'Professionals'

"I see, now it is no longer your matter… Tell Neon that all information on this issue should be sealed, any leakage, I will come and look for him."

"Yes, your majesty."

Inside the Palace of Blachernae, Constantine listens to the reports of the soldier who was guarding Loukas Notaras' residence prior when Antonius paid there a visit.

A maid came in bowing towards the emperor. "Your majesty, Lord De'Ricci is here wishing to see you."

Constantine placed his pen on the table gently, folding his arms before the chest and acknowledged the maid. "I see, let him in after one minute." Then he turned to the soldier kneeling on the ground. "Now go, remember to leave by the other exit"

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

A minute later, Antonius pushed open the door, finding Constantine standing still with his back facing Antonius staring at an age old map casted and drawn on brownish goat paper spread on a board.

Antonius walked beside the emperor and finding out that he has his eyes fixed on the lands of the Romans, particularly the lands around the Aegean, a place that he is too familiar with from his years of experience as a privateer.

The only thing different from his memories is that, there are many small flags of the empire pinned onto the cities in the regions of Thrace, Illyricum, Greece, Epirus, Anatolia and Armenia which is mostly supposed to be Ottoman territories, and these region are all tainted in the colour of purple stretching from Castelbianco in Serbia to Antiochia in Syria.

"See this, my dear Antonius." Said Constantine. "This, is the empire of the Romans I want, at least, and an empire that I want to build."

The side of Antonius' mouth moved by a bit and remarked at those unfamiliar Greek alphabets on the map. "That is a very… Ambitious goal of you, emperor."

The emperor did not follow up on Antonius' words, instead he turned picking up another mini flag of the empire pinning it onto an island that looks like Cyprus and asked. "Do recognize this map, Antonius?"

"Nah."

"This map, is a master piece of the age." Constantine gently swept his four fingers against the paper feeling its texture as if he is touching the silken skin of a beauty or engrossed in the deep aroma of a sip of melodious grape wine from the wine yards in Cyprus. "It is called 'the Catalan Atlas'. I fell in love with it after I came across it when I travelled to Venice thirty years back in the manor of the Serene Doge of Venice."

Antonius remained quiet.

"Ever since after that, I began browsing and reading this map days and nights like how an alcoholic treats his wine bottle, I would study the various places carefully, think of which city shall I take and which city shall I take next, where will the boundaries of the Roman empire be, and at which spot shall I defeat the Ottoman Turks outside the walls by myself holding my own sword…"

"…This is the boundaries of the empire that I want to rule, with Constantinople in the middle stretching to the all four corners of the known world, not like now squatting behind the arrow slits of the Theodosian walls watching enemy movements outside like sitting ducks…"

"That is indeed, very brave of you, emperor." Antonius clapped at the back.

"Anyways, I can always dream anytime I want, but I still have to come back to reality." Constantine sighed and turned back asking. "What news do you bring me, my dear Antonius?"

Antonius briefed Constantine what has just happened in the city of Avlonya.

Constantine frowned and gave Antonius a complicated look. "If I am you… I will not have offended the Crusaders to that extent just for the lives of a few hundred peasants… They can still be very helpful later on."

Antonius stayed quiet as a form of protest.

"Never mind." Constantine plucked out the flag the city of Avlonya on the map and replaced it with a white flag. "I also have some news for you…"

"You have my ears emperor."

"The first news and the most important news, our old friends, John Hunyadi and Đurađ I Branković gave us a surprise a few days back… They defeated the Ottoman forces led by the Beylerbey Karaca Pasha when he tried a rather daring maneuver trying to sneak all the way to their back trying to cut the supply lines of the Crusaders, but his intentions were predicted by John Hunyadi."

"I know him." Antonius interrupted. "Very familiar man, faced him a few times back then during the siege."

"Well, you will not face him again." Constantine continued. "He was trapped, ambushed, confronted and killed by the men of John Hunyadi. His death signifies a temporary vacuum in Ottoman borders along Serbia and Danube, lets see what the young Sultan and his Grand Vizier are going to do next."

"And the other thing… The emperor peeked at Antonius reading the expression on his face. "I have decided to lead a controlled assault on the surrounding fortresses and lands of Constantinople towards the city of Selymbria myself after reports of the bulk of Ottoman forces moving north to confront the crusaders."

Antonius is still thinking about what actions the Grand Vizier is going take next when he heard the emperor's decision to lead an assault out of the walls. By instinct he laughed and tried to stop the emperor. "You better think twice emperor, I would say that although you are a qualified military leader, but you have not commanded an entire army into fields for ages, are you sure that you are competent for the job? I must be frank with you, that why don't you leave he job to Giovanni and I, the professionals, and sit back waiting for the ripped fruit to be sent to your hands by us?"

However, instead of comforting the emperor making him give up on his idea of confronting the Ottoman Turks, Antonius' words rang an alarming bell inside Constantine's mind.

…

After Antonius left the palace.

Constantine sat back on his char, with only himself in the room, with his eyes on the map.

After a while, he called out to the curtains. "Come out now."

A man in robes stepped out from behind the curtains bowing to the emperor. "Your majesty."

"You heard his words."

"Yes, your majesty."

"What do you think?"

The man stood back up straight, revealing his true identity to be George Sphrantzes as he advised the emperor. "Your majesty… Both Giovanni and Antonius, are lions, fearsome they look, effective they fight, but hard to tame and control."

The emperor nodded.

"Though we have already successfully tamed one tiger, Lord Giustiani, but the other one… I think that we better let it go back into the wild…"

Constantine hesitated. "Let me think for a while first."

Seeing the uncertainty in the emperor's mind, George Sphrantzes stepped forward. "Your majesty, if you don't want to use him, please imprison him, or lure him with wealth and women to soothe his ambitions and sobber his mind, and if we need to use the last resort, kill him. If we cannot get him under control, we cannot afford to take the risk of him being our rivals. He knows too much about us."

Constantine still cannot make up his mind, he stood up pushing the table away and walked out of the room ordering the guards nearby. "Refer Lord De'Ricci to Hagia Sophia to meet the Ecumenical Patriarch, say that the referment is by George Sphrantzes."

George Sphrantzes is startled for a moment as he has his eyes fixed on the emperor walking out, and then sighed looking outside towards the Sea of Marmara.