From Italy to the Balkans, there were already many ways to get around as early as Rome or earlier.

From the vast mountainous terrain between the Danube and the Adriatic Sea on land, to the direct crossing of the Adriatic Sea through the long stretch of coastline, the connection between Italy and the Balkans can even be traced back to antiquity.

In the earliest days, the city-states led by the Romans, which first appeared in Italy, were full of reverence and even worship for those civilizations located on the Greek peninsula.

Even Roman mythology, which the Romans regarded as the pride of their ancestors and the source of their ancestors, is actually a shadow of Greek mythology.

Because of this, the Romans had more complex feelings about Greece than other peoples.

The Romans were proud and conceited, but even after they conquered Greece, they still had mixed feelings when it came to Greek civilization.

They wanted to show the power and majesty of their conquerors without Greek influence, but in their hearts they knew that Roman civilization had too many Greek imprints.

Later, the Eastern Roman Empire, which was almost completely Hellenistic, simply surrendered to the vanquished of its former form.

The Romans, who were completely fascinated by the Greek civilization, were so fascinated by the Greek language that the Greek way of life became the measure of whether a person was a qualified nobleman.

Even a thousand years later, long after the Ottomans conquered Greece, many people still see Greece as the source of everything that changed everything.

This change is the legend that Constantine XI left a descendant in Greece.

It is impossible to trace when this legend began to circulate, and many people have even grown up listening to it since they were sensible, so that many people firmly believe that the last emperor of Eastern Rome had a descendant left in Greece.

And over time, legends turned into hopes and ideals.

The Greeks, Moldovans, Wallagians, and many more people who were ruled by the Ottomans pinned their hopes and dreams of freeing themselves from Ottoman rule and enslavement in that legend, fantasizing that one day a man would stand up and lead them in defeating the infidels, and that they would drive the enemy out of their homeland, just as their forefathers had done in the defeat of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in the great victory in Belgrade nearly half a century earlier.

It is precisely because of this that rumors about the descendants of Constantine XI seem to be of greater concern to the world, and one of them, the rumor about Crete, the last bloodline refuge of the Roman royal family, is particularly noticeable.

For many years the Ottomans were also looking for the whereabouts of the emperor's descendants, and even set up a special army for this Ottoman, which did not participate in battles, but specifically searched for those diehards who remained loyal to the Eastern Romans in the occupied Greek lands, and their most important target was the descendants of Constantine XI.

So when he heard that the girl in front of him was the rumored descendant of the emperor, even the Knight Kulash, who thought he had seen too many scenes, couldn't help but show an unbelievable look on his face.

But he soon came to his senses and looked at the men with a funny look.

"You think I'm going to believe that this little girl could be the man of that legend?" Kulash looked at these people with amusement, and he even felt that not only this inexplicable girl, but also these noble knights were some liars.

"You savage madman," although his eyes were blackened by the hilt of his sword before, the kidnapped man named Gilas was actually a little sober and aggressive, and he could not turn his head so he could only look ahead, but he still roared angrily, "You will regret your words, you dare to be so rude to the only heir of Rome." ”

"Be honest knight, or I don't know what to call you, but if you're not honest I'll cut your throat first."

Kulash's words immediately caused a commotion, and some of the people in the team drew their swords, ready to rush at him.

The man who spoke raised his hand slightly, signaling his companion behind him not to be impulsive, and he led his horse forward to a short distance from Kulash, and took out a document from the purse of the empty saddle of the knight of Djilas.

He first raised his hands slightly to show that he was harmless, and then carefully handed over the paper.

"You can check this out."

"What is it?"

Kulash suddenly raised his hand and slashed forward with the sword in his hand, the tip of the sword pierced the hollow of the rolled up document accurately, and then he picked the document in front of him with a flick of his wrist, and when the blade pressed back against the neck of the Knight of Gilas, his other hand had already caught the document.

"Omo, come out for a moment!" Kulash shouted into the house, and as he shouted, a teenager cautiously walked out of the house with a crossbow in hand.

"What are you doing, brother?"

"Show me what's written on it, God, you know I hate literacy the most."

"That's because you're stupid and stupid, and your father says you're not much smarter than a donkey." The boy said as he took the document that Kulash handed over, opened it, and looked at it quickly.

"But I've killed more heretics than anyone else, and I've been the landlord of this place for the longest time so far."

Knight Kulash apparently disagreed with his brother's words, and he looked up and down at the girl standing in front of him without saying a word, not because of her unusually striking beauty, but about the elusive short crossbow she had just used.

Kulash knew that if the girl had shot a short crossbow at her instead of the bottle, even if he could dodge, the hostage in his hand would probably be lost, and he was not sure that he would be able to protect his family in the face of so many people.

