kingdom of nations

Chapter 80 Isaac and Isaac

The noisy place was not far from where Baldwin and Cesar were, only separated by three houses and an alley.

The knight who was also attracted by the noise was already getting impatient. He glanced at the bored Templar leaning against the wall and was about to put an end to this troublesome matter cleanly and neatly - he didn't care about justice or good and evil. After all, there were tens of thousands of Saracens in the city. These people were both gold reserves and powder kegs, and there was not much time for them to waste.

But his entourage suddenly ran over and whispered a few words to him. He was stunned at first, then pulled out the torch from the wall and walked out.

The other people in the courtyard couldn't help but shut up. They were anxious and didn't know what was going on.

Soon, the knight led another team in. The leaders of this team were two young apprentice knights. They were dressed more noble than the squires, but their spurs were still silver.

In the flickering firelight, the two apprentice knights both had dark hair, but one was darker than the other, almost black. The black-haired apprentice knight had a pair of green eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, while his friend had a pair of gentle blue eyes, but more solemn and self-restrained than the former.

They saw that the Templar Knight, who was so arrogant that he looked down on everyone, suddenly put down his hand, walked up to the blue-eyed apprentice Knight, bowed his head and saluted, then reached out and patted him - the green-eyed apprentice Knight took a step back and avoided his pat with a salute. The Templar Knight muttered something like "a vengeful little bastard" and stepped aside.

"What's going on here?" Baldwin asked.

Cesar was observing the situation here from the side. This was a two-story building that was very common in Bilbais. The highest point was a platform that could be used to dry grains and clothes. The second floor was for the owner and his family to live in. The ground floor was a workshop or shop. The walls extending from both sides of the building created a small courtyard. On one side of the courtyard was a large olive tree, and its branches were covered with golden and green fruits.

The people gathered under the olive tree actually included all the ethnic groups in Bilbais, the Christians as the victors, the Saracens as the losers, and the Isaacs who were despised and excluded by both. What was particularly strange was that the Isaacs, who had always stuck together, were actually divided into two groups here, and were glaring at each other.

Baldwin was waiting for someone to give him an answer when a man suddenly fell at his feet. He almost stabbed him with a sword - fortunately, Cesar grabbed his arm in time. He looked down and saw that it was an Isaac dressed as a Frank - pointed shoes, tights, a short robe and a cloak on the outside... What made him recognizable as an Isaac was that he was also wearing a small round hat, which is called "Kipa" in Hebrew, meaning "covering". The Isaacs used this to express their fear of God.

"Isaac?" Baldwin frowned. He moved his feet and asked a humble and flattering face: "Who are you? What do you want to do?"

"Permit me to speak to you, my lord," said the man. "I am an Isaac, but I am also your father's servant. I do his bidding, and I buy him wheat, barley, beer, and beans. My name is Raban, and if you have ever heard of me, you know that I am a most honest and faithful man."

This made everyone present laugh.

Raban, undeterred, dropped to his knees and clasped his hands. He saw that Baldwin was not one to take kindly to humiliation, so he said docilely, "I came to rescue my people, but was thwarted. If you will seek justice for me, Your Highness, I will repay your kindness with a suit of mail and three silk robes."

This reward was enough to bribe a knight or an official. Although Baldwin was a prince, he was not yet an adult and had no territory or knight of his own. Moreover, as a teenager, he had many expenses.

But to the disappointment of the Isaac man, although the prince was young, he was calm and cautious beyond his years. He was not moved by the reward promised by Raban. He just waved his hand and asked him to step aside. Then he looked around and asked: "Besides him, is there anyone else who wants to talk?"

"I……"

"Hadiri..."

Unexpectedly, two people stood up and wanted to speak at the same time. Baldwin took a look at them. One was a middle-aged man dressed in traditional Isaac style, and the other was a Saracen.

"You tell me." He pointed at the Isaac man.

The Isaac man came out. He was wearing a multi-horned hat, a shawl, a loose robe, and brown leather sandals. "Your Highness," he said with a somewhat sad face after bowing, "My name is Hadiri. I am just an ordinary goldsmith. Thanks to the grace of God and the Caliph - and now thanks to the pardon of King Amalric I, I make a living by my craft in Bilbais..."

"He, his wife, and two daughters are my captives." The Templar Knight, the Mr. Geoffrey we are already familiar with, interjected, reminding Baldwin and César... this is not the king's property.

"Yes, yes, this knight captured us outside the city..." said Hadiri, "but he is a kind man and allowed us to redeem ourselves."

"After all, it's not the time when Alasarus was captured, is it?" Geoffrey said in a self-proclaimed humorous tone, but this cold joke only made most people in the courtyard shudder involuntarily.

It is of course impossible to ask the captives to pay money out of their own pockets to redeem themselves. Just like in a tournament, a knight was knocked off his horse and became a prisoner of another knight. His horse, armor and even clothes were considered trophies, and he had to pay extra money to redeem himself - the same is true here.

"He told me," Geoffrey said, "that although he left Bilbao, he did not take all his money with him. He hid some of it in a secret place, in his house, and he could bring me here to get it - I promised him, God bless you, I have been in a good mood these days, but..." He raised his hand and pointed to the small building, the meaning of which was self-evident.

The small building had long been looted; furniture, furnishings, utensils, silk carpets... even doors, windows, mosaics, and holders for torches and candles had been removed, leaving only the chalk-painted walls and the floral patterns painted on the walls - but it was still clear what a warm and peaceful home it had been when the owner was still here.

“No, no, no,” Hadiri said quickly, “I swear I didn’t lie to you. I hid my money in a place where no one would know about it and it couldn’t be found—” He turned to Raban, “But before I left, I told this place to my most trusted friend. At least that’s what I thought…”

"I don't care," the Templar muttered. "If you can't come up with the money, I'll just have to find another buyer."

