kingdom of nations

Chapter 164 The Isaacs' New Year (1)

September, Bethlehem.

After Longinus met Cesare, they stayed in Damascus for about a week.

The next day, David arrived with another team.

This straightforward young man was equally delighted to see Cesar. In his youth, he hadn't really liked this handsome peer, partly out of shame for not having stayed firmly by Baldwin's side.

On the other hand, there was jealousy—jealousy that Cesar, a man of unknown identity and a former slave, could occupy the position he once held.

But those grudges had long since vanished, and César proved to him that he was indeed better than David, both as a servant and as a friend.

Although eager to return home, Saladin insisted on waiting until the doctors determined that Cesar could withstand the long journey before they were allowed to leave.

Saladin accepted Baldwin IV's gift, but he also reciprocated with an extremely generous gift to the King of Arazarus. Cesare, David, and Longinus also received gifts—not to mention horses, armor, and silk. Most surprisingly, just as they were about to leave the gates of Damascus, Saladin presented them with a special gift.

An Isaac.

Upon seeing Cesare, he adopted a resigned attitude. Saladin nodded to Cesare, believing that this gift would be more appreciated by Cesare than gold or a Damascus steel sword.

This Isaac was none other than Haredi.

When they passed through here before, the Isaac merchants in the city took advantage of the chaos in Apollo to collude with bandits outside the city to rob passing caravans. As a result, the governor here arrested all the Isaacs, and the men and dogs were hung on wooden frames together, while the women and children were sold into slavery.

Haredi was one of them. Fortunately, although he was captured during his escape, he was recognized by Cesar.

Cesar had also been searching for him. When he was performing the ritual purification for Sultan Nur ad-Din, he discovered the needle marks on his body, as well as the broken needle.

He found it hard to believe that he had discovered the prototype of the syringe. He had always thought that it would be three hundred years before a European would come up with the initial idea for the syringe, and that it would be another hundred years before it was actually manufactured.

At that moment, he saw a real syringe, a trigger-activated anesthetic needle. Such needles were not uncommon in his world; people used them to hunt wild beasts and control criminals and mental patients.

Therefore, Nurdin's death was not caused by his illness, but by poisoning. However, both the medicine and the syringe were made so cleverly that no one noticed. If Cesar hadn't come from another world and been so familiar with syringes, he wouldn't have known what that hair-thin thing was...

Or perhaps he simply wouldn't care and would just throw it away as a remnant of the Sultan's jewelry.

Haredi's ability to create such exquisite devices means that he is capable of completing some of the highly demanding components envisioned by Cesar.

Those Saracens of Fustat were not wrong; Haredi was indeed a craftsman more than capable of serving even a Sultan or a Caliph. His skills were beyond exquisite, and his ideas were wildly imaginative—this may have been related to the blessings or revelations he had received.

Cesar wanted to bring him back to Bethlehem, but the cunning Isaac craftsman escaped while they and their ministers, including Kamal, were breaking out of Apollo.

At that time, Cesar had neither the energy nor the time to hunt him down, so he could only keep the matter in mind and wait and see if he could find him or someone else he could use in the future.

Unexpectedly, he was captured by Saladin again. In order to save his life, he revealed Cesare's name. Saladin, of course, would not be stingy with such a small gift for his little friend. However, he glanced at the ashen-faced Haredi and said, "I heard this is not the first time he has escaped from your grasp." He kindly suggested, "Perhaps you should break his legs if you want him to do something that does not require his eyes and hands, and of course... his tongue and ears as well."

“Then he will never get my service,” Haredi said firmly. “I am all alone in this world, and all I want is freedom. Without freedom, I can do nothing.”

"Ha!" Kamal, standing next to Saladin, scoffed less politely. "I don't believe you have that kind of courage, Isaac."

You are so young and have such skills. No matter which city you go to, even if you can't join a Christian guild, you can still live a very comfortable life. You will still have another wife and more children. You are just taking chances and being ungrateful.

If you crave freedom so much, I believe Cesar wouldn't be so unreasonable.

"Go up to the wooden frame now; there are a few empty spaces there."

Haredi looked in the direction the Sultan's minister indicated, and saw shriveled corpses, both human and dog, hanging on the wooden frames.

“I don’t understand why you keep trying to escape?” Cesar asked curiously. “I’m not a demanding person. I’ll take you back to Bethlehem, where you can still run your workshop. I’ll give you good treatment and a comfortable environment, as long as you can create what I want.”

