Augustus Road

Just arrived, so the update is a little late, forgive me

————————————————————————————————

"Carabis, Carabis, look." Just when he was full of enthusiasm, Boti suddenly pointed to a garden by the backyard door. Carabis looked closely and saw a familiar figure, the Scythian doctor Timotheus who came to Rome with them, hunched over, busy with something with a knife in front of a row of cages.

Carapis came forward curiously, "Hey, Timotheus, what are you doing?"

"I'm killing chickens. Sometimes I also use a knife to cut off the testicles of boars or the vulva of sows for the guests to enjoy." Timotheus shouted with sadness without raising his head, "I didn't expect my trip to Rome to turn out like this. This place really doesn't value medicine and witchcraft."

Looking at Timotheus's miserable appearance, Carapis couldn't bear it. After all, he was the one who brought Timotheus to this city. This guy could even cure Mithridates' poison wounds. He shouldn't bury his talent in killing pigs and dogs. After thinking for a while, Carabis took out 100 drachmas from his purse and said, "Keep this money. During this time, I will mediate with Kelly or Luculas to let you leave the kitchen and open a herbal medicine clinic in Avendini Mountain."

The day after Luculas's banquet, Carabis really found the neighborhood manager, the fat man Delfero, and after explaining the situation of canceling the lease, the fat man was surprised but shook his hand with emotion: "What a coincidence, I also got promoted - I don't have to manage this two-story wooden apartment in the suburbs anymore. The higher-ups recognized my hard work and let me go to a place on Giucora Street. I'm working as a manager in a brick three-story apartment, and my salary has increased a lot. So maybe you can be my first customer now."

When the Carabis family, with their luggage and boxes, walked to the apartment on Giocola Street that Delfero had just taken over, everything here satisfied the whole family except the price: bird cages, beautiful shutters, a terrace with armchairs and potted plants, smooth floors and clean braziers, a stove with white mosaic tiles, neatly arranged pottery urns with marks, three bedrooms, a small living room, fine-textured curtains, and a brick-and-wood shrine against the wall.

"Looking down from here is the Roman Forum, with the cattle market and the vegetable market on both sides, making life extremely convenient." Delfero, who walked to the terrace, enthusiastically promoted the product. Carapis saw Boti touching this and that, and was very satisfied with the whole state, so he secretly made up his mind and asked Delfero the price. The answer was 700 drachmas a year, but we are old friends, and "faith" is the most important thing in Rome, so 650 drachmas will be enough.

"Okay, we rent it here." Carapis said readily.

After asking the woman to pay part of the rent, Carapis came to a green field at the mouth of the Tiber River according to Tyranion's instructions yesterday. On the way, he saw countless citizens of Rome, carrying baskets and rushing to the small ferry over there. Today seemed to be the day for distributing free bread. Tyranion was right. With the help of Luculus, he built a small white academy here to teach rhetoric and logic to the children of nobles. When Carapis entered, this guy was leaning on an armchair, drinking high-end wine and watching the servants taking care of a flower that he couldn't name.

Later, Tyranion introduced that he had the qualifications to open courses. As long as he talked about syllogisms and so on with a few noble young masters under this sacred forest, he would earn at least this amount a year - "Five thousand drachmas?"

"My friend Carapis, you underestimated me. It's 50,000 drachmas, because there are nobles who can spend a lot of money to sponsor me. Yes, my income makes those Latin colleagues jealous. Maybe I should hire a few retired sword slaves from the gladiator school to protect my safety." Tyranion said very comfortably, and then he persuaded Carapis to take the path of rhetoric again, but Carapis still insisted on learning boxing. Tyranion nodded and told me to come to the battlefield behind the sacred forest.

The battlefield is a building surrounded by arcades. In the center is a flat sandy area with some sports equipment. This is where the Greeks exercise their bodies. As for the Romans, they go directly to the military training ground.

"Calabis, take a look at my figure." Tyranion asked seriously while wearing a robe.

"Well, I'm taller and thinner." Calabis answered truthfully.

"This is just the appearance." Tyranion took off his robe in a flash, which amazed Calabis. He had bulging muscles all over his body, sixteen neat abdominal muscles, and a mermaid line.

"Okay, Karapis, take off your robe." After hearing what the instructor said, Karapis had no choice but to take off his clothes. "Oh, my God, Karapis, your body shape is still extremely perfect, but you lack philosophy and physical training. You have too much useless fat and your skin is too pale." Tyranion gently raised his finger, then pointed to a hanging sandbag-like object in the arcade, and said, "This is called korykos, which is the basic tool for studying boxing. Now - go up and try a punch."

Carabis nodded, walked up and shouted, "Ready to fight!", then punched Korykos with all his might, almost killing him with pain. This thing was extremely hard, and it didn't move at all after a punch. Could it be made of iron? Just as Carabis lowered his waist, covered his fist, stood on tiptoe, and grinned, Tyranion signaled him to go away. Then the scholar walked in slowly, punched Korykos quickly, and sent it flying. At the moment it swung back, he punched it again, and Korykos exploded directly, and bundles of leather strips flew out like popcorn.

"Although many people say that fighting relies on speed and flexibility, I think the hardness and sharpness of the fist are the foundation of everything. Carapis, your first priority is to practice on the korykos, first made of leather, then made of rags, and finally made of linen. It will become softer and softer, which will increase the obstacles to offset your strength, but your fist will also become sharper and sharper until it can break people's bones." As he said, Tyranion took out a piece of cowhide and wrapped it around Carapis's hands one finger at a time. "This thing will enhance your protection. Okay, Carapis, you practice here, my students are coming." Then, Tyranion put on the elegant robe again to cover the sexy mermaid line, and then carefully tidied his short hair, holding a glass of wine, and walked out gracefully.

This old guy is too ruthless, fifteen drachmas a day, and left me alone here...

There is no way! Lions and tigers that run fast but have no sharp teeth cannot catch any prey. I have only gained leg strength and brawn strength from the training in the legion, but I have not yet transformed them into sharp teeth. I must have teeth that can protect myself, Potti and Paluma. Karapis arched his back towards Korykos, first hitting him lightly, then gradually increasing the frequency and strength.

The arcade was slowly filled with the echo of "pa pa pa", and the pain of the fist gradually became numb. In front of Karapis, Korykos slowly turned into an imaginary enemy, Hebrida, Kelly, Biduita, and even Adiana, their heads and ribs were exposed in front of him. Karapis imagined that they were blocking, and he had to bypass these blocks and hit them hard.

At dusk, when Tyranion walked into the battlefield with a wine glass, he saw Karapis lying in the middle of the sand, panting and with blood on his fists.

;