My XX deal with Sister Nero

"So... when I get back I have to ask that guy to fix his puppet. At least it can't just look like the real thing from the outside, but his puppet has to look like the real thing from the inside out." Looking at his shadow warrior being locked up in the prison instead of himself, Rosa sighed and suddenly spoke.

"Puppet? What is that?" Tony was stunned for a moment when he heard Rosa's mumbling, and asked subconsciously.

Although in theory a puppet is something similar to a robot, but from the tone of Rosa's voice, it seems that the puppet Rosa is talking about... is a high-end product that can be mistaken for a real robot in appearance?

Well, if you think about it carefully, it's not impossible. After all, the simultaneous translation device that looks like a small button stuck on Rosa's throat is already an incredible black technology.

As far as Tony knows, simultaneous interpretation is currently basically done manually. The world he lived in in his previous life might require simultaneous interpretation equipment, but most of these simultaneous interpretation equipment are the same as simultaneous interpreters. When they receive a foreign language, it will take two to three seconds or even five to six seconds to translate it. Rosa's communication device... basically has no time interval at all. It is a true simultaneous interpretation.

Forget it. Just think about it, Rosa was able to travel through time and space to come to another world. This is enough to show that the technology he possesses... is far higher than the technological level I know.

"It's okay, it's just a puppet." It was obvious that Rosa didn't want to continue to dwell on this topic. He glanced around and said to Tony, "Okay, I'm leaving soon. After meeting Shen Xiaofan, I have to go back and take a look at the specific situation in the Northern Huns. You don't have to see me off. Just talk to Shen Xiaofan if you have anything to say."

"Then...how do you get out? Do you want me to help you?" Tony touched his chin and asked as he watched Rosa looking around.

"Ah? No need. I won't go out through the main door if I want to go out." Rosa shrugged and said, "I am a superpower, brother. If I can't fly, what kind of superpower am I?"

"You... people with super powers can fly?" Tony subconsciously widened his eyes. No wonder Rosa was able to get to the front line from Rome in a very short time. It turned out that he flew!

"Ah? That's not the case." Rosa waved his hand and said, "Flying into the sky and hiding in the ground are skills that only high-level psychics can use in the world I live in. As for the weakest psychic...if you are proficient in your set of enemy-catching punches, you are sure to beat the opponent down."

"What? You... the gap between you two is too big, isn't it?" Tony was a little stunned. What a gap... weak psychics can be beaten down by ordinary people, but strong psychics can fly?

What is the gap?

"Well, don't worry about it. Anyway, I'll leave after meeting Shen Xiaofan. The rest... is up to you to handle." Rosa turned his head and glanced at the shadow warrior who was imprisoned in the prison instead of him, and sighed: "Sorry, this time... I have to use you."

Chapter 492: Shark, you can shark!

After saying a brief goodbye to the Shadow Warrior, Rosa shrank into the ground like a Tuxingsun in front of Tony, and then... slipped away.

"...Okay, I guess you should know your next fate. If there is anything you want to eat during this period of time, just tell the prison boss. I have already informed him. As long as it is not too difficult, they can get it for you." Tony finally uttered these words after scratching his head.

"Well, thank you." The Rosa shadow warrior gave Tony a very sincere smile, bowed slightly to him and said.

Perhaps, this shadow warrior knew his fate from the beginning. Perhaps, when Rosa first found him, he received a sum of money that was enough to tempt everyone. Perhaps, he once enjoyed the wealth and glory that only Rosa could enjoy as Rosa. Perhaps...

However, he is a shadow warrior, and his end is to sacrifice his life in place of Rosa!

After returning to the palace in a somewhat irritable mood, as soon as Tony opened the door of his bedroom, he saw Nero sitting on his bed with an anxious look on his face. Seeing that he was back, Nero immediately jumped up from the bed and came to Tony and said, "Brother, have you arrested Rosa?"

"Ah? Yes, I caught him." Looking at Nero's anxious expression, Tony nodded in confusion. Sister...are you caring too much about this guy? !

"You...brother, please listen to your sister and go and release Rosa, okay?" Nero said with an anxious look on his face, holding Tony's shoulders tightly with both hands.

"Eh?" Feeling the force on his shoulder and looking at his elder sister's expression, Tony could feel that his elder sister... was really anxious.

But why? Who is Rosa? Why could she make her elder sister so anxious?

Being able to change the world and save himself as much as possible, allowing himself to gain the power of a heroic spirit and have the ability to protect himself, Rosa is indeed very good to me, but Rosa... why is he so good to me?

