kingdom of nations

Chapter 59 Swear (Special thanks to the leader Sunset Oath for the extra chapter!)
"What if," Cesar asked, "I hadn't killed those servants who wanted to harm me, but instead complained to you or ran away..."

Baldwin closed the book and assumed as Cesar had said.

"Well," he said hesitantly, "perhaps you will be sent away." He added, "I know you are a kind person, but if you are not only kind but also indecisive, you are not suitable to live in Alasar. You will die. Even for your own good, we will send you away."

This was a predictable answer, and Cesar felt calm. "What about you?"

"Me?" Baldwin laughed. "Just before you came here, when I was still healthy, not long after my ninth birthday, I executed a despicable thief under the supervision of my father and teacher."

"He was a lord from Lower Lorraine," he continued, "and for that reason my father allowed him to build a castle on a small plot of land near Jaffa, with the generous promise that all pilgrims passing through his castle would be given safety, warmth, and free food and water.

He seemed to have kept his promise, and groups of pilgrims entered his castle, rested for a night, and left full of energy. They were full of gratitude to their host and vowed to pray for Christ at his tomb.

In fact, many people did leave, but some people stayed forever.

He was a cunning hunter. You have to know that pilgrims mostly came in groups, such as villages, parishes, or cities as a whole. There were also wealthy pilgrims who would ask the lord to send knights to escort them (for a fee) or hire mercenaries.

But there were also some naive believers who thought that since the king had issued a strict law that "anyone who harms pilgrims will be put to death", and that God was watching over them all the time, there should be no crime in this land where the blood of Christ was shed - they entered the castle and revealed their secrets under the influence of wine.

Their relatives and friends are thousands of miles away, their pockets are full of gold or silver, they have no relatives and friends in the Holy Land, and even if they have surnames, they are not prominent," Baldwin glanced at Cesar and said, "They were so happy when they got a private room, but in the end they were either strangled to death in the dark or hit to death with a hammer.

This Viscount was also very cautious. He didn't even sell his young victims to pagans as slaves like some did. He threw all the bodies naked into the dense forest, where wild beasts could help him complete the task overnight. Guess how he was discovered?"

"How was it discovered?"

"Heraclius casually brought his castle to me for a math problem. It was much more interesting than just numbers. He asked me to calculate the monthly expenses of maintaining a castle with fifteen knights, thirty retainers, fifty armed servants, twenty craftsmen, and a hundred servants...

And after deducting these expenses, how many people can he still receive with his income, assuming each pilgrim requires a loaf of bread?"

"A huge gap?"

"It's more than a disparity; he should have been bankrupt long ago," Baldwin said. "Now that we have a clue, the rest will be easy. Heraclius borrowed a few Knights of the Holy Sepulchre from the king. They'll be watching outside the castle day and night. When the servants carry the body out of the castle in a dung bucket," he gestured, "then we'll catch the man red-handed."

"He was a lord and shouldn't have been hanged—he even requested a trial by combat, but no knight was willing to agree. Finally, Amalric I thought this might be suitable teaching material. Although Heraclius thought it was premature since I wasn't even a squire at the time, who knows if there will be another fool like him in the future?

But I didn’t do very well in this course,” Baldwin said regretfully, “I had not been blessed at that time. Although I was stronger than my peers, but…” He was silent for a while: “He suffered a lot, and I suffered a lot too. The axe slipped from my hand and almost hit my toe. His head was still cursing and swearing when it fell to the ground.

Sometimes I wonder if I was infected with leprosy because I caused a Christian to suffer undeservedly, and that is why God punished me in this way.

Certainly not, Cesar thought to himself, even if someone made a mistake, it was Amalric I.

A hand gently rested on his knee. "You went to see Geoffrey today. What did he say to you?"

Cesar rarely hid anything from Baldwin, and even less so when he was about to meet the Templars. "He told me some things about the battlefield. Baldwin, I'm worried. I... I may not be the kind of person you think I am, the kind of person who kills people decisively. I feel pity for the weak, and I can't judge others based on my own ideas... I..."

"That's nothing to worry about," Baldwin replied with surprising briskness. "I command you to do it! I am your master, and you must obey my orders. Blood flowing from a sword does not dim its color, and neither do you. If there is any sin, let it be entirely on me!"

As he spoke, he carefully observed Cesar's expression. He said this in the hope of freeing himself from the shackles that Cesar had placed on him.

Baldwin didn't understand Cesar at first, but now he knows at least three or four points about him. At least he is not the kind of person who can kill pregnant women and babies without any psychological burden by saying "killing infidels is not only not a sin, but also a merit."

But if you say that he is a man as sentimental as a woman and unable to lift a sword, that is slanderous.

"You are worried that you will degenerate into the kind of person you look down upon," Baldwin held Cesar's hand tightly and said seriously, "Yes, I have seen them. They came with full of love for God, but in the face of famine, pain and the threat of death, they had to become unthinking beasts. So," he asked solemnly, "what kind of person do you think I am?
"A good man, in this time and place, undoubtedly a good man," Cesar replied, "People call me 'little saint', but I never take it to heart. It's not that I'm arrogant, but I know it's just people's false praise and expectations of me. But I think you are a saint, Baldwin."

Anyone can be a saint with nothing in his hands, but Baldwin has status and power, yet he still does not indulge himself wantonly. He is a person who is truly worthy of admiration.

"Then trust me and obey my orders. I will never ask you to do anything that violates your oath, and I will never let you become a stranger even to yourself. As long as I am here, you will always be Cesar. Are you willing to swear an oath with me?"

