I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 50.

plot

“Dolon?”

Slow, strong, burly Luwir accent. Dolon turns his head at the sound calling him.

“Have you heard the rumors?”

“Yes, the fools on the streets don’t seem to know about it, but isn’t there something smelling in the court?”

“Dolon, you’re not going to say you haven’t heard?”

“…”

Dolon did not bother to answer the words of his friends.

However, by guiding them to a more intimate room, he conveyed his will instead.

“…So, the rumored prince has returned?”

“Isn’t that fun? A prince who will destroy the country.”

They did not foolishly rejoice at the fact that they had uncovered the royal family’s shame.

He did not even expect that this news alone would weaken the power of King Priam and other princes.

Didn’t he kill the prince somewhere in the countryside without knowing mice or birds, but even summoned the court?

It is tantamount to saying that Priam will announce its existence soon.

Of course, the behind-the-scenes work on him must be meticulous.

They imagined the king’s gaze sitting coldly beneath his black-grey curls.

The cunning tongue of the king, who was still diligently forging daggers at his opponents.

“Come to think of it, there was something like that among the plays that were being played at the market a while ago, maybe? Was it the story of a poor prince cursed by God who lived as a beggar and then regained his status and lived happily ever after?”

It is a cliché folktale that can be found anywhere in the world.

The children of lowly families have a vain dream once in a while that they might be a hidden prince.

But what if that story suddenly became popular right before rumors about the return of the prince began to circulate…?

To be coincidental, it was too certain who would benefit.

“As expected, the ground work must have been done from the beginning.”

“If you attack hastily, you will end up doing what you were trying to do. How smart would a guy who just became a prince from a slave be if he was smart, because his father is a nerd.”

After brushing off the light gossip about Priam, the friends sighed in a sense of collapse for a moment.

“As expected, we don’t have much to gain. Please, the prince is very stupid, so I can only hope that he will do a lot of stupid things to help us.”

“In addition to that, I wish I was ugly. I wish the prince would be the most unpopular man in Troy.”

Hearing the chatter of his friends, Dolon can’t stand the ridicule.

“My friends who are not so bright in rumors, if you expect such a good luck, I will tell you to wake up.”

“···what?”

“Finally, other close friends are coming too. Shall we sit down and talk in detail?”

One by one, the nobles of Troy, who were invited by wealthy Dolon, are guided to this place in the innermost part of the mansion.

Suddenly, the room, which was not so wide, is filled with the heat of dozens of people.

One of them complained to the landlord of the car.

“What is this? Called out of nowhere and driven like a pig to a place with no food or drink?”

Of course, no one joined the protesters.

It’s because everyone noticed, except for that one person who didn’t notice.

The expression of the landlord who invited them is unusual. I have something to tell you.

“sorry. But can’t we help it for a secret story?”

Saying that, Dolon gestured, and a basket full of fruit was brought into the narrow room.

An old man who saw him raised his head for a moment and started coughing.

“As a priest of Hephaestus, who values honesty, I wouldn’t say that the host’s hospitality is generous.

But I also have a duty to stand up for Dolon, who invited us.”

Tapping the stone floor with his cane, the old man stood up.

As the old man scans the dark room with his fading eyes, the other nobles bow their heads to him in respect.

The old man, who had clearly taken over the right to speak, raised his voice a little and continued.

“Aren’t all of you people who have built a deep friendship with Dolon’s father, Eumedes? Also, aren’t we gathered here only out of loyalty to our distant homeland?”

“Dareth? Loyalty to the motherland? Our homeland is Troy…”

“It’s not…”

The corners of his mouth go up.

“I believe. Dolon must have answered the call of his country and brought us together like this.”

The eyes of an old man called Dareth shine.

It was hard to contain the two eyes that had become blurry from old age, let alone the figure of the god who was now manifesting, even the sons in front of him.

Only the sparks that glistened in it did not die.

Anyway, thanks to Dareth’s dramatic speech, everyone’s eyes are focused on Dolon again. Dolon bowed his head in gratitude for Dareth’s consideration.

“What Dareth said is truly true. Our homeland is not Troy. Troy is, at best, the western frontier of our great country.”

Dolon, the owner of the house, has confidence in his voice.

“But as the heart of our country dies, our rotting limbs are free to move.”

“Dolon of Eumetes, can you be responsible for that?”

“The heart of my country is dying? It’s too radical for a simple investigation!”

