Temple Sword

Chapter 152 Short Spring

Spring 1322
Skradin, Croatia

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As time passed, Muladen Subis trusted the mysterious Laszlo more and more.

For a long time he wasn't sure exactly what he wanted from the man who came to Croatia, but he was definitely attracted to something about Laszlo.

At first, before their first conversation, the governor just thought of him as a rich man.

He does not want or allow various dignitaries to enter and leave his territory without his knowledge, or seek money in his city without his consent. can achieve.

But when he discovered Laszlo's true identity, he secretly sighed that this person, like him, despised Charlie Anjou.

He had been the king's servant, his court knight, and later he became a thorn in the king's side, forced to flee the palace as a criminal.

Of course, how could Muladen Subis know what Laszlo had gone through?

How did he know that this man hadn't been near the palace for a long time, he was just an unknown person living a miserable and desolate life, wallowing in his own drunken vomit, in a state of drunkenness all day long, still in Timisoara's A homicide committed in a poor neighborhood?

Had he known all this, Muladden might not have reached out to him.

But the governor thought Laszlo was some kind of rebellious hero, and Laszlo's confident and frank role played a role in making Mulden begin to appreciate and pity him from the bottom of his heart.

The Croatian governor quickly regarded Laszlo as his trusted man, because he believed that this brave guy dared to speak his own thoughts and put them into action.

The distaste for Charlie bound them together like an invisible chain, so they talked often together, and Laszlo became almost his advisor.

At first, Laszlo had to patrol the streets like other governor's men, and he had to pay attention to all the little things happening around him, in case someone was brewing a conspiracy against his master, his benevolent and good father Mu Laden.

He also had to collect taxes and various debts, accompanied by Dimitri and Ander, and sometimes he had to slap, or punch, if someone resisted or didn't pay on time.

Those who do this work are never hungry or short of anything, for Muradin's minions take other things from these people besides debts.

If one is in the food business, there is something for everyone besides money.If one is a blacksmith, then they can take better harness, pocket knives, horseshoes and bags of nails.

The most important thing is to know the boundaries, they can't take too much from anyone, but they can get a lot of benefits without breaking the balance of Skradin's economy.

"It's in everyone's interest," Muladen once explained.

Laszlo didn't need to put this knowledge into practice for long, though, since he hadn't spent much time on the streets of Skradin since he swore allegiance to the Governor and became his confidant and advisor.

He spent most of his time in a luxurious city palace and sometimes in a stone castle on a hill.

Laszlo notes that not only is the Doge huddled within the icy stone walls of the castle because of the coming summer heat, but his suspicious nature also plays a big role:

Whenever Muladen Subis had a bad premonition, or received bad news, he would immediately flee into his heavily guarded castle.

And the more Laszlo got to know him, the more he felt that he was more like a city villain leader than a governor with identity and courage.

"Do you remember," Mollarden asked his new confidant one day, "when Pope John urged Christians to pray that Charles would have a male heir as soon as possible?"

"Of course." Laszlo nodded despite his ignorance of the news.He was trying to survive the winter without being caught by pursuers and hanged for murder.

"Well, I tell you," whispered the governor happily, drawing closer to him, "I wasn't really praying, I was just pretending I was!"

The bald Governor laughed as if he had told the funniest joke in the world.

Laszlo wanted to laugh with him, but soon the Viceroy's features turned serious, and he grunted sullenly, adding, "I'm not praying for new piglets in Anjou's pigsty!"

This warm and fragrant spring was one of the happiest for Laszlo, miraculously reborn by the sea as the confidant of the Croatian Governor.He hardly has to do any work, he just needs to accompany the governor.

He sold his little house, for Muladen gave him a spacious bedroom in the palace of Skradin, and the possibility to keep the horses in the viceroy's stables as well.

He had a local craftsman make him a new box with metal straps, and put the salary that Muladen had given him, hiding it next to the old box that he hadn't been able to open yet.

Meanwhile, whenever he could, he followed the beautiful Sofia down the street to her house.

Sometimes he waited for her somewhere in the market place, sometimes in front of the church, and though he suspected she had noticed him long ago, he dared not speak to her.

Once, Sofia smiled at him so kindly and warmly that Laszlo was so dizzy that he had to prop himself up against the wall to keep from collapsing into the street.

Every night, he knelt down and counted the coins, imagining the scene of proposing to Sophia. At that time, he would definitely make the girl's parents burst into tears.

Then suddenly everything changed.

Inside the castle, the Governor kept wringing his hands, paced restlessly up and down, looking back warily from time to time, suspecting the disloyalty of his men and servants.

Acting as if he had gone utterly mad overnight, he wore a long-bladed dagger strapped to his belt, and kept his men on patrol all day, ready for battle, more thoroughly armed than ever.

He doubled the number of guards in the city palace and castle on the hill, and ordered Laszlo to be ready for battle.

So Laszlo hung up his Saracen sword for the first time in a long time, a gift from Antal Bartor.In addition, he was forced to pick up his rusty archery skills again.

Muladen asked his servants to taste every dish, every glass of wine, and he would not eat or drink anything until he was sure that it was not poisonous.

One day, Muladen took Laszlo aside to one of the darkest corners of the cold stone castle, and finally revealed the reason for his strange behavior.

"Sibenik and Trogir," the Governor bit his lip angrily and nervously, "my own city...is plotting against me! Do you understand? Against me! Rebellion! Rebellion!" Mixed emotions of anger and fear.

