Chapter 446 - 316: Stranger

Eric had learned from the map he acquired from the system that although it wasn’t far from Shazha Castle to Hama Castle, the most convenient way was to sail the Orontes River to Hama. Even at a slow pace, the voyage would only take four days.

However, Eric chose to avoid the Orontes River, selecting a route that was somewhat longer and bypassed the waterway entirely.

For one thing, they were unfamiliar with the conditions of the Orontes River. For another, it would be difficult to transport ships from the sea to the Shazha River, and building new boats on the spot would be too time-consuming.

Of course, the most important reason was that Shazha Castle and Hama Castle were on the fringes of Suleiman Shah’s domain. To avoid attacks from other factions’ Turkic Cavalry Archers, avoiding the Ostron River was the more sensible choice.

The overland journey, however, required crossing a stretch of rugged mountains, followed by a vast, salt-crusted desert. Leading all his soldiers to Hama Castle without first securing a safe supply point would be an incredibly foolish act.

Besides, Eric was still uncertain about the actual situation at Hama Castle. If it turned out to be just another worthless fortification like Shazha Castle, then he had no reason to bring his soldiers over only to suffer needless casualties.

This was despite Turandot’s insistence that Hama was not just an isolated castle, but a true, bona fide city.

After all, when Eric had previously asked what Shazha Castle was like, Turandot had described it as an impregnable fortress, the hardest nail Suleiman Shah had driven into Tripoli, a castle no enemy could take by frontal assault.

’Then again, in a way, you couldn’t find fault with Turandot’s words. True, no enemy could take Shazha Castle by frontal assault—because there was no need to besiege it. The defenders would just die of thirst inside.’

In any case, to prevent another one of Turandot’s wild exaggerations from leading him astray, Eric ultimately took only twelve Knights, five Welsh Longbowmen, and five Pisa Crossbowmen. Of course, Turandot’s five Turkic Cavalry Archers and one Gulam cavalryman came along as well.

The Knights were forbidden from bringing their Attendants.

There were twenty-eight people in total. Relying solely on the food stockpiled in Eric’s storage space, they could manage for four or five days.

The rest of the army remained at Shazha Castle: a total of four hundred seventy-eight Knights, four hundred ninety-five Welsh Longbowmen, five hundred common Archers, three hundred Saxon Shield Soldiers, two hundred Isle of Man Warriors, and one thousand Blois Infantry, plus another thousand Shrewsbury Infantry.

Command was temporarily given to Lagman, who would hold the fort until Belem returned from Cyprus.

....

On the first day, they crossed the mountains south of Antioch. Two Knights unfortunately lost their Warhorses, one Pisa Crossbowman fell and injured his leg, and worst of all, another Knight went missing. They had to turn back and search for half the day before finally finding him.

On the third day, the party entered a salt-crusted desert where one could almost hear the sun buzzing in the heatwaves. The Knights felt their cheeks scorch, and by afternoon, the blazing sun was baking their backs.

This salt flat was a sea of white dust, where clouds of grit rose like mocking phantoms. For Knights who had never seen a desert, the sight was staggering. Just three days prior, they had been in Antioch, where the freezing snow had made it difficult to sleep.

At first, the Knights refused to wear head coverings like the Heretics, but they surrendered unconditionally after a single day of torment.

Fortunately, their trek across the salt-crusted desert lasted only two days before they entered a salt marsh.

The Knights could only trudge through the deep mud of the marsh, the water reaching their waists. It was undrinkable, but thankfully, they no longer had to endure the high temperatures of the day. ’Suffering from the heat in winter is just too strange.’

However, what made them more curious than the winter heat was how their Count always managed to refill their waterskins, even in the middle of the desert, despite clearly carrying nothing himself.

After arduously crossing the marsh, Eric and his party reached the plains, at last beginning a relatively normal leg of their journey.

The Knights, trying to dispel the gloom of the past few days, began to make small talk.

It was just that with a high-ranking noble in their midst, even the most trivial chatter would quickly devolve into a session of praise.

This was especially true when that noble was their direct commander, a man who had just recently conquered new lands for the Kingdom.

"Those men are blind. Who do they think they have to thank for being able to keep their forces intact while they stood there spouting all that nonsense?" one Knight demanded.

"Exactly! Who do they think they are?" another Knight shot back.

"My lord, when that pack of fools and madmen left, I heard that vile Bishop’s Attendant call you Judas. I was tempted to teach him a lesson right then." The Knight cleared his throat, raised the Cross he wore on his chest, and began to mimic the man in a deliberately comical, preachy tone. "’He is Judas, a curse from God, cast into the outer darkness! He is condemned! He is forsaken! He is an abomination! He is an object of loathing before God! An abomination! If you continue to follow him, if you fight for him, you too shall be cursed, along with your wives and children! You and they shall be damned to the eternal torments of Hell! Therefore, you are absolved of your oaths of fealty to him! And know that to kill him is no sin! To slay this abomination is the very path to winning God’s grace!’"