While Berengar was fighting in Austria, events that would impact Berengar's future were occurring on the other side of the Christian World. In the east within the ancient city of Constantinople, Arethas Maniakes was kneeling within the Royal Palace before the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. He was questioning the man about a particular area of interest.
Emperor Vetranis Palaiologos was the current Emperor of the Byzantine Empire; his ancestors had ruled over the Eastern Roman Empire for over a hundred years. He was in his early forties and already had a gray head of hair with a matching beard. The stress of overseeing the war with the Mamluke Sultanate, which reached a stalemate, had aged him drastically these past ten years.
