Chapter 38: Hiding the Truth

Dragging his tired body, George slowly chewed on a meat pie he had just bought: “Wow! This taste is surprisingly good.”

The outermost crust was fried until it was crispy and fragrant, making a “crunch” sound with every bite. When he bit a little deeper, it was different from the outside. As part of the dough, this inner part still held some moisture and felt slightly chewy and soft. At the same time, the countless air holes of various sizes added even more to its fluffy and elastic texture. Just considering the crust alone, it was already made perfectly crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. However, the only flaw was the lack of additives like lye noodles, which made the crust taste a bit sour if chewed too much.

The meat filling inside was lamb mixed with some cheap, mild-flavored herbs, making it look fresh and juicy. Unfortunately, the livestock raised here were not castrated, which gave the lamb an extra fishy and musky smell on top of its natural gamey taste. The bland herbs could not cover up this negative effect. If a modern person who had just transmigrated, especially one who had traveled in a physical body, came here, they might find it hard to swallow. However, for George, who had lived in this era for a long time, this food was already quite good, and for a Commoner, it was even a rare delicacy.

“I didn’t expect such a small place to have its own specialty snacks,” George said subconsciously while looking around at the suddenly bustling surroundings. “Has it become trading day again? I didn’t expect that the pain people felt not long ago would start to improve under the influence of trading day.”

The so-called trading day referred to a form of commodity trading activity held regularly. It was said that the Church first started it, and at that time, it was often held near a Temple on religious festival days. Early on, these events seemed to still carry religious rituals and activities, but slowly, this matter gradually turned secular. It became a common form of trade organization in times and places where the commodity economy was not developed.

However, trading days could not be held just whenever one wanted; they followed specific periodic patterns. These were often closely related to the local products of the village or town where they were held and the patterns of the Caravans passing through. Larger trading days would even attract some wandering artists looking for a meal to come and perform. Of course, true cities like Poitou or Karada did not need trading days, or rather, every day there was a trading day.

“Anyway, this scene is definitely much better than the lifeless look from before. The leadership of the town knows how to make good use of the resources around them!” George sighed, comparing the situation in the town from two days ago with the current one. However, he did not know what to say about his own situation.

Wiping the oil stains from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, George took some shaky steps back to the camp ground. As soon as he stepped onto the carriage, George immediately sat down on a recliner. Having just escaped death, he desperately controlled his breathing to adjust the balance between his mind and body, hoping not to show too many flaws when meeting others later.

‘Luckily, the two Knights did not see me when I came back. I will ask Ilena to bring lunch in later. By the time dinner comes, my condition should not be this bad. At that time, I can just say that I tried to recover early, but I was too aggressive, causing a mismatch between my body and mind.’ Feeling lucky that he had not been caught by the two true leaders of the team, George turned the recliner into a bed. He immediately assumed a posture with his five hearts facing the sky and began the three-long-two-short breathing method, which involved three long and slow inhales accompanied by two short and quick exhales. At the same time, he relaxed his body, did not think about anything, and let his mind enter a state of emptiness.

“George, are you in there?” The voice of Sir Val came from outside the carriage door.

‘Impossible! It must be too soon. I shouldn’t have been seen by him just now. Besides my spiritual sense becoming dull, my eyesight shouldn’t have gotten worse, right?’ George felt a sudden panic in his heart. However, George knew that since Sir Val had spoken, it meant he was certain George was inside the carriage.

‘Forget it! If it is a blessing, it is not a disaster. If it is a disaster, it cannot be avoided.’ Holding this thought, George answered, “I am resting! Is there something wrong? Mr. Val.”

“Hiren told me that you did not seem normal when you came back, so I wanted to see what was going on.” Although Sir Val’s tone was not heavy, for some reason, it conveyed a feeling that brooked no refusal.

‘Is it that big-mouthed guy?’ George remembered that Hiren’s performance in front of the tent at that time seemed like he was guarding something. That meant Sir Val was inside handling some confidential matters at the time. ‘Why didn’t I think of that immediately back then! It seems the impact of this injury on me is much bigger than I imagined.’

‘What is the most important thing right now is how to bluff my way through.’ Forced to do so, George decided to wait and see and adapt to the situation: “I also feel a bit strange right now! It seems like my body is not obeying me.”

With a “snap,” the carriage door was opened. Sir Val quickly came to George’s side. He used his hand to straighten George’s head, pulled back his eyelids, and looked directly into his pupils. George felt as if someone had seen through his entire body. The hair on his body stood straight up one by one. Feeling guilty and worried that his secret might be discovered, George found that his heart was beating faster than usual, uncontrollably.

