A Crusader with System in the Middle Ages

"I’m not sure if Heaven on Earth has appeared, but Milan is a real mess right now. Elrond imprisoned the Marquis, and a few days later, Elrond himself was hanged by radicals from the Patulin Sect.

The radicals destroyed all the statues and portraits, burned the gold and silver, and hanged a great number of nobles. But they weren’t satisfied. After that, they started claiming they were going to hang traitors who had been bought by the Marquis.

So they killed another group of people. By the third day, there were very few nobles left to kill. People started being sent to the gallows for no clear reason, and the trials became nothing more than a way to vent frustrations.

After that, another group couldn’t stand it anymore, so they released the Marquis. They gathered a bunch of people and killed yet another group. In short, it’s a huge mess. I heard today that the Marquis has apparently been captured again."

"That really is a mess. But it doesn’t have much to do with us."

"Speaking of which, what happened with you? You were doing so well as a Door Maker’s apprentice, how did you get dismissed? It’s not easy to find work in Genoa these days."

"That bitch Valentina framed me. Said I knocked her up and tried to make me take responsibility for it."

"You’ve got to be kidding me. That slut Valentina, half of Genoa has slept with her. Who the hell knows whose bastard she’s carrying. Speaking of which, I feel bad for Nico. The head of the Door Maker Guild, and she’s his only daughter. He still thinks Valentina is a pure virgin."

"That’s the worst part. Nico wants to kill me now if I don’t take responsibility for his daughter. So now I’m homeless. I found that little boat we hid back then, remember? We called it *La Fortuna*, which means ’Treasure’.

I can use it to catch some fish to sell. For every ten fish I sell, the tax collector takes three, so now I have to sell them in secret."

"*La Fortuna*," Matteo mulled over the name, lost in memories. "I still remember our adventures in that abandoned shipyard. Oh, back then we didn’t know it was just an abandoned shipyard. After all, it was astonishingly large, and as kids, we believed there was treasure there.

Even though we only found some seashells and old bones, *La Fortuna* was an unexpected find. It was so intact and beautiful, as if it didn’t belong there at all. That’s why we named it that—maybe one day it would lead us to treasure."

"Hahaha, what a childish fantasy. The idea that the Jews left treasure behind when the King expelled them over a hundred years ago.

But Jews would never leave money behind. A Jew would sooner leave his child behind than his money," Tommaso said with a laugh.

"They expelled the Jews to make it easier to become Jews themselves," Matteo said.

"Yes, and the nobles can’t blame the Jews for their problems anymore. Nothing grows in Genoa now but stones and suffering." With Matteo’s help, Tommaso pushed *La Fortuna* into the bushes, then broke off some olive branches and threw them on the boat to cover it. "Oh, and shit. If there was a market for shit, we’d be unbelievably rich."

"Now they blame the Pisans. If not the Jews, there are always the Pisans, the Venetians, the Romans, the Greeks..."

"True. But could you keep your hands moving while you talk, my friend?"

"Alright, you’re lucky I’m helping you at all. Honestly, as a member of the city patrol, I’m already not making you pay a fine or throwing you in a prison full of shit and flies. You should be thanking God for that." Matteo walked over to Tommaso and started breaking off olive branches to help him hide the boat.

"Anyway, I need to rest for a bit. I think I’m going to collapse on the way back... wait, I don’t even have a home to go back to." Tommaso suddenly felt a wave of dizziness, grabbed the waterskin from Matteo’s hip, and started drinking greedily.

A steady breeze blew from the southwest, and the refreshing feeling it brought made him sigh with relief.

He could see many businesses, mostly workplaces for fishermen and merchants. There were tinsmiths who provided rust-resistant parts for ships and the kilns of tar-makers who roasted pine logs over fires. The viscous liquid produced in this process was the waterproofing material used by shipbuilders.

From the water, the city always looked much larger. Everyone here did business with the sea, directly or indirectly.

Before their defeat by Pisa, this place would be crammed with crowds and merchant ships during the Midsummer Festival. Of course, it was much less impressive now.

