After Ahméng left, Aesop lived a comfortable old age in Midulli. He was good friends with the famous sage Thales and often went to the temple square to chat with people. He was old and had nothing else to do, so he liked to tell stories. He has been to various parts of the Tianshu continent and has experienced too many things. He simply told a few stories about his experiences in his life, which was also quite exciting.

Many young people and children especially like to listen to Aesop telling stories. Gradually, Aesop, who tells stories in the temple square, became a landscape for Midulli. Aesop told people about his experiences and stories in various places. The protagonist of the story is not himself. Of course, he often mentions Ahméng when looking back on his experience. From Eju to Duke Plain, including the countries in the original Tianshu continent, Ahméng has left many legends.

A young man who walked out of the mountains eventually became a legend in the world. Such an experience made other young people in the world fascinated. People couldn't help but think of Aesop's former coachman, also known as Aesop, perhaps the name given by the old man, symbolizing his nostalgia for the past years. At this time, no one realized that the Aesop god had lived in Midulli.

Aesop's story unconsciously influenced many people, and some young people even began to worship Améng, which aroused the dissatisfaction of others, especially the priests of Midulli. When communicating with people in the temple square, they inevitably asked questions about gods and beliefs. Among the city-states of Heaton, the atmosphere of conversation is quite open.

Someone noticed that although Aesop was very rich, he had never taken the initiative to sacrifice to the gods in the temple, nor did he participate in the sacrifice ceremony of the city-state. Someone asked him: "Aesop, do you believe in the gods?" Aesop replied: "I have my God in my heart." Someone asked again: "Then why have you never offered sacrifices in the temple?" Aesop asked back: "After listening to my story, do you still understand where my God is?"

Of course, the smart man understood. Aesop did not directly say disrespectful words to the gods, but the god in his heart was not in the temple in the square. So some people deliberately alienated him, but some were still willing to listen to him tell stories. Aesop had excellent eloquence, the stories he told were both interesting and truthful, and his experiences seemed to be endless.

Finally one day, a young man walked out of the temple and came to Aesop. Aesop actually knew him. He had seen him in his shop, and he was a passerby who once pointed at the statue of a god to ask for a price. Améng once reminded Aesop that this person was Hermes who came to the world.

Hermes said to Aesop: "Old man, can I make a request to you?"

Aesop nodded with a smile and replied, "Young man, please tell me."

Hermes: "This is the Temple Square in Midulli. The patron saint of this city-state is Hermes. When others ask you whether you believe in gods, should you give Hermes enough respect?"

Aesop replied with a smile, "I did not answer that I do not believe in the existence of the gods of Hermes or Olympus. Young man, when I saw you, I believed that they existed. But the 'faith' that people asked about was not belief, but the true belief and follow in their hearts. It is precisely because in the square of the temple, under the eyes of the gods, I cannot deceive myself. I did not deny people's belief in Hermes, nor did I directly answer my belief, but it was already a respect for the gods."

Hermes stared at Iso and said, "Can't you agree to a request? When people ask you again, you answer that you believe in the gods. Although you have your god in your mind, can't you go to the temple to sacrifice to Hermes like others? Even if you don't contribute your property, you just attend the ceremony and rituals. In that case, you will be more popular."

Aesop did not directly answer Hermes' question, but told him a story about "The Wolf is Coming".

There was a child who grazed sheep on the mountain. He was bored and shouted that there were wolves. The adults at the foot of the mountain rushed up the mountain to beat the wolf but found that they were cheated. A few days later, the child shouted that there were wolves. People rushed up the mountain and found that they were cheated. A few days later, the wolf really came. The child shouted that there were wolves, but no one came up the mountain to save him.

The story was very short, and it was finished in a few words. Then Aesop looked at Hermes with a smile and asked, "Is the wolf here?"

Hermes walked back to the temple without saying a word, and there was no way to deal with Aesop. He actually asked Aesop to pretend to believe in him, but Aesop asked him what the meaning of such false belief and sacrifice? If everyone in the world would lose their true belief sooner or later, and the gods on the altar would no longer exist. Aesop's reason was very clear. Since Hermes was a god, he could no longer entangle with him.

After a while, one day Aesop told a group of young people in the square about the past when he founded the Salem city in the Duke Plain. The high priest of the Temple of Midulli came over. Everyone bowed and dispersed. Aesop also stood up and bowed and said, "Dignified lord, are you doing anything?"

The high priest said, "I heard the voice of the messengers of the gods, saying that you are the most eloquent person in the city of Midulli, why don't you use this talent to praise the gods? You have told so many stories, but I have never heard of your praise for the gods. The patron god of our city-state symbolizes the glory of the city-state. Why don't you tell more about his legend?"

Aesop spread his hands: "Sir, you know. I left here at a young age and returned to my hometown when I was old. I was talking about my experiences everywhere, but I have not heard too many legends of Hermes."

