Novels online

Chapter 1255

Although he was young, he had a firm mind and was not someone who could be easily persuaded. However, at this moment, he was a little hesitant.

At this time, a shout came from behind him, "Megakides, we should go back!"

It was the official of the Crete delegation, the leader of their archery team. Speaking of which, it was interesting. In the past, in the various games held in Greece, the participants basically went to the venue on their own. Very few city-states organized teams to participate. But this time, when Diónia sent out the invitation, it requested in the letter that each participating city-state and region must have an official to lead the athletes to form a delegation and participate as a group.

At the same time, Diónia would also make a medal table based on the number of awards won by each region and city-state delegation, which would be posted at the entrance and exit of each arena. At the end of the games, Diónia would give generous rewards to the top three regions and city-states with the total number of medals.

This was not just a matter of money, but also involved the honor of the city-state and region. Therefore, the enthusiasm of the Crete city-state officials to participate in the games was greatly aroused. These Crete nobles, who had never cared much about the affairs of Greece, signed up to join the delegation and go to Turín. Due to the large number of people signing up, a running competition was held to select the leading officials. The person who made this suggestion had a good reason: the Crete officials who would lead the team to Turín were the role models of the athletes, and of course, they had to be in good physical condition.

These selected officials could not perform their duties well at first. They only cared about themselves and did not take care of the athletes' daily food and daily life. When they arrived at the training ground, they even participated in the training themselves. Sometimes, they even had conflicts with the athletes. However, whether it was the training ground or the athletes' hotel, athletes and officials from other regions and city-states could be seen everywhere. Under the pressure, the Crete officials gradually completed their identity change and began to devote themselves to serving the athletes.

The leader who was shouting was also from Megakides's home country. As a noble, he didn't pay much attention to Megakides, who was born as a commoner. But now, he was willing to help Megakides and the other Crete archers on the training ground. This was already a very big change. Of course, Megakides would not be ungrateful. He returned the bow to the target reporting officer with some reluctance.

According to the rules of the sports meeting, for the sake of fairness, the sports meeting would provide bows and arrows during the competition, which was the set they used in training. The quality of the bows and arrows was obviously much better than Mecca's own bows and arrows. The more he used them, the more comfortable he was, and he wished he could take a set home. But he knew that a bow of high quality and exquisite workmanship like this was definitely not cheap. It was not something he could afford unless he could win the championship and obtain the generous prize.

"May the Hades bless you and let you get a good ranking in the competition!" The target reporting officer smiled and expressed his blessing to him.

"Thank you!" Megakides's heart warmed. Since he arrived in Turín, the Diónia people he met were friendly to him, which made him feel very close to them. He even had a good impression of the patron saint of the Kingdom of Diónia, Hades. So he replied, "May the Hades bless you for a lifetime of peace!"

When he returned to the Crete team, the leader, Flax, said impatiently, "We have to hurry back to the hotel! I just heard from the management here that the Turín City Hall will implement a curfew in the entire city from this evening to ensure a smooth start of tomorrow's sports meeting. To avoid trouble, we have to hurry back to the hotel! "

Under his urging, the Crete athletes quickly packed their bags, left the archery range, and hurried east.

Although the archery range was newly built to host the archery competition of this sports meeting, it did not cost as much money and time as the swimming pool and the racetrack. Because archery was an open-air competition, they only needed to build a wall around the archery range and place long wooden benches behind the athletes for the audience to sit and watch. It was built in the west of Turín, next to the Turín barracks. It was a bit remote from the city, but the roads nearby were bustling with traffic every day. Many people often entered the archery range to watch the training.

But when the Crete archery team set foot on the road back, they clearly felt that there were fewer pedestrians on the road, and after entering the outer city, they frequently encountered patrols, which delayed them a lot of time. When they returned to the athletes' hotel, the sky was already dark, and the hotel lobby was lit with candles.

Megakides, who was already sweating profusely, did not go to dinner immediately. Instead, they went to the hotel's bathing area. The athletes' hotel in the western outer city was built next to the La Mara Sevone Arena. It was composed of a total of four large six-story buildings, and in the middle of these buildings was the bathing area.

