spartan ancestor

On Mount Olympus, the god in charge of agriculture is Demeter, a goddess of love and justice.

If it was the former Artemis, she might have dragged people into the water in a hurry in exchange for her own freedom, but after going through all kinds of... tempering in Sparta, she really couldn't get rid of this goddess she had a crush on. Pull into the fire pit.

And—who knows if this will be another test for Hyacinthus?

Before she was involved in government affairs, she had also collapsed to the point of becoming evil, and wanted to steal back the remaining godhead from Jacintos while her godhead was mostly restored.

In the end, let alone success, most of the restored godhead disappeared in an instant before her buttocks got off the chair and was about to slip out of the private hall.

Before she recovered from the deep blow, Yacintos, who was out on patrol, realized something was wrong, turned back, leaned against the door and looked at her meaningfully for a long time, and almost saw her kneel down—of course, Her legs were weak more because Hyacinthus signaled another pile of official duties delivered to her desk by the guard.

Artemis thought carefully, thinking deeply: Did Hyacinthus really want me to lie to Demeter when he said this, or did he check whether my moral character has improved?

Not impossible!Her godhead began to recover after she reflected on herself and determined to change. The more good she did, the faster she would recover. Whenever something bad came up, even if she wanted to give up, she would regress.

After repeated thinking and speculation, she finally decided: this must still be a test.

So, after sending the envoy away, Hyacinthus teased Artemis a few times with evil intentions, but the other party seemed to be generous and righteous, and almost yelled, "Come at me for everything". Hyacinthus was intrigued.

Fortunately, Akka finally led the caravan back to Sparta before Artemis was teased and collapsed by Hyacinthus.

This time in business, A-Ka left for an exceptionally long time.

The spring of Sparta has already flicked its tail, and the hot summer can't wait to occupy this plain.

This summer is hotter than any previous year. It is doubtful whether the casting furnace of Vulcan on Mount Olympus was overturned, and the hot lava flowed into the world, which almost melted Greece.

I don’t know if it’s because of this, but when Hyacinthus went out to greet him, Aka’s expression looked quite gloomy, his brows were tightly furrowed, as if he was thinking about some big problem, and he didn’t even look up from that kind of attitude when he saw Hyacinthus. Come out of your emotions.

Yacintos met the deep gaze of the other party, and couldn't help laughing: "Do I look like a tombstone?"

"..." Aka frowned fiercely, opened his mouth and paused for a moment, then calmed down the creases between his brows, and looked away to signal behind him, "During this period, the Chamber of Commerce has basically laid commercial lines to various scales. In the big city-states, the Mercenary Association has further expanded the range of walks. I brought you some things along the way, but because of the heat, some of them are no longer so fresh."

Jacintos tapped the corolla on top of his head: "It must be fresher than the one I'm wearing now."

"..." It's amazing, with just such a sentence, the expression on A-Ka's face seems to ease a lot.

He nodded to Jacintos, got off his horse, and signaled his subordinates behind him to move the miscellaneous things he brought out of the carriage.

Artemis smacked his mouth dryly beside him.

She took a special look at Aka who whispered to the mover to be careful. She didn't see any embarrassment on his face at all, and there was even a trace of seriousness in his expression, as if the things being moved from the car were not dried flowers and stones. , but to be sent to participate in the sacrifice of the festival.

—— She didn't mean to look down on these little things, she could even say she was a little envious.

She remembered that when she was very young, she lived with her brother Apollo and her mother on the island of Delos.

At that time, there were no humans on the island of Delos.

In fact, at the beginning, this small island, which is now quite prosperous, was just a huge pumice stone. It was not until she and Apollo were born that the stone was fixed and turned into a small island with mountains.

She spent a fairly ordinary and happy childhood there. Even though her mother was always worried about Hera's revenge at that time, her mother always protected her and her brother very well.

She and Apollo often ran wildly all over the mountains and plains, and when they went home, they would bring the beautiful wild flowers and strange-shaped stones they found by chance when they passed by.

