The minotaurs were deep in sleep, their strong body odor filling the air, with bits of hay still clinging to the corners of their mouths. Despite this, they remained curled up on the ground, snoring thunderously. Minotaur children ran to their parents, shaking them vigorously until a few woke up.
"What happened?"
"How did you get back?"
"Great, they finally let you come back."
"Are you okay? They didn't eat you, did they?"
At this moment, Linley stepped out and said, "Everyone…"
"Human!" A burly minotaur looked down at Linley and charged at him. Linley instinctively grabbed the minotaur's horns, quickly flipping onto its back, moving like that famous bronze statue from Crete. This position not only helped him avoid attacks but also quickly subdued the opponent.
The minotaur hesitated for a moment, then wildly bucked, trying to throw Linley off. Linley clamped his legs around the minotaur's waist and pressed down hard, making the minotaur's bones creak. Although Linley's strength wasn't at a demigod's level, with divine power, it far exceeded that of ordinary people.
If Linley had been riding an ordinary bull, it might have continued to buck wildly. However, minotaurs are intelligent beings and immediately adopted a tactic, rolling on the ground to crush the human on its back. Linley took the opportunity to jump off, pulling out a grapevine slingshot and shooting a grape at the minotaur.
The minotaur was momentarily stunned, then lowered its head and charged again. Linley once again grabbed its horns and jumped onto its back, shooting several more grapes. The minotaur's steps became unsteady. Although its mind wasn't very sharp, it realized this couldn't continue and raised its hands to strike down forcefully.
Linley stepped back, continuing to shoot grapes. The minotaur instinctively lowered its head to charge but realized halfway that this wasn't working and tried to switch to another attack. However, the high alcohol content in its body made it stagger and fall.
The other minotaurs, who had been asleep, woke up from the commotion. Seeing the big minotaur fall, they raised their heads and shouted loudly. This scene startled Linley, who was worried that the Roman soldiers would be alerted.
He hurriedly explained, "I'm here to save you!"
"You're a human!" the minotaurs said in unison, "Humans are all bad!"
"We've always worked honestly, and you treat us like this."
"Humans are enemies! All humans deserve to die!"
Linley thought he would be seen as a savior, but he didn't expect the minotaurs to be so hostile. No wonder the minotaur children had such thoughts; it was due to the influence of the adult minotaurs.
"I'm not human, I'm a deity." Linley needed to calm the minotaurs quickly because the Roman soldiers were outside.
Sure enough, the minotaurs were stunned, not knowing how to respond.
Linley exuded divine majesty, "I'm here to save you."
The surrounding minotaurs couldn't help but swallow, exchanging complex glances. At this moment, the burly minotaur struggled to stand up, staring intently at Linley, then suddenly knelt down and said gratefully, "Thank you, deity. I haven't had a drink in a long time. The feeling just now was like drinking for three days and nights straight. It was wonderful!"
Linley thought helplessly, so much alcoholic grape would have knocked out a dozen man-eating sharks, yet this bull only got very drunk. How strong is its constitution?
Seeing this, the other minotaurs also knelt down to apologize, "Lord, please forgive us. We didn't know you weren't human."
This made Linley feel a bit uncomfortable, but since he had said it himself, there was no way to refute it.
"I am the new God of Wine, and I am here to save you!" Linley declared. "You must worship me and become my followers; only then can I save you."
The minotaurs could only gain berserk power by worshipping him. Although these minotaurs were physically strong, they had no weapons, low intelligence, and lacked combat training, relying mostly on instinct to fight. Without going berserk, it would be difficult to defeat the more than five hundred Roman soldiers in the barn.
"I am willing to become your follower!" the big minotaur declared.
Linley unexpectedly heard a system notification: You have gained a follower with potential grade S, Brutus.
This minotaur is named Brutus? His potential is actually S-grade, just like Pandora. Pandora is incredibly powerful, almost like she's cheating—could Brutus be as powerful too? If that's the case, Linley's two strongest followers wouldn't be human.
Bavaria and Nemo aren't pure humans either. They were human when alive, but after entering the divine realm upon death, they became apostles of the God of Wine and were no longer considered human.
The other minotaurs also said, "We are willing to worship you and become your followers."
Linley heard several system prompts ringing in his ears. These minotaurs had quite good qualities; besides Brutus being S-grade, there were several A-grades too, according to the system. The rest of the minotaurs were mostly B and C grades, much higher than the average level of human followers.
"Why is that?" Linley asked.
"Minotaurs have simpler minds. Once they worship a god, they usually remain faithful for life," the system explained.
Upon hearing this, Linley understood the system's implication: humans are more complicated. Even if they verbally worship a god, they might not truly believe in their hearts. They are easily swayed by threats and temptations. Even if they do believe, many are just shallow believers, not true followers.
Looking at the kneeling minotaurs, Linley realized that sometimes simplicity has its advantages. For gods, simple-minded true believers are much more useful than fickle shallow believers. True believers can provide purer and stronger faith power and can follow commands absolutely without question.
Of course, it's different for society. A group of minotaurs gathered together, all wholeheartedly worshipping a god—how could society progress, how could technology develop?
"What are you making noise about!" A dozen Roman soldiers approached, fully armed, wearing armor, and carrying shields and swords.
The minotaurs ignored them, continuing to kneel and worship Linley.
"Who are you?" a Roman soldier shouted at Linley.
"I am the one you are looking for," Linley gestured to the followers outside the cattle pen.