I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 62. hometown (4)

“It will soon be outside of Antandros’ domain.”

If it was a city that had been in office for over 10 years, I wondered if there should be an expression that I couldn’t move my feet because I was attached to it.

In fact, it has to be.

As I found out, he wasn’t from such a great family, but when it was time to go back after being stuck in the countryside for 10 years, he came home with tremendous achievements and a strong back as a prince.

…Well, Hagisa I understand that I was not without such excitement when I returned to Antandros.

It’s been a while since I said goodbye to Skleos, Anoitus, and the rest.

If you follow the road beyond the north gate of the Antandros Wall, you will naturally approach the foot of Mount Ida.

Of course, you can’t go through the valley, so soon the road turns west and away from Mount Ida…

“Okay, let’s stop here for a moment.”

I said that and jumped off the carriage.

“What is going on?”

“Didn’t I tell you before we left? I have to say hello to my original family. I will go quietly alone.”

“Then attach an escort and go. Or maybe I’d better go along.”

“The fairies around here are all my business colleagues, what? If anything is dangerous, I will tell you everything.”

Hector’s expression as he listens to me is somewhat strange.

“Let’s go together for now. Everyone wait here!”

“I understand, Hector.”

“No, it’s not dangerous if you go all the way to my brother…”

“You just said. This is your area, so you should be safe.”

It’s an outsider.

I let out a sigh and headed back to my hometown, wearing a hump called Hector.

I say hello to my mother and father, and tell them that I will visit them often.

I gave gold coins to the other villagers and told them to feed and raise their children well.

And… well, nothing special. It’s not like we’re parting for the rest of our lives. I also come here periodically. Only there was no phone, but it was no different from the locals who went to Seoul to live on their own.

Soon after greeting all the villagers, we went out to the hill near Mount Ida.

From this point on,

“I have some last business to do, so hyung-nim, go first.”

I was better off alone.

But even after hearing my words, Hector did not move.

“older brother?”

“…Paris, can I tell you a story?”

“older brother? Suddenly what…”

“The family is in too much debt, so they are going to get married like a woman being sold to another family.”

Hector perched on a nearby stump and snapped his neck.

“But this woman had a man whom she loved since childhood.

If this woman marries as the family has decided, she will be able to protect the family, but she will abandon her love.”

Hector looked at me with pitying eyes. I was thirsty for some reason, so I took out a water bag and poured cold water into my mouth.

“If you choose love, the family will collapse and the family will become slaves of creditors.

What choice should this woman make?”

“older brother?”

“Is that the fairy you are trying to meet?”

I spit out the water I was drinking.

“Keuk, kuk, keuh uh uh uh…”

“are you okay?”

“No, no, how about that…?”

“Did you not know that Aeneas muttered something while crying alone in the corner when you were gone? I went over there and overheard what he was muttering, but he didn’t notice at all.”

“under···.”

“Did you say Oinone? I heard that you are a fairy of Mount Ida.”

“···you’re right.”

“The choice is yours, but at least you have to do it well.”

“Not like that.”

“I guess so. Is that why you wanted to meet alone?”

“…”

It makes people speechless many times.

As I glared at him slightly, Hector smiled lightly and continued.

“Like I said, ‘never’ or whatever, the choice is yours.”

“…Then what will you do, brother?”

“I don’t choose.”

Hector was still smiling. But his eyes were as cold as ice.

“For me, it is all about duty. No, the duty is due soon.

I had to love my wife, Andromache, and I did, and I still do. It will be like that in the future. Although I haven’t been married for a long time yet.”

“…”

“I know that not everyone can live like me. The human heart is vulnerable to the whims of the gods. How do you know where Eros will turn his arrows?”

Hector stood up from the stump and patted me on the shoulder.

“It is your choice that matters.”

“To me, do I really need to choose?”

“Is Oinone the ‘most beautiful woman’ promised by Aphrodite?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know, la.”

Hector laughs meaningfully, turns around, and walks toward the chariot’s stop.

“Okay, then meet alone! I will be waiting for you!”

