Eagle Flag of Epirus

"I have a question to ask you, Sir Bantik, can you answer me?" Justinian asked calmly, looking at the Genoese in front of him, while he was still holding an invitation letter in his hand. Fastest update

"What is it for you to be so serious all of a sudden? If you want to ask me anything, just ask, Justinian, I know it all." The young man stared at him with uncomfortable eyes. He smiled and replied, still maintaining his composure.

"This invitation letter should have been written to me by Andrea, right? You should be more familiar with the above handwriting than I am. After all, he secretly ordered you so many times, it is impossible not to leave an autograph letter." Justinian asked bluntly, but suddenly caught Bentic by surprise.

"This... this, Lord Justinian, I'm a little confused about what you said." He replied faintly, but Bantic's reaction made Justinian more convinced of his initial inference.

He was already a little skeptical from the beginning. It shouldn’t be Emperor Mikhail Dukas who invited him to Rusnina, but it could only be the one who hasn’t shown up since Constantinople. It's Doria. Because in Igoumenitsa not long ago, Justinian inquired about General Simien and learned that this invitation letter in his hand was extraordinary. It was a voucher for attending a banquet to welcome the Genoa mission soon. All the people who got it were not the prominent nobles of Epirus. Justinian really did not think that those self-serving nobles would be so kind to give themselves a photo. After all, in their eyes, even though he was the governor of Moria, he was just a nouveau riche from the ranks and did not equal them at all. So qualified. Only that person has the ability to get this invitation letter. After all, it was originally used to welcome the Genoese, so it is easy to get one more as Doria.

It's just that the only thing that makes Justinian curious and wondering is what is the reason for this...

This made Justinian feel very uncomfortable. Whether it was Arslan's willingness to loyal to him before or the timely appearance of the Genoa fleet in the Battle of Fort Wiscari, the shadow of that person was always inseparable from behind. Even Justinian himself sometimes feels accustomed to it. But he understood that everything that the man did was not without reason, which is why Justinian should have been grateful, but he has always been deeply jealous. His every move is being watched, like a puppet, really unhappy.

But this time, Andrea Doria invited himself here, and he is bound to attend the banquet... It seems that they can finally meet again. At that time, these questions may be solved by meeting everything.

Seeing that Bantik was in a hurry, Justinian, who had achieved his goal, was not ready to embarrass the man anymore, after all, he was just a pawn. Then he said:

"If you can, can you tell him, I am very grateful to him for his previous help. I will definitely be there on time and look forward to meeting him." After all, Justinian was not prepared to stay anymore. He immediately turned around and ordered his subordinates to clean up the trophies on the battlefield and return to the ship to prepare to return to Epirus. After all, if they stay in Corfu for too long, they would be in danger of being targeted by the Venetians. When the defenders of Corfu asked for face-to-face negotiations, Justinian refused without hesitation and directly let the Genoese deal with the surrender instead of revealing his true identity.

At present, the most important thing for them to enter Epirus is to keep a low profile, and must not make the enemy vigilant before giving the enemy the deadliest blow.

...

...

...

"Master Justinian, you already knew it before!" On the way back to Igoumenitsa, Arslan stood on the deck looking at Justinian with his back facing him. Time does not know what to say.

As Justinian said, on the night that the pirates who destroyed Croatia returned to Ilovan, they accepted Doria's employment to protect Justinian's safety.

Feeling the cold sea breeze, Justinian shrugged and said: "At the time, your father Murad had been preparing to get out of Prince Theodor's control, but I had some guesses when he suddenly changed his mind in the middle. But I don’t doubt you, you and I have fought side by side so many times, if you don’t even have this trust, I think you would have been reluctant to follow me for a long time."

"Sorry, Lord Justinian, I lied to you." Seeing this, Arslan felt more guilty in his heart and knelt down to plead. This Turkic man regrets at this moment that he did not confess this to Justinian earlier~www.ltnovel.com~ Obviously now he has made up his mind to assist this man. It's just that in his view of loyalty to a new lord at the beginning, the reason for this is really disgraceful. He thought he could just forget it, but didn't want Justinian to know it all the time.

"I never blamed you, Arslan, for such an abstract thing as loyalty is never proved by simple oaths, but requires every word and deed, and you have already I've proved it. Based on this, you don't need to blame yourself." With a faint smile, Justinian turned and raised the self-blaming Turkic man and said.

And such a move moved Alslan's heart even more, and deepened his loyalty to Justinian. This is exactly the effect Justinian needed. Every word he said to Arslan is true, but the most important thing is the effect, which will only seem superfluous in normal times, but at this moment, its usefulness has been strengthened more than thousands of times.

Of course he regards Arslan in front of him as a friend, but it is precisely because of this relationship that he has to strengthen the consciousness of master and slave between them. This is also to prevent the future of the friendship between the two parties from breaking down to the point of being out of control. . At the beginning, Emperor Manuel and Roma Sultan Kilij Arslan II were not friends who cherished each other, but in the end they had to take the step of fighting each other for the hegemony of the empire. Justinian really didn’t want himself. And the comrade-in-arms in front of you will repeat that tragedy in the future.

In the sea breeze, the two young men on the deck looked at each other, and everything seemed to be calm, only the sound of the seagulls from the sky and the sound of the waves beating against the waves echoed in the ears for a long time...