Chapter 510: Plenty of Strength and Means
Lying on the bed, Horn looked at the floral curtains on the bed for almost ten minutes.
This is his habit when he gets up every morning, recalling and reviewing recent gains and losses.
A week has passed since Ludvik left. If nothing went wrong, they should have boarded the boat to Kasha County by now.
If it goes more smoothly, their internal vote can be completed before the New Year Festival.
As the liaison, after receiving Ludwik's handwritten letter, Martin was able to sign the "Holy Axis Agreement" as the plenipotentiary representative.
I just don’t know how the Qianhe Valley Church will react.
After rubbing the shit from his eyes and letting it fly away, Horn stood up sideways.
Wooden paneling is installed on the masonry wall. A heavy walnut wardrobe is placed on the side near the bed, and the baseboards are covered with a layer of wavy streamlined carved tiles.
This is Horn's house in Castle Joan. It was originally the villa where the Duke of Kush had a private meeting with his lover.
Later, it was renovated by the Salvation Army and a series of conveniences were added, and it became Horn's residence.
Stepping on the carpet with bare feet, Horn came to the window and turned on the faucet embedded in the wall.
The water flowed down, and he picked up a handful of water and threw it on his face to drive away the remaining sleepiness.
On this day last year, he was still washing his face with cold water from the creek.
But now, I can stand on the warm carpet and wash myself in front of the marble sink.
However, this brass water pipe is not some high-tech clockwork. It has no automatic water supply and relies entirely on manual labor.
Horn installed a water tank on the third floor. The military police used pulleys to lift the water up and pour it into the water tank every day.
Then add water purifying chemicals and slime gel to sterilize and condense the sediment, and you have this modern "tap water" system.
After drying his face and putting on his clothes and shoes, Horn opened the bedroom door.
“Hmm~”
As soon as the door opened, a gust of cold wind blew across Horn's face with a charming and lazy hum.
In the corridor, Catherine was yawning with her crimson mouth wide open.
Wearing a silk nightgown that went up to her calf, her palms were crossed and stretched out from behind her head, and her slender white fingers also held up a few strands of burgundy curly hair.
Because she straightened her back, Catherine's chest showed a sharp arc line, and her nightgown was tight on her body, as if something was going to jump out of the skirt in the next second.
Because of the two lumps of flesh, the hem of the nightgown was even pulled up to the knees.
"Good morning."
Catherine pushed forward and almost rolled down the stairs.
Horn quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her over: "Look at the road, why do you look like you're not awake?"
"What's wrong with you today?" You woke up so early?" She hurriedly straightened the clothes stuck under the southern hemisphere, and a few pink flowers faintly floated out from the tips of Catherine's ears.
"As if you know when I usually get up." Horn smiled, "I usually get up at this time. You are an old man, I understand."
"Elderly people?!" Staring, Catherine's forehead showed blue veins. She bit her lips and suppressed her anger.
It’s the last day anyway! The last day...
Unlike the Horn brothers and sisters, Catherine loves to sleep in and doesn't wake up until nine or ten o'clock every day.
She woke up just after six o'clock today because she had finished her training and political observation in the Papal State and was about to return to Rapid City with a group of team members.
The departure date is today at noon.
She will return with the first barges carrying supplies.
There are now fourteen river barges parked on the Fort Joan Canal, loaded with nearly 300 tons of mortar, grain, stone bricks and wood.
This number of barges is far from enough.
So Horn placed shipbuilding orders for both Koike City and Rapid City, totaling 36 river barges with a displacement of 30-50 tons, totaling 5,200 gold pounds.
Fort Joan of Arc has no dock, no shipbuilding guild and related technology, so it can only be imported from outside.
In the future, the Ibe and Nauan rivers will be filled with merchant ships carrying food, building materials and sugar.
With such rivers extending in all directions, it is unreasonable for the Qianhe River Valley to be so poor despite such convenient river conditions.
Horn even considered whether to widen the river channel and divert some of the water from Daze Township.
Horn, holding on to the carved stairs and lowering his head as he went downstairs, did not notice the increasingly complicated look in Catherine's eyes behind him.
Before reaching the first floor, Horn smelled the strong aroma of food in the air.
Coming down the stairs is the restaurant on the first floor, where Almen and a few boy soldiers are placing plates.