Looking at it now, those gifts are quite naive and clumsy, and most of them are worthless, but to her and Apollo at that time, it was more like a special ceremony that was extraordinarily solemn for children and carried pure love .

They use this ritual to quietly express that when they leave home and see beautiful things, the first thing that comes to mind is their mother, and they hope to share it with their mother.

It's like a tacit understanding.

When they handed these things picked up from the side of the road to their mothers, they said "I love you" without words.And the praise and adornment that the mother always indulges in is a response of "I love you too".

But when they get older and more sensible, this kind of ritual will gradually become a disgusting childish behavior in their eyes.It seems that they are the most stupid and immature little kids who take these things home. They pick up some things from the side of the road and show them to their mother eagerly.

So when they grew to the height of their mother's waist, this ceremony was completely put on hold, and the following time passed quickly like running water. They were discovered by Hera, hunted down by the giant python skin, and became the main gods... and finally reconciled Mother Leto drifted away.

Hyacinthus was trying to choose the most desirable one to wear from the flower crowns of various colors and styles, and by the way praised the speed of progress of Aka's craftsmanship.

After all kinds of comparisons, I finally picked out two tops. Hyacinthus held them in his hands and weighed them. He really couldn’t pick which one was better. Looking back, he wanted to let Artemis, who is a woman and may have a more delicate aesthetic, judge Take a moment: "Do you think this one goes better with my blonde hair, or this one goes with my cape... Oh, why are you crying again?"

This is better than Apollo crying, at least there is a reason for Apollo crying, why this girl is crying for no reason at all.

Yacintos even reflected on his behavior just now, and made sure that he did not bully the other party: "You..." He tentatively raised the flower crown in his hand, "You want it too?"

"No, no," Artemis shook his head hastily, put a smile on Hyacinthus's shoulder with tears in his eyes, and said meaningfully, "The flower crown is very good, cherish it. Don't give it away."

Hyacinthus: "..."

Jacintos frowned, his eyes subtle.

What stupid things this girl is talking about, of course it is impossible to give it away.

Every corolla is different, what should he do if he gives it away?He just asked and was just going to say, "If you want, you can learn by yourself, and you can practice more."

·

Hyacinthus didn't know what stimulated Artemis. After crying outside the city gate that day, he came back with a lot of energy to do things, and he seemed to wake up and reform to fight for early freedom.

The recovery of the godhead also proves that Artemis' drive is not fake.

For this reason, Yacintos was quite gratified. On the day Artemis fully recovered, he personally sent people to the border: "I really don't want to stay for a few more days? The renovation of the Temple of Artemis has been completed, and you don't want to go see it." ?”

The renovation of the Temple of Artemis began in early summer and continued into early autumn.

The hottest time in the Mediterranean has passed. When Aizhi and Norm occasionally come to Yacintos’s yard for dinner, they will not secretly arrange whether it is the god of beauty who cheated again, which provoked the god of fire to kick over the furnace. The world is so hot.

Hyacinthus initially condemned this arrangement, but Artemis curled his lips and said: "It is impossible for the lava to flow into the world, but it is absolute for Beauty to cheat. When will Aphrodite not cheat?"

Yacintos tried to persuade him to stay again: "Perhaps you want to show a miracle? Reward the priests of the temple for working so hard to please you?"

"..." Artemis's face was almost purple, and it took a while to force a rather bitter smile, "No need, I have been supervising the repair of the temple, if the priest is really pious, then you can Repairing the temple together with the gods I enshrine is enough to be regarded as a unique reward."

Unique indeed.

Artemis' heart was bleeding, and there should be no second god in the world who watched his magnificent temple being demolished, but forced himself to oversee the work with a smile on his face.

"Oh, well." Yacintos shrugged, with regret in his voice, "I see that you have been quite active in handling official duties recently, and I thought you would want to stay for a few more days and learn more from me. Didn't we start Are you in contact with some more complicated official business? I don’t want to take advantage of this momentum—”

"No!" Artemis raised her voice unconsciously in anxiety.

