Manuel expressed his surprise.
Although Alexius had previously hinted at it to him and others, everyone was still quite surprised when he officially announced this decision at the meeting. Did this indicate Kaffa's special status within Theodoro?
In fact, Alexius made this decision after some consideration. Firstly, Kaffa's population was nearly double that of Mangup, but for administrative purposes and due to uncertain circumstances, the Principality would not move its capital to Kaffa. In this situation, sending the Crown Prince to manage Kaffa was a good choice. Secondly, he intended to use Manuel to fill the current power vacuum at the top in Kaffa. Lastly, Alexius also wanted to further temper his good son, making him more familiar with specific administrative affairs.
Upon realizing Alexius's decision, the new nobles of Kaffa also supported it. Why? Because having the Crown Prince govern in Kaffa was tantamount to pre-establishing Kaffa's special status, wasn't it? Just as Sviatoslav, the Grand Prince of Kievan Rus', sent his sons to govern various cities centuries ago, this was the Principality granting them a certain special status. Moreover, if the Crown Prince first established himself in Kaffa, their future status in the Principality would surely not be too bad. Besides, His Highness the Crown Prince was, strictly speaking, not yet an adult, so he probably wouldn't be difficult to manipulate…
Although Manuel had fantasized about Alexius's decision, he didn't expect it to come so quickly. While he indeed wanted a city to serve as his proving ground before his official ascension, they had just entered Kaffa, and Genoa hadn't been dealt with yet. This, this wasn't just—
Opening the champagne at halftime?!
But looking at the people celebrating in front of him, Manuel still shrugged inwardly and accepted the appointment.
"Yes, Father."
By the way, the title "Sebastos" (σεβαστός) originated from a Greek translation of "Augustus." Later, during the komnenos era, Alexius I made it an independent title for imperial relatives. If circumstances allowed, it could even be bestowed upon foreign rulers. However, by this era, the title was rarely used. Alexius, as the Prince of the Principality, specifically dug out this word from old papers to bestow upon Manuel, the meaning behind which was self-evident. Because, by rights, a mere Prince of a small Principality had no power to bestow such a noble title as "Sebastos" upon his offspring.
But Manuel reconsidered. His ancestors had presumptuously called themselves Princes instead of Dukes after the Emperor of Trabzon removed "Perateia (meaning the other side of the Black Sea)" from his title. So, it was quite normal for his father to indulge in a little usurpation for his son. If conditions allowed, he dared to guarantee that his father would even call himself Basileus.
In official history, Theodoro did indeed begin to call itself the Basileus of the Roman Empire after the fall of Trabzon, though no one recognized it except for Stephen the Great of Moldavia…
And so, after the meeting, Manuel was formally bestowed the title of "Sebastos of Kaffa" and was about to begin his administration of Kaffa. His residence and nascent staff were also officially moved into Kaffa city.
However, for now, he could only handle the administrative aspects of Kaffa, as military affairs were still managed from Mangup City. He had no objections to this. As mentioned earlier, as the Crown Prince of the Principality, he was also the deputy commander-in-chief of the entire army, so there was no need for him to be troubled by these military matters.
The next morning, after breakfast, Manuel began moving his luggage and official documents to the former Kaffa Consulate—now to be called the Theodoro Kaffa Palace—and started to handle the local administrative affairs as the lord of Kaffa City.
The previous night, Manuel had already roughly browsed the various administrative regulations that Genoa had established in Kaffa. After reading them, he couldn't help but marvel at their completeness and detail. If the Genoese had been willing to apply these regulations fully to the local Eastern Orthodox, then Theodoro would probably never have been able to enter Kaffa City. But fortunately, Genoa did not.
So, after he formally took his seat in the palace, he summoned the leading figures of the city to discuss the retention or abolition of these regulations and to whom they should apply.
After approximately 3 hours of discussion, they largely reached a consensus, deciding to make slight revisions to these regulations to protect the rights of the Eastern Orthodox. Manuel also planned to extract the key points of these regulations and compile them into an administrative framework to send to Mangup, persuading his father to amend the Principality's common laws.
After temporarily dismissing them, Manuel was about to leave to enjoy lunch when an unexpected person requested to see him.
Manuel waved his hand, allowing him to enter.
It was the former Kaffa official, Gregory Giunio, followed by several servants carrying large satchels of books. Facing the future Prince of the Principality, he smiled and said, "Your Highness, in a few days, I will be going to Mangup to take up a new position."
"But I still have some accumulated things in the city, and I believe these should be left to Your Highness."
As soon as he finished speaking, he had his servants open the satchels and move all the documents inside onto Manuel's desk, explaining, "Your Highness, these are what I have kept during my many years as an official in Kaffa."
"These are the secret archives of Kaffa City, these are the Place of origin records of Kaffa's residents, these are Genoa's investigative results on important figures in the city, these are summaries of Kaffa's industrial reports from recent years…" Manuel watched the pile of documents gradually stack up into a small mountain, his eyelids twitching involuntarily.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Guney. I wonder why you are willing to give me these confidential documents." After the documents were moved, Manuel, besides his heartfelt gratitude, also asked out of curiosity.
"Because Your Highness is also the future Basileus. As I said at the meeting earlier, my stance has always been with the Principality. My only hope is that Your Highness can make the best use of everyone." Guney smiled, answering his question and subtly indicating what he wanted.
"I believe you will certainly not stop here, and the same goes for working under me," Manuel replied. Guney, hearing this, understood the Crown Prince's unspoken meaning and was content, preparing to take his leave.
"Uh, excuse me for asking, but giving these documents to me instead of my father, is that really alright?" As Guney was about to leave, Manuel thought carefully and still asked with some concern.
"Your Highness need not worry. The documents I give you are only useful in Kaffa. As for the documents useful to Mangup, I will personally hand them to His Highness the Prince," Guney clarified.
Manuel felt a lot more relieved, but also a little regretful. After seeing Guney off and having lunch, he once again summoned the same people to discuss city defense, guilds, trade, and other matters. Once these matters were dealt with, they wouldn't have to exert themselves over them for at least a week.
By dusk, they finally finished discussing these matters. A tired Manuel was about to call Badars over to quickly take him away so he could relax for a while.
"Oh, by the way, Your Highness, there's one more thing," Isaac Arno cautiously told him after seeing these matters concluded.
"Ah?!"
"There are a few noble ladies who had a minor conflict earlier. They are currently staying in the city, but by their attire and speech, they appear to be great nobles from Constantinople. However, they have been tight-lipped about their families, and we truly don't know how to handle them. And since you are the esteemed Crown Prince of the Principality and the Sebastos of Kaffa, it seems you are the most suitable noble to negotiate with them, so…"
"I understand. I will personally deal with them, but let me rest for a bit first." Manuel was utterly speechless internally. What was all this about?