Alomitsu

Chapter 23: Studio City (9)

Time: 1364, 14th century Europe. Early Renaissance.

Location: 40 kilometers north of Geneva, the main city of the Holy Roman Empire.

Yurt-like tents were pitched beside the forest, and a dim bonfire was burning like stars in front of each tent.

The soldier wearing iron armor and holding a spear was walking in the muddy soil. The splashed mud was scattered on the white tent. The night wind was extremely cold, and the flag depicting a double-headed eagle was fluttering like a wave. The flags of various countries were  engraved at the center, and the eagle was clutching a long, slender sword.

This was the symbol of the Holy Roman Republic, and it was also a pattern that frightened the small European countries.

Among the tents, there was a unique one. This tent was made of iron plates, just like a personal fortress.

Rossio wiped the brass knuckles his father left him. Only then would he take off his arm protection.

This tent was built by Rossio himself. The iron plates were filled with red rust, giving Rossio the feeling of being surrounded by his father’s brass knuckles. This wonderful feeling comforted Rossio.

Every time he traveled on a mission, Rossio would sit there. He would carefully wipe the dark red brass knuckles, as if he was taking care of a child.

For dear family members, cherished items could sometimes reveal who we are. Rossio’s father was killed by pagans who rebelled. Ironically, these pagans shouted words of freedom and equality. They didn’t understand that God was the same for everyone. They came to this world to suffer hoping for reincarnation or being blessed by heaven.

On the day of Rossio’s father’s death, the brass knuckles cracked, but his son kept the brass knuckles and took care of it. It seemed to prove that as long as it was kept clean and taken care of, it could be free from the erosion of time.

In Rossio’s mind, his father was a real man and a hero. He used his father as his role model. This thought was inseparable from a memory of his youth, which always reminded Rossio of his father’s life. While he was hunting in the woods, he asked Rossio to fight the hungry wolf with a sharp knife, as the full moon of silver coins made Rocio’s figure pale.

The wolf’s teeth were like rocks. It was jagged and dripping with blood and saliva. A mouthful of spite dripped from the wolf’s mouth. Rossio turned and fled. The wolf pounced on Rossio, but it was extremely unfortunate. It was decapitated by Rossio’s father’s knife as simple as drinking water.

Rossio’s father grabbed Rossio’s collar and pointed his face at the teeth of the dead wolf. Rossio wanted to back away, but his father forced him to watch. “Feel the fear of death.” Father asked him solemnly, “You must remember this picture. If you become fragile, you will be killed. When that happens, you will become as miserable as this wolf.

“You will try to forget your own duties to the motherland and deceive yourself like a coward. Fear will make you betray the country, your blood, and your soul. This is equivalent to being thin and hungry. The wild wolf will bite to death. It will tear you apart, and you will be entangled in this nightmare for the rest of your life.

“It doesn’t seem to exist, but it does exist. You must always remember what I said, my son…”

The soldiers in charge of the defense captured two men with weapons, enraging Rossio. All his soldiers knew very well that the arrogant knights hated being disturbed at this late hour, and there were only two. It would be good if the person with the weapon killed him, and this little thing would even alarm him.

When Rossio walked out of his castle-like “tent”, the moon hanging in the sky was like a sickle of death.

“Honorable and praiseworthy guardian knight, we just found a strange noise in the dark jungle, and then captured these two people with weapons. The subordinates think they are spies who are heretics.” It was the little boss soldier who knelt down to Rossio and put his right hand on his heart to show his loyalty.

Two spies? One is an old man and the other is a young man. Their faces are dark yellow, sallow and pale like a sick woman. Their clothes are dirty, and even their thighs cannot be covered by their clothes.

“Great knight of the gods, beside me is my father. He is a respectable person. He will not do anything against God,” the young man said anxiously.

“I didn’t give you permission to speak.” Rossio replied indifferently. His eyes scanned the two people like a viper. Although Rocio enjoyed the respect of others, he was still very angry if they did this without his permission.

“Also, take off your hats! In front of the knights of the gods, wearing this stupid hat is blasphemy against the gods!” the knight next to Rossio shouted angrily at the two prisoners.

(Note: During that time, there was an unwritten rule that one must take off their hats when entering a church or facing a priest. This later evolved into taking off hats when entering someone’s house as proper etiquette.)

The young man lowered his head. He dared not look at Rossio’s gaze. Rossio thought to himself that the two captives must have heard Rossio’s contempt for them. Yes, it made Rossio very proud.

“My escort knight, we found two foxes from their worn-out bag. They carried bows and eleven arrows with them. Two of them were stained with blood.” The knight next to him was clutching the thin boy.