Moreover, if the elder sister only knew Rosa's identity, she should not be so anxious. Therefore, the elder sister should know more than I guessed. She... may know what the relationship between me and Rosa will be in the future.

Whether Rosa really disliked Nero is another matter, but according to Rosa, Nero cared about Rosa very much, but this relationship should be that of friends, so when he learned that Rosa had no wife, he thought about introducing a wife to Rosa.

"Brother, Rosa really can't be killed. If you kill this man, you will regret it!" Seeing that his brother had almost no reaction, Nero shook Tony's shoulder with an expression that looked like he was about to cry, and said.

"Ah... I didn't say I wanted to kill him." After being shaken a few times, Tony finally came to his senses and said to Nero: "This is the plan that Rosa and I discussed before. We will use Rosa's death to weaken the prestige of the Senate and alienate the Senate from the aristocracy, but..."

At this point, Tony paused, lowered his voice and continued: "However, the Rosa we are going to execute is strictly speaking a substitute for Rosa, and Rosa himself will temporarily leave the Roman Empire and go to the East to deal with some things."

"Are you... telling the truth?" After listening to Tony's explanation, Nero was still somewhat skeptical.

"Of course." Tony nodded. "I'm not a stingy person. And according to my future self, Rosa did change the world because of me. He saved my life. Since he saved my life, I won't kill him."

"Really?" Nero repeated it again with some concern. After all, in public opinion, Rosa was the third party, and Tony... might take the opportunity to attack Rosa.

After all, Tony still doesn't know Rosa's true identity.

So under such circumstances, it is understandable that Tony wants to kill Rosa.

"Don't worry, I really won't do anything to him. If you don't believe me, go to the prison and ask to see if Rosa in the cell is a substitute." Tony shrugged and said to Nero.

Looking at Tony's expression, Nero temporarily believed his words. It seemed that... the person imprisoned in the prison should be Rosa's substitute. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so righteous, right?

"Okay." Although he suspected that there was indeed something wrong with his younger brother, Rosa's identity was too special. Rosa could not die, and even his younger brother could not kill him.

Because if he kills Rosa, his brother will regret it.

"Oh, right." Seeing his sister's silence, Tony suddenly remembered that there was something that needed his sister's approval: "Speaking of which, Rosa arranged guards for me, saying that they would protect me on his behalf, but because I live in the palace now, so..."

"So we have to arrange for them to come in as well?" Nero nodded and said, "Although it is not convenient for boys to live in the palace, my brother's safety... is more important."

"Ah, that's not a problem." Tony scratched his head and added, "I've seen the guards that Rosa assigned to me. They're all women. Their identities are not important. The only difference is that the leader looks oriental. Rosa said that this person's status in their organization is similar to his."

"An Oriental? His status is similar to Rosa's?" Nero thought about it for a while and roughly understood Shen Xiaofan's identity.

"I understand. From your tone, I can tell that this person is a girl?" Nero suddenly discovered a blind spot and asked in a somewhat strange tone.

"Yes, a girl." Tony nodded and looked at his elder sister's expression. A girl...is there anything wrong with that?

"Ahem." Realizing that he didn't seem to be able to hold back his expression, Nero coughed quickly and said, "I'll have someone clean up the vacant palace next to my bedroom and let the person with a similar status to Rosa live there. If I'm free in the evening, I can go over and have a chat with her or something."

Heart-to-heart talk? Sorry, considering that Nero is popular with both men and women, Tony... can't help but think in the wrong way.

Well, Tony is similar to other men in the future. If his wife cheats with other girls, that's fine. Some men even fantasize that their wives can bring the cheating objects back home. But if she cheats with other boys, then... it's over.

So, if Nero really did that with Shen Xiaofan in the end...well, fuck, fuck anyone, no matter if it's a man or a woman, fuck them!

Chapter 493: Retreat to Advance

Rosa was brought back by Tony and then locked up by Tony.

It was not until this time that the nobles present finally began to panic.

They were betting before that Tony would not kill Rosa. After all, according to various intelligence, Rosa was not only talented in both literature and martial arts, but also had a very good relationship with Tony. Although there was a big age gap between the two, for some reason, Tony seemed very close to Rosa. At least compared with other nobles of the Roman Empire, Tony and Rosa were very close.

So at the beginning, when Tony brought Rosa back, everyone's first reaction was to punish Rosa a little, or to scare everyone.

Children, especially those of this age, value friendship very much. Generally speaking, killing friends to prove their faith is impossible.

But it is different now.

Tony brought Rosa back and locked him up as soon as he came back. Afterwards, the nobles bribed the jailer and learned about something extraordinary.