"I've already seen your previous work, so this shouldn't be a problem for you."

Yes, why? Haredi could only remain silent.

Everyone could see that Cesar's future was bright. His only weakness had been eliminated. Moreover, because Joseph III was dead, he would not be hindered by his father as Heraclius and Queen Mother Maria had feared. Upon returning to Arazarus, he would be able to inherit everything from his father.

Even though the County of Edessa no longer exists, the title and two hundred thousand gold coins remain.

Haredi could easily use his praise to gain a foothold in Bethlehem. This was a relationship that Lego and the other Isaacs of Bethlehem had failed to build even after spending 100,000 gold coins.

Why did he keep running away? Not to mention that others couldn't understand it, even if he hadn't heard his teacher's last words, he would have wondered why he did it.
But perhaps that's just how fate is; it pointed him in the right direction, and he had no choice but to keep going.

For a moment, Haredi didn't know how to describe his feelings—was it sorrow? Or mockery? Or despair? He lowered his head, seemingly accepting the cruel twist of fate.

Saladin shook his head almost imperceptibly. If he were Cesare, he would have hanged the Isaac craftsman in retaliation for his repeated escapes.

Whatever César wanted him to do, he didn't believe that among thousands or even tens of thousands of artisans, there couldn't be someone who could rival him. However, nothing is accomplished overnight, and he had made many mistakes in his youth.

A craftsman of Isaac is at most a small thorn embedded in the flesh; removing him is as easy as a single thought.

Haredi was handed over to a Christian knight, who unceremoniously put a noose around his neck and then tied the noose to his own horse.

There were no carriages, no horses, and no mules.

The rest of the journey would have to be walked by the craftsman Isaac himself, which was the lightest punishment. When they rested, Longinus would still check on the man as Cesare had instructed. He found it strange, but unlike the others, he could ask questions.

"Is there anything special about this Isaac? It has to be him and not someone else? Even if Bethlehem doesn't have him, Allazarus certainly does."

Others really can't.

Unfortunately, Cesar was unable to explain the reasons to Longinus. First, even if he had, Longinus would have had difficulty understanding what he was saying; second, the instruments that Haredi had crafted were intended for the treatment of Baldwin.

In the Christian Church, a knight who has received grace is absolutely forbidden from receiving ordination; that is the exclusive domain of the clergy. Even within armed monastic military organizations like the Knights Templar, there may be ordained clergy and monks, but although they are called knights, they are essentially clergy.

"Haredi! Haredi?!" The continuous shouts jolted Haredi out of his reverie. He then realized that he had been staring blankly at a gem given to him by a customer. He looked up and saw that the person was his old friend, Lego, one of the merchants in Bethlehem.

However, his reputation among the Isaacs had been dimmed by his recent mistake. Although a large portion of the 100,000 gold coins came from Lego's personal contribution, others also suffered some losses.

They were critical of Lego's failed plan, with some even saying that the Isaacs should stay in Isaac's land and not have too much contact with the Christians or Saracens, who were just heretical pagans who were not trustworthy and impossible to communicate with.

Trading with them for money is as dangerous as snatching prey from a tiger's mouth.

Lego retorted that when they discussed the matter in the synagogue, few people objected. Everyone's eyes gleamed with eagerness, and they readily contributed money. Weren't they trying to seize Bethlehem through this opportunity?

After all, the area was originally ruled by members of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre sent by Amalric I—Bishop Andrei and his knights. Although Bishop Andrei accepted their offerings, he, like the church officials in Rome or the Franks, was full of disgust and distrust towards them, and they were unable to gain any benefit from this strict, armed monk.

Their new lord, on the other hand, was young and kind, and most remarkably, he had previously lived as a slave and had not received the education commensurate with it.

David and Abigail, these young heirs, learned early on from their father how to treat Christians, Saracens and Isaacs, and further afield, Byzantines, Armenians and Turks.

The Knights of Bethlehem had no experience in governing a city. If their scheme succeeded, God help them, they would receive a great reward from the Knights of Bethlehem, and their names might even be written in the scriptures.

This wasn't the first time they'd engaged in such dangerous and uncertain speculation, nor was it the first time they'd failed.

Lego felt no remorse for the losses suffered by his people, even though some of them had gone into debt as a result—he even took advantage of the opportunity to take in these debts to make up for some of his own deficit.