Baldwin frowned, and Cesar asked, "You want us to help you recover this money?"

Haridi shook his head. He knew very well that when he met this Templar, he thought he was doomed to die. He was overjoyed that he allowed Haridi to ransom himself and his family, not to mention that the other party was willing to follow him into the city. When he found that the secret room was empty, it was like a bolt from the blue. But he still had reason and knew that if he continued to beg, he would be asking for too much. If the Templar did not kill him, he would be like a saint.

"Well," said Geoffrey, "it's like this, César, I was just about to take them away and give them to somebody"—he meant, of course, the slave traders—"when," he glanced at the Saracens, "they came out and asked to ransom them from me."

Cesar turned his gaze to the Saracens. There were about five or six of them, all wearing turbans. The leader had dark skin and wore a Saracen robe, just like the one he had met in the market before, but it was not black but linen. On the cowhide belt, you could vaguely see the hook for hanging a scimitar, which might have been hastily removed before negotiating with the knight to avoid unnecessary conflict.

But it seemed that even if he was not on the list of Amalric I, he was not an ordinary Saracen commoner. "How much?"

"I don't ask for much," Geoffrey said, rubbing his face. "Ninety gold coins." He nodded toward Haredi. "He has two daughters who are as beautiful as buds."

The price wasn't high, but Cesar was even more puzzled. A set of ordinary chain mail would cost at least forty gold coins (just for the torso), and a silk robe would cost around eight or nine gold coins. The money that Raban had promised Prince Baldwin was equivalent to the ransom...

"We have already agreed," said the Saracen, with suppressed anger. "We came in such a hurry that we didn't bring enough money with us. We have sent for it."

"Who knows what you're buying my people for?" La Ban jumped up and said fiercely, "I'll pay three times the price!" Turning to Geoffrey, his tone softened again: "Mr. Chevalier," he said respectfully, "you don't even need to wait. I have the money right now."

"My husband's money..." said the Haredi wife angrily.

"Don't talk nonsense, woman! The devil should pull out your tongue!" Raban said angrily. "Your husband didn't leave me any money!"

He turned his face and showed an innocent look to Cesar and Baldwin: "My lords, please think about it. If a man decides to flee from this city, taking his wife and daughter, house, property and everything with him, why would he leave money for me?"

"This money isn't for you!" Haridi finally couldn't help but shout, "It's because I want to leave, but some of my people are determined to stay here. I'm worried that if..." He paused, "if something happens, I want you to take this money and help them out of their suffering!"

"Oh, oh," Raban said sarcastically, "Listen, listen, what a saint..."

Geoffrey chuckled.

Raban paused, looking at them in confusion. He hadn't yet figured out that there was a true "little saint" here. So he continued, "So what's going on now? You abandoned your people, but couldn't escape, so you changed your mind and decided to use the money to buy your life?"

This is moral kidnapping, although there is no such term yet.

Although Haridi wasn't good at speaking, he was clearly a clear-headed man. He stepped forward, his eyes gleaming. "If someone doesn't even love themselves, or their own family, and yet claims to love others, then that's... that's what it means to be possessed by the devil." He lowered his eyes slightly. "While this certainly deviates from my original intention, I'm only human."

"How much money have you hidden here?" Cesar asked.

Haridi hesitated. "Fifty gold coins, but there are also a few gems, worth over forty gold coins, and a roll of dark blue silk. A customer needs it when they're custom-making a reliquary from me."

Geoffrey curled his lips and stared at Laban. He was almost certain that this guy had taken these things, and he was planning to find an opportunity to pry them out of this guy's mouth.

"You are Saracens, aren't you?" Cesar asked. "Why are you willing to pay such a large sum of money to redeem an Isaac?"

"Haredi is our friend," the dark-skinned Saracen said. "Although he's an Isaac and adheres to the laws and beliefs of his people, he's always been honest and upright. He's lived here for twenty years and has never quarreled with anyone, never lied, and never lent a penny..." He glanced at Raban. "Completely unlike his people."

"And," he went on, "he was a scholar. He taught our children mathematics, Latin, and astronomy."

The Saracens had always held scholars in high esteem, and this one, moreover, was willing to impart important knowledge to their children.

"Are you a teacher?" Baldwin asked.

The teacher here is not the teacher we know today. Among the Isaacs, this word represents a teacher of oral law - similar to the priests in the Christian Church and the elders of the Saracens.

"Of course not!" Raban answered angrily, taking the initiative. "He's just a craftsman!"

Haridi pursed his lips.

"Your relationship with him is not very good," Cesar asked, "yet he is willing to redeem you for nearly three hundred gold coins?" Almost one-tenth of a count.

"It's not free," Haridi said. "An Isaac cannot make another Isaac his slave. But if I owe him a debt, I must repay it with my workshop and labor. Three hundred gold coins are enough to keep me working until I die, and..."

"and?"

"And he's always wanted to marry my daughter. As far as I know, he has a friend who's just as violent and mean as he is. He's already made an agreement with him that after he marries my eldest daughter, he'll try to marry my youngest daughter to his friend. Of course, the friend will pay him a generous reward for this."

Baldwin subconsciously glanced at Raban. Raban was not an ugly man, but he looked older than Haredi. He was not short, but precisely because he was quite tall, when he hunched his back, he looked as disgusting as a hyena.

Laban did not refute, and Haridi's words sounded reasonable, but Cesar always felt that something was wrong.

"Can you make a judgment now?" Geoffrey yawned boredly. "I want to go back to bed."

(End of this chapter)