episode_0163

“Commander. The remnants of Babylon have arrived.”

Savinelli frowns at those words.

‘The remnants of the defeated soldiers came here after killing our king?’

“They are mercenaries from the Yall area, so I am asking you to accept that they had nothing to do with the betrayal… What should we do?”

After hearing those words, I get lost in thought for a moment.

Although Sabinelli wants to kill them all, most of the instigators who killed Ioannes are probably dead or captured in Byzantium and are planning to go to Rome.

“I guess I should meet them first.”

Savinelli climbed up the castle wall.

As he gazes down, tens of thousands of troops are visible at a glance.

“I am Commander Savinelli! Who is the leader of the mercenaries?!”

A person comes out from afar.

“Hello? Our name is Nasser, and he is temporarily the head of the mercenary group.”

“I heard that you assassinated our king. With what kind of face did you come here?!”

In response to Savinelli’s words, Nasser takes off his turban and speaks.

“Count Savinelli. I express regret over the assassination of the King of Nicaea.”

“Regret? Did you say that because you were sorry?”

Savinelli responds angrily.

“I knew you bastards were faithless, but you betrayed and murdered your employer, the king of a nation! Do you express regret over that?”

Nasser answers those words.

“I understand that the Count is angry, but I know what we did. As you know, the betrayal by some of the mercenaries has nothing to do with us.”

Savinelli snorts and says those words.

“Ha! So what do you want? Didn’t you come here because you wanted something?”

“We hope everyone returns to their hometown alive.”

“Why did you come to see me?”

Savinelli knows why they came to him.

Because he knows that his colleagues have become nourishment for Byzantium.

He comes to himself as a resistance fighter and tries to figure out a way to survive.

Of course, Savinelli also realizes that recovering Nicaea is an impossible task with today’s military.

“Please hire us.”

Savinelli responds coldly to those words.

“We don’t know why we should hire you.”

In fact, Savinelli needs soldiers more than anyone else, but if he doesn’t have clear initiative and trust, he doesn’t see any reason to join them.

“Count, without us, you would soon be defeated by the imperial army.”

“But even so, I don’t see why I should be with you who don’t trust me. Don’t you think they might have promised that if the empire brought me my head, they would send you home?”

“I swear I never did that. Did you say trust? Trust… Will you trust us if we want to work together for our survival?”

Savinelli falls into thought as he looks at Nasser speaking confidently.

“Good. First of all, did you say Nasser? Only you can come into the castle.”

It was a meeting between someone who wanted to somehow create a kingdom and someone who wanted to survive.

***

After explaining to Chairman Charles that he would exercise his veto only on the agenda for disbanding the Imperial faction, the tax reform bill was passed, and the invalidity of the agenda for disbanding the Imperial faction was confirmed by exercising his veto after passing it.

The bill will probably go into effect once he formally signs it and makes it public.

And as soon as I got into the carriage, I burst out laughing without even realizing it.

“Hehe…”

I beat him for the first time.

This is the guy I had never won before getting married.

“I’ve definitely grown, right?”

It would definitely have grown.

Unlike then, we have gained influence and are receiving recommendations for talented people.

Although still weak, compared to when he first became emperor, things are starting to change.

Because this is the first time I got what I wanted from him.

In addition, he promised to call the Golden Knights within two years.

therefore.

I’m sure it will work out.

I feel a sense of accomplishment in the carriage heading to the imperial palace.

***

After work at the council in the morning, I read the letter from Nicaea.

“Thessalonica and most of Adria fell to Sabinelli…”

It seems that the Nicaeans follow him, perhaps because he is famous as a famous person in Nicaea.

40,000 to 50,000 won is no big deal.

By the way, where are the Babylonian mercenaries?

Clearly, it is impossible to guess where the mercenaries in the Plain of Jarl have gone.

Supplies and food must have almost run out.

I’m lost in thought that if they join Savinelli, it might be quite a headache…

There are currently 150,000 deployed in Nicaea alone.

If we lose, there is a risk that the Nicene nobles who are currently negotiating will turn away, but with Agrippa and William in the situation, I don’t think we will lose due to our absolute advantage.

So I finish by late afternoon and head to the bedroom.

I wonder if I should look a little gloomy as I go, but I don’t think it’s necessary.

It’s also strange to overdo it too much.

Normally, if it were me, I would be calm.

I decided to stay calm and think of another move.

When I reach the bedroom, I briefly say hello to the guard and go inside.

-Squeak.

“Are you here?”

I make eye contact with Theodora, who was sipping wine on the tea table.

Her face was slightly red.

I hide my smile when I see Theodora, who seems to be in a slightly better mood than usual.

Maybe a little… cute?

But if you find out that my mother-in-law and I cheated… you’ll be upset, right?

