25 Don't Cry

For the sake of appearances and for the sake of an alibi, I went back the same way I came to the river. I also caught two hares, which was relatively easy thanks to Weles' blessing, wild animals did not run away at my sight and I could get very close to them... then I got on my horse and went straight to Jazłowiec ... the rest of the day was going to be rather boring ... murder in the morning, and writing a historical novel in the afternoon... The most important thing is to lead a varied and balanced life.

Jerzy's body was not found until the next day. Foxes, wolves or other wild animals had already managed to make a free buffet of his corpse, which made it difficult to guess the cause of death... Of course, I pretended to be surprised and that I didn't know anything.

I decided to visit Sveta in her house and offer my condolences ... and suddenly I remembered an old joke.

"The man went to the store and asked the salesman if there were black condoms. "Why do you need black condoms? ", to which the man replied "You know, my friend died and I wanted to express my condolences to his wife. " ... Black humor, the essence of life.

But there will be time for such condolences with Sveta, now I wanted to see how she felt and where it would be best to set fire. I did not want to cause a great uncontrolled fire to break out in Jazłowiec and I did not want her children to suffer during the fire, I wanted to make her life sad and difficult, not to break Sveta completely... Although perhaps a slightly injured child would not be a bad idea, or suddenly some creditors of her husband will show up, asking her to pay his debts... I need to think about it.

From the outside, her house looked like it had no more than two rooms and a kitchen, which was not too big. It was all made of wood and its roof was thatched, which would make it easier for me to set it on fire. There was a group of people in front of the house, I don't know if they were neighbors or relatives, when they saw me they bowed low, the men took off their hats and immediately made a way for me. I opened the door, there were a few more people inside, I headed to the room, Sveta was sitting on the bed, it was obvious that she was crying not so long ago.

"Lord? ... I couldn't be in the castle today ..." (Sveta)

"I heard what happened, I'm so sorry ... He was a good and cheerful man. I didn't know him very well, but I liked him ... but apparently God had other plans for your husband. You don't have to think about work, I can do it for a few days without you, although it will not be easy." (MC)

"Thank you Lord, but I have to work ... my children, I myself have to ..." (Sveta)

"If you think about money, you don't have to worry, I won't hurt you..." (MC)

As proof of this, I took two thalers from the purse and placed it on the table.

"It's for a funeral, or a mass for his souls. If you need anything, tell me." (MC)

Sveta fell to her knees, began to cry, took my hand and kissed it.

"Thank you, thank you Lord..." (Sveta)

I leaned down, picked up Svete, hugged her and started stroking her head and then her back ... to anyone who saw it it looked like I was comforting her ... in fact I was comforting her, only sometimes my hand accidentally touched her buttocks.

"Don't cry anymore, everything will be fine ... don't cry. I believe that God will reward you for your difficult situation." (MC)

I don't know if a minute or two passed, I sat Sveta on the bed, said goodbye and left her house. It was starting to get a bit too hot there ... a few more minutes and I don't know how it would end. I'm not made of stone, although I am menally over 40, I have a teenager's body and his hormones.

The funeral took place the next day, but I did not attend ... it is enough for me to spend another two thalers, I will not waste my precious time.

I spent most of my time writing "Teutonic Knights", I was close to finishing them, and only waited for the return of Secretary Kowalski from Lviv, if the price is not too high, I will print more copies, if it is expensive I will have to limit myself to 200 copies. I was also thinking about translating this book into other languages, but the translation into Turkish and Latin did not make much sense, there was still German ... although I doubt the popularity of this book in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire, I decided to translate it.

Two days later, Secretary Kowalski returned from Lviv, the cost of printing one copy of the book, of course, depending on the number of pages and the number of characters, varied from one to four thalers, the bookbinder was not included in the price.

According to my calculations, if I wanted to print two hundred copies, the cost together with the binding would be four thalers for one copy, or two ducats ... which would give a total of 400 ducats. I knew that I was not doing it for profit, but 400 ducats is not a small amount, for such money I could buy 1.5 tons of gunpowder... Ultimately, I decided to print one hundred copies in Polish and one hundred in German.

Unfortunately, secretary Kowalski did not manage to recruit any gunsmith or bell founder to cast cannons, but with other craftsmen there was no such problem ... I got a list of people and professions who wanted to settle in Podolia, tempted by the possibility of receiving land.