"This is a dangerous time," Muladen looked around in the darkness, as if he could feel enemies emerging from the walls. "They want to crush me, Sibenik and Trogir," he repeated bitterly. Speaking of the names of these two cities, "I recently learned that they have surrendered to Venice and declared their independence from my rule.

Worst of all, Trogir somehow won over my brother Paul, and my own blood betrayed me!My cowardly and stupid brother promised them in writing that he would march on me with an army, and give my wretched enemies all help! "

Every joint in Muradden Subis' body trembled, his fingers clenched the hilt of the dagger, and his left hand was beating on the bare wall.

"Are they trying to make war on me?" he growled, nostrils flared like an overworked horse. "They want to turn against me? Make war on me, come on!"

"What do you want?" Laszlo asked, growing more and more embarrassed. "What can we, your trusted subjects, do for you?"

"There is nothing to do here," Muladen looked at him with bloodshot eyes, "I will make you my captain, and you will lead my best hundred cavalry, Dmitry and Ann Del was in charge of the remaining 200.

We must see blood!Laszlo, there will be a war, my dear friend. "

That's what worries Laszlo, who has to prove himself as a warrior, a knight.He had to cross the threshold of war again, to gain a foothold in a field he never felt he belonged to.

war……

He fears war more than anything, yet he is helpless.

Just then, the best spring of his life came to an end.
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Spring 1322
Spiesga-Capitula, Upper Hungary

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It was a calm afternoon, and a man in a simple traveling cloak was waiting for something in the cool of the Spiersgarh parish church.

He left his young attendants, also in coarse cloth, with their horses, outside the great stone walls of the church, and entered the magnificent building alone.He stood alone in it, thinking alone, confronting his own conscience alone.

He gazed silently at a magnificent painting, a huge painting of secular subjects that had been placed on the church wall only five years ago, depicting the coronation of Charles Anjou.

Its central figure is the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of Hungary, holding the infant Jesus in her arms, both crowned by a large golden halo.

On the right side of the painting, Thomas, ex-archbishop of Esztergom and former supporter of Charles, kneels beside the throne of the Virgin Mary, offering the Virgin the crown.

On the other side of the heavenly throne, the adult Charles Robert knelt on the ground, and Mary took the crown from the archbishop and put it on his head.

Behind Charles is his armor-bearer at the time, Thomas Semsay, son of Frank, holding the king's sword, with "Flower of Youth" written in Latin above his head.

The man looking at the painting thought that Semse's noble background in Sepes must have played a role, because in terms of military exploits, there was another knight who was more qualified to appear in the painting.

He also noticed that while the Virgin Mary looked serious, the Baby Jesus extended his right hand to Charles with a satisfied smile.

On the right side of the painting, behind Archbishop Thomas, the client of the painting, Rector Henry of Sepes, is kneeling on the ground, holding a cross ball in his hand, with a contented and happy expression on his face, and next to him is written to the Virgin prayers.

【We implore you, most merciful Mother, if you do not guide us we will go astray, tell us what to do, Mother, have mercy on us.One thousand 310 seven years. 】

The man took a few steps back, no longer observing the details of the painting, but the whole of it, he began to feel a little disgusted, he didn't know whether it was the exaggerated reverence that made him feel this way, or he felt that the upcoming meeting Anxious.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He didn't hear any footsteps. The cathedral dedicated to St. Martin was very quiet.

At this time, someone suddenly touched his right shoulder from behind, which made him shrink back in fright.He turned around and stared at the person in front of him with wide eyes.

"Father!" He gasped, and quickly pulled down his hood, revealing his gray hair and beard and his aged face. "Praise Jesus Christ."

"Forever and ever, Amen." The priest replied with a satisfied smile. "I'm glad to see you safe and sound, Felician. The others are here, they're in the lower church, come on, I'll take you to them!"

Downstairs, a dozen people had gathered, and only the flickering lights of a few candles illuminated the cold, dark space.

Like Sumpter's castle lords, these men all wore simple black, gray, or brown fulfillment cloaks with hoods that concealed their faces, which is not surprising since they didn't want to reveal their true identities.

They came to Spiesgarh as poor travelers, and wanted to leave in the same way, without attracting any attention.

The priest directed Felicien Zacher to the others without a word, then nodded that everything was all right, and returned to his usual business.

He knew exactly what kind of people gathered in his church, but he didn't want to hear what they were talking about.

He thought that if he only helped them in this way, he would be doing a good deed, but if he himself joined in and interfered with worldly affairs, it would obviously be too much and would displease God.

So the priest quickly left there, only the cloaked people remained in the dark yellow light.

"God bless you, Brother Felicien!" said one of them in a low, almost mournful voice, "Now that everyone is here, we can begin..."

"As you all know," said another hooded figure, "we are saying goodbye to each other forever here, and this is the last meeting of the Round Table."

"We will never meet again in the future, at least not in this way." A third person stood up.

"Our existence no longer counts, the master who gathered us is dead, his dominion taken away by usurpers, his castle and lands stolen by outsiders and disloyal traitors.

And the last wish of the master, the most important task of the round table, can only be fulfilled by one person, Brother Felician. "

The speaker stretched out his arm and pointed at Sumpter's Castle Master, and everyone present turned their heads, and all eyes were on him.

(End of this chapter)