“No, we caught this fox. The blood on this bow and arrow belongs to the fox, not the blood in the noble knights,” the boy said anxiously again.

“The second time, did I let you talk?!” Rossio’s eyes narrowed as if he was playing with something interesting, shaking. The old man was very scared. His white and old beard was shaking because of fear. Is he worried for his son? Or are you worried about your life?

“Stand up!” Rossio commanded.

They stretched out their hands and began to tear their clothes from the back of the old man. Of course, the young man too. At this time, a half-headed cross fell from the young man’s body, and they carefully handed the cross to Rossio.

“Profane great gods, you have forgotten the wealth and food blessings God brought to this country. You have forgotten that when God ruled this continent, you have forgotten your master.” Rossio said sarcastically.

“They are indeed pagans, respectable knights.” The knight standing next to Rossio breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried whether he was disturbing the knight because of two insignificant farmers. He now had a God. It proved that these two captives were basically the same as the pagans who resisted the church, and they specially attacked the priests of the church from time to time.

“This cross belongs to my mother. My mother is a faithful believer. I have always carried it. I think my mother is guarding me by my side. It’s just that it was broken during the hunt,” the boy retorted.

“Shut up!” The soldiers heard the meaning of anger and warning from Rossio’s words. The current Rossio was a poisonous snake spitting out letters in their eyes, but the little guy was too eager to protect his father and himself. In a sense, excessive love could kill a person and ruin his future.

“Please, noble knight. This is really not something we damaged deliberately.” The boy did not want to shut up.

“My lord, we are just poor farmers, and terrible things are happening everywhere in the village.” This was what the old man said. He tried to focus Rossio’s attention on him so that he could forgive his child’s rudeness.

“Continue.” Rocio’s voice was still cold.

“Faced with too much rain, the farmland is flooded. My two young daughters are sick. The oldest is only seven years old and the youngest is only four years old.”

Rossio took the bloody arrow in the soldier’s hand. He smelled the arrow, and his actions were elegant. That’s right, now he needed to be calm at the time of the trial in order to enjoy the special pleasure in the process.

Whether it was killing an enemy or dealing with a person’s guilt, it must be done in an orderly manner.

“Hunting?” Rossio said. “Is this true?” Rossio said this deliberately, he knew very well in his heart how to do something. No matter who it was, his lie would be exposed in his eyes.

“My honorable knight, I didn’t mean to offend you,” the boy said. “If my father said he was out hunting, then this is the truth.” The boy hung his head and did not dare to look at Rossio.

The anger in Rossio’s heart burned instantly, but his expression was calm, and now he needed to calm down and face it calmly.

“Your father said? Are you doing this to protect your father? So you only said your father. What about you?”

Rossio took the bloody arrow and slammed it into the boy’s eye socket. With too much force, the old arrow was folded into two pieces, and the broken part of the arrow was pierced into the boy’s eye socket, over and over again.

Anger must be vented, otherwise it would turn you into a volcano that erupts easily, and it would make you lose your judgment.

The sharp arrows smashed the boy’s face, cutting the skin and muscles into a bloody paste, like a pool of rotten meat gathered together.

His wailing sound was harsher than the sound that tormented him, and the crystal tears flowed down his dirty cheeks, and it seemed that he couldn’t stop it.

“Why, why, sir! Why did you kill him? Are you not the guardian of the gods! We are just hunting, and there are two young children who are sick at home! We just want to fill our stomachs!”

“You killed him! You killed him! You murderer.”

Puff chuff~

Rossio drew out the dagger from his waist. This dagger was given by the archbishop. The sharp dagger pierced the old man’s slender chest. The dagger first passed through the old man’s dirty and ragged clothes and cardboard thin skeleton. The tip of the Austrian dagger easily found and pierced the old man’s heart.

The boy’s body and the old man’s body were still twitching under the moonlight, and it seemed that their nerves had not disappeared immediately.

Rossio elegantly took out the silk cloth and wiped the blood on his hand.

“You guys, what are you still waiting for!” Rossio’s eyes swept across every soldier next to him, as if asking these soldiers, do you want to become corpses on the ground too!

The soldiers quickly picked up the corpses and walked towards the woods under Rossio’s anger. They would throw the corpses into the woods and let the beasts of the woods eat the heretics.

Rossio watched the soldier who had moved the corpses lost in thought. His temper was very violent, which made him kill two heretics, but what would those soldiers think of?

Did they think of their father or brother, regardless if their relatives were also farmers. Did they think of their own beloved daughter or son?

One day, would they do the same thing after he retired?