My XX deal with Sister Nero

Especially since Caligula died from an assassination by the Praetorian Guards, after Claudius came to power, because of his weak character, his attitude towards the Praetorian Guards was mainly compromising. As a result, when Nero came to power, although the Praetorian Guards nominally obeyed the Claudius family, in fact, they were more obedient to money.

Although she already knew that the Royal Guards were of this kind, Evebia really didn't expect that she would have to try her best to gather fifty, just fifty absolutely loyal soldiers!

No wonder His Highness inadvertently said that he wanted to raise a new guard to replace the original one. An army that is supposed to protect the emperor is no longer loyal to their Majesty. What is the point of keeping such an army?

Are you waiting to backstab your majesty?

"Okay, then we have General Laofenius." Evebia nodded.

A brand-new army specialized in doing dirty work certainly cannot have only a century-man team. It must at least have a large number of spies and other odd jobs under it. Just as his brother said, his opponents are the Praetorian Guards and some senators of the Senate.

Like Windex.

Perhaps it was because he and his brother felt too much oppression from the Senate. It is said that when his brother went south, Windex secretly returned to Gaul. He hosted a banquet for several local chiefs with whom he had a good relationship, and it seemed that he had some plans that were detrimental to the empire.

Chapter 305 A Visit from the Magic Association

"Your Highness, you said you wanted to form a new army?" Almost at the same time, in Tony's bedroom, Mary asked back uncertainly.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Tony was stunned for a moment and looked at Mary. From Mary's reaction, it seemed...the problem was big?

"It's like this, Your Highness. If you want to establish a main battle corps similar to the First Legion of Odeni, it's very simple. Whether it's in the British Province or other provinces, as long as you offer a high enough price, you can recruit enough troops. Even...even if Your Highness is willing, if you ask His Majesty a little, His Majesty may be able to allocate a part of the national army to Your Highness and let Your Highness use it as you like."

"But as I said just now, I don't want to form such a main legion." Tony shook his head. At present, the main legion he had, except for a basically fully-staffed Sarmatian cavalry, the remaining Odni First Legion with only a few hundred people was barely enough.

What Tony wants is a more comprehensive army similar to a spearhead force.

An absolutely loyal private army.

"So this is the problem, Your Highness." Mary spread her hands and said, "If it is any other ordinary army, it is easy to say, but if you want to form a special army like this, Your Highness, you need them to be absolutely loyal."

It is true.

Tony nodded. Most of these spearhead troops have to carry out highly confidential tasks. If there is no absolute loyalty, leaks are no big deal.

Originally, Tony planned to form an intelligence unit. The size of this intelligence unit did not need to be too large in the early stage. After all, it was only aimed at collecting information from a few senators in the Senate, and at most a few senior officers of the Royal Guards.

But after Cleopatra VII proposed the concept of holy marriage, Tony suddenly felt that he could take advantage of this?

Although the Romans were not familiar with holy marriages between blood relatives, one thing is certain, that is, in this era, people were not as disgusted with marriages between close relatives as in the future. As long as you had a reasonable excuse, people would give you their blessings.

This was the case with Agrippina the Younger and Claudius.

Therefore, this so-called intelligence unit, in addition to collecting intelligence on a few senators in the Senate and several senior officers of the Guards, has another purpose, which is to brag among the civilians about how good His Highness is, what the holy marriage of blood is, and so on. His Highness and His Majesty are a perfect match.

The aristocratic class headed by the Senate would certainly oppose Nero and Tony being together, but the citizens of Rome were different, they were just civilians and had no say in this matter, they could only be a simple spectator. As for the spectator, they were happy to watch the fun, so they were not only happy to eat the melon about His Majesty and His Highness, but also happy to share it with others.

And the people should be happy to see the union of His Highness and His Majesty.

Of course, at the moment... I can’t explain these things to Mary in detail.

"Well, in other words, we don't have anyone who is absolutely loyal at the moment...right?" Tony asked, touching his chin.

“That’s about it.” Mary nodded.