This should just be kept a secret.

“Yes. You weren’t sleeping?”

To be honest, since that incident last time, we have remained in an awkward relationship with each other.

Unlike before.

“Yes. Because I beat you the first time.”

Theodora looked a little different from usual, perhaps because she was a little drunk.

She gets up from her seat and strides towards me.

A reddened face, slightly sunken eyes, and a faint scent of wine.

“Are you in a bad mood today?”

She smiles brightly.

Does it feel that good?

Seeing her happy made me feel good and almost made me smile, but at times like this, I decided to show a bit of disappointment.

Because a monarch must have confidence in the eyes of others.

“Yes, I was really hit hard this time. How did you come up with the idea of embracing the imperial faction?”

Theodora smiles softly at my words.

“Ahem… I’m trying too.”

As he says that, he gently grabs my wrist.

“You come and drink too.”

I remembered all the things I had to do tomorrow, but I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I last saw her smile so brightly, so I decided to hang out.

I smile to myself as I see Theodora forcing a wine glass into my hand.

“Ta-da! Drink it.”

Two empty bottles of wine can be seen under the tea table.

uh…?

I feel uncomfortable when I see her pouring wine into my glass.

Is it okay… is it okay?

I’m worried that I drank more than I thought.

“Ta-da! Let’s toast.”

-braided!

So I suddenly made a toast.

As I toasted like that, Theodora looked blankly at my face with unfocused red eyes.

“Ah! How long are you going to stay sulky like that? Let go of your anger.”

I’m not upset, I’m just worried…

I was just worried that something dark would happen to her when she sobered up tomorrow.

“I’m not upset.”

Theodora purses her lips in disbelief.

“Chi, your face is frozen. Don’t get upset. You also secretly handed over Epirus and Ezip to Ioanes.”

His expression is completely different from usual.

“That’s right.”

I reply and take a sip of wine.

It’s definitely delicious.

Unlike regular wines, it has depth.

Is it because it is the imperial palace?

When you think like that.

“Hmm… I’m a little sleepy.”

I say, looking at her rubbing her eyes.

“If you’re sleepy, go to sleep.”

Theodora gently covers her mouth with her hand and yawns loudly at my words.

“Haaam… I guess it has to be that way. I guess I drank too much.”

She got up like that and headed to bed.

-dump.

I look at Theodora lying on the bed and sigh at the snacks and bottles of alcohol on the tea table.

Clean up before going to bed…

***

They decided to accompany Savinelli and Nasser until they united and captured Byzantium.

Of course, this was on the condition that Sabinelli, who did not trust them, would never let Babylon’s mercenaries enter the city.

“Commander… This is intelligence from Byzantium. There is a report that a commander named Agrippa is coming here with 70,000 troops under his command.”

At those words, Savinelli becomes lost in thought as he looks at the roads of Adria and Byzantium.

‘There are currently 150,000 enemies stationed in Nicaea. Our troops currently number 40,000, but if we include Babylon’s mercenaries, they number 90,000. They don’t seem to know that Babylon’s mercenaries have joined us.’

Of course, now that the number of troops has suddenly increased, it is difficult to maintain the army with supplies from Adria.

We can somehow sustain ourselves by gathering food from all over Adriatic, but I don’t think we can last for long.

‘When the enemies are off guard. If you do it well…’

Savinelli thinks that Nicaea’s comeback may be possible if 70,000 of the 150,000 troops are consumed.

So I start looking at every corner of the map.

And after seeing one point, Savinelli becomes troubled.

‘If I can lure you here…’

I get lost in thought as I look at the hill right next to the rugged mountain range.

‘Is there a need to give up the superior defensive battle and fight outside?’

However, if this operation is successful, he can even place cities and castles near Byzantium under his influence.

‘And if only we could move them through negotiations with other lords in the east…’

Every kingdom has nobles under it.

If war breaks out, the king leads the army in the form of troops and funds supported by contracts from his vassals.

Usually, about 1/3 of the troops of the lords are provided to the king as an obligation, so even if they receive support from the troops of the eastern lords who were not attacked by the empire, the current form will collapse.

Of course, they also clearly know that Nicaea lost to the empire, so there is no way they would cooperate with Savinelli.

‘But if I win this battle… I might convince them.’

Savinelli knows very well that if they want to plunge the empire into a long war and strip the Angelos family of their titles, they will have to make great sacrifices to negotiate.

Of course, Devian, who obtained a huge amount of money through Pieta, has no intention of doing so even if he dies…

It was a reasonable decision for Savinelli, who could not have known that.

After completing the calculation, Savinelli sighs and immediately gives an order to his adjutant.

“Phew… Tell all soldiers to prepare for battle.”

‘God, please let me win just this once.’