Losa returned to the main hall of the Inner Castle Royal Palace, covered in dust from the journey.
The scorching sun left the fully armed Winged Cavalry sweating profusely.
The Varangian Guard, riding pack horses, had long since stopped halfway to rest at Constant Manor, unloading their armor to take a break.
The climate of the Holy Land is extremely unfriendly to the Franks, who mostly come from Central and Western Europe.
Losa himself didn’t mind much.
The innate talent from the Blood Magic Specialization had altered his physique, along with Prajna, his mobile cooling unit. Even though he was fully armed, with thickly padded Armed Clothing under his Half-Body Armor, he hadn’t sweated a drop.
The soldiers guarding the gates handed over earthen jars filled with saline water, which the Winged Cavalry took, finding a place in the shade to drink slowly and rest.
Baron Godfrey, wearing a blue overcoat, hurried over with Belian; Knight Kevin also rushed here.
Belian had now been knighted by Baron Godfrey and was starting to get involved with some military affairs of the Jerusalem Knight Order.
His face still showed traces of youthful innocence, but it had become much more composed than when they first met.
The transformation from a blacksmith to a knight, cavalry officer, and lord is no easy task.
It takes a considerable amount of time.
"Lord Godfrey, Knight Belian, Knight Kevin."
Losa greeted them one by one and got straight to the point: "Lord, Saladin’s army is already under the Kaler Castle. Do you know how many there are?"
Godfrey replied gloomily: "According to intelligence, there are at least thirty thousand. Saladin has been tirelessly integrating the Saracen World these years. He has unified the entire Sham, Northern Crescent Fertile Land, Yemen, and Egypt, while we remain a scattered force, with most of our military strength sent to the North."
The Crusaders heading north from Jerusalem actually make up only a small portion of Jerusalem’s forces.
Originally, the knights and lords from the North should have come south to support the Holy City, but now the situation has turned completely opposite.
With the balance shifting, Jerusalem’s current military strength is only slightly more than a third of its peak.
Losa furrowed his brow; Saladin’s thirty thousand strong army was not overly exaggerated. Jerusalem should be able to muster over ten thousand troops.
If they utilize the home-field advantage well, leveraging each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they could barely be considered evenly matched.
"If we deploy forces, who do you think they would propose as Commander-in-Chief?"
Godfrey answered without hesitation: "Hanfry of Tolun, or Amalric of Lusignan."
Hanfry of Tolun is the fiancé of Princess Isabella, whom Baron Godfrey once wanted to arrange a match for Losa with, the daughter of Empress Maria Komnenos.
After Losa outright refused, it wasn’t long before she married Hanfry of Tolun.
This Hanfry is pretty much the only remaining prominent figure of the Noble Faction in Jerusalem.
The other, Amalric of Lusignan, sharing the same name as the former king, is Guy’s older brother and a crucial figure within the Jerusalem Court.
He has a great relationship with Empress Angenise and controls Jerusalem’s City Defense Army, being a prominent figure in the Empress Faction after Reynard’s departure.
Losa pondered for a moment and sneered: "Amalric is more likely now that the two factions are imbalanced. Even Baron Hanfry of Tolun has started fraternizing with members of the Empress Faction. Don’t expect them to fight each other to the bitter end; maybe we, who hold military power in the King’s Faction, are the ones they most wish to remove."
Baron Godfrey responded gravely: "Yes, regardless of who among them rises to power, it wouldn’t be good news for us."
"But it is exceedingly difficult for us to vie for the position of Commander-in-Chief."
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The best outcome would be doing the backbreaking work without earning any merit.
"Relax a bit; there might be a turning point."
Losa showed a slight smile on his face and patted Baron Godfrey on the shoulder: "No matter how bad the situation gets, we have each other for support."
Baron Godfrey squeezed out a faint smile: "Let’s go in first."
After that, nobles and knights began arriving one after another.
As they chatted among themselves and entered the court, it quickly became as bustling as a marketplace.
With Regent King Raymond no longer suppressing, the court lost all its sacred veneer in their eyes.
Many new knights from Western Europe, unperturbed, pointed and gestured at the murals and reliefs in the court, and some even sat directly on the tables, acting rudely and without the slightest reverence.
Amalric, this man with immense power in the Jerusalem Court, passionately exclaimed: "Saladin, this devil among heretics, has rashly attacked Count Reynard’s territory, but Kaler Castle has been well-managed by Reynard. We can provide support to Count Reynard; there’s no way it can be conquered."
"Indeed, the blood of the heretics will stain the Jordan River red!"
Someone spoke impulsively without thinking: "Let Kaler Castle become a meat grinder; this way, even if the castle falls, Saladin won’t have the strength to attack Jerusalem again."
Losa murmured: "Heh, Amalric doesn’t seem eager to save his accomplice. He plans to watch like a spectator on the mountain. But I think, Reynard may not exactly be a ferocious tiger."