It's not impossible to find someone who is slightly more loyal. You can find a few relatively loyal people in the Odeni Territory, but absolutely loyal people... maybe they can be found in the Odeni Territory? But most of them are poor people from the countryside, and they are not qualified for important tasks.

"But without spies...there are many things I can't do." Tony tapped the table lightly, frowning.

"If Your Highness just wants to find a spy, I have a way." Looking at Tony frowning and thinking, Mary suddenly spoke.

"Huh? What's the solution?" Tony raised his head slightly, looked at Mary, and asked curiously.

"Mercenary."

Mercenary? Tony was stunned when he heard this word.

This...is indeed a good alternative!

Pay for work and don't talk too much, this has always been the rule of mercenaries. And in this era, there are really quite a lot of mercenaries!

In this era, wars between countries are frequent. Many countries you may have just heard of today may disappear tomorrow. In addition, many people want to make a living in this chaotic world. For various reasons, there are many mercenaries in this era.

For example, the Sarmatians in Tony's hands are actually mercenaries if you really look at them in detail.

If you just want to monitor or gather intelligence, mercenaries are indeed a good alternative.

Although the money Tony had at the moment was not enough to hire many mercenaries.

"Let's put the mercenary thing aside for now." Tony sighed. There's no money! As expected... I have to make some money first.

I stood up and stretched, then glanced at the sunshine outside the window. The weather was pretty good, suitable for going out for a walk. Why not... take this opportunity to see the venue of the Nero Festival and stroll around the city at the same time.

"Is this... the city of Rome? It truly deserves to be called the city that will never fall." Looking at the magnificent city wall in front of her, a woman wearing a strange cloak raised her head and stared at the top of the wall, muttering.

"Yes, this is the city of Rome, the city that will never fall." Beside the young woman, a middle-aged man with typical Roman ancestry bowed slightly to her.

"Gaius Ling, you don't have to be so respectful to me." Looking at the middle-aged man who bowed to her, the young woman frowned at him and said, "Nominally, you and I are of the same level, both monarchs. When you are outside, you should also act like a monarch."

"...Yes, Lord Barthelmero." The middle-aged man named Gaius Ling coughed lightly, then straightened his back and said.

There was still a hint of respect in his tone, but at least this guy didn't seem as fawning as before.

"If the Magic Association wants to gain a firm foothold, then we will inevitably have to obtain the support of the strongest empire on this continent. Zelrich also said that the prince... seems to know a lot about us." The young woman named Barthelmero glanced at Gaius Ling beside her and whispered.

"That Prince..." Hearing this title, Gaius frowned subconsciously.

This is a very tricky guy!

Dragon-slaying hero, Protector of Britain, Conqueror of Armenia and Parthia, Eagle of the Empire, these titles undoubtedly describe Tony's achievements in the past year.

Even the Magic Association now suspects that His Royal Highness Prince Odney has reached the root of the problem!

PS: Ah, I had something to do yesterday so I didn’t update... It’s okay, I’ll make up for it~

Chapter 306: Monarch Barthemelo

After lunch and a short rest, Tony took Mary and Ola out of the palace, planning to take a look at the open-air stadium next to the Pantheon.

According to Tony's reservation, the open-air stadium is the venue for equestrian, racing and long-distance running events, and it is also the venue for the opening ceremony of the Nero Festival. Tony chose to inspect here first, firstly because it is more important, and secondly... naturally because it is closer to the palace.

"Let's go check out the open-air stadium and Tiberius training ground first. If there's nothing wrong with these two places, then go to the market next door to see if we can find any good treasures~"

"...Yes, Your Highness." Although I had already guessed that His Highness was definitely not out for a simple inspection, but... Your Highness, you are too open about it, aren't you? These two places are very close to the palace, which means that your inspection time will not exceed an hour at most. After an hour, you plan to have fun, right? Although... your pocket money is indeed a bit enviable.

To be honest, if you say Tony is poor, he is poor. At least he doesn't have enough money to raise a decent army.