“Well, what can I say if not dying?”

To the courtesy anger of some, Dolon counters lightly with a question.

“The heart of our country is none other than steel! It is the blacksmiths of the great city that make it pulsate. But, where are the blacksmiths of our great country now!

From nob le mt l. co m

Lycia? Missia? Or here in Troia? The foul smell of treason fills the streets. Corruption and greed abound today in the forge that should be the sanctuary of Teshub, the ruler of the storm!”

As a sign of agreement, several people knock on tables and chairs. Dolon calms the noise with a gesture and resumes his speech.

“I admit it. Our motherland is dying. Maybe he’s already dead.”

Saying that, Dolon solemnly lowered his head for a moment, then raised it again.

Dolon’s face lights up with a radiant desire.

“…but it can be revived.”

silence.

whispering.

An exchange of suspicious glances.

The corners of the mouth that go up in anticipation.

“What, what… the waterway?”

“Are you going to call the blacksmiths together again? Will you at least rebuild the ruined sacred Hattusa?”

“There is a better way.”

When Dolon makes a fortune, Dareth, who has been silent for a while, catches the flow again.

“…the second prince?”

“That’s right.”

Dolon nodded.

“Everyone, have you heard the news of Antandros?”

Unbelievable news that the iron manufacturing technology there had almost caught up with the Hittites.

Some travelers even went so far as to say that Antandros had surpassed Hattusha.

Everyone nodded, and Dolon smiled as if tearing his lips apart as if he couldn’t hold back the ecstasy any longer.

“Then everyone.

Do you know what the rumored second prince’s job is?”

Everyone shuts up at the unexpected question.

However, following Dolon’s words, the closed mouths soon pour out exciting stories.

Heat rises in the narrow room.

Dolon exclaims, taking in the heat.

“Do you know where the second prince is from!!”

***

“Anthandros.”

My real father, Priam, said so.

“I heard that you achieved great results as a blacksmith there.”

He knew that his achievements in Antandros would become a hot topic.

In the 12th century B.C., even in the 12th century A.D., ironmaking technology, which was difficult to implement, was prepared, albeit imperfectly.

It bridged a technological gap similar to launching Apollo during the Warring States period. with my own strength.

I raised my nose and spoke confidently to Priam.

“That’s right. When the Hittite blacksmiths saw Antandros and realized that their forearms were useless, they cut off my hands.”

From nob le mt l. co m

Look at those faces that don’t even believe me. Except for Anchises, all are pitiful unbelievers.

In particular, seeing that Hector’s expression slightly warmed up, it was clear that his evaluation of me was slightly lowered.

From ‘a resourceful man who grasped his position as soon as he arrived at the capital and quickly conveyed his circumstances’,

As ‘a younger brother who still has a cute spot who inflates his achievements with ridiculous exaggeration’.

Does not matter.

I am proud

Damn, I don’t even know court etiquette, wearing a prince’s clothes, so I’m noticing it, isn’t it possible to have this level of pride?

however···

“Paris.”

Priam’s voice is somehow unusual.

“Yes, Father.”

“Whether the steel you forged surpassed that of the Hittites, or did not come close to it and copied its quality to some degree.”

That’s because the former is correct.

Priam smiled a little as if he had read the emotions in my sullen expression.

And the face quickly darkens.

“Either way the result is the same.”

“What does that mean?”

“As I said, Hittites within the kingdom or Hittite loyalists may target you.

Because you have steel.”

Priam gestured to the attendants to do something.

Before long, a large table is brought across between the two of us.

A map is drawn on it.

Of course, it was a graffiti-like map with longitude and latitude, but I could barely read it because large cities and major landmarks were roughly marked.

“We were vassals of the Hittites. It has been like that since not long after our ancestors from Achaia built a city on this land.”

The hand of his real father, Priamus, swept all the way from the center of the Anatolian Peninsula to the Aegean Sea.

“Colonial cities like grains of sand could not beat the Hittite chariots. For more than 100 years after that, we were Hittite subjects.”

No wonder.

The Hittites were one of the few nations in this era that made chariot axles out of steel and developed proper metallurgy.

In the heart of barren Anatolia, an empire that arose on the fringe of the world at the time, defeated Egypt, the most civilized country in the world, at war.

But how can a few cities resist its power?

“Innumerable Greek nobles either died or survived by intermarriage with Ruwian or Hittite nobles. It was difficult to control this place, so our royal family was able to be recognized as the ruling authority.”

