The ancient stone tablet now emitted a faint glow, and the damaged words on the tablet were now all visible. The words emitting a faint red light attracted Apollo to come closer and read them carefully.
Apollo was once curious about what was written on this stone tablet. The reason he came here was because he wanted to figure out some things here. As for the matter of the King of Thrace, it was just something Apollo thought was fun, so he gave his own power to the King of Thrace.
That's why Apollo was curious about this place.
It is also because——
Apollo wanted to find out.
What is Zeus after?
What on earth did Athena escape with?
Therefore, the text on the stele is very important.
These words, which originated from the Titan period, recorded things that Apollo and other gods were not very clear about. However, the words here were almost all destroyed. Even Apollo, a god, could not decipher the past words through the damaged stone tablets. Apollo was always curious about what darkness and keys were. What did these words mean and what did they represent? Apollo was very curious.
And now, the mystery is solved.
"The origin of the world, the origin of the gods, was recorded in the Book of Creation written by the God of Creation himself. This world has always been shrouded in danger from conspirators. If you can see this text, please remember that the power of the Dark Key is extremely terrifying. It will sweep the world and completely subvert the entire world. However, the power of the Dark Key is extremely strong. When you encounter strong resistance, please remember that this is not just a key, but also the key to unlock the power of the ancient gods that have been sealed away."
"..."
After Apollo finished reading.
He couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"The Book of Creation... The Original Book of Creation?"
Obviously, what is recorded on the stone tablet is Zeus' treasure, the original book of creation stolen by Athena.
And on the stone tablet, there is a record of a strange thing called the Key of Darkness. Even the knowledgeable Apollo does not know what this thing is. In this situation, Apollo can only judge by his intuition that the Key of Darkness is definitely closely related to the Original Book of Creation.
and……
If you say so.
Zeus might be lying.
Zeus has always been very cold towards the Original Book of Creation.
The gods were also very curious about what the Genesis Book was. Zeus explained that it was a divine artifact inherited from the Titans and there was nothing special about it. The gods thought so as well.
However, if one judges from the contents on the stone tablets, especially those of the followers of the Titans, the original owners of the Book of Creation were most likely not the Titans, but gods older than the Titans - these gods were ancient gods that the Olympians had never been able to contact. Although many of these gods were well-known, they had long since disappeared.
Those ancient gods.
Is it actually related to this matter?
Moreover, Apollo also realized that these things might have a lot to do with the power of ancient gods.
Especially the one called the Dark Key.
Apollo didn't know what the Dark Key was, but he could tell that it had the power to scare even the Creation Original Library, as if it was a power that even the gods of the origin of all things were afraid of. Therefore, Apollo was naturally very curious about what the Dark Key was.
And this stone tablet.
Obviously, he was awakened by the Dark Key.
That is to say-
The person who came here last time was naturally the one with the Dark Key!
This person is most likely Hilde!
Chapter 1, Part 4: The Princess Without a Solution
Now, Apollo was in confusion.
After all, everything that appears before our eyes.
It is an ancient thing that even the god Apollo does not know about.
Apollo took a deep breath and then gently stroked the stone tablet.
The answer is already obvious.
There were too many things about Hilde that made Apollo curious. Moreover, if Hilde was the oracle of the missing Athena, as the rumors said, then Hilde would definitely have a direct connection with the original book of creation that was taken away by Athena. If Hilde was found, it would be possible to find very important clues, and thus understand what Zeus was trying to do, and what the powerful power of the ancient gods was.
"Haha...hahaha!"
Apollo couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh.
His wild laughter echoed throughout the entire underground space.
Apollo knew what he was going to do next!!!
However, Apollo also knew that the matter of the Original Book of Creation was not only of concern to him, but other gods were also paying attention to it, so Apollo had to be careful. Only Apollo himself could know about this matter. If Ares and the others knew about it, they would probably come and compete with him for this special thing.
"Hilde, here I come..."
Apollo's eyes flashed coldly.
Soon, he disappeared from here.
When the hot summer is over, autumn comes.
The Byzantine Empire had a bumper wheat harvest. From distant Ionia to the newly reclaimed fertile farmland on the Black Sea coast in the north, a large amount of wheat finally produced abundant ears of wheat. Then, the busy harvesting work began.
The agricultural development of the Byzantine Kingdom has made great progress, and this year is particularly significant because this year is the first bumper year of the development plan. Whether it is the Black Sea Province or the Hebros Province, many lands have just begun to be planted, and those Thracians have not been settled for two years. Now, the first round of bumper harvests has provided the Byzantine Kingdom with the food and grass needed to support their northern expedition.
This is particularly critical.
In fact, it is harvest time.
Hilde has already begun to deploy his troops.
The First Legion set out from the Byzantine Empire and headed for Apollonia.
The Second Legion, on the other hand, came from the province of Ionia to the port across the river from the Byzantine Empire and was also on standby.
The Third Legion stayed in Miletus and Ephesus, and the Fourth and Fifth Legions had also completed their training at this moment. These troops came from Thrace and had already received formal training from the Byzantine Kingdom. Now, they were equipped with sharp weapons and sturdy armor and came to the New Byzantine City.
