Chapter 158: Who Dares to Defy My Will

An official ceremony was held the next day outside the chantry of Avlonya, with the Prince of Taranto, his honourable Giovanni Antonio Del Balzo Orsini representing the Crusaders and The Kouropalates of Roman empire, Antonius De'Ricci handing over the key of the city to the local patriarch, Balša Dukagjini as witnessed by the remaining surviving citizens of the city.

The remnants of the massacre still remained despite joint efforts from the Crusaders and the sailors in cleaning the premise. Smell of ashes and blood still lurks the air irritating the Olfactory system of everyone present.

The flags of Saint George, the banner of his most holiness Nicholas V flies high on the left, with the Cross of Jerusalem in the middle. While on the right it is the flag of Imperium Romanum, flag of the Imperator and Autocrat of all Romans, and flag of mégas droungarios.

The two representatives, together with the bishop seats together signing a pact signalling the rights of the citizens of Avlonya to rule over themselves, only that they need to recognise the Prince of Taranto, and of course the Holy See, as their sovereign paying tribute and taxation, and lastly, the chantry is to follow the leadership and guidance of the Holy See in Rome. After much discussion, both sides agreed that the best solution is to hand over this city to a man of the church, which will be more likely to appease the Holy See and the pope. Furthermore, the two leaders did hear that the bishop had some eye catchy actions yesterday which won him the heart of his citizens.

The entire ceremony went smoothly without any disruptions. After the ceremony, the Crusaders marched off southwards towards the city of Butrinto, hoping that after conquering that city it will allow them to establish a closer supply route with the Venetians on the Isle of Corfu, and then they will have no further need of relying on the fleet of the ri

After watching all of the Crusaders leave and disappearing under the horizon, the bishop turned to Antonius looking at him gratefully thanking him over and over again.

"I thank you, Lord De'Ricci, for what you and your men has done for us. The people of Avlonya will thank you for generations. We will have a statue of you on the port… Commemorating your brave and selfless act of saving the city."

Antonius grinned pulling the young boy named Fisnik from the line of people on his back. "You need to thank this kid over here, not me. It is he who came onto my ship in a very special way informing of what is going on here."

"I thank you too, Fisnik…"

"Your beatitude." The young boy asked the bishop with his face blushing and hands fidgeting from nervousness. "Do you happen to know where my brothers are?"

The bishop nodded, then shook his head and sighed.

"I see." A bitter look slowly took over Fisnik's face as he tried to restrain himself from crying out. "Thank you, your beatitude."

Antonius watched this young boy from the back silently, then he stepped up patting Fisnik on his shoulder and asked. "Hey kid, you interested in joining my fleet? I am not sure whether you will like it, but you can try making a new home on ship."

"Don't miss this crucial opportunity, kid." The bishop suggested kindly. "The admiral before you is a more capable leader than me, you will find your talents worth serving him, and perhaps one day you shall make some achievements of your own."

Without further thoughts, the boy kneeled down on one knee facing Antonius and pledged. "I shall follow you, my admiral, from this point onwards no matter where you go, I hope that you shall mercifully accept the inexperienced me and give me a chance of proving myself."

Antonius laughed, pulled FIsnik up from the ground and then gave him a hug with the sailors and Varangians cheering in the background.

Fisnik officially joined overboard with a few dozens other young men from the city of Avlonya.

…

After everything is settled in the city, Antonius pulled out from the port waving good bye to the bishop and people of Avlonya setting sails following the southern wind towards the Ionian Sea leaving the bulk of his cargo ships and some war galleys behind supporting the crusaders, then sailed towards the Sea of Ionia where they would pass the Peloponnese back to Constantinople, which is still covered in deep fog as Antonius still has little idea of what is going on back in the capital.

It is until when they docked at the Venetian port of Methone where they finally received some intel about what has truly happened.

The Ottoman court at Edirne offered Constantinople multiple proposals asking them to stop their support for Prince Orhan's rebellion in the lands of Anatolia in exchange for money, pacts, prisoners, land and cities, one of this is to return the Mega Doux of the Romans this man called Loukas Notaras. But the emperor in Constantinople turned down all the proposals, and even sent some troops out of the city using the weakness of the Ottoman court taking over some citadels and lands around the City.

The emperor, when facing the Ottoman messenger's proposal for the return of the Mega Doux, said things like. "The empire and its people will never recognise a Mega Doux that betrayed his duty becoming a secret double sided agent exploiting his position for interest." Then after the messenger left, the emperor sent guards surrounding the Mega Doux's residence in the city forbidding the estate from gaining any resources.

The situation is now clear, the emperor Constantine, who gained an enormous amount of prestige and power from winning this siege saving the empire, is now on his way to fully influence the remaining political influence of his last rival within the government – The Mega Doux Loukas Notaras. Then, he will become truly the autocrat and Basileus of the empire, no longer with the need to appeal to the senate.

An absolute monarch whose words cannot be disobeyed.