"You come with me."
"Yes, your Excellency Apollo."
Cleon lowered his head, not daring to breathe.
The two of them walked upstairs to Pericles's palace, one in front and one behind.
Here, what was once Pericles' private bedroom has now become an empty room. Although Cleon occupied Pericles' home, he was unwilling to sleep in the room where Pericles died. So, this place was abandoned by Cleon and left here, and no one knew what it would look like in the future.
But now, Apollo has other use for this room.
"right here."
"this is not……"
Apollo opened the door and walked in.
When Cleon followed him in, he saw a blonde woman who looked a bit like Apollo lying on the bed, with her hands and feet tied up. Seeing this scene, Apollo was stunned for a moment. After all, it was the first time Cleon had seen his daughter tied to the bed like this.
"Let me introduce you."
Apollo walked up to the sleeping Dione.
Then he patted Dione's cheek gently.
"This is my daughter. Her name is Dione."
"Is she your biological daughter?"
"of course."
"Isn't this a demigod..."
Cleon was a little surprised.
This was the first time he had seen a demigod.
After all, demigods basically only appear in various myths and legends. Various demigods become heroes or turn into disasters, leaving various legendary stories in the Greek world. And now, a real demigod appeared in front of Creon, and was tied up by her father Apollo.
Cleon was quite curious about what happened behind this.
But he dared not say anything or ask anything.
"Yes, she is indeed a demigod, but it is useless. I have taken back her divine power. Now, she is no different from an ordinary human. However, even so, she still has some other value--" Apollo sat on the bed, then tapped his legs and said coldly, "However, I will stay with you for a while, and then my daughter and I will need your care."
"No problem at all."
Cleon lowered his head in fear.
"As you command."
"Hahahaha, that's good, that's good."
Apollo looked very happy.
He patted the bed, then looked at Cleon with a smile: "However, I won't let you work in vain. You can tell me your wish, and I will fulfill it as long as it is reasonable."
“Is it true?!”
Creon heard this.
He quickly raised his head.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
"of course."
"Well, then, Lord Apollo, I have an unwelcome request... I am now facing a very terrible enemy, the oracle of the god of war Ares, Brasidas of Sparta. Brasidas has now pushed Athens into a dangerous situation, and his army is in Amphipolis. I don't know how to defeat Brasidas. I hope Lord Apollo can help me! Help Athens!"
"Brasidas of Ares?... Huh, this is very interesting. Brasidas is a very powerful oracle. Ares has always been proud of him. However, he is just an oracle after all."
Apollo clapped his hands.
Accompanied by a dazzling light.
A magnificent golden longbow appeared in front of Cleon.
"Here is my bow. I can lend it to you."
"Really, really?"
"Ares gave Brasidas an indestructible body, which made him immune to any harm in battle. However, even the most powerful warriors have fatal weaknesses, just like Achilles' heel. Therefore, if you inject your divine power into this sun bow, you will be able to stimulate the power of the sun and generate indestructible arrows that will pierce Brasidas' divine power and destroy his body. With this, you will be able to defeat him."
Hear Apollo say this.
Creon naturally took the bow and arrow with great joy.
When he injected divine power into the Sun Bow.
Just as Apollo said, an arrow made of light appeared in front of Creon.
“Really…”
"I look forward to your performance. If you can kill Brasidas, I think Ares will be surprised."
"Yes Yes!"
Creon understood all too well.
If he killed Brasidas, he would become a true hero of Athens.
Then Athens will become Creon's Athens.
No one dared to oppose Creon.
Even becoming a tyrant of Athens... is entirely possible.
Apollo reached out his hand and gently stroked Dione's long hair, then smiled and said: "However, you still need to stay in Athens for a few days, because my good friend will definitely come here."
"good friend?"
Cleon was a little confused.
Could it be another god?
Apollo's smile became more intense, making Creon feel cold from the bottom of his heart:
"Yes, my good friend, you also know her, the Queen of the Byzantine Empire, Hilde—"
——————————Dividing line——————————
Hilde and his group rushed to the temple underground in the old city of Adlisia at a very fast speed.
There were no people living in Adlisia now. All the people had been moved out, leaving only an empty shell with some wild animals living inside. Hilde came to the Thracian king's palace with ease and found that, as expected, a big hole had been dug out at the entrance to the underground temple.
"Sure enough, someone is here."
Hilde frowned tightly.
"Will Apollo be in there now?" Sophia became a little nervous.
Because she knew that if Apollo was inside, there would probably be a fierce battle.
Hilde took a deep breath and said to Sophia, "You stand behind me, understand?"
"Oh, I see."
