I Became The King Of Crusaders [EN]: Chapter 105

Became the King of the Crusades-Episode 105

The Blood-Red Eagle (5)

* * *

“Sir Wigg!”

I was breathless.

My lungs felt like they would burst.

I found Wigg in the middle of the battlefield.

He was lying next to other knights.

A broken arm.

His entrails spilling out of his armor.

It was clear at a glance that he was seriously injured.

Damn it. Damn it.

“Medic!”

I turned around.

I had rushed over so quickly that I didn’t even have an escort.

Around me, allied soldiers were checking for survivors.

I shouted at them.

“Go get a medic! Help the other knights and take them away!”

The soldiers who heard my order hurried away.

“Your Grace, is that you?”

Wigg mumbled.

I grabbed his arm.

“Save your strength. The doctor will be here soon.”

I took off my cloak and covered his entrails.

I could feel them slipping through my fingers.

What should I do in this situation?

When the intestines have burst out….

Wigg murmured in a small voice.

“Take off my helmet. I don’t want to die wearing this hunk of iron.”

I took off his helmet.

Wigg’s face was black and rotten in places.

One of his eyes, which had looked fine before, was now white.

Could he even see anything?

“Seeing Your Grace come means we’ve won. Or have you come to heaven as well?”

“I’m still alive. Sir Wigg is still alive too.”

“How did the battle go? The Emperor…”

He coughed.

A red clot of blood fell on the cloak.

“The Emperor is surrounded. The Milanese troops pushed him towards the river. There’s nowhere to escape now.”

“I see.”

“The medic will be here soon. Until then, somehow…”

“No doctor can save injuries like this. Even if I live now, I’ll die of leprosy soon anyway.”

Wigg coughed as he replied.

He raised the corner of his mouth and smiled.

“People don’t die when they should die, but when they can die.”

He smiled and coughed up blood.

“Still, I’m glad I can die like this. I fought head-on against the Holy Roman knights.”

“We were able to win thanks to you.”

I grabbed his arm.

I could only feel Wigg’s unwavering calmness.

“Your Grace must protect Jerusalem. It’s a pity I won’t be able to see you become king…”

He coughed again and grabbed my arm.

“The fate of the Holy City is in Your Grace’s hands.”

“All this time, I…”

I stammered.

Why did I fight for Jerusalem?

The reason was simple.

To return to the 21st century where I originally lived.

And now.

Wigg’s death was due to my desire, not the defense of the Holy City.

“I’ve just been fighting for myself. Not for the Holy City of Jerusalem.”

I said.

“Even if it wasn’t me…”

“The Lord has a plan for every destiny. There must be a reason why Your Grace was chosen.”

He smiled.

“Just like when I first met Your Grace in Eilat.”

“Then what’s the point of all this?”

I asked.

My vision gradually blurred.

“If all destinies are predetermined, what’s the point of fighting like this?”

“All destinies are predetermined, but they are not predetermined. That’s the only truth I’ve learned in my life.”

Wigg chuckled.

His laughter turned into a cough.

“I have one last request for Your Grace.”

He squeezed my hand.

“Aig fell in love with the daughter of the Baron. If Your Grace becomes king, you could grant him a title, right?”

He coughed.

“You must take good care of the people around you. In the end, they are the only ones you can trust.”

“…”

“Bury my body in Jerusalem with the Knights Hospitaller’s cloak. Balian won’t say anything.”

“I understand.”

“That’s all I need. My dream when I was young was to live forever, but…”

He said.

“Now, this is enough.”

“Sir Wigg?”

I looked at him.

I couldn’t feel any emotion anymore.

Coldness.

I only felt an unfamiliar coldness.

I covered his body with the cloak.

Aig’s voice was heard.

“Your Grace?! Your Grace! How can you run off alone like that? I’ve been wandering around for ages…”

Aig stopped beside me.

His gaze went to the cloak.

No explanation was needed.

Aig knelt in front of Wigg.

Rains drops began to fall from the sky.

Soon, a shower drenched our faces.

It was a relief for me.

* * *

“Long live Duke Baldwin!”

“Long live Jerusalem! Long live the Lombard League!”

“Blessings and glory to the Holy Cross!”

Cheers echoed wherever I went.

Soldiers wandering around the battlefield bowed or knelt before me.

The pike spears stuck in the battlefield were like trees.

The heat of battle cooled down with the rain.

“Congratulations on your victory!”

I waved my hand appropriately whenever nobles and knights approached.

It was hard to even force a smile.

I walked around the battlefield, receiving their congratulations.

Several tens of minutes passed.

The raindrops gradually decreased.

As Wigg said, the Roman rain ended quickly and intensely.

I walked back to the command tent on the damp ground.

Luac and Guido greeted me.

Luac said.

“I have nothing to say, Your Grace. If only our Holy Sepulchre knights had stepped in on time, this wouldn’t have…”

“Let’s talk about that later.”

I looked at Luac.

He also looked exhausted.

I could feel guilt and sadness.

Right, Luac was also close to Wigg.

They bickered and fought every day, but that was natural as warriors.

It wouldn’t be good to blame him now.

I could do that later.

“First, please take care of Sir Wigg. The other fallen knights should also be sent to Jerusalem.”

“There are no survivors among the Knights of Lazarus. All forty of them…”

“I see.”