What a joke, she behaved so well in order to get out of the sea of ​​suffering as soon as possible, not to continue sinking in the sea of ​​suffering!

Hyacinthus smiled and cast his gaze.

Artemis' originally raised neck shrank back cowardly, and under the more deadly gaze of Hyacinthus, it collapsed reflexively in time, reluctantly returning to the calm style taught by Hyacinthus .

After her brain was confused for a while, she struggled to pull out the "negotiation skills that Apollo also learned": "I know, you don't actually want me to show up in the temple, right? You are working by your side, and it is clear that compared to the blessings of the gods, you trust those methods that can rely on human strength to obtain harvests. It is like you asked me to use human methods to study how to breed, instead of directly using my divine power to give livestock Blessed with fertility and fertility."

Yacintos nodded appreciatively: "This is indeed a reason that can convince me."

After all, the blessings of the gods are uncontrollable, but the prolific traits of livestock obtained through breeding can be continued stably.

Artemis was immediately encouraged, and she puffed up her chest and continued her efforts: "Besides, Aka has always been reluctant to see me. You must care more about... the feelings of your best friend than leaving a guard officer to relieve yourself, yes wrong?"

Hyacinthus: "...that's another good reason, but why did you stop in the middle?"

It sounds weird.

Artemis looked at him speechlessly.

Sometimes she really couldn't see whether there was any ambiguity between Yacinthos and Aka, and these two people would always behave more honestly than anyone else when she tried to hint.

Just like now, she can feel Aka's gaze on the back of her head, without turning her head, she can imagine the other party's frowning and disapproving expression.

She doesn't want to talk too much recklessly, which makes it impossible for her to determine whether Aka is unhappy because she arranges their friendship, or because she just calls their relationship a "best friend" "?

...In short, don't try to interfere in other people's love affairs—or relationships, it will become unfortunate.

Artemis checked the rucksack. Apart from the bow and arrow, those toys that belonged to Apollo and now belonged to her were also stuffed into the bag by her.

It is impossible to go back to Sparta, so I can only bring some souvenirs to recall this appearance later.

The last ray of sunlight has disappeared behind Mount Tigertes, and a rare full moon rises from Mount Parnon in the east. Artemis is covered with holy silver light and flies towards the sky.

It's time, she thought.

It's time to beat that dead brother of Apollo! !ah!Half a year has passed, and I haven't been to Sparta once!Why did you go to Apollo! !

·

Although he didn't know what Akka was doing after leaving Sparta for so long, Yacintos was sure that it wasn't as simple as developing a chamber of commerce and recruiting mercenaries.

It is not difficult to make such an inference. After returning to Sparta, Aka seemed to have suddenly returned to their original way of getting along. He followed him silently every day, and his brother Os would watch over him after nightfall. After driving away, he left slowly.

"...What kind of eyes is that? Food protection?" Oss frowned and stared at Aka's back as he left the courtyard. He barely retracted his eyes until he could no longer see the other person's figure on the path, "There is something I want to show Discuss with you."

When they succeeded to the throne, the two brothers had a good division of labor, with Oss in charge of all government affairs related to the military, and Jacintos in charge of others.

Based on the fact that after Sparta experienced the New Deal, the government affairs covered by the "Other" part are enough to make Jacintos burnt out. Oss rarely asks Jacintos about military government affairs, and basically takes care of the Senate and citizens. The wrangling of the conference, this time he took the initiative to ask Yacintos, it can be seen that the matter is not as light as his tone.

Oss spread out the military map he was carrying: "You know, the emperor of Persia has been eyeing our Mediterranean city-states since he took the throne. I just received news this morning—"

"Wait?" Hyacinthus raised the hand that was propping his cheek, and asked a little strangely, "Persia? Emperor?"

