"You mean, Appius sent you?"

Apis sat half-reclining in front of the Man in Black Assassin and asked unhurriedly. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Yes......"

The assassin replied bitterly as Emma grabbed her hair with one hand and pressed her dagger to her throat with the other. The scarlet blood had even stained the shiny blade. In the moonlight, his face was extremely distorted. Emma's roughness caught the tall man by surprise.

"Appius, is that the aristocrat you told Sekras about the day we passed by the mansion?"

Hearing the Black Assassin's confession, Emma asked in surprise with a glare.

"Yes, that's him. As I said, he used to be my nominal father. Now it seems that this great nobleman has no other ability than to repeatedly use the most clumsy trick of assassination. That's fine, so I don't have to be suspicious. ”

Appis sat in a chaise longue and replied calmly as he sipped a glass of wine.

"And what about this monkey?"

Emma said, her eyes pointing to the man in black in her hand.

"I'm still useful, keep him in the care of Sekras and Turus."

Appis said almost expressionlessly. The moonlight shone in from behind the Assassin, and in the dark room, he could barely make out Appis's face...... I only heard the cold answer.

"I've already said it, it's Appius. What else are you going to do to me? ”

Seeing that Apis had broken his promise, the Assassin shouted loudly. It's as if you've been fooled. Perhaps he should have thought that as a person that Appius valued so much, he would not have been so perfunctory and dealt with.

"You do one more thing for me, and then let you go."

Appis stepped in and laughed wickedly. At the same time, a smile appeared on Emma's face, as if she also knew what Appis wanted to do next......

……

"Citizens of Rome, thank you for all that you have done for me these days. I have seen your applause, your encouragement, your fighting spirit, your enthusiasm and hope. And now, I want to say that today I am elected tribune of Rome, and yet I still need your support and encouragement. There are so many things for us to do, the problem of the surplus of slaves, the problem of the multiplicity of commercial taxes of all kinds, and the work of us, our pockets, our power, these are the things I want to fight for for you......"

"This Appis, who seems to think of himself as a leader, has lost himself in the favor of the ignorant crowd, and cannot see his position clearly, and he thinks that he can reach his childish and ridiculous reform by agitating the people? Want to reform the cheap slaves out of the big estates in Rome and let the Senate come up with more money to build public facilities? When the time comes, all the nobles will unite against this bill. No matter how powerful the commoners are, they will eventually be a group of scattered and unorganized stupid people, and when the time comes, those representatives of the nobility only need to do a little trick among them and buy a few core personnel, and this huge army will collapse like a blown down seawall. Their alliance is so fragile. Vulnerable. ”

Two days later, in the Roman City Forum, Apis stood on a high marble podium, raising his arms and chanting his inaugural speech. The crowd in the audience, like fanatical believers, gathered around the new pro-people tribune, shouting the name of Appis. The scene was as enthusiastic as when the Gracchus brothers announced the agricultural land law.

Yet, as in every previous public speech, the aristocrats and senators stood silently in the crowd, watching the Roman slave who had rebelled against the throne shouting out his ridiculous and childish remarks on the stage, which were perhaps only used for a temporary occasion to agitate the stupid plebeians. Cato Jr. thought so.

"No, Cato, you are wrong. This Apis may not be as simple as we think. I suspect that what he is saying now is nothing more than using civilians and taking advantage of public opinion. Rome really wants to carry out reforms as he says, and it will have to pay too much price. Such a feud may even provoke the greatest contradiction between the nobility and the commoners again. It has caused the whole society to be in turmoil. Maybe that's not what they really want to see, or maybe that's not something Caesar needs to think about right now. ”

Karenus said with a squint.

"What do you mean?"

Little Cato turned his head and stared at his friend beside him, as if to say, "Say whatever you want, I don't like to beat around the bush."

"This Apis may be just carrying out the work that Caesar had set out to do, and I suspect that they are only trying to stir up the people and use them as bargaining chips to negotiate with us by creating tension. In order to achieve the goal of making Caesar the executive next year. In fact, I suspect that they don't care about the interests of civilians at all, but are just using them. And when the time comes, if the bill doesn't pass, they just need to put the charges on our heads. For them, there is no loss. ”

Carrenus said slowly, his perspective can always reach a deeper level, in that dark and deep place, there are always layers of conspiracies brewing, and this elderly senator can always smell the faint smell of blood in the air.

"We should talk to him. That Apis, who was sent directly by Caesar. I think we have to keep him under control before he causes more civilian commotion. At least, know what he's trying to do. ”

Carrenus's words made little Cato finally decide that he had to talk to Apis in person. The Roman Republic is facing another bloody storm, if it cannot be stopped in time. For little Cato, the stability of the republic was more important than anything else. Especially the relationship between the commoners and the nobility.

"Then I will go with you, but we must be ready, I have heard of this Appis, what he did in Gaul, what he accomplished, is not something that an ordinary Roman soldier could do. Even, he used to be just a slave. But in just three years, he was able to go from a military slave to the chief centurion of Caesar's legion. Aside from the element of luck, I believe that there must be something special about him, and we must be careful when talking to him. ”

Carrenus said thoughtfully.

"I'm ready, Karenus. As long as Caesar returned to Rome and surrendered his military power, everything could be discussed. We have too much room to detour, as long as he surrenders his military power. ”

Cato Jr. said, turning his gaze to Appis Gneeus, who was still speaking loudly on the stage...... (To be continued.) )