As a chief god, Zeus is indeed quite unreliable. He often goes back on his word and even harms his own subordinates. Whenever he goes out to have an affair, he always makes his subordinates cover for him, but as soon as his wife Hera finds out, he betrays them without hesitation. Apart from finding mistresses, Zeus is equally irresponsible in other affairs, causing the priests to ignore his oracles as mere whispers in the wind.
"Later, when the Romans came to the temple and forced us to change our faith, we realized we were in serious trouble. We tried to appease them while moving our belongings onto the Thunderbolt and quietly set sail. However, most of our brothers and sisters did not escape, and fewer than five hundred survived," Brian said.
Zeus's temple is southeast of Athens, outside the city walls, in the middle of the plain by the Ilissos River. The grand temple is adorned with various treasures, and the ivory statue of Zeus sits on a golden chair, polished daily with olive oil to keep it shining like new. As the religious center of the Greek world, Zeus's temple naturally drew a lot of attention from the Romans. The soldiers attacking Zeus's temple were at least ten times more than those attacking the temple of Dionysus. It was a miracle they managed to escape.
"Pathetic," Dave sneered, "Our Dionysus defeated an entire Roman legion and walked out of the city gates openly." Even though Dave didn't participate in that battle, he was still proud because he had converted to worship Dionysus.
"We mortals can't compare to the gods," Brian said. "Not long after setting sail, Roman warships spotted us and we couldn't shake them off all the way here. They summoned a fire angel, which blew a big hole in our stern and set the ship on fire. Many people were forced to jump into the sea, only to be eaten by sharks. We hid in a secret room on the ship and only came out after the Romans left, but the lifeboats had been burned, so we could only wait at the bow to die. Luckily, you came."
"Summon a fire angel?" Linley had never seen an angel before and didn't know how powerful they were. If the papal envoy had been able to summon an angel back then, Linley might not have escaped.
"Why didn't the Romans just sink your ship?" Linley asked.
"The Thunderbolt isn't that easy to sink," Brian said. "The Roman soldiers were worried it would sink, so they didn't search thoroughly and only took the gold and silver before retreating."
"Then why didn't you dismantle the planks to make lifeboats?" Linley asked.
"Well... we didn't think of it," Brian replied.
Didn't think of it? So they preferred to stay at the bow, watching the flames consume the entire ship, pushing them to the brink?
"We kept praying to Zeus, and luckily we didn't give up. In the end, you came to save us," Brian said.
So that's how believers are—they credit their god for good things and see bad things as tests from their god. Linley saved them, but the credit went to Zeus. Actually, Zeus is probably in no position to help now, or he wouldn't have left this big ship unattended. Originally, Linley planned to return the weapons they handed over, but now he changed his mind, deciding to keep them as payment for saving them. Let them go thank Zeus.
Linley asked, "Where were you originally planning to go?"
Brian replied, "Our plan was to go to Asia Minor."
"That is also Roman Empire territory," Linley reminded him.
Brian looked a bit worried, "It shouldn't happen that quickly..."
Linley explained, "Holiness has already become the state religion of the entire Roman Empire, and all other faiths will be banned throughout Roman territory."
Brian sighed, "Do we really have no choice but to leave? We could travel along Asia Minor to the Black Sea, and then to Persia... but Persia has its own faith, they don't believe in Zeus." His mood grew more and more dejected.
Linley recalled that he too had considered fleeing far away, crossing Persia, entering Central Asia, and then reaching China. However, in these turbulent times, long journeys were fraught with difficulties. Hundreds of years later, Tang Sanzang traveled to India for scriptures through Central Asia, and even then it was extremely difficult, let alone now.
"Rest on my island for a few days first, and we'll talk about future plans later," Linley suggested.
The fishing boat returned to Dionysus Island, and when Brian and the others saw the desolate little island, their faces fell. After landing and seeing the simple houses, their expressions grew even worse.
Brian complained, "The conditions on this island are too poor; why don't we find another place?"
Linley shook his head, "Let's just hide here for a few days."
Brian grumbled, "In a place like this, there's no food or clothing..."
Linley ignored them and went straight back to the cave, sitting down on a chair. A young girl said, "Zeus's priests are really annoying. You saved them, and they didn't even say thank you."
Linley responded indifferently, "They're all refugees; there's no need to mind these things."
Linley changed the subject, "What's your name?"
The girl answered, "My name is Cora."
Human resources are the most important thing right now. There are very few resources here, so something must be done. The Roman Empire is forcibly promoting Holiness in Greece, so surely many people will flee to the sea. Linley could bring them to the island, and with ships and people, it would be easier to expand his power in the future.
Zeus's priests are difficult to deal with, but other believers should be better, at least they know how to be grateful. It would be even better if he could meet followers of Dionysus, who could be directly taken as subordinates.
With a large ship, they could disguise as merchants, go to various islands to collect supplies, and bring them back to transform Dionysus Island. The fishing boat's load is too small, and others would immediately know it's not a merchant ship. If they buy supplies in large quantities, it would easily give them away, and even if they buy supplies, it would be hard to transport them back. The more trips they make, the more likely they are to be exposed.
As night fell, Linley, tired from a day's work, closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Early the next morning, Cora hurriedly ran in and said, "Lord Dionysus, it's bad, those Zeus believers have run away!"
"Run away?" Linley was very surprised, how did they escape?