kingdom of nations

Chapter 222 The Banquet (Part 2)

As soon as Cesar finished speaking, the Gerard family members smiled, except for their patriarch, the old knight still had his brows furrowed and looked worried.

Most of the Crusader knights looked relaxed and unconcerned, with only a few of the most devout and noble men showing pity. But for them, the outcome was not entirely unexpected.

The locals were not submissive to Crusader rule. According to Templars like Walter, humiliating a noblewoman was certainly immoral, but immorality did not constitute a crime. He believed the young men should be punished, but only for disobeying their lord's orders, not for infringing upon the interests of the Cypriots.

The father, who had lost both his daughter and son, was ashen-faced, his eyes bloodshot. He seemed to want to say something, but Cesar raised his hand to stop him.

The other party was a young man who had just made an extremely unjust judgment. The Cypriots thought the father would roar in fury, accusing the new lord of being untrustworthy—were the three laws he had set up just toilet paper?
But when he saw those cold green eyes, the anger that was about to erupt was like magma that was instantly frozen, solidifying into heavy stones.

“This is a crime,” Cesar said in a low voice, as everyone strained to listen. “They have committed a crime and should be tried and punished, not dueled. Duels can only happen in matters that cannot be measured or judged by law, not in crimes that have already been confirmed.”

Froy looked at Walter in surprise; it seemed that what Walter had said earlier had come true.

“The Gerald family wasn’t always this respectful and considerate,” Walter said. “Just wait and see.”

“You can’t.” The young man from the Gerard family blurted out instinctively. What crime? They had only made a mistake that all men make—during the conquest of Arathi Highlands, weren’t there many Crusader knights who “purified” those evil infidel women with holy embraces and kisses?

Were those knights punished in any way? No, they were not punished in any way, neither physically nor mentally.

They had only gone slightly astray, and when they realized it, the brothers and their father and uncles did not think of repenting, pleading, or even running away—their solution was to do everything in their power to arrange their sister's marriage to César…

“We are willing to pay the ransom.” His brother, clearly a bit smarter, immediately shouted, “We are willing to pay the ransom!” After all, the Gerald family had plenty of money.

“I don’t want a ransom!” the Cypriot shouted.

“There is no provision in the laws I made that allows criminals to be forgiven through ransom,” Cesar said. “But your family still has to compensate the victims, understand? Not ransom, but compensation.”

After you have received the punishment you deserve, your families should also apologize to the victim's family for your crimes and compensate them for the costs they incurred in raising their two children.

"They are heretics!"

“I seem to have said it before: in my territory, after I have enacted the relevant laws, all crimes are just crimes.”

Cesar slowly descended the high platform where the main table was located. He glanced past the Cypriots who were still somewhat incredulous, and then past the two brothers who were filled with fear and hatred. His gaze swept over the people at the long table, whether they were Crusaders or Cypriots. "My request is simple: do not violate my laws."

Anyone who violates this rule, regardless of whether you are old, young, man, woman, layman, or priest, or what your faith is, will only have three identities to me: an innocent person, a victim, and a criminal.

Criminals must be punished.

His words drew a brief silence.

The first thought that popped into people's minds was how he... dared to do it. It wasn't that they looked down on Cesar, but rather that the timing of this event was too coincidental.

Everyone knows that Cesar actually had no foundation. He had always been a squire of Prince Baldwin (now Baldwin IV), without any fiefdom or enough money to recruit knights willing to be loyal to him.

Even Longinus, who was willing to serve him, was ridiculed as a slave among slaves. Any knight with some wealth, unless he was desperate, would never want to rely on such a squire of unknown origin.

This situation changed somewhat after he was knighted as a knight of Bethlehem, where the small but rich city provided him with enough money to recruit five knights with surnames.

After his identity was confirmed, knights who had been loyal to his grandfather or great-grandfather, as well as their descendants, gradually returned to his service. After all, the fall of the County of Edessa was a thorn in the side of many people that could never be removed.

In addition, there were the knights and squires who developed feelings for him over time. They were young people who considered him a worthy follower and decided to become his subjects. Most of them had originally intended to join the three major knightly orders.

The reason this Cypriot publicly challenged the Gerard family, who had insulted his daughter and killed his son, was for this very reason. They feared that if they appealed to the lord in private, the lord might not be as impartial as he appeared, and not only would his innocence not be cleared, but he and his entire clan would also suffer.

He didn't even demand that the criminals be brought to justice; instead, he directly proposed a duel.

A grieving father challenges his perpetrator to a duel. He believes that even the Grand Master of the Knights Templar or the Grand Master of the Order of Goodwill would have no grounds for argument if he were present.

