Despite his mandate, Gaius Julius Caesar had no idea what to do next. So far, he was just following his instincts, the instincts of a ruler who conquer Gaul and beat the Germans.
And the ruler of Gaul and the chastiser of the Germans was now lying in bed staring blankly at the roof of his room. He was interested in what would happen in the next few hours, as the final exam was being held then.
He had just taken a bath, bathed by several elegant maids who cleaned every inch of his upper body, he himself forbidding them to venture further into his lower body, leaving it covered by a towel.
Even so, Caesar was still energized. He got up, left the room, and took a walk to explore the building, both inside and out.
He found himself standing in the ground floor hallway near the garden, looking at the fountain in the middle of the garden that moved constantly and soothingly, the gurgling water reaching his earlobes, giving him a sense of peace and tranquility, unlike his daily life as the highest man in Rome.
Moving her eyes, the man found Milius sitting in the Gazebo, with two old men who were probably his guards and servants, not to forget his faithful right hand; Cornelia, and the piles of papers scattered around his seat.
As the eyes of the two individuals met, Milius was the first to greet.
"Oh, hey Caesar!"
Caesar returned the greeting with a wave.
"Come here!"
Caesar only obeyed because he had no reason to refuse, when he arrived at the Gazebo he felt Cornelias sharp gaze, however he tried to ignore the girl.
"What are you doing?" asked Milius.
"Nothing, just wandering around a bit."
"You don have anything to do, do you?"
Caesar nodded as he lowered himself to sit down.
"The prospective new guard is observing the layout of this house, miss, so that one day if the enemy attacks, he can use it to defeat the enemy." Cuirass chuckled, as did Milius.
"There is an armory in the corner of this manor, Caesar. Just in case you want to have a duel with Cuirass." This time Seraval told the joke, Caesar chuckled as well to keep the atmosphere from being awkward.
"It looks like youll have to postpone the duel for now, because a group of the kingdoms elite troops have put down the rebellion in Arus, they will visit this village to supply their needs and will leave a day later, there are only a thousand of them," Milius informed while showing a piece of paper.
"A thousand people? But the rebels from that region are ten thousand strong!" said Cornelia in surprise.
"Well... They
e being called elite not for no reason, Lia."
"What about their opponents?" Caesar spontaneously asked.
His subconscious was piqued as soon as anyone discussed military and warfare matters. No wonder, he used to command colossal legions against the Germanic tribes and Gauls, he was a true veteran.
"You
e interested in this, Caesey?" Milius gave a simple smile.
"Their only enemies are the members of the Azerim tribe, they live in Arus province, only a days journey east from this village. They
e a tribe that isn particularly poor or rich, so they
e only armed with axes or makeshift spears. No shields, no iron armor or helmets, just anger that the king had doubled taxes."
"And just so you know, Im in this village because I fled from them. My true home is in a city in the east, a day and a halfs journey from here, but unfortunately those rebels overran it three months ago." Milius sighed, her expression as if saying Never mind, it is what it is.
"They used a formation or something?" Caesar asked the second question.
Milius shook his head, "No, they
e just ordinary citizens, Caesey, they
e not trained."
"Unlike those elite troops, they have complete equipment, from Helmets, Armor, swords, spears, to shields. They are also trained to fight using the Phalanx formation," the girl added.
Caesar flinched slightly upon hearing the name of their formation, a name that was familiar to him as the Consul of the country that ruled over Greek soil.
Phalanx, was an ancient strategy often used by the nations in the land of Olympus. Sparta, Thebes, Athens, Macedonia, Epirus, there was not a single Greek state that had not used this strategy.
Even Rome itself copied the tactic against various tribes in Italy in its youth, before its military officials replaced it with the Maniples tactic against few tribes in the mountains of central Italy.
"Phalanx... Phalanx..." Caesar muttered involuntarily.
"Yeah... Instead of dealing with some boring political matters, how about we test your strength right away." Cuirass raised his body, he then walked to the center of the garden and drew the sword from its sheath.
Cornelia thrust out her own sword, without hesitation Caesar accepted the sword and placed himself a few meters in front of Cuirass, in a fighting stance.
"Ready?" Cuirass asked.
"Always."
The old man walked forward, slowly but surely. He then swung the sword forward, sure to split Caesars head if he didn parry it with Cornelias sword.
Caesar kept Cuirass sword away from him, then launched a series of counterattacks that didn leave a single scratch on the old mans skin. But one final strike that he launched as Cuirass was about to counterattack sent the old mans sword flying.
Even so, the old man still had a hand as a weapon. He landed a powerful blow with his fist on Caesars cheek, then smashed his temple with an elbow.
