European modulation mode

Aenarion was a little depressed.

Chapter 29: Shadows of Slaanesh

When night falls,

Aenarion returned to the second ship and asked if his captain had returned and if he could pay for the crossing.

The two sailors were the ones who received them. They looked at each other and then hesitantly said, "You are really here... Well, the captain hasn't come back yet. Why don't you go to Happy Street in the east to look for him? There are several reputable brothels there, with many white and elf slave girls. Maybe the captain is staying there tonight."

Aenarion said nothing and turned away. It was obvious that they were looking for all kinds of reasons to refuse him. They just didn't want a stranger to get on their ship.

Irene and Indragnir looked worried, they had never expected that it would be so troublesome for this delicate flower growing in the palace to take a boat outside.

"Are you looking for a boat to Venice?"

Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded from the left side of the crowd, and a human male, with his arms around two scantily clad, sexy elf prostitutes, strode towards the three people. With his hands wrapped in cloth, he dishonestly kneaded the two elves' snow-white mountains.

"I happen to have a ship going to Venice, and because of some problems with capital turnover, the ship is not fully loaded. If you can pay the fare of 100 Grosso silver coins per person, I will be happy to take you to Venice."

"Really? That's great."

Indrognir was a little excited and coughed a few times in a mature manner.

"Okay, but we paid so much money, you should at least arrange a comfortable cabin for us and take care of our meals along the way."

"Very reasonable."

The man nodded and agreed to the other party's request.

Aenarion and Irene had solemn expressions on their faces, because Drognir was anxious to save the Eastern Roman Empire and his own Palaiologos family. The two of them did not have such concerns and looked carefully at the man in front of them. He looked quite handsome, but his face was pale, his cheeks were thin, his steps were a little unsteady, he had two big dark circles under his eyes, and he looked like he had kidney deficiency, but his hands were still rubbing the bodies of the two elven prostitutes.

Moreover, this man was wearing a purple cloak that wrapped his whole body tightly, with even his palms wrapped with cloth straps, leaving only his neck and head exposed, as if he didn't want people to see his skin.

This kind of strange phenomenon is either because the person's skin is so ugly that he doesn't want others to see it, or because he has some kind of tattoo or mark on his body that he doesn't want others to know about.

Aenarion looked at the other man again and felt that it was most likely the latter.

During this time, Irene hid behind Inarion, waved her fingers in the blind spot of his vision, pinched the seal, and chanted the spell in an inaudible voice, performing a reconnaissance spell to detect the information of the man in front of her. Inarion's eyes also flashed a dim purple light. With the advantage of psychic power that he did not need to chant the seal, he also used a reconnaissance spell to observe the man in front of him.

However, strangely, the reconnaissance technique only revealed a very ordinary name and a very ordinary attribute, which reminded Aenarion of Indrognir's previous information disguise on the pirate ship. The guy in front of him might have also used some means to disguise his information.

Then, combined with the excessive indulgence, purple robes, and the information that Artemisia had mentioned that the Slayers were also reselling goods and slaves at the port of Smyrna, Aenarion immediately thought that the man in front of him might be a member of the Slaanesh warband "Slayers".

Irene had obviously considered this as well. She hurriedly walked behind the little princess and pinched her slender waist calmly. Indrognir was stunned for a moment, then he also felt something was wrong.

"There are twelve of us. Let's split up and look for a boat to Venice. Where is your boat? When will it leave?"

Aenarion stepped forward, feigning urgency.

"We will set sail in three days. Look, that's our ship."

The pretty boy with kidney deficiency raised his finger and pointed to the left. An Arab sailboat appeared on the sea and some familiar purple-robed sailors were busy walking on the deck.

Damn! It's really those people! What passengers? I'm afraid we will become slaves once we get on the ship!

"Well, the dhow looks a little small. Can we get all twelve of us on board with decent and comfortable cabins?"

Aenarion's heart was in turmoil, but on the surface he remained calm.

"Yes, of course. We can't fit one person in one room, but three or four people in one room can still be enough."

The man agreed repeatedly.

"Okay, let's go find the other companions first and come back to discuss this with you shortly."

Aenarion pretended to be overjoyed, grabbed Irene with one hand and Indrognir with the other, and pulled the two women into the crowd. After turning left and right several times, he finally got out of the other party's sight.

"It's so hard to find a ship in this damn place. It's either rejected or there are slave traders and pirates with evil intentions."

Aenarion was troubled.

"Yes, yes. When I was in Constantinople, the captains begged me to take the ship."

Indrognir also felt a little aggrieved. He didn't understand why he encountered so many setbacks when he just wanted to go out to sea.

