The atmosphere here suddenly fell into freezing, I was silent, in the dim light of the oil lamp, I must have seen the answer from my slightly embarrassed gaze, but he was slow to speak, what did this mean? Could it be that he did not see anything.

"Why don't you speak?"

Presumably he couldn't bear the impatience of the silence, but Arecio couldn't bear it, he wanted to know an answer, a reasonable answer from me.

"I haven't seen you for what you are, honorable Lord Arecio."

I was procrastinating, my heart was already in my throat, I didn't know what this lie was about, because even I didn't have that guarantee, I didn't know anything about Aetius's next move, I only had time to procrastinate so that I had plenty of time to think about how to deal with this guy.

"Look at me, hum hum ......"

There was a creepy laugh in the darkness in front of him, and then the voice was heard whispering, "Light the fire." ”

"Whew!"

After the sound of flames burning when they rose, two flames ignited more than ten meters away in front of them, and then the darkness in front of them was completely dispelled. I saw a man emerge from the darkness of the room, dressed in a white robe, lying lazily on a richly decorated bed, his face covered by a brass mask with golden light. Less than three meters in front of him, beside the two braziers stood young maidens, young and beautiful, wearing a crown of woven twigs, dressed in a white linen robe, bowing her head and saying nothing. It turned out that the guy who covered his face with a mask was the governor of the Belgian province of Gaul, Flavies. Aresio.

"Why, now, isn't it clear enough?"

The voice came from behind the brass mask, and he interrupted my sluggishness, only to see him slowly get up from the ornate bed and staggered down the steps. An ornately decorated iron sword hung from his waist, and his right hand, gripping the hilt tightly, did not let go for a moment. Through the brass mask, those sky-blue eyes, staring so tightly into my eyes that I didn't dare to confront him.

"Tell me, Aetius, what is your next move!"

Arecio's steps were heavy, and he walked up to me step by step, looking at me, and I began to avoid his eyes.

"Brush!"

He jerked out his iron sword and placed it around my neck, my flesh feeling the chill of the bone. Does every nobleman like to threaten others with their lives, and do they really think that this trick will make the threatened person say what they want to hear? Anyway, I was so scared that I couldn't see his expression, and God knows if he was angry, or joyful, or joking on purpose. The blade sank deep into my flesh, and his eyes showed a fierce aura, and the expression on his face must have been even more vicious.

"Why don't you speak?"

Arecio questioned me loudly, but before I was afraid, the mercenary leader beside me had already taken a step back, bowing his head, not daring to say a word.

Well, I was desperately trying to figure out what to do, or if he was in such a hurry to ask me, then he would not know anything, and if he didn't know anything, then I would make up a lie to fool him, and he would have believed me. I immediately gathered my thoughts and began to think about the situation, so I told him the details of Aetius's conquest of Ludinand and the defeat of the Burgundians, and promised him that Aetius's next goal would be here, and that they would regain all the land that had once belonged to Rome. But I'm going to ignore the part where Andrew and I were plotted against by that damn politician Anthony, because God knows if this guy is in the same league as Anthony, because the Senate used to seem to me to have no such great power since Rome was converted from a republic to an empire, but now I was wrong, I saw it, and remembered it deeply, that the Senate must have some very great power, at least hidden behind the superficial power, and they were like tentacles, reaching out to every province of the empire. Every legion.

"Anyway, I know, that's pretty much it."

Arecio listened with great interest, and I was even more distracted, not knowing when the iron sword that had been around my neck had been put down.

It was only after I stopped talking for a long time that Arecio came to his senses.

"Ah, that's it, huh?"

This guy came back to his senses, and he laughed a little embarrassed to hide his gaffe just now. He shook his head, smiled awkwardly and said to himself: "I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect that this bastard who can only be a wall-to-wall bastard would be able to do such a great thing." Hmph, that's ironic. ”

Arecio slowly put his sword into the sheath, for no reason, obviously aware of the imminent arrival of Aetius's army to save Arecio's position and life, but for some reason, he was not happy about it. Could it be that he had another way, or did the arrival of Aetius become a fetter for him, or did he disrupt some of his so-called grand "plans"? Or because of jealousy, he was surrounded by rampant slaves and did nothing, and Aetius, who was also a nobleman of Flavies, Aetius overcame obstacles and made great achievements for the empire, and he was jealous that he could not be remembered by people like Aetius, let alone by the emperor and the regent.

"Are these words true?"

At this time, this guy began to doubt the authenticity again after feeling emotional, so I had to stretch out my right hand to the sky and tell him that I swore in the name of God, and he dispelled his doubts.

"Yes, my friend."

The guy laughed again, and the laughter through the brass mask was a little dull, more of an incomprehensible feeling. I don't know what he's thinking at this point, I just know that from his current behavior, he will no longer pose any mortal threat to me, and he trusts me, at least in this matter.

He stopped talking, and went back to his original gorgeous bed, and lay down on the bed, and returned to his old languid appearance.

"Enough, I'm tired, Fried (the mercenary leader's name is Fred), give him some money to check in with his friends at the hotel in town."

"And what about my friend's robbery?" I hurriedly asked.

"I'll arrange it."

Arecio said, turning around and waving his hand at the two of us, "Go ahead, that's enough." ”

The mercenary leader named Fred did not dare to say more, and he pulled me out the door, and the moment we went out, the two flames in front of Arecio were extinguished by the maid, and the whole room was restored to its appearance of only a small oil lamp, pitch black and eerie.