, Misha. I will tell you everything I know, but I think you have nothing to do, why don't you go to the queue with me? I'm sorry, I cheated you of a piece of bread, and I'll take it as compensation!"

In a daze, Mikhail followed Victor, who was nimble and thin like a monkey, through the streets and alleys for about half an hour, and both squeezed into a long queue that hadn't yet formed.On the way, he met a gentleman riding a fast horse on the street waving a whip. Victor was frightened and scolded for a long time. Mikhail said to the horse in his heart: If your master is a bad person, you will trample to death. he.I don't know if it heard it.

"What are we queuing for?"

Arriving in the crowd outside the Chuxinger Church, Mikhail was a little puzzled when he heard the comments of the people around him, but out of respect for faith and insistence on a certain virtue, he did not express his speculation.Victor didn't care. Anyway, he had nothing to do while queuing up, so he told him in detail:

"The Gospel of Calvin was published on the Pentecost last year. The results of hundreds of years of medical research in the Lieyang City Church are said to be the grace bestowed by the Son of God in this era. Well, the Church has rarely done a good thing. , but, uh, you know, Noren has been negotiating over the past few years... In short, it was only this year that the negotiations were completed and it was released in the capital. Now that it is almost autumn, it was sent to Wakefield. Yangcheng is closer. Moreover, the church also stipulates that it can only be sold in the church of the Sun Sect, and one person can only buy one copy. What kind of rituals and prayers are there, and the trouble is dead. Today is the release day. Let me say, I'm still dissatisfied with other sects. No, I'm standing in line for someone else today."

"The Sun Sect?" Mikhail suppressed his ominous feeling about the new Gospel, and frowned, "Are there many heretical churches here?"

"Hmm, 'heresy'? So, you are a follower of the Solari Sect?" Victor said and waved his hands, "—it doesn't matter, but I advise you not to have any unrealistic ideas. Regardless Believe it or not, relying on your own hands is the right way. Listen to my advice, don’t go to the poorhouse, and don’t go to any sect unless you have nowhere to go.”

"Oh." Mikhail responded honestly, and reminded, "So, anyway, there are still many people ahead...?"

"Okay, Nancy!" Victor's elated tone suddenly dropped.

He actually didn't want to say anything, because this outsider was just listening, not even meddling.And for some reason, standing next to this tall man, it was difficult to tell lies or perfunctory.However, Mikhail had already bent his body slightly so that it would not be so hard for him to raise his head to speak.

The author says:

The bread split with an ax and the statutes of the workhouse refer to Jack London's "Inhabitants of the Abyss-What to Know About the East End of London".The prototype of Wakefield is not London (nor is it really Wakefield, I checked and it turns out that there is really ORZ). The development is relatively backward, and the pace of life is not so tight. After all, it is a tool city for sugar ( Hey) If you want to compete with London, it is still the City of Oath. just is used to distinguish the surrounding environments...