There is a small hill called Cuiling northwest of Karipo City. The mountain is not very high, but it can overlook the whole city, and you can even see the port and bay.?

The Monastery of Saint-Sebalon in Karipo is built on the top of the mountain.

The news of "pagan attacks on Karibo" was spread to the church before Ding Mu and his friends arrived, thanks to Father Modilo riding a donkey with great strength. Just as the others were panicked and ran around the docks and the city, Father Modilo had already taken the lead and headed straight to the monastery to inform the news.

So, when Ding Mu and Harji came outside the gate of the monastery, they were greeted by two closed doors, and a pair of vigilant and panic-like eyes in a narrow window next to them.

Ding Mu never thought that things would turn out like this, or that he didn't understand how fearful Europeans of this era were of paganism.

Looking at the panic-riding figures behind the window, and thinking about the tragic situation in the city now, Ding Mu felt that he might soon become the most unpopular person in Kalipo City.

Ding Mu was thinking about it all, and the two thick wooden doors of the monastery were as thick as a castle suddenly opened a crack, revealing Modilo's half-white fat face.

"Greeks, where are the pagans now?" Modilo asked first, then felt that he looked too timid, and he squeezed out of the crack of the door. However, after standing outside, he looked back with concern, as if he was afraid that the two doors would close at any time. "The priest of this church asked me to ask you about the pagans," he suddenly lowered his voice and shouted in a hurry, "Are those pagans almost reaching Karibo? Let me tell me quickly for God's sake!"

Ding Mu looked at Modillo blankly. Although he could roughly understand it, Modillo's voice that changed his tone obviously caused him to sound very difficult. His appearance that Modillo seemed completely frightened, made the deacon, who was already frightened, finally couldn't control himself!

Modillo didn't remember how he grabbed the collar of the Greek boy in front of him and kept shaking it. He shouted for no reason. As for the next time, he was pulled and pulled by Jira and several priests who rushed out of the monastery after hearing the news, his mouth was covered with foam, and his mouth was crooked and his eyes were completely unaware.

Many years later, people saw such incomplete records in the dusty old papers of the Monastery of St. Saibalon, Karipo:

"On February 17, 1496, we lost our beloved brother... His body was possessed by the devil and completely fell into madness and illusion that we could not understand. After finally confirming that we could not save the poor brother, we had to lock him in the deepest part of... but even then, the devil's shouts could still be heard vaguely in the middle of the night..."

On the same day, the monks on duty in the monastery also wrote down a small thing in the book of that day:

"According to the order of the dean, a young man named Alexander Juliant Kombre was taken in, a Greek from Crete, whose job was to be responsible for all other secular work that was not suitable for the monks except for cleaning, and in return he would receive water, black bread and lard soup."

………………………………

In the early morning, a small door beside the wall of the Monastery of Saint-Sabalon gently opened, and a figure pushing a wooden cart walked along the path towards the top of the Cuiling Mountains.

The mornings in Karibo are cold and dry, mainly because in winter, the southern Sicily will be ravaged by the Mediterranean monsoon.

This kind of weather will last for a whole winter, and even if it has entered spring, it will still be like this for a long time.

Ding Mu has been in this era for more than half a month.

Although it was not long, the world in the past seemed to have become so far away that sometimes I woke up late at night and lay in the corner of the cold stone house. Listening to the whimpering wind outside the window, I thought that the past twenty years ago were just a long dream that was so real that people could not extricate themselves.

At first, Ding Mu still did not give up his efforts to return to his own world. He thought of many ways, including jumping from a high place, diving into the cold water, and other dangerous tricks such as knocking his head against the wall, but many attempts ended in failure.

Because he had been traveling through hundreds of years because he fell into the Arno River and drowned, Ding Mu had planned to jump into the water, but when he stood on the cliff and looked at the icy sea water surging below, Ding Mu first shivered and shrank his neck, which was exposed outside his collar, and then he told himself that it seemed good to stay in this era.

This also made Ding Mu finally understand that he could no longer return to his own world, and his destiny had destined to survive in this strange world.

It's just that life here is not going well.

Although Kalipo City is not big, it has a population of thousands. Ding Mu is definitely the kind of "celebrity" in Kalipo, "Although my brother doesn't show his face, there are legends about me everywhere."

The farce of "pagan invasion" was not revealed for long before it was staged, but there were quite a few things that happened.

