Chapter 10: Vision for the Future
The rain flowed down the eaves to the ground, making a clicking sound.

When Horn was standing in the rain, it was getting heavier, but when he hid in the hunter's cabin, this late summer rain was getting lighter.

Horn took off his wet linen robe, dried his body, put on the knight's comfortable blue and black brocade robe, put on his black serge trousers, and walked out from behind the curtain.

This hunter's cabin is about 50 square meters, with four-legged wooden beds and thick carpets on both sides, and a kang in the middle, filled with charcoal ash and charcoal, emitting a dark red glow.

Two axes, a skinning knife and two bows were hung on the wall. Two layers of warm wolf skins were spread on the wooden bed, and a thick woolen carpet with a green potato leaf pattern was placed next to the kang.

Judging from the pattern, it must be Western goods from the Flesh and Blood King's Court on the other side of the sea.

Three white oil candles were emitting light in a distorted shape, making Na's fair face vaguely visible in the dim light.

I have to say, the recovery ability of the witch combined with the knight's breathing method is really amazing. In less than three hours, the wound on Jeanna's face had healed by half, and the only cost was eating more rice crackers and dried meat.

Now, only Horn and Jeanne live in the hunter's lodge where the knight lives.

The villagers still live in shacks outside or sleep under the eaves of wooden houses.

The villagers had no objection to Horn occupying the hunter's lodge. They even felt it was natural, as the Saint's grandson should live in the wooden house.

Who dares not to accept?
Sitting cross-legged on the wool carpet opposite Jeanne, Horn curiously touched the red velvet blanket embroidered with goldenrod.

The decoration and comfort level here don't seem like something a hunter can afford. It feels a bit greedy.

Jeanne had just dried her hair with a handkerchief, but it was still a little wet, so she simply tied it up casually, let it hang over her left shoulder, and draped it over her chest.

Without looking up at Jeanne, Horn reached over and took two books from the knight's oak chest.

Among the gold coins dropped by the knight, besides the gold and silver jewelry, the most valuable ones are these two books.

One is called "The Legend of the Rose of Rum" and the other is called "French Collection". The former is a collection of court love poems, and the latter is something like a dictionary, mainly explaining words, verses, rhythms and commonly used allusions.

These two books together are basically an introductory manual to chivalric court poetry.

This is not a hundred years ago. A knight can rise to power simply by fighting in battles. He also needs to have a background and be cultured, so that he can recite poems and compose couplets with the pretentious earls.

For knights, reciting poetry is a very important social skill.

The knights had to write love poems to impress the noble mistresses or even the masters, so that they could use their beauty to gain power.

Originally, Horn wanted to rely on the knight's collection of books to gain a deeper understanding of the world. Unfortunately, the knight only had two books in total, which was better than nothing.

With his head lowered, Horn flipped through the poetry collection with difficulty, not noticing that Jeanne had been staring at him for a long time.

Her brain was about to smoke, but Jeanna just opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. After thinking for a long time, she slowly opened her mouth:
"Thank you for today. If you encounter this kind of thing again in the future, don't bother me anymore."

Uh uh…

I saved you, but you're still not happy. Besides, was it me who wanted to save you? The first time, it was the original owner who saved me, and the second time, it was out of necessity.

Horn didn't say this out loud, he turned his head towards Jeanne.

At this moment, Jeanne's face was flushed and the ends of her hair were faintly golden. She did not look at Horn, but turned her face to the window. However, she would glance at Horn from time to time and then quickly retract her eyes.

"You are a saint, I can't just ignore you."

"How can I be called a saint? Well, anyway, don't worry about me anymore..." Jeanna's voice became smaller and smaller until it became as small as a mosquito. "Besides, I have done so many wrong things, and I deserve to be punished..."

What are you doing? Are you using retired items against me?
"Are you apologizing to me?" Horn directly exposed Jeanna's thoughts.

“No, no, no, no.” Jeanna jumped up from the bed, her fair face turning red like an apple. “So-and-so apologized to you. I’m just, angry. I was mad at those believers. They lied to me. It’s not, it’s not…”

At the end of her speech, Jeanna lost her temper and her voice became as thin as a mosquito.

Horn did not respond. On the one hand, he really did not want to have too many emotional ties with Jeanne. On the other hand, he had to win Jeanne over. The two of them could not really fall out.

He had to strike the right balance, not really having a relationship with her, but also making her obedient. In short, he had to keep her neither too far nor too close.

Hey, why does it feel like something is wrong? I seem to have seen this scene somewhere before?
Just as Horn was thinking carefully about where this sense of déjà vu came from, he felt an icy touch on his neck.

It was Jeanne's hand.

At some point, Jeanne came over from the other side of the kang, went around Horn's back, and gently stroked Horn's neck with her fingers.

