The headquarters of the Crusaders, the city of Icon, was too large to accommodate the entire Crusader Legion, and Alfonso finally chose the Crescent Church, the largest in the city, as the office location. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Bassanio walked briskly into the church, where Crusader soldiers in holy robes blocked his way.

It was a routine search, but it only made Bassanio more disgusted.

"Didn't Marshal Alfonso say he wanted to see me?"

"Yes, please stay quiet." The crusader nodded slightly, formally completed the inspection for Bassanio, and let him go.

Passing through the long corridor, Bassanio's heart became more and more irritated, this time they were only to cooperate with the kings of Jerusalem to face Saladin, in case the Seljuks joined them, but even then their original purpose was only to advance the battle line to the area of Nicaea to deter. But it was all too easy, and the Crusaders conquered most of Anatolia in one fell swoop, as the new Roman emperors had been obsessed with recovering the land since the defeat of Manchicott, and now they had fulfilled their long-cherished wish. It's just that in this case, it is difficult for them not to repeat the mistakes of the past, you must know that Emperor Romanus IV suffered an unprecedented defeat because of his rash and easy advance, which plunged the former empire into an unprecedented great crisis.

Are they really going to keep marching?

Before he knew it, Bassanio saw that he had reached the end of the corridor......

"Hello, Bassanio." An incomparably cold voice sounded, not at all like a greeting! What appeared in front of Bassanio's eyes was Alfonso, the commander of the crusading coalition, a man who still wore the iconic mask.

"Hello, Marshal." Bassanio replied with the same blank face. "Is there anything important that you called me here?" In fact, it is impossible for him to take Alfonso, the so-called commander-in-chief, in his eyes.

It's just an Athenian duke...... Not to mention that the title of Grand Duke was not a supreme title in the West, and in terms of its national power, the Duchy of Athens was not even as powerful as the smaller states in the Holy Roman Empire, and he really did not understand what qualifications this guy who always dared not show his true face had to dictate to himself.

"It's not me...... It's His Highness Ether. He has something to get rid of you to accomplish. Alfonso whispered under his mask, and beside him stood the young man with a languid look, none other than Esser who made Bassanio angry.

He ...... What's the matter with him? The Holy See has already said that it will suspend the operation and listen to the follow-up instructions, right? Bassanio asked, looking at the arrogant man, questioning, he didn't understand what had to alarm him, how to say that he was also the commander of the Venetian holy army, and he was called at will by the people of the New Brad Kingdom, which was really infuriating. Now that the Holy See has no further instructions, it seems to Bassanio that there is no need for him to accept any orders.

"It's about the Knight King." Esher suddenly said, "If that's the case, and if you're still indifferent, Bassanio, I have nothing to say." The man replied with his hands spread.

"Knight King?!" Bassanio looked at the man in front of him in surprise, almost thinking that he had misheard. Although the existence of the Knight King has always been denied by the Holy See, and the major countries of the West have never seen his true face and consider it to be a rumor. But Bassanio was not, and the whole of Venice had trembled under the sword of the knight-king.

But it stands to reason that the monster should have died in Constantinople a long time ago? Why is it still alive.

"It can't be!" Subconsciously, Bassanio exclaimed.

But Ether shrugged his shoulders and said, "Of course you can choose not to believe it, but now that person is in Trabizon City." Of course, there is more to it than that...... Perhaps it will not be long before the Holy See can not sit idly by and watch what happens there. ”

"But how do you know?" Although he didn't believe it, Bassanio knew that it was impossible to say such a thing.

"You don't have to worry about that, the Nicaean are now at war with the Trebizons. You only get one chance, and I don't think you're willing to miss it. Not only is Venice now at odds with the Holy See over the Maritime Concession, but your own family, Your Excellency, is it in great need of a chance to boost your reputation, aren't you? Ether looked at the other meaningfully, and there was a hint of agitation in his words.

Venice was a maritime commercial state, and the Lombardy region had always been fragmented due to the expansion of the Holy Roman Empire, and this was in the interest of the Holy See, so the city-states of Florence, Genoa, Milan, and Venice all checked and balanced each other, but they had to solve this problem as the commercial development encountered bottlenecks.

In the past hundred years, they have expanded their territory to the East, but as time went on, these territories gradually lost control, for example, many of the territories in the Peloponnese were annexed by the Crusader lords, which naturally caused an unpleasant relationship between them and the Holy See. But the deeper reason was within the Holy Church, where the cardinal faction gradually gained the upper hand in favor of Genoa Milan, which led to the loss of many privileges and the great pressure on maritime trade. At such a time, it was naturally impossible for Venice to choose to fight against the cardinals, and of course it wanted to rely on the crusaders to curry favor with the archbishops. As for Bassanio, he also has his own selfish intentions, that is, his own family's loss of power in the Venetian aristocratic league also urgently needs a victory to save it. This participation in the crusade itself was obtained by Bassanio at any cost.

"Tell me the specifics!" The man is finally tempted, the value of the knight king can be imagined, and the Holy See is afraid that it will be even faster. Even if he knew that the two people in front of him would never be well-intentioned, but it was man-made, and he couldn't be indifferent.

Really......

And Ether and Alfonso inadvertently exchanged glances with each other without a trace, and understood that this was exactly what they wanted from the beginning.

……

"Are you really at ease with Cons Dante alone in Trebizond?" On the rumbling train, Berchis looked gloomy, and he had not seen Constance-Dante since that day. Although Vivien had said that those people could be trusted, he was still very uneasy.

