The Roman squad arrived quickly, heading straight for the Poseidon Temple. Seeing the villagers gathered in front of the temple, the Roman Decurion in charge shouted, "What are you all doing here?"
The village chief stepped forward, explaining, "Sir, we are the followers of the Sea God. The statue suddenly cracked, and everyone is discussing it."
"Cracked?" The Decurion's eyes swept over the gems on the statue, a glint of greed flashing in them. "Perfect. The Roman Senate has issued an order that everyone must convert to the Holiness. All other faiths are considered false gods!"
"What!" The village chief exclaimed in shock. He pleaded, "Sir, we have worshiped the Sea God for generations. Please allow us to continue serving Poseidon. We will pay our taxes on time and will not spread our faith. Please forgive us."
The Decurion sneered, "No. Everyone must convert. Poseidon is a demon. This temple will be turned into a church. The priest will come to guide you to convert to the Holiness. From now on, you can only pray to the Holiness. Anyone who refuses will be sent to meet the Holiness!"
With that, he drew his sword and chopped off the head of the Poseidon statue. The villagers cried out in alarm.
The Decurion laughed loudly, taking the gem from the statue's heart and putting it in his chest. "If he were a true god, why wouldn't he come and kill me? Kill me! Kill me!"
Before he finished speaking, a giant sword flew in, severing his head. The towering Bavaria threw out his double-edged sword, killing the Decurion.
The villagers rushed at the Roman soldiers, brandishing knives and fishing spears. The soldiers were caught off guard and were quickly surrounded and brought down.
Linley stepped forward, taking the gem from the Decurion's chest and giving it to the village chief. "I told you, didn't I?"
The village chief sighed bitterly," I never thought Athens would become like this. Dionysus, take this gem. Take the villagers and leave. This was a gift my father offered to Poseidon. If you see him in the future, ask him why he abandoned us."
This place wasn't far from Athens. It was the region with the strongest Roman presence in Greece. There weren't many followers of Poseidon. The small fishing village couldn't stand against the Romans, so they had to leave.
Linley asked, "What about you?"
"I'm old. My body can't handle the journey. Someone has to sacrifice for the Sea God. If everyone escapes, how can I face Poseidon?" the village chief said.
Linley tried to persuade him, "The situation with Poseidon is unclear. Even if you're a devout follower of Poseidon, dying doesn't guarantee you'll enter his divine kingdom."
"It doesn't matter. You guys go quickly. The Romans will discover the missing soldiers soon."
The villagers surrounded the village chief, trying to persuade him to leave with them. But he shook his head, climbed onto a large rock, and shouted, "Go! Otherwise, I'll jump down and die in front of you!"
With no choice, the villagers pushed their boats out and boarded them with Linley and the others. Each fishing boat was packed with seven or eight people. Eventually, everyone was on a boat. The boats were loaded with food and other supplies. They raised their sails and sailed into the depths of the ocean."
As the fleet passed the giant rock, the village chief sang a solemn hymn to the sea god, his voice echoing across the sea, lingering for a long time. Even after the fleet had disappeared from sight and the sun had sunk below the horizon, the sea wind still carried a few verses of the hymn, as if the old man was still singing on the giant rock.
Just then, a prompt sounded in Linley's ear: the task of finding the ship was complete.
He entered the divine domain and found a large turntable in the hut, each square painted with different patterns, unknown what they represent.
"You can now draw a prize," the system prompted.
"How do I draw?" Linley asked.
"Press the pointer," the system replied.
Linley pressed the pointer of the turntable, and the pointer spun rapidly, almost invisible.
"It will stop when you want it to," the system said.
Linley observed for a while, found no pattern, and said, "Stop!"
The speed of the pointer slowly decreased, the turntable made a clicking sound, the pointer gradually slowed down, one by one passing the squares, some painted with dragons, some painted with lizards, some painted with knives, some painted with cakes.
Finally, the pointer stopped on a tree.
"You have won the Dionysus grape seedling," the system said.
A small grapevine appeared out of thin air in the room, about 20 to 30 centimeters tall, with a few emerald green leaves, and a small bunch of lustrous purple grapes hanging from it. The roots were wrapped in red soil, looking very beautiful.
"Dionysus grape seedling?" Linley picked up the grape seedling, and a description automatically appeared in his mind.
This is a new variety of grapes cultivated by Dionysus in the divine domain, and because it is imbued with Dionysus' divine power, it becomes magical. As long as it is near Dionysus, this grape seedling can be planted in any terrain and soil, and grow rapidly, bearing grapes within a month. But if it leaves Dionysus, the grape seedling will quickly wither.
"It's a good thing, I suppose," Linley said.
"Of course it's a good thing," the system responded, "Now you have started the second task, find a place to settle down and rebuild the temple."
Task after task, Linley thought for a moment, left the divine domain, and returned to the outside world.
Odysseus didn't know that Linley had gone to the divine domain, and asked, "Dionysus, what are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking about where we should go," Linley replied.
"This is just a fishing boat, carrying so many people, can't go too far." The owner of this boat is Linley met the fisherman Dave at the beginning, forty years old this year, like other villagers, is a believer of Poseidon.
However, Linley could see that Dave's faith was not deep, just to bless him to have a smooth journey at sea, not encounter storms, catch more fish.
If this time wasn't the whole village going together, he might have already converted to another god, anyway, he didn't care which god he knelt to. Most believers are not as devout as the village chief.