Chapter 509: Only The Emperor

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."

-        William Shakespeare, Henry IV

Antonius took another sip of the drink elegantly with his eyes closed, while Adrianos is still bowing there staring at his cup on the table, with droplets of sweat dripping down his chins damping his inner clothing again.

It do sound like a simple request, there is no doubt that he, Adrianos is one of the biggest contributor of this battle that accelerated the Ottoman defeat by at least half, and it is because of them that did the Romans manage to fully surround and exterminate the entire Ottoman army that is twice the size as them, and yet the man behind all of this only has one humble request – to let them go home, it does raise questions in Antonius' mind.

Kinda sus bro.

Actually, Antonius knows the reason why this defected commander made this request clearly. This man, Adrianos, is one of the biggest landlord in his region that according to people, he has thousands of acres of land under his name, with many hidden properties that the others have no idea about. It is also said that these two thousand plus soldiers that came with him has no idea on what policies did the Ottoman regional government issue, who is the Pasha or bey governing their region, because they only listen to and pay tax to one man, who is Adrianos himself. So, it can be said that this regiment is almost entirely his personal army.

This is indeed the greatest reward for Adrianos.

Judging by this situation it is almost certain that if this man Adrianos is left back to his hometown roaming around freely, it would take no time for him to snatch all the power away from the appointed regional official, and rebuild the area back to his semi autonomous kingdom in the middle of Antonius' state, with an army of at least a thousand people that can snowball its way to at least tens of thousand in no time, creating a massive loop hole in state security and local instability.

If he can rebel and defect for one time, then he will not hesitate to jump board to another ship if it benefits him more, as a former pirate Antonius is very clear of this.

After a long period of waiting, Antonius finally stopped sipping from his cup, grinned again and said something that is completely irrelevant. "Why is this Tsipouro aperitif so plain today? I told them specifically to not add too much water into it didn't I?"

"…"

"Ah yes, my friend Adrianos." Antonius looks like he has suddenly realised that there is a living person still seated in front of him and showed a sorry look. "Forgive me, my friend, I was thinking about something else… AH yes, you see that is why, you are such a humble and modest man, I can see that value and ethics of commitment, reliability and honesty in you. There is no way that I am going to disappoint a decent chap like you by letting you leave with empty hands. I must reward you, heavily in fact, to compensate you and your brother's loss… Apostolos? Apostolos! Where the hell are you! Did I not tell you to stay by my side? Take me the map!"

Apostolos came into the tent again running in small steps, behind him two guards brought in an enormous map made of goat skin describing the rough situation of the entire Eastern Mediterranean. Upon seeing this map Antonius tramped his foot and hissed out of his teeth. "Not this map! I want the map of Anatolia!"

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Adrianos' heart sunk upon hearing the word Anatolia.

The Caesar stood in front of the map and studied it for a while, then called out for Adrianos to stay closely by his side helping him hold a candle to light the poorly luminated interior of the tent up. After looking through the map thoroughly, Antonius sighed and clapped his hands. "You know, Adrianos, I really want to reward you and your men a piece of fertile land for your war efforts. But you see I am sorry that I cannot grant you a piece of land here in the Greek archipelago, most of the land here is already occupied, I cannot rob them of their land right? But no worries, I know a piece of land that is much more suitable for you and your men."

Adrianos feels like crying, knowing that he has just escaped from the Sanjek's hold only to sink himself into the trap of Antonius. But does he still have the option of rejecting now? No, he is being constantly watched over by a squad of armed guards, and his entire army has been separated and closely watched over.

"Look at this place." Antonius pointed towards the Peninsula of Artake (Pendak) located in the Marmara sea right beneath his island holdings of Prokonnesos. "I shall grant you as the Stratēgos of Kyzikos, permanently governing over the Panormos that can be passed on to your son, your grandson, and all of your future generations. You and your men shall enjoy the riches of Nicaean coastline, the nutrients of the Lake of Manyas, and the natural fortification of the Anatolian Mountain ranges, which is the best place that I can grant you, aren't you glad?"

What can Adrianos say? He could only nod his head repeatedly mumbling his words of thanks.

"Oh but, yes we do have a small bit of problem over that area, that Ottoman menace called Zaganos, I bet you have heard of him, the so called saviour of all Ottomans of Anatolia, has now finished dealing with every single warlord of the region and unified western Anatolia under his banner. Because of this he is now having some extraordinarily ambitious fantasies of reaching his hands out towards legitimate Roman territories and started several border conflicts and infiltrations to our land. One of the affected area is, sadly speaking, the piece of land that is going to be your domain soon, so you got to protect your land with your men. Don't worry, all of your men shall get their fair share of farmland and properties too."

Adrianos' face became increasingly dim with each sentence coming out of the Caesar's mouth.

Apostolos shook his head slightly and frowned behind these two men after Antonius has finished his words. He knows that there is one thing the Caesar has not told this poor man yet, that is the land he is going to be granted with is not yet under Roman control, meaning that they would have to acquire their own land for their plough with their swords. Apostolos is a master in creating traps and holes for other people while keeping himself looking threatless and safe through illusions, staged performances and careful use of words, but he is against using the method of lying or purposefully covering up some vital information when laying down the traps, as it would only increase the negative sentiment in the man's mind.

Adrianos' bitter face has already turned dark green in colour making him look like a piece of pickle. He understands the Caesar's true intention now, he is going to be expelled to a far away land, a long distance away from his hometown and get left there facing the Ottomans with nothing but themselves, in the name of a reward. With this in mind, the temptation to resist rose up in the mind of Adrianos again as he requested biting his teeth. "Your majesty, may I humbly request your permission to allow us to return to our home town first, pack our things, wave farewell to our family members and then depart for our granted land?"

"There is no need to worry about your hometown and your families, my dear Adrianos." Antonius turned around and held the hands of Adrianos tightly again, then replied staring into his eyes. "I shall make sure that your houses and estates in Epirus remains untouched, and after we get the Ottomans out of the region, I shall ask Fjodor and his elite Varangians to escort your families all the way to Anatolia. You can leave you and your men's wives, children and parents to me, no worries on that. But I need you and your men to depart immediately in order to occupy the lands before that Zaganos can react."

Hearing this Adrianos knows that there is no way that he can bargain for anything else, and looking at the threatening stare of the Caesar Adrianos realised again about the situation he is in right now. Thus, he is left with no choice but to thank the Caesar for the granted reward, and then excused himself from this horrifying place.

The smile on Antonius' face quickly vanished the moment Adrianos disappeared from his tent as he maintained his stare at the direction he left. While Apostolos carefully approached his back, and after a while sighed and murmured something that seems to be completely irrelevant, but still thrilling to the back of the guards who heard it.

"Your majesty, only the emperor of Imperium Romanum can grant people the position of Stratēgos…"

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