Absurd

"Befriend a distant state and strike a neighboring one"

- The Thirty-Six Stratagems

"This is freaking absurd!" Antonius threw his drum stick onto the table but immediately picked it up whipping its dirty area and taking another bite before continuing. "This is ridiculous! Have you two ever heard of this crap before?"

Anjelo jeered at the message under the light of fire from stove. "This is like the King of the Alermanians granting a vessel the duke of Milano, or the Roi de Francia appointing his courtier the Duke of Burgundy or Bordeaux!"

"Hahahahaha…" An English sailor sitting behind Anjelo could not control himself and bursted into laughter.

"That is some very cunning decision of the emperor of Rumelia… But to be honest in my opinion, made at the wrong time." Sighed Abdullah. "It is obvious that the emperor does not want to grant one of his surviving pieces of land and such a strategic location to you.. So he thought of leasing it to you…"

"But my dear friend also knows that there is no such thing as 'leasing' a piece of land… Unless you take it by force, or through deals." Grinned Antonius.

"He wont expect you to return it willingly, so that's why he needs a leash on you." Anjelo followed passing the paper back to Abdullah. "… By removing the 'legitimate' title of you taking command of the entire Rumelian navy, you now no longer has the rights to get replenishments from the emperor for the entire fleet."

"Aye does that mean we ur noo back tae th' guid auld days sur?" John Grant laughed saying in a Scottish accent pirate Latin warming his boots beside the stove revealing his mouthful of yellowish teeth.

"Hell no, Grant." Abraham gave John Grant a slap on his head. "We aint pirates no more, we are now an army with crests and banners, didn't Sir Giovanni tell you about it?"

"No, Abdullah, he is right to a certain extent." Antonius said watching the flickering flames jumping in the stove. "Aye we are going to go back to the good old days, though it is true that now we are no longer pirates."

"Then what are we admiral?" Julian asked in the background.

"We are an army, a fleet, a bunch of Outremer without a nation."

"Army without a nation…." Fisnik and Jacob murmured with excitement in their eyes.

"But full of weapons…" Orban has some different ideas.

Antonius took down one last bit of his drum stick and threw the bones to a Greek Shepherd dog. "I need advice, we all need advice… Abdullah, Anjelo, do you two have any ideas?"

Anjelo stood up frowning folding his hands behind his back. "The emperor's intention is pretty obvious, he wants us to be engaged in a fight struggling for survival with the Venetians, Genoese, Hospitallers, the Ottomans, every power big or small in the Aegean to get a land for our survival, which in turn we shall be offending almost every single state as our presence in the Aegean itself will damage the interest of those countries. We shall have no allies, and our only support is either Constantinople, or we choose to defect to other powers like the Venetians or the Ottoman Prince and become their watch dog…"

"Which will make no difference from being the watch dog of Constantine, even slightly worse." Antonius patted the dog licking the bone tidying its fur.

"Yes."

"Abdullah?"

"My friend." Abdullah replied. "I do agree with the concerns of Anjelo, but honestly speaking, do we have any other way out other than conquer a new world ourselves?"

Abdullah's words came like a thunder making everyone seating around the stove coming to their realisation. Indeed they are here all brain storming about a way to jump out of Constantine's trick, without realising that they have no other choice, if they don't want to sail into the Aegean as a pawn relying on Constantinople, then they must make themselves a player on the chess table.

"Map please, Julian…. Look at here."

Abdullah pointed to a range of isles in the Marmara and Aegean Sea laid onto the table by Julian. "Look at this…. There is a chain of islands connecting all the way from the Marmara to the Aegean Sea, we can take use of our surprise mechanism and superiority in naval control in this region to cut off any Ottoman aids to these islands, and then concentrate our fleet into a few arrows taking them down one after another before the enemies can react with a fast special task fleet. According to my intelligence most of the islands are inhabited but poorly defended with little or no fortifications, thus we do not need any supply fleet to follow our trails dragging the speed down, instead we shall be acquiring supplies, we will hop onto one after another island, fast, and eat them one by one… I can it the Leap Frogging strategy."

"You mean, that we deal with the Ottomans first, and do not touch those Venetians, hospitallers and Genoese?" Asked Anjelo.

"It is not wise to make hostile with other states before getting our foot hold in these region, it is best to keep a friendly tie with them and considering that we are now on the same line wedging war against the Ottomans, it should be much easier to establish diplomatic ties with the local governors by giving them a small tip."

"I see." Antonius nodded looking at others around the stove. "Anyone has anything else to add on?"

"Admiral…. Before we disperse, I would like to add on something else." Mauro, who is borrowed by Antonius again from Giovanni, finally opened his mouth.

"Just say."

"Lord Giovanni has some words for you; Don't forget your ambition, and don't forget your promise for the people."

Antonius' face turned from a surprise, to confusion, then realisation and shock. He stood up looking at the map and pledged. "Go tell your general, that I will not forget my words."

Mauro nodded and walked into the darkness of the night.

After everything is set, Antonius sat back behind the stove looking at the directions of the palace. Now, it is just time to seat back and await the emperor's calling… And the key to the fortresses on the Prince Isles.

While of course, Antonius has one more promise that he made some times ago to keep.

But still, it is now time, to go.

Farewell, Constantinople.

For now your protector shall leave you.

Temporarily, of course.

As he is a man,

Who keep his promise seriously.

Especially if it is a promise to a lady.

...

Meanwhile, around five hundred Roman miles away.