Chapter 213: Traveling Through Nations, Leaving My Mark
Intentionally drawing rebels out by touring the provinces, then using the suppression of that rebellion to consolidate authority even the previous Augustus could not fully grasp.
Risk and calculation.
For Rowe the reformer, it was almost inevitable. And the outcome was never truly in doubt.
After the dismissal and replacement of local governors and bureaucrats, and after private noble academies were pushed aside by official schools, Nero reclaimed the most important power of all with Rowe at her side.
Military authority.
At the time, Rome maintained twenty three full legions, more than one hundred thousand professional soldiers. With that force in hand, any obstacle became a praying mantis standing before a chariot.
Yet for Rowe the reformer, the work was still incomplete.
The Emperor's tour had only just begun.
The Reform of Rome
The night was deep. A crescent moon hung above Antium, pale and cold.
Einzbern lifted a hand and lightly brushed her long silver hair aside as she watched the senators flee in disorder.
Rowe did not pursue.
He did not finish them.
Instead, he clapped his hands once, as if dusting off a task that had already ended.
"A snake without fangs is not a threat," he said. "Keeping them alive still has value. They can draw eyes."
"The interests touched by reform are not limited to the Senate. From top to bottom, many people still refuse to stand up now. They are waiting to see who burns."
"So you plan to keep the Senate to attract the fire," Einzbern said, tilting her head. Understanding arrived instantly.
"Exactly. We keep them. We publicly declare that the Senate voluntarily surrendered military authority. Then Nero issues another law granting the Senate nominal supervisory power."
Einzbern's eyes narrowed with amusement.
"And then you use the Fairy Eye to deal with those who refuse the Emperor's measures, and you hang the blame on the Senate because it has that nominal supervisory power."
She smiled, showing a hint of silver teeth.
"Clever."
Rowe's gaze flicked to her, mild and sardonic.
"Just say I do not have senile dementia. Is that not because of your blessing?"
"Ah, regardless, I will not leave so easily this time." Einzbern shook her head, then reached out and took Rowe's hand slowly, as if sealing the decision with contact. "You are the Holy Son, so I will become the Holy Maiden."
Rowe held her hand in return. The girl before him looked unchanged from a thousand years ago. The same face. The same eyes that searched him, as if verifying that the thread of fate had not snapped.
"Then let us go," Rowe said. "Nero is probably getting impatient."
Nero was indeed impatient.
And when she saw yet another woman at Rowe's side, the ahoge atop the golden haired Emperor's head visibly twitched beneath the moonlight.
"Umu, Adjutant. Exactly how many women do you have?"
Outside Antium, a sea of Roman banners filled the open ground. Legion standards fluttered. The air itself felt heavy with order and discipline, the kind of pressure only an organized nation could produce.
Nero sat high upon an open topped chariot, looking down at Rowe and Einzbern as they approached.
Behind Nero, Melusine sat in the rear seat. Even she looked curious, head angled slightly as if listening for an answer hidden in Rowe's breathing.
"My Lord… I am also a little curious."
Many?
If he counted properly, it did seem like the number had become… inconvenient.
Rowe chuckled.
"You will find out later."
Then he lifted his gaze to the Emperor, voice returning to that steady cadence that could turn even chaos into procedure.
"But for now, Your Majesty Nero, continue your pilgrimage."
"Umu?"
Nero's eyes moved from Rowe to Einzbern's hand tightly holding his. Her delicate brows furrowed, then she shook her head as if throwing the irritation into the wind.
"Then we continue. Let us go and see my Rome."
She straightened, then pointed at the seat beside her with the confidence of someone who believed the world was a stage designed for her.
"Come up, my Adjutant."
This chariot was not the same as the one used before.
It was an open touring carriage, closer to a viewing platform on wheels than a war chariot. It held only four seats, two in front, two behind.
The seat beside the Emperor was for the Adjutant.
As for that inexplicable woman, she could sit behind. Whatever her relationship with Rowe was, right now the person beside him was Nero Claudius.
The Emperor did not need to speak it aloud. The arrangement itself was her declaration.
Rowe sat.
Then Einzbern slipped directly into his arms.
Close. Casual. Intimate, as if the concept of distance did not apply to her at all.
Nero froze.
"Umu?"