Feeling uncomfortable because of Hector’s words, I waited for Ino. I killed time by kicking a nearby stone beak.

And, shortly after…

“Paris?”

“Ino.”

As if riding the wind, Ino runs lightly across the field.

“Leave? You said you were with me!”

“Things… got a little messy. It looks like it will be gone for quite a while.”

“What was next to you until now?”

“Ah, my older brother.”

As I looked in the direction Hector had left, I pondered over what Hector had said.

-“The choice is yours, but at least you have to do it well.”

What is a good choice?

Making everyone unhappy and seeing the end like Paris in the original history?

Or getting old while playing pranks with Oinone buried in a mountain valley?

I frowned slightly. When I came to my senses later, I looked ahead and saw Oinone standing there with a puzzled face.

“what’s the matter? Why do you say nothing… Where does it hurt?”

“No, not like that. It’s okay anyway.”

“Then, when are you going to come back this time?”

will you come back

That’s not to say I won’t come to Antandros. I will come to Antandros whether to manage the forge, to do my duty as a monarch, or to visit my parents.

But meeting Ino every time… is a different story.

-“The choice is mine.”

I don’t know where my share is. Aphrodite and Eros can shoot me with golden arrows without my permission and make me fall in love with Helen.

Hera and Athens use him as an excuse to somehow express their anger, so they can summon the allied forces of Achaia to destroy Troy.

Does my share of choice exist here?

“Ino? I mean… I’m going to be a prince? Then I’m too busy…”

“I’m not stupid either.”

“…”

“I heard you talking to your older brother here and there.”

Ino cuts off my words and takes a step closer.

“War? diplomacy? …Things like that.

I know it may take a very long time to come back. Just tell me straight up.”

“I am···.”

“Of course, if you promise to come back often, I’ll forgive you for being away for a long time without speaking properly last time!”

Can I be forgiven, for all that’s to come?

I grabbed Ino’s shoulders and took a step back. And for a while, look west, in the opposite direction where the sun rises.

That’s where death comes.

According to Hector, Agamemnon is already eager to marry his brother Menelaus and Helen.

Judging by the speed at which news travels from Achaia to Troia, the two might have already married.

Aphrodite must give me Helen.

I must receive a ‘gift from the goddess’.

And, Oinone…

“Answer?”

I close my eyes tightly. In front of my eyes, the face of Agamemnon and the army of the Hittites, which I have never seen before, rise like a fantasy.

When I opened my eyes again, in front of me was only Oinone and Ino.

“···huh.”

I made a promise I shouldn’t have made.

“I’ll live like a prince, and I’ll come back when I get tired of it.”

“You will get bored very quickly. Because there is no one to play with you…”

“that’s right.”

I laughed at Ino’s words.

“I’ll probably get tired of it very, very quickly.”

Hittites, Achaia, Agamemnon, Helen…

I decided to forget about it for a while.

***

There is also a port town at the western end of the road leading from Antandros.

Assos.

Among the cities connected by road, the distance from Antandros is the farthest port and the least guarded.

It’s still dark, the sea is foggy, and the boats are swaying halfway ashore.

whispering among them.

Every time he said a word, the way he looked around gave the impression that no one could see him.

“Where are you from?”

“Anthandros. So, why don’t you live while touching this these days?”

Saying so, the merchant wearing a hat covering his face throws a package.

His trading partner barely catches the package in the air, in case it falls to the floor. A metallic sound resounded from the inside of the package.

“Hey, are you crazy? What are you going to do later if you even make a noise?”

“In the fortress, the guards are also working tirelessly. It’s already been a fortnight since they last properly patrolled.”

“You are crazy. What if smugglers come in?”

“Is the smuggler sitting there listening to that?”

“I have to worry about my country. Otherwise, who cares?”

The smuggler receives the package from the merchant wearing a hat and carefully sets it down on the boat in the back.

“Anyway, damn it, I’m so jealous. If I had been from Antandros, I would be touching a thousand gold by now without smuggling.”

“Arthur. In the end, aren’t the lucky ones going all-out? And you’re lucky enough. I haven’t been caught yet, and I’ve found such a trustworthy pair in Assos.”

