Chapter 347: Outstanding Person (Part 2)

"That makes sense. I am deeply inspired."

Facing Aetius's suggestion, Luca could not help but nod his head repeatedly, but a question suddenly occurred in his mind: why did Aetius ask this question at this time? Was he trying to trick him? Luca immediately became alert, raised his head and looked at Aetius with a puzzled look, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

"What? Oh, no, no, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything else, Lord Luca." Aetius waved his hands quickly and explained to Luca with a smile: "Don't easily think that I would frame you like this, especially when you are so weak. Don't worry, Luca, I disdain to persecute weak opponents."

"I hope you really think so!" Andrew stood behind Luca and stared at Aetius, saying harshly. His appearance did not scare Aetius, who just shrugged his shoulders and spread his palms, showing a nonchalant gesture. In fact, he did not take Andrew seriously.

Luca stopped asking questions, because he seemed to understand something, and because he would look even more stupid if he continued like this, so he simply raised his glass and toasted Aetius. Aetius smiled and toasted back, and the two drank the wine in the glass together.

At this moment, a trumpet suddenly sounded from the palace behind Aetius, followed by even louder music. It seemed like a slogan, calling out to every noble and famous person present.

"Let's go, it's getting late." Aetius looked at Luca and said with a smile, "Don't make Augusta and Augustus wait anxiously. They have bad tempers. After all, they were born in the Purple Chamber, and noble people like to lose their temper." As Aetius spoke, he led Luca up the steps of the palace. They followed the crowd and climbed the steps and entered the gate guarded by several fully armed guards.

Along the way, the dignitaries were surprised that Aetius was walking side by side with Luca, but for the sake of reputation, they just covered their mouths and pretended to be surprised, and had no other words to express their disbelief. Aetius just smiled in response to their actions, which made the dignitaries think that these two guys with heavy troops seemed to be political allies, which was a rare scene.

Luca was embarrassed. Facing the surprised looks from all directions, he responded, but his face was a little pale. He kept smiling and nodding all the way until he finally reached the innermost part of the hall. Here, Luca saw Augusta Galla Placidia and Augustus Valentinian III.

Dressed in festive attire, they slowly walked up the steps amid the cheers of the nobles, came to the highest point of the hall, and enjoyed the cheers and applause of the crowd.

Perhaps she was tired of listening, Augusta Placidia frowned and raised her hand to signal everyone to stop cheering and clapping. "Okay, okay, okay!" The court steward stood on the stage and waved his hands to the nobles below and said loudly: "Everyone, welcome to our banquet at this auspicious moment. Of course, let our honorable Augusta say a few words now. She has a lot to say to you who have not seen you for a long time."

As soon as he finished speaking, a thunderous sound was heard from the audience. At this time, Augusta Placidia slowly stood up, walked to the front of the stage, looked down at everyone present, and then said, "I have summoned you all here this time mainly to announce to you that my son, Augustus Valentinian III, the only orthodox ruler of the Western Roman Empire, and I have decided that Flavius ​​Aetius and Flavius ​​Luca will share the title of Outstanding Ones, in recognition of the fact that they have remained strong despite the double persecution of barbarians and traitors for protecting the empire."

So that's how it is. Under the cheers of the nobles and celebrities, Luca and Aetius became the outstanding ones. As the name suggests, outstanding people and excellent guys. The outstanding class is the title of the lower-level senators in the Senate. Although it is at the bottom, once you enter the Senate class, you are qualified to continue to climb up and become a bureaucrat in the court, or a high-ranking officer leading a legion, or he can communicate directly with the senators in the Senate to make decisions.

This was indeed a rapid promotion process, like boarding a through train to more power. For Luca, entering the class of the outstanding was indeed incredible. But what surprised him even more was that Aetius, a military general who had been canonized as a noble and became the supreme commander of the Gaul region of the Western Roman Empire long before him, would become an outstanding at the same time as him. Luca did not expect that they would enter the class of the outstanding together. When he looked up again, he saw Valentinian III looking at Luca with a red face. He also tried hard to suppress the deep joy on his face and lip-synced to Luca: "Don't forget the promise you made to me."

Well, so this is why. Luca couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

"Congratulations, Luca." Aetius looked at Luca with a smile. There was no treachery in his eyes. Luca stretched out his hand thoughtfully and crossed his arms with Aetius, celebrating this event worth celebrating together.

Seeing the stiff expression on Luca's face, the smart Aetius naturally saw the unnaturalness on Luca's face, but Aetius couldn't understand how Luca could develop in sync with him under such circumstances. This is why Aetius was respectful to Luca on the surface, at least on the surface. "It seems that it is because of this immature guy Valentinian III that Luca can be equal to himself in name at such a young age." Aetius knew very well and deeply realized that this young man who was killing people in the north and south of the empire was definitely not in line with his ordinary appearance. "This guy must be hiding something?" Aetius thought in his heart, but the smile on his face was still brilliant.

This may also be the reason why Aetius could treat him with such a pleasant expression. On the surface, he and Aetius were like comrades-in-arms, but Luca knew clearly in his heart that although Aetius was now powerful, Luca used the relationship of being the adopted son of Theodosius II and firmly grasped the heart of Augustus Valentinian III while consolidating the Purple Chamber Alliance between the Eastern and Western Empires. Although Valentinian now looked like a puppet, his mother Pracitia, the woman who held the power of the empire, was his strong backing.

Although Augusta Placidia tried every means to maintain the current position of Valentinian III Augustus, Luca was the adopted son of Augustus of the Eastern Empire. Now Luca realized that he had two identities in Placidia's eyes. One was a usurper. Who said it was not? A wild boy who ran away from Narpan Gaul, and now the adopted son of Augustus of the Eastern Empire, who can say that this guy has no ambition. But the second is a loyal guard, because from the various signs that Luca saw at the moment, he seemed to be an indispensable chess piece for the empire to survive. With him, as long as he could maintain his army, he could recover the land he had lost and strengthen the power of Valentinian III. For Valentinian, the worst thing would be to let him rise step by step, and when he achieved enough achievements, he would kill him at the right time, or cause a civil war between him and Aetius. Both sides would suffer losses, which was the result that the Purple Chamber was most willing to see.

However, Aetius had no intention of fighting, as if he had guessed what the Purple Chamber was thinking, after all, Placidia had already planned to kill him once. What he was doing now was to maintain his relationship with Luca, and mutual restraint and coexistence between the two sides was his first choice, and it was also Luca's only choice.

(End of this chapter)