His eyes fell on the military map, and he wanted to signal to his brother that such a ghostly place did not exist in the world, so he stopped as soon as his eyes landed on the map.

Before that, he was joking with Artemis in the largest Artemis Temple in Ephesus, but now, from the east of Ephesus to the distant Central Asia, from the Syr Darya in the north to the bottom in the south Bess, a large area is occupied by this kingdom called "Persia".

It even took him a while to find the island marked Peloponnese somewhere in the western corner of Persia, and Sparta seemed even smaller on this small island.

"..." Yacintos was stunned for a while, and couldn't help but laugh, "I thought you were in some kind of trouble—are you so serious about joking? And you prepared a map?"

"...?" Oss slowly raised his head, frowning as if hearing something absurd and unbelievable, "What?"

Hyacinthus shrugged: "Persia, map. I'm a Spartan anyway. If 'Persia' really exists, how could I never have heard of it?"

Oss folded his arms on the table, looked at Jacintos without speaking for a while, cast his eyes with scrutiny, and said after a while: "I hope you are not joking with me, Yashin. How could you Have you never heard of Persia? When you accepted the final trial, why did you think those legions lit torches at night and deliberately released water on the players?"

Hyacinthus: "..."

He wanted to pat his brother on the shoulder with a smile and tell him, "I've already exposed you, so let's just act again, and you know I'm not such an easy-to-deceive person", but relevant memories flashed before his eyes, and his face The smile on his face gradually faded.

Hyacinthus turned his attention back to the ridiculous map in a daze: "I... Later I asked old Tiedale why he was the one who said never to let the water go, but in the end the legion set fire to it at night. Torches. He said that because Macedonia has not been very stable recently, there is a big guy in the east ready to move, and Sparta needs new sources of soldiers... But, I thought it was an alliance formed by the city-states in the east—for example, the Ionians have always Very good at fighting..."

Thinking about it now, how could those loose alliances that he didn't even bother to ask a few more questions be called "big guys" in the eyes of the old fox Tiedale, and he was even so afraid that he backed down and allowed the legion to let go.

Hyacinthus raised his hands to cover his eyes, and the pain in the eye sockets began again.

The irritability from the prophetic dream under the olive tree swept over again.

He felt absurd and a little confused. In the past 20 years of his life, he had never heard of a country like "Persia". be unified?

In his memory, these peoples have been fighting back and forth all the time, Thebes, Babylon... how come these famous cities are suddenly included in Persia, which he has never heard of?

He sneered incredulously, and thought with a bit of self-deprecation, could everything in front of him be a false dream?

Maybe the foreshadowing dream was not a foreshadowing dream at all, but a reality that happened that he didn't want to admit.

He had already been killed by the discus manipulated by the God of the West Wind in that reed marsh, and everything now is just a dream of his unwillingness.

Oss helped Jacintos' shoulder with some worry and worry: "Are you okay? Have you ever been hit on the head by something when you weren't paying attention? Occasionally in the army There are cases where soldiers with brain injuries lose a piece of memory after recovery."

Jacintos glanced at Oss, not knowing what to say.

Rather than losing a piece of memory, it was more like after being hit on the head by something, he closed and opened his eyes and suddenly came to another world that was very similar to the previous world, but very different.

In this new world, there are also Apollo and Zephyr who competed for him, his father, his brother... everything he is familiar with, so that he never imagined that in Greece—outside his familiar territory, all things They were all very different from his memory.

Jacintos pressed his stinging eyes, and temporarily forced himself not to think about the absurd guess of "I came to another world overnight": "Those are not important now, what did you want to tell me just now?" ——No, tell me first, are there any...'big guys' like Persia?"

"You mean the Roman Republic?" Oss looked at him with worried eyes. "Actually, it's hard to tell. It's still in internal struggle. But looking at the war situation in recent years, it may soon be transformed into an empire—" Regarding this, I don’t know if you still remember, when you formally proposed in the meeting hall that ‘all Helots should be free citizens’, some young nobles in Sparta actually supported your proposal? Rome's policy of treating defeated nations is the most precious thing. These young nobles think that you have the ambition to make Sparta a multi-ethnic empire like Rome, so they don't hesitate to support it. .”

