Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 515 - 294: Outside Gaza City

Early in the morning, Gaza City was enveloped in a busy atmosphere.

Saracen slave girls, carrying freshly picked flowers from the garden, briskly moved through the estate.

They lit incense, swept, and cleaned the long-uninhabited rooms.

Because starting today, Marquis of Transjordan, King Baldwin’s favorite confidant, Guardian of the Holy Spear, Protector of the Divine Wood, favored by God, Commander-in-Chief of the Crusaders, Losa will be staying here.

Robert, the Vicar Lord of Gaza City, looked at his son, reeking of alcohol, who was just pulled from bed by the old housekeeper, with a flushed face—perhaps I should consider fetching your brother from the monastery and send you in.

The old baron roared angrily, "Get yourself clean immediately, and change into decent clothes! You stink as if you’ve been living in the stables for a month, you fool!"

The young noble seemed not fully awake, instinctively belching, "Do we... have guests?"

The face of Baron Robert turned ashen—all those times he repeated the instructions over the last few days, clearly meant nothing to you.

He struggled to hold his anger and said, "The Marquis is coming, everyone must leave the city to greet him, we have been preparing for this for days!"

"Which Marquis?"

The hungover young noble looked puzzled.

"Who else could it be? The Kingdom only has one Marquis, ruler of Transjordan, Hebron, South Sinai, and Limassol, Commander-in-Chief of the Crusaders, Marquis Losa!"

Robert felt his anger was about to burst completely—the relationship between him and his son was beginning to ease after the defense of Gaza City—but this worthless fellow had become debauched and lost in alcohol ever since that Witch lady left.

He knew exactly why.

If the Witch lady wasn’t special in status, he would have been glad to match them—after all, what Lord hasn’t realized the importance of Wizards in warfare nowadays? Almost every powerful noble in Europe recruits Casters under their command.

This was the trend!

But the issue is, the Witch lady is under Marquis Losa. Going against the most prominent Crusader noble in the Eastern world? Don’t be ridiculous, even his master, Princess Sibilla wouldn’t dare entertain such thoughts.

The young noble paused and looked delightedly, "Does this mean I can see Miss Chelina again?"

"Sousa, immediately throw this guy into the bath!"

Robert could no longer suppress his inner fury, "Furthermore, keep a close watch on this fool, if he even dares to harass the Marquis’s lady — even just showing intent, execute him on the spot, no tarnishing the family’s reputation."

The housekeeper agreed with a pained expression, "Yes, sir."

This situation is truly hard to manage. Young Robert is the sole heir of the family, unless they bring back the second son who has been studying theology in the monastery for over five years; but would he be a better heir than young Robert?

...

By the time everything was cleaned up, it was already noon.

The nobles, knights, and citizens of Gaza City, along with the monks and priests from the nearby monastery, some holding flowers, others gripping various forms of crosses, eagerly awaited.

Scouts arrived with messages one after another.

"The Marquis’s army has reached Toulon Castle."

"The Marquis’s army has crossed the small rocky hill."

It was noon, the sun was blazing.

Many faces were covered with sweat, but no one complained; some even eagerly shared tales of Losa’s achievements and experiences with others who were less informed, narrating vividly as if they experienced it firsthand.

Facing some people’s doubts, they confidently replied, "If you don’t believe, you can ask those Crusaders returning from the north, they’re the ones who experienced it firsthand; it was nothing short of a miracle!"

The ground suddenly trembled slightly.

"They’re here!"

Baron Robert straightened his attire quickly, brushed off the dust from his coverall, and positioned the golden cross from his Crusade days at the center of his chest, gazing into the distance.

He saw billowing smoke and dust at the edge of the horizon.

It seemed like only a brief moment, but the smoke was soon filled with banners bearing the soaring Double-headed Eagle insignia.

Rows of neatly arrayed, fully armed knights riding high strong horses,

Knights in black, white, and blue coveralls, crosses of various colors, and personal emblems of nobles like eagle, wolf, bear,

Forming a neat phalanx,

"This is the Crusaders led by the Marquis!"

People erupted in excited cheers.

Having just faced the enemy

twelve fully armed Iron Butcher Cavalry, like iron towers forged from steel, rode armored steeds at the forefront of the formation.

Winged Cavalry

The Marquis, astride the "Eclipse" saddle, with a view incorporating all surrounding mountains, slowly approached the crowd—he wore a set of new plate armor adorned with various patterns and a daunting golden mask helmet.

The mask depicted vivid facial features; even the beard patterns were lifelike.

Such grandeur.

Neither the residents of Gaza City nor the pilgrims newly arrived in the Holy Land had ever seen such a lavish display from an Eastern Lord, transfixed in awe.

"By God above, even the Emperor of the Empire may not have such grandeur!"

The Marquis removed his mask, dismounted, and with one hand rested on the sword at his waist, walked like a meteor to stand before Baron Robert.

The baron immediately stepped forward and knelt on one knee, "Good day, mighty Guardian of the Holy Spear."

Losa extended his hand, "Good day, Baron Robert, even when I fought against the Heretics in Galilee, I heard of your bravery; without your defense of Gaza, Adil might have marched straight, threatening Jerusalem."

The baron kissed the ring on Losa’s finger, looked up to see the Marquis’s gentle smile, and hear his unabashed praise, even the iron-blooded baron couldn’t help feeling slightly favored.

"You flatter me; if it weren’t for you sending Miss Chelina’s assistance, Gaza City would have already fallen; this credit belongs to you and Miss Chelina, not to a humble Christian Lord like myself who only fulfilled his duty."

Losa glanced at the city gate.

Traces of war damage were still faintly visible here; the dirt road outside the city had been refilled, and many bricks of the city wall were repainted; some collapsed areas hadn’t been repaired yet.

"No need to be modest, sir."

Losa smiled and shook his head, "I have already achieved enough; even Your Majesty has nothing left to reward me with—so, I have come to Gaza City, to gaze at distant Egypt."

He extended his hand to help Baron Robert up, "And next, it’s conquering there."

His tone was relaxed, yet carried Caesar’s air of "I came, I saw, I conquered."

The baron hurriedly said, "Sir, I will contribute all my power to your conquest of Egypt."

With his peripheral vision, he scanned the ranks.

To his astonishment, he realized that his unfortunate son had disappeared.

Sweat broke out on his back immediately, but his face still wore a smile filled with host-and-guest delight, asking, "May I ask the Marquis, where Miss Chelina is? After the war, we haven’t had a chance to thank her before she disappeared without a trace."

Losa smiled and shook his head, without responding.

Chelina has now infiltrated the Saracen territory, likely having joined with the "Shadow of Darkness" trained by Kurs, however, this matter could not be disclosed publicly.

As a commercially prosperous multi-ethnic Kingdom, Jerusalem is far too easy to infiltrate.