When they first checked in and entered the bathing area for the first time, they were confused by the tedious procedures, but now they had completely adapted to it and enjoyed it.

When Megakides came out of the bathing area, he felt refreshed and tired. Even the soreness in his arms had disappeared without a trace.

If only there was such a bathing place in Herakleon! Such a thought came to Megakides' mind, but then he thought about it again. If that was the case, there must be a lot of people going to bathe there, and the cost would not be low. It would not be free like here! Sigh, the people of Diónia are so lucky!

His envy lasted until they entered the restaurant.

There was a row of tables neatly placed on one side of the restaurant. On each table was a large, wide-mouthed clay pot filled with steaming food: stewed chicken, egg soup, roasted beef, fried fish, roasted lamb leg, haggis soup, honey bread, sweet oatmeal … There were even wine, beer, and fruit juice.

Every day, the hotel's dinner was so rich and delicious, and they could eat and drink at will without any restrictions. When the dishes in the clay pot were finished, the waiters in the restaurant would add more at any time.

Many civilian contestants like Megakides had never enjoyed such food and such treatment in their lives. When they walked into the restaurant for the first time and heard the waiter say that they could eat and drink at will for free, they thought they had heard wrong. It was not until they confirmed that it was true that some people began to eat and drink like crazy. As a result, their stomachs were bloated, and they had to urgently call a doctor for treatment.

Some contestants had guessed that this was a welcome banquet, so it was so special, and they would not be so generous in the future.

Who knew that every breakfast and dinner after that was the same (the athletes' restaurant did not provide lunch, but the athletes were allowed to take some breakfast out of the restaurant for lunch during training), which shocked all the contestants. They almost suspected that they had come to the Elysium that the people of Diónia often mentioned.

"Diónia is so powerful and rich! It must be a blessing to be a citizen of this kingdom! It's so lucky to be able to participate in this sports meeting! " After seeing the prosperity of the giant city of Turín and enjoying the various benefits that Turín provided to the athletes, the athletes recalled the bitterness they had experienced when they participated in other sports meetings and felt that the Diónia Games were more valuable, especially when they learned from the waiters in the athletes' hotel that the Turín City Hall did not deliberately do this to please them. In fact, the athletes who came to Turín to participate in the rugby and football finals every year also enjoyed the same treatment, so they were more certain that Diónia was a paradise for athletes.

Before the sports meeting was held, Diónia had captured the hearts of almost all the athletes. Everything that Turín had done was worth it, because it had achieved one of the purposes of the Devers' hosting of the sports meeting.

Athletes continued to enter the restaurant, and when Megakides came back with a wooden plate filled with the food he wanted to eat, the restaurant was almost full.

"Here, Megakides!" Someone waved to him.

Megakides hurried over and said, "Sirithaus, you're back early!"

Sirithaus was also a young nobleman from the city of Heraklion in Crete. He had signed up to participate in the running competition of the sports meeting. After more than 20 days of getting along, the two of them, who came from the same city, had become friends.

"I didn't train much today. I just wore the … shorts they provided. I tried to run a few times, and it felt okay. The starting, arm swinging, striding, and sprinting were not affected." As soon as Sirithaus finished speaking, another runner next to him immediately complained, "I feel very affected. When I run, the fabric rubs against my thighs, and it's very uncomfortable! The sports meeting has always been naked, but Diónia insisted on changing the tradition and making everyone wear this thing. This is blasphemy to the gods! "

Sirithaus glanced at him and said, "Since you are not satisfied with this sports meeting, you can withdraw from the competition."

The runner said, "The competition starts tomorrow. It's not good to withdraw at this time."

"Come on, I think you are just reluctant to give up the free food and comfortable service here." Cyrithais saw through his thoughts and said half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Dionia is now the overlord of the entire Greek world, much more powerful than Sparta in the past. Even Olympia and Delphi have no choice but to submit to it. Not to mention wearing shorts, I don't think any city-state would dare to openly oppose it even if they asked everyone to wear Bolton's attire during the competition.

And, think about it, Diónia allows women to watch the competition. It is said that the Princess and Princess of Diónia will be sitting in the audience during the competition ceremony tomorrow, so it is understandable that they want us to compete in shorts. "