Chapter 410 - 291: Bohemond (2)

For he knew his decision was irreversible, and once the dream of conquering the Greek Empire was over, Sergita would focus his energy on finding a way to eliminate him.

So he left Apulia, wearing the Cross Cloak personally bestowed by the Pope, taking with him the Norman Knights who couldn’t stand Roger Borsa, and headed for the East. Once again, he set foot on the lands of the Greek Empire, a place he had only recently departed.

He had once thought he would set foot on this land as a conqueror, but now he was a wanderer—a wanderer with nothing, here to seek help from a rival he had once despised.

The moment he set foot on the Empire’s soil, he was received with courtesy by Alexios. At times, he couldn’t help but admire the man’s magnanimity.

In response, he did his best to restrain his unruly Norman Knights. He even had one knight flogged for raping a Greek woman, though it wasn’t as if the cunning Greeks were all behaving themselves either.

While passing through Bulgaria, he met Raymond of Saint Gill. Two years prior, Raymond had inherited his brother’s title and the Toulouse County Territory. Adding that to his own Saint-Gilbert’s Domain, his prestige in the Southern France Region had been unmatched these past few years.

He was a somewhat hot-tempered, middle-aged nobleman who led twelve hundred Southern France Knights. At the behest of Pope Gregory, he had marched across the entire region of Dalmatia, teaching a painful lesson to the local nobility who had provoked the Roman Curia.

Dalmatia had recently lost its King and fallen into severe chaos. The nobility had declared themselves independent Lords and were attempting to make the Church in Dalmatia secede from the Roman Curia. Raymond easily crushed the allied army of the Dalmatian nobility and forced them to pay a sum for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre.

Afterward, he continued east, mercilessly destroying any Serbs, Greeks, or Bulgarians who dared oppose him.

Of course, this took a great deal of time, with the result that though he had been the first to depart, he was the last to arrive.

The envoy sent by Alexios was completely unable to stop Raymond, and as a result, he met Bohemond in the region of Bulgaria.

Incidentally, the envoy sent to Raymond was Alexios’s brother, John. John had been tied up like a caterpillar and thrown into a wagon.

Despite his hot temper, Raymond got along surprisingly well with Bohemond.

Bohemond’s past exploits, having defeated Emperor Alexios on several occasions, had a rather positive effect.

Raymond constantly recounted the Emperor’s betrayal and boasted of his own exploits to Bohemond. "I destroyed the city walls, burned their reserves, killed the young men, and defiled the women—my God, what a magnificent battle! We sent the heads of the elders to the Emperor, tied up in a bundle like a tribute, and even attached a welcoming letter.

"He sent an escort—that effeminate brother of his, John—and we immediately disarmed them and tied them to their horses. From then on, we were supplied for the whole journey and didn’t have to worry about bandits. It’s the only way to deal with the Greeks..."

Bohemond chose to do Alexios a favor, placating and guiding Raymond.

Under Bohemond’s persuasion, the two men followed the designated route to Constantinople, just as the Emperor’s Envoy had requested.

No one disliked Bohemond. In fact, he wouldn’t let you dislike him.

He would walk right up to you, stare you in the face, and wouldn’t stop until he made you laugh or found a topic to capture your attention.

Then, he would swiftly turn to the next person or topic.

Within minutes, he would be able to remember everyone’s name and even figure out each person’s personality.

When Count Raymond flew into a rage over the provocations of the Greek citizens, Bohemond consoled him, saying that these were trivial matters that could be resolved in an instant.

He sympathized with him, encouraged him, and cajoled him until he finally made Raymond laugh.

Then, the other Western European nobles in their party all laughed along, infected by Bohemond’s good humor.

...

「Constantinople, the Inner City」

Bohemond passed by fountains spouting lime-scented drinking water, and shops with glass windows. Men in aprons swept the public thoroughfares with long brooms. No animals roamed the streets, and the dung our horses left behind was cleaned up instantly.

However, though Bohemond had seen it many times, he still found it hard to believe it all. To the citizens, this way of life seemed so natural. ’But really, how could such a lifestyle be sustained for long?’

Bohemond, Raymond, and a crowd of Western European nobles proceeded along a wide avenue.

These Western European nobles were mainly minor nobles from northern Germany who had been slow on the uptake. They had few proper knights and lacked sufficient training. Their ranks were a motley crew, including some Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Bohemians, and Hungarians. At least there were a lot of them.

They had originally been ordered by the German Emperor to remain in their domains, but they had disobeyed. They were a peculiar, even extreme, group. Unlike others who sewed cloth crosses onto their robes, they had branded the cross onto the skin of their shoulders.

Bohemond did not much care for them. He had heard of their atrocities in Germany; they boasted loudly about them and took pride in the most heinous of crimes.

It was said that they had used the pilgrimage as an opportunity to cleanse the Jews from their towns and cities. The massacres had apparently shocked the bishops in Germany, who tried to stop the slaughter by offering the Jewish people their personal protection, but to no avail.