Roger and his party spent the night in a cottage on the ridge. Except for the different location, this cottage was almost exactly the same as the previous one.

The village chief also kept expressing his loyalty and lamenting his poverty. He said: "The land on this mountain is thin and crops cannot grow well. Growing grapes is good, but there is a lack of water in summer."

Roger couldn't help but asked: "It's so bad in the mountains, why don't you go down there?"

The village chief rubbed his hands and replied: "It's not too bad. You can still get some food by relying on the mountains and forests. Besides, the fields at the foot of the mountains are all owned by owners, so we don't have any land to plant them."

"Then we can open up wasteland. There is still wasteland under the mountain. For example, there is a basin in the south." Roger said.

The village chief waved his hands repeatedly: "How can people live in that place? No, no."

In Roger's impression, the villages along the Alcantara River were doing well. Is that basin really as bad as the ranger said? He stopped asking and decided to go and see it.

When Roger and his party came to the ridge on the north side of the basin the next afternoon, Roger observed carefully.

Roger saw that the basin was basically a triangle, and the area was quite large. The Alcantara River entered the basin from the western vertex of the triangle, followed the southern side, and exited from the eastern vertex of the triangle.

The third vertex of the triangle is due north, which is the exit of the canyon full of gravel that followed them all the way.

There is another canyon, the outlet of which is connected to the northwest edge of the triangular basin. It should be another seasonal river mentioned by the ranger.

Roger imagined that when heavy rains came in winter, flash floods would gather from the mouths of the two canyons and slow down in the flat triangular basin.

Then, Roger looked at the isolated rocky mountain to the south, and he continued to imagine that the slowing water flow was blocked by the hill, weakened again, and finally bypassed the hill and merged into the Alcantara River.

Roger thought that at that time, the entire basin was full of water, and the soil had absorbed enough water, making it almost a swamp. Then when the temperature rose, it became a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Roger and his party went down the mountain and crossed the basin. After the scorching heat of summer, the ground was dry and the road was easier to walk.

Roger noticed that the soil here was fertile, but there were so many mosquitoes that it was difficult to prevent them.

He could only hope that they didn't carry malaria parasites. Getting malaria in this day and age was no fun. No wonder no one wanted to come. Roger was very upset when he was bitten.

Arriving at the edge of the Alcantara River, the ranger found a shallow beach to rest.

Roger looked at the clear river water, with a bit of green, flowing slowly on the small gravel river bed, and he was no longer irritable.

When he stepped into the river and soaked in the water that was so cold that it almost made his muscles twitch, most of the fatigue from the heat dissipated.

He walked along the river beach and soon reached the mouth of a canyon. The canyon was very narrow, with high sides and trees growing on the top, hiding the Alcantara River so deeply that it almost became an underground river.

Roger saw that the texture of the canyon cliffs was very neat. He knew that this was jointed stone formed by volcanic magma. However, it was not columnar and upright, but was squeezed and twisted, like a grapefruit being broken open, inlaid with silk threads, and like

The raw noodles are arranged neatly together.

Roger also saw some blue rocks, cracked piece by piece on the stone beach, with smooth surfaces. He found a place to sit and listened to the sound of the rushing water in the canyon. Then, his heart calmed down.

When the "gift" came running over happily to him to play in the water, one man and one horse chased each other in the shallow water, playing a splashing game, Roger was filled with joy.

At night, Roger and his party entered a village along the river.

Although it was not the direct jurisdiction of the baron, the village chief could have refused to receive the baron by saying "the lord's lord is not my lord", but obviously the village chief still knew a little bit about human kindness, and he politely invited the baron and his entourage into his wooden house.

Roger noticed that the village chief's house was not the largest in the village. There was a larger house built of wood and stone next door, and he raised questions.

The village chief cleared up his doubts: "That's Knight Jack's house. Your Majesty is not here, so it's not convenient for my wife to receive guests."

Roger felt that this lady was a bit conservative. His mother had never paid attention to words like "women are men's vassals and are men's property just like the territory." As long as her father didn't explicitly object, she would dare to interfere with the count's affairs.

She will never let others exercise her rights in matters of affairs.

The village chief prepared dinner, and there was hot stew and brown bread on a rectangular dining table.

The village chief apologized for not being able to prepare food for the nobles, and the baron graciously expressed his understanding. After all, he had not notified him in advance, so he could not blame others.

The village chief warmly welcomed the baron and his loyal brothers to sit down, but did not prepare a seat for Roger. The baron asked someone to add a seat next to him and arranged for Roger to sit down.

The village chief looked at him in surprise, as if he was wondering why the baron allowed his attendant to sit at the same table with him. He said, "Sir, you treat your attendant very well."

The baron introduced Roger's origins, and the village chief's expression changed from surprise to emotion. He immediately addressed Roger as "sir" and apologized for his rudeness.

The village chief was honored to receive two nobles at the same time, but he felt very guilty that he only had food for common people. So he asked his wife to borrow a bottle of wine from the knight's lady.

Not long after, a girl came over with a bottle of wine. The village chief introduced her as the eldest daughter of Jack Knight. Everyone bowed politely, and the girl waited aside obediently.

The village chief poured wine for the Baron, Roger and the priest, and after a simple toast, the four drank it all in one gulp.

So we started eating and drinking.

Roger asked his eldest daughter to talk to him. This inexperienced girl had no idea of ​​resisting in front of the naive and innocent Roger. With just a few words, she regarded Roger as a close friend and was willing to share any secrets.

The girl said her name was Angelica, that she had hardly been out of the village, that her mother wanted to marry her to a well-matched knight, and that her mother was very strict and made her work all day long, almost treating her like a maid.

The girl said that her mother herself lived like a maid, obeying her father in everything and having no ideas of her own.

The girl said that she was a little envious of her sister who was not as beautiful as her, because her mother had said that she could not raise the dowry so she wanted to send her sister to a convent. She would rather go to a convent because that might be more free.

The girl said that she did not dare to tell her mother that she wanted to go to the monastery. She was also worried that she would be looked down upon in the monastery because she had never been to a church. To her, the church in Baron Town was as far away as the end of the world.

Roger took the girl to the priest. The priest read a scripture and gave her a blessing. This made the girl extremely happy.

Roger discovered that when this girl smiled, she showed two small tiger teeth, which was very cute.

Finally, the girl hugged the empty bottle and jumped back like a bird.
Chapter completed!