It’s a shameful history.

A history that will not be recorded in the glorious genealogy from Dardanos, the son of a god.

In contrast to Priam reciting him calmly, Anchises bows his head in pity and prays in small words.

Troy’s language is a mixture of the indigenous Luwian, Hittite, and Trojan dialects of Greek.

To that extent, the history of Troy cannot be simply explained with fantastic images from Greek mythology.

Next to the statues of Apollo and Hephaestus, there are reliefs of Teshub, the storm god, and Hepat, the sun goddess. The Hittite gods whisper together beside the Greek gods.

“But since decades ago, the Hittites have been in decline.”

A bloody civil war between a nephew and an uncle, the fall of the capital, unstable domestic situations and scattered kingdoms.

To Troy, too, the Hittites were now only nominal lords.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve lost the power to reach out to us beyond that, sweeping countless return goods from the Hittites at the cost of irritating the Achaeans with the embargo.

.

The Hittites mixed the blood of the ruling class with their own in order to maintain as much control over their vassals as possible.

They planted people who would accumulate wealth through trade with the home country, and a statue of Hephat along with Apollo was built in the temple to worship the sun.

Hittite’s shadow, though it faded, was never erased.

It was surprisingly easy to understand. Is it because you are Korean?

Even now, Hittite is weak, so it seems to have seen in Korean history that it is steadily ripping off gifts in return under the pretext of the embargo on Greece.

“understand. But, why am I a threat?”

“They haven’t had a leader for a long time. In particular, there was no one among the royal family to support them until now.”

It was Anchises who intervened this time.

When I think about it, yes.

Hercules annihilated the Trojan royals, and Priam, the youngest, took the throne and rebuilt the kingdom.

Conversely,

Priam had no contender for the throne from the beginning.

More than ever, the royal authority must be stronger inside Troy.

Since Priam and his immediate family are the only royal family, Priam’s control over the royal family is also strong.

Therefore, the Hittite loyalists had no choice but to give up without finding a royal family to represent them.

…

…

“Until I show up, that is.”

Priam nodded without saying anything.

One of the least-connected members of the royal family.

The one who even created iron-making technology comparable to that of the Hittites.

Moreover, the prince entangled in the prophecy of destroying Troy as the icing on the cake.

***

“That person is Paris.”

What if the sudden new prince joins their cause?

So, let Hattusha recover the great legacy of her lost ancestors, and if the prince finally defeats this disloyal county.

Finally, if the newly born Hittites rise again around Troy and Antandros.

Only then will we be able to erase the tearful history of this land, overcome the oppression of tyrants, and rise again.

With the great ‘King’ Paris.

“Ha, but…”

Of course, in any organization, there is not a single person who is not aware of it.

Even in the place where this holy plan is being built, someone raises a hand to ask a foolish question.

“Paris…? Anyway, how do you firmly believe that the second prince will join us in our plan?

He may harbor resentment for being kicked out and abandoned, but how do you know if he’s already intoxicated with the pleasures of the royal capital, kissing the soles of his real father’s feet?”

Yes. Because it is originally the custom of the lowly. Originally, they are things that do not remember grudges and favors for a long time.

But Dolon didn’t bother to take the question back seriously.

“My, let me ask you the other way around. Why do you believe that Prince Paris can reject this plan?”

“Isn’t it possible that the bond between members of the royal family is greater than we think?”

“no. You have no intention of answering my question.”

Dolon clicked his tongue and looked out with pity for the idiot intruding on this important meeting.

“When did we say we would let the prince refuse?”

Dolon’s sarcastic tone makes the other person’s face redden. and,

-match.

“Let’s stop here for today. Didn’t we all gather at this meeting despite the royal surveillance after a long time? So, I have to make an offer that I haven’t been able to make for a long time.”

When someone sorts out the conflict, Dolon nods, saying he’s right, while the angry opponent utters a sound of pain without saying anything.

Anyway, as the meeting comes to an end, there is a knock on the door outside. As Dolon called out, an attendant brought a golden vessel.

The bowl contains clear water.

Everyone washed their hands in the water and murmured prayers.

in a foreign language.

“O sea that swallows the sun…”

“My master…”

Disquieting voices overlapped and, like a chorus of ghosts, lay gloomy on the stone floor.

In the distance, the sound of the sea tossing and turning its enormous body can be heard.