Chapter 69 Winter Spirit Festival
The Winter Spirit Festival every year is the happiest day for children.
Frederick, who was lying in bed, was touched by Tarot on his nose with the end of his braid. After a while, he reluctantly yawned and got up.
“Wow! The new dress is so beautiful!”
Frederick praised the maid sister’s new dress as soon as he got up.
Every Winter Spirit Day, you have to wear new clothes even if you only have socks. Frederick also allows servants to wear clothes without uniforms.
Tarot is the daughter of a tax collector and her family already has money. Being a maid in Frederick's house pays a good salary, so she naturally wears a new winter skirt in the New Year.
She said proudly: "This lace was bought with great difficulty. It is the latest style in the south."
Frederick praised the lace on the neckline of her skirt and got up. Go get dressed.
The lace these days is purely handmade, and the beautiful ones are even more expensive than clothes.
Frederick walked to the full-length mirror, and Tarot helped him put on his new suit, which had been warming on the stove.
While getting dressed, Katie walked in wearing a new fiery red dress, holding a long wooden stick in one hand and a dagger in the other.
"Come on..." A kind smile appeared on Katie's face, "Let me see if I have grown taller."
Frederick stood there straight, and Katie Di stood the wooden stick behind him, determined the height, and then used his dagger to mark a mark on it.
"It's much higher." Katie nodded with satisfaction.
Frederick smiled and said, "That's for sure."
Katie pinched his cheek, wrinkled her nose and said, "It will be better if you go to bed early at night."
< br>Frederick just smiled.
Katie gave Tarot the wooden stick that recorded Frederick's height every Winter Spirit Festival to put away, so that it can be used in the future.
The two came to the restaurant. After Frederick sat down and saw Psyche was there, he said in surprise: "You are back."
Psyche went on a long trip a while ago and didn't know where she was going.
Psyche yawned and replied to him: "Well, I'm back, it's freezing outside."
The maid served today's breakfast, brand-new food that she had never seen before, and every Small fried bagels with honey spread on top.
Whenever food you haven’t seen before appears on the dining table, just look at Katie.
Sure enough, Katie said with a little pride: "Eat it quickly, this is a sun-baked bagel, it will not taste good when it is cold."
Frederick thought about why it was not made into a full circle since it was the sun. He picked up a knife and fork and cut a section, and found that there was stuffing inside.
Putting it in your mouth, you find that the filling is made from toasted walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds, crushed and mixed with flour. The maltose, which is not very sweet, does not cover up the original taste of these nuts, but instead serves as a decoration. Smell their fragrance.
“It’s delicious.” Frederick immediately cut another piece and ate it.
Katie's smile became even more proud.
After breakfast, Frederick came to the living room.
The fireplace was lit and the room was warm.
The table is filled with small gift boxes wrapped in colorful cloth and tied with ribbons and bows. They are all the same size, but in different colors, like a hill.
From Ah Fu to the gatekeeper, everyone lined up to the living room to receive the gift from Mr. Wesson.
Frederick himself didn’t even remember what was inside. There were lipsticks, gold coins, telescopic and tickling things, and whatever he got was random.
On this day, in addition to leaders giving gifts to subordinates, elders will give gifts to juniors, and friends will also give gifts to each other.
After Frederick handed out the gifts, it was time to open his own.
Some gifts were delivered yesterday, and the first thing he opened was the gift from Maria.
It was a small wooden man with a football next to him. Because of his painting skills, I couldn’t tell who his face was, but judging from his clothes, he should be Frederick.
The next gift from Sophia is a purple wool scarf.
The purple dye here is also precious. When Frederick wore it to attend outdoor activities among nobles, he was definitely the most beautiful boy in the room.
Philip gave him a dip pen with a gold tip and a wooden penholder inlaid with gold patterns.
The Archduke of Mainz sent a practical but flashy war bow, but Frederick could not use it until he was an adult.
What Archbishop Victor gave was a "Sacred Scripture". The scriptures were copied with dark golden ink on white-stained parchment. The silver-white lace around them was low-key and gorgeous. The most important thing was the inscription on the title page. The signature is the name of the current pope.
Scholars from Weissenburg University gave Frederick a box of books, which were carefully selected by Manuel's arrangers.
Finally, there was a gift from King William. It was traditional to give gifts to vassals and subordinates on this day. The gift that Frederick received was a gold toothpick.
After he finished opening it and continued, others went back to the room and brought the gifts over.
Richard Nall gave him a book and said solemnly: "This is a sword manual that has been circulated for a long time. He is older than Psyche. It is said that a swordsman learned from a certain "I brought it back from a secret place."
"No one has been able to learn the moves in it for so many years. I will give it to you to see if you can understand it." Frederick took it with both hands and bowed immediately to thank him. Said: "Thank you, Master."