The former dictator, however, did not falter easily, he scrap Cuirasss floating fist with the blade of his sword. The strike was precise, only scraping and not cutting. It was unclear whether the precision was Caesars intention or a mere coincidence, but the strike seemed to jolt Cuirass into canceling the attack.
The guard gazed at his scratched and bleeding finger. He reminisced, it had been a long time since he had been injured like this, and soon a smile appeared on his lips.
He picked up his sword that was lying on the grass, and he immediately attacked blindly, forcing Caesar to retreat to keep his distance.
The battle became intense for a moment. But in the midst of the intense battle, Caesar found an opening to attack. He kicked Cuirass heel, just as he had when he defeated Cornelia.
But what stunned him was that the old man didn fall after all, rather his footing didn move at all, as if he was part of the earth itself.
The fierce battle continued, this time Cuirass even inflicted cuts on Caesars arms and thighs, avenging the wounds he had received moments ago.
However, Caesar managed to find a second opening, he held Cuirasss sword, then smashed his forehead into the old mans nose, and kicked him in the stomach with a straight kick.
Now Cuirass was slumped on the grass, his sword thrown far enough away, and Caesar seized the crucial moment by sticking the sharp edge of his blade into the old mans neck, officially ending the fierce battle.
Seraval clapped his hands, followed by Milius, then Cornelia reluctantly.
***
"I told you, stop acting like a whore!" Caesar said as soon as he found the room decorated in such a way, with red as the dominant color, and a sprinkling of roses on the bed with Milius lying in between.
"Why are you so stiff, huh?"
Milius stood up, stepped slowly towards Caesar and took his hand. With unhurried movements she pulled Caesar to the bed and sat him on the edge.
"Sweet Caesey..."
The 20-something girls hands moved over Caesars shoulders and neck, then stroked his head, intending to give him as much warmth as she could.
"Why are you so stiff? Huh?" Milius repeated the same question, she hugged the sturdy body as tightly as he could.
"Look at me, Caesar..."
The cute girl placed both palms on Caesars cheeks, then turned his head to face that beautiful and seductive face.
"This is my first time, you know?"
What Caesar saw now was a face as red as an apple, that was full of lust, and wanted him badly. The girls beauty could even be compared to Cornelias, even higher, it was a level of beauty that was on another level, and Caesar recognized that.
But he still held firm to his stance.
"Ive already been married and had a child."
That statement jolted Milius, he slowly released every touch and moved away.
"Wha-..what?"
"But both are dead, Milius."
Caesars tone dropped, becoming calm in a short time.
"Young marriage... Huh? You
e set up by your parents with a woman older than you, is it? It must been very hard." Milius suddenly lost her spirit.
"The moment when they were alive, was the happiest moment in my life, but they are dead, and here I am."
Caesar fixed his gaze on Milius face, his gaze looked serious, but also contained a hint of sadness.
"You
e very beautiful, Milius, more so than any woman Ive ever met. But Im sorry, every time you flirt with me, every time you try to seduce me, their faces just flash before my eyes."
A heavy burden appeared in Milius heart, he felt it would only disappear if he apologized.
"I may have been a bit pushy... sorry, Caesar." Milius looked down guiltily, "You
e just... Very, very beautiful and charming, you make my heart flutter, Caesar, you just make me want to have you completely."
"You
e very handsome, thats all."
Caesar chuckled, breaking the mood that had been quite sad. "Yes, Im so handsome, I wonder why Im so handsome," he continued laughing.
Milius laughed along, thinking that this was the first time he had ever seen Caesar let out a laugh, this was a precious moment in his life.
"I gathered all my courage to do this. This is the first time Ive pursued someone and the first time Ive been rejected outright." Milius moved his feet off the bed.
"Tea? Coffee perhaps? Or milk?" he offered.
"Coffee might be better."
Milius quickly ground some coffee beans and poured hot water from the pot into the glass.
While the girl prepared the coffee, Caesar walked around exploring the luxurious items in the room. There were dozens of artifacts neatly arranged on top of drawers and short cabinets, on the other hand there was also a collection of jewelry of various types of materials dated around the neck of a mini torso statue, but what caught his attention the most was a large map that filled the center of the wall.
"This... A map of the world?" asked Caesar.
"Umm... Yes!"
There is one big continent with many countries on it, outside the continent there are also many islands on which island nations are built.
There were several countries that were colored; Voretamia in blue, Azaria in purple, and Metasia in brown, Caesar guessed that those countries were those who had diplomatic relations with Voretamia.
"Tell me, Milius."
Milius immediately turned his head in surprise.
"Wouldn it..." Caesar pointed at the map while looking at the Barones, "Wouldn it be better if the entire map is red?"
Novel Bin 