Because of the fear of the terrible enemies in the far east, the city was like the end of the world. Some people cried and called their parents, some screamed in despair, and some women admitted to their husbands with guilt that the son he had raised for many years was actually a species of others. There was also a famous miser in the city who shouted and threw gold coins into the crowd.

It is conceivable how the Karibo people were so angry that they were angry and furious after they knew the truth. If it weren't for the monastery's mercy and taking in Ding Mu, who looked a little pitiful at the time, according to the Europeans' hobby of barbecuing living people, Ding Mu might have been lit by the Karibo citizens who were looking for him everywhere with lanterns in the middle of the night.

But Ding Mu soon realized that life in the monastery is not much better than lighting a sky lantern.

This is because Saint Saibalon is a real "monastery".

In other words, people here do nothing except meditate and think hard every day. The whole monastery is like a sleeping grave. Although there are nearly a hundred people in the monastery, there is almost no sound.

Speaking here is a serious sin. Ding Mu once saw a monk being punished for failing to speak for a while after colliding with someone else. At first, it made him feel unimaginable, but soon he enjoyed this kind of "preferential treatment".

On the first day, Ding Mu was punished for not eating and washing the floor of the hall corridor for violating the mistake of not counting two fingers.

Ding Mu almost fainted on the ground while holding a bucket in one hand and a huge horsehair brush in the other, standing in the hall that was big enough to be a basketball court.

All night, Ding Mu kept brushing the floor with the rough horse hair brush, until he finally finished his work late at night. He dragged his two legs that could not be lifted into the stone house. Ding Mu didn't even remember how he lay on the bed.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, the bell woke Ding Mu up from his sleep.

At three o'clock in the morning, the morning prayer at the Monastery of Saint-Sabalon began.

Although he couldn't sleep enough, Ding Mu still had to drag his sore and weak body and pull the wooden cart to climb up the hillside behind the monastery. The mountain road was difficult to walk, and the wooden cart behind him seemed extremely difficult to take a step. His throat was so dry that every breath could spurt fire from his lungs.

Ding Mu's first job every morning was to pull a wooden cart to the clear spring on the top of the mountain to get water, and then clean every corner of the monastery. He had to wipe all the altars, icons, the floor of the scarily large prayer room and every piece of glass. He had to cook for more than 70 monks in the monastery at noon, and in the afternoon he had to take care of the vegetables in the yard behind the monastery.

There is no free time during the day, and the only free time of the day is when you eat, but that little bit of pitiful food will only make people feel hungry.

Only late at night after work can Ding Mu lie down and rest, but even so, he can only sleep for three or four hours.

Then he would be awakened by the hateful bell and repeat what he had done before.

There are wells in the monastery, but they will be discontinued in winter due to drought levels. In this way, nearly 100 people in the monastery have to take water from the springs on the top of Cuiling Mountain to live.

Ding Mu's job is to push the wooden cart to the clear spring on the top of the mountain every morning to fill a few large wooden barrels, then pull the clear water back to the monastery and pour it into the huge stone sink.

After this tiring thing is finished, then the official work of the day will begin.

Wipe the sculptures, shovel the feces left by seabirds on the terrace, fertilize the vegetable fields in the backyard of the monastery, and check whether all the tincture oil in the oil basin is filled. Almost all of this trivial work is what Ding Mu has to do every morning.

In the afternoon, he helped the monks to remove all kinds of manuscripts that were outrageously heavy from the library, and then he would be ordered to pass on various documents to the monks who were copying the scriptures at any time.

When doing these things, Ding Mu could only guess from the concise gestures of the monks, what they wanted him to do. After a few days, Ding Mu began to wonder if he would forget how to speak one day if he continued like this.

This kind of work will not come to an end until very late, and then he can have a really unpleasant dinner, and then return to the copying room to continue working until late at night.

Ding Mu had to put the manuscripts back into the library after the monks left, then tidied and wiped the floor of the entire chapel, and waited for the monks to turn off the lights and rest before he could lie on his hard bed, closing his eyes to sleep.

But it seemed like not long after closing my eyes just now, Chen Qi's bell rang again!

Then, we will repeat the work of the previous day endlessly.

After more than ten days of this kind of life that seemed to never end, Ding Mu finally made up his mind to leave this place that would drive himself crazy sooner or later!

Leave here!

Once this thought arises, it can no longer be suppressed, but Ding Mu also knows that it is not easy to do it.

Medieval Europe was a chaotic era where endless wars could break out at any time.

In addition to the nobles who like to cause trouble everywhere, the crazy and rampant thieves have also made the years even more unstable, let alone those kings who were originally watching the fun and did not bother with the big deal, but seized the opportunity and rushed to take a bite.

