To be king [Greek mythology]

Next to a fire in the center of the house—the damp and cold penetrated into his bones, making his skin crawl uncontrollably.

After the king spoke, the warriors stopped making noise, and the only sounds in the entire camp were the wind blowing and the burning branches of the fire.

The quiet atmosphere seemed to make the cold more obvious. Thurpus stretched out his hands from the cloak to the fire, drawing a little warmth from it, "There was no Athenian army to support us when we attacked Megara, I think the vanguards are probably very confused."

He looked up at the familiar faces around him and narrowed his eyes.

"The Athenian garrison on Salamis is defending against invaders from the other side of the sea." The young Spartan king seemed very happy, "Between its own territory and the vassal city-states, Athens will of course choose to support Sparta." Ramis instead of Megara."

"Beyond the sea." A warrior muttered, "There is a mighty city-state named Crete—"

Thurps snorted proudly, and continued: "There is also a new city-state called Miletus."

The king of Sparta didn't mind his younger brother coming to take a share of the pie. The emerging city-states always needed some battles or other things to build their reputation, so that more fresh blood would go to the city-state to settle down.

In fact, Surpus was a little surprised that Miledus would send troops, but Surpus still accepted the kindness from his brother well.

"Wait another night." Surpus looked up at the sky covered by thick clouds, reached out and touched Typhon's Fang, which began to radiate warmth and dispelled the coldness around him, "Wait another night, Salamis Island will be No longer belongs to Athens."

The Spartan warriors who had always fought unilaterally were not familiar with the concept of allies. Many warriors had never even contacted warriors from other city-states in a friendly capacity—the change of identity and senses made them feel quite fresh.

Even though they didn't know when Sparta had allied with Crete and Miley, they didn't feel that there was anything wrong with their trust in the king.

Strong allies bring more benefits and a wider territory, which is actually quite comfortable for the Spartans who engraved battle and expansion into their souls.

Athens.

The newly appointed young king Theseus stood quietly in the Parthenon.

The recent atmosphere is quite tense. Even though the sculpture of Athena in the temple is still solemn and solemn, and the fresh bouquets and fruits are also very fresh, but compared with the bustle of people coming and going in the past, today's Parthenon Temple It seemed quite deserted.

Only the priests who scrub and maintain the sculptures and offerings are still praying to Athena who has long been unresponsive every day. People who have become extremely flustered about the current situation gradually stop coming to God after begging for nothing. temple.

The king looked at the priest kneeling in front of the idol with a worried expression on his face, and sighed.

"Still no response, right?" Theseus asked in a low voice.

The chief priest opened his eyes, looked up at the holy and unattainable statue for a while, stood up, and nodded to the King of Athens, "Since the light faded, we have never been able to hear the divine voice. "

Theseus stroked the pigeon-egg-sized gemstone inlaid on the scepter with his thumb, "I can't wait any longer."

"In the current situation, Athens, without the blessing of the great Athena, has no chance of winning against the menacing Sparta!" The voice of the chief priest trembled—she never thought that Athena would abandon them one day, especially It was when she could clearly feel the coercion of another god from Megara, who was not too far away from them.

It's no secret that Athena and Ares have been at odds, especially for the priests who claim to be closest to the gods, this is simply a confrontation on the surface.

"Ares is still in the Spartan army?" Theseus asked with raised eyebrows.

Theseus knew some strange rules among the gods, such as not intervening in the struggle between humans on the surface.

Athena has now made it clear that she doesn't intend to take care of Athens and Sparta's affairs. Ares's behavior of standing in the Spartan camp in such a high-profile way to express his presence is a bit too shameless.

Gods still place great value on face, even if they have no face at all in the eyes of some humans.

"Just left—but I don't think his departure will lower the morale of the Spartan army." The high priest said as he turned around, looking at the statue of Athena, his eyes seemed a little deep in the dim light.

Theseus pursed his lips and snorted coldly, "So what."

The high priest was silent.

