Lake Nemi, once known as "Diana's Mirror", is no different now. The town of Arakia, which has been in existence since classical times, is built on the north side of the lake, and further north is the sacred grove of the temple of Diana, the goddess of the moon.

The low, loud humming roar of the pulse-detonation engine startled the waterfowl on the lake, and even the nearby Seismic Observatory received the signal for a detonation. But they immediately received orders from higher up to delete the signal records.

A dark shadow skimmed over the town, dropping a barrage of parachutes. The shadow then sped up and pulled higher, pulling out a sonic boom cloud across the distant sky and continuing to sprint towards the dawn on the horizon, leaving behind a series of staccato smoke in a knot.

The legionnaires on the ground immediately pulled out and rushed to the scene of the parachute drop. When they arrived, several humanoid black figures slashed the parachute line from a height of 50 meters, ignited the recoil rocket, and slammed into the ground in light and dust.

Lu Huaiyang patted the dust on his knees and looked at the legionnaires who surrounded him. Accompanied by the centurion, it was a technical officer who came out to meet each other, and after confirming each other's mission passwords, the two sides greeted each other with military salutes.

"Io Triumphe, friend of Aurora. Welcome to Rome. We're gathering the rest of the team, do we need them to rally here? ”

He directly used the official language to communicate with Lu Huaiyang. Since there are only two world languages that need to be learned, and if you learn them, you can travel all over the world, so there are actually quite a lot of people who "can speak official dialect on the Roman side" and "Latin on the Ming side".

"Io Triumphe, a friend of Great Qin. Yes, bring someone else to meet with me. ”

Lu Huaiyang didn't want to say anything, but those inexperienced students seemed to jump a little crooked, more crooked than luggage. But it's all friendly here, and if it's crooked, it's crooked, it's not a big problem.

"Okay." The technical officer from Rome confirmed the order, "I know you have come here on an important mission. I have no authority to represent the people of Rome, so I would like to thank you on behalf of my family. Aurora people have come from far and wide to help, and the problem here is really embarrassing. Then, according to the instructions of the Senate, we can only be responsible for gathering you, and we cannot go any further. After that, we will evacuate to a safe area for observation, and there will be internal guards to accompany you on your mission. Take care. ”

"Hmm."

"Also." He pointed to the guide, "We're stationed there." A divisional artillery group was deployed there, and the First Legion stationed in Rome ten kilometers away could also come to support at any time. Feel free to send a signal if needed. ”

The assembly took half an hour. Titus 123 was the first to arrive, followed by 456, and they skydived in groups of three. Shang Luo and Lu Liang stayed behind, and Wen Yuan and Han Xingzhi arrived last.

"Why is it so slow?" Lu Huaiyang looked up at the time, "Although you are not paratroopers, you have already run out of time." ”

He subconsciously looked at Wen Yuan, this kind of thing is generally to blame him.

"No, no, no, you don't really blame me this time. It's this guy hanging on a tree. ”

"I let you see the luggage, but I didn't let you see him."

"I can't blame that way! Who can say for sure about skydiving? We shouldn't use an umbrella next time, we should just glide down and land with a rocket. Just like Wang Lingguan, he smashed to the ground with a 'boom'. ”

"This kind of action will be designed by yourself when you take the apprentice in the future. Okay, are you all done? ”

He took a look at it, and everyone was together. The luggage was loaded and followed not far away.

"Okay, then put on your cloak and put it over your armor. Cover your head with a hood, like an inner guard. ”

Titus explained, "Cloaks and windproof hoods are the attire of strangers and are required for many ceremonies. So please don't take off your hood until the end of the welcoming ceremony. ”

Shang Luo and the others all nodded.

"Well, although the part of the broken branch starts tomorrow, the ceremony actually starts today. In a moment we will enter the town of Arakia, where the local elders will come out to meet us and arrange for us to stay. The town will entertain you to a sumptuous dinner and invite you to enjoy it to your heart's content. But even if you don't have an appetite, you must eat some. Here's why. ”

He pointed to the Sacred Grove in the north:

"According to the rituals of ancient sacrifices, we need to sacrifice 'strangers' to the king of the forest as sacrifices in the ceremony, and only the sacrifices are qualified to fight with the king of the forest. The 'strangers' here are you, and the others who came from Delphi before that. In short, you have to be a stranger to complete the ceremony, that's the rule. But even strangers can't be sacrificed in a vacuum, you have to owe some karma first. ”

"Is that the meal?" Shang Luo asked.

"Yes, that meal. Just as Persephone ate the vermilion fruit of the underworld and could not return, so you must eat the 'food of a foreign land' at today's dinner in order to owe the karma of this meal, which is the key to initiating the ritual of breaking branches. However, although it was part of the ceremony, this meal was paid for by the internal guard, and a lot of high-end ingredients were used. There is also a red apple that symbolizes the 'vermilion fruit' at the ceremony, and everyone is invited to eat at least one, which is an apple from the Royal Orchard of Slovenia, which is delicious. ”

"How does it feel like let's have a full meal before we go to the execution ground." Wen Yuan muttered.

"Well, theoretically, the last meal that the prison serves to the prisoners who go to the execution ground is also to remove some karma during the ceremony. After all, the verdict and the guilt have nothing to do with the prison itself, the prison is only the executor. If you're good at the occult, you'll find out ahead of time. ”

"About this." Lu Huaiyang leaned over and said a few words to him.

"Oh, yes. So you were supposed to have a class on Introduction to the Occult on Saturday morning? That's just right, let's combine that lesson with the task briefing. Today's agenda is dinner, rest. Tomorrow morning there's breakfast and a mission briefing—and that combined lesson on Introduction to the Occult. Free time until dinner, after which the ceremony begins. Someone in the town will lead you to the Sacred Forest with lanterns. We can only stop here, there will be another team of internal guards in the Holy Forest, Shang Luo, you should have seen it? It's the team that gave you the old branches. ”

"The ones who dress like extras?"

"No, you were dreaming back then. They are dressed the same as me, but because of the sympathetic disguise, you can't see it when you dream. Anyway, relax before the ceremony begins, as Lake Nemi, known as the 'Mirror of Diana', is also one of Rome's most famous holiday destinations, and the dinner party served by the nearby resort hotel is actually a catering service. Eat more, I remember the Peron oysters from the Bordeaux coast. ”

(End of chapter)