For a heartbeat, the Emperor looked genuinely stunned, as if she had misjudged a rule of the world.
During that silence, Nero even caught Einzbern giving her a grateful look.
Grateful.
As if Nero had offered her something.
"How dare you challenge me, the Emperor," Nero thought, though her mouth did not form the words.
Einzbern smiled pleasantly.
"I did not say or do anything," she replied, as if she could hear the thought anyway. "Emperor Nero Claudius, I forgot to introduce myself."
"My name is Minerva Einzbern."
"And my identity in the heavens is the Goddess of Wisdom."
She tilted her head.
"In terms of status, I am not below you, am I?"
Nero's eyes narrowed.
Rowe's expression did not change.
Sure enough. It had begun again.
Whenever the women around Rowe met, they inevitably competed for the space nearest to him. It was less a battle than a reflex.
In the end, Einzbern still rose and moved to the rear seat.
Competition was competition.
Even as a Divine Spirit manifesting as a human, she remained rational.
She would not escalate into a real dispute with Rome and its Emperor. This was the era of human order. Even if gods could linger, they were no longer the central actors of the stage.
Divinity now attached itself to humanity.
Einzbern, as Athena's human manifestation, did not want her relationship with Nero, who represented humanity's authority, to sour beyond repair.
Rowe let out a slow yawn, a rare crack in his composure that looked almost lazy.
His eyes met Melusine's.
At some point she had removed her hood, her silver hair visible, her gaze bright with curiosity rather than menace.
"My Lord, is something wrong?"
"No," Rowe said. "I just thought it might be better to be as simple as you."
"I do not understand," Melusine answered, then her lips curved faintly. "But I am happy with your praise, Lord Rowe."
Hooves rustled.
A rider approached at the same time, red hair flowing with the motion.
"Your Majesty Nero. Your Excellency Rowe. Long time no see."
Rowe looked over.
"Boudica. Yes. It has been a while. You seem well."
Nero waved cheerfully, already treating the red haired warrior as a familiar companion.
"Umu. It is you, my dear."
"I am doing well," Boudica said, though her expression carried a trace of helplessness. "But I still wonder when you will allow me to return to Britannia."
Rowe smiled.
"Soon. Very soon. The Senate no longer has the strength to resist. They will not keep refusing your commission."
"But before that, I need you with the legions. Stay in Rome and remain our support."
"Of course." Boudica's posture straightened. The loyalty in her voice was simple, almost old fashioned. "That is my duty. Besides, I have heard Britannia is developing well."
Her eyes softened, then sharpened again.
"But I still hope it will be soon."
"Military affairs are busy," Rowe said. "Baobhan Sith and Barghest will assist you."
He gestured.
A red haired girl in a long crimson dress stepped forward, and beside her walked a woman in heavy armor whose physique was powerful enough to surpass normal human limits, robust and beautiful in a way that felt unreal.
Baobhan Sith waved at Boudica.
Barghest grinned like a predator pleased to be given work.
"Those two," Boudica said, nodding, "are formidable warriors."
The fairies from Paradise had already been embedded in the army.
Disguised as ordinary people.
It was natural Boudica knew them.
Rowe withdrew his gaze.
"Then we depart. Continue the Emperor's inspection."
The carriage began to move again. Horses advanced. Banners shifted like a forest in wind.
The legions gathered outside Antium dispersed to their assigned routes.
From this moment onward, Rome's legions bore Nero Claudius's mark. They would no longer swear to the Senate.
They would swear to the Emperor.
Rome was no longer the Rome of the Emperor and the senatorial nobles.
It was the Emperor's Rome.
To decentralize power, one first centralized it. After centralization came redistribution, not as charity, but as allocation.
Power distributed to those qualified, and those who truly needed to wield it.
That was Nero's responsibility.
Rowe's task was simpler, and therefore more difficult.
He would travel.
He would spread the spirit of thought and civilization.
He would leave his mark inside the hearts of the people.
From Rome to Sicily.
Across the sea to Carthage.
Through Spain, then Gaul, then Macedonia.
The Emperor's banner flew over Rome, and wherever she passed, streets emptied as people surged out to greet her.
The Emperor, like a blazing rose, proclaimed her ideals openly, while the quiet and gentle Adjutant purged corruption with methods that did not hesitate.
