Chapter 145: Raid 2
< 145. Raid 2>
“Stop bluffing! Let’s see if you can still act like that when you have a knife in your throat. Everyone, kill them all as quickly as possible and get out of here.”
The pre-planned idea of sparing one person was already erased from his mind.
If the assassination plan had been exposed, he had to return to Mesopotamia as fast as possible and prepare for exile.
As the raiders raised their weapons and closed the distance, twelve lictors surrounded Marcus in a circle and held their weapons.
And they put on iron helmets that were hanging on their fasces.
“Uwoooooo!”
One of the assassins shouted with a loud roar and swung his weapon.
Marcus’s lictor did not take any defensive stance.
Clang!
The weapon swung by the assassin bounced off with a dull sound.
The edge of the toga was cut, but something hard underneath blocked it.
“Did they wear armor under their togas?”
The assassin’s eyes widened in horror as he looked at his weapon with a tongue click.
The blade was completely ruined after just one swing.
He had heard that the Roman army’s armor was hard, but he didn’t know it was this much.
The raiders hesitated as their morale was broken, and Intaphrenes gritted his teeth with a twisted face.
“If you can’t stab them in the body, poke their eyes! We have more than ten times the number of them! What are you afraid of? Push them over and stab their faces, then they won’t survive either!”
“If we really had the advantage in numbers, we could have done that.”
Marcus chuckled.
As if his words were a signal, footsteps began to be heard from behind.
The sound of kicking the ground was not from just a few dozen people.
The raiders tensed up and turned their heads.
“Annihilate the traitors who pointed their swords at the Imperator!”
A fully armed Roman legion was running in formation.
Why was the Roman legion in the center of the city, not on the outskirts?
The raiders were shaken among themselves.
This time, even Intaphrenes couldn’t control his confused subordinates.
He was the most surprised person of all.
‘Why is the Roman army already here?’
If it was according to the security document he had checked beforehand, the Roman army shouldn’t be here.
Even if they sensed something strange and ran over, they shouldn’t have arrived so soon.
In other words, there was only one conclusion.
The statement that they had deployed all their troops on the outskirts of Antioch was a lie from the beginning.
Intaphrenes realized that what Marcus had said was not a simple bluff or lie.
“He knew everything from the start… Is that what you’re saying?”
In this situation, he couldn’t even hope to complete the plan, let alone scratch Marcus’s body.
He saw his elite soldiers, whom he had trained hard, being swept away by the Roman spears and swords.
Even a sandcastle swept away by a wave wouldn’t be more pathetic than this.
Intaphrenes unknowingly stepped back while retreating.
He didn’t think he had to run away.
He just found himself running aimlessly towards where there were no Roman soldiers.
Spartacus, who had cut down one of the raiders with a single stroke, was about to chase after Intaphrenes when Marcus’s calm voice stopped him.
“There’s no need to follow him. Let’s clean up here first.”
“Yes, sir.”
Spartacus turned his gaze away from Intaphrenes’s back and threw himself at the raiders again.
The raiders who sensed that they would be beheaded even if they surrendered resisted with all their might, but they couldn’t even fight properly in a situation where they were inferior in weapons, skills, and numbers.
They were so confused that they didn’t even realize that Intaphrenes had run away until it was too late.
In the end, it took less than ten minutes to finish off all of the raiders who numbered well over a hundred.
They had devised such a meticulous plan and were confident of success, but they couldn’t even make one of Marcus’s guards bleed.
It was a vain and futile end.
※※※※
“Huff, huff, huff.”
Intaphrenes ran and ran until he felt like his breath would reach his chin.
He didn’t even think about why the plan failed or what he should do next.
He just wanted to get out of this nightmare-like reality somehow.
He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and looked around.
He had run out of his mind, but he realized that he had escaped through the escape route he had planned beforehand.
‘First I have to join up with Hidarnes… No, if the security document was fake, there’s no guarantee that Hidarnes is safe either.’
Intaphrenes, who had regained a little bit of his composure to think rationally, tried to review the current situation coldly.
He saw a familiar figure approaching from afar in his sight.
“Horshid… sir…?”
“So you managed to escape too.”
“What happened? And what’s with that wound?”
Intaphrenes, who was about to blame him for the failure of the plan, couldn’t criticize him to the end when he saw Horshid’s appearance.
He was covered in blood and his clothes were torn almost like rags.
He shook his head with a bitter smile.
