Chapter 231 Negotiation
"Come in, guests from afar." Thermitius called out loudly to the tents.
The door of the tent was opened by the guards, and Luca had no idea when the soldiers guarding the gate were replaced by Aetius' men.
Luca was stunned because he clearly saw the figure of the man standing at the door.
"Gaiseric!" Luka whispered, his hand on the hilt of the sword tightly gripped. Gaiseric, who had just arrived, looked pale, his lips were chapped, and he walked unsteadily. It seemed that he had gone through a lot of psychological struggles before coming here.
He only brought two guards with him. The two guards in dirty clothes were disarmed when they entered the room, and followed Gaiseric closely with bare hands. They looked around, afraid of any sneak attack or simply thought that this was just a Hongmen Banquet. Especially when they saw Luga's right hand tightly holding the hilt of the sword not far away, staring at the three of them, they became more nervous.
"Sir Luca, don't be nervous." Seeing the awkward situation, Thermitius stood up and waved to Luca and Gaiseric. He smiled and said to Gaiseric apologetically, "I'm sorry, I forgot to remind you when I was preparing." Then he turned around and looked at the guards behind him and scolded them in an unhappy tone, "Why are you still standing there like an idiot? Hurry up and prepare stools for the guests!"
After hearing this, the guard hurried out and soon brought a stool and placed it behind Gaiseric.
"Please take a seat, Lord Gaiseric." Thermitius seemed very kind to Gaiseric. From the way he acted, Gaiseric was no longer an invader or an irreconcilable enemy, but a friend. This made Luca unable to understand at all. He kept asking himself in his heart why, why were allies greeting their enemies so cordially.
"You are indeed an old fox!" Luga clenched his teeth. His heart was filled with surprise, confusion and anger, but he was helpless.
"Tell me, what do you want to say now that you have invited the enemy into your tent? Just say it." Luca was no longer able to muster up his temper. He seemed to want to hear what tricks these two colluded guys would come up with.
"Of course, as you can see, we are all here. This is just right, let's talk." Thermitius picked up the wine glass and walked back and forth in the tent with a smile on his face, looking at everyone present. He picked up the wine glass and said in a loud voice: "As you can see, we have gathered together. Of course, we were sworn enemies yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Luca was shocked by what Thermitius said. What did he mean? They were enemies yesterday, but they are not enemies today? Did they have some secret deal that they deliberately concealed? Thinking of this, Luca turned his head and looked at Gaiseric, who was invited by Thermitius.
Unexpectedly, Gaiseric sat in his seat with his eyes wide open. Like Luca, he was also greatly surprised by Themitius' words.
Facing the surprised Luca and Gaiseric, Thermitius drank the wine in his glass slowly and said slowly: "Of course, I am here to ask for peace from Gaiseric, the king of the Vandals, on behalf of the empire!"
"Peace?" Luca realized that this Thermitius had finally revealed his true colors. "I'm sorry, Your Excellency Thermitius." Luca finally let go of the last bit of respect he had for this old fox. He crossed his legs, a sitting posture that these so-called nobles could not understand at all. He looked at Thermitius and said unhappily, "Your Excellency, I think it's a bit sad that you haven't understood the meaning of peace at your age."
Luca knew that this was extremely disrespectful to Thermitius, but he didn't care, because the old bastard in the Senate before him was no longer just trying to steal the credit.
"Of course, of course I know, Lord Luca, this is an unnecessary reminder." Themitius was still smiling, but Luca didn't feel what was so funny about it.
"It is well known that Archbishop Leo I would not tolerate God's people killing each other. If I am not mistaken, Mr. Geiseric, you and your men are all devout Christians, am I right?"
Gaiseric sat in his seat, and it took him a full ten seconds to come back to his senses after Thermitius finished his question. He nodded repeatedly and was so excited that he almost knelt down to show his piety.
"Yes, my men and I are all devout Christians!" Gaiseric said, and he crossed himself on his chest and muttered, "God, forgive my sins!"
"What does this have to do with it?" Luca asked directly, "Does it mean that as long as you believe in God, you can wantonly invade the empire's land? And if you believe in God, slaughtering God's people can be forgiven at will?"
"It is for this reason that we have learned to cherish the lives of God's people, and that is why we have come to mediate and reduce the unnecessary killing at this moment!" Themitius said righteously, but Aetius, who was sitting behind him, was indifferent, as if he had let this fallacy go. Oh, he forgot, they seemed to be wearing the same pants.
"Oh, now that we're here, why are you leaving?" Luca was fed up with talking to this politician. He knew it was just a waste of time. Luca stood up and drew his iron sword. "Andrew, go out and tell all the legions to gather here. No matter how witty you are, you can't stop me from killing a damn Vandal!" Luca didn't want to listen to anything else. He stood up and faced Gaiseric.
Although the two guards beside Gaiseric were unarmed, they still stood in front of Gaiseric with serious expressions. Gaiseric behind him was even paler, obviously frightened, and had no courage at all like he would on the battlefield.
Why, why did he behave like this? Luka couldn't understand, but in the next moment, he understood.
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"That's enough, Luke!"
At this time, Aetius, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly stood up, his face full of anger, staring at Luca.
"Sir Gaiseric is a guest, and you are not allowed to be so presumptuous!" Aetius scolded Luca, which caught Luca off guard. Although he knew that they were in the same boat, he never thought that at this moment Gaiseric seemed no longer to be their enemy, but Luca had become more like one.
(End of this chapter)