Richard Nall patted him on the shoulder and said: "Work hard."
Next came Katie, who gave Frederick a book of poems equally old.
"This collection of poems has a history of more than five hundred years." She said, "It is a collection of poems from all over the ancient empire."
After taking it, Frederick said obediently: " Thank you, sister.”
Psyche came over with a long bag, first took out a sword and handed it to Frederick.
Frederick took the sword with both hands and pulled it out of the wooden scabbard. The sword was shining with silver, but it looked ordinary. There was a thumb inlaid on the sword above the guard. Large golden goddess statue.
The goddess wears a robe, a laurel wreath on her head, her hands raised high, and a pair of wings behind her back.
A heavy breathing sound immediately appeared in the living room. Frederick looked over and found that Richard Naer's eyes were wide open, his beard was trembling, and his hands were subconsciously stretched out.
“Let me touch it!” Master Sword Master said excitedly, “Just touch it!!”
Frederick immediately understood that this was a sword and handed it to him with both hands. Master.
Richard Nall carefully stretched out his hand to take the sword, but his body suddenly stiffened, leaving behind the words "I'll wash my hands first" and then disappeared, leaving a gust of wind to let Psyche and Katie The hem of her skirt fluttered slightly.
As soon as Frederick blinked, Richard Nall came back, took the sword very solemnly, and admired it carefully.
"Mythril sword body, golden goddess of victory..." Richard Naer was so excited that his body was shaking a little, "Sure enough, it is Master San Nascimento's Remit sword. I never thought I would be able to touch it in this life. To the real thing..."
At this point, he was suddenly startled, raised his head and asked Psyche: "Isn't this sword stolen many years ago? Where did you find it?"
Psyche shrugged and said: "His descendants sold it to dissatisfaction. To save face, they said it was stolen. They changed hands a few times and then it ended up with me."
Richard Nar sighed deeply, shook his head and said: "Master San Nascimento is the greatest sword master so far, and his descendants are also talented, but now... alas... the halo is also an obstacle. ”
With that, he returned the sword to Frederick.
Frederick bowed to Psyche and said: "Thank you very much for giving me this precious gift. I will cherish it."
Psyche replied: "One It's just a sword. It's not in my place, so I'll give it to you."
"But don't worry, even if you hold it, any one of us here can hit you with a table leg. ”
After that, she took something out of her bag and gave it to Richard Nall.
Frederick's mouth twitched when he saw the gift.
"Here." Psyche said, "The rebar fishing rod is 12 meters long when connected. You can go fishing for dolphins."
Richard Nall's face immediately He showed a bright smile and thanked him hurriedly.
Finally, Psyche took out a pair of daggers with belt sheaths and gave them to Katie.
Katie immediately tied the sword sheath around her waist, pulled out the dagger from her waist with both hands and shook a few sword flowers, like black roses blooming in the air.
The blades of these two swords were black, and Frederick couldn't see the way out, but when he saw Katie holding Psyche in his arms, he knew they were good things.
Then Frederick was pulled outside by Katie to try the sword.
Lunch on this day was later than usual, and afternoon tea time started.
"The fish is delicious!" Richard Nall said proudly, "I caught it!"
Frederick kept smiling, this yellow-belly fish is found in Wesson Territory With a history of hundreds of years of breeding, demand exceeds supply during the Winter Spirit Festival every year.
Today, yellow belly fish and other large and small fish are breaded and fried. Many people buy them ready-made and add sauce according to their preferences.
After lunch, Frederick took a carriage back to the castle on the top of the mountain to prepare for the torchlight procession tonight.
It is getting dark, and many people are already prepared, bringing items for tonight, and waiting on both sides of the road up the mountain from the castle and in front of their homes.
The sun sinks below the horizon, leaving only a trace of light on the edge of the sky. The longest night is about to come.
The last ray of light disappeared, the sky darkened completely, the world fell into darkness, and the north wind howled by.
The gate of the castle opened with a rumble, and Baron Friedrich von Wesson walked out slowly, holding a torch in his right hand and shaking a diamond-encrusted bell in his left hand.
The light was so weak that it seemed to be non-existent from a distance. It was swaying in the wind of winter night and seemed to be extinguished in the next moment.
The old knight Franz lit his own torch on the torch held by Baron Wesson and followed him forward.
The second, the third, the fourth...
A fire dragon set off from the castle on the top of the mountain and walked slowly but firmly towards Weissenburg City.
In the dark and idle city, the ringing of bells informed everyone of the arrival of light. People held torches and drew flames from the fire dragon, lit a branch and gave it to their family members to light the ever-lasting lanterns at home. Then they turned around and joined the team to become part of the fire dragon.
In this longest night, countless originally dim firelights gathered together to drive away the endless darkness.
(End of this chapter)