The group returned to the inn, ready to continue their efforts tomorrow. Aenarion told Artemisia about the predicament they had faced today, and described the kidney-deficient man in detail, asking her what had happened.

Is this person also a member of the Slayer Gang?

"Yes, he is a member of the Slayer Warband, the captain of the Iberia, Carlos Holy Helm, a human from Iberia. He really likes to do this kind of despicable thing of luring ignorant civilians onto the ship and then taking them as slaves."

Artemisia gave them a strange look.

"But... haven't you three ever been far away? Smyrna is the end of the Silk Road, and Venice is the largest middleman in Europe. Ninety-nine percent of the ships on this route are merchant ships, all busy transporting goods to make money, so it's normal that they don't want to take you.

We can just rent a small boat, a fishing boat or a merchant ship, and go to the nearest Venetian colony on the Aegean Sea, reveal the identity of your governor's fiancée there, and then it will be easy to rent a safer and larger ship from the Venetians, and then go to Venice, right? Do I need to tell you this?"

After some thought, they realized that Artemisia, the pirate, was more experienced. Irene and Indragnir, the two greenhouse flowers, and Aenarion, the newcomer, were indeed inexperienced.

The next day, the three headed towards the port again. The difference was that they all wore cloaks, covering half of their faces, for fear of encountering pirates from the Slayer warband.

This time, they directly said to rent a boat to go to the small islands in the Aegean Sea. Fishing boats and merchant ships would be fine. After the selection conditions were relaxed, there were more boats available. After a busy time, several people finally chose a small sailboat ten meters long. After paying six grosso silver coins, an old elf dressed in Turkic style promised to set sail the day after tomorrow and take them to Naxos Island, the nearest colony of the Venetians.

After solving the problem of the ship, Aenarion went to the shipyard and asked how much a 40-meter-class galley with cannons and interior would cost. The answer he got was an astronomical figure: 96,000 Grosso silver coins.

Wow, a good meal for five people only cost three silver coins, and the Eastern Roman princess promised to give him a galley as long as he could bring her safely to Venice.

As long as you do this job well, you will get such a generous reward!

PS: Orange is Venetian, pink is Genoa, skin color is Florence, red is Ottoman Empire, purple is Eastern Roman Empire

Chapter 30: Roman Gods

There was still one day before the departure date. After finishing the work at the port and the ship, Aenarion held the chain on the leopard woman's neck with his left hand and held Artemisia's soft and cold hand with his right hand. He was finally able to take a good look around this most prosperous port city in Asia Minor.

The little girl Indrognir was exhausted from looking for a boat these days. Today she stayed in bed and rested in the hotel with her maid.

"You seem very familiar with this place. Where should we go first?"

Aenarion looked out at the beautiful city. Surrounded by green mountains and rivers and sheltered by palm trees, the white and beautiful buildings stretched to the end of his sight. Thousands of leaves rustled in the sea breeze and danced in the air. Looking up, it seemed like a magnificent green wave.

The golden morning light was also cut into countless broken and mottled light and shadows by the constantly jumping and dancing green ocean, splashing on the white stone and red tiles of Smyrna. Teams of fully armed Turkic elves rode on horses and patrolled the streets, maintaining public order in the largest port city of the Ottoman Empire.

“There are many famous attractions, such as the Library of Celsus and the Temple of Hadrian, and then we go to the market to replenish supplies and provisions.

After the tour, we can go out of the city. On a high mountain about ten kilometers south of the city, there is the Temple of Artemis, the goddess of the moon, hunting, fertility and abundance. It is one of the most famous wonders in Europe, as famous as the pyramids in Egypt. When my parents named me, they also used a variation of the goddess' name. "

Artemisia knew the landscapes along the Aegean coast like the back of her hand.

The Temple of Artemis, the super wonder that is on par with the Egyptian pyramids and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon?

Aenarion nodded in agreement, and Artemisia chanted something and summoned the Slaughter Paladin's mount, a jet-black horse without a single stray hair on its body. Its jet-black hair was as soft and beautiful as silk, and its strong muscles formed handsome arcs on its body.

What was even more peculiar was that the mane and tail of this black horse were burning pink flames, and its four pitch-black hooves were also entangled with this gorgeous lustful fire.

A nightmare possessed by Slaanesh.

"Come up."

Artemisia jumped onto the horse's back skillfully, held out her hand, and invited Aenarion to mount.

Aenarion stroked Nightmare's black fur curiously, jumped onto the horse's back, sat behind Artemisia, wrapped his arms around her slender waist, and rubbed his crotch against her plump and tender buttocks deliberately.

