"So you turned your back on the Olympian gods without even understanding the specifics of the Holiness faith?" Linley questioned.
"Why is that so strange? I've never read Hermes' writings, but that doesn't stop me from knowing how terrible he is," Sevilla answered indifferently.
In this era, books are rare and precious luxuries, and those who own complete scriptures are rare. In fact, most people are unclear about the real nature of the gods they worship. Especially with the Holiness faith, very few people have read both the New and Old Testaments in their entirety. The New Testament is alright, but the actions of Holiness in the Old Testament don't seem like those of an omniscient and omnipotent god.
When the Holiness faith first emerged, they mainly discussed the New Testament, skimming over the Old Testament. However, over time, they had to painstakingly explain the difficult-to-understand contents, which led to the rise of exegesis, delving into deep questions like whether Holiness could create a stone so heavy that even he couldn't lift it.
The rise of Protestantism was not only due to the corruption and loss of public trust in the old church but also because the belief system set up by the Holiness faith was difficult to convince people. Anyone who's read the full scriptures knows that the doctrines of Holiness are vastly different from the contents of the scriptures.
Sevilla didn't think it was strange that she became a follower of Holiness without reading its scriptures, nor did others. This was a common phenomenon at the time. Even among Holiness followers, not everyone could read all the scriptures completely.
"When you read the Old Testament of Holiness, you'll get what they're really like," Linley said.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the book with him and couldn't find it this time around either. Perhaps there was one in the church, but Linley hadn't come across it, so it would have to wait until later.
"Even if Hermes was bad to you, what's that got to do with the other Olympian gods?" Linley continued to ask.
"The reason I was trapped in the temple was that it was fated that I'd marry you when I grew up. Don't tell me you didn't know that. Dionysus knew, and since you're his successor, you've got to bear his sins!" Sevilla said angrily.
The nearby minotaurs roared angrily at Sevilla's disrespect towards Linley, waving their swords and knives.
"Are you going to kill me? Then go ahead, I'm not scared to die!" Sevilla said fearlessly.
Linley felt a headache starting. It seemed reasoning wouldn't work, so he had to put this issue aside for now and revisit it after finding the scriptures of Holiness. After all, Linley wasn't the brightest, and he couldn't expect to convince every enemy by arguing. Many enemies were stubborn and unyielding.
"How much longer until we get back?" Linley asked.
"We're short on hands, so we can only move slowly," Nemo replied. "It will take about five more days."
This time, Linley had set out with over 800 people, divided into forty ships, each with only twenty or thirty people, to begin with. Later, they requisitioned over a hundred ships, with an average of only eight or nine sailors per ship, relying solely on sails for movement. With no one to row, the speed was naturally slower.
Although the minotaurs were strong, they had almost no sailing skills, and the rowing positions were too small for them to fit. The ships would need to be modified after returning so that the minotaurs could also participate in rowing.
Fortunately, this was the Mediterranean, where the waves weren't too big. If it were the Atlantic or the Pacific, even a slight breeze could capsize several ships. Sometimes, capturing too much loot could be a burden. If they encountered a Roman fleet at this time, it would be troublesome.
Therefore, Linley was eager to leave. Although the situation on Crete was relatively stable, he didn't dare to stay longer, aiming to leave as soon as possible. Being trapped on Crete was dangerous, and being intercepted at sea would be even more troublesome.
Linley said to Pandora, "Hang in there for a few more days and keep an eye on the perimeter. If you spot the Roman fleet, alert us right away."
Pandora immediately replied, "I'm on it." She then dived into the water and swiftly swam away.
Luckily, they had a mermaid like Pandora; without her, Linley wouldn't have known how to handle things. Sea voyages were both thrilling and, at times, a bit monotonous.
Today, they sailed from dawn till dusk without any incidents. All the ships dropped anchor and temporarily stayed put in the sea. In those days, sailing at night was nearly impossible because it was too dangerous; you could easily hit reefs or veer off course. Rather than taking risks, it was safer to stop at night and continue in the morning.
In the past, Linley's ship had plenty of sailors, so this issue wasn't noticeable. But now, as a fleet with limited crew on each ship, any chaos could easily lead to collisions.
With nothing else to do, Linley decided to take stock of the ship's supplies. This time, they had gathered many gems but still hadn't found the explosive rubies they were looking for. Although they had plenty of diamonds, they weren't lethal enough.
Linley started to think about whether gold or silver could be used to make bullets. Even though diamonds were hard, they were too light. Gold, though not as hard, was heavy, and its close-range impact might be greater than that of diamonds. Once they returned, he planned to cast bullets from gold and silver, making them spherical so they could be used.
There were also many gold coins on the ship. Although they were uniformly sized, there was nothing particularly special about them. The fronts bore portraits of various Roman emperors, and the backs had inscriptions, most of which were blurred and hard to read.
Holiness once said a famous phrase while preaching. When a follower asked if they still needed to pay taxes to Rome since Rome didn't recognize Holiness, he replied, "Give to Holiness what is Holiness', and to Caesar what is Caesar's." This meant that since the coins bore Caesar's portrait, they still needed to pay taxes to Rome.
This era was several hundred years away from Caesar, and coins with Caesar's portrait were rare, mostly those of later emperors. Among them, the coins with Nero's portrait were the most exquisite because they were minted more recently.
Nero on the coins looked very handsome, full of nobility and majesty, completely hiding the fact that he was a tyrant, not knowing how much it had been beautified. At this time, the price of gold coins was calculated by weight, and the quality of minting was secondary.
There were also some gold coins from Africa on the ship. Although they were crudely minted and looked very ugly, they weighed more than other gold coins, making them also circulate and even particularly popular. Roman gold coins weighed between 4 to 5 grams, while these African gold coins often exceeded 6 grams.
Besides gold and silver coins, there was also a batch of collected copper materials on the ship. Crete had no copper mines and relied entirely on external imports. This batch of copper came from Cyprus, and the name "Cyprus" in ancient Greek means "copper."
However, these were just brass, very soft, and needed to be mixed with tin to make usable bronze. Tin had to be imported from further places like Asia Minor or even Africa.
It seemed that there was tin among the collected materials, but it was not on Linley's ship. When they reached the island of Dionysus, they would have to open the furnace and mix the two things together, which seemed troublesome just to think about.