Chapter 612: Antonius On a Tour
"Cerberus, ensure no one else approaches this room."
"Yes, sir."
"Just out of curiosity, how did you see through our disguises?" The Caesar turned to the old man, a look of interest on his face.
"It is in your eyes, your movements, and the behaviour of your two companions," the old man lifted his head to reply. "You claim to be a humble merchant from Serres, yet your gaze falls upon the city’s inhabitants as though you are above them, as though you are a victor showing mercy to the vanquished. I have only seen such a look in the eyes of deceased Sultans. As for your guard and scribe, they are clearly no ordinary men. They are perpetually vigilant, overlooking the crowds and ensuring there is always a gap between you and the populace. Their eyes, sharp as an eagle’s, constantly scan for potential threats. They are not ordinary men, and you, with their protection, are obviously not an ordinary man either."
"I see," Antonius murmured, relief sweeping over him.
The old man continued to kneel before him.
"You are fortunate, honourable elder," Antonius spoke deliberately. "I have a close relationship with the lord treasurer in the Caesar’s court, and I will relay your message to him. I am confident he will take your humble request to heart."
The old man’s eyes shone with gratitude. "Thank you, Your Highness! May Allah illuminate the path beneath your feet, stretching to the horizon!"
...
The three went back onto the streets.
"We failed, terribly." Antonius dimmed his face. "Cerberus, you told me that there will be no one who is able to see through our disguise."
Cerberus scratched his nose in embarrassment. "I am sorry, my Lord."
Khalid quickly joined in the conversation to save his good pal Cerberus. "What ought we do next, my lord? There are still plenty of time for our schedule, the troops are bound to be stationed here for at least a week before moving out."
"Lets drop our disguise as merchants, I have already gotten tired of playing this game of pretending to be someone else." Antonius made a spit to the ground. "Tour around the residential areas, see if there are any severe offences against discipline made by our men, and get back to..."
"Ey sen!"
Suddenly, the words of Antonis are interrupted by a voice of Ottoman Turkish, young but determined.
Antonius halted, and looked back towards the source of the voice, it came from a bunch of kids, standing a distance of way yelling at them with their hands folded.
"Kahrolası Rumeliler, ebeveynleriniz size geçmişte yere tükürmemeyi öğretmedi mi? Yoksa sadece Edirne’nin sizin şehriniz olmaması nedeniyle istediğiniz her şeyi yapmakta özgür olduğunuzu mu düşünüyorsunuz?"
"Khalid, what the hell are they chirping about?"
"Em... they are cursing you, your Majesty, for your actions just now of spitting on the ground."
"I see I see." Antonius nodded, as he squeezed a smile and approached the children with his hands open. "Do not worry kids, for I mean no harm, and I am here to bring freedom and liberty to all of you, the future of the country!"
"The cursed demonic Rumelians is approaching us! Run for your lives!" Before Antonius could come any further, the kids exclaimed and got on to their feet, vanishing in the streets in a blink of an eye.
Antonius is irritated, for he feels that there has been never a good thing since the start of the day as he stepped into the city.
"That is why I never liked kids, these kids are even rowdier than that daughter of mine." Antonius sighed giving his head a massage. "Come, we got to go, this place is not for me."
"Yes, your Majesty."
...
Having had his fill of the city, Antonius began to make his way out, his merchant’s cart and donkey now nowhere to be seen. Truthfully, he would have been more convincing to the populace had he chosen to dress up as a soldier, pirate, or bandit - roles that would befit his appearance, especially with the notable scar above his eyebrow.
"You know, Your Majesty, I feel we’re still missing something," Khalid spoke up.
"Missing what?" Antonius responded without turning back.
"You see, it’s quite rare for the nation’s sovereign, the Caesar, to embark on inspections on the society and the population." Khalid explained. "I’ve read that in stories like this, it’s typical for a protagonist to encounter certain events. Like saving a damsel in distress from evil, confronting bandits who are unaware of your identity, showing off immense power to rogues and save the day... those kind of things."