The high priest smiled happily and said, "It doesn't matter. You can tell so many wonderful legends with your mouth. Why not use Hermes and the names of the gods? This is just a small skill, and it is also the expectation of the gods."

Aesop also smiled and said, "Then I will tell you a story about the gods."

One day, Zeus, the father of the gods, had a sudden idea and wanted to choose the most beautiful bird in the world as the king of birds. The crow knew that it looked ugly, so he secretly picked up the most beautiful feathers falling by the water and inserted them into his body while the birds were washing. When Zeus came, the birds lined up to greet him, but found that the crow was the most beautiful. The birds were angry and took back their feathers, while the crow was still a crow.

After Aesop's story was finished, the high priest shook his head after hearing it, and turned around and walked into the temple without saying anything. Soon after, the city-state of Midur was conquered by Macedonia and was under the rule of the Macedonian Kingdom, but he still retained the original city-state temple and the citizen assembly to handle the internal affairs of the city-state.

Immediately afterwards, the annual Delphi Oracle Ceremony on the Heaton Peninsula was about to come. The Midulli City State attached great importance to this ceremony. The merchants paid a large amount of taxes as a gift to the Temple of Delphi, among which Aesop paid the most. It was not that Aesop believed in the Olympus gods, but because this was the law of the city state, merchants had to pay this tax. Now Aesop is the richest merchant in the city of Midulli.

The taxes used for offerings have been collected, and an envoy needs to be sent to Delphi to each temple. According to convention, the temple priests will recruit nobles and citizens to elect the envoys, and first offer sacrifices to the patron saints in the temple of this city. This year's sacrifice ceremony has an additional content. According to the laws of the Kingdom of Macedonia, we must first sacrifice to Zeus, the father of the gods, and then sacrifice to the patron saints of the city.

At this moment, Hermes descended the oracle and appointed Aesop, the most eloquent and eloquent person in the Miduli city, to Delphi, and the clever messenger decided which god the gold of the Miduli city was dedicated to and which temple, must be the god he thought was worthy of contribution.

Delphi is a holy land of the Olympus gods on earth. It has many temples of all sizes. In addition to the twelve main gods today, those ancient gods also have temples here. A long time ago, the most important temple here was the Temple of Themis, and now the main position is the Temple of Aboro, which is also the most magnificent among the Temple of Delphi.

In the near future, the Kingdom of Macedonia will build a more magnificent main temple in Delphi, breaking the historical convention and no longer worship a certain god alone, but mainly Zeus, the father of the gods, and the gods of Olympus accompanied the sacrifice.

This year's Delphi Oracle will still be issued by the Temple of Aboro. The gold brought by Aesop should naturally be the most dedicated to the Temple of Aboro. Other temples of all sizes must be more or less rain-filled and not missed to show respect for the gods. No one should offend. Because the priests of Delphi are in a sense a whole of interests, symbolizing the theocracy on the Heaton Peninsula. You cannot ignore other gods because you value one god, otherwise you will offend the entire Delphi priesthood group.

However, the status of gods on earth is different, and each city-state will inevitably be a little snobbish. Generally, sacrifices will be made to each temple, but the distribution will be determined based on the interests and needs of the city-state. A smart messenger knows how to play the greatest role in limited gifts. This time, an oracle appointed Aesop as the messenger and gave Aesop the right to make decisions independently.

Aesop led the Midulli City-state mission to Delphi with a large sum of gold. He stayed in Delphi for more than ten days, and every day he went to the gates of the temples to see the sacrifices and the priests' conduct, but he never gave the gold. Just the day before the ceremony, on the way to an ancient temple in the middle of the mountain, a rolling rock blocked half of the mountain road - it has been in disrepair.

The stone was very big, and people needed to walk around when they passed by, Aesop sat not far away and watched. After dusk, he finally stood up. At this time, a priestess came from the bottom of the mountain. The woman was very strong. After a long time of hard work, she moved the stone away and found gravel to fill the pit on the road. It was already dark. Aesop watched her walk into the Temple of Themis.

The next day, Aesop came to the Temple of Themis with a full plate of gold, and found the priestess and said, "This is my gift to the temple on behalf of the city of Midulli. It is enough to rebuild the mountain road to this place."

The priestess frowned and said, "A kind and generous person, you should first say that you will offer it to the gods."

Aesop smiled and said, "It is dedicated to the temple where the gods are, but the person who uses it is the priests in the temple."

The priestess said again: "But that road does not lead only to this temple."

Aesop placed the gold on the altar and saluted to the priestess, "But I only see you."

The next day, the Delphi Oracle Ceremony was officially held. As an envoy appointed by the city-state, Aesop also participated in the ceremony and performed sacrifices to the gods. The so-called sacrifice has a dual meaning, one is to ceremonies according to the ceremony, and the other is to offer gifts dedicated to the temple. Aesop only attended the ceremony and did not send gold.

