Drawing Cards in the Middle Ages to Rise in Ranks

Chapter 669 439: Dragon Blood Scion

Furin's anger had actually dissipated long ago; she simply needed a way to step down.

But Chelina, feeling "deeply sinful," didn't have the face to "dare ask" for Furin's forgiveness.

When leaving Furin's room, it was already evening.

When Losa came out of the Lord's Hall, he happened to encounter Baron Charlie, who had a black eye and seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

Losa's gaze swept over his black eye but said nothing, simply asking, "What happened?"

"Sir, the heretics' riding cavalry are too rampant. Previously, His Majesty Richard often launched attacks, making them afraid to show their faces. I'm wondering if your prestige might be affected if you don't respond?"

Baron Charlie hesitated with his choice of words.

"If my prestige can be shaken so easily, it wouldn't be prestige at all."

Losa shook his head. "The Saracens are testing our waters; let them be arrogant for a few more days."

He did not plan to attack just yet. Once Lavinia underwent the elite transformation, his entire team's power would increase significantly, and then would be the true showdown with the Saracens.

"Charlie, I heard you got into a fight at the tavern today?"

Charlie smiled somewhat sheepishly. "I made a fool of myself in front of you."

Baron Charlie was a very decent young man. Although he was the second son of his family, at this time, the County of Flanders was the dominator of the lowlands, and the Alsace Family was quite "prominent," far stronger than Count Werner's Domain.

Moreover, Baron Charlie had admired Losa even before he swore allegiance to him.

Aside from the second son of Duke Raymond of Tripoli, he led the most troops among Crusader nobles.

As for the tavern brawl incident, Losa had heard of its origins.

It was because, when faced with the Black Gulams of the Saracens, he did not launch an attack but chose to retreat.

This led to some gossip among nobles supporting other monarchs.

Charlie happened to be present at that time and delivered a punch, but regrettably, he was not skilled in martial arts and got beaten up.

"Did you win or lose?"

Charlie's face turned red as he defended himself, "I wanted a fair knightly duel with him, but who knew he'd rush over with his fist?"

Losa couldn't help but laugh, patting his shoulder. It's hard not to get bruised in a tavern brawl.

"Charlie, I've seen your loyalty, so..."

Losa's tone slightly paused, then asked, "Do you want to possess extraordinary power?"

"Of course, sir!"

Charlie immediately perked up, his face excited. "I've been looking forward to it for a long time."

"Come with me."

The two made their way to the prayer room with the seated angel statue. Losa motioned for Charlie to kneel before the statue.

"Charlie, it might be very painful next, but once you endure it, you will gain extraordinary power."

Losa planned to elevate Charlie as his Dragon Blood retainer, a power possessed by many high-level dragon species.

Although he couldn't yet maintain a permanent dragon transformation, the Dragon Bloodline level surpassed most high-level dragon species. If it weren't for the system's protection, he was worried Charlie might not survive the transformation and die on the spot.

"Please go ahead, sir. If just enduring some pain can grant me extraordinary power, if you weren't the one saying it, how could a servant ever dare to hope for such a thing?"

Charlie looked eager and excited. When he swore allegiance to Losa, he received an infusion of combat experience, greatly increasing his strength, which to him was already extraordinary power.

"Now take off your clothes, yes, take them all off."

Losa spoke words easily misunderstood, but Charlie thought nothing of it.

After all, someone as holy as Losa couldn't possibly have such obscene pleasures.

Losa slightly nodded, activating the dragon blood within him, rapidly covering his arm with black triangular scales, shrouded in ethereal black mist, a manifestation from his devouring of the Ghost Dragon.

He reached out, slicing his palm, cutting loose the scalding dragon blood onto Charlie's head, normally like molten lava, which immediately would ignite Charlie like a torch.

But under the system's power protection, the dragon blood seemed alive, flowing across Charlie's body and seeping into his pores.

Charlie let out a piercing scream, his face flushed, almost fainting from the pain.

Losa timely stopped the dragon blood, assessed Charlie's condition, and turned to leave.

Jeanne seemed drawn by the noise, frowning, asked, "What's happening?"

"I transformed Charlie into my Dragon Blood retainer. Assign someone to watch him, douse him with a bucket of cold water every hour to cool down; the transformation might take an entire night."

Jeanne breathed a sigh of relief. "You gave me a scare; I was wondering about something impossible."

Losa humorously replied, "Besides you, no one else would think of such things."

He paused slightly again, then said, "Make arrangements, and later, let's go inspect the camps and pick a few defiant troublemakers to execute, to establish some authority."

"Alright."

Despite the battle being imminent, the atmosphere across the military camps wasn't notably tense. Some disorderly, unorganized Pilgrim Crusaders, though led by respective noble lords, clearly, the noble lords didn't expect them to train properly and become an elite force.

And perhaps these pilgrims never really considered that the "heretic demons" spoken of by priests and old Crusaders truly possessed demon-like powers.

But now there's no time to train them.

The battle is at hand, could they really be dispatched entirely to the rear recruit training camp for some improvement?

Without the accelerated training effects of a recruit training camp, local training with some queue practice each day is too short-lived.

During Losa's coma period, although Kurs continued handling military affairs, somewhat he had slackened.

Kurs's loyalty to Losa was probably understood as a duty-bound. Without this duty, he would likely follow Furinjira, being a loyal minion of the World-Ending Demon King, brewing plot after doomsday plot.

Losa advised Jeanne, "When fighting the heretics, let these pilgrims serve as logistics personnel only; should they panic, they might cause the main formation to collapse."

Cannon fodder was indeed useful.

But the outcome of this war depended mainly on extraordinary-level confrontations, Losa hoped these pilgrims might settle down here in the future and become his subjects.

A group of burly, mostly male pilgrims was the most suitable workforce.

If Losa established a foothold here, he would encourage intermarriage between the Coptic people and the Frankish pilgrims, merging them gradually—of course, that's future matters.

Ethnic issues weren't really problems in this era at all.

"It's the Duke's banner, Duke Losa has come to see us!"

"Long live Saint Losa, long live the Holy Spear's bearer!"

At every place, the Crusaders' cheers echoed through the area.