Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 436 - 118: Initial Embrace

All the noble Crusaders are busily preparing for battle, and Reynard naturally is no exception.

In the barracks of Kaler Castle, his soldiers are distributing weapons to the recruits.

He wore a bright red silk cloak, his red beard trimmed neatly, and on his head was a Norman helmet, pressing down on a chain armor headband — compared to the barrel helmet which is more tightly defensive but also more suffocating, many noble Crusaders prefer this helmet that exposes part of the face and is less costly.

A mounted attendant hurriedly arriving from Jerusalem came before Reynard: "Master, the message has returned, His Majesty the King refuses to yield the territories of Rauf and Zane, once the envoy leaves the border, the war can be declared." 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Reynard sneered: "Ha, as expected."

"Now, Losa has also become a criminal for breaking the treaty, I want to see how this little king will deal with him."

The attendant opened his mouth, wanting to speak but hesitated.

Reynard said impatiently: "Say what you want to say, stop hemming and hawing."

"His Majesty the King’s leprosy has been cured."

"What?"

"What did you say? Say it again!"

Reynard’s face was filled with disbelief as he grabbed the mounted attendant by the collar: "How could leprosy be cured, are you sure you saw it with your own eyes?"

The attendant fearfully nodded: "Yes, I saw it with my own eyes, His Majesty’s appearance is no different from a normal person, the people in Jerusalem say it’s the result of Heavenly Father’s blessing."

Reynard released the attendant weakly, he had hoped that after Losa was punished, he could restore his title and reputation, now it seems there’s absolutely no hope.

No!

Not yet!

At this critical moment, Losa abandoned the Holy Land, as long as he performs outstandingly in this battle and achieves enough merit, even if the little king recovers his health and rebuilds the king’s authority, he will have to reward him.

"Someone, prepare the horses, I must immediately take a cavalry team to the Holy Land to see our king!"

He shouted loudly.

"Wait, sir, there’s one more thing."

The attendant was a bit hesitant to speak.

"Speak, whatever bad news you have, say it all at once next time!"

Reynard said coldly, with a stern face.

"The Kurs from the south has issued a summoning decree to you, requiring you to dispatch a troop of at least three hundred infantry and fifty heavies within the stipulated time to join the coalition army in Transjordan."

"Who is Kurs?"

Reynard was stunned for a moment: "Is it Losa’s treasurer?"

"Yes, sir."

Reynard sneered: "Like a Jewish merchant, petty and meticulous, selling his soul to the devil and gold coins, what gives him the right to send me a summoning decree?"

"Should I reject them?"

Reynard hesitated for a moment, then shook his head:

"No need, just ignore them, pretend we never received the summoning decree. I am the frontline commander of Kaler Castle, responsible for guarding the door, if I dispatch troops away, whose responsibility is it if the kingdom’s eastern frontier falls?"

A starved camel is bigger than a horse, although weakened, Reynard is still a prominent noble in the Holy Land, second only to Duke Raymond and Marquis Losa.

Additionally, marrying Eleanor got him a valuable dowry, and since Eleanor is a devout believer, convincing her to pay this sum for recruiting soldiers is not a problem.

Coupled with his savings over the years, Reynard estimates he could muster nearly five thousand troops, although maintaining them would be difficult, but he must not have fewer troops than his superior, Losa’s main force.

He still has to rely on this army to regain his lost territories and titles.

At the very least, he must let King Baldwin see that holding Transjordan in his hand is more useful than in Losa’s!

...

In Hebron, Andreas, who had just arrived with Alandler’s monastic knights, was sitting troubled at the table, looking at a thick stack of documents before him.

He was appointed by Kurs as the logistics chief of the Transjordan coalition, responsible not only for stationing the arriving coalition forces from various places, planning their camps, but also maintaining logistics after the army sets out.

Maintaining logistics for ten thousand troops, even in Gaul, is very difficult, let alone in the water-scarce, desert-filled Holy Land.

If it was a battle on home soil, the logistics line could still be supplemented by the Tree of Life, Oasis mother and child, reducing logistical pressure to some extent.

If it was a battle on the northern frontier, just the number of ceramic pots for carrying water would be numerous.

What would be the scale of cars, horses, and camels having to maintain such a supply line?

Just thinking about this issue made Andreas’s scalp tingle.

"Is this your test for me, Sir Kurs? Is the difficulty too high?"

He looked at the black-robed chief steward standing in the shadow with a look of distress.

Kurs calmly said: "It’s also time to test your learning results, rest assured, aren’t you managing over ten thousand people in Alandler as well?"

"Is that the same?"

Andreas couldn’t help but retort.

Moreover, he wasn’t managing Alandler alone, the monks and knights of Saint Lazarus were all important collaborators.

"Difficulties indeed exist, all the scribes and clerks in Hebron are under your jurisdiction, Andreas, if you can’t prove your extraordinary talent, how will you win the master’s favor?"

"Or are you really content with being just a regular official with a knight’s title?"

Kurs’s voice floated softly, it clearly was before him, yet sounded as if coming from behind.

He looked at Kurs in surprise.

"Don’t look at me like that, you should know very well, not only the master, I, Hans, and a few ladies all have extraordinary powers, even just granting you a bit would be eternally beneficial."

"You know I would do my utmost even without saying this."

Andreas smiled bitterly: "I am just worried that I may fail, affecting the progress of this war."

Kurs laughed softly: "Rest assured, if even you can’t do it, most likely others can’t do it either. Furthermore, I plan to give you some small help, which will make your energy more abundant."

"Wh...what help?"

Kurs’s smile, backed by the holy image painted on the wall, was like the enchanting devil: "Do you wish to embrace the blood?"

Andreas shivered, stammering: "Is it to become a vampire like you? I want to consider it, sir."

Kurs still retained the ability of the initial embrace, having been favored by Piercing Duke Dracula as a blood servant vampire, he received a drop of royal blood, and rose to become a true blood royal.

Quality certainly couldn’t compare to someone like Furinjira, who in royal blood ranks also belonged to the top-tier blood race, but it was stronger than most ordinary blood races.

Of course, the initial embrace is extremely costly for the origin, many vampires sleep for a long time after initial embrace to repair such loss, ordinarily, Kurs doesn’t want to expend his precious blood to "proliferate" offspring.

"Dream on."

Kurs sneered: "Only giving you half a drop of essence blood, making you initially blood-racial, at most just making your skills more agile, energy more abundant, and lifespan longer."

"This is called ’at most’?"

Andreas silently retorted.

Though momentarily tempted, he was quite resistant to becoming an alien.

After all, he was a devout believer in Heavenly Father, how could he easily accept the Devil’s power?

Even if this devil was one of his own.

"Sir Kurs, surely there’s someone else besides me who can do this task? I can understand you going to war, but I remember the knight Mueller of Eira Port also being a good talent for internal affairs."

Kurs gave him a deep look.

"Mueller can’t, he must oversee Eira Port’s defense, if it falls we can’t supply the frontline troops with provisions. This task is solely yours."

He shook his head and disappeared into the room.

Leaving Andreas sitting in the chair, with a face full of struggle.