"It's ...... The order that the Duke gave you," the young man named Omo looked at the document with some astonishment, "The Duke has decided to follow the descendants of the Roman Emperor in the uprising, and is willing to recognize him as the true master of the Roman Empire in Greece, so the Duke orders you to join his army at once." ”

The boy was stunned when he said "him", and involuntarily looked up at the face that made him almost lose his mind.

"Join the army, and these people?" Kulash muttered, he looked at the flags, then let go of his hand and pushed the Knight of Gilas far away from him.

Dillas staggered two steps forward, and suddenly rushed to the man who delivered the letter, trying to pull it from the scabbard next to his saddle, but his companion grabbed him by the wrist.

"Enough Djilas, we've shed enough blood, and your sword should be directed against the infidels and not at each other."

"This guy is just like an infidel, and you forgot all those rumors about him?" The Knight of Djilas lowered his voice and said to his companion, "I bet he once did something for the Ottomans, otherwise how could he have escaped from the East alive." ”

"Yes, I have done things for the Ottomans," said Kuraş, ignoring the astonished glances of the people who looked at him, and paced slowly with his sword in hand, "I was captured during the battle with the Ottomans, and was kept on a ship by them as a sailor for two years, and you could not have dreamed of what it was like in those days, I have seen their army and nobles, they have far more men than we are, and they have better weapons than we do, and their sultan has an inexhaustible wealth for him to feed that huge army, That army was even larger than the number of some of our principalities. ”

"So you're scared?" The Knight of Gilas stared at Kulash with disdain.

"Why don't you be afraid, we can't beat them, and we will only send us to death if we fight with them, you must know that I have fought too many battles for the duke, it is enough to hear that the Sultan has always been in Greece, if you feel that you have lived enough, you can challenge him now, but this has nothing to do with me."

"Coward, soft bones!"

The Knight of Gilas cursed, spitting disdainfully at the ground.

"You're not scared because you haven't seen hell, and I've been there once, so I don't want to go a second time."

Kulash muttered to himself, and he slowly turned around and staggered a little towards the house, his back looking unspeakably lonely and desolate.

"I am Huck Chipes of Transylvania, and now I am my master's attendant," said the knight to Kuraš's brother, "and if your brother has a change of heart, tell him to come to us in Bucharest." ”

As he spoke, the knight named Cepes greeted the young girl who had not said a word in the young man's wistful gaze, and then accompanied her to slowly turn the horse's head and walk outside.

The young man looked at the girl's back in a daze, he looked down at the document in his hand, and then looked at the door behind him, and after thinking about it, he seemed to have finally made up his mind to chase after him.

"Please wait a minute, sir!" The boy caught up with the knight of Cepes, and while he looked up at the knight, his eyes involuntarily glanced at the girl next to him who had never spoken.

"I will persuade my brother to go to Bucharest," the boy said first, then turned his head to the Knight of Gilas next to him and said angrily, "My brother is not a coward, he is not a soft bone, he is a hero!" ”

"Well, if he's really the kind of guy you say, then he should come to Bucharest." The Knight of Gilas was not angry at the boy's rebuttal, but only sarcastically dismissed.

"Tell your brother that if he changes his mind, you'd better hurry up, or he might not run into us."

After Knight Chipes finished speaking to the boy named Omo, he glanced at the girl next to him.

The girl's dark eyes stared at the boy's face, which made the boy who was not yet a real man feel uneasy and apprehensive in his heart for the first time.

Then he saw the girl stretch out her arm, bend down and raise her hand to touch the top of his head under his stunned gaze.

Omo stared blankly at the girl on the horse, because the distance was closer, so he could see her face more clearly.

For a moment, Omo didn't know what he was thinking, but he knew he already knew what to do in the future.

Until the group was far away, Omo stood at the gate of the courtyard and watched their backs.

He hadn't heard the girl say a word the whole time, but that didn't stop him from imagining how beautiful her voice must have been.

Returning to the house, Omo was somewhat surprised to see his brother looking at the sword he had not held for a long time, and he carefully wiped the blade with a piece of skin coated with wild boar oil, as if he were making love to his lover.

"Why are you ...... Kulash?"

"That girl is pretty, isn't she?" Kulash interrupted Omo without waiting for him to finish, "But remember, it's none of your business. ”

"Why?" Omo asked angrily.

