"Let’s go."
He beckoned to a few people, saying, "Let’s go get something to eat."
One advantage of Great Britain is that salt is cheap, and fish are cheap. They couldn’t afford good fish, so their daily meat intake depended on a bit of smoked dried fish, tough and not so fishy. The thriving fishing industry in Southampton benefited surrounding areas, driving fish prices down considerably. People would buy salt and get fish as a bundle.
As for other meats, their group couldn’t even think about it—everyone was dirt poor.
However, since arriving in the British Province, they did look considerably healthier.
On an island by the sea, could you actually starve?
A quick-witted young man caught up and looked at Roland, asking in doubt, "Boss, didn’t you just recently convert to the church?"
"Isn’t it inappropriate to go to a druidic ritual stone now?"
Smack.
Roland raised his hand and gave him a smack, rolling his eyes as he said, "That’s to get the priest to give us some food."
"Do you understand sacrifice?"
"Later, we’ll act a bit pitiable. These priests and such will give us food as charity."
There’s a certain wisdom in being a small figure.
Roland had been hanging around the Gaul Region, believing in the Arian Sect, because priests, in their missionary efforts, would occasionally help the poor with a meal. Usually, just one meal, and he’d take the opportunity to eat more, eat and take, enough for a day or two.
But since he’d come to Great Britain, naturally he needed to be flexibly adaptable. Druidism, sure, he could believe in it, and see if he could get some food there.
Whoever’s useful, I’ll believe in them.
Roland was loyal to the Governor of Britain; as for religious sects, he’d mix it up a bit when reaching the next town, see if he could scrounge some holy meal.
His principle was pragmaticism: don’t waste faith; whoever provides benefits, that’s who I’ll believe in.
This was a small Avalon ritual stone.
The Avalon faith was mostly in remote areas, in native tribes of Britain, near the mountainous forested areas of Cornwall, Dorset, and Wales.
There was only one Druid in charge of maintenance with two apprentice priests because the place was rather remote, with not many believers coming. Seeing Roland and his group arriving, they immediately got overjoyed seeing these obvious exiles. Getting them to convert to Avalon faith would be quite an accomplishment in missionary work.
The Avalon faith also had its own sect, formalized and organized, with the full name being the ’British Druid Priesthood’. On the battlefield, they could also boost morale, serving as a special temple troop type.
Roland was quite the expert in mooching off food and drink.
He pretended reverence for the Avalon faith, then performed a simple ritual, digging painfully from tattered pockets to offer a few small dried fish, no bigger than five or six fingers, to the Druid priest.
Truly pitiful.
Truly poor.
The Druid priest twitched at the corner of his mouth, reluctant to accept. The British Catholic Church often did charity work, and while the Druid Priesthood was poorer, they couldn’t be too stingy.
So before long, Roland returned joyfully, having eaten and taken, using cloth to hold things, and still holding a hard pear, biting it. The pear was produced in Mesopotamia and spread through Greece and Rome to Great Britain. The Druids managed the forested lands, and there were large orchards near the Avalon ritual stone.
The rest each got a little share.
A short exile youth, carrying a spear and chewing on a pear, gave Roland a thumbs-up.
Well done.
Back when the Arian sect priests were on missions, Roland would occasionally sponge off them. Now that he was in Great Britain, he continued his mooching.
The Druid was even happy to send them off from the Avalon ritual stone.
And stated that in some time, they’d bring disciples to their village, not only to teach them farming but also to give them some agricultural tools, even thinking of ways to lend them a cow.
The Avalon faith had been undergoing changes recently.
Many Druids now also had to learn farming knowledge, and when spreading faith, they had to include ’agricultural’ divine roles. The biggest festival of the Avalon faith had become the ’Harvest Festival’, with the entire sect’s beliefs shifting, even changing the image of druids towards experts in agriculture, focusing on constructing a divine sanctuary of Avalon faith around ’agriculture’.
Cultivate and Battle.
The cultivation was for Avalon faith; the battle was for the Victory Goddess.
A little episode.
Roland led his group along the avenue for two days, finally reaching the gathering camp. Others gnawed on dry rations all the way, while he loitered around churches and ritual stones, eating and taking, and even looked healthier than before.
However, he felt that the priests in Britain weren’t as generous as the Arian priests, so he decided to convert to Avalon faith in the future.
Definitely not for that cow the Druid priest promised to lend them!
.........