"Does your neck still hurt?" The firelight illuminated Jeanne's face, which was covered with redness and flickered. "It shouldn't hurt, but your hands are too rough, so it hurts a little when you scratch it." Horn saw the bulging veins on Jeanne's arm from the corner of his eye, and he quickly said, "The new flesh is more tender, so it doesn't hurt anymore."

Jeanne's breath smells of chamomile. She loves to collect these small white flowers and put them in the water when brushing her teeth, taking a bath and washing her hair. They are all pickled.

"Don't get me wrong, this is just a hug between siblings. I always treat you as my brother." The scent of chamomile blew from behind her ears to her nose.

Her ears were hot and Jeanna felt as if her face was on fire. She passed her arms through Horn's shoulders and put her face on Horn's back.

"I have the magic that Myrcella gave me. You have been protecting me before, and from now on, I will be the knight who protects you."

This, isn't this right?

Horn finally reacted at this time. I treat you as my sister, and you actually want to fuck me?

Feeling the softness against his back, Horn's brain started working again.

There was no place for Jeanne in his plans for the future.

The risk for her as a witch is too high. Once exposed, she will not only be hunted by demon hunters, but the church will even ask winged angels to come down to earth to hunt her down.

According to Horn's original idea, with the presence of the "saint" Jeanne, his career path would be in vain. When the flood receded, he would not be able to stay in the Thousand River Valley due to his crime of impersonating the Holy Father.

He planned to first recruit a few reliable people from among the refugees, then take away the knights' property and seek development among the Norns further east.

The church's control over Norn is not strong. With his level of knowledge, it would be easy for him to find a free city and become a rich man.

You can advance and seek to become a city councilor, or retreat and become a stable landowner. Isn't that wonderful?
As for Jeanne, Horn's original intention was to find a secret party to send her over. The witch and the secret party are natural allies.

Especially the Joan Party, which has been active recently. I heard that its leader is a powerful witch. They have always been committed to mutual assistance among witches. They are definitely willing to protect Jeanne.

This is why Horn doesn't want to be too involved with Jeanne. If they develop feelings for each other, and she insists on relying on you, that would be a big problem.

This is not possible!

Horn was about to refuse, but the words came out of her mouth. If she refused directly, she would lose control again and that would be troublesome.

After thinking for a while, Horn stood up suddenly and picked up the half-sword with a scabbard from the ground beside him.

As Jeanna looked stunned, he turned around and placed his half-sword hand on her shoulder.

"Okay." Horn's face was serious. "I have seen your piety and bravery. Since you want to be a knight, then, Jeanne d'Arc, I will knight you in the name of the Holy Father. From now on, you will protect my safety within the Thousand River Valley."

If Jeanne confesses her love to him, then the fragile balance we have now will no longer exist. In this case, let's cover it up with the etiquette of chivalry.

Jeanne was caught off guard. Under the candlelight, she numbly completed the extremely simple knight ceremony with Horn. Then she became a Templar Knight canonized by the Holy Father.

It wasn't until the ceremony was over that Jeanne realized what was happening.

Looking at Horn humming a song while making the bed, she felt an inexplicable rage rising from her heart. She groaned, turned her back to Horn, and fell directly onto the woolen carpet.

Seeing that the atmosphere was ruined by himself and Jeanna had stopped, Horn slowly exhaled, blew out the candle, and lay down on the animal skin bed.

"Horn, are you asleep?"

"No, what's wrong?" Horn regretted the moment he said this. He should have pretended to be asleep.

"You have the engagement letter that Dad made before, right? I don't really care about the engagement, I just miss Dad."

"Speaking of this." Horn stared at the ceiling, "I almost forgot that when our father asked someone to write the marriage contract, the hemp paper he used was of terrible quality and was very light. It seemed to have been lost when he was beheaded."

In fact, no one knows what went wrong with this world's papermaking technology. The upper and lower limits of the paper produced are extremely large. Good paper is extremely good, bad paper is extremely bad, and there is almost no middle value.

According to the description in the "Français Collection", since paper is related to knowledge and the papermaking process is very demanding in terms of technology, Français often uses "papermaking" to describe the level of knowledge and technology.

After reviewing the contents of the French Collection in his mind for a while, Horn continued, "I think, since the engagement letter is lost and you have become a knight, why don't we just call it quits?"

Jeanne did not respond but turned her head. In the dim light from the window, Horn could see the girl's heaving body and even breathing.

"Falling asleep? I was talking just now..." Horn yawned. It had been a thrilling day and he was really tired. As soon as he closed his eyes, he lost consciousness.

Except for being almost woken up twice by the cold wind that blew in from nowhere, Horn slept soundly until dawn.

　happy New Year!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)