People in the Middle Ages, draw cards to get promoted

Chapter 576 Ghost Dragon
These days, there are many more pamphlets in the city of Semanud. The pamphlets are made of very simple paper and contain some easy-to-understand short stories. The more expensive ones also have simple illustrations.

In addition, the booklet at the end tells the past deeds of the famous Duke of Lower Egypt, Count of Transjordan, General of the Limassol Military District, and Grand Marshal of the Crusaders Lothar.

Rather than being a deed, it seemed to people to be a miracle.

This kind of propaganda method is still too advanced in the eyes of people of this era.

Although the literacy rate of the Copts was not high, it was much better than that of the Franks. From time to time, people gathered on the streets to listen to those who could read explaining the contents of the pamphlet.

In the tavern, the bards treated this pamphlet, which seemed to be tailor-made for them, as their signature repertoire. Some of them, whose skills were poor, would simply read from the pamphlet without any adaptations, and would always be met with applause.

Baron Charles, wearing a dark smock, and his Flemish knights were toasting each other.

Baron Charles, who came from the Alsace family, had close relations with the Gallic nobles and a close blood relationship with Richard the Lionheart. Most of the knights under his command were Gallic-speaking Walloons.

But when faced with the choice of side with Richard the Lionheart or side with Lothar, he chose the latter without hesitation.

He still remembered what he had said to convince his knights.

"Your Majesty Richard is indeed of high rank and has made great military achievements, but he inherited the most powerful duchy in southern Gaul from his mother and an entire kingdom from his father. And what about the Duke of Lothar?"

"When he first arrived at the Holy Land, he only brought one attendant and a group of refugees."

This choice isn't really a very rational one.

Because Duke Lothar is also the second son of a family with no territory to inherit.

It is only natural that Baron Charles and a large number of knights who are also the second sons of their families would worship Lothar.

After all, after the frenzy of the first and second crusades, the main force of the Crusaders were generally the second sons of the family who were unable to inherit the family territory.

There are fewer and fewer examples of people who would easily go bankrupt, mortgage all their territories and wealth in exchange for military expenses, and recruit troops to participate in the Eastern Expedition.

A large part of Lothar's good reputation among the lower-class nobles is because they see their own shadows in these young knights, who are called foals. They may be full of villains, poor, and arrogant.

But they have one thing in common, that is, they admire the strong, especially Lothar, who is a model of self-made man, and not a jester who relies on flattery to curry favor with the monarch to gain power.

While drinking, Baron Charles listened to the bards recounting the contents of the pamphlet and was fascinated for a moment.

They knew about Lothar's past achievements, but they had never been systematic, and they did not understand the details very clearly. After many twists and turns, the rumors had already lost their original flavor by the time they heard them.

“I didn’t expect the Duke’s dragon-slaying process in Limassol would be so dangerous!”

"There was also the Battle of Kaleburg. The Duke attacked the enemy camp at night. When he found that some people were trapped in the enemy camp, he dared to fight back again. Even just listening to it, I felt my blood boiling."

"It's a pity that we followed the old earl and Duke Raymond to the north, otherwise we would have been able to witness this legendary battle with our own eyes."

Baron Charles listened to the bard's story with his blood boiling. He shouted, "Bartender, serve a glass of wine to each guest here and put it on my account."

"Thank you for your generosity, my Lord."

Baron Charles raised his glass with a smile, but shook his head: "Let us raise our glasses to His Excellency the Duke - may the glory of God always cover His Excellency the Duke, forever!"

...

It was midday in Alexandria, and the sun was shining brightly.

Although Alexandria's status was no longer as high as before after the Saracens established their capital in Cairo, as the largest and most important port city in Egypt, it was still the core territory of the Ayyubid dynasty's rule over Egypt.

当初萨拉森人从东帝国手里将它夺走之后，统军的将军给他在巴格达的主子这样汇报道：“我占领了一座‘拥有4000宫殿、4000浴池、12000油商、12000花匠、40000纳贡的犹太人和400剧院或其它娱乐场所’的城市。”

Today, Alexandria is the largest Jewish and Greek settlement in all of Egypt, with a diverse population of up to 300,000, equivalent to half of Constantinople and ten Parises.

In a remote corner of the Governor's Palace on Fatis Island, a flying bird landed on the ground and with a bang, it transformed into Master Shemer in a black robe.

Master Shemaier came to the door of a secret room and knocked.

squeak-

The door was opened.

The man inside narrowed his eyes due to being suddenly exposed to the sunlight, with a look of displeasure on his face: "Have you collected the materials I want?"

