Chapter 90 Entering the City

◎Show me what other cards you have, fairy.◎

The dull sound of the horn blew open the city gate, and the strong men pulled open the iron fence, allowing the troops who had been waiting for a long time to slowly enter.

According to regulations, several teams of cavalry should have been stationed on both sides to prevent the foreign soldiers from suddenly attacking and injuring anyone. Perhaps out of respect for Rome, only a small group of soldiers stood at the city wall, and they didn't even hold their hands to their bows.

Elena and Antonio walked side by side in front, looking around cautiously.

In order not to arouse the resentment of the city of Athens, they let most of the soldiers camp several miles outside the city, and only brought the first few Roman centuries and Greek squads.

As the horses entered the inner city, the atmosphere of respect that had just been created disappeared: the people seemed uninterested in this marriage, with a small number of residents passing by on both sides of the street or standing at home observing coldly.

Forget the planned welcome party. There were no flowers, no cheers, not even the most basic curiosity. The entire city seemed shrouded in a layer of icy air, without a trace of enthusiasm.

There were even children who ran past the convoy with their heads down, without even glancing over.

Antonio whispered, "Maybe we came too early and they weren't prepared."

Yes, they had arrived early. Their pilgrimage, which was supposed to encompass all the Greek city-states, had only skimmed through a few, and even then witnessed at least four sacrifices.

It's just that some of the sacrifices were very obscure and happened before they arrived, leaving the city in a mess and some panicked soldiers.

"Are Athenians usually this calm?" Elena looked around. "In Rome, even a cat running into the middle of the street makes a noise."

"No, it's definitely not normal."

Antonio nodded in agreement. Before he left, Athens was clearly a vibrant city.

Since the Citizens' Assembly and the Noble Council existed at the same time, sometimes all the citizens would go to the square for a meeting in the morning, and the nobles would hold a second meeting behind closed doors in the evening.

In addition to decision-making, meetings of all sizes also provide a lot of entertainment for everyone.

Whenever the meeting was over, people would gather in groups of three or four to drink, chat, or go home to enjoy the slaves' singing and dancing.

To be fair, it is impossible for the people not to be enthusiastic about grand weddings; they can only oppose arranged marriages.

But Greece had no reason to oppose the marriage with Rome. They were so close to Persia and Macedonia, how could they possibly reject Rome?

Tap, tap, tap.

In the early morning, slaves were already squatting in the gutters on either side of the street, washing pots. Soldiers spurred their horses and galloped towards the central square. The wind swirled under their hooves, but few looked back.

The central square was empty. Antonio stood up and looked for a long time before he saw a few familiar figures by the fountain: political officers Price and Madeleine, and some members of parliament who were in charge of foreign affairs.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but I always feel like there’s a layer of haze in their eyes.

Antonio subconsciously wanted to retreat, but the horse had already skillfully crossed most of the square and stopped in front of the crowd.

"Mr. Price." Antonio greeted politely.

"Welcome back, and welcome...distinguished guests from Rome."

Price's voice broke the eerie silence. Their movements were a little stiff, but still within a reasonable range. It seemed that they were just too tired after a busy day.

He walked to the front of Elena and saluted solemnly. "Your Highness Elena, please accept our apology. The Citizens' Assembly has not yet been convened, and many citizens are unaware of your presence."

Elena sat on her horse, glancing coldly down below: "You mean - someone intercepted my father's letter?"

"No... there might be a slight misunderstanding. Lord Magrano plans to announce this news in a week and hold a referendum meeting at the same time."

Antonio listened to his quibbling, his eyes wide open: Magrano was the Archon of Greece. What did Price mean by that? Would his father be so foolish as to deliberately delay an important diplomatic mission?

Price spread his hands, his tone and expression indifferent. "We've already prepared your residence. It's right next to the Temple of Dionysus. It's a very beautiful house. There are stables and horse slaves in the garden. There will be specialists to help you manage the slaves and horses."

According to the rules, men and women should not live together before they get married.

But Price's arrangement was far from polite.

If normal procedures were followed, a symbolic referendum should have been held when Caesar's letter arrived, and then the princess would have arrived in Athens, and then a procession would have lined up to welcome her, and a grand celebration ceremony would have been held on the same day.

This is just a ceremony to welcome the distinguished guests. The actual wedding will be postponed for one to two weeks and held on an auspicious day before they move into their new home together.

But the referendum hasn’t even started in Athens yet?!

Antonio felt like he was going crazy: when he was a guest in Rome, he always remembered to defend the reputation of Greece, and the other side had no way to argue and could only mock Greece for delaying work.

"You Greeks have a meeting in the morning and another in the evening. You voted in the morning to behead a prisoner, but you didn't realize until the evening that he didn't deserve to die and should have received a lighter sentence! So you had to sew his head shut with a needle and apologize to the corpse."

This kind of meaningless mockery actually happened: a meeting in the morning, a meeting in the evening, and then the Roman princess arrived in Athens early, and you guys didn't even start the referendum?!

"I see."

Elena looked at Price deeply and pursed her lips: "Take me to the villa first."

Antonio unclenched his fists, and he understood.

Something is wrong here, something strange is definitely happening. For safety's sake, we must not reveal any clues before we find them - the other party must be planning the same thing.

He glanced at the square and his heart sank immediately: he could spot at least three suspicious points at a glance.

First, Price and the others had stiff expressions and movements, so I hoped they were just sick and dying.

Secondly, the central square should be bustling in the morning, especially if there was a morning meeting today. There were no guards blocking the way, so how could there be so few residents?