Tony made it clear that as long as Rosa made some requests that were not too excessive, then he could satisfy him.

What is this? A last meal before execution?

The death penalty in the Roman Empire was roughly divided into several types, including hanging, throwing, cutting the throat and crucifixion. Among them, cutting the throat was rarely seen in the Roman Empire. The only one still using this type of death penalty was the Roman Legion. In order to avoid trouble, they would use cutting the throat to execute prisoners.

The most popular forms of death penalty in the Roman Empire at present were hanging and crucifixion, which seemed very "gentle".

Ahem, the topic has gone too far.

In short, what does it mean that Tony specifically told the prison boss to say this? It means that he might really intend to execute Rosa!

If it was just a simple execution of Rosa, that would be fine, but the current public opinion in Rome... is very unfavorable to the nobles and the Senate.

The current public opinion in Rome is very simple. It is simply saying that Tony intends to execute Rosa. However, the consequence of executing Rosa is that the Han Empire will completely cut off all trade with the Roman Empire, and the Roman Empire will no longer be able to buy oriental specialties such as silk.

The nobles were not fools. After a quick evaluation, they realized that this might be true.

You killed all the envoys of the Han Empire with your sword. They are already doing you a favor by not beating you up. Why do you still want them to give you money? Did they owe you money in their previous life or something?

Of course, the Han Empire did not trade with the Roman Empire, provided that... Rosa was really an envoy of the Han Empire.

Of course the Senate knew that Rosa could not be an envoy of the Han Empire, but the people did not know, and so much time had passed. Since the other party was not an envoy of the Han Empire, why didn’t you, the Senate, come out to dispel the rumors earlier?

【|-

If the Senate had stood up and said that it was fake when Nero first determined that Rosa was an envoy of the Han Empire, everyone would definitely believe it. After all, the nobles more or less understood the scope of the Senate's work and knew that Nero could not bypass the Senate to meet with foreign envoys alone.

But at that time the Senate chose to remain silent, because they did not dare to offend Nero too much. Nero, who had already left the city, rushed back without stopping to mobilize public opinion to clear Rosa. This had already shown Nero's attitude. So no matter whether Rosa really had an affair with Nero, at least the Senate knew that if they did not shut up at this time, Nero would definitely take action against the Senate next.

Political struggles, like games, have their own rules. Unless forced to do so or when the swords really come to blows, everyone will fight back and forth on weekdays. I will surrender and you will stop, otherwise both sides will be destroyed, which will be bad for no one.

And Nero, of course, followed this rule.

After the Senate acquiesced to Rosa's identity, Nero did not take advantage of the victory to do anything against the Senate. She simply mobilized public opinion to whitewash Rosa. What she wanted was to save Rosa's life from public opinion.

The Senate was also very sensible. It wouldn't help you, but it wouldn't make trouble either. It was a completely acquiescent attitude. Although it was not impossible for them to expose the matter thoroughly and tell everyone that Rosa was not an envoy, if they really wanted to do so, it would mean a fallout, and Nero might even bring his own guards to burn down the Senate Hall.

So both sides abided by the rules of the game. Anyway, there was no falling out, so everyone will have plenty of opportunities to fight each other in the future.

Because of the Senate's tacit approval, the people really believed that Rosa was an envoy of the Han Empire, and those nobles who had little dealings with the Senate also began to hesitate. Since the Senate had tacitly approved it, that Rosa... couldn't really be an envoy of the Han Empire, right?

Well, no matter whether it is true or not, in short, because of the Senate's tacit approval, the overall public opinion also acknowledged the fact that Rosa was the envoy of the Han Empire.

However, what was unexpected was that our Prince Odney suddenly appeared and locked Rosa up.

It would be fine if he was just locked up, but the most infuriating thing was that Tony had people spread the word that he was going to execute Rosa, and once Rosa died, the Han Empire would definitely cut off trade with the Roman Empire.

The nobles could no longer sit still.

On the other hand, it is better to believe it than not to believe it. What if? What if they are really envoys of the Han Empire? Your Highness, if you act on impulse, it will destroy the trade between the two countries, right? If I don't get any new things from the East in the future, I will die!

So these nobles panicked.

On the one hand, they quickly contacted people to find Tony, wanting to have a good talk with him, telling him that little kid should not be too impulsive, and that these were all unfounded things and should not be taken seriously.

Tony's meaning is simpler.

"Tell me, how much benefit did Rosa give you to let you guys plead for him?" Inside the study, Tony looked at the nobles standing in front of him with an indifferent face and asked.

God knows! How could Rosa give them any benefit! They don't even know what Rosa looks like! The reason they spoke for Rosa was that they were attracted by the things of the Eastern Empire.

