The first six hours of the morning.
It lasted a full six hours.
Todd read through two Latin church books, a collection of rhetoric, and several grammar examples.
If he hadn't used feigned ignorance and deliberately made mistakes to delay the course, the mad Master Myris might have even made him read all the books on the shelf.
As the boy walked out of the classroom, he felt his throat was on fire and his vision was filled with stars. Unable to support himself any longer, he plopped down on the grass, rubbing his temples with both hands.
Suddenly, the sound of the clock tower chiming rang in his ears, and people around him began to walk towards the main hall. Todd looked at the sun hanging high in the sky and suddenly realized that he could finally have a full meal!
With the joyful mood of indulging in a big meal, he followed the monks through the corridor and into the dining hall. He followed the others and received a wooden bowl and spoon, then lined up in front of several large barrels.
It wasn't the buffet he had imagined, which disappointed him a bit.
However, this scene of queuing for food reminded the boy of his university cafeteria. The difference was that the monks all had their heads bowed, no one was whispering to each other, and even the sound of coughing was barely audible. This made the soul from his previous life in his body extremely uncomfortable, and even a little creepy.
Watching the elderly monk with white hair in front of him receive his lunch from a young man, bow deeply, and say, "Thank you for the food," Todd curled his lip indifferently, stretched out his wooden bowl, and did the same. But when he looked up and saw the lunch in his bowl, the bright look on his face immediately disappeared.
What are all these things?!
The oatmeal porridge was cooked until it was very thin, with a few green vegetable leaves visible on top, and a few pitifully small pieces of pickled radish.
Is this food for humans?
In my past life, Henry (male dog, 4 years old) and Sonia (female cat, 2 and a half years old) in my family had a hundred times better food than this!
Knock knock knock!
The person serving the food tapped the side of the bucket with the back of their spoon, signaling Todd to get his food and leave so that the others could catch up.
Finding an empty seat, the boy felt the churning in his stomach, crossed his arms, and gazed deeply at the "delicacy" in his bowl, beginning to ponder the philosophical question of whether sustenance or dignity was more important.
Huggins found him again.
This guy is like a traveling merchant in the wilderness, always able to pull out different kinds of food from his pocket.
As the middle-aged man, wearing gloves, handed him an egg and an apple, Todd began to miss the days they traveled together. At least the different meals every day always gave him a unique sense of anticipation.
"Eat more, or you won't make it through the afternoon."
ha?
What's the meaning?
The serious expression on the other person's face forced Todd to reassess his feelings.
Mustering his courage, the boy closed his eyes and tremblingly put the first bite of food into his mouth with the rice spoon.
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Saint Sidlow Monastery is built on a hill in the northwestern wilderness near the Silver Ring Kingdom. It is bordered by the Falling Star Mountains, the "source of the clouds," to the north, Moonbrook Plains to the south, Watchtower to the east, and Stromgarde Island to the west. Geographically, it is located at the intersection of four different terrain regions.
Inside the monastery, centered around the Basilica of San Siro, all the buildings are arranged in a cross-like structure. To the right of this cross are the residences of the monastery's high-ranking monks. This imitates the story in the Church's scriptures where the Assumption of Christ the Son is depicted sitting on the right side of the Father's throne. To the left of this cross are the communal living quarters for the monks, who live together as equals, without distinction of rank.
The area closest to the monastery's main gate, and thus closest to the secular world, contains dwellings for visitors and the poor, as well as other living areas. Further away lies the dead, their holy souls journeying towards heaven—the monastery's cemetery. The cemetery is often built in the east, where the sun rises, symbolizing resurrection, while the visitors' quarters are located in the west, symbolizing the secular world and their inevitable mortality.
At the foot of the hill where the monastery is located, there is a cultivated field where common crops are grown to provide for the monks' self-sufficiency.
The chill of early spring condenses the moisture in the air into frost, making the soil underfoot icy cold.
Wielding his simple wooden hoe and turning over the hard clods of earth, Todd finally understood the meaning behind the Slavic man's words.
He straightened his back, patted his aching thighs, and looked at the farmland beneath his feet. He really wanted to ask someone why this place was so different from what he had imagined.
Are all those monasteries in the literature of my past life, with their thousands of acres of fertile land, countless serfs, and monks who are waited on hand and foot, and whose wealth is even comparable to that of a country, all fake?!
Looking up into the distance, Master Myris, dressed in patched and tattered clothes, buried in the vegetable field, made Todd swallow the complaints that were on the tip of his tongue.
"You don't look like a farmer's child."
The whispers behind him sent a shiver down his spine.
Edgar, carrying a wooden basket, picked up stones and branches from the field, his gaze toward Todd growing colder and colder.
The boy, who had never done agricultural work before, sighed and was about to bend down again when he saw a plume of black smoke rising not far from the foot of the mountain.
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