Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1766 1738. Three Directions
The main body of the statue of Zeus is made of marble, and he is wearing a Greek robe made of bronze, with his white right shoulder and right chest exposed.

When Phidias went to observe in the name of inspection, he immediately discovered that there was a pattern engraved on Zeus' exposed right chest.

The carving marks are not deep, and the marble of the statue is all white, so if you stand far away and don't look for it, you will hardly notice it.

It is difficult to see with the naked eye even when you get close, because the marble material of this Zeus statue is so fine and evenly white.

You have to press your fingers and feel the depressions of the marks to get a clear idea of ​​the outline.

Phidias simply found some paper and made a copy of it.

The two returned to the sculpture workshop, and Phidias personally rolled the copied pattern paper onto the cipher stick.

"How about it?"

Lan was standing nearby, half-sitting on a marble cube, watching Phidias's movements.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Phidias muttered, while quickly sorting the code stick and the note with his hands that could carve out spectacular buildings. "Is this... the direction?"

"what?"

"It's a list of directions to a series of sculptures, and some... other things! But it's not complete!"

Phidias hinted something, and Lan raised his eyebrows.

"Do you think that if we find all the clues on the statues on the list, we can make the information complete?"

The sculptor saw that his hint was completely understood, so he simply nodded honestly: "I think so."

"It seems," the demon hunter smiled playfully, "someone has spent a lot of effort to ensure that this secret will not be easily discovered, but it will not be easily lost."

"This might make those who want to kill me show up!" Phidias looked at his demon hunter friend earnestly, "What do you think?"

“I just think this logic is far-fetched.”

Faced with Phidias's earnest eyes, Lan En hit him rudely.

"Phidias, if someone hiding in the dark wants to kill you, then when he handed you the code stick and the note, why didn't he just stab you in the stomach with a dagger and twist the blade to crush your intestines when he bumped into you?"

"Just be quick and get it over with once and for all."

"But they just aren't that efficient."

"Then, then what do they want?" The sculptor's face was pale and he muttered to himself, "Could it be... that I really have a mental problem?"

Since Phidias was almost driven crazy, he has been left with sequelae.

This symptom is similar to paranoia. If Phidias comes into contact with people other than Lan, it won't take long for people to feel that something is wrong with their mind.

He is too paranoid and suspicious.

But it was different for Lan. The witcher saw with his own eyes how the Cult of Order targeted Phidias.

Those people could threaten his life, but they chose not to do so, and even deliberately let him occasionally discover the existence of these killers.

Torturing Phidias back and forth.

No one believed Phidias at the time, and this distrust itself became a mental pressure.

Even a tough guy like Hemingway would commit suicide under such mental pressure.

And precisely because he had seen it before, Lan En would not regard Phidias's words as a suspicious overreaction.

"To me, it's more like someone wants you to accomplish something that they can't accomplish themselves."

Lan reached out to Phidias and pointed his finger at the pile of things he was holding.

"Of course, they may also want to kill you. But perhaps we need to combine the two statements: they hope that you will be killed by them after completing this task."

"Completing this task may be more important than killing you."

Phidias had a strange expression on his face: "Ah this..."

His expression was something between panic and joy, which made people wonder how these two expressions were mixed together on one face.

No one can tell the sculptor's inner struggle.

Of course he was afraid of being targeted by the killer, which could be a life-threatening thing.

But on the other hand, if there really is a killer targeting him, doesn't that mean he's not delusional? That means he's a normal person!
For Phidias, who had not been understood for a long time, this was actually a kind of comfort.

"Let me finish my work before you kill me?" Phidias had a complicated expression. "...Do you think of me as a pebble or a piece of pottery to wipe your butt?"

Yes, although the Athenians used potsherds to vote, they also used potsherds to wipe their butts after going to the toilet, but they were relatively cheap.

"But this makes me curious." Lan En tilted his head and smiled with interest. "What exactly do they want you, the master sculptor, to accomplish?"

"Come on, Phidias. Tell me more. I don't believe you only saw this much after looking at it for so long." The sculptor nodded.

“This series of directions actually points to three regions, each with a famous sculpture.”

