I was a priest in the city-state era

Chapter 16 How the Loyal Servant Came
Roy, Procne and Philomela took six maidservants to the warehouse of the Acropolis. After finding materials and magnets for making ink, they also searched for some animal fat and cotton thread for making candles.

After leaving the warehouse, Procne and Philomela took Roy to the stable.

The terrain of Greece is dominated by mountains with some small plains.

Because of the special mountainous environment of Greece, the nomadic Dorians in the northern Thessaly region could only stop in the Great Plains of Thessaly, and could not cross the mountains and continue to migrate southward.

Even nomads on horseback cannot gallop in the mountainous environment of Greece, which shows that Greece does not need cavalry at all.

Raising horses in this era can neither train cavalry for war nor use horses in backward agriculture.

Raising horses is definitely a matter that is not directly proportional to the investment and income.

Therefore, the only people who can raise horses are the big or small leaders of the tribe.

Roy followed Procne and Philomela to the stable, and saw that although there were only four horses in the stable, there were six horse breeders taking care of the horses.

It can be seen how much Pandion attaches importance to these four horses.

Pandion's emphasis on raising horses proves that he is indeed a leader with vision.

Although in normal times, the investment in raising horses is not directly proportional to the income.

However, when the Athenian tribes were at war, riding a horse to quickly deliver news or detect the enemy's situation would be of great help to the Athenian tribes in winning the war, so the investment in raising horses was worthwhile.

When the six horse breeders saw Roy and the others, they immediately stopped Roy and the others from approaching the stable.

Procne took off the veil to show his identity, and then said to the horse breeder.

"I have my father's consent, and now I order you, help me pluck some horse tail hair from the horse's tail."

After the horse breeders looked at each other, someone couldn't help but say.

"Princess Procne! The temperament of horses is different from that of cattle and sheep. If you pluck the hair directly from the horse's tail, the horse will kick people with its hooves, which may cause serious injuries or even kill people."

Procne had only seen Pandion galloping on horseback, but never seen the horse get angry.

Hearing the horse breeder say that horseshoes can kick people to death, Procne said to Roy with a embarrassed expression.

"Priest Luoy, we can't hurt these horse breeders for the sake of horse tail hair."

Roy immediately said with a smile.

"Princess Procne! We don't want the whole horse's tail hair. Let these horse breeders use sharp knives to cut off half a foot of horse tail hair, which is enough for us to make toothbrushes and writing brushes."

Plucking hair directly from a horse's tail is very dangerous, but cutting off a portion of a horse's tail presents little to no danger to a horse breeder.

Procne ordered to the horse breeder.

"You heard what Priest Loy said, hurry up and cut some horse tail hair for us."

The six horse breeders immediately went into the stables to get busy, and soon cut off four times the horse's tail hair and presented it to Procne.

On the way back to the Temple of Metis, Roy looked at the six maids behind him and asked Procne curiously.

"Princess Procne! I've always wanted to ask a question, are the servants and maids in your family slaves obtained by your Athenian tribe from defeating other tribes?"

"How can we make our enemies our servants—"

Procne stared at Roy with wide eyes and said.

"Priest Loi! Those who were defeated by our Athens tribe and became captives must be full of resentment towards us. Keep these enemies by our side to serve us, maybe one day they will be murdered by them. So when we capture captives, usually Sell ​​them to the Phoenicians, and let the Phoenicians sell them as slaves elsewhere."

"Then your Athenian tribe, don't you have any slaves from other tribes?"

"Yes! We usually only sell captive men to the Phoenicians, and our captive women and little girls are kept for reformation. Because women are different from men, and when they have children, they will accept their fate Accept your fate. Many of the maids in our house are little girls captured from other tribes."

"Then how did the servants in your family come from?"

"It's a bit complicated."

Procne frowned and said.

"Ordinary couples in our Athens tribe. It is normal to have more than eight children. But being able to give birth to so many children does not mean that they can support so many children. Some couples will starve their children to death. They are given to big chiefs, small chiefs, or other wealthy people for adoption. The male servants in our family are basically adopted children. Because these male servants have been taught to appreciate the kindness of their master’s upbringing since childhood, these male servants are very loyal. When they grow up, some of them will stay in our house to serve us, and some of them will become my father's personal guards, swearing to the death to protect my father's safety in the war."

"No wonder your servants are so loyal, they were raised from childhood."

Back at the Temple of Metis, Roy asked a maid to grind a magnet into a compass, a maid to make ink, a maid to use horsetail hair to make toothbrushes and brushes, and the remaining three maids to make candles.

Lowy personally participated in the beating and pulping of papermaking, and finally produced the first batch of experimental paper in the afternoon.

evening.

After the first batch of experimental paper had dried, Roy excitedly took the paper, brush and ink, and said to Procne and Philomela.

"Don't go back yet, I'll light a candle in the stone house, and then I'll write for you!"

Hearing what Roy said, Procne hesitated, but finally nodded.

Night falls.

Inside the stone house of the temple.

There are two candles on the top of the stone table for lighting.

Roy spread a piece of paper on the stone table, dipped a brush in ink, and wrote the word [Loy] stroke by stroke on the paper, then lifted the paper and said.

"Princess Procne! Princess Philomela! You see, that is my name."

Procne and Philomela observed the words on the paper in amazement under the candlelight, and Philomela couldn't help but said.

"This is the Chinese character you said? Then how should I write the names of my sister and me?"

"I will write your names now."

Roy picked up the brush and wrote the word [Procne] stroke by stroke on the second piece of paper, then picked up the paper and said to Procne.

"Princess Procne, this is your name."

Procne looked at the name on the paper and couldn't help breathing heavily.

Philomela said with a dissatisfied face.

"Priest Loy! Why do you only write your sister's name and not mine?"

"Uh--"

Seeing that his favoritism made Philomela feel unfair, Roy immediately said with a smile.

"It's my fault, I'll write your name now."

After finishing speaking, Roy wrote the four characters [Philomela] on the third piece of paper with a brush, and then gave the paper to Philomela.

Philomela snatched the paper with her name written on it, and said with a smug smile on her small face.

"That's pretty much the same! What my sister has, I should also have."

Although she looks very cute and beautiful, she is a big loli after all.

Roy looked at Procne and said.

"Princess Procne, would you like to try writing your own name?"

(End of this chapter)