124 Monastery

"You may be skeptical, but this is where the world is going. The old methods of sowing and harvesting are a thing of the past. People will always have to eat, but as colonies and trade develop, our grain will lose its importance. Therefore, you develop crafts, trade, production and sciences such as, for example, alchemy..." (MC)

"Wilkomir, you want us to look for a method to turn lead into gold, or maybe a philosopher's stone?" (Tomasz Zamoyski)

"Uncle, the philosopher's stone are fairy tales of old women and fools, and turning lead into gold is easy... you have to mine lead and then sell it, there is no other method. I am talking about something else, about abandoning the religious, magical and elemental aspects in alchemy and focusing only as science and applying that science in everyday life. You must look for talented people in various fields of science and invest in education... but we are departing from the topic. Like you, my main source of income was the sale of grain, but now, although I still sell it, I have a greater margin of profit in the production of apple cider vinegar. It was the same with my furniture , although due to the small market and distance, I had to abandon this business. Think for yourself what you can do in your lands, maybe mines, maybe spirit production... or maybe something else. In my opinion, this is the future." (MC)

I didn't know if I would be able to convince them, but if they do not change, maybe not them, but their sons, will have a hard clash with reality. Despite my sincere desire to introduce new technologies, I was not able to do it... I knew who and when invented the minute hand in the clock, but I couldn't build the clock by myself. The visit of my guests lasted a few days, and then everyone left for their duties and lands... after they left, I started preparations for the war with the Ottoman Empire, my first step was to make Khan and Ataman Koszowy aware of next year's war, with letters I sent Saddat to Crimea and Ivan to Zaporizhia Sich. The Vatican, Austria and Spain I will inform at a later date.

I called Secretary Kowalski to me.

"I'm going away for two or three weeks, have horses ready for me and a few Tatars for protection." (MC)

"Lord, if I can ask, where are you going?"( Secretary Kowalski )

"My new friend, Bishop Mohyła, has pest problems... and I need to help him." (MC)

Like most churches, the Orthodox Church was divided into moderate and radical people... Mohyla was the first, unfortunately Izajasz Kopiński, a radical and illegal metropolitan of Kiev, stood in his way... and that meant that he was also in my way. Although he conspired with Moscow against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and incited the followers of the Orthodox Church, I could neither arrest him nor kill him officially. He had the support of the Cossacks and the peasant mob... but he had to die.

The next day I left for Kiev, traveling through Winnica and Żytomierz, it took us twelve days to get there.

We arrived in the city in the late noon, as I wanted to remain anonymous, I traveled incognito under the assumed name of an Livonian nobleman, Samuel Hernik... after renting an inn on the outskirts of Kiev, I went in search of the Monastery of St. Michael the Archangel.

The temple was not difficult to find, it was a baroque building with seven gilded domes ... after a few hours of discreet observation, I concluded that killing the metropolitan would be very difficult. During the day, the temple was visited by many pilgrims, due to the relics of St. Barbara, at night, apart from the occasional guards in the area monastery, there were a seventy monks inside... the only positive and possible help in my intentions was the ongoing reconstruction of the buildings. I returned to the inn and went to bed. The next morning I summoned the Tatars who were accompanying me.

"You will leave the inn at night, the horses are to be prepared... before you leave town, set a few buildings on fire." (MC)

Just before midnight I left the inn and headed towards the temple, I used the scaffolding to get inside through one of the windows... unfortunately I did not know the layout of the rooms. Although in my previous life I once visited this monastery, it was a reconstruction from the 20th century. In the 1930s, on the orders of the communists, most of the monastery was blown up, and it only began to be rebuilt in the late 1990s. There was nothing left for me to do but check each room... which was long lasting and increased the risk of failure... I took off my shoes, the stone floor was terribly cold.

I walked from room to room, slowly and carefully opening each door, fearing every squeak... I approached the bed, grabbed the sleeping monk by the mouth so that he would not scream and stabbed his knife in his heart... another one is dead, it's already thirty-fourth... I looked out the window in the distance, saw the glow of burning buildings, the Tatars did a good diversion.

t all took maybe four hours, but I was sure the metropolitan died... he died like the others, for no reason, quickly and painlessly... I had a small bottle of Greek fire with me, spilled it in the room and set it on fire. I made a makeshift torch and went from room to room setting fire to whatever I could... I feel sorry for the building, but I cannot let a seventy murdered monks with knife wounds to be found... It is a real pity to destroy such a building... perhaps I will give additional funds to Bishop Mohyla for the reconstruction of this temple.

I got out the same way I got inside, walked away a few hundred meters and waited... half an hour later the flames were already so large that they were visible from every corner of the city... I saw people in a hurry to extinguish the fire, but without success... It went better than I expected... killing seventy defenseless monks while they slept was nothing to brag about, but it was a necessity, the death of the metropolitan gave me and Bishop Mohyła seven years of relative peace, but now I have to leave the city... walking along the side streets I returned to the inn where the horse was waiting for me... and only now I realized that I do not have shoes on.