The next day, Manuel woke up to receive the documents allowing the establishment of the Inquisition in Theodosia, handed to him personally by his father, Alexius, which made him marvel at how efficient Mangup's administrative agencies had become in his absence.
Seizing the opportunity, Manuel subtly questioned his father, wanting to know which foolhardy individuals dared to spread rumors behind his back. However, in response to Manuel's doubts, Alexius was evasive, uttering platitudes like "the futile efforts of a very small number of anti-Manuel elements," "you'll understand everything later," "it's inconvenient to discuss this aspect right now," and "I'll handle them myself," effectively smoothing things over.
Alright, Manuel regretfully stopped pressing the issue. After receiving permission from Mangup and the trust of Alexius, he decided to return to Theodosia to handle related matters after spending a bit more time with his family.
By the afternoon, when he departed, he had already spent a good deal of harmonious time with his family, except for his younger brother, Isaac. As for Isaac, when he asked about him, his sister Maria rolled her eyes and said, "Who knows what he's doing? He's not studying theology or law properly, and when asked what he's up to, he puts on a serious face, muttering 'doing great things,' 'doing great things,' all mysterious-like."
"Perhaps he's just mentally exhausted from studying," Manuel guessed with a smile. He didn't take Isaac's words too seriously; after all, it's normal for young people to have all sorts of wild fantasies. Manuel himself used to be like that—no, occasionally he still has intermittent bouts of chuunibyou.
But what he didn't know was that, shortly after he left Mangup, in a certain manor in Mangup, a young boy was furiously scolding several adults much older than him.
"Didn't you all say that doing this would make him come back with his tail between his legs? Now look, not only has he gained even more trust from Father, but it will be even harder to use an opportunity to bring him down in the future! What exactly are you all good for?!"
A young noble with brown hair and green eyes chuckled awkwardly, trying to explain, "We underestimated His Majesty's trust in the Crown Prince and his eloquence. But it's alright, little Prince, His Majesty is cautious and didn't expose us at all."
"It doesn't matter if unimportant people are exposed, but if they find out I did this, what will they think of me? This complete defeat is all your fault!" At this, the "little Prince" stomped his foot in anger.
"Don't worry, little Prince, there's still a chance, we still have time. Besides, we have many lords and nobles in Theodosia who are willing to be close to us. With inside help, there are plenty of opportunities to remove the Crown Prince from power," the young noble explained.
"It had better be, hmph!"
After this secret meeting concluded, and after confirming the boy had left, a middle-aged minor noble couldn't help but lean in and ask, "I truly don't understand why we have to listen to a snot-nosed kid like that."
"Do you think I want to?" the young noble retorted rather irritably. "If it weren't for my brother-in-law's wishes, how could I possibly bother with a little brat full of fantasies like this?"
Not long after, around dusk, Manuel leisurely arrived in Theodosia. Upon his return, he immediately rushed to organize the relevant personnel and structures of the Inquisition, striving to complete its rudimentary construction by the end of the month to quickly put it into practice.
He continued to work tirelessly for several hours until he had drafted the list of upcoming priorities and selected locations, then wearily sought a place to sleep. This time, Barbara finally appeared during the day, but when he encountered her today, he noticed her face seemed a little flushed, and her limbs were somewhat fidgety. Concerned for her health, he kindly advised her to rest, but she flatly refused, stating that there was nothing wrong with her health.
Manuel couldn't help but grumble to himself, "Why do I feel like everyone is hiding something from me?"
But he didn't dwell on it; after all, too much had happened to him recently, and he wasn't in the mood to think about so many miscellaneous things. On the third day, after waking up, eating breakfast, and recovering some of the energy he had expended in the previous days, he summoned Badars and several key figures from the intelligence network to the palace.
As they had been forewarned, everyone who arrived at the palace was somewhat prepared. Seeing this, Manuel was pleased and told them, "I announced it to you earlier, didn't I? So, I now declare the formalization of my private intelligence organization in Theodosia.
"Previously, the intelligence network I personally established, although information could be transmitted to me with reasonable accuracy, would be too wasteful if used only for intelligence gathering, wouldn't it? So, in addition to strengthening the basic functions of the intelligence system, I will also grant you some supervisory powers, though for now, it is only supervision.
"Because, Theodosia currently appears calm, but in reality, undercurrents are surging. What I need to do is to completely suppress problems before they even appear.
"In a little while, after I sign the relevant documents, this decision of mine will be formally implemented. However, for the sake of confidentiality, I cannot publicly announce your identities, please forgive me."
The attendees had no objections to Manuel's decision; formalization meant they would become official, their income would stabilize and increase significantly, and if they performed well, even those from common backgrounds would have a chance to gain titles.
However, Badars suddenly thought of a very serious matter and quickly asked, "Your Highness, we still don't know the name of the intelligence agency."
"Don't worry, I've already thought of it," Manuel said with a smile, "It will be called the Security Command Department."
Everyone fell silent.
After a while, a middle-aged Turk with a big beard chuckled somewhat fawningly, "Your Highness, how about we change the name?"
Why again? Is the name he chose not good? Manuel couldn't help but wonder if he was terrible at naming things.
"Then, Cheka, Anka?" After a moment of contemplation, Manuel again offered one of the names he had prepared.
Everyone didn't know what to say; what kind of words were these? They were completely meaningless!
After a moment, Badars, as Manuel's chief attendant, decided to offer his opinion, "Your Highness, in my humble opinion, it would be better to choose a name that is a bit more common and easy to understand."
It's like this again, Manuel sighed, and began to rethink the name of his intelligence department. After a long time, he cautiously proposed a name he had come up with:
"Anbu."
This time, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief; His Highness had finally chosen a somewhat more normal name.
"Now, for the first mission I assign to you, who should now be called Anbu. Although the formal procedures will take a few more hours, Anbu members, there's no need to pay too much attention to these nominal procedures," Manuel redirected the conversation.
"Please give your command, Your Highness, your will is the will of the Lord."
"Very good, go and thoroughly investigate who exactly was behind spreading rumors about me this time." As he spoke, a hint of sharpness flashed in Manuel's eyes.