Chapter 512: To Commemorate
"Bunch of freaking vultures." Antonius cursed within himself as he grabbed his coat and went straight out of his tent heading towards the camp gate. He knows that these people definitely did not come on good intentions, but still he got some hopes within himself that the bureaucrats in Constantinople do have some sight on the events happening around here and try to maintain a sustainable relationship with him like last time when Constantine is still fit enough to be in charge of the whole thing.
But apparently, Antonius is wrong, deeply wrong.
After he arrived at the camp gate, there is indeed a group of people outside in formations, with the leader dressed in a royal purple tunic showing that he is another born in the purple, though Antonius has no idea which royal noble he is. The banner of the emperor and the standard of the Ecumenical Patriarch stands by the royal member’s sides, and behind them are two lines of gorgeously decorated soldiers donned in perhaps the best armour that Constantinople has to offer.
Antonius made a laugh and walked forward in a fast pace, with his arms wide open going to give the whichever royal the man is a hug. However, the later reacted like he did not see the welcoming gestures of Antonius, as he took out a piece of silk from his chest and started reading it a loud right in front of Antonius’ face in a fluent Northern Italia Latin dialect.
"By the orders of the Autocrat and Basileus of all Romans who are the direct imitation of God himself, the Caesar of Imperium Romanum shall pay his tribute of honour to the banner of the royal purple and the standard of the primus inter pares! Honourable Caesar, please."
That grin on Antonius’ face started to freeze as he heard what the man has just said, never had he been requested to do this before ever in his life, not even when he was with the emperor of Constantinople personally back then when he was still the captain of a ship with only a handful of men. Antonius gazed at the man full of disbelief in his eyes, but the incomer just simply rose his head high as if he did not see the questioning sight of the legitimate Caesar of the empire. Antonius know that Constantine would not make such a request, so it must be the bureaucrats in Constantinople demanding this, but who can it be?
After a brief moment of confrontation, Antonius submitted as Constantine is still, de facto, his sovereign and ruler who gave him the legitimacy and resources to expand his territories from just a little scratch to what he has today and indeed, he is grateful towards Constantine. So after a while of mind struggle he still stepped aside and kissed gently on the royal banner, and then drew a cross on his chest before the standard of the ecumenical patriarch.
The incomer suddenly changed a face after seeing that Antonius has done all the things, he scrolled the silk linen back into his chest and held the hands of Antonius tight, apologising continuously. "I am sorry, honourable Caesar, but I was just doing things based on the protocol set by the central government. You must understand that I have people supervising me as well writing a report on whatever things I have done over here, that is why I had to do this sort of things, which trust me, I definitely did not want to. Now the formal ceremony is over, can we finally have some relaxing time honourable Caesar? Please, show us your tent."
The grin on Antonius’ face has already vanished, yet still he maintained his courtesy replying that he did not mind at all and invited them into the camp, while the alarm within himself is already ringing wildly, telling him that these men definitely did not come just to show the prestige of Constantinople, they are her to bargain something out of them, and they decided to start it in a harsh way, taking advantage of the de jure sovereignty relationship and Antonius’ gratitude towards the emperor himself.
But which arse in Constantinople is so damn stupid to do this kind of thing?
Antonius has no idea.
The people from Constantinople proceeded on to march into the camp with their heads and flags up high, as if they have just won a major victory by themselves, leaving the spectating troopers who have seen the entire thing from just discussing what they have just seen with one another standing by the sides of the road.
Apostolos and Alexios too rushed to the spot stopping the work in their hands and saw the later half of the thing, Alexios clenched his fists tight with his face beaming red with anger as he eyed at these people with flames in his eyes, while Apostolos just sighed standing there without saying anything.
Antonius brought the group of men to his tent, and upon entering the tent the man from Constantinople covered his mouth with his handkerchief looking astonished and exclaimed. "O my good lord! Honourable Caesar, I had absolutely no idea that this is your tent before I came in, I almost thought that this is just a regular tent for your guards’ men when I came past... Why is there not a single furnishing inside this tent? Where is the Caesar’s golden laces? Where is your Portuguese whale oil lamp? Where is your Sericin silk? I have heard rumours that you live a rather humble lifestyle, but I certainly did not realise that you, as a Caesar can be so humble, damn!"
Antonius by his side is already looking at this man thinking that whether this man is nothing but an idiot, thinking whether he got purposefully sent here to say these words just to make him and every spectator start accumulating hatred towards this man and the government in Constantinople behind him. Of course, he can understand that level of sarcasm in this man’s words saying that his riches is nothing as compared to those lords and nobles in Constantinople.
No one, not even Antonius, knows what the reason is why is this supposedly royal ambassador trying to offend the biggest power in the region like this almost like throwing a pie right onto Antonius’ face in front of a crowd of people. The ambassador is still trying to express his fake good willing saying that if the Caesar needs more funding, he can request to Constantinople to give Thessaloniki a special trade warrant and tax relief, which is immediately interrupted by Antonius.
"Thank you for your good wishes, your highness. But it is not the time for me to get myself a pool of coins stretching towards the horizon yet with a large manor overseeing the entire Aegean like those people engulfing civilian lands and properties while enjoying the protection of the Theodosian walls, I am nothing but a simple servant of my army and my people, I have never forgotten the true reason why I fly the banner of the double headed eagle unlike some people who are just shouting vague words but no efforts given, I still have a lost empire to reclaim, lost lands to retake and lost population to save up, while I just hope that those people who have forgot about all of these and their responsibilities to be more like me."
This left the noble man choking in these words of low level counter sarcasm from the Caesar as he obviously knows who is this man referring to. The tent sunk back to its usual silence as the royal ambassador kept on pretending to drink the syrup in his cup which is already empty a long time ago to hide away this kind of awkwardness, while Antonius opposite him is just seating over there looking at his table that has nothing on top of it.
A while later the curtain of the tent came wide open, a man dressed as a servant came in bowing with a plate of jars and cups on his hands. The royal noble waved impatiently asking the servant to come and refill his cup, while Antonius took a swift glance at the incoming servant and almost gaped in stun, as he found out that this supposed servant is in fact Apostolos in disguise. The old servant fluently lowered the plate in his hands, poured the royal noble a new cup of drink, and then sat down in a corner away beside the furnace adding in more woods to make the tent warmer.
"Honourable Caesar..." The royal ambassador opened his mouth again and forced a smile on his face. "Let us forget about all those unhappy memories that has been already years away, I came here with a mission, actually, that is I am here to send you a few pieces of good news at once from Constantinople in order to commemorate your achievements for the empire."
