Meanwhile, Edward gave him a look, and the Moscow Prince, seeing that look, roughly understood something, but he did not speak, only waited.
Edward's subsequent introduction also explained his identity, proving Rostislav's guess—King Andrew's illegitimate son.
However, what concerned the Moscow Prince was that Edward said Zhe'erji had voluntarily asked to follow him after hearing he was going to meet the Moscow Prince.
But the strangeness only lasted for a while, and the Moscow Prince did not take it seriously.
He thought this illegitimate son wanted to get to know more people to prepare for the future.
After all, he was an illegitimate son, and his half-brother, who was bound to be exiled, was unlikely to support him—not to mention, given his aunt's attitude, he couldn't even stay by his brother's side.
Perhaps due to his illegitimate status, Zhe'erji was very reserved when facing Rostislav, and there was a clear look of envy in his eyes.
Although they were of similar age, Rostislav was already a general famous throughout many countries.
For him personally, what struck him was Rostislav's legitimate birth, as he was, after all, an illegitimate son with no status, constantly ordered around.
However, Zhe'erji quickly adjusted his expression and emotions and began to tell the Moscow Prince about the past and present of Hungary's paganism.
Zhe'erji clearly had a very deep understanding of the local Hungarian paganism, and through his explanation, Rostislav was able to understand this religion.
As early as when the Magyars were still roaming the grasslands, this belief system, led by the sky god istvan, accompanied them, believing that the gods would choose messengers to descend among people and lead them to a better future.
Even after arriving in Pannonia, this belief still existed in people's hearts. Magyar raiders fought and slaughtered in the name of istvan, spreading slaughter, death, and the divine name far and wide.
It was not until the reign of King istvan that this country was able to convert to Christianity, and this king was also crowned King of Hungary by the Pope.
Although the king led the country to convert to Christianity, just like Rus', conversion was simple, but spreading the Christian faith throughout this land was very difficult.
King istvan himself suppressed countless pagan riots, using fire and sword to promote the faith, but even so, the actual scope of the Kiev Church's rule remained very narrow.
After his death, Hungary fell into civil strife, foreign invasions, and pagan rebellions. Chaos became the country's theme song. During this time, pagans made a comeback, countless churches were burned, countless priests were killed, and the pagan temples that had been torn down were rebuilt.
The largest pagan rebellion occurred in 1046, and its scope affected the entire country. It was not until the leader of the rebel army, Chief Vata, was killed that this great chaos came to an end.
However, the pagan forces remained strong. Due to the need for a united front with the pagans, after everything ended, King Andrew did not launch a bloody judgment against the pagans. Hungary, having experienced decades of chaos, could no longer withstand such a large-scale internal cleansing.
It was also for this reason that Vata's son, Yanos, still served as a chief in the local area, inheriting everything from his father. He still held great prestige among the pagans today.
However, compared to his fanatical father, Yanos appeared very well-behaved, dutifully serving as a vassal of the Árpád Dynasty, with no signs of any rash actions being discovered.
Yanos chose to remain neutral during the previous civil war, and it seemed this pagan chief did not intend to interfere in the internal affairs of the Árpád Dynasty.
Now, it is said that this chief is staying in his territory, and the events in Fehérvár do not seem to have aroused his interest.
After listening to Zhe'erji's explanation, Rostislav first surprisingly glanced at Zhe'erji. This illegitimate son of the king actually knew so much about the countryside.
But he didn't think much of it. He digested the information, and it was then that Edward's words interjected.
"Rostislav, what are you doing? Why are you so curious about Hungarian paganism?"
Edward was really curious why he cared about those pagans.
"That's because I always have some bad premonitions…"
The Moscow Prince rode closer to Edward, then told him about his concerns and what he had experienced in the market.
There were simply too many pagans near Fehérvár, so many that they openly held pagan religious ceremonies under the walls of the Christian city, forcing the city to ignore them.
Rostislav smelled something amiss in the pagan air, an indescribable feeling, a feeling he had experienced in Kiev on the eve of a pagan uprising.
And there was that grease transaction, and the pagan emblem handed to him. All of this combined was too unsettling.
Therefore, he was very worried; if the pagans in Fehérvár rioted, it would be too terrible.
Listening to Rostislav's words, Edward did not immediately deny them but began to ponder and reflect.
As an Anglo-Saxon noble who had lived in Hungary for decades, he was very clear about the situation in this land and naturally understood the fact that this land was full of pagans.
And he also had some experiences of his own, such as being attacked by pagans when he was a child, and the reason for their attack was his Christian identity.
This land was like that; even walking on the main roads, some places could not be considered very safe.
Although Rostislav's worries were without a clear beginning or end, the risk did indeed exist.