"Omo, you will become a learned man in the future, just like the kind of stories say, write poems and paintings and write beautiful tunes, and then you will be valued by the duke or even the king, and you will get ahead in the court, and one day you will become a big man," Kurash said earnestly, "and I may be killed someday, or in the wilderness or on the battlefield, but no matter what, my fate will not be to die of old age in the bed at home, so Omo you are the hope of this family and I am not, What I'm supposed to do is help you make all of this happen. ”

"So you don't want to go, do you," Omo said, somewhat understanding, but still a little annoyed, "but they say you're a soft-boned coward." ”

"You know I'm not, right?" Seeing his brother nodding, Kulash smiled and beckoned him to come to him, then raised his hand and ruffled his brother's hair, "That's fine, I will always protect you, but you have to promise me to forget that girl, you are different from her." ”

Omo nodded with some difficulty, but after a little hesitation, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Do you really think they can't beat the Ottomans?" ”

"How can you fight," a mocking sneer hung on the corner of Kurashi's mouth, "these people have never seen what the Ottoman army is like, maybe some of them have dealt with the Ottomans, and even fought and won, so they think that the infidels are nothing great, but believe me Omo, these people have never really seen the Sultan's army, that is something they can never imagine." ”

Kulash's words sent a trace of worry on Omo's face, and he looked at his brother, his lips moving but not knowing what to say.

At last the corners of his mouth tightened, as if he had secretly made up his mind.

"Don't be cranky about Omo, I won't go, I won't allow you to go," Kulash, who seemed to have seen through his brother, pierced Omo's mind mercilessly, "I won't let you be stupid to die, you must know that most of those nobles don't know the power of the Ottomans, and there are so many of them, how can they beat the Sultan." ”

"Why, isn't it bad to have too many people?" Omo asked, puzzled.

"It depends on when, those nobles are very cunning people, how can they be willing to admit the status of a little girl, believe me Omo, that girl is not in a good situation."

Omo looked at Kulash with understanding, although he admired his brother very much, but sometimes he felt that he was useless except to use violence, but now he was surprised to see a trace of depth and wisdom in his brother's eyes that he had never seen before.

"So, what are we going to do next?" Although he was a little reluctant, Omo accepted the reality of his brother's words.

"Now, we need to get ready for the spring wheat planting," Kulash said, standing up and casually putting his sword aside, picking up a whip in his hand, "those damn heretics are probably lazy again, we need to go see them." ”

Omo smiled, and he felt that sometimes Kulash was indeed a little clever.

For example, the pagan slaves he had brought back from the East, despite the fact that the diocese had urged him more than once to convert them to Christ as soon as possible, Kurash had been finding various reasons to delay the matter.

And the reason he did this was because once those people were converted to Christ, he had to give them back their freedom, even though they would still be slaves to their household, but it was different from slaves who were in their own hands.

Thinking of his brother's cleverness, Omo couldn't help but look at the sword that Kulash had thrown aside seemingly casually.

Against the backdrop of the firelight, Omo saw a vague shadow reflected on the shiny blade.

After a certain journey, the group that left Kulash's house split into two teams at a fork in the road.

Looking at the girl who was only silently watching him, the Knight of Gilas bowed on his horse, and then watched as the girl faded away along a fork in the road, surrounded by the Knight of Chipes and his men.

"My lord, where are we going next?" The embarrassed entourage who had been kicked into the pool by Kulash before asked, the thoughts in his eyes were so obvious, and the revenge that was not concealed at all was completely revealed at this moment.

"What are you going to do?" Gilas glanced at his entourage and frowned slightly when he saw the look on his face, "Are you going to take revenge on that Kulash?" ”

"Isn't it, sir?" The attendant asked unexpectedly.

"You're such an idiot." Djilas shook his head and said that he felt that he should change his retinue, otherwise he would have to make a mistake sooner or later if he kept this guy with him.

Seeing that the entourage still looked puzzled, Djilas felt that it was better to make it clear to him, otherwise this guy might really cause trouble for himself.

"Listen, the princess has already tacitly forgiven that person before, and if you go to trouble him again, it means that you are despising the princess, so if you don't want to get me in trouble, be honest."

The attendant let out an "oh", but then leaned over to his master and whispered:

"But my lord, where did this princess come from, it is said that many people are actually doubting her origin."

"Shut up, stupid," Djilas whispered to his retinue, then he looked into the distance where the shadow of the team was no longer visible, and whispered to himself, "Sophia Alexandra Valleolho is a princess of Greece, just knowing this is enough for many people." ”

From the end of 1498 onwards, a piece of news circulated in the mountains of the Balkans.

The Greek princess who inherited the Eastern Roman Empire is gathering her people and knights loyal to her in the lands of Greece and the Balkans, and she will once again lead her people to raise the banner of challenging the infidels.

In those rumors, she was a beautiful princess, a princess who was always silent, who was stunningly beautiful and brave, and who was surrounded by a group of warriors who were willing to serve her.

Her figure appeared in many places, and many people heard the news and joined her army.

A force is gathering around the Greek princess.

With this rumor, the Ottoman Sultan, the great Bayezid II, was finally no longer silent, and when he heard that the princess, who had gathered a group of nobles and knights, was preparing to hold a grand meeting of the alliance in Bucharest, the sultan finally decided to send troops to the city.

"Forward, Bucharest!"

Countless people gave such an order at the end of the century on the occasion of the last turn of the old and the new.

It was at such a time that Alexander, with his Montina army, entered the Balkans!