Under the faint moonlight, Tommaso noticed something strange on the water. His eyesight was good; he was used to identifying distant ships and distinguishing the shapes of their hulls even in high waves or under low clouds.

But now, he wasn’t sure what he was seeing. He strained his ears to listen for any sound from the distance, but could only hear the waves washing up on the beach in front of him.

His heart hammered in his chest as he recognized them. They were ships all too familiar in Genoa, and from their sails hung flags with a white cross on a red field—the banner of Pisa.

He tried to trick himself into believing they were just Pisan merchant ships that had lost track of time, just like him.

However, one ship, two, three... twenty... fifty, and even more... In the blink of an eye, the Genoa coast was surrounded by a dense ring of warships.

The Pisans had shamelessly broken the truce.

’Bastards...’

Tommaso cursed under his breath and turned to call for Matteo, only to see him with his hands raised above his head. His long spear was gone, and he was walking slowly toward Tommaso, hands in the air.

Only then did Tommaso see the Crossbowman behind him, pressing a Crossbow Arrow to his neck. The Crossbowman’s clothes bore an embroidered emblem of a white dog on a red field—the symbol of the Tuscan Duchy.

Just as Tommaso was about to do something to save his friend Matteo, he saw more Crossbowmen emerge from the bushes.

’They must be the Pisans’ advance party,’ he thought, ’or rather, the advance party of that fearsome Marchioness.’

Then, from the direction of the inner city, came the sound of violent crashes and shouts.

...

"God help me!"

"For my Lord and Canossa!"

"For Normandy!"

"Gloucester forever!"

The attack was sudden and swift. The city gate guards were opening the gates to let a returning patrol inside when a group of Norman Knights charged from the side. They were the first to rush into Genoa’s inner city, and they began the slaughter.

The fun they’d had in Italy for the past half-month had put a strain on their purses, and now they were going to make it all back.

Flames soon engulfed the prosperous city. The commotion and violent destruction quickly attracted the city guards, but since they had never expected an attack, many rushed over with only Long Spears. Without the protection of Armor, they were exceptionally vulnerable.

As soon as the Genoese Crossbowmen appeared, they hastily fired a few Crossbow Arrows, but most were deflected by the Knights’ Iris Shields. The Knights charged with incredible speed, shattering the Crossbowmen’s formation. They were powerless to stop the Knights from advancing deeper into the city.

Simone knew the locations of most of the Genoese nobles’ residences. Eric had him act as a guide, leading a portion of the Knights to capture the nobles of the Governance Council. The remaining Knights and the Tuscan soldiers were led by Belem to destroy the city’s defenses.

Eric, meanwhile, led a contingent of Knights to remain outside the city as a guard against any potential reinforcements.

However, even after a long wait, not a single regular army appeared.

Only a few scattered soldiers came to check on the situation. Upon seeing the Knights and the dense fleet of Pisan ships outside the city, they almost immediately threw down their Long Spears and ran for their lives.

All that remained were some ordinary citizens who lived outside the walls. They raised their weapons and charged at the Knights with no regard for their own lives.

They were young and old. Some carried Long Spears and daggers—those were the well-equipped ones. Most held only shovels or pitchforks.

They shouted and cursed in the Genoese dialect, but it was completely useless.

They had no training, and their fighting ability was virtually nonexistent. They were nothing but a disorganized mob.

However, they were far braver than the city guards, fighting with a ferocity that showed no fear of death, ready to shed their last drop of blood to defend their city.

Eric let his Knights "play" with them for a while, killing a number of them in an attempt to make them "cool down."

Eventually, they selected a leader to negotiate with Eric. Eric made them an "interesting" proposal: they were free to join in the looting of the Genoese nobles without being held responsible, on the condition that they gave him half of all the property they seized.

Eric provided them with tabards bearing his coat of arms to ensure they wouldn’t be harmed by his Knights, and added that he would be delighted if they passed this "interesting" offer on to their friends and relatives.

In the end, they gladly accepted.

The assault continued until dawn. Most of Genoa City had been captured, with only a few nobles who had managed to retreat to their strongholds in time, still leading a handful of guards in a desperate resistance.

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