Having ascended to the throne he had yearned for since childhood, Manuel felt not only the joy and relief of having achieved his wish, but also the immense burden on his shoulders.
Even though he had become Emperor and the Empire had been pulled back from the brink of collapse to a safe line, the problems he faced only increased.
On the afternoon of his coronation, Manuel ordered the appointment of the former Basileus, Constantine XI Palaiologos, as co-Basileus, recognized Thomas Palaiologos's position as Moria Despotate, and dispatched troops to garrison the area around Thessaly to prevent the intervention of non-Roman forces.
After giving these two Brother-in-law a reassurance, Manuel received and meticulously read the foreign affairs department's report on the surrounding powers that afternoon, beginning to further understand the recent changes in the situation:
In the Emos Mountains region to the north of the Empire, the Bulgarian restoration army, supported by Hunyadi and led by the Bulgarian prince Fruzhin Shishman, advanced eastward, even recapturing the old Bulgarian capital of Tarnovo.
However, they were defeated by Isa Pasha, under the command of the Ottoman prince Ahmed, at the eastern end of the northern mountains, forcing them to halt at Tarnovo.
Although they still called themselves the Bulgarian Empire, powers led by Hungary and East Rome preferred to use the name Vidin Tsardom to reflect their predicament.
The Empire's old capital, the Theme of Latium, which is now the location of the Albanian Despotate, a state of the same lineage as the Empire, maintained its post-Varna war borders.
This was not Skanderbeg's fault, but rather that he was constrained by the loose system of the League of Lezhë.
Furthermore, because he had reverted to the orthodox faith, he did not receive strong support from the Apennine states across the strait.
At that time, he had to deal with internal affairs and was unable to expand his territory westward, only able to watch helplessly as his allies were attacked by the Ottoman and the chaos after the Ottoman collapse, powerless to respond.
By the time he could finally spare some energy, the Serbs had already swept through North Macedonia, forcing these stubborn mountaineers to put aside their petty thoughts and return to the mountains.
The most unexpected development came from the Serbs.
George Branković, who had been accumulating power since mid-1444, surprisingly and swiftly dispatched troops to reclaim lost Serbian territories after the Ottoman collapse, catching all neighboring countries off guard.
After preemptively occupying most of Skopje, the shrewd Despotate quickly reached a marriage alliance and agreement with Ahmed, who was still in diplomatic difficulties, establishing an intimate alliance between them.
Supported by the Ottoman, Branković even took advantage of the Kingdom of Hungary's unrecovered state to march north and reclaim Belgrade.
Thus, spurred by Serbian nobles within the country, the Despotate, who considered himself fully fledged and militarily superior, finally embarked on an unforeseen path under the storm stirred up by Manuel's butterfly effect.
At noon three days before Manuel's coronation, Branković announced the return of Great Serbia in his capital, Smederevo, proclaiming his intention to revive the great achievements of Emperor Stefan Dušan from over a hundred years ago.
In the eastern Greek peninsula, the Despotate of Morea, governed by the Palaiologos brothers, was systematically reclaiming northern Thessaly.
In the west, as Manuel had expected, the astute and flexible Carlo II, after the remaining Ottoman forces withdrew from Greece, immediately led his troops north to recapture Ioannina and the surrounding Epirus region, at a speed that even surprised George Sfrantzis of neighboring Morea.
Far north of the Danube, the Wallachia Grand Duke Vlad II's efforts of many years finally bore fruit: he had finally secured all of Târgu Jiu, a truly joyous occasion...
As for everyone's old adversary, the Ottoman Sultanate, it officially split into three independent entities one month after the death of the former Sultan Murad II:
Ahmed, who controlled Rumelia; Sultan Aladdin Ali, who controlled the eastern shore of the Sea of Marmara and central Asia Minor; and Muhammad, who controlled the southwestern coast of Asia Minor.
The latter two, whose territories had not yet recovered from the holy fire disease, were temporarily inactive.
However, Ahmed, who was less affected by the holy fire disease, had already connected with Serbia and was actively using the Ottoman's years of accumulation to launch attacks in all directions, seemingly determined to reclaim the Sultanate's lost territories.
Clearly, the young prince's true enemies were not the Christians on the western shore of the Aegean Sea, but his own brothers across the sea.
