Chapter 204: My Wish

It is a kid. 

A boy of around thirteen years old of age, broke free of the grip by his mother hugging him afraid he will be taken away and enslaved, ran forward tripped and fell down a few times by the obstacles on the ground, and finally reached before Antonius kneeling down smashing his knees hard on the rocky ground and cried out. 

"O lord, forgive me for my disrespect, but I no longer want to eat only one meal per day, no longer wants to have only raw fish, couple of grains and leaves as food, I want to fill me and my family's stomach!" 

Then the kid kept his head low anticipating a response. 

"Wish granted." Antonius clapped. "I promise you that as long as I am your lord you will not have to starve if you put in the hard work." 

Hearing that clap, a fleet of sailors came in carrying barrels of hard salted meat, stiff black breads and plain white naval cookies placing them right on the altar before Antonius. All food that the sailors despise, but definitely a feast in the eyes of the starving local population. 

"Hold on." Seeing the crowd of people becoming chaotic seeing the barrels of food, Antonius rose up his hand stopping them from attempting anything funny and at the same time, his guards took position in front of the barrels with blades in their hands. "My man shall distribute each and every one of you with an equal amount of food, remember, if you want something from me, you better request and wait. What I want to give to you shall be given by me, and only me. While for the things that I do not want to give you, you do not come and beg, steal or even try to rob from me. I want obedience, clear?"

The crowd quietened down with a starving stomach obediently, and then the sailors opened the barrels taking out the food and dispersing them to these people equally. The whole process being peaceful and quiet for around thirty minutes, no rowdy commotions going on just like as if they are having a mass. 

"Alright!" Antonius slapped his thigh. "Now, second wish, who want to come forward?" 

This supply of food indeed greatly boosted the confidence of the people towards the supposed new 'lord' of them giving them the fundamental amount of trust that this lord, unlike those from last time, is a lord that they can perhaps… rely on a bit?" 

A couple of people made no further hesitation and came out of the crowd even leaving their food behind towards Antonius following the pioneer example of that kid just now kneeling down begging for more requests, some want a new boat, some want more food, some want money, some wants revenge, and some want to leave this cursed island.

Facing this Antonius had to stand up and shout out to everyone before getting a headache from these buzzing requests. "Stop!" He shouted. "Remember, the three wishes I shall grant to thee are a collective wish, which means that the three wishes are for all of you, not for the interests and benefits of the individuals… I shall give you an hour! An hour! Then thou shall send a representative to see me, and I here hear the requests in front of all of you." 

Then, he moved his already a bit numb legs and moved out of the chantry leaving the town folks to discuss by themselves. 

Yuri and his Varangians are already expecting him outside the gate. 

"Admiral." Yuri bowed upon seeing Antonius. "I led my men to these locations where the properties of the three biggest land lords, sealed their properties, pantries and lands, and brought those people together with their families over here." 

He pointed towards an empty strip of land along a hill, where a group of people including both men and women crying over there, with the children standing in another place opposite direction, both groups weeping, crying, cursing vulgar. 

"Good job." Nodded Antonius. "Have you found their paper works showing their ownerships of these properties and lands?"

"Yes, admiral."

"Give it to me…. And I want you to immediately set off for the other islands, do the same thing to those land lords or influential figures over there, remember!" 

Antonius ordered gripping the hand of Yuri looking at him in his eyes. "Do not let anyone escape and spread the news… Remember, innocent or not, it is up to me to decide."

Yuri gulped and nodded. "Yes, admiral." 

Antonius took a glance at the still rowdy bunch of people over there surrounded by sailors holding cutlasses, some of them even attempted to push through the sailors and run away only to be pushed back falling onto the sands, then begin threatening the sailors bragging about how wealthy their family are, how many influential figures they know in the emperor's court and in the army, and how they can handle these puny 'soldiers' being so disrespectful to them. However, it is only after a while then they realised that these sailors seems to not understand Greek.

Antonius gave a cold sneer and walked back into the chantry. 

…

After an hour, the vigorous discussion between the locals are finally over as they selected two representatives each in their fifties of age – a relatively long life span in such a harsh environment, to approach their new lord and send their requests. 

Seeing the elders coming, Antonius stood up and greeted them first, then asked stopping them from kneeling. "I do not like all these courteous things of the nobilities, it is way to complicated for me. Just jump to the business, what are your wishes?" 

The elder on the left opened his mouth first. "Honourable lord, your grace, may Jesus Christ be praised, wish the light of God shine upon you forever, may…" 

"Jump to your wish." 

"…We wish that… we wish that…" The sound of the elder became lower and lower as he kept peeking at the emotions of Antonius nervously. "I wish that… in the future we no longer need to pay that absurd amount of taxes and tributes."