“I was hiding behind to block Marcus’s retreat, but suddenly the Roman army came rushing in. I tried to retreat right away, but the difference in strength was too great and it wasn’t easy to get out. Thanks to that, there’s no part of my body that’s not bruised.”
“How did the plan get exposed? I didn’t tell the details to the other nobles for security reasons.”
“The answer is obvious, isn’t it? There’s a traitor.”
Horshid’s cold voice sank in.
Intaphrenes frowned with a doubtful expression.
“Do you suspect Hidarnes?”
“Think about it. Unlike us, who were supposed to kill Marcus at the front line, he had the role of waiting in the rear. He wouldn’t show any signs of betrayal until the crucial moment.”
“No, he wouldn’t do that. Hidarnes is…”
“Who knows what kind of offer Marcus made beyond imagination. I’m not saying he’s definitely a traitor. I’m just saying there’s a possibility. And since the situation is like this, it’s foolish to use the escape route we discussed beforehand.”
“I agree with that. Even if Hidarnes didn’t betray us, there’s a good chance he was caught.”
It was undeniable that the escape route had already leaked out in a situation where the plan was completely exposed.
No matter how he thought about it, he needed to change the escape route.
“I did make a small hole in the north gate in case of an emergency. If we go through there, we can get out of Antioch without anyone noticing.”
“Is that true?”
“But the real problem is after we get out. We’re already defined as traitors by Rome, and nothing will change if we leave here.”
“That…”
“Can’t you contact the person who asked you to do this? We got into this mess trying to fulfill his request, so maybe we have an option of entrusting ourselves to him.”
Intaphrenes sighed and slowly shook his head.
He scratched his head as if he had no face and said.
“That’s impossible. If the plan had succeeded, maybe, but if it failed, they would pretend they don’t know us. There’s no one who can survive by going against Rome right now.”
“So you’re saying we were used and thrown away?”
“We would have been guaranteed a huge benefit if we had succeeded. It was that kind of contract from the beginning.”
Horshid’s eyes became darker and darker.
Intaphrenes, who felt his ominous mood, quickly added a word of excuse.
“But I have some idea of what to do. We have to go to Mesopotamia as fast as possible and sell all our assets. And then we can cross over to Parthia and look for a chance to escape to the Indus region. Then Rome won’t be able to chase us anymore.”
“… That seems like the best option.”
“Yes. So we don’t have much time. Let’s hurry up. I’ll lead the way to the north gate.”
He stepped forward and naturally turned his back to Horshid and headed north.
But just as he was about to kick off and run away, he felt a burning pain in his back and his body leaned forward.
Splat!
With an incomprehensible sound of flesh tearing, Intaphrenes’s body fell to the ground.
He didn’t realize what had happened for a moment and simply thought he had tripped over something.
He tried to get up by putting his hand on the ground and felt another terrible pain in his leg.
At the same time, a large amount of blood stained the floor and he felt his strength drain from his body.
“Cough! What, what is this…”
A cold voice flew into his ears as he struggled in blood.
“Don’t move too much. You won’t be able to get up anyway since I cut your tendons in your legs.”
“Horshid… why…?”
He turned his head desperately and looked up at Horshid with horror and shock.
And his eyes gradually became stained with betrayal as he understood the situation.
“You… you were the traitor? Or did you sell me out so you could beg for mercy alone?”
“Betrayal? Mercy? Unfortunately, neither is true.”
Horshid slowly put away his sword and smirked.
Intaphrenes was confused and didn’t know what was going on.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the answer appeared right in front of his eyes.
“Horshid, good job.”
The voice he least wanted to hear at this moment settled in the cold night air.
He saw someone walking leisurely from behind Horshid.
“Welcome, Marcus sir.”
Horshid bowed one knee and respectfully greeted him.
Marcus, who had only Spartacus with him, slowly approached the fallen Intaphrenes.
Horshid brought a large box from somewhere and placed it in front of Marcus.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t prepare a chair in advance.”
“Not at all. You’re always well-prepared.”
“Isn’t that why you took notice of me? I’ll do my best to meet your expectations from now on.”
“You’re doing well enough already. Thanks to you, this matter was resolved very easily.”
“… You’re too kind. You pushed me so much, but I still couldn’t find out who the mastermind was. I’m ashamed of myself.”
Intaphrenes’s face became more and more filled with anger and despair as he heard their conversation.
He endured the pain that ran through his body and shouted.
“You bastards, were you on the same side from the beginning?”
