Temple Sword

Chapter 47 In the Name of Knights and God

"So you will become a Templar," said the king, "and you will take three oaths."

"Three vows, Your Majesty," Antal confirmed, "My uncle has told me so since I can remember."

Charlie sat back on the comfortable throne, and continued to look at the champion attendant in front of him.

"If you were knighted, what would you want to do?" asked the king.

"I will serve God and the Kingdom to the best of my ability."

"And the Pope," Thomas grumbled. "The most important thing is that you obey the Pope."

"He said Kingdom!" Charlie Robert's voice was sharp and scary. "Maybe he doesn't meet your standards, Archbishop, but his answer satisfies me. Don't you understand that my vision is correct?"

"I only know that you are possessed by crazy ideas, while the crown and sword are in Bohemia, the rector of Buda is imprisoned, and your kingdom is ruled by the Kossegis, God only knows what is correct!"

"Rovered by God's God," said the young king darkly, "this will not last long, if my supporters, and of course God," he nodded to the archbishop, "support me to continue If I am king, I will let Ivan Koseiji and all those who bear the surname of Koseigi kneel at our feet in humiliation. Before that, I will not rest. All disobedient lords will do the same, I will first let They scare the shit out of them and then make them pay their taxes."

"Don't be so hasty, Your Majesty, be patient," the archbishop warned him, but Charlie just rolled his eyes. He had heard enough of that advice.

"Your Majesty," Antal cleared his throat, "May I ask why I came here? I couldn't help but notice that you mentioned me in the discussion..."

"That's right," the king said with a firm smile on his face, "I have brought you here to confirm your loyalty. You have proved your strength and perseverance at the foot of the mountain. I believe that even Goliath, you can put He split in two."

Antal almost choked on his saliva when he heard this, but finally controlled himself and continued to listen to the king seriously.

"The only question now is whether your loyalty is as strong as your perseverance."

"The Templars are on your side, Your Majesty," Antal replied vaguely.

"Yes, it's been that way for years," said Charlie Robert, looking into Antal's eyes, "but you're alone here, and you answer for you, not for the Templars. I need to know you How loyal you are to your king, not to that bastard Wenceslas, but to me, appointed King of Hungary by Pope Boniface."

Antal already knew the answer completely, he leaned close to the king's ear, whispered something, after a while Charlie burst out laughing.

"You ask me if the Archbishop knows this?" he asked, laughing. "By God, I wish I had a secret that the Archbishop of Esztergom doesn't know!"

The archbishop frowned, and quickly returned to his previous expressionless look.He didn't want to take off the rigid mask he had cultivated for many years, otherwise others would think he was no different from ordinary people.

"Antal wants to know if you know about the Iron Curse," King Charles explained.

"Of course," Archbishop Thomas replied calmly, "are you one of them, boy?"

"The team led by my uncle is in charge of the northeastern part of Slavonia," Antal nodded. "I killed twenty bandits and seriously injured dozens, Your Majesty."

The king jumped up from his throne with joy, admiration written all over his face.

"Twenty?" the Archbishop raised his eyebrows and asked, "Did you think carefully before killing, child? These will accompany you for the rest of your life."

"I have to, Archbishop," Antal replied. "Of course, I pray for them all."

He didn't tell the king and archbishop before him that this was an oath he had sworn to fulfill, that he owed Levant, that he would not rest until he killed twenty of the Corsergis with his own hands.

"Antar, son of William Barto, I have a very important question for you," said the king solemnly. "Answer carefully, for what you say will determine your fate."

Antal's heart beat faster, "I'm ready to do anything, Your Majesty."

Charlie Robert approached him and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I want you to be my right hand," he looked deeply into Antar's eyes, "I want you to be my sword, my shield, my eyes and my ears, Antar, Arpad The chief knight of the King of Anjou, my brother, if you cannot be a brother in the name of blood, then in the name of God!"