The Slaanesh Paladin gently stroked the horse's head. A rein also made of the fire of Slaanesh appeared in her hand. The nightmare galloped on the flames with its four hooves.

On the street, the shade of palm trees and the red bricks and white tiles on both sides quickly disappeared at the corners of my eyes.

The Leopard Woman let out a low roar and followed the horse effortlessly, even faster than the horse.

After running for a while, Aenarion felt that his style of painting was not right.

"Artemisia, are we sitting in the wrong position? Isn't it normal for girls to sit behind the horse and hug the boy's waist?"

"Really? Let's switch then."

Artemisia pulled the reins of the warhorse, and the two exchanged the order of front and back. The flaming reins automatically extended and were firmly held in the hands of the paladin. The Nightmare Bathed in Fire neighed, and its four hooves burning with flames galloped across the sky again. Aenarion leaned back under the action of inertia and lay on her proud snow-capped peaks.

Aenarion looked at the paladin's arms wrapped around his body, his face full of black lines. Now, he seemed to be held in Artemisia's arms. This looked even more wrong!

Forget it, so be it.

The two first went to a busy trade market, where they were forced to dismount and walk in this densely populated area.

The architecture of the Ottoman Empire was completely learned from the Eastern Roman Empire. Red fired bricks were piled up into a round dome, and the top was decorated with a silver crescent moon pointing towards the holy city of Mecca. On the white walls, there were huge windows one after another to increase the lighting inside the building. Countless stalls were densely packed throughout the entire three-story building. Elves dressed in Turkic costumes shouted their various goods, and the sounds of hawking, bargaining, and conversation mixed together, echoing back and forth under the red dome.

Aenarion looked around curiously. There were farmers growing wheat and chickpeas, hunters hunting for venison and furs, fishermen catching live fish and shrimp, blacksmiths making swords, spears, and shields, and merchants selling tea and silk. There was everything for sale.

"Buy dry food and fresh water first. You never know what will happen when you go out to sea. The more food and fresh water, the better."

Artemisia found a few small vendors selling food and bought a large amount of bread, heated and dried raisins, air-dried and cured beef and mutton jerky, some cheese, and three barrels of wine in one go.

"Well, these should be enough for the five of us to eat for seven days. Don't take fresh water out to sea, it will easily go bad. Wine is the best choice."

Artemisia took out her dimensional bag and, under the boss's envious gaze, stuffed a large amount of food directly into the small waist bag without adding any weight. The dimensional bag is useful and really rare.

Aenarion went to the blacksmith's shop and commissioned them to make a mold for a small ball. Then he used the mold to make fifty small lead balls. He then bought some gunpowder and increased the number of paper bullets to fifty.

Iron is too hard to be used as a matchlock bullet and causes great damage to the gun barrel. Lead is softer and can better protect the gun barrel, and the power is not much different. He spent a total of fifty-one silver coins. Afterwards, he spent another three hundred silver coins to buy a finely forged spear head, which replaced the dagger and fixed on the musket to enhance some melee damage. The dagger was inserted into his waist for use.

Fine-crafted weapons are top-quality weapons made by the most skilled blacksmiths using the best materials. The difference in performance between them and ordinary weapons is like that between motorcycles and bicycles. Naturally, their prices are also very expensive. An ordinary spear would only sell for ten silver coins at most, but the price of a fine-crafted spear could soar to three hundred silver coins.

After getting the musket, Aenarion finally couldn't resist the temptation of the longsword. He spent 315 silver coins and bought a finely forged longsword as a secondary weapon, which he hung at his waist.

This sword is extremely beautiful, with a total length of 1.3 meters. It is silver-white in color, with an elegant and slender blade. The hilt is like a beautiful crescent moon, lying across the hilt. The counterweight ball at the tail of the sword is like an octagonal bone that can be used as a hammer to hit people. The counterweight is also very reasonable, with the center of gravity ten centimeters in front of the hilt, making it very easy to wield.

Although he really couldn't use a sword, Artemisia knew how to do it, so he could just let her teach him. Anyway, a warlock's magical ability relied on his bloodline, and he couldn't enhance his magical power through learning like a wizard. It would be better for him to hone his melee skills to make up for his weakness of insufficient damage.

Finally, Aenarion spent twenty gold coins to buy a kite-shaped wooden shield covered with leather. This shield is large at the top and small at the bottom, shaped like a water droplet, which can protect the whole body. This medium-sized shield can provide 2 points of defense, which allows Aenarion's defense capability to be improved to a higher level, and there is a 60% probability of blocking bullets, arrows, javelins and other small long-range projectiles fired from the front.

The edge of the shield has a small fork for holding the gun, and it can also be inserted into the ground as a support to hold up a spear to fight against cavalry or a musket to shoot.