Shemaier silently handed over a herb that looked like a withered grass.

The man put the herb in front of his nose, took a deep breath, and subconsciously made a retching motion: "Yes, this sour smell, ugh, it must be at least 300 years old Ghost Spirit Grass, which is enough to meet the requirements."

Shemaier wiped his hands on his robe without leaving any trace. "Can I come in and take a look?"

“Originally it was not possible.”

The man changed the subject: "But considering the precious ancient books you brought with you, and the fact that the raw materials for this 'refining' were all provided by you, it's okay to let you in and take a look."

As he said this, he moved aside to open the door.

In the pitch-black room, it was almost impossible to see anything from the outside, as if inside was the mouth of a terrifying monster that could swallow even the light.

Shemer walked in without hesitation.

"Don't move after you come in, otherwise I won't guarantee your safety."

The man said casually.

Shemaier's face was full of amazement.

The room is much larger than it looks from the outside, as if some kind of space expansion spell has been used. The walls are pure black and the material cannot be seen. Although it is close to the wall outside the door, it is more like an inner liner.

At this moment, the whole room was filled with a strong smell of death.

A gigantic black dragon with jet-black scales filled the entire room.

Its body is translucent and has no substance.

"Old friend, you"

Shemaier's eyes were a little moist. He stretched out his hand, subconsciously wanting to touch the black dragon's body, but his hand went straight through its body.

"It can't communicate with you now."

The man reminded, frowning.

Shemaier is quite capable and well-educated, so it's impossible for him not to figure this out, but he still subconsciously made this somewhat reckless move. Could this be the legendary love?

Or a love that transcends species.

The man speculated maliciously in his heart that even if he fell in love with an alien, he should at least find a human-shaped one, such as a siren, succubus, or vampire. How could he fall in love with a big lizard?
Shemaier tried to suppress the emotion on his face and whispered, "Is there any hope for it to regain consciousness?"

The man snorted and said, "Don't be silly, Shemaier. You are not one of those young people who just debuted and don't know anything. This dragon is already dead. The one in front of you has nothing to do with it when it was alive. It is a ghost dragon born from its soul."

Shemer closed his mouth, with a look of disillusionment in his eyes.

The man snorted softly: "Now that you've finished your tour, let's go."

He didn't want to watch such a sad drama, especially one involving cross-species emotions that he couldn't understand.

Shemaier nodded, did not insist, turned around and was about to leave.

The man frowned and said, "Wait, considering that we have a very pleasant cooperation this time, I advise you not to get involved in the war between the secular world. That Lothar is not someone you can easily mess with."

"I know."

Shemaier nodded, and couldn't help but look back at his 'best friend', and sighed: "But our long lives should always have something to give everything for."

"Tsk, a paranoid lunatic."

He complained in a lack of interest, but he didn't find it strange. The long lifespan made most spellcasters cherish their lives, but it was not surprising that it gave birth to a group of idiots who were "tired of living".

"How long will it take for him to be revived?"

"Come back to see me at this time tomorrow."

The man said, "Remember, the ghost dragon I refined will have a fighting power that is better than when it was alive in the short term, but its power will not last that long, and it can only live for another month at most."

"A month is enough. I never intended for him to linger in this form for too long."

Schemeier nodded.

Saladin has assembled a new group of spellcasters of varying abilities, some of whom came for worldly glory, and some for the Library of Alexandria.

This ancient library, which was built in BC, has a long history of nearly 1,500 years. It contains books in various languages, including Phoenician, Coptic, Greek, and Latin. The content is all-encompassing, and there are hundreds of thousands of papyrus and parchment scrolls stored.

If it had not been destroyed many times in wars, its collection of books would even exceed that of the Imperial Library of Constantinople, the Queen of Cities.

One can imagine how vast the knowledge is hidden in it.

A book that ordinary people cannot decipher in their entire lives may contain the mysterious spells of ancient gods for spellcasters. Even a powerful spellcaster like Shemaier, who is close to being a legend, did not understand how rich the treasures are after visiting it in person.

He even found a set of ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets in the Library of Alexandria. After a simple deciphering, Shemayer named this set of cuneiform tablets - The Stairway to the Gods!
It doesn't mean that you can become a god by understanding this set of stone tablets.

For powerful spellcasters, gods are never something high and mighty that they desperately want to become.

The word "God" here is just an adjective.

There is a kind of power contained in it that is different from all existing power systems. Shemaier guessed that this kind of power is likely to be unable to be restrained even by the magic-blocking metal. He even suspected that the power of the "Demon Duke" might have come from this.

(End of this chapter)