Standing under the golden branch tree, Shang Luo looked at the path he had come in: the journey seemed to be much shorter than he had expected. You can even see the edge of the forest from here, and you can see the car they were in when they came.

"Woohoo~" Titus breathed a sigh of relief. Although he didn't know if he would be deducted from his salary when he went back, because the cost here was really outrageous, at least the tasks here were completed.

"Then, Your Excellency Shang Luo." He pointed outside, "We can go back the way we came now." ”

"Why did you suddenly call me Your Excellency?"

"Well, let Mr. Marcus say it to you."

Marcus bowed his head slightly. Because Shang Luo was a little shorter than him, he didn't want to point his nostrils at the big man: "That's the reason. When I came, I was informed by the Senate, and they thought it would be great that you could carry the golden branch on your back. We can't get our hands out of the way all over the world, and the Golden Bough, while never too difficult, gets the most attention. You can also see the impact of this, this time even the army of wild hunters can come out. We don't know what will happen next time, so just don't break the branch and let you be crowned the witch king of Nemi according to the traditional process. ”

"I see. Then I'm now"

"That's right, you're now one of the most honorable people in the Empire. Because you're not even a patriarch, because a patriarch may not really have the title of feudal lord on his body. Your current status is actually that of a Roman king. ”

"The King? What king? ”

"Wait a minute." He first asked Titus, "Did you tell him about Lake Nemi?" ”

Most of them were said, but the origin of the temple was not said. Because it had nothing to do with the mission at that time. ”

"Okay." Marcus took a breath, "It's going back a long way. In 570 B.C., it was the Spring and Autumn era of Aurora. For Rome, it was the age of Roman kingship, the oldest history of the Roman Republic. It was the reign of the sixth Roman king, Servius Tullius, a virtuous king who shaped the 'Council of Hundreds' based on citizenship rather than tribal blood. There was another crucial move in his reign: at Lake Nemi, on the outskirts of Rome, there were still many Latin tribes who had not yet joined the Roman kingdom. And their common deity is Diana. ”

"So, they joined the Pantheon in Rome?"

"From a later point of view, that was the time when the Pantheon in Rome was formed – so you can see that the Roman gods were exactly the embodiment of Greek gods, but there were subtle differences. We Romans can actually tell the difference, for example, Ares and Mars are both gods of war, but their positions on both sides are different, and Rome worships the god of war far more than Greece. The reason for these disagreements was the fact that the tribes were inducted into the Pantheon at the time, and their identities were high and low.

Diana was crucial in this, as she was a god worshipped by almost all Latin tribes, so her status in the pantheon was much higher than that of Artemis in Greece. To this end, Servius Tullius built a temple for Diana and accepted the status of the king of the forest as the god of the goddess's side. Like the other forest kings, he also died by the sword of murder. So you inherit the throne of Servius Tullius. ”

"Huh? Is this how the King of the Forest has been handed down? And what about the back? ”

"The back is the hardest part. He was murdered by his son-in-law, Subebus, the seventh Roman king. His reign was the end of the Roman monarchy. As the last king, he was driven out of the city of Rome and exiled into the wilderness. So at this point, you can probably understand: the one you cut before is the 'shadow of Lake Nemi' that we found back, and it is the last Roman king Spebus, who is wandering outside. You murdered him, then according to the rules, now you are the king of Rome. As an aside, the first Roman kings were also murdered, and the murder curse later spread to the Roman emperors. Tsk, it's all fate, fate. ”

"Ahh

He was silent, and Marcus looked at him.

"So, is there any relevance to the status of the Roman king now?"

"You're on the point. In fact, the Roman monarchy has undergone a series of changes, and most of its divinity has flowed to the second Roman city in the east, commonly known as 'Constantinople'. So if you want to describe your current kingship in detail, then the most accurate way to say it would be 'king of the Romans'. To be honest, we don't know how to place this position now, and it stands to reason that you should have been given at least one appointment as a Roman high priest, but the divine authority of the Roman high priest was appropriated by the Roman patriarch. Tut-tut-tut"

He shook his head as he smacked, for he didn't know what to do.

"So, how are you going to talk about it now?"

"We're waiting for the Senate to meet." He shook his head, "You should know that Rome is divided into six parts, so whatever we do, half of the people will generally oppose it. It will probably take some time for the Senate to reach a result, and it is not excluded to arrange an interview with Her Majesty the Empress to finalize the matter. Let me ask you first, do you have a marriage contract? ”

"Nope."

"Have you considered a political marriage?"

"Hah??? What's that? Shang Luo was stunned.

"Hypothesis, I'm assuming. Because considering the outpouring of divinity, unless you are murdered, the divinity of the Roman king is tied to you. And what you may not know is that the Forest King himself is the god of the moon. The six kings were also enshrined in this capacity, so if you can accept our arrangement, it would be the best - ah, of course, it's all modern now, isn't it? We can't force modern people to marry for these reasons, do we? What's more, Her Majesty's own will is also important. ”

[Oh~~ You've made a lot of money~~ The empress is very cute, she came to my oracle to ask for a sign when she was a child. But I was still young at the time, and I don't remember what she was asking for. 】

"This, this. So is this your final decision? ”

"No, this is a possible solution, so I told you in advance that I hope you can be mentally prepared to save unnecessary misunderstandings when you suddenly tell you. After all, before we start working together, we have to take into account all possible outcomes. ”

Shang Luo pressed his forehead: "You guys discuss it first, tell me the final result and I'll think about it later, okay?" Although this is for the peace of the world, it is a blow to Her Majesty the Empress and to me personally. ”

"Of course we know that, so this is just a last resort, so don't worry too much. Then there are some of the regular work of the 'Roman kings'. The king is written in Latin as REX, which originally meant military commander, with command of the 'Roman army'. Therefore, when the internal guards are carrying out the operation, please also ask your attention to help as much as possible. Sometimes you need to go. How can I say it?"

"Need me to make a fuss?"

"yes, you can make a fuss. To use an analogy, just as the first knife of a priest to cut his prey, we may occasionally ask you to come and make a blame, because it is the power of the king. It won't be a hassle, you just have to come and walk around the lighthouse. ”

(End of chapter)