I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 95. bad omen

Near the balustrade, torches are burning, warming the morning air. The torches and the charcoal fire in the brazier embossed with exotic animals blocked the chilly wind that had not yet received the warmth of the sun.

The great king clung to the disgracefully painted stone railing.

Fortunately, because it was not made of wood, this part of the palace did not burn down during the many turmoils. Thanks to that, the traces of the years that have been going on for hundreds of years have remained heavy.

The cracks in places were not even repaired. It was only natural that no mason was reluctant to touch this railing, which might have a long history in Hattusha.

As Supiluliuma stroked the railing, the stone, the size of a man, gently wrapped around his hand without a snag.

for the Hittite ancestors had stroked the railing as it does today. for dozens and hundreds of years.

Touching the weight, Supiluliuma watched Hattusha as dawn broke.

The city was built on a crease in the earth. That’s why Hattusha’s outline was so uneven.

Here and there, the walls dividing each section of the city stretched out like waves, and in between, countless mansions, temples, common storehouses, markets, and plazas were scattered up and down the hills.

Brick buildings painted in red or blue regain their color by receiving the light of the gradually rising sun. People who wake up early start heading to their workplace.

Tens of thousands of lives swarmed within.

This city grew as the grace of the gods touched the barren land.

What was once the edge of the world is now the center of the world.

Supiluliuma couldn’t help but love this city. even if it is falling apart.

It is a throne that he inherited with difficulty only after getting rid of all his brothers’ illegitimate children from his dead brother.

So he was doing his best.

“How is it?”

He could tell by looking at the elders standing by his side even now when he just woke up and smelled the cool smell of dawn.

“I have been watching Dolon, the son of Eumedes, closely.”

The first to speak was the head of the royal libation.

“I tried attaching people to each of the attendants and workers to see if there were people who were lighthearted. I opened my mouth to gambling and alcohol…”

The Honju Captain continued by gently lifting the hem of his cloak that was dragging on the floor.

“It seems that there was a quarrel within Troy.”

“If it’s a dispute.”

“I looked through the records collected by the envoys who regularly go back and forth between Hattusha and Troia.”

This time, the head of the woodblock clerk said while handing over diplomatic documents from the lower scribes.

His eyes calmly scanned the hieroglyphs carved on the wooden board.

“Most of the envoys who came to Hattusha from Troy the other day were Dolon’s relatives.

After that, Dolon, the son of Eumedes, also took on the role of receiving the envoys sent from our side.

It was only that he had never come to Hattusha himself, and Troia must have thought of him as a link to Hattusha. That’s why there are quite a few nobles who are familiar with him even inside Hattusha.”

“So, is it actually exile?”

“I think so. It is clear that they headed for Hattusha as if they were driven out after losing a political struggle.”

“But didn’t I say I was suspicious? It’s saying that Pitana’s death isn’t surprising.”

At the words of the great king, the elders around them shook their heads.

“I searched all the people around me, but there is no trace of them communicating with Troy so far. He has carefully leaked the internal affairs of Troia to us. Especially about the new prince.”

“A new prince.”

“I wonder if there was a dispute over succession to the throne related to the king’s second son. Perhaps, with the help of Pitana, he tried to put his second son on the throne and failed.”

Startle.

Supiluliuma paused for a moment, then shook the tension from her body so quickly that the elders didn’t notice.

A fight over the throne between brothers. It was not very pleasant to Supilulliuma, who still hears the usurper from time to time.

The other elders, perhaps noticing this fact, also move the topic smoothly.

“In fact, the dispute over the succession seems to be a trivial matter.”

The voice of the head of the Royal Guard.

“Is it trivial? I think I have sufficiently explained the situation.”

“no. Recently, I’ve put together the stories I’ve collected from merchants and the words that Dolon’s entourage have struggled to come up with…”

The captain of the guards glanced at them, and the soldiers walked slowly, wrapped in white cloth. While Supiluliuma looks at it curiously, the captain of the guards removes the white cloth, revealing its contents.

“They cast steel.”

The king’s breath stops for a moment.

He pulls a blade from the belt of a nearby guardsman and compares it to the steel sword wrapped in white cloth.

Of course he’s not a blacksmith…

On the surface, there is nothing inferior to the build quality.

“You mean they . . . came after us? how? It’s not like Teshub blessed their land. Isn’t it just something made by melting our iron ingots?”

Hattusha was a barren land in the hills, but it rose up and conquered the surroundings with the power of the steel-making wind.

But Troy…

The guards commander shook his head slowly.

“The detailed circumstances are unknown, but it is probably the fault of the blacksmiths who escaped as Hattusha burned several times.”

“The second son of King Priam is said to have built all the walls of the castle with steel, erected the pillars of the palace, and made even the plowshares and hoe blades driven into the soil with steel.”

