Medieval Gacha Lord

Watching Fringilla's retreating figure fly off like the wind, a smile played on Banu's lips. The number of smiles on her face today probably outnumbered those of an entire month prior.

Lothar's footsteps sounded behind Banu. "Where's Fringilla?"

"Gone out to play. No need to worry about her."

"Mm." Lothar replied, somewhat distractedly. He was still considering the list of candidates for knighthood.

In this last battle, Ryan and Moder had made significant contributions and definitely deserved promotion. Furthermore, Ulm and Andreas, those two outstanding Winged Hussars, could also be considered for advancement to knighthood.

However, there were also several squires in the Knightly Order who had fought bravely and whose knights had fallen in battle. Lothar was contemplating whether to recruit them under his command, to make them truly his own men—meaning, when the opportunity arose, to transform them into Winged Hussars.

"Let's go find her," Banu said, pointing to a nearby street.

The war didn't seem to have affected this city much. Greeks, Germans, Arabs... people streamed endlessly through it. A faint scent of spices and cooked food wafted through the air.

Some sergeants of the Royal Knights, wearing their red and white surcoats, had already been drawn over and were soon haggling prices with the "wandering orioles" who had arrived by ship from the Continent.

Alcohol and women were vital treasures for extinguishing the traumas of war. Lothar, constrained by his public image, lacked this latter component, a deficiency naturally made up for by these Crusader sergeants whose purses were now bulging from their recent war spoils.

But the direction Banu pointed was, remarkably, the exact opposite of where Fringilla had gone. A faint smile on her lips, she said, "Let's take this opportunity to go shopping. I've served you for so long, yet you've never given me a gift."

Lothar looked at Banu with some surprise. Her eyes were clear and bright. Meeting his gaze, she asked without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, "What, is it not allowed?"

"Of course, it is. I'm just a little surprised. This is the first time since we've known each other that you've made such a request." Lothar naturally agreed. "But you'll have to wear your veil first, otherwise, I'm afraid it will cause chaos."

"Alright."

The two walked shoulder to shoulder, very close, through the streets. Montreal, once a supply hub for the Crusades, had later transformed into an important trade node for commerce between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Eastern chieftains.

Its scale was not small, with a permanent population of nearly ten thousand, a considerable third of whom were infidels.

This number might not sound like much, but one had to remember, how many people did Paris and London have nowadays? Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand?

In all of Western Europe, the only cities with populations reaching more than fifty thousand were the city-states of northern Italy. Even Rome, where the Pope resided, had just over thirty thousand.

The barbarians who had conquered the Western Empire, though overflowing with martial virtue, seemed unskilled in governing nations. The once-prosperous City of Seven Hills had long since been far outstripped by her rival city, Constantinople.

In this era, Ctesiphon of the Sasanians and Cairo of the Ayyubids both had populations of five hundred thousand. Constantinople of the Eastern Empire had the most, with six hundred thousand. And some cities in the far, far East was said to have a population exceeding one million.

As for Jerusalem, though its permanent population was only thirty thousand, the endless stream of pilgrims often caused the city's population to more than double. Before the northern Crusader army departed, its population had even approached one hundred thousand. This often led to Jerusalem being overcrowded, with streets packed full of people.

Lothar and Banu stopped before a shrine. This religious structure also incorporated Eastern architectural styles, looking somewhat like a stage set. On Palm Sunday, clergymen, holding crosses and palm branches respectively, would parade around the city and then converge here to pray to the Heavenly Father.

It had to be admitted, many customs of the Church in Jerusalem already showed significant differences from the Catholic Church in Western Europe. Western European civilization was fusing with Eastern civilization at an extremely rapid pace.

Lothar felt somewhat emotional.

In this era, many Crusader soldiers had already begun to speak Arabic, and among them, quite a few no longer ate pork. Intermarriage between different ethnic groups was also not uncommon. Though this was met with resistance and disdain by those newly arrived pilgrims (whom the old pilgrims called "little colts").

Lothar felt it was a good thing. If he could control this kingdom in the future, he would definitely meld all these various ethnic groups into one. After long periods of intermarriage and linguistic assimilation, they would no longer distinguish between each other. In his previous life, the descendants of the Habsburgs had already proven that a diverse empire like the Austro-Hungarian Empire would ultimately only end up fracturing.

"That building ahead is Count Raynald's residence in Montreal. It's said to have an attached garden and fountain, painted ceilings, and marble floor tiles. If only I could own such a town. If it weren't wartime, the annual commercial tax collected would be enough for me to maintain all the troops under my command," Lothar said with some envy.

"If you want it, we can just conquer this city. At worst, we cooperate with Saladin. The crusaders arriving later wouldn't possibly be able to breach this city after an arduous march."

Lothar shook his head. "I do not intend to betray Baldwin IV. Besides, it's not possible. The soldiers of the Royal Knights are more loyal to the King and the Heavenly Father; they cannot be bought with mere small favors from me."

"Let's go. This street is all leather goods. Be careful not to step in dirty water. We'll go over there; I saw the sign of a goldsmith's shop."

Lothar and Banu passed through a small alley and arrived at a more prosperous street. The shops here were more exquisite than before, and it was more densely populated.

Lothar stopped before a goldsmith's shop, frowning. He saw a conspicuous "T" symbol carved on the shop's sign. This indicated that a portion of this shop's profits would be donated to the Knights Templar. There were other symbols too; for example, "ANNE" meant that a large portion of that shop's profits would be donated to the Church of St. Anne.

Some devout believers, though not so devout as to directly donate money, were very willing to spend in such shops—Lothar, naturally, chose to refuse.

"These are all promotional tactics that inflate prices. It's not that I'm afraid of the expense, but goldsmiths who resort to such gimmicks usually don't have very good craftsmanship. We'd best find a shop opened by Greeks; perhaps we can buy some Byzantine-style jewelry."

Watching Lothar's serious, thoughtful expression, Banu's lips couldn't help but curve upwards slightly again. "Alright."

At this moment the system's notification sound suddenly chimed.

[Your 5-star retainer, Fringilla Tepes, is in a combat state! Her opponent is a Noonwraith! Please provide support as soon as possible!]

Lothar was stunned. He looked at Banu in confusion. "Didn't Fringilla just go out to play?"

Banu, her face a mask of indifference, lied smoothly, "Perhaps on her way to play, she coincidentally bumped into something." Her habitually expressionless face made it impossible to detect any hint of guilt.

***

Ten minutes earlier, in a deep, dark alley, two corpses lay sprawled on the ground, covered in wounds, as if gnawed by wild beasts. Not a single patch of intact skin could be found. One of the corpses lay not far from the alley's entrance, just one step away from escaping that perilous place.

Scott panted heavily. "Honest" John, his face a mask of misery, cursed weakly, "I told you not to go over there first! Now look, we've stumbled right into that evil spirit's killing scene!"

Scott swallowed hard, his voice somewhat hoarse. "I... I also never expected that evil spirits actually exist in this world, and can even appear in broad daylight!"

The two hid in a corner, watching the creature outside—fully two meters tall, hovering in mid-air, its tongue lolling out to an incredible length. It wore a decayed, yellowed white gauze dress. That long tongue was densely covered with barbs; the wounds on the corpses must have been scraped out by the barbs on this tongue.

"Is it gone?"

"I can't see it anymore."

The two looked at each other. The next moment, a burning sensation welled up from the bottom of their hearts. A shadow materialized behind them, casting a long, savage silhouette under the sunlight.