King of Mercenaries

Chapter 12: The Hoffman Estate

When the three figures of Marin and the two brothers appeared on the dirt road in front of Hoffman Estate, a skinny serf ran in to inform the Hoffman family.

"Master, madam, Master Marin is back!"

"What, is Marin back?" Old Hoffman stood up, but anger quickly fell to his face.

As for the old Hoffman's wife, Mary Hoffman, she is full of joy:

"It's good to come back, just come back! I won't see you for a few months, I miss him!"

"What do you want him to do? This waste thing, I let him sign up for the emperor's army, and this time he came back, obviously not selected, he is too incompetent!" Old Hoffman angry.

"You are an old thing, my son can come back safely. Why do you have to give the emperor a life? Then again, Marin is only 16 years old and his body is growing. I said wait until he is at least 18 years old, then you can drive him off!" Madame Mary was not happy, and made a fuss. Old Hoffman seemed to be somewhat afraid, but he did not say anything. In fact, Frings Hoffman is a very stubborn person. However, he was rushing for Maring to leave two years in advance. Therefore, in front of Mrs. Mary's anger, he had to be silent.

"Father, I heard that Marin is back?" Flint's eldest son Adler Hsien rushed into the manor's living room and asked. He just came out from the training ground in the backyard and heard that his brother came back and immediately rushed to the living room.

"Well, come back, at the gate."

"So let's go meet him?"

"To him? I am an old man, can I have a son to meet his brother? Go!" Old Hoffman blinked directly.

"Okay..." Adler did not argue with his stubborn old man and went directly to the gate of the manor.

At the same time, Mrs. Mary, who missed her son, went out together with him.

At the gate of the manor, Marin first ordered the old Quincy, who guarded the gate of the manor, to bring his horse and two cows to the barn of the manor:

"Hey, Uncle Quincy, trouble you with these two guys to tie the three animals into the barn."

"Yes, Master Marin, I will do it!" After that, the old Quincy took Kahn and Kohler to the barn to shack the animals.

Marin just turned his head and saw a humanoid monster with a height of 1,9 meter rushing to him.

Marin was shocked and asked to pull the knife. But he suddenly remembered that his saber seems to have just been placed on the cart. Because he was home, he did not intend to carry weapons with him. In a hurry, he had to make a move, and he rushed to the shadow.

"Ah--" When the shadows made a cry, Marlin knew that he had made a mistake. Because, this voice was sent by Marin's elder brother Adler.

"Marin, I am kind enough to welcome you, you kicked me!" After Adler, who was tripped to the ground, climbed up, he cried dissatisfied with Marin. He also had no defense at all. He used to open his arms to embrace his younger brother. As a result, he was kicked out without any precautions and was directly overturned to the ground...

"Oh... Adler, I didn't mean it. I just turned around and saw a black shadow rushing at me. I thought someone was attacking me, so... this is my instinctive reaction..." Did not tell Adler, if it is equipped with a saber, Marin may have rushed to cut Adler with the knife.

At this moment, a kindly female voice that made Marin extremely familiar came from behind:

"Marin, my dear son, are you back?"

Marlin suddenly felt a shock, this voice, the memory of his predecessor Marin was too deep. In the memory of his predecessor, when Marin Hoffman was a child, he always cried and went to his mother to seek comfort. At the same time, it is also seeking asylum, so as not to be continued by the old-fashioned old Hoffman.

Then, it seems to be the instinctive reaction of the body,

Marin plunged into the arms of Mrs. Mary:

"Mom, I am back! You are okay!" Involuntarily, it seems that this body instinctive reaction, Marin is very close to Mrs. Mary.

"Good boy, mom is everything, I miss you very much!"

When the mother and son staged a touching scene of mother and child, the sturdy Mr. Adler, but screamed at the side:

"Mom is eccentric, she loved Marin the most, she have not held me since a long time!" In fact, of the sons of Hoffman's family, Mary really loves Marin. Of course, this is also because Marin loves to be spoiled. Isn't there a sentence, "The child who will cry has milk to eat". Keke, it should be said that the child who is spoiled (not the bad way, ex: cocky, arrogant...) will make the mother love more.

Then, Marin took off Mrs. Mary's arm and returned to the main house of Hoffman Estate, and Adler was a little jealous behind Marin. In fact, Adler is only 19 years old, still a big boy. However, his strength is too strong, and the height is as tall as 1,9 meter, which is much higher than the old Hoffman. It seems that Adler is a majestic brawny guy, but in fact, Marin knows that Adler is still a big boy, and his mind is not too mature. Of course, when it comes to fighting, the general strong soldier is definitely not his opponent. Marin estimated that he himself could not beat an Adler. Although, both of them have practiced martial arts.

After entering the hall, Marin saw a mad old Hoffman. Out of the fear of the old Hoffman in his memory, Marin gave the old Hoffman a greeting.

"You're back?"

"Yes, father!"

"You failed to apply for the emperor's army?"

"Oh... no, I arrived in Vienna, but the emperor did not mean to recruit soldiers."

"How come? Did the emperor not recruit more than 10,000 people before?"

"It is precisely much because of the huge army that he recruited is more than 16,000 people that the emperor's finances were very tight. he couldn't afford more troops for the time being. So I went to Vienna and I didn't see the emperor recruiting people."

