With the victory in Cordoba, peace was temporarily restored. The wounded were tended and the dead were honorably buried.
Sultan Ali and Prince Stephen had a discussion on what they should do next regarding the aztec invaders.
While on the other hand I recently received a message coming from the holy roman emperor that requested me of my immediate return to the empire.
With the order coming from the emperor I reluctantly bid my farewell to the Sultan and Prince. But before i left i asked the sultan for his permission if i could marry his daughter.
With his daughter and his sons approval, I almost had the permission if it wasn't for that swine of a dumb prince also asking for the sultans daughter for marriage.
Under the condition that she converts to Christianity he asked for her hand in marriage which enraged the whole royal family. This outburst almost threatened the stability of the alliance of both religions and to prevent further damage the matter was set aside leaving me quite furious and a bit disappointed.
It was already June when I arrived to the Empire and without pause i headed directly to the emperors palace.
"Welcome count Alberto! How's your travels? I heard you were in quite a situation in Iberia is it true?" The emperor inquired me. I responded with utmost respect and told everything that happened in my journey.
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"A group of assasins ambushed you huh? Dear count i have some bad news for you... Some of your domains men were killed overnight a few months ago while you were in Iberia. No information was sent to you during that time for I feared that it would compromise your mission. Please forgive this emperor" he lowered his head after saying that.
"Please stop lowering your head your highness this is inappropriate! An emperor should not bow easily to his subjects or he would be seen as weak by his enemies and servants" i told him as i urged to stop him from lowering his head to me.
"Count Alberto you may now return to your domain until further notice and as a reward i will grant you the whole duchy of upper burgundy for your spectacular services furthermore you will have my consent in marring that infidel woman and i will also assure you that i will support you firmly on this matter"
"But my emperor wont this sour the empires relationship with the kingdom of Hungary?"
"Bah! Let those fools do whatever they want and if they try to go against us then i will spare no effort to crush them to dust!"
"The your majesty what are you planning now that the invaders are attacking in Iberia? Would you help them or stay idle?"
"With the rebellious counts and dukes near Saxony it would be hard for me to help them there so i should stabilize the realm first before joining to prevent any traitors from doing something annoying"
"Then your majesty i bid you farewell!"
"Stay well young duke!"
After that short conversation with his highness I immediately went to my expanded domain. When I inquired Anselm about the attack according to him some normal villagers and servants were killed by an unknown assailants which resulted into a bloodbath in the castle.
Luckily none of my inventions were discovered by the enemy so the production of smoke bombs and molotovs is still in the process.
With the parts of the bombs and molotovs separated the process of making them were further hidden.
With my territory expanded I immediately assessed the whole territory to know what i should and shouldn't do for the future of my turf.