It was the Delphi Oracle this year. Aboro descended the oracle and claimed that among the messengers of various city-states, some people blasphemed and offended the gods and would be punished by the gods. The priests of Delphi will send envoys to find the man and make formal accusations against him. When the priests announced the news, there was an uproar in the ceremony, and people were talking about who was the messenger who was going to be punished by the blasphemy?

After the ceremony, Aesop set off to return to Midulli. The full plate of gold he offered to the priestess was only a small part of the offering, and most of the other gold was taken back intact. This action naturally angered the priests of Delphi. The entourage in the mission was also very uneasy, but the oracle gave Aesop the power to decide, so they were not easy to interfere.

The gold dedicated to the gods was brought back to the city-state, which had never happened in Midulli in history. People were worried after hearing the news. Aesop did so and offended the gods and the priests of the holy land Delphi. If they did, they would cause disaster to the city-state. Aesop was questioned by the noble parliament and the representatives of the citizens in the city-state temple, asking him to explain his behavior.

Aesop explained: "I did not violate the oracle. It was in this temple that the oracle gave me the power to make a choice to offer gold to the gods and temples I thought were worthy of offering. I had long answered that I had my god, and here I did not want to say his name. I was also loyal to my duty. As the messenger of Midulli, I found only a priest who really needed this sacrifice. As for the remaining gold, I brought it back to the city-state. It was raised by the merchants of Midulli. Since there was no offering, it should be returned to the merchants."

People were in a state of excitement, and even those merchants who took out gold found that the gold they had given back were returned by Aesop, they felt panic and angry. In their opinion, this was equivalent to losing the opportunity to pray to the gods, or the gods refused their prayers. All this was caused by Aesop. They cursed Aesop and filed a complaint in the city-state court, demanding severe punishment for Aesop!

Some bystanders are smart enough to think that Aesop brought back gold because of greed and self-sight. The merchants returned gold to the merchants to win people's hearts, because the one who paid the most among these merchants was Aesop himself.

Aesop defended, "You want to accuse me because of the name of faith, but you don't know the price you need to pay to protect your faith. The oracle here gives me the right to make a choice, and the choice I make is in line with my belief, and your accusation is the price I pay. The oracle made this arrangement, but you are the ones who accused me."

Just then, the messenger sent by the holy land Delphi came to Midulli. He saw this scene and determined that the blasphemy person pointed out in the Delphi oracle was Aesop, and he filed a complaint against him in public. In this case, no matter how much Aesop defended it, it was useless. He was sent to the city-state court for trial.

The trial has its own trial procedure. The messenger from Delphi was named Antonio. The oracle of Delphi did not name Aesop. Antonio wanted to accuse him and prove to the world that Aesop was that person.

So Antonio investigated Aesop's many past events in Midulli and made formal accusations against him - promoting new gods, poisoning and corruption of the younger generation.

If this crime is convicted, combined with the performance of Isso Delphi Ceremony, then it is certain that Aesop will become the person who blasphemed and offended the gods in the oracle. The judge who presided over the trial was Thales' friend, who allowed Aesop to defend himself before making the judgment.

Aesop did not explain what he did, but told another story in court about a wolf and a sheep. The wolf was upstream and the sheep was downstream. They drank water in the same river, but the wolf accused the sheep of dirtying the water it drank. No matter how the sheep explained, the wolf still ate the sheep. Because its purpose was not to discuss with the sheep who had dirtyed whose water, but to eat the sheep.

Some people were puzzled, some were angry by Aesop's attitude and cursed him for contempt of court. However, the judge understood what Aesop meant and frowned and asked, "Are you no longer defending yourself?"

Aesop nodded and said, "I have made a defense and have not violated the oracle."

The judge said with some regret: "You did not violate the oracle of the patron saint. The patron saint gave you the power to make you choose, and you made your own choice. But your choice is angry with people and needs to pay a price. Not violating that oracle does not mean that you are innocent, I will convict you."

Thales suggested in public: "According to the city-state law, Aesop can choose to apologize to the gods and pay a sum of money to the city-state to atone for his sins. His behavior did not violate the substantial interests of the people here. If there is any, please stand up, otherwise the court should give Aesop a chance to choose."

The judge asked, "The merchants of Midulli, Aesop brought back the gold you paid, but did not greed for yourself, nor did he deprive you of the right to sacrifice to the gods. The messenger of Delphi is here, and you can give your gold to this messenger and bring it back to the holy land. If anyone thinks what I say is wrong, you can stand up."

No one stood up, and the judge said to Iso, "I will give you a choice, and you can give some money to the temple to atone for the sins."

Aesop smiled: "Okay, I'll give out thirty silver coins."

Everyone was stunned. Aesop, the richest businessman in Midulli City, actually paid only thirty silver coins in order to atone for his sins! The judge frowned and asked, "Why are there only so much money?"
Chapter completed!