“That sounds ridiculous. Especially the last one.”

“But in every rumor there is a piece of truth.”

The guards commander said firmly. how can you deny Right in front of them is the ‘evidence of the truth’.

An uphill battle continues.

A thousand gods watching over Hattusha all close their eyes and shake their heads as the kingdoms of the kingdom riot and Assyria in the south greedily devours the kingdom’s cities.

However, the county casts steel.

‘It must be punished.’

Troia is located in a location connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. As you build your wealth with steel and wield the hegemony around you, it is certain that one day you will want to sever even the tenuous link with Hattusha.

If so… how?

When Supiluliuma looked at the elders with that question in mind, they all just bowed their heads.

Yes. If they had been able to provide an answer to the question of ‘how’, they would have already reported the answer.

Silence descends.

Troy lies at the western end of the Hittite sphere of influence.

Besides, the counties on the way to him are not very wealthy either.

Even if he conscripts a large army and leaves for Troy, there are not enough resources to support him.

furthermore···

“I left for Cyprus just a while ago. The loss at that time is also insignificant.”

One of the elders whispers. As if reading his mind.

However, Cyprus could not be missed. In other words, it was one of the few tin producing areas ruled by Hattusha.

But so is Troia.

While everyone is silent and worried, the sun rises far away. He managed to climb up between the hills and look down on the city.

In the sunlight, the back of the great king with his back to the railing heats up.

and someone says

“How about doing it this way?”

What followed was a simple idea.

Someone else’s chuimsae is attached there. plan materializes

And when the elders looked at the great king, the great king nodded.

***

“It’s nice to see the river…”

The Eurotas River (Εὐρώτας) flows in a valley east of Sparta.

The Spartans headed south and downstream along the river, ruled by a human-faced god with the body of a bull, and took control of nearby cities and towns.

Far south, to the fertile plains near Helos by the sea.

From there, Sparta amassed wealth and gained hegemony over the area. That river was the backbone and lifeline of Sparta.

For Agamemnon, who spent his youth here, it was also the starting point for boating and hunting.

Crossing the bridge and leaving to the east of the river, he would catch deer running through the hills, break their antlers, and present them to King Tyndareus.

The only thing a young man who had lost his country and had nothing to offer to his benefactor… was the only product he had obtained through courage and strength.

Not now.

Because he is the King of Kings of Achaia.

Agamemnon stopped talking to himself and slowly approached the bed in the throne room of the Spartan court.

To the side of Tyndareus, son of Perieres, who is sleeping.

He lowers his head for a moment and puts his ear on the benefactor’s chest.

silence.

Only silence that lasts forever.

He heard someone crying behind him. Someone must be throwing ashes on their heads, revealing their sorrowful heart. Even without looking back, Agamemnon knew it well.

Agamemnon slowly placed the antlers on the deceased’s bedside. It was a treasure covered in silver leaf and decorated with jewels.

“This is the guy I hunted myself.”

Agamemnon looked into the eyes of Tyndareus, who would never return.

“It’s from your favorite hunting grounds, right over there in the east. Just yesterday morning.”

Of course there was no answer. Still, Agamemnon did not stop talking.

“This guy made eye contact with me between the bushes, but strangely, he didn’t run away.

I don’t know if Artemis, who rules over the wild animals, has hardened her leg muscles like stone, but she didn’t avert her eyes.

So I shot. The arrow hit me right in the middle of my forehead.”

Agamemnon laughed, pressing his brow with his thumb.

“It seemed the gods had foretold it as a gift to send to you. So I brought it.”

“…”

“Take this treasure with you to the underworld. If anyone asks about its identity… just tell me it was given to me by someone like a son. I think I gave it to someone like my father.”

Agamemnon thought for a moment about his own father, Atreus.

It was an asshole.

And Tyndareos, now asleep before his eyes, did not.

He was the one who let me know that not all male adults are bastards.

Agamemnon quietly bowed his head so that he could not even hear the rustling of his clothes, and kissed the back of Tyndareus’ hand.

“Goodbye.”

He then steps out of the vicinity of the bed and joins the other mourners. He takes ashes from a nearby bowl and sprinkles them on his forehead.

Even if the black powder got into his eyes, Agamemnon did not close his eyes. Black tears flowed because of it.

Soon the body of the deceased was transferred to a cart and placed on top of a firewood, and Tindareos, whose body was anointed with perfumed oil, disappeared in the flames, leaving only white bone dust.

His brother Menelaus and his wife Helen were in charge of transferring the bone meal to the golden jar. Clytemnestra, who was watching the scene from the side, opened her mouth to say something, but shut her mouth when she noticed Agamemnon.

Amidst the tears of countless people, the golden pot was buried in the ground, and a round stone mound was piled up on top of it.

That was the end the king met.

