Augustus Road

In front of the boulevard of Tegreseta, the poplar trees were under the leaden winter clouds, with only their light blue branches rustling. Adiana put her hands gracefully on Calabis's shoulders, then jumped lightly and boarded a gorgeously decorated car pulled by four bulls. The same car was behind it, carrying Nessa and her Maid Potty.

Luculas and Claudius came to say goodbye. After a brief exchange of greetings, the team set off for the winter camp.

Walking on both sides of the vehicle were the soldiers of the third regiment. They all had happy faces and bare heads, carrying fig tree trunks on their shoulders, with their helmets, water bottles and money bags tied to them. It was cut down in the sanctuary on the outskirts of Gracietta, and black smoke from arson fire is still rising there. Uterres and Hybrida, two centurions side by side, walked in front with their canes raised, followed by Apis, the military tribune in a mule cart.

After winter camp, I can finally return home, even if it is a temporary home.

"Tuna sent you to spy on me, right?"

"Hybrida, who is always low-level, you don't have to think of yourself as so important. I was ordered to guard the third regiment. It now shoulders the important mission of escorting the female members of the Pontus royal family. It cannot be arbitrarily determined by you, a problematic element. "

"Hey, isn't this the sword of the indigo barbarian that I took after the battle? Why does it belong to you?" At this time, Hebrida suddenly discovered that what Uteris wore on his waist was a gorgeous Kai Erte sword, and recalling its identity, he shouted, "If I remember correctly, you must have been enjoying the cool breeze on the top of the mountain at Sophiny at night!"

Just when Uteris was about to argue, Apis from behind raised his hand and said, "Gentlemen, my duty is to go to the garrison in Silesia to handle some delivery matters."

"Silesia, we have to go to the Sinop harbor to send these two girls on the boat, and then we can go to Bithynia. What a tedious journey. Tuna Luculas, I know he hates me." Hebrida He kept complaining, and then he looked back and saw the three mysterious envoys from the Bosporus who were inseparable from Adiana's chariot. They were still covered in tight cloaks and rode on their horses, with only one of them exposed. The hands covered under the wrist armor were holding the reins in a highly alert posture, which made him feel extremely annoyed, as if it indicated that this journey would not be so easy and pleasant, and he couldn't help but add, "This damn mission... ..."

The team slowly moved along the straight street, getting further and further away from Tegrasetta. After watching them leave, Luculas turned around and rode away, while Claudius next to him smiled and continued. There it is.

After a while, several whistles were heard, and a small group of men and horses emerged from the forest beside the road. The leader was a giant man with disheveled hair riding a horse, carrying an equally gorgeous sword on his back, and his face was painted with terrifying indigo dye. He faced Claudius nodded.

Claudius smiled gracefully, then turned towards the retreating figure of the convoy and the third regiment, and made a gentle "please" gesture to the giant man.

On the journey to Bithynia, the team became more and more unhappy. Sometimes Uterius and Hybrida were quarreling, sometimes Adiana and Nessa, sometimes Adiana and Hybrida, Sometimes... this was enough to make Apis feel dissatisfied and angry. He just wanted to reach Silesia as soon as possible and get out of this team as soon as possible.

Tonight, the team decided to camp in a wilderness for the night, because they could not find a house large enough to accommodate them. However, Hebrida and Adiana had a fierce argument again, and Adiana cursed all Romans in Greek. The soldiers were all barbarians. They used fig tree trunks to lift the curtains of their chariots on the road, peering into their faces wantonly, and their words were full of obscenity.

"Listen, you Greeks are filthy!" Hebrida retorted in a Latin accent, "We all know that your Greek statues are all naked, and it was the Romans who removed these statues. Everything is covered with clothes!”

Karabis next to him almost laughed out loud.

Finally, an angry Adiana announced that her car would keep its distance from the Roman camp at night.

"Please forgive my niece for being rude, she has always been such a naughty child." Nessa explained to Apis and Uteris sweetly, and promised that she would never leave the alliance and would not do anything for anyone. bring any trouble.

"Let's go, Karabis."

"Please allow me to overstep my bounds. From a safety point of view, I think it would be wiser to sleep in the same place as the Third Alliance." Karabis added.

But Adiana ignored him at all, and the helpless Calabis had no choice but to choose another campsite, two furlongs away from the Third Army camp, in a deep mountain forest with clear spring water.

After the fire started, the three messengers followed, still motionless, guarding Adiana's car. After the quarrel with Hebrida, Adiana locked herself in the car and refused Calabi. Si asked her for dinner.

The pale yellow moon in the mid-air moved out of the clouds at this time, casting a hazy shadow on the earth. The moon's figure was much "fuller" than during the decisive battle of Greseta, and it seemed to be bigger again. It’s mid-month time. Calabis was thinking about random things, carrying a clay pot, and went to a stream to draw water.

The water in the stream was very clear, and was stained with some frost. It clearly reflected a trace of silver in the moonlight. The only sound coming from the surroundings was the rustling of branches blown by the wind. Just as the pottery jar was put down, stirring up waves, and then lifted up again, the water surface slowly converged, and Karabis suddenly saw that from the gradually gathering reflections in the water, the leader of the Malcha envoys was printed. He was of medium height and was standing behind him. His whole body was covered by a cloak and disappeared in the night. Only the silver hideous mask was exposed, staring at him.

Karabis' heart tightened and he almost fell into the water, but the envoy leader's wrist then pressed his shoulder. Karabis tried to struggle, but the envoy was so powerful that his shoulder was like being clamped by an iron clamp and could not move at all.

At this time, Karabis felt that the envoy leader did not seem to care about him, but was more concerned about the situation of the stream. Finally, Karabis also saw: the surface of the stream was vibrating! Although the frequency was very slight, it was indeed vibrating.

Suddenly, a sound came rapidly from the air, and the leader threw Carabis to the ground, stepped on his head, and with a flash of his cloak, he pulled out a small "Thepho-style" shield (an ancient Mycenaean shield hollowed out into an 8-shaped shape) from his back, blocking the sound - a sharp arrow shot from the dark jungle!

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