"I am willing."

————Heraclius had fallen asleep. When he was woken up by the two children and listened to their wishes, he couldn't help but feel hesitant.

"Do you know what you're saying?" he asked Baldwin. "If you make such a vow, you're essentially taking on the fate of another person."

"I understand," Baldwin replied, "but only such an oath can guarantee Cesar's eternal freedom." Although Cesar was his squire, when they both became squires and even knights of Amalric I, his master was not Baldwin, but Amalric I.

If Amalric I was just a Frankish lord, things might be easier, but the Crusaders originally adopted the method of "collective leadership". "As stipulated at the beginning, no one, no matter how noble or humble, could oppose anything ordered by the army."

Although various counties and kingdoms have been established now, this "law" still has a certain effect, especially on the battlefield.

If someone deliberately took advantage of this to embarrass Cesar, his situation would become difficult. He would either have to abandon his former self or be forced to withdraw from the army. But given that the successive kings of Alazarus were equivalent to the leaders of the Crusaders, did he really have to go to a monastery?

"Are you willing to believe Baldwin too?" Heraclius asked Cesar.

"I believe in him."

Heraclius turned to Baldwin for the second time. "But in this case—although we all say that after going through the 'selection ceremony' together, we have become brothers under the gaze of God, to be honest, this oath is not very solid—I mean, Amalric, Raymond, Bohemond, and..." He hesitated, but still said it: "Jocelyn, the Count of Edessa."

The name was rarely mentioned in the Holy Cross Castle, which was a scandal.

Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli, and Alasarus should have been a natural alliance of Christian countries, but when the Zengid Dynasty attacked Edessa in 1144, neither Alasarus, Antioch, nor Tripoli took action. There were certainly many reasons for this... but it would be embarrassing for everyone to say it out loud.

Not to mention, in 49 AD, Count Joscelinus of Edessa participated in the Second Crusade and was captured by the Celtic people and imprisoned. He died in 59 AD without anyone coming to redeem him.

"But if you make such an oath, Baldwin, you will no longer be Cesar's master. He and you will be completely equal. You can command him, and he can command you. You must support each other and guarantee each other. This contract will not only be for you, but also for your descendants. If either of you breaks the oath - no one will believe in your loyalty anymore."

"Of course I understand," Baldwin said sincerely. "Besides, I don't need an upright person to hold my reins." He turned to Cesar. "You're worried that you'll change, but won't I?" He looked at his arms. "I don't know when God's trials will end. I know many people will go crazy in such a difficult journey... Why wouldn't I be one of them?"

His eyes sparkled. "That's good. My control over Cesar can help him avoid the ill will of others, and his control over me can help him avoid my ill will. He trusts me, and I believe he will be a loyal person. No, I'm not saying he's only loyal to me; he's loyal to God, because the path he takes is the same path God has shown mankind."

"Your father will be unhappy."

"At first, yes, but then I think about it," Baldwin said. "The thing he had been worried about was solved, and I paid the price. But Cesar's loyalty must be passed on to my descendants or my brother, or even his descendants. Isn't this a good thing?"

Heraclius was silent for a moment. "I must seek the king's consent."

"Go ahead," Baldwin said. "He'll agree."

Baldwin knew something about his father. Amalric I was furious, but he still agreed to his request. As Baldwin said, this move undoubtedly put him on the same level as a slave - of course, this does not mean that Caesar can become the crown prince of Alaska all of a sudden, but they have responsibilities to each other and can act as guarantors for each other.

"There was an example of this recently, albeit with some reluctance on both sides."

Heraclius said, "Have you heard of Rodrigo, the Knight of Castile? He was a knight of Castile. King Sancho of Castile once joined forces with his brother Alfonso to attack another brother Garcia. In the process, Alfonso also joined forces with their sister Uca. No one knows what happened in the process, but Sancho died.

After Sancho's death, his successor was Alfonso. He was not trusted by the Castilian knights, but no one could force a king to swear an oath. At this time, Rodrigo came out and asked the king to swear an oath with him - this oath, as a knight who had captured five Moorish kings, was not considered humiliating for him to make this request.

Alfonso had no choice but to accept this request, and Rodrigo then asked him to swear an oath in front of the Church of Santa Agueda, to which the king had no choice but to swear... Although he later expelled Rodrigo for this humiliation, he did not deprive him of his title and territory. After gaining a foothold in the pagan territory through his own strength and wisdom, Rodrigo continued to fulfill his obligations.

A large amount of money flowed into the Castilian treasury. When Alfonso's protégé was usurped from the throne, he brazenly sent troops and brutally executed the traitor. After each war, he would select the best spoils and dedicate them to the king, even though he was already the ruler of a region at that time...

In 1099, after he died as a Christian king, his widow was unable to continue to defend Valencia, and it was King Alfonso who gave her a final refuge.

Heraclius stared at Cesar, hoping the boy would understand that while this deal might seem like a loss for Baldwin, Cesar would actually have to pay the greater price. Baldwin was still plagued by chronic illness, and it was uncertain whether he would live past thirty. By taking this oath, Alasarus would have gained a powerful arm to support the country for forty, perhaps even fifty years...

Others didn't know, but Heraclius knew that Cesar had some signs. What made him tremble was that the saint Cesar had seen hadn't revealed his name, yet he was still able to use the power granted by Him. In all the records and scriptures, the only one without a name was...

"Well," he said, reaching out to touch Cesar's face, "if that's what you want."

(End of this chapter)