| Morning of November 19 - 1248 - Near Jerusalem - Attila |
Mustafa's head was rolling on the ground in front of everyone's eyes.
Mustafà, even if you were a valued warrior, you got angry too easily. You were a good warrior, but you killed Malik and pissed off my Emperor, you deserved death.
I took his head by the hair and lifted it high, I turned towards the semicircle made up of the French and Imperial army showing him my head.
At that point, all of them started celebrating the victory.
The Imperials, the noisiest, celebrated as if there was no tomorrow. Considered that they do not have been forced to fight or to lose all the results obtained.
The French were celebrating too, happy that I venged Jules.
The only ones who were completely silent were the Arabs, and it was compressible why. Not only they have lost a battle, but they also lost their champion.
The Sultan was silent and was the only one who showed no signs of emotion.
The French King and the Emperor invited the Sultan to a tent to discuss the peace treaty.
They didn't order me to enter that tent so only afterwards did I find out about the conditions of peace.
In summary, the treaty states that: The Sultanate of Al-Kamil must pay back for the destroyed fleet; the Sultanate of Al-Kamil must surrender all the territories conquered by the Kingdom of Jerusalem together with the city itself; the Sultanate of Al-Kamil repays part of the war expenses of the Empire and France.
In short, a humiliating treaty on all fronts.
Unfortunately, this is what happens when a war is lost.
Morning of November 21 - 1248 - Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem) - Attila |
After two days, we were allowed to enter Jerusalem.
The Emperor, his advisers and I were taking a walk in the newly conquered city.
People who saw us either looked down or looked at us in a despicable way. According to them, we were filthy invaders. They were right.
The city was not in great shape and the only nice things were the religious structures.
But I have a thought that I can't get rid of: were all these dead, on both fronts, worth the conquest of a single city?
I mean: did the popes and rulers of the Middle Ages invest so much money, food and human lives just because the pilgrims only had to pay a toll to visit Jerusalem?
In the end, not only was it not convenient from all points of view, but with these crusades, we have also worsened relations between Muslims and Westerners.
Most likely, if these crusades never existed, we would not now have these tense relations with Islamic countries.
We have ruined part of our future just for riches.
Man is a shameful being, we were the only mistake of nature.
<< We have arrived >> the Emperor said to all of us.
We were at the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica.
We went in to admire it, but I was disappointed to see that it was nothing more than a skeleton. Seeing as she appears to have been properly robbed.
The Emperor suddenly turned to me and said: << Kneel Attila >>
I don't know why he gave me this order out of the blue, but I had to.
I knelt to him.
He began to speak: << Attila, I wanted to tell you something in front of everyone. If today we can all say that we have come this far it is only thanks to you. From the first day, I met you you have done nothing but surprise me. Both with your strength and with your cunning and intelligence. You are a person full of surprises and you are very difficult to decipher. I don't know exactly if you are a friend or an enemy, but what you have done for us is factual >>
He pulled out his sword resting it on both shoulders and continued: << So to thank you, for now in an informal way, I appoint you King of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and my military adviser >>
Huh? I King of Jerusalem?
I was still very confused. But suddenly I found myself, again, in real life.