"Absolutely not, Your Majesty." Amiroutzes, after being momentarily stunned by Caesar's deep understanding of Trabzon's internal affairs, immediately shook his head in denial with a flattering tone.
Seeing his subordinate's reaction, Manuel stopped joking about such trivial matters and continued to press for the specific details of the situation. Soon, Amiroutzes conveyed the relevant information to his monarch, explaining in detail the dispute surrounding this Amytzantaros:
The matter was both simple and complex. Essentially, due to lingering issues from last century's civil war, a descendant of the Amytzantaros named Barbaro was willing to sell himself into slavery for the sake of his last surviving family members. However, after selling himself, he learned that the proceeds would not be enough for his family to survive for three more years under Trabzon's old government. He then attempted to collude with a Novgorod Ross slave, sold to Pontus by the Tatars, to negotiate for the return of the transaction contract and other documents.
After being predictably thwarted, Barbaro unexpectedly rushed to the city center and, in front of the citizens, declared himself the last descendant of the ancient Taronites family, accusing the injustices he had suffered, and then publicly attempted to commit suicide. Fortunately, the blade was taken away in time, saving his life.
After listening, Manuel belatedly sighed. This was another major headache in civil internal affairs left to him by the Megas Komnenos Dynasty. No wonder he, as Caesar, had to personally intervene; it not only related to the previous dynasty's old policies but had also escalated into a public event that concerned the people of Pontus.
It seemed that as Caesar, he had no choice but to intervene.
After sighing inwardly, and to handle the matter more appropriately, he decided to ask for more detailed information, "What about his specific background?"
Amiroutzes did not delay in answering Caesar's subsequent question, "Reporting to Your Majesty, according to the investigation results submitted by the local authorities, although this person is indeed a descendant of the Taronites family, he is also indeed a descendant of the Amytzantaros who caused political turmoil in Trabzon half a century ago.
"For example, among his deceased parents, his father was a mix of Romans and Turks, while his mother was a Georgian from next to Trabzon. And if tracing his paternal lineage, one can find many Turk and Caucasus ancestors, as well as evidence of the Amytzantaros' frequent involvement in Trabzon's irregular successions."
"Very good, but I am not just asking about this," Manuel lightly tapped the wooden table, his attitude appearing ambiguous, "I also want to know, up to now, have the actions of this Amytzantaros descendant named Barbaro seriously violated the bosphorus code, which is prevalent in Pontus?"
Facing Caesar's question, the MegasCancellarius gave a straightforward negative answer, "Strictly speaking, absolutely not, Your Majesty. Although he did indeed violate a few articles of the Code, at this point, Your Majesty, please allow this humble servant to elaborate on Article…"
"No need," Manuel interrupted his preamble in a serious tone, to avoid his head throbbing again today from hearing the legal provisions he designed, which would bring back memories of the legislative discussions at the time, "My meaning is, since he indeed did not commit anything that seriously violated the Code, there is no need to be overly harsh; just try him as stipulated in the Code."
"But Your Majesty," Amiroutzes cautiously reminded him, "the Amytzantaros, moreover, this matter has already escalated, and it may not be resolved so easily…"
"Then let me personally resolve this matter," Caesar said sternly, "Although this is a problem inherited from the previous Komnenos, as the sole legitimate monarch of Pontus, I should deal with its aftermath. Very well, Amiroutzes, bring me the cases you have handled during this period for my review. I will personally re-examine them to avoid such lingering issues from the previous dynasty."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" At this moment, looking at the righteous Caesar, Amiroutzes immediately had his attendants bring the documents of the cases that had been tried since the beginning of the year, as he requested, for Caesar to personally review and re-examine.
Since it was only half a month into 1436, Manuel quickly completed the re-examination in about half an hour. Looking at this diligent, efficient, and outwardly just young monarch, MegasCancellarius suddenly realized that this young monarch, who now ruled Trabzon and even Pontus, seemed to possess not only military capability and charisma. Perhaps in internal affairs, Manuel was also a monarch worth serving.
As Amiroutzes was once again genuinely impressed by his monarch, his monarch also had a change of opinion about him at this moment. "To be able to quickly memorize the Code, which has been in effect for about half a year, and accurately judge what matters need to be reported directly, promoting him to Grand Chancellor indeed seems to be a wise move.
"Upon careful thought, to be able to gain the appreciation of the last two monarchs of Megas Komnenos through his abilities in official history, and even become a political evergreen under Muhammad II, with the spare capacity to write multiple monographs. Although his character's reliability remains questionable, if my prejudice leads to the burying of talent, it would ultimately be putting the cart before the horse." At this moment, Manuel, after such contemplation, also decided to secretly change his future attitude towards such talents.
However, he did not directly express it now. Instead, after praising Amiroutzes' achievements, he rose with a peaceful expression and gestured to the Grand Chancellor and other subordinates, "Alright, I have generally understood the situation. Now, let's go resolve this remaining problem that Komnenos left for Bosporus."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
As Manuel rose to personally resolve the problem exposed by this descendant of the Amytzantaros named Barbaro, in the distant city of Moscow, Bosporus' Chief Minister Serenus, who was not yet aware of the changes in his authority, finally embarked on his journey home.
"Although I had anticipated this, I still didn't expect the journey from Kraków to Moscow to be so long." Georgia Mana, the deputy envoy who accompanied Serenus and was also unaware of his promotion, complained outside Moscow.
"Indeed, but on the bright side, at least we successfully persuaded King Sigismund and Vasily II, as well as some local princes, on behalf of Your Majesty along the way, didn't we?" Serenus, who shared the same feeling, could only force a dry laugh and comfort his colleague with their achievements.
"But it's not over yet, is it? According to Your Majesty's instructions, if we return in 1436, we should preferably make another trip to the household of Your Majesty's sister, Princess Ioannina, which is Moldavia."
"It seems we still have a long way to go before we return to Bangkok Pu or Trabzon to report." After being reminded of this, Serenus couldn't help but utter words of resentment.