"Your Highness." The nobles looked at each other first, and finally one of them stepped forward and said to Tony, "Your Highness, you should know that behind this Rosa stands a huge empire that we don't know about. The only thing we know about this country is that the Parthian Empire did not dare to provoke it easily, so this country must be at least as powerful as Parthia. If we rashly offend this country, and if this country finally joins forces with the Parthian Empire, then... my Roman Empire is likely to lose on the front line."

Chapter 494: The Attack of Parthia (Part 1)

"Well, what you said makes sense. Then what?" Tony still looked at the nobles with an indifferent expression and said, "Do you know where the Han Empire is?"

"...This is not very clear." The nobles looked at each other and said.

"Don't know? Then let me tell you." Tony stood up, looked at the nobles and said loudly, "Starting from the Roman Empire, going eastward, passing through the Parthian Empire, passing through the Great Yuezhi, passing through the Kangju Kingdom, passing through the Dayuan Kingdom, passing through Qiuci, Loulan, Qiemo, Shache, Shule and other thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, entering Yumen Pass, and then reaching the territory of the Han Empire. Back then, Alexander the Great's eastern expedition, all the way east to the Indus River Basin, took a total of ten years. If the Han Empire wants to join the Parthian Empire to declare war on the Roman Empire, they must first defeat the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, defeat Kangju, Dayuan and the Great Yuezhi, and then they can enter the territory of the Parthian Empire. Do you think... will they do this?"

"This..." The nobles looked at each other. If this was really the case, then... the Han Empire should not do this.

In the eyes of these nobles, His Royal Highness was able to clearly and methodically name the names of these countries. It was obvious that His Royal Highness was well aware of the East. Rosa must have talked about this with His Royal Highness before. But how could they have imagined that His Royal Highness... was actually lying to them?

That's right. If the Han Empire wanted to join forces with the Parthian Empire, the army would have to pass through the Thirty-Six Kingdoms of the Western Regions, Dayuan, Kangju, and Dayuezhi after leaving Yumen Pass before entering the territory of the Parthian Empire. However... the Han Empire did not need to use much force along the way.

Not to mention that the Thirty-Six Kingdoms in the Western Regions had long been under the control of the Protectorate of the Western Regions. Even if we went further west, those Kangju, Dayuan, and Dayuezhi... would they dare to do anything to the passing Han Empire army?

What a joke, they don't have the guts to do that.

So, Tony was just trying to scare them, although this scare was... quite effective.

"You said... that Rosa is going to be executed?" Almost at the same time, in a small hotel in Rome.

"Yes, Barbatos...Miss, that prince intends to execute Rosa." A young man in a white toga standing in front of Barbatos said to Barbatos.

"Rosa... the guy who can kill Orias, are you really willing to execute him, Your Highness?" Barbatos sneered. She didn't think Tony would dare to execute a top-level warrior. After all, Rosa should have told Tony about his encounter with the Demon Pillar, and on Tony's side, Rosa might be the only one who has the ability to fight the Demon Pillar alone.

So, Tony, would you be willing to kill such a powerful man?

I can't bear to do that! So Barbatos thought that Tony killed Rosa just to scare these nobles. When they were scared enough, he would take advantage of the situation and release Rosa.

Barbatos' idea is also shared by many current veterans. Rosa is too strong, strong enough to make anyone cherish his talent, and Tony... should be no exception.

Therefore, many elders who knew the inside story and knew that Rosa was not an envoy of the Han Empire thought that Tony would take advantage of the situation and back off in a few days.

However... no one could have imagined that Rosa had already exchanged with his own shadow warrior, and Rosa in the prison at this moment was just a scapegoat.

So, Tony refused the opportunity offered by the nobles and publicly announced that Rosa would be hanged in three days!

Now, the entire aristocracy was in a panic.

Regardless of whether Tony believed that Rosa was going to be executed before, now Tony has publicly announced that he is going to execute Rosa. What does this mean? It means that all the nobles of the Roman Empire may not receive any new items from the East in the future.

Even if there is, the price may be ridiculously high.

The nobles were in a panic. Even if Rosa was not an envoy, judging from his skills, he was definitely not an ordinary person. After all, he was able to break into Ctesiphon single-handedly and rescue Aura unharmed while being surrounded by tens of thousands of troops. Could an ordinary person have such strength?

Obviously, ordinary people can't do it.

But Rosa did it. Rosa did it with his own powerful strength.

So this was also the fundamental reason why the Senate did not believe that Tony dared to really execute Rosa.

However, what was unexpected was that Tony really planned to execute Rosa!