Eagle Byzantium

"So when they were living together, this little girl was always on top of the couch." Sapphobel cursed fiercely in his heart, but it was not easy to show it on the surface, so he hesitated and delayed, insisting on seeing Gawain. Even if it would delay the day, he asked the princess to issue him a pass for the internal roads of Seleucia so that he could go to Tarsus to meet Gawain.

Who would have thought that the princess shrugged her shoulders and asked him, "What time is it now?"

Sapphobert was stunned for a moment, but he had to answer out of etiquette. Just as he asked his entourage to frantically look for the sundial, Anna sighed contemptuously, and then took out an extremely delicate silver astrolabe from her waist belt. This was a replica of Gawain's, but it was smaller. The time could be determined by the stars at night and by sunlight during the day. Anna gently opened the shell of the astrolabe, facing the sunlight from the window, and then snapped it shut, "Sorry, the time for meeting you is over. I have to go to deal with the affairs of the circuit court."

Then the little girl stretched unceremoniously and turned away on her own.

"I have sufficient reasons to see Gawain, because I am Anselm, who was sent by His Holiness the Holy See of Rome and governs the entire Seleucia and the suburbs of Cilicia!" Finally, the high-ranking clergyman who had been talking to Sapphobel couldn't stand it anymore. He originally wanted to take the Pope's letter of appointment to "catch Gawain off guard", but he didn't expect that the cunning Gawain would push this girl out as a shield. Now he can only announce his identity first.

It turned out that this Anselm was originally the archdeacon of Canterbury Cathedral in Britain. Later, he was appointed to Bari as the archbishop of the Catholic Church. As a result, he was ruthlessly expelled after Gawain captured Bari. Now he has received the scepter and ring given by the Pope, and with a heart that deeply hates Gawain, he came to Seleucia to show Gawain his power and act as a troublemaker. This appointment may also reflect the current attitude of Rome towards various pilgrim lords-Urban does not need you to have a brilliant feat of conquering pagans. The most important thing is to listen to the Pope.

Who would have thought that the first day's trouble would be in vain.

But after hearing this shout, Anna still turned around with a look of pretended surprise, and then returned the gift to Anselm. Then she did not stop and left. At this moment, two beautiful kittens suddenly jumped out of the basket under her seat, wagging their tails, and followed their master to the inner hall. Replacing her was the fat eunuch who was as arrogant as the master. He walked into the crowd and gave everyone a note made of plant fiber. Anselm and Sapphobel looked at it. There were lines of Greek and a lot of numbers on it. "You will go to the dormitory of the hospital's post area soon. Each person will have a room. Someone will provide you with food. Take this supply voucher. It contains not only your food vouchers, but also your mules and horses." The fat eunuch raised his finger and said with a full breath and a smile.

When Sapphobel walked out of the palace steps with a scepter in one hand and a paper voucher in the other, he found that the trade square and stone street in front of him, which were lined with tents, were filled with people. Some spoke German, some spoke Italian, and some spoke Greek or Slavic. They gathered in front of a man dressed as an alderman. The alderman was issuing the same paper voucher as his own to the group of people and guiding them to the same post district.

"They just treat us as ordinary pilgrims and immigrants!" Sapphobel and Anselm said angrily, and they decided to write a letter to impeach the Pope immediately. Then they could only mix with the crowd and walk towards the so-called post district.

The post station area is located between the hills and the city. From the ridge, the two visitors from Rome can see the location of the hospital. It is almost completed. An impressive crane is being erected on top of it. This crane is completely different from the "donkey-foot wheel crane" used in western Europe at that time. It has a circular rotatable base. Someone can use a device similar to a ship's steering wheel to control its direction, so that any bricks and stones can be lifted without blind spots. There are rat cages on both sides, and people inside can easily lift heavy materials. Around the hospital, there are workshops and kilns for firing bricks, and mules and donkeys for transporting building materials. The rising fireworks almost cover the sunset in the sky, giving people a thrilling pressure.

As a result, when he arrived at the post station area, Sapphobel was even more angry: although they both had the voucher, because the recorded material supply content was different, he was treated completely differently from Anselm!

The Archbishop of Pisa, the future Patriarch of the Holy City, and his entourage were dining in the large dining room on the first floor of the inn. In front of him was a dirty wooden table that was temporarily collected from the trade square after the stalls were closed. It still smelled of leather. There were several clay plates with coarse peas and wheat rice, pea porridge, pea sprouts and pea paste pie on them. The entire large dining room was full of workers and craftsmen who had just finished the construction of the large hospital or St. Paul's College. They all ordered absinthe and cider, which was extremely noisy and farted everywhere, making Sapphobel feel that he had nowhere to stay.

Even the Seleucid law students and medical students who were temporarily studying outside the college had their meals in the elegant room on the second floor. They were served by cooks and could drink wine. The laughter kept reaching Sapphobel's ears through the cracks, making his nerves even more furious.

As for Anselm, just because he had just shouted in front of Her Royal Highness the Princess, "I am the future Patriarch of Seleucia," he was treated as a guest of honor. He was now dining alone in front of the altar in the inn area. It was said that there were exquisite baked cakes sprinkled with delicious Trebizond nuts and Corinthian raisins, as well as caviar and Cyprus wine... After the evening, Sapphobert never saw Anselm again. They did not live in the same room. Sapphobert lived in the simplest room. There was nothing except a bed, a water pitcher and a small writing table. Sapphobert curled up on the bed, spreading the cross-brace given to him by the emperor under his body, and was angry almost all night. What made him even more unbearable was that the conversation of the craftsmen came from the next room on the left. First, they shouted drunken words, and then they snored like thunder. On the right, there lived a couple, who said they were pilgrims traveling together to see the large hospital under construction, but in fact, in Sapphobel's eyes, this couple was an adulterer. When they did it at night, they were energetic and earth-shaking, which made the future Patriarch of the Holy City stand up. He first opened the Gospel book he brought with him on the small table and sincerely confessed, and then he leaned against the wall to listen to the rhythm with his ears. His left and right hands were busy under his crotch for a long time before he recovered and got back on the bed. As a result, before he fell asleep, the bed and the wall began to shake again.

The next day, Lord Sapphobel walked out of the room with dark circles under his eyes, annoyed and weak, and then he wanted to find Anselm to go to Tarsus together.

But the attendant told him that Lord Anselm had been "treated preferentially". This morning, the municipal staff of Seleucia took the initiative to allocate a few donkeys for him and asked him to go to where Gawain was.

"What are you doing?" Sapphobel smashed the scepter under his feet, his voice was sad and sharp. (To be continued ~^~)