Athens, a large city-state that has grown rapidly due to the blessing of the gods, is absolutely impossible to surrender or flee without a fight when it encounters wars and provocations.

Even though their gods no longer intend to take care of this matter, the pride of being Athenians does not allow them to do such a thing.

"The situation in Salamis is not optimistic. I don't have time to wait for Athena's response." Theseus said, turned around, left the temple, turned his head to look at his confidant who was waiting on the side, and looked past him to the sky , as if looking for something-in the end, nothing can be seen except layered clouds.

The young King of Athens withdrew his gaze, looked at his confidant full of worry and expectation, and raised the corners of his lips, "Notify the warriors of Athens to prepare to meet the enemy."

That night.

Standing on the city wall, Surpus watched the flames ignited on the island of Salamis across the bay in a night so dark that it didn't even have a single star, as if it wanted to break the irresistible gloom recently. Dye the sky, and the sea water reflects the city-state in the fire, making everything bright and clear.

The king of Sparta raised his eyebrows, with a hint of relaxation on his expressionless face, he chuckled, turned and walked down the city wall with the warriors guarding him behind him.

In the fire that illuminated the sea, a group of ships flying the emblem of Crete was sailing towards Megara with victory.

Chapter 86

Humans will never realize how terrifying the power in the hands of the gods is until they have real face-to-face contact with the gods.

Even the priests who claim to serve the gods are the same.

And the things that can be obtained after meeting the gods are unimaginable to those who have never seen the gods-such as the regular messages carried by the gods, and the current human beings revealed in their words. Untraceable wisdom.

All of these can benefit people a lot. After all, compared with gods, the only advantage of human beings is that they will exhaust their limited lives to pursue a certain thing.

For example, Minos who stayed in Hades for many years and was valued by Themis, the goddess of justice.

The new king of Crete, after taking the throne from his elder brother, brought Crete a terrible baptism, from the most fundamental beliefs to many truths that people usually agree with , were overthrown and recast, and their new belief, the fact that Thanadus, the god of death, often appeared in Crete, made the people of Crete start to have so much affection for the god of death, who was not very cold at first. A hint of longing and belonging.

The biggest difference between being favored by the gods—or even being taught—and ordinary humans is the improvement of vision.

They no longer just set their eyes on some things in the world, but think about a higher level, from the spirit, the whole world, heaven and earth.

To put it bluntly, Eminos' current brain is at the crushing level compared with the leader of Athens stationed on Salamis Island.

Thurps was not at all surprised that Minos won so quickly. If they couldn't even win Salamis, then they wouldn't say they wanted to go directly to Athens.

After all, the King Theseus of Athens is not an easy character to deal with.

"It's Crete's fleet." The warrior on the pier said with his head down when he saw their king's arrival.

Surps nodded, squinted his eyes, looked at the figure standing on the bow of the big ship at the forefront of the fleet, raised his eyebrows, and pursed his lips and hummed softly.

What I have to admit is that in the eyes of those who are waiting for them, the king and army who came with triumph are like the most powerful people in the world—people can't help but want to cheer for them.

"His Majesty."

"Huh?" Thurps turned his head to look at the young man who made the sound—he selected him from a large number of warriors whose minds were nothing but fighting, which is rare in Sparta. Nice guy.

"Forgive me for being rude—if you ally with Crete, the distribution of benefits after the war..." The young man didn't even mention Miletus, a new city-state. After all, in the eyes of the Spartan warriors, only people like Athens Only big city-states such as Crete and Crete can be compared with them, whether it is war or alliance.

"Salamis also has a lot of rich products." Thurps paused, seeing a trace of disapproval on the young man's face, but he didn't feel offended, "The King of Crete's expedition this time is not Came for Athens."

The young man was stunned.

Thurps didn't say much, but put on an inscrutable look.

It is impossible for him to tell the young man that Minos this time is actually mostly to curry favor with him.

As for the king, it is good to pretend to be bluffing when necessary, and the people who put on the expression will always fill in their own understanding of the expression in their minds.

Years ahead