Chapter 288 - 223: Patulin and Black Rose

The captured ’Priest’ was forced to his knees, but he held his head high and his neck stiff, glaring at Eric as if he had no fear of death.

"I won’t say..."

But before he could finish, a sharp pain made him howl almost instantly.

Belem had thrust a Long Spear straight through the ’Priest’s’ right instep. "Who asked you?"

"You motherf— AHHH—"

Another bloodcurdling scream.

A Long Spear was thrust into the ’Priest’s’ left instep.

"Asking about my mom, are you!" Belem said with a smile.

"I am a Knight— AHHH—"

The screams began anew.

A Longsword pierced the ’Priest’s’ right calf.

"A Knight, are you!" Belem said.

"I am a Patulin... AHHH—"

He still couldn’t finish his sentence.

Another Longsword pierced the ’Priest’s’ left calf.

"Patulin Sect, is it!" Belem said, one hand on his hip.

"I am with the Black Rose— AHHHHHH—"

A dagger was plunged into the ’Priest’s’ shoulder.

"Black Rose, eh!"

Half a minute later...

Belem’s technique was precise. Every strike avoided a vital spot.

"If you don’t start talking, I’ll count to three, and your eyes are moving out. I’ll even pack up your ashes and sell them to the Saracens. I’ll make sure they put your ashes in their most magnificent temple." Belem patted the corner of the ’Priest’s’ eye with his dagger.

"AHHHHHHH— WAAAAAH~" The ’Priest’ unexpectedly burst into loud sobs.

"Crying!? You’re crying on my time!" Belem plunged another dagger into the ’Priest’s’ other shoulder.

"AHH—" This time, as the ’Priest’ was about to scream, he clamped a hand over his own mouth.

"Just say what you need to say. Are we really such bad people? We Normans have always been known for our integrity," Eric said with a smile, patting the ’Priest’s’ face.

"One, two, three! You’re asking to die!" Belem grabbed the ’Priest’s’ head and raised the dagger again, aiming for his eyeball.

"AHHHH, I-I-I! I know everything! Everything!" the ’Priest’ screamed.

"You know everything? What’s your rank?" Eric asked.

"A v-v-very high rank!" the ’Priest’ cried out.

"How high?" Belem asked.

"Ab-ab-about as high as the third or fourth floor. That’s my status in the mercenary corps." Seeing them continue to question him, the ’Priest’ instantly felt a sense of relief.

"A mercenary corps?"

Eric was a little curious. It seemed the intelligence from Jesuade was accurate; the Patulin Sect had indeed hired Mercenaries.

’It seems they’ve almost reached their limit.’

"Y-yes, we were hired by the Patulin Sect. We’re the Black Rose Corps. I’m a Free Knight from the Verona Marquisate, and I’m the Infantry Captain and also a Deputy Commander of the Black Rose Corps," said the ’Priest’.

"An Infantry Captain who’s also a Deputy Commander? Who are you trying to fool? A Deputy Commander should at least be a Cavalry Captain." Belem slapped the ’Priest’ across the face.

"I... w-we have eight Deputy Commanders," the ’Priest’ explained.

"Too many people have joined in recent years, making the troops hard to manage. So they added a few Deputy Commander positions to give the young guys something to hope for. You need strategy to run a mercenary corps, or it’s hard to command them."

"How many men in the corps?"

"Around three thousand. No idea how many are left now. The Marquis is one of our long-term clients. The pay is pretty generous."

"What’s the daily wage?"

"About two pence."

"For such a large corps, two pence?"

"Hey, it’s about making money, nothing to be ashamed of. Business has been slow lately, but with so many people wanting to join, there are tons who’d kill for this wage and still can’t get in.

"If one person won’t do it, there are plenty of others who will. There’s no shortage of Desperadoes lately."

"What’s the situation in Milan now?"

"Milan is..."

The ’Priest’ hesitated for a moment before beginning to explain what he knew about Milan.

The ’Priest’s’ unit, the Black Rose Corps, was on a long-term contract with the Marquis of Milan. During the Patulin uprising, the ’Priest’, in his capacity as a Deputy Commander, happened to be in Milan with a portion of the Black Rose Corps soldiers, serving as the Marquis’s personal guards.

The Marquis of Milan, in order to secure the title of Count of Mann for his young son Elijah, had taken out a very large loan from the Lanfranchi Bank of Pisa. This, combined with the Marquis’s usual disinterest in managing his own finances, led to severe financial problems.

With the repayment deadline approaching this year, the Marquis, to avoid ruining his credit, began to impose additional taxes on the city. In fact, ever since he started funding his young son’s bid for Mann, taxes on the city had been steadily increasing, both overtly and covertly.

Combined with the wars among Heretics in recent years, which had made the eastern trade routes extremely unstable, many merchants and citizens lost their businesses. Having to deal with the Marquis’s exploitation on top of that, their lives became increasingly difficult.

According to the Marquisate’s tradition, whenever the Marquis toured the city, he would organize a week-long celebration and give out alms, which would improve the lives of the poor to some extent.

To cut expenses, the Marquis gradually reduced his tours of the city, spending more time in his countryside castle. For the past decade, Milan City had been managed by the Archbishop of Milan, who was appointed by the Emperor.

The new Archbishop of Milan was named Guido da Verceil. Although born of humble origins, his fanaticism for the Emperor surpassed his devotion to Christ.

He was denounced as the Simon of Milan. (Simon, from The Acts of the Apostles, refers to Simon Magus, a Wizard from Samaria who, after seeing the Apostle Peter and John bestow the power of the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, tried to buy this power with Money.)

This Archbishop made no secret of his greed for wealth, using his authority to openly extort the citizens.