Linley posted a notice on the message board for all believers, detailing the importance of the horse stirrup and urging everyone to master the skill of riding goats as soon as possible to form a cavalry in the future, return to Athens and liberate all of Greece.
The believers burst into cheers when they heard the news. Although they had complete trust in Linley, they had been living on the barren stone island for so long that they inevitably felt depressed and disappointed. Linley not only pointed out the direction forward but also proposed specific implementation methods, which undoubtedly boosted morale.
Returning to the real world from the divine realm, Linley saw the believers enthusiastically catching goats. He gathered those who could sew and carpentry, asking them to speed up the production of more horse stirrup. During training, they first used soft stirrups and then changed to hard stirrups when they became proficient, taking things step by step and avoiding rushing things.
Odysseus also caught a male goat and was riding it around. Since he had never ridden a horse before, his riding skills were quite raw, and he looked flustered on the goat's back. Linley beckoned to Odysseus, took the wooden horse stirrup off the white goat and handed them to him.
"Is this what you call a horse stirrup?" asked Odysseus.
"Yes, give it a try," Linley replied.
With the horse stirrup, Odysseus found it much easier to get on the goat. As the high priest of Athens, his physical strength was far beyond ordinary people, and the goat was not as tall and difficult to control as a horse. Soon, he mastered the riding technique and rode the goat around.
After a while, Odysseus came back to Linley and said, "Sir, I suddenly thought, why is this thing called a horse stirrup?"
"Huh?" Linley didn't react for a moment.
"Shouldn't it be called a goat stirrup? After all, it's mounted on a goat," Odysseus explained.
Linley was speechless. While there was no exact word for "stirrup" in Greek, he had created the word horse stirrup based on the way the term was composed, basically meaning a tool for getting on a horse. He was not sure if the stirrup in the future was spelled this way.
There were no horses on this island, only goats, so it was no wonder that Odysseus thought it should be called a goat stirrup.
"In the future, we will have many cavalrymen riding horses, and we will be using them on a large scale when they are on horses, so we'll still call it a horse stirrup," Linley said.
"As you please," Odysseus replied.
Linley could tell that Odysseus did not entirely agree with his statement and still felt that the tool should be called a goat stirrup, not a horse stirrup. This showed that Linley's authority had not yet truly been established.
Odysseus was the old high priest. Before Linley succeeded Dionysus, he had been a priest for decades. He was the one who relayed Dionysus's oracle, which allowed Linley to inherit the position of Dionysus. He had witnessed Linley transform from a human to a god, so his awe was naturally less profound than that of others.
Gods needed to be mysterious, destined and born with divine power, but Linley did not seem to possess any of these in Odysseus's eyes.
"Lord Dionysus, this goat is not easy to ride," Nemo was also trying to ride a goat, but because of his tall stature, he looked awkward riding the goat, his feet almost touching the ground, and the horse stirrup was useless.
"Why don't you find a bigger goat?" Linley asked.
"I can't find one," Nemo replied.
"The goats are too small," Bavaria complained too.
Although he was not as tall as Nemo, he was sturdier than Nemo and looked even more ridiculous riding the small goat.
"Alright, stop riding, we'll talk about it when we get horses," Linley could not bear to watch anymore. They were clearly mistreating the poor animals.
Linley selected some necessities from Odysseus's list of supplies, adding furs and carpenter's tools for making saddles and stirrups. Although these items were not expensive, they were scarce on the island.
"Where's Empton? Bring Empton to me." Linley instructed, checking the list.
Empton had been confined to the small house at the docks for days, surviving on seaweed and salted fish, a harsh existence. When he was finally summoned by Linley, he rushed to his side, exclaiming excitedly, "You're finally here!"
"What's the matter? Not comfortable? We have limited resources here, there's no other way." Linley said.
"No, it's not that, I'm not complaining." Empton seemed pitiable, "I was just eager to serve you, and I was very anxious not being summoned."
"Then, first tell me, who do you serve?" Linley asked.
"I am a follower of Zeus." Empton replied.
Seeing no change in Linley's expression, Empton continued, "Actually, I was sent by the Senate to Andros Island to monitor the Roman fleet."
"The Senate!" Linley exclaimed in surprise.
Though Linley had always found Empton Bach suspicious, he hadn't expected such a shocking truth. There were many senates in the world, but without qualifiers, it usually referred to the Roman Senate, and no one in the entire Roman Empire would be mistaken.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not a spy for the Holiness." Empton explained, "Our family specializes in this work. Armies stationed abroad can easily betray, embezzle, or even fall into the hands of ambitious individuals, so someone must monitor them. When my father took on this task, Rome still worshipped the Olympian deities. After his death, he passed it on to me. I didn't expect the Andros Island fleet to have problems, but instead, Rome did, the Holiness replaced the Olympian faith, and I was at a loss. When you arrived on Andros Island, I decided to make contact first to gather intelligence. Later, I learned that you were truly the god of wine, and I didn't intend to report it, but not reporting it wouldn't make sense either. Thankfully, you brought me to the island."
Linley finally understood the whole story. It was normal for the Roman Senate to send spies to monitor stationed armies. With armies abroad, the Roman Senate had to stay informed of their movements through various channels.
Otherwise, armies might report victories while actually failing; claim to have killed ten thousand enemy soldiers while actually massacring ten thousand civilians; request ten thousand gold coins worth of supplies while actually embezzling them. An army could disappear for a month, claiming to be advancing, while secretly plotting a coup in Rome.