All of Hilde's actions.
The target is all around - the Kingdom of Scythia.
The Scythians were completely unaware of this obvious preparation for war.
The king of the Kingdom of Scythia, Itantirsus, indulged in the fine wine sent by the Kingdom of Byzantium every day. Whether it was wine or distilled brandy, these fine wines finally made these rough men find the best companion for entertainment. When the wine entered their mouths, all their troubles disappeared. At the same time, they could no longer care about the affairs of the Kingdom of Scythia.
This particularly troubled Tomyris.
She paced back and forth in her tent anxiously.
"Ugh……"
The triangular ears on Tomyris's head drooped down as well.
The current situation makes Tomyris feel particularly helpless.
His father, Etyrsus, basically had nothing to do with the affairs of the Scythian Kingdom. Of course, the politics of the nomadic peoples themselves were very loose, and there was not much to deal with. But this did not mean that Etyrsus could drink every day openly, get drunk, and even not know what he should do... This was really too much.
But Tomyris also advised.
But it didn't work.
Itantirsus and those Scythian nobles—
They only want to enjoy themselves and have fun, without any sense of crisis at all.
Therefore, I don’t know what I should do.
But Tomyris always felt that everything now was a conspiracy of the Byzantine Kingdom. Although she had reached a friendly consensus with Alcibiades before, Tomyris now thought about it carefully and felt that these were all deliberately done by the Byzantine Kingdom...Alcibiades probably said this deliberately in order to win Tomyris' trust.
So, what to do now.
Tomyris was really at a loss.
Just when she was getting anxious.
A black-haired woman slowly walked into Tomyris's camp.
Her presence was almost completely concealed, and even Tomyris didn't notice it.
"Tomyris?"
"Who?!"
Tomyris turned around suddenly, only to meet a pair of eyes filled with sadness and worry.
"…Lady Artemis?"
"I'm back... What happened in Scythia? Why was there a smell of wine everywhere when I came back? Isn't there no wine in Scythia? Could it be that Dionysus came here to hold a carnival? That guy is not a god who brings good things..."
"Not Master Dionysus."
Tomyris walked anxiously in front of Artemis.
"You, you are finally back."
"Sorry, there are a lot of things waiting for me to deal with, so..."
Artemis has been in the realm of gods, dealing with some recent events. Zeus is still in seclusion, and the other gods are in chaos. Ares, who had been holding on, chose an oracle and intervened in the war on earth. Apollo is nowhere to be found, but the mastermind behind the recent plague in Athens may be Apollo.
In addition, more and more gods began to participate in this game, as if it was interesting to choose an oracle and watch them kill each other. At the same time, many gods began to make their own calculations, which made Artemis very worried and also caused Hera's fear. Hera was worried that when Zeus stayed indoors, his brothers would have an adverse influence on Zeus, so she found Artemis.
Just as they were about to discuss countermeasures.
Another problem arises.
A power that all gods sensed suddenly appeared in this world.
No gods knew the source of this power, but every god who sensed it felt uncomfortable, as if they had become very weak in the face of this power.
Tone 1, stanza 5, Tomyris's Way
This incident naturally caused panic among the gods.
As a result, various situations emerged.
Those gods who had been able to remain calm could no longer hold back and began to try to take action.
Artemis knew that this matter might be related to Hilde, but when she thought of Hilde, she was afraid that Hilde would be in danger. After all, she was the successor of Athena. If she was in danger, Artemis really didn't know what to do. So Artemis hurried back, but when she returned to the Kingdom of Scythia, she seemed to find something wrong.
Here, it's completely different from before.
Under this situation.
Artemis had no choice but to ask:
"In the end what happened?"
"Is such that……"
Tomyris told Artemis everything that had happened recently.
Including his father's betrayal of the Byzantine Kingdom and his enmity with Hilde, Hilde's defeat of the Thracian King, and the complete hostility between the two countries. Then, now that trade has suddenly started, the nobles of Scythia are addicted to alcohol, and now this has happened. Tomyris is particularly worried about whether a war will break out between the Byzantine Kingdom and the Scythian Kingdom.
"What should we do, Master Artemis?"
“…I can’t do anything about this.”
Artemis made her attitude clear.
"The Byzantine Kingdom is different from the Thracians. The reason why I helped you stop the Thracian King was because I wanted to stop Apollo's conspiracy. However, this matter is different. It is entirely your father Itantirsus's fault for offending the Byzantine Kingdom and forging a blood feud. Therefore, if a war really breaks out, I cannot intervene to help."
"This this……"
Tomyris hadn't expected that.
Artemis really refused to take any action on this matter.
Help Tomyris.
"I'm really sorry, I really can't help you with this matter."
"It's okay... I was too greedy, Lady Artemis." Tomyris had to lower her head and said a little frustratedly, "The Byzantine Kingdom's affairs are indeed our fault, but if the Byzantine Kingdom and Hilde really want to fight us, I will not sit idly by and wait for death."
"That's your own business."
Artemis smiled bitterly and said:
"However, I still don't want to see any war break out between you."