Ding Mu was a little skeptical about whether he could survive in such an era.

The Italian Peninsula in 1496 is definitely the most chaotic place in Europe at present.

It's no wonder Ding Mu has no confidence in himself. As long as he thinks that even many nobles are in danger in this era, he feels that it's really stupid to leave Saint Sebalon.

Even so, Ding Mu was still unshakable.

If you walk outside, you may not know when you die, but if you stay in Saint Sabold, you will be buried in this living tomb.

No matter what happens in the future, you will have to leave here!

Ding Mu thought to himself, stepped under his feet and pushed the wooden cart to climb a platform along the hillside.

This is a place opposite the mountain from Cuiling to Kalipo City. From here, you can clearly see the entire pier and the bay further away.

Ding Mu turned his head and looked at the sea. He had developed this habit these days. Although he knew that this action was meaningless, somehow, he would always look at the sea involuntarily, as if something was attracting him on the boundless sea surface.

When Ding Mu stood on the hillside and stared blankly at the sea, a not-so-large Clark sailboat was leisurely swinging into the Karibo Bay. The already-falling broken sails told the hardships the ship had suffered at sea before.

However, there are too many such ships in the Mediterranean, so they did not attract the attention of people on the busy work docks.

After the boat landed, a man wearing a dirty and ragged robe got off the boat. His brown eyes first looked around, then walked past several merchants who were bargaining with the tax collector, then covered his hood behind his head and wrapped his whole body in a gray robe. He lowered his head and hurriedly left the bustling dock, and walked along the mountain road towards the monastery halfway up the mountain.

When Ding Mu returned to the monastery, the second morning prayer ended just now.

On the first day of arriving at the monastery, Ding Mu was already informed that the Monastery of Saibalon followed the strict Benedictine rules, which means that in this monastery, you must pray at least five times a day, and the beginning and end time of each time have strict regulations. For example, the second morning prayer every morning must start on time at five o'clock.

Every time after the morning prayer is over, Ding Mu will deliver the prepared clear water and bread to the dean's room. The other monks will have to eat together, and the dean will eat in his room. This is also the dean's privilege.

Ding Mu, holding a wooden pallet, was blocked by a priest outside the dean's house. Looking at the priest's index finger upright and sealed on his lips, Ding Mu was cleaning up by drinking water and eating.

The priest shook his head slightly, stretched his thumb back, and pointed to the plate in Ding Mu's hand.

Ding Mu put the plate on the ground and turned around and left.

This is the daily life in the monastery, which is boring and monotonous, and it is a luxury to find someone to talk to.

Not to mention loudly, even whispering between monks may be considered as violating the rules of the teachings, which makes Ding Mu feel that if he stays there, he will either become a mute or a madman.

He was preparing to go back to his hut, which was a rare short time during the day. Just as he passed through the Yongmen, low quarrels came from the depths of a corridor.

Even though the sound was low, the anger filled one of the voices still filled the corridors: "How could this happen? Isn't St. Saint-Sebalon the safest place, but what have you born now?"

"There is no way, no one thought of such a thing," another voice was calm but helpless. "This may be God's arrangement, maybe you should go back and tell them that everything is over."

"No, this definitely doesn't work, there is definitely a way!"

The voice suddenly increased, and before Ding Mu could stop, two figures walked out of the corner of the corridor.

When they saw Ding Mu, they seemed to be surprised. At the same time, Ding Mu also recognized that one of them was the dean of the Monastery of Saibalon, while the other was a middle-aged man wearing a gray cloth robe.

Ding Mu immediately stood beside him and lowered his head slightly. Although he was disgusted, he thought about the whip that scolded the monks. There was no need to be a hero.

The two of them seemed to have never expected to meet someone else suddenly. The dean's originally low face became even more ugly. He stared at Ding Mu and then waved to the person next to him.

"Pray for my soul," the middle-aged man bent down and kissed the dean's hand. "I pray for God's grace from you."

"The devouts can receive grace, my child."

The monastery slowly withdrew his hand, and he glanced at Ding Mu next to him, slowly disappeared deep in the corridor.

"Pious people..."

The man whispered to himself, then turned around and walked in the other direction.

From beginning to end, neither of the two seemed to take Ding Mu next to them seriously, but for some reason, he just felt uncomfortable all over.

This made him determined to tell himself: This monastery can't be left to stay any longer.

Ding Mu shook his head and walked towards his hut.
Chapter completed!