However, the dynasty is not over.

His daughters will become the wives of Agamemnon and Menelaus, respectively, and will rule all Achaia.

After all the funeral procedures were over, a party was held, and various sports events were held, and the young people showed off their dances.

As the chariot galloped through the plains south of Sparta, noble mourners each shouted at the player they were rooting for.

Agamemnon watched the scene for a while, then tapped his brother on the shoulder and secretly pulled him out of the crowd.

Time for the dead was running out, so it was time to have time for the living.

He had to do so in order to make those whom the deceased loved into great rulers.

“Wowaaa!!!!”

Hearing distant shouts rising like mist, Agamemnon judged who had won the chariot race. Facing him, Menelaus hesitated before opening his mouth.

“Could it be that you called because of what you said then?”

“okay. For now, I plan to stay in Sparta for a while. Even the elders of Sparta wouldn’t be able to open their mouths if you said you were helping with the clean-up after the funeral.”

“Are you helping me too?”

“Have you just been king? Do you know that poisonous snakes will run amok by your side, and I will leave my brother alone?”

Agamemnon patted Menelaus on the shoulder and quietly sorted out the list. It was easy to think because all the in-laws of the Spartan royal family had gathered because of the funeral ceremony.

Who to kill… who to embrace… about trivial things like that.

Agamemnon, who finished the rough arrangement in his head, opened his mouth to think about the next matter.

“I’m thinking about getting your niece married to Troia.”

“Are you talking about Iphigenia?”

“okay. It wouldn’t hurt to try mixing it up once in a while. What do you think?”

“I have already heard that Priam’s son Paris has a betrothed fairy…”

Agamemnon laughs lightly and tells Menelaus.

“Priam also had a wife who was a fairy, and had children. But isn’t the current mistress Hecuba, the daughter of Dimas, a Phrygian princess?”

“That is… it is.”

“This is not a bad proposal for Priam or Paris himself. we have nothing to say If we form a marriage like that and later our blood is mixed in the royal family of Antandros…”

“Auntie? What are you doing here?”

At the unexpected voice, Agamemnon and Menelaus look back together.

A woman is standing there.

Above her head, a veil rustles in the wind. Two eyes shine like jewels on the tear-stained face.

“Queen of Sparta, I was talking about my sorrow with your husband and my brother.”

Agamemnon bows lightly to Helen. Helene spoke slowly in a hushed voice.

“I… the crowd is waiting. The winner of the chariot competition must be personally honored by the resident.”

Helen hesitantly says that she hasn’t decided on a title for Menelaus yet.

The sadness of losing a father is buried in every word. Agamemnon, who was watching this, took a step closer to Helen and said,

“Don’t worry. We’ll be back soon. I’m sorry for leaving this place because of personal feelings.”

“Come to think of it… You said you were talking about sadness earlier, right? Can I ask what kind of sorrow it is?”

At Helen’s words, Agamemnon takes another step closer to her.

When Helen feels intimidated by Agamemnon’s gigantic figure and involuntarily tries to backtrack, Agamemnon takes off her veil and rubs her eyes with the hem of her cloak.

When Helen, startled, turns away and puts on her veil again, Agamemnon apologizes in a puzzled voice.

“I’m sorry. I can see the traces of tears.”

“···I.”

“We were talking about the grief of losing a father.”

“…”

Agamemnon grabs the flinching Helen and wipes her eyes again with the cloak. Helene did not dodge this time.

“The Queen, go to your room and get some rest. My brother… will return to the guests and do his duty. Who can blame a daughter for not being able to overcome the grief of losing her father?”

Helen stood silently, then looked up at Agamemnon, who looked at her kindly.

“Go. we’ll tell you It doesn’t look good because I’m washed. Please take care of yourself.”

“···thank you.”

Helene walks toward the palace with her tearful face bowed down.

After confirming that she and the maids have left, Agamemnon quickly erases the caring look on his face.

Then tell your brother

“Paris and Troia, don’t forget these two problems.”

“Yes, brother.”

“Take care of your wife… and keep her in check. You treat me kindly and sternly.”

“yes.”

“I must make her dependent on you without incurring her hatred. So that they don’t meddle in what we’re doing.”

“All right.”

“I have to go back soon. As your wife said, I have been away for a long time.”

This time Agamemnon watches Menelaus leave for the guests watching the chariot race.

With Tyndareus dead, Sparta is now his.

In addition, by making peace with Antandros, arranging relations with the rising power, and expanding your influence within Achaia…

everything will work out

Thinking so, Agamemnon looked up at the sky. I looked at the new point because the bird was flying away.

Since ancient times, it has been said that if a bird flies from left to right, it is auspicious, and if it flies from right to left, it is a bad omen.

A raven flew from right to left.

Agamemnon frowned for a moment at the ominous portent.