But if you say he is rich, he is really rich. Although his territory cannot bring him any income and he relies entirely on the pocket money given by his sister, but this pocket money... If Tony really saves it, it will take at most three months for him to save enough pocket money to buy a piece of land and build a villa on the outskirts of Rome.

But Tony is a man who can't save money.

In his previous life, he basically lived paycheck to paycheck. His salary was not high, and his parents had prepared a house and a car for him. With a monthly salary of more than 518 yuan, he had a fixed yuan every month after daily expenses and his girlfriend. If he occasionally had a surplus... Do you know about the plastic man?

In this great Roman Empire, although there is no 518, no plastic figurines, and no girlfriends, but... this Roman Empire has many strange and weird gadgets that will not exist in the future, all kinds of delicious food, all kinds of... things that look pretty.

Ahem, this beautiful thing doesn't refer to girls. It would be a bit perverted if you bought this just because you saw a beautiful girl.

After touring the two venues with Ola and Mary, Tony nodded with some satisfaction. Generally speaking, the two venues were well maintained on weekdays. In addition, the Nero Festival was about to be held, so they should have been slightly renovated. Well, in short, there was no need for him to worry about the problems of these two venues, so... just go shopping~

"What is this thing?" Tony asked curiously while standing in front of a small stall, looking at a stone on the stall that was slightly curved and looked like the tooth of some giant beast.

"You have good taste, little brother!" After taking a quick glance at the toga Tony was wearing and making a rough guess about his wealth, the small vendor looked around mysteriously, then quietly leaned his head towards Tony: "This is a dragon tooth that one of my brothers dug up some time ago. You know dragon teeth, right? Last year, our prince successfully slayed a dragon in Britain, which means that dragons still exist in this world."

Dragon teeth?

After taking a closer look at the stone that really looked like a tooth, Tony held it in his hand and rubbed it a little: "Well, there are no traces. It seems that this stone has not been tampered with... But how can you be so sure that this is a dragon?"

For various reasons, people of this era did not know that 65 million years ago, there was a kind of large beast called dinosaurs in the world. Although they have the word "dragon" in their names, they are different from the dragons that exist in imagination.

"I think this is more like the tooth of a large beast than a dragon's tooth." Tony shook his head and casually threw the tooth back onto the stall.

"This is really a dragon's tooth." Seeing Tony throw the tooth back, the stall owner said anxiously, "I'm not lying to you, really!"

"I don't believe it." Tony shook his head. This tooth was too small. Even if it was a dragon tooth, it was probably just the tooth of a baby dragon.

It was not even as big as the flying dragon that Jie Luo killed.

"Sir, how much is this dragon's tooth?" Just as Tony was about to turn around and leave, a young woman's voice suddenly came from beside him.

Ok?

When the peddler was trying to sell dragon teeth to me before, there was no one around. But when this woman appeared, she said directly that this thing was dragon teeth... She was either playing a double game or really knew the goods!

The former is unlikely. If it is the latter, in this age without archaeologists and paleontologists, there is probably only one kind of person who can be so discerning.

"Magician..."

Just as Tony looked at the other person a few more times because he was a magician, on the other side, Barthelmero and Gaius Ling standing next to her also looked at the young man with some curiosity.

"He was wearing a toga. Although the style was ordinary, the material was not ordinary linen. The two girls beside him, the younger one with lowered eyebrows and a humble look, looked like a servant, and the older one had a dagger hanging around her waist. Was she a guard? Then this boy... should be a noble."

While analyzing Tony's identity in his heart, Barthelmero nodded slightly to him.

The nobles all had very strange tempers, and it was easy to arouse their resentment if one was not careful. But now... the Magic Association could not let these Roman nobles bear a grudge against them.

"If you choose, I will naturally not interfere." Barthelmero smiled at Tony and said gently.

"Lord..." Gaius Ling opened his mouth. This is a dragon tooth! It is a very rare material, the main material for refining dragon tooth soldiers. Lord Barthelmero is actually... actually giving in?