Antar felt as if the whole Visegrad Fort was dancing around him, as if the ceiling was about to collapse on him.He knew what he heard, but for some reason he couldn't believe his ears.An orphan like him, a sinner, a liar, an adulterer, and now he's sitting here sharing a bottle of wine with a king?If he had promised the king, he would have been envied by all the nobles, priests, and lords, who were born above him but could not control his fate.He can live a wonderful and dangerous life with the king!
But the words of Archbishop Thomas reminded him that the Knights Templar only obey the Pope, not the king.How could he take the three sacred oaths while serving a secular ruler?No matter how difficult it was, he had to refuse this temptation.

"I think," he said in a haggard, distressed voice, "this is the Lord's test for me..."

Charlie continued to look steadily at Antal, while the boy knelt down on the cold slate.

"Your Majesty, what you are asking for is an honor I dare not even dream of. Although I am only a squire today, in a few days I will be a sworn Templar. I cannot love, I cannot have, I can serve neither you nor anyone else, for I will always serve the Holy See."

Strangely, the king was still smiling, the light in his eyes undiminished.Antar looked at him, waiting for him to say something.The archbishop walked over from behind, and he was moved by Antal's pious words. He helped the boy up, "Get up, my dear boy." Then he said to the king with some distress: "It's better to put this poor boy on his back." The child's soul is tortured to death, it is better to tell him that we have completely solved this problem, and he can serve you completely."

"What?" Antal was puzzled.

"I would not intentionally let a knight of the church swear an oath to me," Charlie Robert smiled, "I have discussed this issue with the archbishop several times. Although he does not agree with my idea, he has to admit that I That's right."

"Yes, boy," Archbishop Thomas said to Antal, "if you take the oath of allegiance to the King first, and then take the three Templar oaths, you will not break the previous oath. Normally, I don't Anyone would be encouraged to do something like this, but then you're directly under the protection of the king, which may be very important in the near future given the recent dangerous developments."

"I don't know what the danger is?" Antar looked at the two suspiciously, as if they were hiding something from him.

"You're not going to be happy about what we're going to tell you," said Charlie Robert. "Sit down."

The servant by the wall appeared before him again, and placed a simple armchair behind Antal. The boy sat down and looked up anxiously at the king.

"You may also know that my cousin, the King of France, owes your order a large sum of money."

"I know." Antal nodded.

"He seems to have no intention of repaying the debt, but instead changed tactics and wanted to burn everyone at the stake. Two days ago he filed charges against the Knights Templar, claiming..." Charlie looked at the Archbishop, "What is the charge? "

"Heretics, blasphemy, immorality."

The castle started circling Antal again, and he wished he hadn't had so much to drink just now.

"These are all lies!" he exclaimed in terror, forgetting where he was, and throwing his chair over with a leap.

Antar was pacing up and down the room, trying to convince himself that what he heard was just a bad joke, when an idea popped into his head.

"The Pope will protect us, we are his army, we cannot be persecuted."

"Philip has managed to get a Pope to declare heresy," said Charles Robert, finishing his remaining wine, "and if the new Pope goes against his will, he may do it again."

"Oh, he has no reason to disobey him." The archbishop said disgustedly, "after all, Clement V is the Pope who was pushed by the king himself, and he dare not go too far, otherwise Philip's chains will strangle him... ..."

"Be my knight, Antal!" The king enthusiastically grabbed the shoulder of the servant whose whole world was spinning, "Philip probably thought that if he destroyed the most powerful knight order in the world, he would No one can beat me. But I see it differently, power should not be destroyed, it should be used for me. With a knight like you by my side, no one can stand in my way. As long as you are a knight of the king, Pope I can't touch you! What do you say, champion?"

Antal slowly recovered from his trance, and nodded firmly to the king.He knelt before the two, listening and repeating the oath from the archbishop's mouth.He could barely feel the touch of the blade on his shoulder, and the king murmured the words of ordination in Latin to his ears, and announced his name in a proud voice.

"Rise now in the name of Negative Knight, Antar, son of William Barto!"

(End of this chapter)