It felt like only an instant, or perhaps it had been a very long time. Sir Val let go of his hand on George’s face, stood up straight, and stroked his chin. He shook his head and nodded from time to time, not knowing what he was thinking.

“Father, I have brought Mr. Coke over,” Hiren’s rough voice came from outside.

Daniel, who was following behind him, had sharp eyes. He grabbed Hiren, who was about to speak again, and put his right hand in front of his mouth, raising his index finger to make a silence gesture. Then, standing on his tiptoes, he whispered in Hiren’s ear, “Can’t you see your father is thinking about something? If you interrupt his thoughts, you will be in big trouble.”

Hearing this, Hiren nodded with a sympathetic expression.

Meanwhile, at the outpost where George had returned earlier, Sir Bart was asking the Tax Collector Simpson, “Are you saying that yesterday, the Lord asked about the site with large stones and wooden posts there?”

“Yes, Sir Knight. At that time, Mr. Kule, the sheriff, pointed out the direction to him.” Saying this, the Tax Collector pointed with his finger in a general direction.

“Oh! Are you sure it was that direction?” Sir Bart looked in the direction pointed by the Tax Collector.

The Tax Collector patted his chest and assured, “It is definitely correct and cannot be wrong. This morning, the Lord also came back from that direction.”

“Oh! Is that so?” Sir Bart’s eyes sparkled with interest. “If there are no problems, I will treat you to a drink when I have some free time in the next couple of days.”

“How could I possibly accept that? Sir Knight.” The Tax Collector said politely on the surface, but his excited expression betrayed him.

Sir Bart turned and shouted to Sir Stark, who was standing next to the carriage and chatting with his Private Troops, “We have found a suspicious location. Let’s go take a look immediately to see if we find anything.”

“Alright! Alright!” Sir Stark said something to the soldiers nearby and then walked over.

The two Knights ran towards the direction pointed by the Tax Collector. With a direct purpose in mind, they were not as concerned about the crops in the fields as George was. Along the way, countless vegetables and wheat were destroyed under their metal horse boots. Seeing this scene, the Tax Collector could not help but cover his head with his hand.

On the other hand, Sir Val raised his head as if he had thought of something. He made a gesture to Hiren and Daniel outside, signaling them to wait a little longer. He took one step forward, placed his palm on top of George’s head, and gripped the skin on the surface of George’s crown with his five fingers slightly tightening. Then, he closed his eyes.

“Thump! Thump!” George clearly felt the pulse coming from the palm of the large hand pressing on his head. Then, that pulse became faster and more obvious. At the same time, George’s heartbeat changed due to the frequency of that pulse. As the two approached each other, very quickly, when the two frequencies coincided, George felt as if all the pores on his body had opened up, as if he was breathing freely. To use an old saying to describe that comfortable feeling, it was like eating a ginseng fruit.

Similarly, under such frequency fluctuations, George’s Divine Soul actually began to actively absorb the Spiritual Qi and blood energy from his body. Although it seemed like a weak cycle of exchange, just like breathing, this alone was enough to make George surprised. You see, George did not have any method on hand to mobilize the blood energy of his physical body to nourish his Divine Soul; he could only rely on the natural mutual influence of the two.

‘I didn’t expect such whole-body fluctuations to have such great benefits.’ George’s heart felt a bit excited. He did not care if others thought he was stealing his family’s Secret Art. He began to mobilize the blood energy and organs of his entire body to reach that frequency.

“Thump! Thump!” Sir Bart felt the resonance between his own body frequency and George’s. He opened his eyes and looked at George in surprise. After confirming that the other party could control himself, he shook his head, sighed softly, and then let go of his hand.

George did not have much awareness of everything happening outside. His full attention was focused on his own body. Although he had not received guidance from Visualization, George could not accurately understand the true state of his Divine Soul. However, just from the feeling, the reaction of the Divine Soul was very good.

Just at this moment, Sir Bart and Sir Stark had arrived at the site where George had practiced earlier. Although George had tidied up a little before leaving, seeing the current situation, the two of them frowned repeatedly.

Sir Bart picked up a small fragment of the broken wooden post from before and observed it carefully. Sir Stark, on the other hand, walked back and forth near the site, as if looking for something. Suddenly, the latter’s eyes lit up, and he quickly quickened his pace.