"So what do you want us to do?"
After some thought, Edward felt that Rostislav's feelings still could not be ignored.
He directly asked Rostislav what he intended to do, because he knew the Moscow Prince had come here for this purpose.
"I hope you keep the troops in the camp on alert, prepared for any possible chaos, and the same goes for my side. Also, please find a few more trustworthy Magyars; I want to investigate personally."
The Moscow Prince planned to investigate thoroughly in the city himself, to find that old man's tribe, and to inquire about news.
Although he could speak Magyar, he was not really familiar with the language and needed to find a few people to assist him.
Edward agreed to all of Rostislav's words; none of it was a big deal.
As for manpower, Edward was a bit troubled; he had no idle men to lend to Rostislav.
It should be known that maintaining this army relied entirely on his men; without his men, those farmers and herders would have long collapsed.
Moreover, those Magyar nobles were not people he could command; they were not his subordinates.
Zhe'erji, however, was suitable. He understood many languages and also knew about Hungarian paganism.
But Edward couldn't bring himself to suggest that he follow Rostislav.
He didn't think he had that much influence. He already had difficulty commanding those Magyar nobles, let alone this illegitimate son of the king.
Although Lady Anastasia's dislike of him was only expressed through scolding and beating, his identity was there.
The blood of the Árpád Dynasty flowed in his veins; this was a fact that nothing could change.
"Let me go with Lord Rostislav, Lord Edward. I believe I am competent enough for this job."
Zhe'erji interjected, which surprised Edward. He hadn't expected this Árpád illegitimate son to voluntarily accept the task and resolve the awkwardness.
"Since he volunteered, then Zhe'erji it is, Lord Rostislav. He is indeed the most suitable."
Rostislav merely glanced at the young man again. His initiative made the Prince very wary, suspecting that he might have some scheme.
However, he did not refuse. This person was indeed the most suitable, and his scheme was probably just to get closer to something.
"In that case, Zhe'erji, come with me. On the way, we'll discuss how to investigate."
Rostislav said as he turned his horse around, and Zhe'erji followed behind him, like the Prince's attendant.
Edward watched them leave, and as he looked at their retreating figures, he felt strange. Why was Zhe'erji so proactive this time? He wasn't like his usual silent self.
After thinking for a while but unable to come to a conclusion, Edward could only shrug. If he couldn't figure it out, so be it; he had other work to deal with.
— — — — — — — —
"Is that so? Boss, so cheese has been selling so well lately."
"That's right, there have been so many outsiders recently. Although it makes the streets noisy, it's been great for our business. These outsiders are really generous; they buy so much every time. I've gone out of the city to find farmers for supplies several times this month."
"Thank you so much, boss."
"No problem, no problem, it's nothing."
In front of a cheese vendor's stall on the streets of Fehérvár, Rostislav, disguised as a wine merchant, was having a lively conversation with the owner.
This liveliness was mainly because Rostislav had given the owner a bottle of wine, which allowed him to obtain this information.
If it weren't for the wine, who would be willing to talk so much with a Rus' person who spoke poor Magyar and always had a translator with him?
Recently, this Rus' person had been asking people all over the market, mainly about the flow of goods, but no one found it strange.
After all, after the arrival of that Rus' Princes' contingent, wine merchants were seen everywhere in Fehérvár. These Rus' people brought a lot of wine from Moldavia, and while they sold wine here, they naturally also bought some goods.
After bidding farewell to the owner, Rostislav and Zhe'erji found a tavern and sat down. The Moscow Prince deftly ordered beer and roasted meat.
He had been running around all day again, and he was truly exhausted. He was now ravenously hungry.
Before the waiter came to serve the food, the Moscow Prince was intently looking at a document in his hand and performing some calculations that outsiders couldn't understand. As the calculations progressed, his expression grew increasingly serious.
It wasn't until the tavern waiter brought black bread that Rostislav's expression relaxed. He instinctively hollowed out the black bread the waiter brought, using it as a plate, and Zhe'erji across from him did the same.
"Prince Rostislav, I don't understand why you are so focused on investigating merchants. Including the investigations by others, we've visited almost all the large and small vendors in Fehérvár in these three days."
Zhe'erji was also visibly tired. He truly hadn't understood what Rostislav was doing these past few days, which made him complain inwardly. What exactly was he up to? It was a complete mess.
Initially, they went to look for the tribe that Rostislav mentioned sold grease, but they found nothing.
Just when Zhe'erji thought everything was over, the Moscow Prince dragged him to run around the city's streets and alleys, asking if there were any bulk orders for various goods.
Sometimes, they even had to pay money to get information from the owners, which truly baffled him.