"Monarch?" Hearing this title, combined with the other party's identity as a magician, it was not difficult for Tony to judge that the person in front of him was probably one of the twelve monarchs of the current Magic Association.

It's quite interesting. Why would a monarch appear in the city of Rome?

Forget it, it’s their freedom, as long as they don’t cause trouble, everything is fine.

Tony shrugged and said to Barthomello, "It's okay. Although it's a little rare, I'm not interested in dragon teeth. However..." Tony paused for a moment, glanced at the vendor next to him, and said to Barthomello in a low voice, "I'll give you a suggestion. In the Roman Empire, it's best not to address the monarch. Although this is the title of the head of a famous family in your Magic Association, there is only one monarch in the Roman Empire. If your somewhat presumptuous title is heard by others, it will bring trouble to you."

Chapter 307: Has Your Highness communicated with Dayuan?

This young man... is His Royal Highness Prince Oddney? !

Looking at the young man in front of him, Monarch Barthelmero almost couldn't hold back and screamed out.

A noble who knows about the Magic Association and understands the meaning of "monarch". This... this is definitely the legendary Prince!

"You are..." Lord Barthelmero looked at Tony respectfully and was about to speak, but Tony waved his hand gently and said, "You...are you here to see me?"

"Yes." Barthelmero nodded.

When Barthelmero heard the name "Young Master", he could react even if he was dumb. This young prince... seemed to be traveling incognito?

"I see. I wonder... Young Master, can we find a quieter place? I have something I want to discuss with you." Barthelmero said to Tony very respectfully.

Something to discuss? Tony subconsciously raised his eyebrows and sighed: "Tsk, I was planning to go shopping in the commercial street, but you guys..."

"Ah... I know that your time is precious. I am sorry for disturbing you today. I will send someone to prepare a generous gift to apologize to you one day."

??? Is this okay?

Tony had just said it casually. After all, according to his plan, he was going to have a good time this afternoon. Who knew that the Magic Association would show up halfway? However, the Magic Association's sudden visit to him must mean that they have something important to discuss. Emmmm, it should be more important than coming out to play, right?

But the Lord of the Magic Association is quite sensible. I just complained casually, but he actually decided to prepare a generous gift to apologize to me... Well, it just so happens that I'm poor...

Tony frowned and pretended to be embarrassed to think for a while, then said reluctantly: "How about this, I have a villa outside Rome, why don't we go there and talk."

Under Tony's leadership, two monarchs from the Magic Association followed Tony to Nero's villa on the outskirts of Rome.

After the host and the guest sat down, Tony glanced at the two visitors from the Magic Association and said with a smile, "I am always straightforward, so I will skip the polite words and get to the point. May I ask... what is the matter with you two?"

"Your Highness Prince Odney." Barthomello stood up and nodded slightly to Tony, saying, "Then I might as well speak directly."

"Ah."

"I heard from Zelrich that Your Highness knows the Magic Association very well, and our Magic Association also wants to seek development, so... I wonder if Your Highness can do me a favor?"

"Give me a favor? How?" Tony raised his eyebrows, not quite understanding.

"We hope that Your Highness can provide us with help." Barthelmero said in a deep voice.

Hmm? Help?

Tony blinked. What kind of help could he provide to the Magic Association? Magicians? To be honest, he had no magicians under his command. The only magician he knew was Zelrich. The rest... forget it. They were either dead or would not appear again for 2,000 years. As for money... if Barthelmero dared to ask Tony for financial assistance today, Tony would really stand up and attack him.

"We... need the Empire to provide us with a site so that we can conveniently build our own magic workshop." Barthelmero lowered his head and said embarrassedly.

Magic Workshop?

Tony nodded. He knew that magicians needed their own magic studios, but if he wanted to provide a magic studio for an organization like the Magic Association... wouldn't he have to prepare a residential building for them?

"Magic workshop, right..." Tony tapped the table lightly. It was not difficult to prepare a magic workshop for them, but...what benefits could he get from it?

A magician?