Watching Furinjira’s figure disappear swiftly into the distance, Prajna’s lips curved into a smile. Her face had smiled more today than in an entire month usually.
Losa’s footsteps echoed behind Prajna.
"Went out to play, no need to worry about her."
Losa responded somewhat absent-mindedly, still mulling over the list for promoting knights from the recent battle. Laine and Model had distinguished themselves and clearly deserved advancement.
Additionally, Ulm and Andreas, two outstanding Winged Cavalry, could also be considered for promotion to knights.
However, there were several brave attendants loyal to knights who had perished in battle. Losa was contemplating whether to recruit them under his wing and turn them into his inner circle.
This meant, when the opportunity arose, transitioning them into Winged Cavalry.
She pointed toward the nearby streets and alleys. The war seemingly hadn’t had much impact on this city, with short-bearded Greeks, Eastern-styled Latins, Germanic people...
People thronged and bustled within.
A faint scent of spices and cooked food lingered in the air.
Some soldiers of the Royal Knight Order, clad in red and white cloaks, were already drawn over, soon negotiating prices with courtesans who had arrived by ship from Europe.
Alcohol and women were crucial remedies to soothe war’s wounds.
Losa, constrained by his dignity, skipped this part naturally, leaving it to the Crusader soldiers, freshly enriched with wartime spoils, to fulfill it themselves.
Yet the direction Prajna indicated was strikingly opposite to where Furin had gone.
Smiling faintly, she said, "Let’s take this chance to stroll around. For your service to me all this time, you haven’t given me a gift yet."
Losa looked at Prajna, somewhat surprised.
Her eyes were clear and bright, meeting his gaze without a hint of guilt. She asked, "What? Can’t I?"
"Of course, it’s just a bit surprising. This is the first time you’ve made such a request since we’ve known each other."
"We should wear veils first, or we might cause chaos."
The two walked shoulder to shoulder, close together, through the streets and alleys.
Montreal, once a logistics hub during the Crusades, later evolved into a major trade node between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Eastern Chiefdoms.
Its scale was not small, with nearly ten thousand permanent residents, about a third of whom were heretics.
This number might not seem significant, but how many people did Paris and London have at present?
At most, merely this number.
In all of Western Europe, cities with populations reaching fifty thousand were the city-states of the Northern Apennines, and even the Pope’s city where the Pope resides surpassed only thirty thousand.
The barbarians who conquered the Western Empire, though full of martial virtue, seemed inept at state administration. The once-thriving Seven Hills City had been far outshone by her sister city—Constantinople.
In this era, Sassan’s Tarsus and Ayyubid’s Cairo both had populations of five hundred thousand.
The Eastern Empire’s Constantinople had the most, with six hundred thousand people.
Further east, Kaifeng City was said to exceed a million in population.
This city had only thirty thousand permanent residents, but with the constant flow of pilgrims, the population often doubled or more.
With the Northern Crusaders yet to depart, its population even approached a hundred thousand.
This often led to Jerusalem being overcrowded, with streets filled with people.
Losa and Prajna stopped in front of a Shen Kan.
This religious building mixed with Eastern styles, resembling a stage set.
On Palm Sunday, clergy would bear crosses and palm branches, circle the city, then gather here to pray to the Heavenly Father.
One must admit, the customs of the church in Jerusalem had significantly diverged from those of the Western Europe’s Public Church.
Western European civilization was rapidly integrating with Eastern civilization.
Losa felt somewhat sentimental. In this era, many Crusader soldiers had begun speaking Arabic, and quite a few among them no longer ate pork.
Intermarriages between different ethnic groups were no longer a rarity.
Although this was met with resistance and disdain from the new pilgrims (referred to as "Little Colts" by old pilgrims), Losa felt it was a positive development.
If he could control this kingdom in the future, he would mix all these diverse ethnicities into one. After long-term intermarriage and language assimilation, they would be indistinguishable.
In a previous life, the Habsburg descendants already demonstrated that a multicultural empire, like Austria-Hungary, ultimately ended in division.
"Up ahead is Count Reynard’s residence in Montreal, reportedly equipped with gardens and fountains, painted ceilings, and marble floors. If only I could own such a town, the annual trade taxes alone, in times of peace, would suffice to maintain all my troops."
Losa said with a hint of envy.
"If you want it, we could seize this city, even cooperate with Saladin. The Crusaders arriving later wouldn’t manage to capture this city after a hard journey."
Losa shook his head: "I do not intend to betray Baldwin IV, and... there’s no way I could. The soldiers of the Royal Knight Order are more loyal to the King and Heavenly Father than to me, no small favors could buy them."
"Let’s go, this street sells fur goods, mind the dirty water, let’s head over there, I saw a goldsmith shop’s sign."
Losa and Prajna crossed the alley, arriving at a more bustling street.
The shops here were more refined than before, and the crowd thicker.
Losa stopped in front of the goldsmith shop, frowning.
He saw a conspicuous T symbol etched on the shop’s sign.
This indicated that a portion of the shop’s proceeds would be d to the Templar Order.
Other symbols, such as ANNA, indicated that a large portion of the shop’s proceeds would be d to Saint Anna Cathedral.
Some devout, yet not devout enough to directly to the church, patrons were eager to shop at such stores—Losa naturally chose to abstain.
"These are all promotional gimmicks to raise prices. It’s not about the cost; mainly the goldsmiths using this as a selling point usually lack skill. We’d better find a shop run by Greeks, we might find Byzantine-style jewelry."
Watching Losa’s thoughtful expression, Prajna couldn’t help but let her lips curl up slightly: "Sure."
A sudden system prompt sounded: your Five-Star Attendant, Vampire Banshee Furinjira, is in combat, facing a Day Spirit. Please quickly provide support.
He looked blankly at Prajna, questioning: "Didn’t Furinjira go to play?"
Prajna casually lied with a straight face: "Perhaps on the way to play, she happened to run into a spirit."
With her habitually expressionless face, it was impossible for her to appear guilty.
In a deep, secluded alley.
Two bodies lay on the ground, riddled with wounds, as if mauled by a beast, not a single intact piece of skin left.
One corpse lay near the alley, just a step away from escaping this perilous place.
Scott panted heavily.
"Honest" John, looking mournful, weakly cursed, "I said not to go there, and now, we stumbled upon the scene of the evil spirit killing."
Scott swallowed hard, his voice dry: "I... I didn’t expect there really were evil spirits, let alone one that appears in daylight."
The two hid in a corner.
Watching the outside, where an evil spirit, two meters tall, hovered mid-air, tongue extended long.
It wore a decayed, yellowed white gauze, with its long tongue densely covered in barbs, likely the source of the scratches on the corpses.
"I can’t see it anymore."
The two exchanged glances.
The next moment, a sense of burning rose from their hearts. The most update n0vels are published on NoveIＦire.net
Shadows emerged behind them, cast under the sunlight, stretching into long, sinister shapes.