"It should be no problem, as long as Grandpa is there, they won't do anything against His Highness Justine." Vivien was actually full of doubts, but she could only use this sentence to relieve herself and Bercys.

They were forcibly ordered to rush to the western theater to fight the invading Nicaeans, and although the battle of Trebizond was numerically superior, the difficulties can be imagined, after all, the Nicaeans had been receiving technical data from the Imperial authorities for four years. This period of time was enough for the Nicaeans to build an incomparably powerful mecha legion, and Trebizond did not have any advantage at all.

"I hope so......," Berchis shook his head, he always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't remember, which made him extremely irritated. Although they succeeded in bringing the Knight King back, the situation they faced did not change for the better, the two-faced Nicaeans, the dangerous and cunning Seljuks, and the vicious Rastins, several forces were intertwined, and the slightest mistake could be crushed by them.

More importantly, will Cons Dante himself be able to live up to the hopes they had placed on him?

After all, Sophia will be a variable no matter what!

Berthes silently thought to himself, judging from the current rumors, the situation is already very dangerous, especially that girl, maybe it will really cause a great disaster!

The rumbling of the train continued like a long dragon through the plateaus of northern Anatolia to the west of the kingdom.

However, at this time, Berchis and Vivien never imagined that Constance, who they had high hopes for, was being imprisoned in the city of Trabizon at this moment and lost his freedom.

There was a sudden sound in the dark dungeon, and the iron door above was opened, and the sunlight shone in. Constance Dante immediately closed his eyes to avoid being stabbed by the bright light, and took a deep breath to inhale more fresh air. Fresh air is hard to come by, so breathing heavily when the iron door is opened will help him keep his head clear.

He couldn't remember how long he had been here, after all, that day Cons Dante felt that he was all in a nervous trance, and he had no idea what was going on!

He didn't know where it was, but he was sure that it was a prison, and that it was a felony prison underground. I didn't expect that I would go to Trebizond, but instead become a prisoner, which is really ironic.

He was here when he came to his senses that day, surrounded by arm-thick iron fences, unguarded by no one, but nothing but darkness. People who had never spoken to him during their detention were apparently forbidden to speak to them.

What happened to me that day? Constance Dante didn't know, but there was no doubt that the young man named Valence had struck the hollow in his heart and almost tore his whole heart apart!

"His Highness Justine!" The jailer shouted his name to see if he had woken up.

I only heard the sound of the machine slowly sounding, what mechanism was activated in operation, and the ground where I was slowly rising little by little.

Turned out to be on a lifting platform.

At this time, he was sitting in a chair, his hands and feet were heavily shackled, and it was not difficult to understand how it was not dangerous to subvert the empire once. The lift rises slowly. He finally felt the beauty of the sun.

But sitting in front of him was an old man. The man was wearing a purple imperial robe with graceful and luxurious lines and patterns, although the edges and corners of his face were like rocks that had been through vicissitudes, the corners of his eyes were still sharp as swords, making people feel that he was still young and strong in front of him.

It seems that only the king of Trebizond would have such an imposing momentum.

"Get rid of the shackles and get out." Angelos gave orders to the jailers.

"But......" The jailer was a little worried, but did so at the king's command.

"Your Royal Highness the Knight King, this is not the first time we have met, so there is no need to be restrained." Angros said lightly, "Today may be our last conversation, after all, those in the House of Elders have no tolerance for traitors. ”

"No tolerance?" Constance Dante laughed unconsciously. "If that's the case, the last thing they can tolerate should be themselves, right?"

"These words should not be said to me. And it's not supposed to come out of your mouth. Your Highness! Angros flipped through the case file in his hand, "We still don't know anything about you since the fall of Constantinople. Not only us, but also the Holy See have tried to investigate your identity, but we have not been able to find any documents related to you, and in fact you yourself have been in Constantinople for ten years before being exposed by accident. But this is not because of the incompetence of the intelligence services. It's because your past is too clean and too clean, and in other words, you don't have a past at all. ”

"Everyone has a past, it's just that someone doesn't want my past to be known." Constance Dante whispered.

"But at least you're not, except for war, there is no trace of you fourteen years ago. Whether you did this on purpose, or whether Emperor Scipio's intentions are unknown, if only the only thing that can be noticed is that the Imperial Princess Anastasia once raised you. ”

"These things don't seem to have anything to do with each other!?" Constance Dante seemed to have a little manic in his heart because of the name.

"My name is Angelos, and you've probably heard my name. Then you must know my unassailable son, Menendez! ”

"What does this have to do with me?" Constance Dante sat up straight and looked at the old man with an ugly face, he had already guessed what the other man would say.

Of course he had heard of Menendez, Angros's own son, the only son, but the playboy who had not inherited any of his father's talents at all, but was like a playboy who was merciful everywhere. And it was he who caused Anastasia's misfortune.

"......" Both of them were silent, as if they were thinking about something.

"Before that, I apologize and thank you." "Time is running out," said Anglos slowly, "but I still have to say that my son, although he is dead, did cause that misfortune, so I apologize to that child." At the same time, I am very grateful to you for taking care of my granddaughter for a whole ten years. ”

Constance Dante was silent for a moment: "It's not because of you, it's just Sister Anna's entrustment. ”

"That's enough, as long as she's safe and sound, I believe you haven't betrayed the Empire." Angros said.

But Constance Dante raised his head, glanced at the other party very indifferently, and shook his head: "But I'm afraid this is not enough!" ”

(To be continued.) )