Phidias paced back and forth while shaking the papers in his hands, thinking non-stop.

"I think, just like the statue of Zeus we just visited, there must be clues on these three statues! If I can investigate them all, maybe I can fill in the blanks with this information!"

"Where are the three statues?"

"You want to go? That won't be an easy journey." Phidias said, "After all, these three places are far apart!"

"Tell me about it." Lan En extended his hand and asked the sculptor to tell a story.

"Kythera Island, that's the island where the god of love was born. I really hope we can go there together. The statue of Aphrodite on that island is so beautiful!"

"On the island of Thassos, there's a rather controversial statue of Theagonissus. An Olympic hero, legend has it that Hercules is his father."

"Samos, technically, is an island in the sea between it and Lesbos. They say it is between the breasts of the ocean. On it stands the majestic statue of Poseidon holding his trident."

Phidias was somewhat fascinated, these three statues were all well-known and had a long history, even though they were not sculpted by him, he very much wanted to see them.

Lan was listening to Phidias's story, but in his mind, he and Mentos had already pulled up the map of the Aegean Sea.

As Phidias spoke, three red dots, which were very different from each other, appeared on the map in his mind.

Lan found that no matter which destination he wanted to go to, he would have to take a long journey and would be further away from the other two.

"If I were to go, it would take quite a while."

The demon hunter studied the map in his mind and murmured meaningfully.

"Of course," Phidias agreed. "But to be able to leave traces on so many famous sculptures... I'm a little excited about what we can find!"

"Then I advise you not to get too excited too soon." Lan's tone suddenly changed, "We are not playing an adventure game, Phidias. Remember? Someone wants to kill you!"

"In comparison, I think this thing is more like an attempt to remove the capable people around you."

When faced with this treasure map that was suddenly delivered to his doorstep and had targets all over the world, Lan En could only see two words about Phidias: "dangerous".

"what?!"

Phidias, who had just been immersed in other spectacular sculptures, was suddenly poured with a basin of cold water and screamed.

But then, Lan leaned over with a smile and spoke to him.

"But it's not that we can't just go along with them, as long as..."
-
Ten minutes later, after discussing and coping with Phidias, Lan walked out of his workshop as if nothing had happened.

He even continued to contact Cassandra and her group and helped them prove Kalipatila's family background.

Finally, they arrived at a mountaintop on either side of the Olympus Valley, where the priestess of Demeter and a group of people were waiting for the time of execution.

There is a statue of Kronos on the top of the mountain. It is a winged Titan with a ferocious face. He bends over and opens his mouth to eat a baby in his hand.

I don’t know if there was some kind of sacrificial activity, but under the statue, right below the baby in the palm, there was a large pool of blood.

It was as if the Titan was actually chewing on a living baby.

If Kalipatila was found guilty, she would be thrown off a cliff and die.

The Olympics were a festival dedicated to the gods, and Kalipatila's behavior, if taken to a serious level, could be considered disrespectful to the gods, a felony punishable by death in that era.

But fortunately, the resentful falconer and sorceress stood on her side.

Kassandra took out a poem written by the famous poet Pindar, "Diagoras of Rhodes". The Diagoras praised in this poem is the father of Kalipatila, and the poem describes Diagoras' family.

The sorceress then brought in Kalipatila's son, who was training for the Olympics that were about to begin.

Before the ferocious statue of Kronos, things are made clear: Kalipatira was a good woman who worshipped the gods and loved the games, and her family had made great contributions to the Olympic Games.

Priestess Demeter released her on the spot.

Kalipatila and her son were naturally very grateful, and the people who came to the top of the mountain as witnesses also dispersed.

But Lan En and the others did not leave with him.

The empty and commanding mountain top is a great place for a casual conversation.

"The Olympics haven't started yet, but I think the Olympia Valley is already so busy."

The witcher told Cassandra and Triss about his itinerary for the day, including the ancient stone tablet in the Tomb of the First Champion that contained the technological power of the Isu people.

"There is such a thing?" Cassandra expressed surprise. "I have never seen it before! According to what you said, it should also be able to enhance my strength, right?"

(End of this chapter)