I nodded.

They blocked the Holy Roman Empire knights head-on.

They must have known they were going to die.

Yet they responded to the order.

Without hesitation.

Guido opened his mouth.

“No knights fought as bravely as they did in this battle. And Sir Wigg…”

He continued.

“He was the most outstanding of them all.”

“…”

I nodded instead of answering.

Silence flowed.

Guido cleared his throat.

“The Emperor has sent a messenger to convey his intention to negotiate. He wants an honorable peace.”

“An honorable peace?”

I scoffed without realizing it.

I looked at Guido.

“He didn’t say anything before the fight, but now he wants to talk?”

My hands trembled.

I struggled to suppress the urge to grab a sword.

I wanted to cut something.

Whether it was Friedrich, Hartmann, or the Holy Roman Empire.

All the bastards who started this meaningless war.

“Tell him to get lost. No, it would be better to cut off the messenger’s head first. I’m already curious about how the Emperor will respond.”

Then other knights approached.

High-ranking knights from the Knights Hospitaller and the Holy Sepulchre knights.

They were also filled with anger like me.

“If Your Grace gives the order, we will throw those bastards into the river right away.”

“I will capture the Emperor myself!”

“Your Grace. Sir Wigg was once my teacher. His death is a great tragedy for me as well.”

Guido approached me and whispered.

A slightly trembling voice.

“But it wasn’t just Sir Wigg who gave his life in this battle. Countless Italian soldiers and knights have died.”

He said.

“If the Emperor dies, all victories will be in vain. Germany will elect Friedrich’s son as king and prepare for another Italian expedition.”

He continued.

“Then the German king will gather an even larger army and cross the Alps. Your Grace knows that well, doesn’t he?”

“…”

I took a deep breath.

Guido was right.

But just because it was right didn’t mean the anger disappeared.

I looked across the river.

Friedrich’s army was surrounded with the river behind them.

They had tried to break through several times even after being surrounded.

But both the horses and soldiers were exhausted.

The Lombard League’s pike spearmen had completely surrounded them.

The battle was currently at a standstill.

There were no reinforcements coming to help them.

They had even been abandoned by the city of Rome.

They probably didn’t even have food to eat right now.

In contrast to the allied forces filled with joy and elation, only despair was felt.

“Since the Emperor has bowed first, it’s time for us to accept it.”

“Let’s think about it a little more. After all, they have nowhere to escape.”

I said.

If I didn’t give them an answer right away, they would become desperate.

“I understand. Then Luac and I will go and check the siege.”

Guido nodded and left.

Luac did the same.

The remaining knights also left in a crowd.

Only Aig and I were left in the tent.

I washed my hands and face in a water bowl placed on one side of the tent.

The clear water turned red.

None of it was my blood.

“Your Grace.”

Aig broke the silence and asked.

“Did Sir Wigg leave any words behind?”

“He told me to take good care of you. I heard you’re seeing the daughter of the Baron? Secretly, too?”

“That’s…”

Aig waved his hand.

“It’s not that serious. We’ve just had a few conversations at church. I was going to meet her separately, but…”

Aig scratched the back of his head.

We looked at each other and smiled.

“In the first place, I’m nobody. I don’t have a sacred bloodline.”

“I can create that for you. Let’s talk about it in more detail later.”

I said with a smile.

Right, Wigg wouldn’t want me to mess things up either.

There was only one thing I had to think about.

Save Jerusalem.

“I’ll have to talk to the Emperor.”

“That’s a relief. I thought Your Grace would issue a charge order.”

Aig breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’d like to do that, but it wouldn’t make me feel better.”

I said.

Killing Friedrich now would only make him a hero of Germany.

Something more humiliating was needed.

“I need to make the Emperor kneel himself.”

“Kneel? What do you mean…”

“You’ll find out soon. Go get Father Pierre.”

I smiled and replied.

* * *

“We can’t keep doing this! The enemies are as tired as we are, so it’s time to break through the siege!”

Shouts of anger came and went.

Soldiers went back and forth around them, carrying the wounded.

Knights and soldiers who had run out of energy collapsed here and there.

Servants walked among them, carrying river water.

The Holy Roman camp was temporarily formed.

No, it was just a gathering in one place, so it was hard to call it a camp.

In front of them, allied soldiers stood with long spears pointed.

“The Count is right. We must reorganize our ranks and charge again.”

“The horses have already collapsed from exhaustion! How can we recover our energy when we don’t even have food to eat right now?!”

“Then what are we going to do? Just go out and surrender?!”

“It would set a bad precedent for His Imperial Majesty to surrender to the alliance.”

The lords exchanged words.

Emperor Friedrich remained seated and silent.

“Then how about crossing the river? The enemies won’t be able to chase us across the river.”

“Are you out of your mind? Then we’ll have to take all the arrows the enemies shoot.”

“…”

Silence flowed.

They all looked at the Emperor.

The man who planned this expedition.

He was still sitting with his mouth shut.

Then a soldier came running, panting.

“An envoy. An envoy has arrived!”

The soldier shouted.

“A priest named Pierre has come leading the envoy himself. And he’s carrying the Holy Cross…”

“He’s carrying the Holy Cross?”

The lords buzzed.

They all looked at each other.

“Bring the priest inside.”

The Emperor stood up and said.

“I will talk to him myself.”