Chapter 24: Preliminary Literacy
The days are short in winter, and the sun is gradually moving towards the west.
Olivia had been running around all day and was freezing outside. When she got home, she immediately asked Lucy to boil some water and wiped her whole body. She also soaked her feet for a while. The kitten finally paid attention to her and stayed with her by the fire by the fireplace.
Half an hour later, Lucy came to report on the sorting of supplies.
"Madam, the pepper and mustard seeds are in the kitchen cupboard, the mutton is in the ice pot, and the wine and seeds are in the cellar.
Do you want to make beeswax into wax tablets right away?"
"No, the wax blocks are for the priests who are about to be ordained."
Lucy nodded and replied, "The room has been cleaned up by the priest."
There was sage soaking in the hot water under Olivia's feet, emitting a faint fragrance.
"Did Ethan come to the manor to work today?"
“Here I am, Ethan followed my father this morning and got familiar with the various tasks in the manor.
After cleaning up the manure from the animals, he is now in the kitchen with Adam, helping him tan the pigskins."
As for the kid Adam, everyone knew that he was not cut out to be a butler, so Jock specifically made him learn the craft of tanning leather.
In addition to doing odd jobs in the manor every day, he also took charge of all the tanning work in the manor.
Hearing this, Olivia immediately became interested. She lifted her feet, wiped them, stood up, put on her shoes, and followed Lucy to the kitchen.
Although Adam is small, he has his own work desk in the longhouse, but because it is too cold, he has moved the desk to the kitchen.
Adam was happier than the miller's family when his playmate Ethan came to work on the estate.
At this moment, two people were holding two wooden basins by the fire pit and doing the secondary tanning of pig skins.
Seeing Olivia coming, Ethan stood up and greeted her stiffly.
"Go ahead, I'm just taking a look."
Seeing that his wife was interested in this job, Adam introduced it in detail.
The technology of tanning leather is not difficult, but it is time-consuming. For example, pig skin is usually tanned using the vegetable tanning method. The whole process requires repeated processing and drying until it is finally soft and can be used.
Olivia remembered that many plants contained tannins, which could be used to make leather.
Adam said with relish that deerskin and suede need to be tanned with brain kneading method, while cowhide and sheepskin are mostly tanned with oil.
The pig skin in Adam's hands was first cleaned of grease and hair, preserved with coarse salt, then soaked in lime water, and then taken out and repeatedly tanned with plant tannins, dried, tanned, and polished.
The most mentally exhausting step was the repeated kneading and beating. Adam would only rest for a while after hitting his arms with the stick until they were sore.
This time, with Ethan's help, he felt much better.
Olivia observed Ethan, who was observing the tanning process. He thought for a while and heard his wife casually say:
"It would be great if this leather hammering job could be replaced with a tool."
After hearing this, Ethan thought for a while and felt that this action might be done like a waterwheel, using gears to drive the lever, which might save some effort.
After Olivia finished speaking, she smiled slightly and went to prepare the food in a secretive manner.
She bought a number of things from town, including a pound of almonds and a jar of honey, which she intended to make scones with.
In the kitchen, rye bread was being baked in the bread oven. Because Ethan was there, the cook prepared one more meal than usual. On the first day Ethan came to the manor, the cook also prepared an extra meat soup for the servants.
Olivia used sifted wheat flour and cut the softened butter into small pieces and kneaded it into the flour.
After it becomes sandy, add egg yolk liquid, sour goat milk, and butter, knead it into a ball, divide it into small pieces, sprinkle with chopped almonds and honey, and bake in a bread oven.
This time she made a lot, and she divided it into three portions. One was to be eaten during the festival, one was to be taken to Renault Manor, and one was to be kept and distributed to the servants in the manor later, so that each person could get two pieces.
It was a festival after all. Even if she was as poor as she was in her previous life, she would still reward herself with a feast for half a month.
Olivia had already made up her mind that when the festival came, she would make roast lamb, sprinkle it with plenty of pepper, make cream cake, honey buns, and boil mulled wine.
However, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury. When eating the roasted lamb with pepper, Olivia thought of the matching exquisite metal tableware. If she had beautiful tableware.
The tablecloth also needs to be laid out, and some candles and flowers need to be added, which will require a gorgeous restaurant to match.
Olivia's fantasy came to a head, so she calmed down and continued making the grilled pork chops for dinner.
People's desires are expanding step by step, but Olivia doesn't think this is a bad thing. At least life has a purpose.