On the other side, the Aydin Beylik's expedition ended in failure.
After their army was repeatedly attacked by the passing Ottoman prince Muhammad, Bey Halil could only return to Smyrna disgruntled after occupying a few coastal areas.
Aydin's territory was still plagued by the holy fire disease, and this adventurous expedition was doomed to fail.
In contrast to the unfortunate Aydin, Suleiman, Manuel's old acquaintance, reaped considerable rewards.
The Karaman Beylik not only successfully reclaimed its lost territories but also expanded greatly, its overt strength reaching a level sufficient to confront the Ottoman prince Sultan Aladdin Ali.
Even Manuel found it unpredictable what path the gradually expanding remnants of the Sultanate of Rum would choose in the future.
Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Aleppo in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Mamluk-Cyprus war, which had begun two years prior, finally concluded with the fall of all of Cyprus.
According to unofficial reports, the utterly unlucky king not only lost his kingdom, but many of his illegitimate children also went missing or died in the war.
Fortunately, John II's legitimate daughter, and also Manuel's grand-niece, Charlotte of Lusignan, safely escaped with her parents on a ship provided by the Venetians for the royal family.
Perhaps they are now anchored on some Aegean island, preparing to sail towards Italy or France.
"The rapidly expanding Serbia and Karaman, the aggressive Rumelia, the thwarted Vidin in its restoration efforts, the lacking stamina of Aydin, Tekke, and Albania, the wavering Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania, the severely bleeding Hungary, the internally chaotic Poland, the collapsed Great Ulus, the fragmented Circassian tribes, the White Sheep Dynasty still embroiled in civil war, the flourishing Black Sheep Dynasty, the calculating Georgian principalities, the entirely fallen Cyprus, the barely noticeable Ramazan and Dulkadir, the vast and powerful Mamluk, the shrewd and cunning Venice and Genoa, and the not-quite-dead Ottoman...
"All of them are troublesome entities."
Manuel smiled helplessly, put the report aside, and stood up.
His sharp brown eyes were no longer looking at the room, but gazing out the window, following his steps.
His thoughts also gradually diverged, spreading to the major challenges he was about to face.
The commercial privileges of Venice, Genoa, and other Italian merchant Republics in the Roman Empire still existed, and the Aegean islands occupied by Latin merchants had not yet returned to the Empire.
If they continued to bleed the Empire dry, the Gavras Dynasty's economy would sooner or later follow in the footsteps of the Palaiologos Dynasty.
The holy fire disease that once ravaged Asia Minor and the Aemos Peninsula was also about to dissipate, leaving behind countless barren lands.
Although his pre-war dissemination of agricultural plagues effectively weakened the Ottoman, it also made the recovery work after reconquest significantly more difficult than usual.
The decree of church unity established by the Palaiologos emperors and the Holy See had indeed attracted the Varna Crusaders, but now that Rome had recovered, and the Catholic nations of Eastern Europe no longer had the capacity to organize another Crusade, to resolve the domestic divisions caused by church unity, he had to find a way to use smooth diplomatic means to annul this religiously unequal treaty, without incurring the wrath of the Holy See and the Catholic world.
Serbia, Karaman, and the three Ottoman princes were all enemies he had to overcome.
If he allowed them to rise or recover, the revival of Rome would be nothing more than a fleeting moment.
Although the Turkmen of the Black Sheep and White Sheep dynasties were still far from directly threatening him, Manuel knew clearly that the countdown had begun for the rise of Uzun Hasan, a powerful ruler much younger than him.
If he could not unify the two regions and resolve the troubles left by the Ottoman collapse, it would only be a matter of time before Rome was once again defeated by the Turk.
At this thought, an eagle swooped down into the sky, glided past a wide, pure black double-headed eagle banner, and soared in the boundless azure firmament.
This sight drew the Basileus's gaze until the eagle disappeared into the vast horizon.
This was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
On this unpredictable stage of destiny, where would the future lead?
Manuel Gavras could not give a precise answer, but he knew that his story and the story of Rome were not yet over.
But he knew one thing, just as he had always stubbornly believed since childhood—
He whispered:
"I am bound to rule."
(The End? / To be continued?)