The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 26

[Episode 26, What’s His Name?]

-Kingdom of Jerusalem-

“Cheap, so cheap!”

“Byzantine silk!”

“This is porcelain from China!”

“Ah… please lower the price a bit.”

The merchants were selling their goods as usual.

“The sad love story of a lord from an island nation~”

The minstrel sang. It was the song of Safe Zone. A dedicatory song about Prince John, who was rejected over 200 times and ultimately looked towards Byzantium, wishing Agnes her happiness.

In any case, this peaceful daily life meant that the Kingdom of Jerusalem still had余裕 [yoyuu – leeway or room to spare].

Of course, there was fear of the approaching terrifying heathens, but the people here wore happy expressions.

They had great pride as people residing in the glorious holy land, and they had a ruler who was more capable, wise, and benevolent than anyone else.

The king who protected this place and the master of the Anjou-Fulk family was Baldwin IV, perfect in every way except for the fact that he was a leper.

He tasted the hell of the present world, suffering terrible pain, and had the inconvenience of frequently changing the bandages that covered his body due to pus.

It was a situation where he could only resent God, but he remained faithful.

Baldwin IV did not forget his mission to protect the holy city of Jerusalem, so he was upright before his deceased parents and the Lord.

However,

the things he had to do were too difficult.

“God, take this bitter cup away from me.”

Just as Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before his death on the cross, the pitiful and exhausted Baldwin IV prayed to God.

He asked that the Kingdom of Jerusalem not be taken away by the heathens.

In the meantime,

a letter came from John, a member of the same Anjou family and recently renowned as the Duke of Ireland.

[A humble lord of Ireland sends a letter to the ruler of Jerusalem.]

At first, Baldwin IV read the letter casually, but his expression gradually became more intrigued.

Safe Zone wrote about the names of the treacherous subjects who, in his previous life, had caused the fall of Jerusalem in the movie ‘Kingdom of Heaven,’ and why they should be purged.

In particular, he sent harsh words about Guy de Lusignan and Raynald of Châtillon, saying, ‘They belong in a shady country like France, so send them to Philip II.’

It wasn’t something that the Lord of Ireland, who had only obtained his territory from his father, should say, but Baldwin IV had been closely watching Prince John since the Byzantine rebellion.

‘Prince John’s words are not wrong…’

Baldwin IV thought positively of Prince John’s letter and showed it to Balian, one of his most trusted vassals.

“Balian, what do you think?”

“Prince John has hit the nail on the head. Guy de Lusignan and Raynald of Châtillon are powerful subjects who the crown prince (Baldwin IV’s nephew) will have difficulty handling.”

“Hmm…”

“Your Majesty, we must first secure the weaknesses of those who deserve to be in France, as Prince John mentioned. We must calmly observe the situation while doing so.”

“We must move very secretly and secure a fatal justification.”

Politics in the Middle Ages could not be purged at the monarch’s discretion.

Various decisions were subject to ‘restrictions.’

If there was no golden ratio of ‘justification’ and ‘military power,’ one could be turned around in this era’s political arena.

Not long after that,

good news came to Jerusalem.

The Holy Roman Empire, England, France, and the Vatican accepted the request of Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem,

and launched the Third Crusade to protect the holy city of Jerusalem.

The splendid and powerful Third Crusade expedition, with the participation of King Henry II of England and Emperor Frederick I of the Holy Roman Empire!

It was something to celebrate for the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which was already threatened by Islamic forces, but Baldwin IV’s expression was not so bright.

“…Henry II of the Anjou family, his three sons, and Philip II are all participating in the Crusade, so there are many variables.”

Baldwin IV, who trailed off like that, said,

“Balian, we must always keep the worst in mind.”

“What do you mean by the worst?”

Balian, pretending not to know for the sake of his lord, even though he already knew the reason.

“It’s good to have capable rulers, but the Crusades easily collapse if they only argue about who is better.”

Baldwin IV trailed off, worrying about the worst-case scenario.

Like the situation of the Crusader leadership having internal divisions in front of the heathens.

“But the relatives who cause the most discord are the problem.”

Baldwin IV knew the problems of those from the same family well.

The Anjou (Plantagenet) family, who sold their souls to the devil to gain wealthy territories and numerous victories, could not trust anyone.

However, there was one person in the Anjou family who could be trusted.

‘I need someone who is from Anjou but doesn’t seem like an Anjou. Prince John is the most suitable person to play the role of a generous mediator.’

Baldwin IV endured the pain and envisioned the future, then began to write a letter to Emperor Alexios II of the Byzantine Empire.

-Irish Territory-

According to my mother’s teachings,

these people are worth exploiting.

‘John, the skill of a shepherd is to use wolves to prevent them from seeing good things. You’re a Frank [a term used in the Middle East to refer to Europeans] anyway, aren’t you?’

Having listened to my mother’s lessons, I could see.

The suspiciously Celtic-like Venetian merchants.

The merchants from the German Hanseatic League, who looked like Englishmen and Germans, were starting to make advances.

Although the merchant’s profit is the top priority,

I don’t know why they came to my territory, where it’s hard to find meat or even vegetables in the stew.

Anyway, I was doing the first stage of ‘how to rip off merchants,’ which I learned from my mother: ‘using surprisingly useful Jews to rip them off in reverse.’

To do that effectively,

I used the gold I received from my mom to repay the money I had borrowed from the Jews in the past.

Safe Zone is the only case among European nobles who willingly repays loans to Jews.

‘Oh… Long live the virtuous Lord John!’

In that way, I absorbed the Jewish forces into Ireland and made them a kind of ‘fund manager.’

