Chapter 5 Wild Boar Feast

Hansen had already set up the tent for Richard. As a noble, Richard's tent was twice as big as those of the others. Hansen also had a separate tent. Due to his tall stature, Pine could only have his own tent. The other knights squeezed into one tent with two people.

The hierarchy of the wizarding world has been deeply rooted in people's minds, from the lowest slaves, to free people and territorial people, and above them are professionals without noble status like Hansen, and above them are ordinary nobles, professional nobles, and territorial nobles.

Pine and others were all territorial residents recruited by Richard from the barony of his father Henry. Their ancestors had lived in the barony for generations, so there was no need to worry about their loyalty. After all, the monk can run away, but the temple cannot.

Hansen was originally a free man who drifted to the barony. When he was young, he followed Baron Henry to participate in the plane war and was promoted to a first-class knight during the war.

Since the Baron had completed his military service and possessed the strength of a third-level knight, he successfully inherited the barony from Richard's grandfather and gave up continuing the plane war.

Because of his military merits, Hansen was granted land by Baron Henry. Due to the existence of magical elements, the crops in the wizarding world had a good harvest in the absence of natural disasters or man-made disasters, but 30% of the harvest from the land had to be paid as land tax to Baron Henry.

The serfs in the baronies were even worse off. They had to pay land taxes that amounted to 70% of the land's harvest, and the remaining food was barely enough to get by.

This time, Hansen followed Richard in order to accumulate military merits so that he could be promoted to a knight, which was one level lower than Richard's lordship and could not be inherited by future generations.

However, if he were promoted to a noble, Hansen would not only be able to obtain more land from the barony, but would also not need to pay land tax to the baron, and it would also be easier for him to be promoted in the army.

The calculation of military merit in Jeff's Kingdom is also relatively simple. Hansen and other knights are Richard's squire knights in this war, so when they gain military merit, the same amount of military merit will be added to Richard's. When Richard gains military merit, it will also be added to the military merit of the leader of the wizard group.

Eventually, all these military achievements will be gathered to the king of the Jeff Kingdom, Bloody Head Jeff III.

Richard couldn't help feeling speechless after learning about this military merit system, which meant that as long as he didn't make a big mistake, Hansen and the others would always have to work under him.

Therefore, Richard ordered Pine to kill one of the captured wild boars and give it to the squire knights as a meat. After all, they would be his subordinates in the future. If he wanted them to work for him, he had to reward them well.

"Oh, long live Lord Richard!"

When the knights heard that Richard was going to kill a wild boar to reward them, they cheered.

They only had meat once a month. Even if they hunted some game, they would usually take it to the town market to sell in exchange for daily necessities.

Not to mention that since arriving in the Ouyun plane, the group has been camping along the military road, the animals have been cleared out by the Green Flag Army, and they have been living on dry wheat cakes every day.

Several knights immediately put down their work and helped Pine hold down the wild boar.

"Sir Richard, just feed these knights wheat cakes," Hansen advised in a low voice, "Why not exchange the wild boars for gold coins with the caravans outside? Besides, the weather is so hot now, I'm afraid we won't be able to finish all the meat before it goes bad."

What Richard liked most about Hansen was that Hansen was very protective of Richard's dignity. Even if he disagreed with Richard's decision, he would never refute him in front of the knight, but would look for opportunities to persuade him, which greatly satisfied Richard's vanity.

Needless to say, these were certainly habits that Hansen had picked up from Baron Henry.

Compared to the majesty of Baron Henry, Richard is more friendly, otherwise Hansen would choose to directly complete Richard's orders instead of persuading him.

Richard patted Hansen on the shoulder and explained, "We just experienced a battle, and we have to reward these knights."

"Prepare some of the best parts of the wild boar meat for the wizard leader Ben and the three apprentices. We are new here, so we must build good relationships with them."

No matter it is the wizard leader class or the three apprentices, their status is higher than the knights under Richard's command. As the saying goes, the more gifts, the less blame. It is always right to give gifts yourself.

"As for the remaining wild boar meat, we can also exchange it with the caravans outside for some easy-to-carry dried meat and bread. We can't let the knights who follow me eat wheat cakes all the time during the battle."

As a free man, Hansen had never received any literate education, so naturally he did not think as comprehensively as Richard. After listening to Richard's explanation, he changed his previous view of Richard.

Although Richard is young, has little experience in combat, and is immature in many aspects, he possesses wisdom that exceeds that of ordinary people.

If Richard could hear Hansen's thoughts, he would laugh out loud. What wisdom? It was just the common courtesy and reciprocity in the previous life.

In the wizarding world, merchants do not have a high status either. The nobles regard them as crazy profit-seekers. When they need them, they offer benefits to attract merchants to trade and obtain the goods they want. When they don't need them, they increase transaction taxes, and the merchants will naturally scatter. The common people regard merchants as insidious blood-sucking worms who make huge profits by squeezing the goods of the common people.

Richard, who traveled through time, naturally had no good feelings towards businessmen, but he did not discriminate against them either. When he saw something he did not need, the first thing he thought of was to trade it through merchants.

Pine used a knife to peel off the wild boar's thick skin, revealing a small amount of yellow fat and dark red muscles. The fresh pieces of meat were still beating slightly.

This kind of wild boar is the main low-level mount of the Ouyun soldiers. Although its endurance is not high, its meat is of excellent quality. Combined with the dried wild vegetables and a small amount of spices carried on the carriage, a pot of delicious broth was stewed. Richard and the knights enjoyed a sumptuous dinner.

To Richard, this was certainly not a delicacy. The so-called cooking method was just the simplest stew, and the seasoning was only salt and a little spice. But for the knights, it was already a rare delicacy.

Pine unbuttoned his shirt generously and swallowed the broth in big gulps. Hansen also took down his treasured beer from the carriage, a common beer in Jeff Kingdom. It tasted sour and bitter, but had a strong flavor and was deeply loved by the civilians. Hansen took out the wine glass and distributed the beer to everyone.

In the past, Richard would never have tasted this kind of beer, but the warm atmosphere made Richard excited, and he drank a whole glass of beer.

"vomit!"

Richard forgot that his body had not yet adapted to the stimulation of alcohol, and he became drunk after just one glass of beer. So he left the scene early amid the laughter of the knights and returned to the tent to rest.

Lying on the bed, Richard finally felt much better. From time to time, he could hear the knights' loud singing and bold laughter. Richard also smiled and entered a meditative state.