Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks-Chapter 500 - 279: After the Banquet

Losa walked into Jeanne’s tent reeking of alcohol.

"Did you drink so much?"

The overwhelming smell of alcohol made Jeanne frown. Given the alcohol content of drinks in this era, she suspected that Losa had drunk several barrels of beer—why wasn’t I included in this merry-making?

"I really did drink quite a lot. Could you prepare a tub of bath water for me?"

Losa was quite sober; his physical constitution was much stronger now, mere barrels of beer were nothing to him.

"Pfft, I risk my life for you on the battlefield, and off the battlefield, I have to prepare your bath—am I supposed to do everything myself when you’re in bed later?"

Jeanne’s response was as sharp as always.

Losa said seriously, "That’s not necessary, it’s just low-alcohol beer. Later in bed, you just need to lie back."

"Hey, I didn’t agree to do that kind of thing."

Jeanne rolled her eyes, instinctively glanced at the tent entrance, which seemed not fully closed.

But Losa’s hand was already mischievously reaching into her collar.

"Hey, as Saint Losa, shouldn’t you be a bit more reserved? I heard some devout female believers are even asked not to make any joyful sounds during the act... In this sense, Prajna indeed seems like a devout believer."

In the eyes of some dogmatic and rigid priests, the sole purpose of copulation was procreation. If one shamelessly enjoyed the pleasure of mating, they were considered degenerates; many men and women would even vow to remain chaste after having children, never doing it again.

The Church would highly praise this behavior, even canonizing virtuous women, mirroring the chastity arches in the East.

Normal sexual activities between married couples were viewed like this, let alone adultery, self-pleasure, oral, anal, or homosexual acts—they were frankly unforgivable sins!

Moreover, acts like copulating with animals such as goats were considered being possessed by the Devil, and the person should be tied to the stake and burned to death along with the Devil inside them.

"I will tell her."

Jeanne said proudly, "Go ahead, I’m not afraid of her, she’s not my opponent now."

Seeing Losa’s breathing getting rougher, the scorching heat made her cheeks blush: "Wait a bit longer, at least take a bath first, I’ll call the kitchen to send over a tub of hot water."

"Mm."

Losa stared intently at Jeanne’s graceful back.

He really liked Jeanne’s figure, slim where it should be, yet voluptuous in the right places, with long, smooth, and elastic legs honed from training.

He casually tugged Jeanne’s thin blanket to cover his unruly lower half, forcibly changing the topic while waiting for the bath water: "Your speech today was brilliant."

Jeanne turned around, not noticing Losa’s little move: "I was just stating the truth, under your command they have far more opportunity to achieve merit than under other Lords."

She suddenly thought of something, excitedly sitting beside Losa: "By the way, is there any change in Prajna compared to before?"

"There are changes, she talks a bit more, her voice and facial expressions are more animated..."

Losa pondered seriously.

"I want to know more than just that."

Jeanne raised a hand, mimicking a pinch: "How’s the feel, is she softer?"

Losa instinctively recalled last night’s experience, his heart fluttered briefly, then he realized and put on a stern face: "How could I tell you? Do you want me to tell others about our bedroom adventures behind your back?"

"Go ahead, I don’t mind at all."

Jeanne crossed her legs, swiftly grabbed a bottle of wine from the table, bit open the cork, and took a big swig: "Oh, right, how was the party today? You seemed quite enjoying yourself."

"Not so great, blood was spilled."

Losa shook his head and said, "Tonight at the party, I invited a dozen prominent Jewish Tycoons. I need their money for the military fund."

"Did you kill them all?"

Jeanne gestured a slicing motion across her neck.

She knew Losa and Kurs planned to extract money from the price-gouging Jewish merchants these days.

Those people indeed deserved it.

When they raised grain prices to sky-high levels, they never considered whether the poor at the bottom could still afford to eat.

"Of course not, I’m not Adolf... I just took out a few who were raising prices excessively, and Duke Raymond had them publicly executed on the gallows in Galilee City, as a warning and to appease the public outrage."

Jeanne couldn’t help but laugh: "Well, you are indeed merciful."

"I wouldn’t disagree."

