"Alvaro, just how many Compagnie knights do the French have? They're in northern Italy, they're in southern Italy—how are they everywhere?..."
"You're asking me how many French Compagnie knights there are, exactly? From what I heard from the messenger the Alliance sent to the Queen, there are probably close to two thousand Compagnie knights showing up on the Italian battlefield. Add in the ones in France itself who haven't been mobilized... maybe three thousand knights? More or less, I'd say, but not too far off."
In the captain's cabin of the Holy Light, the fleet's deputy commander, Antonio, and the Royal cavalry captain, Alvaro, chatted idly about the Italian Wars while eating local Seville delicacies. On the plate lay fresh pork sausages; one bite sent blood and grease sizzling out. In the pot was Moorish-style saffron chickpea fried rice, drenched as well in a damp fish broth.
"Tsk, tsk! Seville's pork sausages really are fragrant!"
"Haaha! Seville port may be filthy, but there are plenty of pig-raising villagers all around it. Fresh, fatty pork isn't something you can eat just anywhere!"
"Exactly! Those who eat pork are Christians! This is also a way to test Heretics and Heathens—to drag out those outward converts hidden among the crowds one by one and send them to the Inquisition to be purified!"
"Haahaha! The Lord's flames will judge all things! Those Jewish outward converts, Moorish outward converts—sooner or later they'll have nowhere to hide, and they'll be burned into torches one by one!..."
"Burned into torches, with all their property confiscated! Ahaha!"
At that moment, the two Castilian crusading officers burst into loud laughter. Only after they had laughed to their hearts' content did they grab handfuls of meat and rice and stuff them into their mouths. True knights never used "women's" knives