César's decision made him instinctively tighten his grip on his short sword. He could hardly believe that these people would really be punished. Would they just be lightly banished from Cyprus, or receive a few lashes, and that would be the end of it?
Those two bastards from the Gerard family seemed to think so too. After the initial panic, they quickly calmed down, but it was clear that Cesar wasn't the type to drag things out and let things spiral out of control. He had already enacted laws and made sure everyone on the island understood them.

Now that everyone is here, this courtroom is a luxury for these beasts. There are already witnesses, evidence, and they themselves have confessed to their crimes, so there's no need to say more.

Cesar returned to his seat and met his sister's worried gaze. He simply smiled reassuringly before delivering his verdict—the ringleader would be beheaded, and the accomplice would be hanged.

Upon hearing this verdict, and seeing that in the square outside the hall someone had indeed begun to erect the execution platform, servants brought in the wooden stakes for beheading, and the hanging racks for the prisoners were quickly erected—and a squad of knights rushed out to Gerald's house to search for the prisoners who had not been allowed to attend the banquet—the two criminals who had stood frozen in place finally changed their expressions.

"Are you insane!" the elder brother shouted. "You've actually sided with the heretics! You've sided with the Byzantines! Have you forgotten that you're a Crusader knight, the Count of Edessa, a servant of the Church, a warrior of God?"
Aren't you afraid of chilling the hearts of your followers by doing this?
Our family helped you when you were just a lowly servant.

Dean John once gave you two loaves of white bread, thirty silver coins, and a strong mule when you were still a lowly slave. Upon hearing this, people couldn't help but change color slightly. They thought the lord would be furious; not everyone could accept their humble past being brought up again and again.

But Cesar simply stared at him calmly, an attitude that drove the man even more insane. "If it weren't for the map we provided, you wouldn't have been able to escape...!"

Upon hearing this, Chief Gerard, who had been walking this way, immediately took a large step forward and unsheathed his short sword from his waist, slapping it hard across the face of the man who had been spouting nonsense.

Indeed, important figures in the Gerard family, or rather the two major knightly orders, all knew that due to the negligence of the Templars, the candles in the Templar Cathedral had been tampered with. In the emergency, thanks to the old map of the Templar provided by the Gerard family, Cesar escaped from the abandoned sewers with the dying prince.

Only then did people manage to transfer them to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which led to the so-called "holy miracle".

But you can know about this, and you can even do it, but you absolutely cannot tell anyone.

The patriarch of the Gerard family reacted swiftly, whipping the man halfway through the air. Teeth flew out along with blood, rendering him speechless with pain. The knights, reacting quickly, subdued the other man. Fortunately, as the youngest son, he knew less than the second son, so he could only shout that Cesar had been bewitched by the Cypriots' hypocrisy and sweet talk, forgetting his identity. He claimed he had fallen, become a heretic, and that no knight would remain loyal to him, nor would any lord be willing to ally with him or become his vassal.

He was destined to be alone and lonely.

He even burst into laughter at the end, as if he could already see that future: "Do you think these Cypriots will be grateful to you for this? No way! They are heretics to you, and you are heretics to them. One day they will burn you alive at the stake!"

The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became even stranger, and indeed some knights showed hesitation. Even if they were not as beastly as the two men from the Gerard family, they were used to being dominated by others, especially in the pagan cities they had invaded and occupied. Even if they did not go as far as the two brothers, they would occasionally do whatever they wanted.

Now it seems that the laws enacted by this lord are not only aimed at Cypriots. Do they really want to continue to stay here?

Perhaps the Christian nations of the Holy Land are the places they should serve. For example, Grand Duke Bohemond of Antioch rarely restricted his knights. At the very least, there was the upright Count Raymond of Tripoli, who believed that knights should not indulge in debauchery and pleasure before victory, lest it affect their performance on the battlefield.

But if someone did such a thing, as long as it didn't affect the course of the battle, he wouldn't be so resolute in executing them. At most, he would only strip them of their knighthood, or require them to repent and attend Mass as punishment. Sometimes, as long as they rendered more service to him on the battlefield, he could turn a blind eye and a deaf ear.

But even after one brother was beheaded and the other hanged, the Cypriot lord did not change his mind, and the priests of the Roman Catholic Church began to look displeased.

One of the knights was blessed.

Although Amalric I had hanged twelve blessed knights, it was because they had lost an important territory and fortress, giving the Saracens an opportunity to threaten the holy city.

What did these two knights do? They were not devout Christians, but members of the orthodox church. If it were up to them, a few words of rebuke would suffice, or they could simply be expelled.

But even in this oppressive and heavy atmosphere, they couldn't utter a sound to stop it, until the other criminals of the Gerald family had been arrested and brought to the scene, where they were hung directly in the square and died in front of everyone.

For the first time, Froy showed a look of disapproval. Walter, on the other hand, watched with great interest, as if he had finally discovered a weakness in Cesar.