Hyacinthus: "..."

Back then in the meeting hall, he did hear some nobles who supported the proposal murmur "muses and horses" in a low voice, but he thought it was either a misunderstanding or some kind of code word, who would have thought that the truth would be like this.

He looked at the military map at his elbow, looking at the land marked with "Rome" and "Persia" on it, and the Sparta he was proud of—no, Greece, was simply surviving in the cracks .

Confusion emerged from the bottom of his heart irresistibly, and it was hard for him not to think: Is this still the world he knew before?

If not, how should he face this elder brother who is worried about him?

But all these vacillations were finally pressed into his heart layer by layer: "Tell me about the things you wanted to discuss with me at the beginning, and we can talk about other situations later."

Oss looked at Hyacinthos hesitantly for a moment, and pointed to a certain area in the easternmost part of Greece: "Our spies stationed in Thrace and Macedonia sent letters saying that the Persian army has been harassing the border. The small-scale temptation gradually intensified, and a small-scale invasion began."

"No matter how worried we are, Sparta has no reason to send troops without Macedonia or Thrace without asking for help."

"But we can't do nothing." Yacintos quickly understood what Oss meant.

To be honest, looking at this military map, anyone with a little brain can imagine the fate that the Greek city-states will face after Macedonia is broken.

The Persian army's occupation of Greece will be as simple as throwing out a spark with a basin of water.

Oss looked at Yacintos and nodded: "My opinion is that you can represent Sparta, go to some friendly countries, and establish a military alliance before the Persian army really breaks through Macedonia." He complained a bit, " It would be best who can convince that stubborn king of Macedonia to ask for help sooner."

"I'll bring this up when I discuss politics tomorrow. Can you figure out what's going on in Persia and Rome before I get the Senate and the Citizens' Assembly done—before you leave?"

Jacintos gave him an affirmative answer: "Of course."

·

Corinth is also considered a fairly civilized country in Greece.

But compared to its prosperous economy and two important geographical locations, the most talked about is the Temple of Aphrodite here.

In this temple dedicated to the god of beauty, the glamorous courtesans comfort the body and soul of the guests with their considerate understanding, tenderness and enchantment. They entertain clients regardless of gender. Almost all Greeks have dreamed that one day they can get With the favor of courtesans, spend a passionate and beautiful night.

——Therefore, it is not surprising that after the Corinthian consul settled down in Hyacinthos, the first place he brought him was the Temple of Beauty.

Hyacinthus had to pat Akka on the shoulder to stop the consul from threatening the consul with his eyes, and said with a little amusement, "You know the original intention of my coming to Corinth, but I don't have time to spend on fun."

It took a while for the consul to recover from being petrified by A-Ka's eyes, and he forced a smile to wipe the sweat off his brow: "Even if they don't have fun, the courtesans here are very good at listening, which is the best way to relieve stress." Chat partner. I have arranged for you the most understanding courtesan in the temple, even if you don’t even want to chat when you go in? I can assure you that the carpets and pillows in the temple are bigger than the bed I sleep on soft."

After all, a considerable part of the people who came to Corinth came for the Temple of Aphrodite.Even if they weren't, they would still visit the Temple of Aphrodite in their spare time.

After coming and going, a large amount of donations poured into the temple, and part of Corinth's economy was even supported by the temple of Aphrodite. One can imagine how extravagant this temple is.

"Hmm..." Hyacinthus' eyes fell on the gorgeous decorations on the pillars of the temple.

Extravagant.

Gee.

The author has something to say: About who will be unlucky first and who will be unlucky last, except that the gods appearing in the copy will be in order, the rest I can’t reveal too much, because it involves the foreshadowing of the outline, but I can guarantee here that the gods mentioned, sooner or later there will be such a day

This chapter is two in one~