"It turned out to be like this..." Old Hoffman's face turned better.

"Right, isn't Italy going to be a war zone? With the character of the emperor, you should be jealous and enter. If the emperor is in Italy and the French, you should recruit more soldiers and mercenaries." Mrs. Mary suddenly made a noise.

Marin was taken aback, but remembered that his own aging mother seems to be a descendant of the upper aristocracy, and they are more insightful. At least, it's smarter than the old-fashioned old man who only knows how to solve problems with muscles.

"Yes, mother, the emperor will inevitably participate in the Italian war. However, the emperor is short of money, he is now asking for money from the imperial parliament with the representatives of the princes and the city state. But, you know, those princes and city representatives wants to save money so much? I guess this will drag on for a few months. When the emperor is going to get the money, he will have money to recruit new recruits. I plan to go to Vienna again in a few months."

"Oh? Little Marin, how do you know this?" Mrs. Mary was amazed. She grew up watching her second son. Although, Marin is better than Adler, who knows only to talk with muscles, but he is not so eye-catching.

"Oh..." Marin began to think about how to answer this question.

He forgot a bit, his cheap old man is a less intelligent muscle brain, but his own mom wasn't, she was an authentic aristocratic lady is born, clever and knowledgeable. If it wasn't for his mom's family that was betrayed by a coup, this stupid, old man just saved his mom who fled, and staged an old style drama of "the hero saves the beauty". They didn't even have the possibility of coming together.

According to mom herself, she is the granddaughter of Tom Burlock, the former Earl of East Frisia, and the only surviving descendant. Tom Bullock became the ruler of the East Frisian (county) after unifying the 12 Frisian tribes in East Frisian. However, in 1435, he was betrayed by his trusted general Focko Ukena, and killed by the rebels, and the family was killed. However, his second son, Fred, escaped. Later, his wife gave birth to Mary. Later, Ulrich of Cirksena's family replaced Focko Ukena and became the new ruler of East Frisian. But neither Focko Ukena nor the Ulrich family have ever acknowledged Mary's intention to give the throne back to the bloodline of the Brock family. Even, they secretly sent people to kill the young Mary and his father Fred. Because, if it is admitted that there are still people living in the Brock family, their dominance is not justified.

Old Hoffman, in a escort to a baron, went to the north and halfway saved Mary Brock, who was being chased. And poor Fred Bullock, in order to cover his daughter, was killed by the assassin. Since then, the helpless Mary, simply married the old savior, Hoffman. In a word, the Hoffman family, in accordance with the rules of the Germans, actually had the qualification to inherit the East Frisia. But the Middle Ages also talked about strength. The Hoffman family is nothing more than a poor family of knights, and compare it to the more than 3,000 square kilometers territory of the Cirksena family in East Frisia, the strength is a hundred times that the Hoffman family.

Moreover, because Mrs. Mary's Fred's only daughter who was just a common businessman (who was sinking when she was born) was fleeing, the Cirksena family believes that Mary's descendant does not inherit the qualifications of East Frisia. Based on this principle, many aristocrats who originally made a deal with the Brock family did not recognize Mary's status, only as an illegitimate daughter of the Brock family. Of course, the more important reason is that Mary is now helpless and does not have the strength to recapture East Frisia.

However, Mary Brock was educated by his father's aristocrats teachings from a young age, with a high level of education, a smarter head, and a more insightful experience. For example, for the Hoffman family, although the old Hoffman is the master, many decisions are made by Mrs. Mary behind the scenes. The original Marin also saw Mrs. Mary's "powerfulness" and sought her shelter as soon as she was beaten, so that Old Hoffman could not continue.

Since it is difficult to fool the cheap mom, Marin thought about it and thought of an excuse:

"This is the case, Mom, when I left the family, I have encountered an ascetic journey through the world..."

"Ah... ascetic..." The ascetic monk is a rare presence. In the Middle Ages, the priests of Europe, most of them fell into the ruling class and the oppressive class, began to oppress the people themselves to enjoy the benefits.

But under such circumstances, there are still some really devout priests who are able to withstand poverty, rely on the gift of ordinary believers and the hospitality of the abbey, and some are like monks of the oriental. These people are extremely fanatical about religion, their will is very firm, and they are very respected by ordinary people. Moreover, many of these people travel all over the world and are very knowledgeable people.

"Yes, an erudite ascetic. I think he is pitiful, he gave him 10 gold coins!"

"You are a ruin!" Some old Hoffman, who is a little boyish, is a little angry.

"And then?" Mrs. Mary is very interested in this.

"This an ascetic feels that 'equal trade', so he decided to impart a lot of knowledge to me, in exchange!"

"Teaching knowledge? Great luck!" Mrs. Mary, a descendant of the nobility, knows the importance of knowledge.

"Well, this bitterness, once traveled the world, and traveled to the far east..."

"Ah...that huge oriental empire?" exclaimed Mrs. Mary. In the Middle Ages, with the publication of Marco Polo's Travels, Europeans are very much looking forward to the place in the East that is said to be full of gold.

"Yes, he told me a lot about the world and taught me a lot of knowledge..."

Then, Marin began to tell everyone in the Hoffman family, including the younger brothers and sisters who had just returned from the outside, about the "fictional" adventure and the real world. Geography, history, math, politics... that level is no less than that of Mr. Shan Tianfang's storytelling.