Chapter 139 - Escape From The Continent
On the outskirts of the walled port city of Bederkesa, Anders was about to enter the city when a guard stopped him.
"On Duke Hippolyte\'s orders, we have to search anyone who tries to enter the city."
Anders frowned and glared at the guard as he spoke Latin.
"Quin caperet es miles est qui imperatorem habet ex castis et missio."
The guard upon hearing that the person in front of him spoke Latin and had armor that could only belong to the nobility.
Swallowing a bit, the guard looked at Anders and lowered his head.
"Sorry to interrupt you on your way, noble knight, you may enter the city."
Anders glared at the soldier but once he entered the city and walked away, he began to laugh.
\'Who would think that once in my life Christian soldiers would lower their heads to see me just for dressing up as their leaders and speaking their language, I think I can get addicted to this feeling.\'
The first place he went was to the docks because there he had to look for a merchant or ship that left the continent, so on his way, he could see that many of the people were in poor condition.
From children to adults, they had flabby and thin bodies. Even in some cases, Anders can see how the bones could be seen through the skin.
With some curiosity, Anders began to ride to where a soldier was, who was guarding small water well.
"Hey, soldier, what the hell are these people going through, and why are they so thin, is there a famine or is it just the normal state of these people?"
The soldier looked at Anders with respect and using his spear he threw a small boy who was approaching the well of water, the boy who seemed not to care about the injury that the fall had generated gave up trying to reach the well.
So he changed his objective to Anders\' horse and looking at him with great sadness, he stretched his little hands and lowered his head.
"High noble have mercy on me, please.
I just need a copper coin to help my mother, who is extremely ill and has not eaten anything since yesterday.
If you could support me, then my mother might be able to improve enough for me to go back to looking for work among the soldiers. "
Anders looked curiously at the boy and pointed to the horse\'s hoof. "If you want a coin, you must lick my horse\'s hoof, if you can, I\'ll give you a coin."
When the boy saw the dirt on the horse\'s hoof, he shook his head and looked angrily at Anders "I can lower my head, sir, I can even throw myself to the ground but I will never humiliate myself in such a way if you don\'t want to give me the coin, I won\'t I\'ll try to find food even if it\'s the last thing I do. "
Anders then nodded with his head and from there he smiled at the child to later toss a silver coin "You have enough balls, child to tell me how to do it, but now the real question is, will you be able to change that silver coin without someone steals it.
If you can do it and you are still alive, come see me at the inn in the port. Maybe I could give you a job as a squire or assistant.
But the condition is that you must have copper coins in your hands because that will show that you have enough capacity to survive in this world. "
The child then, upon hearing these words, ended up nodding and began to run towards some alleys because he knew that the guard and other beggars had seen how that nobleman handed him a silver coin.
The guard seeing this could only shake his head, "Poor child is already dead, and he doesn\'t even know it, but that is not for me to decide.
An apology noble gentleman for not answering your question, but if I may answer you now, the reason why all these people are so emaciated.
It is because the Duke has been withholding food from our city and from others because it seems that we are going to go to war, although I am honest with him, I have no idea against what we are going to face.
This has been going on for a few weeks so it is normal for there to be a food shortage where only those with money can buy something to maintain their meals. "
After hearing this, Anders could only laugh a little, so she handed the soldier two copper coins.
"It may not be much but if you want more, you can steal the boy\'s silver coin, but since he seems to know too much, I want you to tell me if I am going to be able to meet a merchant who leaves the continent at the port.
I have a rather important mission to carry out in Britain. "
The soldier put the two copper coins in his pocket and pointed Anders in a direction toward the harbor.
"You are quite lucky, nobleman, because tomorrow the last merchant leaves for the British Isles since yesterday the Duke has prohibited the arrival of new ships of foreign merchants.
So all the merchants have already left except for a group that seems to have had some delays with the payment of royalties with the lord of the city.
Although who knows, that\'s what I heard in the morning at the barracks. "
Anders took a deep breath and began riding toward the harbor.
When he could finally reach the port, he searched among the different ships docked while asking where was the merchant was going to leave tomorrow.
It did not take long to contrast with a large ship, but it was somewhat old. When he approached to ask he can see that a woman was taking care of him. This surprised Anders quite a bit.
For he knew that the Christian kingdoms most of the women were relegated only to the house and under no circumstances could they take up arms to defend their things.
"I would like to ask if you belong to the group of merchants who are going to leave tomorrow to the British Isles?"
The woman looked at Anders with some caution because although he had the noble clothes, only with her eyes she realized that he seemed to be more of a Warrior than a Christian nobleman.
"That\'s right, we are a group of merchant warriors who are leaving for the British Isles tomorrow.
But what brings you to us, nobleman. Most of our products have already been sold a long time ago and we are only waiting for tomorrow to be able to leave this place. "
Anders reached into his bag and took out a small sack with some silver coins, which he ended up throwing at the woman.
"Inside the sack, there should be enough silver coins to pay for my trip to the British Isles as I plan to travel with you too, I have some things to do and I just want to forget this damn place."
The woman, without caring about the gaze of Anders or anyone else, opened the small bag of coins and putting one in her mouth, one of them began to bite her then after a while she did it with all the coins so when she realized that they were completely real He gave Anders a smile.
"This should be more than enough for two people, you are waiting for someone."
Anderson laughed and started looking towards the city "It should be a boy but I don\'t know if he will survive the night, in case he does not consider it as a fare for double food during the trip.
Now I think you should tell me where to spend the night, as I don\'t want to have to wake up and realize that my payment is going to the British Isles without me. "
The woman shook her head and raised her hands "We can be women sir but we will never be thieves, I will prepare a small bed for you on the boat But remember that if you try to do something with any of us, we will not be responsible for the consequences that this entails. "
Anders showed his teeth to the woman in a malicious smile, "Fortunately I am a man who enjoys murder and killing more than raping women at night.
Besides, I\'m not stupid enough to do something that could cost me my life just for a brief moment of pleasure. "
When the woman saw Anders\'s smile and face, she knew immediately that he would keep his word and that he would not harm any of them because she realized that he was not a Christian nobleman but must be some pagan warrior or perhaps a soldier who he was completely insane.
But for her, those things had no value because she had already accepted the payment and from that moment until they reached the British Isles he would be her passenger that they had to protect.
In the morning when Anders got up, he can see on the floor of the wooden boat there was a little boy who had in his hands a bag with copper coins and although he looked quite wounded, he was still breathing.
Anders then picked up the little boy and placed him on the bed, "Sleep well boy, you\'ve done it, but don\'t think that this will be enough for you to earn your food.
You will have to work a lot because I will teach you everything I know ... "
\'You can consider it as my way of transmitting my dreams and goals in you if for any reason I die you must see the result of all the things that I do, although that also includes that you must take revenge against those who harm me.\'