Being a Life Player in the Middle Ages

Although Mia suffered from severe sleep deprivation because she had expended too much energy in making the bracelet and had gone to bed late, in the eyes of Martha, who was unaware of the situation, it seemed that Mia was too excited to sleep because she was going to the cathedral for worship.

Yes, the scale of several cathedrals in Constantiburg is incomparable to those in other cities, especially the Cathedral of the Holy Peace that Martha is going to take Mia to this time. It is the oldest and most magnificent church in Eastern Basilica. This church was built by the order of His Majesty who founded Constantiburg at that time. It was born at the same time as Constantinople. For all believers in this country, it is an absolute honor to be able to go to the Cathedral of the Holy Peace to worship.

After washing up and quickly eating some bread to fill her stomach, Mia followed Martha and John out.

Although today is a rest day, obviously not everyone can rest. For example, the clergy in the church may not be able to rest, and so can the coachmen.

Constantiburg is a new Roman city that completely imitates the ancient Roman city. The city is divided into 14 districts. The Cathedral of the Holy Peace is located in the east of Constantinople, in the second district south of the Golden Horn, on the first hill of the seven hills in Constantinople. Martha and her friends live in the sixth district. In addition to local residents, there are also several gathering areas for people from other countries in this area. However, the location of Martha and her friends is far away from those gathering areas, and they basically have no intersection on weekdays.

The distance between the second district and the sixth district is quite far, and it takes a long time to walk there, so they need to take a car. It is a donkey cart pulled by several donkeys. There is a lot of space on the car, and there are other passengers besides them. It only costs a few numi to get on the car, but because there are so many passengers, the place is very crowded, and it is not easy to find a seat. Fortunately, they got on the car relatively early, and the seats were still empty.

Mia dozed off the whole time during the ride. Martha was worried that she would hit her head, so she just took her into her arms. Mia didn't hesitate and continued to sleep on her shoulder. She slept until she got off the bus, and only then did she barely regain some energy.

It was not good to be inattentive. Although Martha looked like a woman who would dote on her children, they were going to church to worship. If they dozed off during the worship, it would be regarded as disrespectful to God. In serious cases, they might be kicked out of the church directly. Mia couldn't afford to lose face.

Before entering the cathedral, Martha handed Mia an Orthodox cross.

Unlike the Catholic cross, the Orthodox cross that Martha gave was a structure of three horizontal and one vertical lines. Based on the well-known cross, it had a much shorter horizontal line on the top and a slightly longer oblique horizontal line at the bottom, which seemed to symbolize the "God is a Trinity" in the Orthodox doctrine. However, as far as Mia could remember, this kind of cross did not seem to be used by all Orthodox denominations.

The service was not very long. The entire process, from singing, calling, prayer, sermon, reading the Bible to the final blessing, lasted only a little over an hour.

However, Mia tried hard to stay alert throughout the whole process. The choir's singing and the clergy's preaching and chanting were so hypnotic that if she hadn't pinched herself from time to time, she would have fallen asleep while standing.

Therefore, Mia didn't hear clearly what they were saying from beginning to end, and she didn't even have the chance to appreciate the magnificent church.

Fortunately, she still looked like a believer on the surface, and everyone else was focused on the worship process and didn't pay special attention to a strange little girl like her, so Mia was able to get away with it.

But this could not be hidden from Martha who had been watching her. Seeing her so listless, Martha was not very angry. It was just that she had originally planned to take Mia to visit the cathedral after the service, but now it seemed that it could not be done.

So at the end of Monday, Martha and John took Mia back home.

When they got on the carriage for the return trip, Mia fell asleep again, which made Martha laugh out of anger.

She complained to her husband in a tone that was clearly filled with intimacy, "You've got to pay more attention to Mia's sleep schedule in the future. I think she must have slept very late last night, otherwise how could she be so sleepy?"

No matter how excited she was, she couldn't be this sleepy. Mia must have not listened to her and stayed up late.

But it's understandable. They bought a lot of things yesterday and decorated the room. Mia probably stayed up late fiddling with those things.

John nodded silently in agreement.

···

Maybe because she slept all the way there and back, she finally got enough sleep. When she got home, Mia finally got rid of her sleepiness and was completely awake.