Thirdly, what about the guards? When did the guards patrolling the city of Athens only have two or three kittens? It was just a perfunctory job.

Something big has happened.

He looked at Elena's calm back: the only people he could trust now were his personal guards and the Romans brought by Elena.

…

"Grandpa, why are we stopped outside?"

A black-haired girl walked out of the crowd and came to the leader Aqis.

Archies, already annoyed by the others, waved his hands repeatedly, "Wait, wait a little longer! The nobles in the parliament told us to live in the designated area first!"

He said it lightly, but the people around him were unhappy: "Hey, we agreed to bring slaves to Athens, but not only did you not buy them, you also made us wait outside the city. Are we slaves too?!"

The man's words received constant responses.

"Yes, we came all the way here, at least we can open a market."

"This is the way Athens treats guests?!"

"A noble lord is a noble lord. He thinks slaves are stones and can be preserved without food or water!"

Aches was overwhelmed and stamped his feet, shouting, "They promised that in just two weeks, all the slaves could be sold! At a high price!"

This may sound intimidating, but the merchants were not fooled. They had heard similar talk before when they first arrived, and their ears were callused.

Melia stood quietly nearby. She was now using the alias Maya, a new trader. Without a name like "Melia of Rome," it was difficult to stand out.

She finally caught up with the group of slave traders and obtained some useful information: some high-ranking officials in Athens had encouraged them to bring more slaves, and it was said that a building specifically for them to "store" the slaves had been built not far away.

Melia didn't believe this was an apology from a noble. Would a noble who didn't treat slaves as human beings show mercy to them? No, it must be to achieve his own goals.

Now it seems that the purpose was to make the slaves stay in a designated place at a designated time. It sounds like a sacrificial ritual.

No matter what the enemy's goal is, just prevent him from achieving it.

There was only one problem: how to persuade these slave owners to abandon the houses they had built and move somewhere else?

Despite their loud arguments, these people simply wanted reassurance. Once the arguing got serious, someone from Athens would come and explain things, and they would then obediently take their slaves to the designated location.

After all, since you're here, why not sell it?

Fortunately, she was well prepared, and thanks to Elena for her cooperation~

Trample, tramp, tramp, tramp, in the distance a white horse stepped into the dust.

Ronnie was riding on a horse, she used a cloak to cover her long hair, and her bulging muscles made it clear that she was the deputy of some important figure.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Ronnie stopped her horse at a distance and shouted to the merchants, "The house we reserved has been occupied by a group of soldiers! They said they are here to send the Roman princess."

Wow——

The merchants suddenly erupted in an uproar. Most were still hesitant, but someone immediately stamped their feet in the crowd, "Oh no! This news is actually true?! If we come here at this hour, there's no way the city will have time to sell us things!"

The wedding celebrations only lasted two or three days, but the problem was the citizens' assembly: there would definitely be many things that would squeeze out the assembly time, and since they were all from outside the area, there was no telling when the proposal to open a slave market would be put to a vote.

The merchants started talking to each other, and they soon discovered in despair: the matter was more real than real gold!

Someone actually just passed by outside and said that there was a group of Romans stationed nearby.

This left me speechless: Who didn't know how brutal the Roman legions were? It was said that wherever they passed, no grass would grow, and every living person would be taken as a slave! Their brutality rivaled that of Macedonia and Persia.

If you really run into this group of professional soldiers with your slaves, you will lose everything.

Tap, tap, the slippers stepped crisply on the stone slabs.

The bright black-haired girl climbed up the rocks and said in a voice that everyone could hear: "Everyone, why do we have to wait outside the city? Look, someone is clearly entering the city."

The city gate was a bit deserted today, but there were indeed one or two civilians passing by who seemed to be visiting relatives.

Melia beamed, her arms wide open. "The only people prohibited from entering the city are merchants carrying large numbers of slaves. Therefore, I now declare myself the owner of a theater. I will bring my Hunnic actors into Athens—as a free gift for the upcoming wedding."

This... Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. There is such a trick?

Indeed, there are always a lot of actors and actresses at weddings, which is completely understandable.

Immediately, a clever merchant followed suit: "I'm here to watch the ceremony, too. I brought a Persian vase, I guarantee the princess will like it!"

The atmosphere gradually became lively. These merchants were not fools. In fact, they did not dare to bring too many slaves that could not be sold, for fear that the big buyers in Athens would look down on them and spend all their money on the round-trip fare.

All the goods that were brought along were carefully selected high-end goods. Even if Athens didn't want them, they could be sold to other city-states at a lower price along the way.

The most urgent thing was to get into the city first. If they couldn't find anyone to communicate with, there would be no way. On the contrary, they knew many of the council members well. As long as they could meet in person, why would they be worried about not being able to show their skills?

Even if there was no leniency, he could still make himself familiar to the Roman princess, or sell the slaves privately to the rich in the city.

In short, we should go into the city! Who would dare to live in the same room with Roman soldiers?

The merchants spontaneously dispersed and entered the city with their slaves.

The person walking in front held his breath nervously, but the guard didn't make things difficult for him. He collected the entrance fee and let him go: slaves didn't need to pay the entrance fee.

So everyone rushed into the city, including a black-haired girl and her team. Melia turned around and winked at Ronnie outside the city: according to the agreement, she would wait here until nightfall.

Let me see what you have up your sleeve, goblin.

I'll eat your [Soldier] first as a token of my respect.

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Thanks to Baiwei, 21984954, and Doubi Xiaomushi for their support~