Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1778 1750. Strategy
Leaving the ruins of the workshop, which had become some kind of holy place, the group returned to the courtyard that Alcibiades had rented on the outskirts of the city.

This is a chance to relax and take a break.

More than an hour earlier, Alcibiades vomited in front of Cassandra and the others.

Then, Triss followed Lan's instructions, prepared the antidote that had been prepared in advance, and gave it to him and the judges who attended the banquet.

This can be considered as saving these people's lives.

The referees didn't have any events to look after today, so no one noticed that anything had happened to them.

In fact, in ancient Greece, it was not uncommon for people to feast and have fun all night and rest the next day after staying up all night, so no one thought that anything would happen to them.

When Cassandra and Triss arrived at the interior of Leonidaun and found the room where these people were feasting, several judges were curled up on the ground in pain, surrounded by their own sour and smelly vomit. But no one in Leonidaun noticed anything unusual.

Now all the poisoned people survived, and when everyone compared the heads of people who attended the banquet, Kallias had nowhere to hide.

But this guy probably didn't know that he was exposed, and none of the people he wanted to kill died.

After all, this was really not something he could have expected.

His poison was actually quite potent, but Lan En had already tasted it, analyzed its properties, and then prepared the antidote in advance.

Otherwise, except for Alcibiades, a strong young man who didn't eat or drink much during the banquet and could last longer, all the referees who attended the banquet would probably have died.

The death of so many referees would naturally cause a stir at the Olympics, so his instructions to Demos could be considered an explanation.

As for him? In ancient Greece, where civilization was still in its infancy, investigating a case was too advanced. Asking the temple priests for divination was more in line with the times.

As long as Kallias made sure that all those who attended the banquet died, he could even continue to serve as a referee at the Olympics until the end of the meeting.

"If your goal is to capture the members of the Cult of Kosmos within Sparta, then I think that goal has been achieved."

Sitting in the pavilion in the yard, the green leaves of the vines growing around the pavilion block the scorching sun of the Aegean Sea.

Lan held a ceramic cup of wine in his hand and spoke to the falconer.

"We have captured Alexios. Callias doesn't even realize that he has been exposed. It is just a matter of convenience to capture him. These two witnesses are enough for you to make accusations within Sparta."

"Witnesses?" Cassandra smiled bitterly with a headache. "How can we get them to talk? They are the best fighters. Pain and death are as common to them as eating pickled olives on the dinner table."

"Hey!" He said, and a pickled olive hit the falconer, leaving a greasy mark on her forehead. "It's not that hard to make people talk. I'm here."

Triss reminded them jokingly, "As long as you can weaken their tough nerves enough, I can read their minds. Now that I have the answer, you can just bluff and ask whatever you want. What can't you get out of it?"

Cassandra also showed a surprised expression.

After all, she had not had much contact with spellcasters like sorceresses, and she was not used to it, so she often forgot how convenient these people's magic was.

"Great!" Cassandra's joy was beyond words. "Let's go back to Sparta and identify the traitor. This way, Myrrine and I will definitely be able to regain our citizenship and officially return to our home!"

Family was almost an obsession for Cassandra. She had been pursuing it for more than ten years, ever since she fell off Mount Taygetus.

"We can wait until you finish the game tomorrow and arrest Kalias."

Lan En took a sip of the wine in the ceramic cup and spoke in an orderly manner.

Alcibiades' wine recipe, with apple slices, lemon slices and a stalk of lemongrass, tastes fruity and refreshing.

"It's so hard to get a female athlete to participate in the Olympics. It's a first. She has to win the championship anyway, right?"

"To be honest," Lan smiled at Cassandra while holding his glass, "I really want to see what you look like wearing the crown."

"That's right!" Triss immediately clapped her hands and laughed excitedly. "I put in so much effort to lobby so many people at the tournament organizers! Of course we have to win a female champion! Damn it for not allowing women to participate!"

Triss is relatively young among the famous sorceresses. She usually has a gentle personality and is lively like a young girl.

But she was still one of the anti-traditional, rebellious sorceresses. She had no problem swearing, especially when she found that Lan didn't mind it.

Cassandra nodded. She certainly also hoped to gain the glory of being an Olympic champion.