Cesar wasn't surprised to see him again; he always felt that Walter seemed rather gloating.

"Is this the thing you told me about before?"

“I warned you,” Walter sat down across from him, staring intently at his face, trying to find some clue, “Don’t you regret it?”

"I do not regret."

“But I heard,” Walter glanced at the sky outside. It was the third day after the banquet. The sun was shining brightly outside, and the heat had not yet reached the room. The lord had stacks of documents in front of him, and his cuffs were stained with ink.

"Do you know that the very next day, many knights left Cyprus for Antioch or Tripoli? And you still insist that all the infested wheat should be thrown into the sea?"
You might have originally had an army of three hundred knights, but now you might only have one hundred.

Moreover, the Gerald family will inevitably become estranged from you at this point, and you will never be able to gain their loyalty again.

As for those Cypriots, if you insist on believing them, then I have nothing to say. But I'm sure I'll see one ridiculous story after another, one after another, in the future.

“My view is exactly the opposite of yours,” Cesar put down his pen, calmly looking at Walter and slowly said, “Throwing the worm-infested wheat into the sea instead of keeping it in the warehouse may seem like a foolish act to some people, after all, when there is hunger, flour infested with worms can still be eaten.”

However, you should be aware of another issue: wheat infested with insects, even when ground into flour, is still toxic, though the effects may not be immediately apparent. This toxin will inevitably accumulate in your body and eventually lead to irreversible consequences.

I threw away these worm-infested wheats. Perhaps I will feel 'hunger' in the future, but I believe that there will always be wheat in this world that doesn't get infested with worms.

I also believe that knights who can propose and abide by the Eight Virtues will not commit crimes they themselves would despise simply because they have come to a strange place and are unattended.

What I am waiting for are these young people who share my ideals, just like the Grand Master and founders of the Knights Templar, Hugo de Payen and Sir Guéfre de Saint-Omo, who established the Knights Templar without horses, weapons, armor, or clothing.

When he stood amidst the ruins and the corpses of pilgrims, were all he thought about money and women? Absolutely not. If he had, he would have become one of the bandits who robbed pilgrims. Instead of succumbing to depravity, he rose up from adversity and thus formed the Knights Templar.

The Knights Templar of today may have long since strayed from his original intentions, but the foundation he laid has not yet been destroyed.

You still hold the most basic beliefs in your hearts. To defend your faith, you left your homeland, went alone, and abandoned all worldly rights, property, and positions, just to fulfill the vows you made before the cross.

I dare not presume to build an organization as great as the Knights Templar, but I know that if the foundation is tilted and damaged from the start, the palace cannot stand for long—fewer people, it doesn't matter, Walter, you should know what kind of person I am. People with different ideals don't need to be forcibly bound together. This is good for them, and for me too.”

Walter glanced at him, and he had to admit that he might not be simply gloating, but rather harboring a bit of resentment. As an old knight who had spent almost the entire latter half of his life in the Holy Land, what could be more heartbreaking than seeing the Knights Templar fall into their current state?
He once clashed with King Amalric I of Arrassa, but the root of the conflict was not just the annual income of five thousand gold coins. Rather, he believed that the Arabs who came and went from his garrison in Tortosa, whether they were old men of the mountains or old men of the sea, should pay him a "pagan" tax in exchange for their lives and freedom.

King Amalric I of Arazarus, however, attempted to make peace with these infidels and abolished the tax. This was no longer merely an economic issue, but a matter of faith.

Doesn't this mean that these pagans can enjoy the same rights as Christians?

Of course, he couldn't do that in the Templar territory, which is why he dared to clash with the king and even go to war. Like Geoffrey, he kept an eye on this young man who almost became a member of the Templar Order. They admitted that he might have received more favor than ten Templars, but the problem was that he didn't seem to be flattered by this extra favor.

On the contrary, like those who have received too many only children, he does not take God's grace to heart. In his world, there seems to be no clear distinction between Christians, Isaacs, Saracens, and even Turks. He judges people only by whether they are upright and good, without looking at their faith, which is a very dangerous thing.

Walter couldn't say whether he wanted to see a different outcome.

If Cesar had sided with the Crusaders in today's trial, would he have felt regret?
Perhaps, but it would be better than the worries he has now. And now Cesar says that he would rather have only a few trustworthy friends, companions, and subordinates around him than a large group of people of mixed character—which is what troubles him even more.

He had seen such people, both in reality and in history books. Unfortunately, almost none of them had a good ending. Even if they were posthumously canonized, they suffered great loneliness and pain before their deaths.

“You are not a saint,” he could only say. “Besides the Gerald family,” he hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath, “you also need to be wary of the Church.”

Just as Walter had predicted, trouble from the church began four days after the banquet.

(End of this chapter)