Once the priest moves into the manor, she will be able to unlock new tasks.
Olivia didn't know what the next step of the main mission would be. She was carefully applying apple cider vinegar on the fresh wild boar meat and pickling it.
This wild boar meat had not been smoked before. It was soaked in hot water a day in advance to remove the blood, which reduced the smell a lot. It was marinated with apple cider vinegar to further improve the taste.
In the kitchen, she was still cooking. Suddenly, there was a loud noise outside the kitchen. Adam dropped the work in his hands and ran out to see. After a while, he came back and said that the soldiers had returned the prey.
Olivia wiped her hands and nodded, asking the cook to go out and clean up.
It seems that Caesar has started to torture these soldiers again.
There are five soldiers serving in the manor, all of them are strong young men.
When the old knight was alive, he would go out on patrol half a day after the sun came out in the morning, walk around the river bank, and come back before the afternoon.
These soldiers who had been following the old knight were never active in patrolling because of the old knight's casual habits. When the climate was a little extreme, their wills became very weak and their discipline was not very good. They always liked to cause trouble for each other and even fought privately.
These soldiers have not had a single day of ease since Caesar began his search.
He trained these soldiers in accordance with the requirements of the Earl's Knights, intending to develop their physical fitness and discipline during the winter.
Every day, not only do these soldiers have to march for long periods of time regardless of weather conditions, they are also required to search for prey all over the mountains and chase wild beasts.
After a month, the physical fitness and willpower of these soldiers had been greatly improved. Every day when they returned home exhausted, they would collapse and go to bed immediately, fearing that they would not be able to get up at dawn the next day.
The young guys who used to dislike each other have now shared hardships through arduous training and strict institutional constraints. Their discipline has improved a lot and they no longer fight in private.
Although they could not fully meet the standards, their overall capabilities were much better than those of the soldiers in the surrounding manors.
Most knights who hunted to supplement their family income preferred to target small animals, but in order to train his troops at the same time, Caesar targeted large and aggressive animals.
Olivia originally thought that they might have killed a wild boar today, and now she feels calm when she sees a wild boar.
What was unexpected was that today's prey was not a wild boar, but... a pack of wolves.
"Madam, what should we do?" The cook retreated back from outside the house in fear, looking at Olivia with despair.
How would she know? She could only walk out of the kitchen in confusion to find out what was going on.
After asking his attendants, they learned that, during a night patrol a few days ago, Caesar had set his sights on a pack of wolves in the forest that often bit nearby tenant farmers and even ate people.
He had originally invited Knight Toksun to hunt with him today, but the knight did not agree because he was afraid that the horses would be harmed.
So Caesar took his soldiers and drove the wolves into his own fiefdom and wiped them out.
Now you don't have to worry about being eaten by wolves when you go out.
The soldiers piled up the prey outside the kitchen yard. There were nine in total, all killed by arrows through the neck, and there was also a live wolf cub. The soldiers were exhausted and panting, and ran to Olivia to ask for water.
Olivia asked them to go to the kitchen by themselves and asked the squire what he planned to do with the prey.
"The master said to follow the madam's arrangements."
She stroked her chin and thought for a moment.
"Otherwise, sell them all."
Let’s change it into money first. She was horrified by what she saw.
Adam, who was watching the fun from the side, said, "I know the Merchant Guild has rules. These high-quality wolves can be sold for at least one gold coin each. Madam, let Ethan and I go to the town and ask the merchants to buy them!"
The housekeeper is still counting the registered population in the village today and has no time to do odd jobs.
So Olivia nodded in agreement and asked the two of them to drive the ox cart tomorrow morning, and to instruct someone to lock up and feed the little wolf cub.
The next morning, the weather was fine, and Ethan and Adam went to town together.
At the same time, Fanon Hanover was on his way to the manor. He rode a mule cart rented from the city, carrying two boxes of luggage. He arrived outside the manor, looking dusty and miserable.
Because he had to welcome the priest to perform the ceremony today, Caesar took half a day off and enjoyed a rare leisurely breakfast time with Olivia.
The moment the priest followed the butler into the manor, the mission popped up.
Congratulations on completing the "Choose a Priest"
+15 experience points.
Unlock new task "Basic Literacy"
Mission Description: The progress of civilization comes from thinking about who I am. Please let all servants learn to write their own names.
Mission Reward: +10 Experience Points
+20% Lamb
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