But after nodding, the falconer turned to look at Lan En: "Thank you... I am now a little calmer."

Cassandra rubbed her forehead.

She is not a dull person. Lan and Triss said "let her finish the Olympics before leaving", which certainly does not mean that they take the Olympics very seriously.

Lan En was just watching for the novelty and excitement, and Triss had no idea about this sports meeting, let alone the filters. This was just to calm her down.

"You found me out." The demon hunter simply looked at Triss across from him, shrugged and admitted, "But since you're going to talk to Alexios, it's definitely not a good state to be too excited."

The same sentence, spoken by the same person, will have very different results if it carries the same emotion.

A mother's words to her child can be both blaming and caring, and the child's response will change the relationship between mother and child.

Especially when it comes to a complex and broken family relationship like Cassandra's, every step has to be taken carefully if you want to repair it.

Otherwise, the already fragile, even hostile relationship would collapse in an instant.

Reality is not a game where you can reload and explore different strategies. Once the relationship and feelings between people collapse, even if it is just because of a single sentence, it is irreparable and there is no going back.

"Don't worry." But now, Cassandra seemed very confident, and even comforted Lan and Triss, "The communication between us will be smooth."

The demon hunter raised an eyebrow: "Hmm? What do you mean?"

With a slight "swoosh" sound, Cassandra took off the Spear of Leonidas that she had been hanging on her back and held it in her hand.

Her fingertips gently stroked the sharp edge of the spear, and the flexible fingertips made a pleasant scraping sound as they rubbed against the metal blade.

"This is an Isu artifact passed down from my family. It connects our bloodline."

Looking at this broken spear, which is now completely different from its original shabby appearance, Cassandra's eyes are complex and affectionate.

"As long as Alexios is willing to hold it, our memories will be able to communicate. He will be able to see the truth of what happened on Mount Taygetes when he was a baby. Without being deceived or interfered by anyone!"

Cassandra's tone was firm, as if it had become an established fact.

"But as far as I know," Ke Lan interjected cautiously, "the two of you should have exchanged your memories in Delphi, when you disguised yourself and sneaked into the gathering of the Cult of Kosmos through a triangular cone-shaped artifact."

"But that memory exchange made him even more certain that it was you who threw him off the mountain."

These things were discussed between Lan and Cassandra when they attended the Pericles banquet in Athens.

"That's different." Cassandra frowned, but did not change her statement. "The triangular cone artifact did allow us to exchange memories, but the communication process was too fast and too brief, so it deepened the misunderstanding."

"Not with the Spear of Leonidas?"

"Certainly not!"

Kassandra was confident, probably because she and her daughter had exchanged memories several times through the Isu artifacts after finding Myrrine.

But Lan En still has reservations about this.

"I still don't recommend you to put the Spear of Leonidas into Alexios's hands now." The witcher shook his head.

The witcher leaned forward on the stone table, close to Cassandra, using his gesture to show his sincerity.

“Emotions are something that need to be carefully managed to be most effective.”

Lan En drew a line on the table with his finger.

"You must use your last resort now. Give the broken spear of your family to Alexios and let him see your memories of that time. But he only has hostility towards you now, nothing else."

"Yes, your memory will definitely have an impact on him, but the question is, how big will this impact be? Can it make him suddenly overturn the ideas that the Cult of Kosmos has been instilling in him since he was a baby and has been doing for decades?"

"You know, he still insists that he is Deimos, and he disregards the name Alexios."

"If the memory in your family's broken spear doesn't have a strong enough impact on him, what other plans do you have? Can you impact his emotions later? If you reveal your ultimate means right from the start, things will be difficult to handle later."

"Then I..." Cassandra held the handle of the broken spear, her fingers clenching and unclenching repeatedly, just like her anxious mood at the moment, "Then what should I do?"

"If you ask me," Lann gave guidance to the falconer with his control over other people's emotions and experience in emotional control, "you should give him the broken spear when you bring him back to Sparta to meet Myrrine."

"No matter what, Myrrine is your mother. The shock of seeing her again, combined with the memories in the broken spear, will undoubtedly have the greatest impact."

"If this doesn't work, then I don't know how to make your silly brother repent."

Cassandra was convinced and decided to adopt Lan's strategy to contact her brother.

(End of this chapter)