“Did you just realize that? Yes, from the very beginning.”
“From the time I brought Horshid in… you were already looking for a chance to betray me. I was just being played on your palm…”
“You seem to have misunderstood something.”
Marcus shook his head lightly and clicked his tongue.
He looked at Intaphrenes’s face full of doubt and decided to tell him the whole truth as a minimum of mercy.
“What I meant by the beginning was much earlier than that. To be exact, it was since I became the governor in charge of Mesopotamia. I marked Horshid as a net to entangle all the anti-Roman nobles from then on. I gave him the role of a reasonable critic to attract your attention, and he moved as expected without a hitch.”
“From the beginning… you were planning to weed us out?”
“Did you think I would just let you go? You who were not friendly to Rome while occupying a fertile land like Mesopotamia? Oh, of course, there was one thing that was unexpected. I originally intended to expose your embezzlement and corruption through Horshid, not something like assassination.”
Marcus remembered how he laughed incredulously when he first heard Horshid’s report.
“I expected you to do something, but I didn’t think you would actually try to assassinate me. I wanted to applaud your aggressiveness that exceeded my expectations.”
“Horshid’s demand for our rights was…”
“You felt something was wrong, right? That’s why he deliberately offered an unreasonable condition to test your intentions. But when you accepted such a ridiculous condition and proceeded with the assassination, he realized it. That there was someone else behind the anti-Roman nobles besides me.”
“…”
“Taking this as an opportunity, I started to actively support you from behind. I thought it was a chance to give me an immeasurable benefit.”
The more he heard the explanation, the more Intaphrenes’s face was filled with confusion.
He bit his lips hard and asked.
“Immeasurable benefit? No, before that, you said you helped us?”
“Didn’t you notice? I was the biggest sponsor of your plan. How do you think Horshid could handle things so smoothly? Didn’t you find it strange that the guards watching Surenas left their posts to chat?”
“Then Horshid getting the security documents too…”
“Did you think it was just because of your thorough preparation, your courage to not miss even a thin gap?”
Intaphrenes couldn’t close his mouth that was open in astonishment.
He was so shocked that he couldn’t even feel the pain that climbed up his back for a moment.
“But your prudence was honestly beyond my expectation. You didn’t reveal the name of the mastermind even under pressure and interrogation. Horshid tried his best to make you talk until the last moment.”
“When we first met, he persistently checked my reaction…”
“Yes. It was according to plan that Horshid emphasized my ability so much to draw your attention. But you didn’t show any reaction, so I was disappointed that I couldn’t achieve any significant results then.”
Horshid bowed his head as if he had no face.
“It was because of my lack of ability.”
“No, this much is enough. And thanks to you, I now know for sure who’s behind them.”
“Is that true?”
Marcus slowly got up from the box and squatted down in front of Intaphrenes and looked him in the eye.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t report satisfactorily to Shahanshah. Don’t you think so?”
“W-what are you talking about…”
Intaphrenes’s eyes trembled.
He had tried his best to hide the truth until now, but he couldn’t keep his composure in his mentally exhausted state.
Marcus smiled contentedly and stood up again.
“Your reaction alone is enough for an answer. Thank you, Intaphrenes. You were the best treasure chest until the end.”
“W-wait!”
“As a reward for your work so far, I’ll let you go without pain. Spartacus, kill him.”
“I’m Intaphrenes! I’m a noble who has protected this land since Darius the Great. You guys who have no roots…”
Intaphrenes’s words couldn’t continue.
His words were cut off by Spartacus’s sword that slashed his neck.
Marcus turned his eyes away from the corpse that spewed blood and cooled down.
Horshid and Spartacus followed him closely.
“So the next target is Parthia?”
“No. It’s too early to invade them right now. We don’t have enough justification.”
“What? Isn’t it enough that the king of Parthia was involved in this assassination plot?”
“We don’t have any evidence. Considering Intaphrenes’s personality, he must have erased all the traces. It’s risky to declare war with just suspicion. There might be opposition from Rome. And even within the nobility, some people might doubt my intentions.”
Spartacus frowned as if he didn’t understand.
“Then we have to leave those bastards who plotted this alone?”
“Of course not. Just not right now. If we wait a little longer, the time will come.”
Marcus didn’t need to shout for war first.
The gears had already started to turn.
No one could stop this flow now.
Marcus’s eyes suddenly looked at the distant south.
< 145. Raid 2 > End
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