Chapter 80: A very small world (1/2)

Ultimately, Alex and Hermes decided to follow the guard.

The guard walked at a brisk pace, thus they swiftly followed too.

”Where are we going, exactly?” Alex didn't think they'd have any trouble defending themselves, but he had to ask anyway.

The guard sternly replied, ”I cannot disclose that information, sir.”

'Strange.'

'Kids, don't be like me and don't follow strangers to 'places they cannot disclose'.' Alex sarcastically remarked to himself.

They navigated through the streets of Kabura and there were quite a few Olympian temples along the way.

However, almost every temple was destroyed, and there was even one dedicated to Hermes, though the statue of Hermes itself was also beheaded.

Yet, one of these aforementioned templed dedicated itself to Aphrodite.

'She's....entirely intact..' Unlike the other temples, both the statue and the temple of Aphrodite stood gloriously...

”These Bactrians must be very h*rny...” Hermes chuckled cynically when he saw the state of Aphrodite's temple.

Soon enough, the guard asked them to enter a narrow alley, and they obliged.

The alley was dim and the guard lit a torch, even though he didn't know both Alex and Hermes could see perfectly.

At the opposite end of the alley, a staircase led underground.

It looked quite eerie, and obviously not somewhere people should enter with a stranger, but being deities gave Hermes and Alex unbound confidence.

They climbed down the staircase until they were quite deep and a metal door stood before them.

The guard aggressively knocked on the metal door and loudly proclaimed, ”This is Abtum, Open!”

Shortly, the metal gate slowly opened and creaked like a pair of gears that needed to be oiled.

A guard nodded to 'Abtum' and led them in.

They were now in a spacious hall. Luxurious ornaments decorated the walls of the hall, but it looked like it was a rushed job, as some of the paintings weren't hung well, and the entire hall looked chaotic.

There were other armed guards here, and they surrounded a small palanquin.

Inside the palanquin, the woman from earlier was sat.

She was fidgeting with her hand on her knees, and she nervously looked around.

When she saw Hermes, she ran up to him and bowed, ”Lord Hermes!”

”You are....?”

”Queen Nephis, Regent of Bactria, I humbly introduce myself.”

”Why does a person of your stature live underground?” Alex boldly asked, only to gasp as he saw Nephis punch the floor.

”I...apologize, I have a lot in mind.” She then brought them some chairs and invited them to sit.

”Nephis, why have you invited us here?” Hermes inquired.

The queen bit her lips until they were devoid of color and said, ”I...was rash. I'm occupying the time of a Lord of your stature because I wished for you to resolve issues of mortals.”

Surprisingly, she spoke Koine Greek.

”It's alright. We saw the ruined temples, I don't think that's acceptable,” Alex waved his hand.

Hermes then asked, ”What is the matter with this place? Why is the population so agitated?”