Although Haredi was still just a goldsmith, he had heard a little about this and really didn't want to deal with such people.

"Yes, you want to make a talisman, right?" He estimated it roughly. "Come and pick it up in three days."

"Besides these, there is one more thing I need you to do."

Haredi raised his head warily. Ever since he was brought back to Bethlehem by César, Lego had been trying to find out why César valued him so much.
He even sent several of his colleagues to find out what César wanted him to do. Was it a golden crown for the king? Or a reliquary, or a large cross? For his unfortunate parents.

Of course, all of these people returned empty-handed; they couldn't even see César. As for Haredi, he didn't want to be a sage or a leader. He had no desire for power and didn't care about money. He was like a slippery eel, leaving Le Gao with nowhere to strike.

“It’s not about those things,” Lego shamelessly pretended he hadn’t done anything: “The New Year is almost here. The wise man told me to inform you that we will be meeting tonight in the synagogue of the Isaacs to discuss how to celebrate the New Year.”

Haredi didn't want to go, but as an Isaac, regardless of his sect, this reason was unavoidable. He could only nod reluctantly, "I will go, but Lego, does celebrating the New Year need to be discussed?"

“Yes, of course you need it,” Le Guek winked at him. “You’ll see when you get there.”

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“The Isaacs in Bethlehem are preparing to celebrate their New Year.” Natia leaned against the window, lifting a corner of the curtain to peek at the Isaacs walking in the street.

The Isaacs' New Year differs from that of Christians or Saracens. It falls neither at the beginning nor the end of the year, but rather between September 5th and October 5th. This is because they still follow their own Hebrew calendar, which is based on the phases of the moon, and the corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar changes every year—including the New Year.

"You should get ready too, little brother."

"Prepare?"

Natia left the window with her head held high and walked to her brother's side. She bent down and put her arm around Cesar's shoulder, then gently took the quill from his hand and pushed aside the parchment in front of him. "You should rest now, brother."

"It's just reviewing some documents, it won't put much strain on my body right now."

“You almost died.” Natia ignored him and pushed him back onto the low couch: “Let me tell you about the Isaacs.”

Although Natiya has been in Sultan Nur ad-Din's harem for the past few years, she is not kept in the dark. Don't assume that the women in the harem are unrelated to the intrigues of the previous dynasty. Just as the Sultan's first wife is his blood relative, his second and third wives are princesses of the Turkic Khaganate, and there are also some female relatives of his ministers in his harem.

These women were different from the female slaves who were bought. If they gained the Sultan's favor, they would stay in the harem for life. But if they did not, they would be released by the Sultan to marry when they reached a certain age.

Their connection with the outside world has never been severed.

For Natia, the conversations, arguments, and even accusations among these noble ladies contained valuable information that she had accumulated, and she remembered every single word.

Every September, almost every concubine complains that her father or brother needs to increase the level of security throughout the city in preparation for the Isaacs' New Year.

The Saracens and Christians would throw stones at the Isaacs when they celebrated their New Year, extinguish their fires, insult and mock them, sometimes causing conflict in more than one place.

This touches on a point that César was unaware of.

"Is Bethlehem the same?" He had never heard of such things while on Arrassa Road, perhaps because he was always with Baldwin.

“I don’t know, but you could ask someone else, or just issue an order forbidding the Isaacs from celebrating the New Year.”

It was certainly a simple, effective, and efficient method, but Cesar only hesitated for a moment before summoning Longinus and asking him to invite Bishop Andrea.

Bishop Andrew ruled here for over a decade for Amalric. He should know how the Isaacs of Bethlehem celebrated the New Year, and whether other people in the city, such as Christians and Saracens, had clashed with them because of it.

Bishop André immediately accepted César's invitation without feeling embarrassed.

Having come from the Knights of the Order, he had long seen his comrades unable to move for months due to overexertion. He felt only admiration and gratitude for Cesar's actions in Damascus; even several young men he knew had returned safely to Arrasa Road.

They had dinner together, and before nightfall, Cesar mentioned that the Isaacs were preparing to celebrate the New Year.

Bishop Andrei pondered for a moment. “They don’t have processions or Masses, and most of their ceremonies are done in their own rooms—I haven’t heard of any conflicts related to them—but I think your sister’s suggestion is excellent,” he said without hesitation. “No one knows how to push their luck better than a group of Isaacs.”

“This is your first September in Bethlehem,” he added meaningfully.

(End of this chapter)