Hilde asked the guards to stand outside, and she and Sophia held torches and walked down. Originally, there should be support from the Persian Queen Xerxes this time, but it would take at least a month to send a letter from Byzantium to Persepolis, and Hilde couldn't wait that long. After a month, Dione would probably be dead... So, even if it was extremely dangerous, Hilde had to act now.
The third section of the second tune is a futile attempt
"let's go."
Sophia followed Hilde, and the two walked into the underground temple one after the other. Hilde walked in front, holding the torch high in her hand, illuminating everything in front of her. As an oracle, Hilde could sense some of the divine power around her, but there was nothing in the underground temple that made Hilde feel uneasy.
There is nothing here.
Hilde was a little confused.
Could it be that Apollo is not in it?
But Hilde had no way to guarantee that what she didn't sense didn't really exist. Maybe a god like Apollo had the ability to hide his aura, so he could be in this underground temple without Hilde and Sophia being able to detect it. So Hilde didn't dare to slack off, but paid extra attention, carefully observing everything in front of her to avoid any unexpected situations.
When the two walked deeper, the ancient temple in the distance came into view. Having come here, it means that Hilde and Sophia have reached the end of the underground cave. If Apollo is hiding in this place, then they can only hide in this temple.
"Do you feel anything strange here?"
"not at all."
Sophia shook her head.
"There's nothing here that I care about... I don't know how to put it, there's not even a breath of a living person."
"Anyway, let's go in and take a look first."
Hilde and Sophia looked at each other.
Then he walked straight towards the temple.
The interior of the temple was no different from before, and it still looked dilapidated. Hilde walked all the way inside and came to the stone tablet she had deciphered before. The stone tablet that had originally displayed the original text in front of Apollo had now lost its light and was exactly the same as when Hilde had seen it before.
Everything here was the same as the last time he came here, which made Hilde very disappointed. If a god like Apollo had been here before, he would definitely have left some traces or clues. But there was nothing here, which could only mean that Apollo had not been here in a short period of time, or he had cleverly hidden all his traces.
"Aren't they here?"
Hilde became a little anxious.
If Apollo really wasn't here.
Then Hilde really didn't know where Apollo would take Dione.
Sophia also walked back and forth in the temple anxiously, but did not find any valuable clues. The two wasted an hour or two in the temple without any gains, which made people very desperate. This meant that the two had gone in the wrong direction, and Apollo and Dione were not here.
"Dione..."
Hilde's legs went limp.
Sat directly against the wall.
"I was wrong...I shouldn't have come here!"
"Sissi, don't worry. If we don't come here, there is no way to rule out this place. Apollo is most likely to come here. Do you think Apollo could take Dione to the divine realm? If he really took Dione to heaven, then we might never find her again."
"...Impossible. Apollo would never dare to tell other gods that he has an illegitimate daughter. I believe Apollo would rather kill Dione than let Dione damage his reputation."
Hilde's thoughts were racing.
He was thinking about any clues about Dione.
If Apollo and Dione were not in the underground temple, where else could Apollo go? As far as Hilde knew, the only place Apollo could go was Athens. After all, Apollo's current oracle, Cleon, was the ruler of Athens, so there was no reason for Apollo not to go to Athens.
But if I go to Athens in person, will I be greeted by a trap tailor-made for me by Apollo and Cleon? Although Hilde refuted Sophia before, it does not mean that Hilde has not considered this issue herself. She is the queen of the Byzantine Kingdom and needs to be responsible for one million people in the Byzantine Kingdom.
If you know it's a trap.
If I had gone there and failed to handle this matter properly.
It will only bring great disaster to the Byzantine Empire.
Even if he went to Athens, he might come back empty-handed, just like he went to the underground temple but found nothing. However, this was already a good result. If Athens was a trap set by Apollo as Hilde worried, then Hilde would be in great danger.
In thinking.
Hilde had never been so desperate.
Even when facing the invincible Persian Queen.
Hilde wasn't that scared either.
Her mind told her that she must not go to Athens. Once she fell into the trap, the whole country would be in danger. But her emotions urged her. Diony was her irreplaceable family member. If Hilde did not save her personally, then who else would save her? If Hilde did not show up when Diony was most desperate, would she be worthy of Diony and her own conscience?
"…Athens."
Hilde suddenly pronounced the word.
Sophia couldn't help but turn around.
"What happened to Athens?"
"Apollo may be hiding in Athens."
"That's right... Cleon is Apollo's oracle. If Apollo goes to Athens, Cleon will definitely help him." Sophia said this, then she changed her mind and frowned and asked, "Sissi, are you thinking about going to Athens to find Dione?"
"Correct."
Hilde wasn't lying.
