Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 26 Execution
Many people secretly curled their lips, and some even rolled their eyes at Orville, leaving him confused.

After waiting for a few seconds, the people in front reluctantly made way for Orville and the others to pass.

The atmosphere was so tense that it would be awkward for Orville not to move forward. He led a dozen officers and soldiers to the center of the square and found that there really was an event going on, but the type of activity was not so pleasing to the eye.

What was going on seemed to be a beheading, with the king or some high-ranking official executing political prisoners.

He didn't even know the cause and effect, and lost interest after watching it once. Beheading and killing people were new to ordinary people, and they wanted to watch the excitement. Orville watched these things every day at the front line, and he was numb to them. He was not a pervert, he just had no desire to watch.

As he turned around and was about to leave, several Egyptian officials came running over in a panic. After glancing at Orville and the others, they asked in confusion, "We have informed Governor Antonius in advance, and he said that there is a regular meeting today and no one is available to come?"

Orville patiently explained to the other party: "We came from the northern province. We are not local officials. We just happened to pass by here. If there is no problem, we will leave now to avoid misunderstandings."

Before he could finish his words, another Egyptian official came running over and said anxiously, "I'm sorry to have neglected you. At the request of the great King Ptolemy Neos Dionysus Theos Philopator Theos Philadelphus, we have arranged the best seat for you. Please follow me."

"I'm not a local official, so I can't represent the Romans." Orville was still not interested. This was the jurisdiction of the Egyptian governor, and he, an outsider, couldn't represent it casually. If he didn't follow the rules, it would easily leave a negative impression.

But the other party winked at him repeatedly, and cold sweat dripped down his forehead: "We will explain to the governor later, and we will also record you as a Roman official in the area outside Egypt. Everything will be done according to the rules and procedures. Please do not refuse. This is the order of our king."

Orville understood why the other party emphasized this. It was obvious that this king with a particularly long name was no ordinary person. If Orville didn't go today, this official would probably be in trouble and would have to go to the execution platform with other political prisoners.

After thinking about it, Orville sighed and said, "Okay, please lead the way, I'll go there."

Leaving his bodyguards behind, he followed the official towards the execution platform and soon arrived at the open area in front.

There was a temporary high platform in front of the execution platform, on which sat an old man dressed in gold and silver, looking elegant and graceful. When he saw Orville approaching, he greeted him with a smile on his face, and Orville also responded politely.

The two people's seats were not together. He sat below, about ten meters in front of the execution platform. There were many seats in the front row, but not many people.

There was no one on Orville's right, and there was a little kid in a cloak on his left. This was not a play, but a serious scene, so he didn't say anything casually. He took out the notebook he carried with him and began to organize his writings.

Tia appointed him as a clerk, and this appointment has never been revoked. Tia never asked him about this aspect of the work, and may have forgotten about it, but Orville did not forget it. On the contrary, he insisted on taking notes.

What he recorded was not the trivial things around Tia, but the whole process of the war. He felt that this was quite meaningful. He was probably the only one who could be so close to the war and had the leisure to write with the army. Even if these ancient people were not useful now, his name would be left in the future history. As a historian, he thought this was much more valuable than the captain of the Luo Xie Army.

As he wrote, he became more and more absorbed in writing. When he heard the noisy voices from the crowd, he turned a deaf ear to them and focused entirely on pondering the words.

When the prisoner passed through the crowd and was taken to the execution platform, the king sitting on the platform began to speak, and Orville raised his head to show respect out of politeness. "Today we are going to execute a damned prisoner. Her sins are so serious and her character is so despicable that she can commit the most ugly act of treason."

There was some logic in the beginning, but later it turned into pure verbal attack and emotional venting, which made Orville curl his lips.

In any case, it is inappropriate for a country's ruler to lose his composure in this way, let alone in a public place. It can only be described as barking and shameless.

After listening to a few sentences, he found that the other party's attention was not on him at all, so Orville lowered his head and busy himself with his own things, and began to wonder how Sitia was doing in the meeting and whether she would encounter any trouble.

At this time, the little kid in a cloak sitting next to him spoke up: "You don't seem to like that old man very much?"

The voice was quite sweet and pleasant, but it was obvious that he was still a child. In addition, he called the king "old man", so Orville felt that the other party was just talking nonsense and was still young and ignorant, so he let down his guard a little and spoke a little casually.

"The king and I have different ideas. I think a qualified ruler should remain calm in the face of adversity and let others know what he is thinking. This is especially true for the ruler of a weak country. If he doesn't have military force, he should use his brain to make up for it."

The little girl didn't speak, and Orville understood that this kind of thing was too profound for children, and they might not understand it and didn't know how to answer.

After a while, the little girl spoke again: "Then why, since you are a Roman, you don't care about the leader of the rebel coup and don't hate him at all?"

Orville then took a closer look at the person on the execution platform. She had a slender figure, and even without seeing her face clearly, he knew it was an extremely beautiful woman. However, he did not know who she was.

"I was also the leader of the rebels half a year ago, but later I joined the Roman army and held a small official position. There is no need for me to be angry at people like me. I know very well that the actions of the Romans are not good. Since we can't expect the Romans to change, we can only rely on our own efforts to change. At least they have courage. For people with courage, at least they should not be ridiculed or humiliated. This is the difference between having morality or not."

There were only the little girl and Orville talking on the field. He had no taboos and said things that were not convenient to say in the military camp.

After he said it, he felt that he had said something wrong. Saying this to a child was a bit like complaining and venting. This was inevitable. In the past year, he had been watching the conflict between the local rebels and the Romans, and he had been holding back some words.

Orville felt somewhat relieved, thinking that it was more decent to tell it to a child than to say something out of turn in the barracks.

He felt a little guilty, so he took out a bag of candied fruit from his arms and wanted to give it to the girl.

This is a high-end product. I originally planned to keep it for myself. It is made from Syrian fruits soaked in Greek honey. In ancient times, sugar-making technology was backward and honey production was very low, so the price of this snack can be said to be shocking.

(End of this chapter)