Chapter 129: Salvator Mundi

"Worry no more, your majesty!" Shouted the emperor's Protevestiarites George Sphrantzes as he squeezes himself in front through the crowd.

"We don't have enough time, my emperor." George Sphrantzes continued as he stepped forward observing the situation of the fire through the arrow slit. "I have read about how the Frankish used to fight fire in the woods…. We will need to set up another ring of fire in a distance away from the walls using Greek fire…"

"Do you want to burn down the walls so that those monstrosities under Mehmed can come back on us?"

"Listen to me or we shall die together in the heat… I don't mind actually." Unlike the emperor who needs to show the image that he needs to respect every single senator who helped him to gain power, George Sphrantzes is not a single bit scared of this old bugger and made a stand off which forced the old senator to step out of his path.

Constantine nodded at George Sphrantzes satisfactorily, then handed over his sword with flag to his trusted lord of the imperial wardrobe. "I grant you full control over the controlled burn operations."

"Thanks for your trust, your majesty." George Sphrantzes wasted no more time, and took advantage of the artilleries allocated there previously, and created another ring of fire on the outskirts of the walls, which initially started burning towards the unsteady walls at first causing a wide spread of unnecessary horror and gasps among the crowd, but later seems to be attracted towards the fire set by the Ottomans, and when the two fires met, they merged together and miraculously… disappeared.

In the end, everyone seems to have a happy ending at the end of the day, all threats on the outside is now gone far away, George Sphrantzes acquired a huge political bounty among the senate for successfully confronting a senior member and saving the city, together with the emperor Constantine who got a share of the political influence as George is a part of his faction. Delighted, he granted George Sphrantzes another two title; "The second citizen of Rome" and "The savior of Nova Roma", with the rank theoretically speaking just below the emperor Constantine himself.

Now with the enemies gone, no one seems to really care about the mercenaries and foreign aids they begged for at the beginning.

Thus, a thought slowly rose up in those intrigue filled brains of the higher ups of Constantinople – With Mehmed and his beasts gone, perhaps, just perhaps, it is time to start dealing with the potential threats inside the walls?

…

One week later.

There is a celebration hosted by the government of the Roman empire in the city, in celebration of the brave Romans yet again defeating those wicked barbarians from the steppe, the heroic and intellectual achievement of George Sphrantzes for saving countless lives pulling them back from the rift of getting engulfed by the demons of the jumping flames, and, lastly, celebrating the postponed forty eight years old birthday of the emperor and autocrat of the Romans.

Of course, no one mentioned the Genoese, the papal guards, the Venetians, the Castilians, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Hungarians, the Wallachians, the people from Grand Duchy of Moskva, the people from Florence, and all the people who contributed towards the defense of the city.

It is still a splendid sight, however, with a riot of vibrant colours and symphony of various instruments and singings, every citizen who survived this prolonged siege are more hype than usual dancing round and swallowing plates after plates of cheese rolls, bodies and limbs waving together accordingly creating a festive scenery that everyone seems to be enjoying and thanking god for letting them survive through the unendurable two month.

Well, except Antonius of course.

"Savior of Nova Roma." Antonius gulps his beaker of mead.

"Defeating the Ottomans." Antonius finishes his drink.

"Forty-eighth birthday of Constantine?" Antonius slams the beaker onto the wooden table.

"What kind of bullshit is this? It is just merely a week and they have forgotten what we have done for them? Where is our shall of prize? The tracks and traces of blood from those men who gloriously sacrificed themselves for this place is still there! Where is their honour? How am I supposed to inform their familia when I am back to Genoa? Oh, your ward bravely died saving a city of people from the blades of infidels, and what am I supposed to reply when their families ask me did he die for the righteous man? Did he gain any glory and fame for the familia? What can I reply?"

"You are drunk." Abdullah by the side quickly covered Antonius' mouth preventing him from spitting out his rants any further.

"Get your hand off me… I am not drunk; I want to see Constantine." Antonius struggles to get up slapping the hands of Abdullah away, and trudges towards the center of the forum to look for where is his 'trusted partner' and seek a reply.

"Stop! We cannot attract any attention Antonius! You need to rest!" Abdullah hurried climbed up and started pulling Antonius again backwards using his full body weight.

"Get off me! I need his replies! I need to know whether he has forgotten about us!"

"Please! Wake up!"

"No!"

….

But it is too late, people are already getting their curious eyes of attention onto the two foreigners with one dressed like a Lombard and another dressed like a Turk. Attention is a thing that people are longing for to acquire popularity, but it can lead to the worst result for Antonius and Abdullah over here, especially when the surrounding town folks are already judging and suspecting Abdullah for his dressing and looks.

"What are you doing?"