I also recruited Aymar, a talented knight from France who would be trusted by Philip II and rise to prominence, through Godfrey,

stealing Philip II’s talent.

21st-century Chinese-style talent acquisition. He won’t be able to stand this, will he?

As I was working hard like that,

I heard the latest news from the Papal States in Italy that the Third Crusade had been formed.

Crusade.

It’s a concept I became familiar with through the story of the Crusades in the movie ‘Kingdom of Heaven.’

We Christians recaptured the holy city of Jerusalem from the heathens,

and established the Kingdom of Jerusalem there.

But when this Kingdom of Jerusalem was threatened again by the heathens,

our father joined forces with the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire to form a new Third Crusade.

However,

unlike my brothers, I couldn’t go to Italy.

Even to Safe Zone, who is just ordinary compared to his brothers,

the Crusade is a minor league, not a major league.

I’m still a backup player.

But lately,

there have been many strange things happening around me.

In our territory, prince-electors [nobles with the right to elect the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire] began to send envoys.

Even the monarchs of various countries sent envoys to me.

“No, why are they coming to Ireland?”

I, who didn’t even attend the declaration ceremony of the Third Crusade by the Vatican,

have been receiving special treatment since when.

Come to think of it, my teacher is Pius II,

and my publicly known friend is Alexios II.

There are many people who want to be on good terms with me, who am close to both the Pope, who symbolizes religion externally, and the Emperor of Byzantium, who symbolizes politics.

Envoys also came from ‘Two Empires.’

“We are from the Roman Empire.”

“No, we are the true Roman Empire.”

Unfortunately,

the Byzantine Empire guy and the Holy Roman Empire guy, who I ran into in the hallway,

said that they were Rome!

“Your Majesty the Queen Mother, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire have designated ‘John’ as a key diplomatic issue.”

Queen Eleanor was incredulous and asked the old maid again.

“Why on earth?”

“If my prediction is correct, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire seems to have expressed interest, and the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire seems to have expressed gratitude.”

“Alexios, that brat, I understand, but why Frederick, the Redbeard, that guy?”

Considering the friendship between Emperor Alexios II of the Byzantine Empire and John,

the existence of the special envoy is somewhat understandable.

But it was not understood what Frederick, who was as cunning as Henry, was thinking when he paid attention to the youngest son.

What reason did the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who had never seen John directly, have?

The old maid, who had worked in Westminster for a long time, smiled warmly and said,

“Isn’t Prince John a special person?”

‘Special…’

[That child is special.]

It was as if she heard Henry II’s words in her ear.

From that time on, Eleanor reminisced about her youngest son for a while.

Yes.

Her youngest son, John, was truly special.

She had already heard many stories about her youngest son, John, from before.

But when she actually met him in the Irish territory like this,

her youngest son felt even newer.

‘Of course, I used to ignore John.’

Because of the hatred for Henry II, who left the beautiful her and made countless bastards,

she ignored John in his childhood, but she had no regrets.

Henry was annoying, so why would she take care of the youngest, who was not as special as his brothers?

At that time, she was so consumed with hatred that she even allied with Louis VII, that incompetent ex-husband,

so no matter how cute John was, she didn’t have the 余裕 [yoyuu – leeway or room to spare] to care.

But dealing with the married John now that she was older,

was very fun.

‘What’s special is not just John.’

‘Mary’ was also an interesting daughter-in-law, no less than John.

“Is there no special news from the French region?”

“The Count of Toulouse is asking about the well-being of Your Majesty the Queen Mother, who has been released from exile.”

With those words, the old maid handed the letter sent by the Count of Toulouse to the Queen Mother.

Eleanor, who read it, said with a regretful expression.

“Count Raymond (V) of Toulouse was a great man. He was a powerful subject that even Louis VII could not touch. But now he is old, and I am old too. To be at the mercy of each other’s monarchs in our later years!”

In fact, Eleanor’s power base was not in England but in the Aquitaine territory in the French region.

Before marrying Henry II, Eleanor was also the Queen of France with Louis VII as her husband.

Of course, she had better relations with the nobles of the Kingdom of France than with the nobles belonging to England.

And the Count of Toulouse was especially close to the Queen Mother.

After a while, Eleanor burned the Count of Toulouse’s letter and muttered.

“The unexpected variable of John will not be good for you either. My beloved sons Henry and Geoffrey…”

Quite a bit of time has passed since the envoys of the two empires left.

The two emperors wanted so much from me,

that my thoughts became more complicated.

I, who was selected as the second team of the Crusade, was still staying in the territory,

but I had to hurry to organize a standing army that could move at any time.

Fortunately,

I have the best knight, Godfrey,

so I feel relieved.

It was so heartbreaking to be separated from my family,

but people volunteered to be soldiers of the Crusade, prepared to die.

‘The most important archer unit among the English troops.’

So I recruited archers from Ireland and Mortain,

but the most important thing was the commander of the archer unit.

Fortunately, Sir Godfrey brought a new talent.

“Your Highness! A knight who is skilled in archery and has experience commanding archer units has come to request to be a vassal. He is only the son of a great nobleman, but he is very faithful and capable. He is a talent who has trained mercenary archers.”

Oh,

talented people are always welcome!

After a while, a large young nobleman who looked like he could fight well came to me.

Just by looking at him,

he looked like he would beat the heathens properly.

I feel reassured. A new promising player!

Besides, he was handsome, and his eyes showed the demeanor of a hero.

Oh, I have a good feeling?

I feel like a proper person has come to me.

“Pay your respects to the Duke of Ireland.”

As Godfrey instructed, the new talent politely greeted me.

“Your Highness the Duke of Ireland, I am Robin, the son of the Duke of Suffolk (son of a nobleman).”