Zhe'erji had secretly looked at these things before, but he quickly became dizzy because he simply couldn't understand them.
He truly couldn't comprehend those dense records, detailed enough to include even oil dregs. He could read works like the Bible just fine, but he had no interest in these numbers, nor could he easily grasp them. He also didn't know what Rostislav could possibly analyze from them.
As the Magyar spoke, the tavern waiter brought two cups filled with brown liquid and placed them in front of them. Then, the waiter removed roasted mushrooms and lamb from the grill.
Rostislav immediately picked up the roasted meat and put it into his mouth, then washed it down with beer. His hearty manner of eating food couldn't help but draw the attention of those nearby. He seemed to be enjoying his meal immensely.
This kind of customer was the tavern owner's favorite; their eating style was enough to attract others to dine.
Zhe'erji was not as unrestrained as the Rus' man; he maintained the demeanor of a Magyar noble, and he seemed somewhat uncomfortable watching Rostislav's behavior.
"Don't underestimate the information we've collected. Although we couldn't find that tribe, I can still discover things through this information, and I have indeed discovered many things. Zhe'erji, what I've been doing recently is classifying, summarizing, and statistically analyzing this information, and the results have indeed revealed some very interesting things. Guess what?"
Rostislav's mouth was still greasy, but it didn't affect his speech.
"What?"
Zhe'erji also asked, very much going along with the situation. He was genuinely curious about what Rostislav was doing.
"Over this recent period, we have basically investigated the flow of most goods within Fehérvár. The flow of goods from a single household is inconspicuous, but when summarized, it becomes very clear."
As Rostislav spoke, he handed a parchment filled with dense writing to Zhe'erji.
Zhe'erji felt a bit dizzy; he truly couldn't understand such things.
Rostislav clearly didn't expect him to understand, so he continued to explain.
"This data clearly indicates that someone is systematically purchasing a large amount of kindling. Although it's not the same person buying, such large batches of transactions are already a problem. Many merchants say that everything they have that can be used for kindling has been bought up."
"This isn't something that needs to be hoarded on a large scale, and such a large hoarding trend can only mean one thing."
"Someone wants to do something."
Zhe'erji somewhat understood what Rostislav meant, which made a cold sweat break out on his forehead. The Moscow Prince had actually uncovered this from a place they had never even considered.
"Yes, yes, it seems those pagans are planning to start a few fires. But unfortunately, I don't know where they plan to start these fires. But this is evidence, and I can finally prove my idea—it's just a partial proof."
— — — — — — — —
In fact, after failing to track down the tribe selling grease, Rostislav's investigation had no leads at all.
All along, although the Moscow Prince felt that someone was organizing and guiding those believers, he truly couldn't find anything when he investigated. After all, pagan rituals, sermons, and gatherings of pagans—weren't these all daily occurrences in this land?
He couldn't find any clues from weapons either. In this land, wasn't it everyone's duty to carry weapons for self-defense?
Therefore, Rostislav was very troubled at first. His only investigative lead was that tribe, but he couldn't find them. They must have already left the city, as Fehérvár had a huge flow of people coming and going every day.
But he quickly found another way, which was the only opening he could think of: investigating goods, especially the flow of various kindling materials, primarily grease.
Most of the goods investigations were wasted effort and time, as there were now five or six tens of thousands of people gathered near the city, and the daily consumption of supplies was astronomical. Small-scale transactions were simply too numerous and complex, making investigation meaningless.
However, in investigating kindling, he achieved significant success because he discovered the existence of large orders, which merchants had clearly recorded.
After obtaining this data, Rostislav summarized everything, and the result was wonderful: he found evidence that someone in Fehérvár was storing kindling on a large scale.
With this evidence in hand, everything was different. Through this evidence, he could persuade everyone to strengthen their defenses, and as their vigilance increased, the likelihood of those pagans causing trouble would decrease.
Moreover, after uncovering this point, it became much more convenient to demand a city-wide search or anything else subsequently.
— — — — — — — —
However, Rostislav, immersed in his excitement, did not notice that Zhe'erji's face in front of him grew increasingly cold, or rather, unsightly.
Fortunately, Rostislav was engrossed in his own world; otherwise, if Zhe'erji's expression had been noticed, Rostislav would definitely have sensed something was amiss.
The Magyar truly hadn't expected that this Rus' man would uncover useful evidence from those useless data. They had never thought of this when they were preparing these things.
And then, as if he had made some resolution, he nodded.
Zhe'erji picked up a piece of bread, then dipped it fully in meat juice, put the bread into his mouth, and then washed it down with beer.
And after doing all this, his expression returned to its original state.
— — — — — — — —