Losa sighed with emotion. He didn’t actually have that much animosity towards the Jews. In Hebron under his rule, there were many Jewish subjects who were diligent and law-abiding.

Hoarding goods was not something done only by Jewish merchants; the Genoese and Venetians did the same.

However, being the Holy Land, the place closest to the Heavenly Father, as Christians, they always had to refrain somewhat, not going too far.

Losa continued: "The supplies and money seized from these Jewish tycoons have been donated by their lords to this Crusade. If these supplies are in place, we should be ready to depart."

"Tsk, truly fitting for a Crusader Prince; their ideological consciousness is indeed high."

"But it’s not for free. They’ve all dispatched the second sons of their families to pledge allegiance to me. If I conquer Egypt, I will definitely grant them territories as compensation. Raymond spent a long time talking with me tonight about the title of Duke of Cyrenaica."

Duke Raymond, as the largest Lord of northern Jerusalem, if he opposed, the momentum of this Crusade would certainly be significantly weakened.

"To gain his full support, the condition was to gain the title of Duke of Cyrenaica in exchange. At the same time, Duke Raymond promised that if this battle succeeds, he would elect me as the King of Egypt."

In fact, if it weren’t for the system’s requirements, Losa actually wasn’t very interested in the empty title of a king.

Baldwin IV is king, but in Jerusalem, the Regent King holds more power than the King. After all, half of the Kingdom is privately owned by him, and a third of the kingdom’s nobility had once pledged allegiance to him.

So, Losa eventually accepted Duke Raymond’s terms.

After all, the Duchy of Cyrenaica had long declined. Once a maritime jewel flourishing in the Greece and Empire eras, now it’s a ruin. The later rebuilt city of Cyrene is also far from its former glory.

In short, its position as a commercial hub has long been taken over by Alexander. The most valuable part is the land, which is neither barren nor particularly fertile.

Originally, Duke Raymond was more interested in the Duchy of Alexander, which Losa immediately refused.

The two brightest jewel cities of all Egypt are Alexander and Cairo. Raymond asked to take half of them right away; unless Losa was mad, he would never agree to such a request.

As for the vast fertile lands of the Nile Delta, Losa also offered half, divided into dozens of parts, awaiting the selection of the donors.

Losa wasn’t blinded by people’s display of piety, the fanatic admiration for him, or the faces full of flattery.

He steadfastly believed that only by building a coalition of interests would these people exert their full force to support this southern Crusade, rather than clamoring to retreat, prioritizing the protection of their own territories, like the former king Amalric during his expedition to Egypt.

"What you excel at is really consistent."

"I’m not just piecing things together. As long as Egypt is conquered, I will fulfill all promises one by one."

The cake of Egypt is big enough, and with the ability to indirectly control this land through the appointment system of vassals, if he conquers Egypt, he only plans to directly govern Alexander and Cairo.

This means Losa can now fully leverage the vast land of Egypt to gain support without worrying about it backfiring.

"Speaking of which, what brings you here tonight? I thought you and Prajna should still be in the period of sweet intimacy."

Because Prajna is busy writing a new book.

After taking care of business last night, he roughly narrated the subsequent storyline of the Demon Hunter, and then Jeanne was completely immersed—under the state of the Book Immortal, Prajna not only had better writing skills than before, but also became more easily absorbed.

While Losa thought like this, he said, "Of course, because I missed you."

"Heh."

The tall Female Knight was a little skeptical of this.

In terms of appearance, Prajna was undoubtedly the most outstanding among them. As for feelings... hmm, I think the bond between me and Little Banner should be the deepest. In this aspect, Prajna, that taciturn person, definitely can’t compare to me.

"Alright, let’s say you passed. Go take a bath, I’ll be waiting for you on the bed inside."

"Can’t we take a bath together?"

"No."

Jeanne resolutely refused.

This made Losa feel a bit wistful, thinking that my Prajna was more considerate and easier to coax.

"But I want to try something more sinful."

"What?"

Losa’s gaze fixed on Jeanne’s rosy lips.

"Get out!"

"Consider it as owing you a favor."

"Get out!"

"Alright."

In the end, he wasn’t able to get what he wanted.