"Khalid," Antonius sighed, "I hereby ban you from reading such nonsense. I did tell you to read more, but you must distinguish fact from fiction. Novels are novels, history is history. Do you understand what I mean?"
"Yes, my..."
Suddenly, a woman’s cry for help echoed from a street nearby. Antonius rolled his eyes at his overly excitable follower, revealed a weird weapon attached to his waist, and rushed towards the source of the commotion, while the two men immediately came followed up.
The three men rushed to the spot of the commotion, whereby it is located in a quiet corner inside the twisted valleys and narrowed streets in the residential area. If not for the cry, Antonius would have never knew that this place existed, for it is so insignificant away from anything else, with no signs of it on the city’s map as well.
Antonius stopped his steps with his years of vigilance as a commander. "If the Ottomans ambushed some men in this place it would deal a havoc amount of damage to our troops storming across the streets outside."
"There are already no more Ottoman troops in the city, your Majesty." Cerberus urged. "I have already checked through the entire city with my men in search for any Ottoman soldiers with my men."
Antonius nodded. "I know, but I am just estimating the number of casualties we might have if I issued the order to take the city by force, the number is... staggering, lets go."
The three men reached the back of the alley, whereby there is nothing apart from the sealed windows of a few shops and restaurants. But just as they are wandering about again, they heard several more roars of men in Turkish, and weeps of children and woman, then did they find out that, in a corner away behind several crates and cloth, there seem to be a small residence supported by wooden sticks and beds made from dry straws, and in the place there is a young woman, and a few kids hurdling behind her, facing off three well built men in Ottoman armour.
Antonius made a stare at Cerberus, and the later quickly turned his head away to avoid that stare.
"I said, give us all the grains ye ’ave!" One o’ the scallywag roared again wit’ his eyes bulgin’ out from his sockets. "We, proud troopers o’ the Sultan, are still fightin’ our battle against those infidels outside the walls, I hereby, in the name o’ the Sultan, conscript all o’ yer grins! Do ye understand that!"
"You liar!" A kid retorted. "You people have already failed! The Sultan has already failed! The Rumelians are already inside the city! I have seen them!"
Antonius whispered to Khalid. "Ah, it is the kid that we ran into a while ago."
"You little rant!" Another man in Ottoman armour came forward, attempting to land a kick on the boy, but is blocked by the maiden as that kick landed on her chest, making her fall backwards onto the ground rolling around in agony.
A man seemed to notice Antonius standing there, as he turned back and pointed his cleaver at the Caesar with a threatening look. "Oi! What are you folks looking at! Sot off at once!"
Antonius continued standing there without any action and his hands folded, because he is still waiting for Khalid to finish the translations mummering by his ears. But this scene in turn triggered the three robbers standing over here, as they decided to solve the problem caused by these three new comers first.
"Since... Since ye have came to join the fun, must as well don’t leave forever... Now! Leave all of your belongings here! Merchant! Or you can choose to leave your lives behind!"
The threatening words made Antonius laugh out loud, as he made a few claps and expressed his appreciations. "Thank you, gentlemen, for you are the first one today in the city that identified us as merchants."
"Then I see that you have chosen to leave your lives here, then..." One of the Ottoman started waving his blade as he came one after another step closer licking his lips. "I shall make it quick for you, Rumelia, worry not."
But suddenly, Antonius took out that weird looking weaponry from his waist and pointed it at the approaching man. Just as everyone is wandering that on Earth is that the Caesar pulled down a rope attached at the back of the weaponry, which caused a tiny spark in the dim alley, and soon followed by a thunderous boom and shook everyone’s ears.
The approaching Ottoman man stopped at his tracks, as he stared at his chest, a burning scent is rushing into his nose as he felt powerless all over his body, and slowly collapsed onto the ground.
"Times have changed mister." Antonius blew the smoke away from the rod like weaponry. "Times have changed."