After buying supplies and reserves, he still had 2311 grosso silver coins left. He first came to the Great Library of Celsus, which was built by a Roman governor more than years ago. But now, it is like the old empire, with only ruins left. People can only get a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg of that huge empire through the ruins.

Passing through the white marble archway, Aenarion saw the last remnants of the library: a magnificent wall that was only two stories high but nineteen meters high.

The old stone walls are densely engraved with various exquisite patterns and texts.

The shrines of eight goddesses whose names have disappeared in the long river of history stand quietly in front of the wall, protected by huge pillars and arches. They hold scrolls or swords high, standing proudly on the ruins. The altars in front of them still have the remnants of tributes from thousands of years ago.

The two of them admired the magnificent ruins. They had no idea what had lived in the Celsus Library back then. He had only built a two-story house, but it turned out to be 19 meters high.

Next is the Temple of Hadrian. According to Artemisia, in ancient Rome, there were many gods in the world. The Romans worshipped all the gods and sought blessings from all the gods. However, in the third century AD, the empire experienced an unprecedented crisis and even collapsed, disintegrating into three empires, known as the Crisis of the Third Century. In that chaotic and bloody civil war, even the gods died.

When the catastrophe was over, the only gods who survived were Jesus Christ, Ms. Thirst and other extremely powerful gods.

However, the ancient Roman Pantheon is very well preserved. It is a typical Corinthian building with slender and elegant columns, which are carved with various complex and three-dimensional reliefs. Inside the temple are all the gods that the Romans once believed in, but now, no one worships them, and only the might of one god remains in the world.

Aenarion glanced at the statues that were covered with cobwebs and dust and no one had cleaned them. He actually saw a few familiar ones.

For example, a giant dragon with five heads: red, blue, green, black, and white.

A kobold sitting on a brass throne with a blood-red scarf.

A male statue with a female body and antlers on its head and six arms, holding ears of wheat and thorns.

Finally, he even saw a sculpture of Qing Bao Tianzun - the ancient Romans really believed in everything.

After visiting the Pantheon, the two visited the ruins of a castle built by the Seljuks, the ruins of ancient Ephesus, the Bega Mongol Empire that existed before BC, and so on.

Izmir has a great location. It is located in the center of the west coast of the Anatolian Peninsula. It is very convenient to go north to the Black Sea or south to Egypt. The narrow and safe Izmir Bay is an excellent shelter for ships.

Therefore, countless kings who once controlled this area built large-scale projects here, and these houses, castles, and ruins built by dozens of dynasties spanning more than two thousand years are densely packed together, forming today's largest trading port in the Ottoman Empire: Izmir.

Chapter 31: Setting Sail

After touring Izmir, several people set out to visit the Temple of the Goddess, which is as famous as the Pyramids. The Nightmare of the Slaanesh Paladin ran very fast. After leaving the densely populated urban area, it was like a black lightning, galloping freely in the wilderness, leaving behind a trail of horseshoe marks burning with pink magic flames. In less than an hour, it arrived at the foot of the mountain in the south of the city.

Aenarion looked up and saw that the entire top of the mountain had been leveled to build this huge and magnificent temple to the goddess.

Surrounded by cedars and cypresses, a row of marble-carved stone steps stretch from the foot of the mountain all the way to the inside of the archway of the building. Each step is so huge that six horses can walk side by side. As the sun sets, the entire blue sky turns into a dazzling and beautiful orange-red color, and the blood-red sunlight splashes on the white stone steps of the temple and the broken ruins on the top of the mountain.

"This place is in ruins just like the library."

Aenarion said with some disappointment.

"Yes, this place has been destroyed and renovated several times. The last time, it was a Christian Roman emperor who ordered the demolition of this gathering place for the goddess's followers. After that, no one came to repair it. It's a pity."

Artemisia waved the reins, Nightmare roared twice, and climbed the marble steps with the Leopard Girl to the top of the mountain. Although the entire building had collapsed, it still could not conceal her former glory.

Huge marble bricks cover the entire top of the mountain, forming the flat base of the entire temple. Every floor and every cornerstone is carved with complex three-dimensional patterns and designs by highly skilled craftsmen.

On top of the base, more than a hundred shattered Corinthian columns stretched straight into the sky, supporting the roof of the temple that no longer existed. The tallest one was over thirty meters high and was destroyed along with the roof. The few remaining demolished columns were also behemoths of more than ten meters high. Even the shortest ones were seven meters long. Every detail of every marble column was carved with ingenious three-dimensional paintings, as well as a large number of gorgeous sunken patterns.

All mortals can feel when facing these proudly towering pillars is their insignificance.