Early Morning
The clear sea water sparkled under the diffuse sunlight, and the salty and moist sea breeze carried a faint fishy smell as it blew over the rugged reefs and rocks.
Bruno had woken up long ago, but he left the village quietly and leaned alone on the wet rocks by the sea.
The cool, salty and humid sea breeze blew away the sleepiness that had just come from waking up, making Bruno shiver.
It's a bit cold...
The vast ocean seemed to have no end, with no end in sight. However, the flickering light rolling around with the waves was a little dazzling.
The oceans in this world looked no different from those on Earth, which made Bruno somewhat relieved.
During these days, the serfs and commoners feared him more than they respected him. Bruno was not used to this alienation and fear that seemed to be engraved in their bones.
After all, Bruno came from a highly developed human society on Earth.
He wanted change, and he longed for change.
Bruno missed the fair, democratic, harmonious and law-based society of his previous life. In that society, he might not have the same status as in this world, but he could play with his cell phone for a while, have a bite of spicy food, fall asleep peacefully in dizziness and alcohol, and stride forward in the hustle and bustle of traffic.
But here, what he had was a barren land, a group of poor subjects, a monotonous title of earl and confusion about the new world.
"Starting all from scratch..." Bruno muttered to himself.
After an unknown amount of time, anxious shouts were faintly heard in the distance, which brought Bruno back from his thoughts.
L'Hopital came with his men, sweating profusely. His face was red, his voice was a little hoarse, and the anxiety in his eyes could not be concealed.
He went to bed late yesterday night and therefore fell into a deep sleep. He was shaken awake at some point, but he did not expect to see the serious and stern face of old Ford.
He opened his eyes and looked around, only to find that his master had disappeared somewhere. He immediately panicked and took some people to look for him.
"There is the Earl!" Someone spotted Bruno leaning against a rock by the sea in a daze and immediately shouted.
L'Hopital was startled and quickly ran over.
"Master, you scared me to death..."
"Stop making noise..." Bruno was using a wooden stick to poke something between the sea and the rocks.
"Oh." L'Hopital responded quickly, then called a servant over and asked him to tell old Ford the news.
L'Hopital decided to stay close to his master from now on. After all, the old butler was waiting in the village. If he went back in person to report the news, he didn't know how he would be punished.
After all, according to his master, it was his own suggestion to go to the seaside to find food, which made L'Hopital feel a little helpless.
Soon, Bruno used a wooden stick to pick out a large cluster of black things from the cracks of the rocks in the water. They looked wet, as if they had been soaked in water for a long time, and had a faint fishy smell.
"The food is here." Bruno shook the stick, looked at it for a moment, and said to L'Hopital.
"This is..."
"I prefer to call it seaweed." Bruno finally showed a long-lost smile.
It is the season for harvesting seaweed in Idar, but people in this world seem to have a great misunderstanding about this algae from the ocean, and they don't even know that this easily available algae is edible.
Even if some people have tried to eat it, it was only done by a very small number of people when they were extremely hungry. Therefore, most people in the world still keep a distance from seaweed...
It is for this reason that the seaweed here is almost rampant. Whether it is between the cracks of the rocks or underwater, it is full of natural food provided by nature.
"It seems... seaweed egg drop soup can be put on the agenda..." Bruno licked the corners of his slightly cracked lips and felt a little greedy.
Thinking of this, Bruno glared at L'Hopital standing beside him and said, "What are you still doing here? Go pick the fruits with your men! Do you want me to do it myself?"
"Yes, yes, I'll do it right away, but..." L'Hopital hesitated for a moment, but still mustered up the courage to ask, "Is this thing...really edible?"
Bruno smiled when he heard this and said, "It was you who suggested coming to the beach to look for food, so you should be the first to try it. If you are fine after eating it, it means that the seaweed here is edible and can be used as food."
"Ah? This..."
Seeing that L'Hopital still had no reaction, Bruno put his hands on his waist, kicked L'Hopital butt with his toes, and said, "Go now!"
…
The few small fishing boats were drifting along the coast. Some serfs were stirring the sea water with long wooden sticks, while others were trying hard to salvage with torn fishing nets made of hemp ropes. But more serfs were wearing thin short shirts or had simply taken off their clothes, scooping up handfuls of messy seaweed from the cold sea water.
The civilians were not idle either. They rolled up their sleeves and trouser legs and were required to transport the seaweed picked by the serfs to the high rocks for drying.
Although the serfs and commoners had many doubts, they were used to obeying the orders of the noble lords, so they did not have any questions or objections, but just worked hard to do the work ordered by Bruno.
Old Ford was standing not far behind Bruno. Although he felt a tightness in his chest yesterday and fainted, he rushed over with his men as soon as he woke up.
Old Ford saw the actions of the serfs and civilians, and he understood that these black things were probably the "food" that the bastard L'Hopital had mentioned to Bruno.
But... is this thing really edible? Old Ford is skeptical about this.
While Bruno was observing the serfs working, Old Ford quietly squeezed next to Bruno and said, "Master, the census of Idar has been completed."
"Really? You did it pretty quickly." Bruno said casually.
"It's just that..." Old Ford said hesitantly, "In order to collect population information, the parchment stored in the territory is almost exhausted."
"Parchment?" Bruno was stunned for a moment when he heard this. After all, he had long been accustomed to thinking about problems with the mindset of Earth. Therefore, when he ordered the census, he was not aware of the problem of paper.
The production of parchment is extremely difficult. Not only does it require peeling off the fur after slaughtering livestock, but it also requires soaking, depilation, natural decay and many other steps. Not only is the process complicated, but it is also extremely time-consuming.
"There's no need to rush to buy new parchment. I heard a passing bard talk about a new method of papermaking a few days ago. But I'll give it a try first..."