In the Sirius Peninsula, the sanctuary of mages, Olympia City, is currently making intense preparations for war.
Constantinople had fallen again, this time to the short-lived Latin Empire of the Crusaders, while the new master of the Queen of Cities, Emperor Suleiman of the Seljuk Empire, had begun to fiercely prepare his troops for an attack on the cities of the Thracian Plain.
At this moment, a phone call from the Vatican came into the study of Apirius, the lord of Olympia.
After the destruction of the demonic tide ended, the Church sent new telephones to the continental countries within a few weeks after restoring productivity, including the hostile Emperor Otto of the Holy Roman Empire. At this time, the phone rang, and Apirius knew it must be the Church calling - except for the Church, no one knew the number of this new phone.
"The Azure Sword?" Apirius pondered after hearing the question, "Yes, my granddaughter is indeed in that mercenary group."
"If I were you, I would arrange a marriage for her," Pope Innocent said, "rather than letting her run around the world."
"Fortunately, I am her grandfather." Apirius snorted coldly, "She is no longer the empress of the empire. She is just an extraordinary person with a dream."
"Even so, Theodora still has the noble blood of the Solomon Empire!" Innocent's words were a little more intense. "In an era when Constantinople has fallen, Queen Zoe alone cannot support the prestige of the Solomon Empire. Apirius, don't you hope to recover Constantinople one day?"
"If I remember correctly, the fall of Constantinople was due to someone's betrayal." Apirius said coldly.
"I admit that it was a mistake to allow the Crusaders to plunder Constantinople." Innocent's tone slowed down. "The Cardinal Church is not a place for me to make a decision on my own. But no one expected that only tens of thousands of Frankish knights could actually capture Constantinople."
"So now that the matter is done, what's the point of talking about the past?" Apirius said impatiently, "There is no Eastern Solomonic Empire now, only the Despotate of Epirus on the Cyrene Peninsula. As for the glory of ancient Solomons, whoever wants to take it can take it! Whether it's Otto or Suleiman!"
Innocent was silent for a long time, then suddenly said:
"What if the Holy See launches another Crusade?"
"Sack Constantinople again?" Apirius sneered. "From the hands of the pagans?"
"This is a true Crusade," Innocent replied calmly, "to recapture Constantinople, rebuild the Eastern Solomonic Empire, and restore the strong shield of the Christian world in the East."
Apirius fell silent for a while before he said, "Even so, the Eastern Solomon Empire supported by the Holy See is just another enclave of the Papal States in the East."
"No," Innocent denied, "We will support Theodora as empress."
There was a long silence.
"Is it the decision of that supercomputer?" Apirius asked in a deep voice.
Supporting Theodora as the empress after the restoration of the Eastern Solomon Empire was completely against the interests of the Holy See in the East.