Since the Duke's utensils were either sold for military pay or put away for banquets, even Horn used pottery bowls and tin plates.
"It smells so good. What are you doing?" Just after going down the stairs, Horn turned a corner after smelling the smell and went into the kitchen on the other side.
Beside the dining room on the first floor, Horn demolished the wall and replaced it with mortar stone columns to create an open kitchen.
The kettle on the fireplace was boiling hot water, and the earthenware pot exuded an attractive fragrance. Jeanne, wearing a triangle scarf on her head, was busy with several children. Jeanne had returned from practicing breathing techniques and riding skills, and even had time to take a shower.
"Stewed offal in a pot, fried vegetable meatloaf, um, rice fruit and potato root porridge, your invention." Jeanne flipped the meatloaf without raising her head.
“Is there anything I can do?” Standing in the middle of the kitchen with a belly full of iodine, Horn picked up a spatula, “I’ll help you.”
“Are you sure? Jeanne glanced at him, "Then pour the minced celery into the stew pot. I can't take it out."
He came to the stove and looked at the two identical dishes. Blue pieces, Horn fell into deep thought.
"Can you recognize which one it is?"
Horn pondered for half a second and pointed to one of them: "This one?"
Katherine next to her couldn't stand it anymore and took off her apron from the wall. , poured another plate of minced vegetables into the jar: "Let me help you."
"I originally wanted to choose this, but hesitated at the last second." Horn shook his head in annoyance, He turned around and returned to the restaurant.
But he just walked out of the kitchen door and came back: "You guys get along well, it's the last day, don't fight."
"I got it."
"Don't worry."
The two of them answered in unison, and then began to divide the work.
“Is the fire in the jar too big?”
“Not too big, this is just right.”
Although it was just a normal conversation, the other boys in the kitchen felt a chill on the back of their necks.
"Pass me the butter."
"Okay, do you need honey?"
"No."
"No honey... Okay.”
"This is porridge, there is no need for honey, why don't you add cheese to it."
"That's what I said, don't get so angry." Putting down the jar of honey, Catherine raised it Hands, still with an elegant and warm smile on his face.
Jean Na snorted, opened the pot of stewed offal and smelled it: "Okay, you can still eat it if you heat it up at noon and evening... What opinions are you going to express as a lady again?"
“I didn’t say anything.”
“I felt it in your eyes.”
"This is ridiculous, are you Meliati?"
"What Meliati?" Jeanne frowned.
Knowing that she had leaked the magic of her best friend, Catherine cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject: "I don't understand, there isn't that big of a conflict between us, right? Why do we have to be tit-for-tat?"< br>
“It was you first.”
“When I first met you, I was very friendly. We are both witches. I can’t figure out why you would exclude me from the very beginning. Me?”
"Because you are always like this, and still like this."
Looking at Jeanne awkwardly imitating her movements, Catherine first frowned in thought, and then smiled uncontrollably: "...Ah, I understand. "Yes, do you think I'm seducing your majesty?"
A blush appeared on Jeanne's face, but she still said: "It has nothing to do with my brother, I just can't stand you." "The eldest lady is making pie."
"The eldest lady of the wolf girl is doing more pie than me. Why don't you hate her?"
Jean Na didn't say anything, she just stirred. of haggis in a clay pot.
Compared with the thoughtful old aunt Catherine, the seventeen-year-old Jeanne has a "beast-like state of mind and wisdom" (Horn's comment), although she can already look at the battlefield.
From a personal perspective, she is still as holy as ever, and even has the air of a bit of an ignorant girl.
She actually felt something was wrong intuitively. If she was asked to give a reason, she couldn't.
"I value our friendly relationship very much. There cannot be internal strife between witches. At least for now, I have no interest in your brother." On the last day, Catherine decided to solve this problem. Na's hand took the initiative and said.
“…really?”
"Otherwise, in order to prove it, I will teach you some methods." Looking at Jeanne's clear eyes, Catherine couldn't help but have a bad thought in her heart, "I promise you to control him, how about it?"
"What method?"
Picking up the honey jar on the side, Catherine smiled evilly, put it to Jeanne's ear, and spat out a series of words lightly and quickly.
Jeanna's face suddenly turned red: "Shameless! I won't be...shameless!"
After cursing this sentence, she turned around and forcefully Stir up potato root and rice cracker porridge.
(End of this chapter)