Morrigan was once again a very smart lady, and so when her companion was arguing with someone on the street, she was already dealing with a wounded stranger. He was completely unconscious, so the guys had to suffer with this elephant. 110 kg of live weight - this is not a pound of raisins for you. When this carcass walks itself, it's nothing, but when it needs to be carried on itself - it's absolutely terrible. With difficulty and affectionate words for an hour they were able to undress it, wash it, lay it on a couch and treat all wounds. In general, they had time on time, because, not allowing them to sit and take a breath, they knocked on the door. Eric looked out the second floor window - it was an old acquaintance - one of the duke's sergeants. We talked. Let's go to Friedrich. There he was already waiting for new friends who portrayed themselves as humility. Banberg listened to the young baron and decided to investigate the incident, participants of the city limits do not leave, and all the disputable property to be transferred to the Templars for storage. Behind each figurant, of course, was established surveillance, so that he did not run away. Here such an ill luck. Now the armor will not work, since the spy will certainly inform the duke, and he will show interest, he is a curious and savvy nature. I had to look for another occupation. So it was necessary to spend the second evening in meditations. Lucky for the third evening, and quite by accident - he lowered his gaze to the crossbow. See? He had long wanted to do this toy and bring it to mind, but did not reach his hands. So in the morning he went to the familiar merchant, who often visited the downstream Danube Bude, and ordered him a short but very powerful composite bow for the crossbow. At the same time he himself began to create a normal bed with a butt and tension and descent mechanisms. For the tensioning mechanism, one condition was set: he must be cocked, including riding a horse. A difficult task, since the onions ordered in Buda should have a tension force of about 180 kg. For this time - it turned out incredibly powerful shorty, because its total length of the wooden part did not exceed 50 cm. In general, Eric stopped on a system with a lowering mechanical gearbox of gears, which were driven by a lever. The lever was located on the underside of the bed, it was quite long, which increased the speed of the platoon, and after performing its function it was fixed along the bed. The trigger was made on the basis of a slightly modified traditional "apple" and turned out to be soft, with an effort of only 5 kg. Among other things, the bed was a single piece with a butt, which was made in the French rifle style, with a pistol grip. The platoon system was such that three turns of the lever brought the crossbow to the cocked state. During the platoon it was possible to rest against the hip and hold the handle made above the bolt channel, or in the old way to rest on the ground. Well, in the end, another nice detail - a trigger was added to the trigger mechanism, which fixed the bolt in the box and did not allow it to fall out, fixing it tight so that the crossbow could be shaken any way. So two months that the investigation was going on, he was absorbed in the manufacture of a fairly sophisticated design of propelling weapons. At the end of July, he was brought onions, for which he had to pay two brands, and he assembled the construction. It turned out quite compact and easy, since the weight of all the metal parts made of hardened bulat was only half a kilogram. The crossbow was cocked, of course, taut, but from a distance a hundred paces flew into the spangelhelm so that the bolt, breaking through the front part of the helmet, also crumpled the occipital. Yes, not just holed, and hitting in the frame, that is, in the thickest part, and this is up to 0. 5 cm of hardened steel. Slight accuracy suffered, as getting into the helmet came only from the tenth shot. This problem was solved by installing in the channel of the bolt the bronze guides. Accuracy, from this, however, has not greatly improved, so the next stage is the work with bolts. When he arrived, he stopped on the rigid plumage of a slightly distorted parabolic shape, and a slight narrowing of the diameter of the short pole of the bolt. This required the fixing of the lock and the guide channel of the bolt. Two months of lack of sleep and hard labor gave him a candy, able to put the bolts in the helmet at a distance of a hundred paces from the first or second shot, while if the bolt was not in the frame, it flew through, punching both walls. The maximum range of fire could not be determined because of the ban on leaving Vienna. The last four days Eric was bored and made himself bolts for a new crossbow. For this fascinating occupation, he found the old sergeant, who called him to Frederick. The local duke turned out to be quite an enterprising companion. Covering himself with the investigation, he, it turns out, learned the opportunity to get a lot of happiness in the event that something happens to his French friends. Finding out that he did not actually face any danger, he declared them thugs, that in broad daylight they killed Byzantine merchants and attacked the valiant Baron. What happened next, in general, obviously - the knights, stunned by the impudence of the ruler of Vienna, were hanged, not allowing to recover, and their property, together with the merchants' property, was decided to be divided. Of course, fraternally - the duke got almost everything. Specifically, our baron, who so successfully jostled in his own business, relied on all the personal property of the French, as well as the twentieth of the merchandise of all merchants. But even that was a lot. Two dozen Haubeks with a variety of skeleton helmets, as many copies and swords, swords from welded bands. In addition, twenty-ten-bucket barrels of excellent Cypriot wine of the brand "Commandaria", which in half a century are recognized as the best in Europe, and sixty cuts of fine woolen cloth, painted in bard, green and cornflower blue. The fabric cuts were a meter wide and twenty meters long. Eric even to place especially this wealth was nowhere. Therefore, he decided to share, playing for the future. Leaving for himself one barrel of wine, the rest distributed to churches and temples of the city, presented as a gift. The clergy were on the seventh heaven with happiness - to get so much excellent wine for free! He carried the canvas immediately to the Templars' courtyard and donated it, leaving only two 20-meter cuts of each color. Jean de Ree appreciated this gift, and completely free of charge. So literally the next day the courier of the order went to Cyprus with a report describing the genuinely friendly behavior of the venerable Eric von Lenzburg, as well as his noble deeds. In other words, our baron was enrolled in the Order's friends. Where, by the way, he was already invited, but he refused, referring to the weakness of spirit and deep interest in worldly affairs. However, the things that he received for a small battle at the "door of the house" turned out to be a trifle, compared to what the Duke Frederick I Banberg decided to present to him from himself. For the disinterested protection of the dispossessed, courage and skill in military matters, Baron Eric von Lenenburg was promoted to knights. In general, walked in honor of this case to glory. We had to pay for this joy, of course, to our newly-made knight, so that one more brand evaporated from his reserves. As for our friend Ostrohn, he was still in bed at the time of the verdict of the court, the French were already severely chopping him up, we can say with all his heart. But even in this state, having heard such pleasant news, he was absolutely delighted and literally brightened his face, filling with joy and pleasure, which only accelerated his recovery.