When the midday sun shone through the open-air roof into the temple, it made the statues appear somewhat sacred, as if they had come alive.
Night studied the statue while she prayed.
The face was different from what he remembered on the Roman forum's twelve gods.
He was not sure whether that was because no mortal eye had ever truly seen a god's face and sculptors had always been guessing, or whether centuries of retelling had simply drifted the image somewhere else.
Either way, he could not say whether this was Apollo's actual face.
What he could say, with some certainty, was that Apollo in this world was still capable of showing up in person.
He kept that thought somewhere close and waited.
The prayer ended; however, seeing that Apollo still did not descend, Night quietly let out a breath he had been holding without realizing it.
Good. The man had other things to do. Not every prayer needed a personal appearance.
The last time it took an entire city kneeling in the dirt at once.
This time, it was three people in an empty temple on an ordinary afternoon.
When Chryseis finished, Hector looked at her and asked. "What did you pray for?"
The latter looked at him and told him directly.
"I asked for Briseis to be brought home...but."
She didn't receive any response from her Lord God.
Thinking about it, the hope in her eyes went down another degree; however, she smiled at them anyway.
"You can offer your own prayers now. You are not priestesses, so there is no ceremony. Just close your eyes and think it toward him."
However, the two didn't respond immediately.
Night, for once, was lost in thought, looking at the girl trying to be strong, while Hector turned to her and said with conviction.
"Chryseis. I will find a way to bring her back. I promise you that."
Everyone in the room knew what that promise was worth right now, including Hector.
He was too good a soldier to fool himself.
Even someone as powerful as Hector couldn't possibly rescue Briseis alone from the allied forces unless Troy could completely annihilate the enemy right now, in which case there would still be a chance to save her.
It's just, it was kind of impossible.
Yes, Troy had the advantage at the moment, but having the advantage was not the same as having a clear path to total victory.
Finishing the Greek coalition off entirely was a completely different kind of problem, and the gap between where they stood now and where they would need to be for that was not something that closed quickly.
Hector, who was well-versed in military affairs, could naturally see this and would not be as blindly confident as his father and brothers.
Night watched them both.
Looking at Hector, keeping his voice steady while something underneath it was not, and Chryseis keeping her expression warm while her eyes said something else entirely.
He did not say anything for a while.
He considered Hector a brother, so naturally he wouldn't stand by and watch his sister die, but he didn't have the ability to do so.
If according to the original myth Briseis had only fallen into Achilles's hands, she might have been able to live a good life for a while.
After all, Achilles truly liked her.
For the sake of a woman, he even dared to draw his sword against the king of the overlord state.
Even in some versions, Achilles was not killed on the frontline battlefield.
But because he fell in love with Hector's sister.
When the Greek army held the advantage and wanted to slaughter the city, Achilles went alone to Troy, wanting to rescue his beloved girl.
Deep in enemy territory, he was sneak attacked by Paris and shot in the ankle.
But now Briseis had directly fallen into the hands of the old lecher Agamemnon.
Apollo now seemed not to respond anymore. Not to mention that Troy ultimately had a hard time winning.
Even if it really can win by the time this war ends, whenever that is, her belly would already be big.
Wait.
War.
Nate suddenly thought of a key question that he had overlooked, and a crazy thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
It was after just seeing Chryseis's disappointed and worried face with red-rimmed eyes after her many pleas yielded no results.
And seeing Hector constantly comforting her, but in reality, his own tone was somewhat trembling and powerless.
Even this real man who feared not even demigods had confusion in his heart.
After seeing these, Night's mind inevitably considered one question. Is there still hope for Briseis?
Perhaps the answer was yes!
The Greek allied forces were not a monolithic block.
Especially if it were not for Athena's arrival, Achilles might have already chopped Agamemnon.
If handled properly, it might even be possible to turn the heel situation around.
To be honest, the many Greek city-states and Troy have no great hatred.
Many people were forcibly dragged over by the Mycenaean king Agamemnon, who wanted to bolster his brother's power and incidentally find an excuse to invade Troy.
Half the heroes who sailed to Troy had found reasons not to go. Achilles dressed as a woman to dodge the call-up.
Odysseus pretended to be out of his mind, plowing his field with a donkey and an ox yoked together and sowing it with salt, until someone placed his infant son in the path of the plow and he swerved, which rather proved the point.
If it were not for Achilles, after a romantic mishap, lending his armor to his good friend, causing Hector to mistake him for Achilles and kill him single-handedly afterwards, Achilles would not have completely become sworn enemies with Hector.
Essentially at this point the contradictions between the two sides have not yet reached irreconcilable levels.
They even have a common enemy, Agamemnon.
Achilles, right now, wanted Agamemnon dead.
The only reason the king was still breathing was that Athena came down personally to stop the sword from clearing its scabbard.
A demigod, the finest warrior in the mortal world, had been forced to sit in his tent and do nothing while the man he despised took everything he valued.
His rage had nowhere to go.
Now.
What if someone gave it somewhere to go?
Take Agamemnon out of the picture, and the whole structure became a great deal more complicated.
Achilles and Hector.
Night held that thought.
If someone could infiltrate the allied army to persuade Achilles and Hector to coordinate from inside and outside with the two strongest heroes of Greece and Troy present, as long as the gods do not personally intervene, who could stop the rescue of one person?
Even.
Night suddenly realized one thing.
He realized a blind spot in perspective that he had overlooked.
Wait, since the gods, in order to balance the forces of Greece and Troy, will sooner or later dispatch reinforcements to support Greece.
Then in order to avoid the gods descending so early, why could that reinforcement not be me?!
!!!!
Boom!
Instantly, like thunder tearing through the darkness, his thoughts suddenly became active and exploded, gaining new life.
Every time in the simulated universe after not having to consider any worries Night always has some bold unrestrained ideas.
And this time it was another crazy idea born that he just could not hold back.
Previously, he was just an unknown, ordinary soldier, plus the chaotic environment of war.
In Greece or Troy, probably only Hector and Achilles truly recognized his face.
Others did not have a deep impression of him.
Infiltrating the enemy internally, besides rescuing Briseis, he could even grasp the Greek army's marching indications, acting as an inside man to help Troy seize the war opportunity.
Even look for opportunities to actively cause some destruction.
If there was a chance to directly kill Agamemnon, making this war completely lose its meaning, continue cutting off the biggest pro-war faction from the source.
Leaving a group of heroes who do not want to fight, even the gods could not forcibly require these heroes to go die again!
At that time perhaps Troy would not need to perish.
Even if they needed to find someone to establish Rome, it was not impossible to think of other ways.
Agamemnon's importance to the gods needed no more explanation.
Otherwise, with his bad character, Athena, this goddess of wisdom who deeply loved humans and was supposed to be people-friendly, would not have personally descended for this blockhead.
As a virgin goddess, the goddess Athena, who hated the oppression of women, seeing such a guy who treated women as playthings, it was already good that she didn't directly crush his balls.
Agamemnon, although his character was not so great, his identity as the king of Mycenae is very important.
The gods needed him, so they protected him.
But with the gods occasionally paying attention, did Night even have a chance to send this old man on his way?
If he remembered correctly, Agamemnon himself was no slouch either; he counted as quite a powerful hero.