As soon as she woke up, she became energetic and prepared to process the fabrics she bought yesterday.

Today is Sunday and everyone needs to rest, so the herbal medicine shop is naturally closed. It was not open when they came back. The family of three ate something quickly, and after cleaning up, the round dining table on the first floor was temporarily requisitioned.

Mia took out the papyrus and reed pen she had bought yesterday, and sat at the dining table to draw the design. Egypt is now the granary of the East Bai Empire, so there are many goods from Egypt in Constantiple. Compared with expensive parchment, the price of papyrus is very low. Moreover, the climate of Constantiple is Mediterranean like Egypt, so papyrus can also be preserved for a long time here. Therefore, most people here are more accustomed to using papyrus, and only use parchment to record some formal written documents. Of course, it is not ruled out that some rich people like to use parchment because they think it is more stylish and can highlight their status.

However, although the matching reed pen is cheap, it has obvious shortcomings. It is very easy to wear out and it can easily damage the writing material. Mia has to be very careful when writing. However, this is the only kind of pen that can be used now, and even the feather pen has not been invented yet.

While Mia was drawing, Martha sat by and made the panties while she watched.

John went out after finishing his meal. According to Martha, he went to help Bayard clean the house next door. The young knight now lives alone, but he only comes back once or twice a month. When he follows His Majesty on a campaign, he may not come back for a whole year. If the house is always empty, it will easily decay and become dilapidated, so he asked John and Martha to help him clean it regularly.

The two of them don’t have much free time on weekdays, so they usually do the cleaning on weekends.

"Ever since his two older sisters married far away and his parents passed away, Bayad's family has been left with no one. In my opinion, Bayad should get married sooner and bring a wife home. That way, it would feel like home, and he wouldn't be away all day."

Martha was talking about Bayad's family affairs. Bayad was eighteen years old this year and could have married and had children in this era.

"But I can understand that. He was only sixteen when he started serving in the military. He's been in the army for the past few years, and there's no one at home. Who can worry about his lifelong affairs?"

Moreover, the Dongbai Empire implemented a universal military service system. Regardless of class or status, all male citizens of the empire had to serve in the military from the age of sixteen and could not retire until they were forty. However, the annual service time was not long. City residents like John generally only had to fulfill 40 days of military obligations for the city. If they were subjects of a lord, it depended on the lord's arrangements.

But it is different for soldiers like Bayard who join the army. In addition to the days of compulsory military service, they will still fight in the army for the emperor and lords, but they will receive a salary. Unless they are physically disabled and cannot continue to serve in the army, they can only retire from the army at the age of 40.

For example, John's leg was injured when he was serving in the army when he was young. Although he only walks with a limp now, he can't join the army again. However, he still has to serve now.

——Yes, although Martha and her husband always say that they are old, in fact, they are both not yet 40 years old. However, the average life expectancy of people in this era may not even exceed 40 years old. In the eyes of others, they are indeed considered old.

If nothing unexpected happens, Bayard will not retire until he reaches a certain age. However, he has performed very well in the army and has even become the emperor's personal guard. If he works hard in the future, he may be able to get a title and become a true aristocrat.

So even though Martha kept nagging Bayard to get married and start a family soon, she only said it in private and never said it in front of Bayard. After all, the most important thing for him now was to make achievements. Once he really got the title, he could marry a noble lady.

Mia, who was drawing carefully, didn't care about Martha's tone that urged her to get married. She was actually about the same age as Bayard and didn't think it was too late not to get married at the age of eighteen. In her opinion, even getting married at the age of thirty was not too late. If you really don't like marriage, there is nothing wrong with being single.

However, it seems a bit difficult to stay single in this era, especially for women. If you don't want to be gossiped about behind your back, you can only become a nun. But if you are not afraid of rumors, this is not the only way to go.

Mia's thoughts drifted away for a bit, then she was caught back.

Love and marriage are still a long way off for her.

Martha was chattering about family matters, and after that Bayard talked about other neighbors, but her hands never stopped moving. The underwear she was making now was based on Mia's previous style, but the size was her own. When Mia knew that she had to make two more pairs for John, she hesitated for a long time and finally drew a diagram of a pair of men's shorts for her, saying that her father used to wear these, and she saw the maid washing them at home so she wrote it down.