A Crusader with System in the Middle Ages

The onlookers didn’t dare criticize Rufus directly, but they could freely lament the situation and point fingers.

This only fueled Rufus’s rage, making him more agitated. The taste of blood at the corner of his mouth made him feel like a clown. He had lost face before his subjects.

He dug his spurs hard into his horse’s belly, trying to pick up speed.

Eric, however, slowed his pace. He yanked hard on his reins, wheeled his horse around, and charged toward Rufus, War Axe in hand.

Seeing Eric’s maneuver, Rufus’s anger flared anew. He spurred his horse on, his grip on his War Axe tightening.

Just as the two riders were about to meet, Rufus struck first, aiming a blow at Eric’s neck.

But then a tremendous force met his blow, and before he could even react, the War Axe was sent flying from his grasp.

Before he could process what had happened, a heavy blow struck his abdomen—not with the blade of the War Axe, but its flat side. His strength vanished instantly, and searing pain sent him into convulsions.

Just as Rufus was about to fall from his Warhorse, a hand seized him by the neck, and Eric slammed him down onto his own Warhorse.

Eric dug in his spurs and charged out of the tournament grounds.

The grounds fell silent, everyone stunned by the scene.

The silence held for a long moment before the crowd erupted once more.

”Can someone please tell me what I just saw!”

”Christ, save the Franks!”

”Oh, Lord! What a blasphemous scene!”

”...”

The audience, including the Knights on guard duty around the grounds, couldn’t help but groan and complain.

None of them sensed that something was amiss.

Eric rode his Warhorse straight through the tent district, showing no signs of stopping.

At first, everyone assumed this was just Eric, the Jewish Knight, provoking and mocking the Frank Knights.

But as Eric was about to charge out of the tent district, a few of the guards finally realized something was wrong.

”Hey! You need to stop!”

”Where are you taking the Prince!?”

”Bastards! Treachery from the Knights!”

”...”

The guards tried to give chase, but they were on light horses and stood no chance of catching Eric’s Warhorse.

Most of the Knights had been dispatched to the city gates, while the tournament contestants were either resting or watching from the stands. Only a few Knights were serving as guards here. The guards alerted the nearest on-duty Knights, who immediately mounted up and gave chase.

However, as they pursued Eric out of the tent district, a dozen other Knights suddenly charged out from the side, knocking them from their horses.

”What’s the situation at the East Gate? Has Leif arrived?” Eric asked.

Laponti’s East Gate was a smaller entrance than the West Gate; the displaced populace didn’t typically flee in this direction.

Eric had even dispatched a contingent of Knights beforehand to guide the masses outside the city toward the West Gate.

”We’ve secured the East Gate. Lord Leif should still be on his way,” the Knight replied.

”And the young miss and the madam?”

”Once we secured the East Gate, they were sent out of the city.”

”Good. We’re pulling out.” Eric flicked his reins, driving his Warhorse toward the East Gate.

”You bastard, who are you?” Rufus shouted, having regained consciousness.

He was now tied to the back of the horse with rope.

”Who else could I be? You’ve already guessed, haven’t you?” Eric said with a light chuckle, pressing down on his neck. ”And by the way, I can paralyze you at any moment. So you’d best be quiet.”

”You bastard! You madman! This is dishonorable! You’ve violated the Knightly Spirit! I fucking refuse to surrender!” Rufus yelled.

”I don’t give a fuck about your bullshit surrender. Your older brother is the winner here, not me. And right now, you have nothing. What we need from you isn’t a surrender, but for you to shut your mouth completely!” Eric said, stuffing a dirty rag into Rufus’s mouth.

’Hearing such bullshit about the Knightly Spirit coming from Rufus’s mouth... How ironic,’ Eric thought.

’A guy like you who defies the laws of God and indulges in sleeping with men has the nerve to talk about Knightly Spirit?’

Eric couldn’t be bothered with Rufus. With his dozen or so Knights, he quickly charged out of the East Gate.

Once outside the East Gate, Eric did a quick headcount to make sure everyone was accounted for.

”Knights, we ride for Alençon!” Eric roared.

”Alençon!”

”Alençon!”

And with that, the party advanced north.

...

「Back at the tournament grounds.」

After leading his pursuer on a merry chase for several laps around the grounds, Yuge finally wore the other Knight out. The Knight decided he was done wasting time on this no-name.

He wasn’t part of the plan to begin with.

Just as the Knight was about to give up on Yuge, Yuge seized the opportunity to counter-attack, knocking him down with a single thrust of his spear.

Yuge excitedly dragged the Knight onto his Warhorse. He finally had his very first captive.

”Fuck, where did everyone go?”

When he looked back across the grounds, he saw no sign of Eric.

And Prince William was gone too.

’No way, that fast?’

He couldn’t quite make heads or tails of it, but he was happy for Eric nonetheless. He rode his Warhorse out of the grounds and into the tent district, his captive slung over the horse. The moment he entered, a dozen Long Spears were leveled at his neck.

”Speak! Where did your accomplice go?! You scheming traitor, party to this plot against Prince William!” a dozen voices roared as one.

Yuge: ”???”

Yuge hadn’t yet grasped the situation. He just assumed they were a bunch of despicable Knights, jealous of his success today and resorting to such dirty tricks.

’Fine, fine, fine. So you dare to treat me this way, do you?’

’You dare press Long Spears to the throat of a member of the Capetian Royal Family, is that it?’

’Fuckers. Just you wait, I’m going to end every last one of you.’

”The fuck? You dare to come at me? Have you all lost your minds? Do you know who I am? Fucker, you dare point a spear at me? Go fuck your mother!” Yuge slapped the guard Knight closest to him right across the face.

”You... you... you son of a bitch. Who are you?” The guard Knight was stunned by the slap, but just in case, he still had to ask.

Prince William had indeed invited many powerful nobles to the Laponti tournament. Aside from the publicly announced guests, quite a few nobles enjoyed competing as anonymous Knights.

In any case, Yuge’s sheer audacity had intimidated the guards.

”Fine, fine, fine! You want to know, do you? I’ll show you who I am right now!” Yuge roared.

As he spoke, Yuge began to fumble for his insignia.

He fumbled for a good long while...

”Who... who are you?” the guard Knight asked, growing nervous.

”Who do you think? I’d scare you to death if I told you.” Yuge glanced left and right, looking a little sheepish, but he feigned composure, rubbed his nose, and shoved the guard aside. ”I’m giving you a chance. Offend me, and ten heads won’t be enough to pay for it. You want to mess with me? Do you even have the right? Huh? There’s still a way out of this for you. But once I reveal my Identity, for the honor of the Nobility, not a single one of you will survive.

I’m giving you this chance out of my own mercy...”

Yuge’s blustering didn’t let up. He struck an imposing, arrogant pose, and a few of the guards, intimidated, lowered their Long Spears.

An opening appeared in their encirclement.

Yuge dug his spurs hard into his horse’s belly, and in an instant, his Warhorse shot forward, leaving the guards in the dust.

But the guard Knights showed no intention of giving chase.

”What’s he doing?”

”Probably... trying to escape?”

”But the gate isn’t that way.”

”Exactly.”

”What’s over there again?”

”The new cesspit we dug yesterday. Too many people have come to Laponti these past two days. The old pits are overflowing and the sewers are clogged. So yesterday we worked all night to dig a big one. Who knows how long it’ll last,” one of the guards explained.

”Did you fence it off?” another guard asked.

”Who’s gonna bother with that? There’s no overtime pay. It’ll have to do.”

The guard had barely finished speaking when a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the distance.

”AAAAAH!”