From the broad direction to the smallest practical route.
Most reforms, from ancient times onward, failed because they floated too far above the people.
Rowe understood that.
He told them that practice yielded true knowledge. That truth was not clear without debate. That truth had to be measured, verified, and carried by one's own hands.
The Emperor and the Adjutant: Governance and Reform
At the beginning of the Common Era, it was still a wild age.
Though the Roman Empire stood upon the Mediterranean's edge and radiated power outward, many places remained untamed. Even within Rome's provinces, countless primitive tribes and barbarians endured.
In that era, even the strongest nation could not enforce its will everywhere it claimed.
Yet he did it.
He used the nation's strength to drive change in every region.
He brought armies into every place, altering customs, transforming what was wild and primitive.
He spread culture.
He dispelled the malignant spirits of old eras.
He told the people that anyone could become a master of the world.
The sunlight fell and lit the city ahead. It also lit the countless people gathered outside its gates, waiting to welcome them.
Red carpets stretched forward. Flowers covered the ground.
The ceremony remained lavish and solemn.
Nero stood atop her carriage, hands on her hips, skirt swaying, the Emperor's fiery silhouette framed by banners and steel.
But she was not the only one watching.
"Hmm," Einzbern said, seated beside Nero now, bare fair calves swinging idly, gaze deepening as she measured the horizon. "This is indeed much larger than Greece was back then."
The escort remained the same.
A full legion of six thousand guarded the Emperor.
Behind and before them, the banners flickered in the wind like a living flame.
The army advanced.
This was already the edge of the Roman Empire. The end of Rome that the Emperor reached after circling the realm.
Beyond lay regions outside the empire's control.
Uncivilized lands of this era.
The dwelling places of barbarians.
For Nero, the journey had been long.
But no matter where she went, the young Emperor kept her blazing enthusiasm. Fatigue existed, yes, but when she remembered she was changing Rome, she straightened again as if the thought itself was nourishment.
The tour was also a performance.
The people witnessed the Emperor's beauty and nobility.
They also experienced the weight of Rowe's wisdom.
Nero's charisma required no proof. Her policies for the people earned devotion in every province.
Rowe left knowledge wherever he went. Disciples took root in his footsteps.
Local scholars visited him after his arrival. Local wise men asked questions, sometimes politely, sometimes with sharpened intent.
At first, many of them were trying to make him stumble.
They were part of vested interests.
They were also people harmed by reform.
Yet in the end, they were won over by knowledge that transcended the era, reaching from past into future.
Rowe's reputation spread.
His name became synonymous with wisdom.
Now the journey neared its end.
Einzbern looked at Rowe.
Rowe looked back.
"Do you still plan to go further?" Athena asked.
Rowe answered without evasion.
"Yes."
After an end came a beginning.
Rowe was ready.
"Lady Boudica. The legions are assembled at the imperial border."
"Logistics are ready."
"Javelins, spears, swords, shields. All supplies have been deployed."
"Very good."
At Rome's border, in the region beyond the city they were approaching, the mountains rose in continuous lines. Roman banners filled the valleys. More armies gathered there, dense enough to make the earth feel occupied.
Boudica ran a hand through her crimson hair, then glanced sideways at the two fairy apostles, one gold, one red.
More than half the empire's legions had assembled.
Over one hundred thousand equipped soldiers.
A hundred thousand troops under the joint command of Boudica, Barghest, and Baobhan Sith.
Ready to depart.
They waited.
They waited for the tour to conclude.
They waited for Nero to return within the empire.
This army would also welcome their true commander.
Rowe.
When he appointed Boudica, he told her plainly that he was not satisfied with Rome's territory.
He intended to claim more land for the nation.
Rome alone was not enough.
He wanted to spread civilization farther, into places distant and harsh.
In the form of conquest.
Reformers were not enough.
Writers were not enough.
Educators were not enough.
If he could not command a hundred thousand and win without fail, how could he become the king in the spirit of the people?
How could he be worthy of the title that waited above, the Lord of Hosts of the high heavens?
This tour was a deep observation of the populace. It was also the perfect chance to consolidate military power.
And consolidating military power was preparation for the next step.
Conquest.
The tour ended.
War began.
It required no additional preparation.
Throughout the tour, the empire's legions had already remained in a state of mobilization.
.....
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