“Reliable?”

“okay.”

The smuggler’s expression suddenly changes, and then he pulls out a knife from behind and thrusts it into the merchant’s back. Properly located, the merchant died without screaming, only making the sound of the wind blowing.

“Whoa, whoa… f*ck me. If it was trustworthy, you shouldn’t have mixed bad things.”

He opens the package he has just loaded onto the boat and throws into the sea the pebbles that the merchant, who was his ‘reliable’ mate, put in it.

“Damn it, it’s dark and I can’t see well, and I’ve been with other business partners, so I’m saying goodbye to you now.”

The smuggler, like the merchants of our time, knew the secret of unprofitable business.

If you have the right force, you can make a trade without losing money.

And, if you have overwhelming force, you can just take it away.

This was common sense for everyone, from the pirates who robbed the coasts of Joseon and Ming in the 15th century to the pirates of the Caribbean in the era of pirates.

After sending thanks to a colleague who carried out the transaction with an unconventional exchange rate of 0:1 today, he threw him into Poseidon’s territory.

Now fish and barnacles will watch his death together.

He whistles in a low note, unfurls the sails, and begins giving orders to the crew.

They leave Assos just as a bribed guard quickly runs away before they do something like the ‘deal’ they just made.

Harming the Black Wave, they stop at the island of Lesbos to replenish their crew with food and water, and dispose of some of their ‘goods’.

However, the price given is somehow low. Unsatisfied, they decide to go a little further.

The next place they went was the island of Khios. For some reason, this island whose name was unlucky was much worse than the island of Lesbos.

After spitting all sorts of curses and even spitting at the misers who are trying to buy these precious things at ‘only gold price’, they soon decide to go further to Skyros Island.

And that was all they had luck with.

On the way to the island of Skiros, he met fellow pirates engaged in piracy.

In the end, they also crashed into the sea with red light, and their ‘goods’ became part of another merchant and wandered everywhere.

The new owners of the ‘commodity’ were horrified to see this huge amount of iron ingots and realized that they should never be disposed of in one place.

Unlike previous owners, they weren’t overzealous. Wandering along the coast, carefully disposing of steel.

It passes through the islands of Styra, Karistos and Andros, and passes through Athens, Megara and Tiryns.

Everywhere they go, the merchants who see iron ingots ask back wide-eyed.

“Where did you get these things?”

Naturally, they do not know the source. Mostly, they remember the direction the unfortunate ship came from, and they just blurted out, “Well, things like this usually come from the east.”

The blacksmiths trembled in astonishment when they saw the pure and tough steel as if it had been beaten by a giant. They, too, ask for a source, but receive only “East.”

From Tiryns, little by little, steel flows inland.

Nearby city, Mycenae.

“My King, it is indeed a pure steel sword befitting your noble character.”

“… that’s amazing.”

The king is very satisfied with the quality of the sword commissioned.

He also knows the mediocre skills of the Mycenaean blacksmiths.

So, once, out of curiosity, when he ordered a precious steel sword, he roughly expected the result.

However, the results that came out now were more than that.

“Actually, I obtained a very good iron ingot just a while ago and made it with it.”

From nob le mt l. co m

Looking at the king’s shining eyes, if there is no explanation, it is obvious that he will order the same quality in the future.

“A very high quality iron ingot?”

“Yes, the people I usually do business with say that it’s the first time I’ve seen something like this…”

“Where did you say it was made?”

“That’s in detail…”

“Where are you?”

“It is said to be outside Achaia, to the east.”

East of Achaia, how wide is it? From that Thrace to the Hittites and Assyria, isn’t everything eastward?

After quietly biting the blacksmiths, the king remains alone and rolls the names of places in the east into his mouth.

“Prygia, Thrace, Mysia, Lydia, Lycia, Troia…”

Troia.

I don’t know why, but the taste of the words lingers the longest in my mouth.

Once hard, once soft.

I tap the roof of my mouth twice and recite the name that came out.

“Troia…”

East.

Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, begins to take an interest in the East.