Chapter 1 Prologue: Keeping an Appointment

This is the second Sunday of March, the 454th year since the birth of Saint Jesus. Originally, this is not a day worth remembering, but for Orius Luca, this may be his final "Judgment Day". It is not because of his own pessimism, but he also feels that the real deadline is approaching!

At dusk, the setting sun was like blood, dyeing the western sky red, and submerging the entire Western Roman Empire in this blood-red light. It was ridiculous to say that the sky was like a mirror, reflecting the two empires on the land, one thriving in peace, and the other falling into dust in chaos.

Luca was wearing armor and walking in a hurry because he had to keep an appointment. He came alone to a small wooden house outside the city. This place was less than half a mile away from Rome behind him, and there was only a wide moat separating it from the gray rock walls of Rome. In order to visit a person who had left him a message, Luca brought a full jug of wine for this visit. Because he was sure that as a Roman, he had no resistance to this wine.

"What kind of hermit would choose to be so alone here?"

Luga's heart was full of questions, but he still knocked on the door gently. Nothing could be more curious than him at the moment.

"Creaky!" The dilapidated wooden door was slowly opened.

"Your Excellency Orius Flavius ​​Luca."

What Lujia was not expecting was that the person who called his name was not a white-haired hermit, but a young man. He stood in front of Lujia, trembling, and looked to be in his early twenties. Although his clothes were ragged and his hair looked greasy and messy, he still cleaned his face very well. Facing the guests with a dirty face was the greatest disrespect. He was very nervous. He was standing at the door with a wooden stool in his hand. The stool was a little old, but it looked dust-free after being wiped. This might be the only valuable thing in his house. He held the stool, standing there at a loss, motionless.

"Your place is really shabby."

Luca smiled, trying to be casual and not make the atmosphere too awkward. He looked up and down at the young man's house and couldn't help saying, "It's just like the house I lived in when I was escaping. No, it's even more shabby than that house."

The young man's mouth was trembling, and he seemed unable to smile. He wanted to nod, but was afraid that something had gone wrong, so he didn't dare to nod. He was in a state of complete contradiction. He might be trying hard to guess what my words meant, but Luca's words really didn't mean anything else.

"What's wrong, brave little guy?" Luka smiled and looked at the child. In order to ease the embarrassment, he pointed to the room behind the young man and asked him, "Why, are you going to turn your guests away just like that?"

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry, sir!" The young man suddenly realized and quickly made way. Luga, holding on to his heavy breastplate and holding up his long red cloak, walked sideways into the shabby wooden house.

The light inside suddenly dimmed, with only an oil lamp emitting a faint glow.

"Just leave the door open like this."

Because Luca sniffed and felt that the smell inside was not so friendly, he then placed the wine on the wooden table facing the door. He opened the lid, and in an instant, the rich aroma of wine filled the short and narrow wooden house. The young man couldn't help but take a deep breath, greedily inhaling the aroma of wine in the air. Yes, this is the nature of the Romans, they love wine like their life.

"How about it, do you want to drink?"

Luca smiled and shook the wine jug towards him, deliberately letting the wine hit the wall of the jug to make a crisp sound. The young man swallowed and nodded slightly.

Luca was very generous, because the wine was originally prepared for this trip, so Luca handed the wine jug to him and said, "Drink it, this is the wine of Edessa, a treasure of the Eastern Empire."

The young man put his nose close to the mouth of the pot and sniffed it, but he didn't open his mouth to take a sip. His expression was very intoxicated, as if his entire soul was sucked away at the moment his lips were against the mouth of the pot, but he was still so happy and at ease. Is this the charm of the wine? Luca couldn't help but marvel secretly.

"Why? Not to your taste?"

"No, that's not the case, Master Luke."

The young man came to his senses, hurriedly put the wine jug on the table, turned around and made a noise under the table. Soon, the table was covered with blank parchment. While the boy was busy, he did not forget to add a little oil to the lamp to make it burn brighter.

"Please take a seat, Master Luca, this matter is more important than drinking!"

The young man pointed to the wooden stool that had just been placed next to Luca, and with great effort, he took out a large stack of rolled parchment from under the table.

"I really didn't expect that you have so many valuable things in your house."

The amount of parchment shocked Luca. This young man must have spent a lot of money. Luca thought he roughly knew what this guy was up to, so he lifted the small wooden bench and sat opposite him.

During this hurried preparation process, the young man found a reed tube and ink from somewhere, spread out a piece of parchment, dipped it in ink, and began to write stroke by stroke.

The young man's behavior made Luga a little curious. He leaned forward slightly and stretched his neck to look to see what this guy was writing.

"Aurius, Flavius, Luca? Why are you writing my name?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Luka." The young man stopped what he was doing, looked up at Luka and said apologetically, "You know, you are a legendary figure. You have fought for the empire for many years and made great achievements, but no one has recorded your achievements and life, so..."

"So you're planning to invite me over, record my life, and make a fortune from it?"

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His intention was exposed, but Luka was not very happy. On the contrary, he was not very angry. He just felt that facing the young man in front of him, his face was sometimes blue and sometimes white. He bit his lower lip tightly, like a child who tried to lie but was exposed. He was at a loss for a moment. Luka thought his heart must be beating in his throat.

"Your Excellency, I meant no offense."

The young man was very nervous, and he tried to defend himself, but his lips trembled and his words were not clear. Luca could clearly see the sweat on his forehead through the firelight. His hand holding the ink-stained reed pipe was shaking slightly, and the ink in the pipe dripped onto the parchment below.

"Put away your paper and pen, child."

He must be regretting that he was too eager to take out paper and pen to record, Luka said so, holding the reed pipe, and had a sufficient struggle in his heart. He wanted to know Luka's life story, although Luka didn't seem to want to do so. But he was reluctant to put down his pen, because this would be a great opportunity for him to prove himself.

"Kid, there's no need to be so anxious to prove yourself."

Luca spoke slowly in a casual tone, stretched out his hand, pulled out the reed tube between his fingers, and slowly broke it in his hand.

"All I want is a patient listener, not a furious scribe."

The young man's Adam's apple moved, and his eyes moved from the broken reed tube in Luga's hand to the parchment in his own hand. He took a deep breath, and as if he had made a painful decision, he reluctantly put the pile of parchment back under the table in front of Luga and nodded to Luga.

"very good!"

Luka let out a long sigh and relaxed his whole body. Thinking that he had been running around for half his life and had no time to tell people his story, he closed his eyes and thought about his past carefully. Finally, Luka said, "If you really want to believe my story, then please listen to it completely."

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(End of this chapter)