"Even so, it is too dangerous for me to inform His Majesty about the arrival of the Roman army," the noblewoman said with a gloomy expression.
"We have no time. Septimus's Roman army could arrive at any moment. Once they surround the city, no one will be able to escape," the middle-aged man replied while frowning.
The noblewoman left without giving the middle-aged man an answer.
Watching the noblewoman leave, the middle-aged man felt a wave of bitterness and resentment.
The noblewoman was a concubine beloved by Tigranes and the only person with any possibility of persuading him and informing him about the arrival of the Roman army.
Unfortunately, the noblewoman had no intention of informing the king.
After an hour.
The middle-aged man arrived at Tigranes's palace. As he was a trusted person of Tigranes, he was able to enter the palace without any problems after being announced.
Tigranes was dressed in a purple robe, and several ministers were watching a group of young Arab women performing an elegant dance.
Tigranes was extremely pleased to see the middle-aged man arrive.
"Miser Mazanis, what do you think of the dance of these Arab girls?" Tigranes asked with a loud laugh.
The middle-aged man let out a bitter laugh. When had the former King of Kings become like this, without even realizing that the enemy had invaded his homeland?
"Your Majesty, I have important military information to report to you," Miser Mazanis said with a serious expression.
Tigranes's face darkened; he was truly disappointed.
The expressions of the ministers also changed slightly; Miser was truly playing with fire.
Tigranes had ordered that spy executed just yesterday, and now someone so bold was already coming forward.
"Speak," Tigranes said with a gloomy expression.
"Septimus has crossed the Taurus Mountains with his army and could arrive here at any moment. I hope Your Majesty will immediately send troops to resist them," Miser said with a sincere expression.
"Septimus's army? Someone must have lied to you," Tigranes replied mockingly.
Tigranes was the King of Kings and had destroyed countless kingdoms, and countless people trembled just by hearing his name.
He did not believe that the Romans had the courage to challenge him.
If Miser had not been a favored official of the kingdom, he would have ordered his execution a long time ago.
"Every word I have said is true, and there is not a single falsehood in them," Miser said with an expression of willingness to sacrifice himself.
"Very well, since that is the case, I will give you ten thousand soldiers. Go and capture Septimus, or I will punish you," Tigranes replied coldly.
Miser Mazanis frowned upon hearing Tigranes's words.
Septimus's army probably numbered more than 100,000 men, and giving him 10,000 soldiers was practically condemning him to death.
But upon seeing the hostile look in Tigranes's eyes, Miser knew that he was truly angry.
Although Miser knew that the 10,000 soldiers would have no chance when facing the Roman army, he still had to do it.
Tigranes had an irritable temperament and would not tolerate the slightest disobedience.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will go immediately." After saying this, Miser Mazanis left the place with his head lowered.
The officials in the hall looked at Miser with pity.
Everyone understood that Miser was telling the truth, but the king was simply blinded by his own arrogance.
"Come on, ignore him, let us continue watching the dance," Tigranes said with loud laughter while ignoring Miser.
The officials smiled and watched the dance.
After leaving the palace, Miser Mazanis's face was pale.
Since His Majesty does not believe that Septimus's army has arrived, let us use war to convince him.
---
At the foot of the Taurus Mountains, more than thirty Galatian horsemen were scouting the road ahead of the main army.
They represented only a small part of the scouts. These were tasks in which the Numidian cavalry was the best, but because their skin color was too conspicuous, Septimus had the Galatian cavalry take over the work.
A captain of the Roman clone cavalry led them as they galloped along the road, where the dense vegetation made enemy ambushes easier, so they explored very carefully.
At that precise moment, they saw a large amount of smoke and dust appearing in front of them.
The clone cavalry captain immediately ordered his troops to stop, looked around, spotted a small nearby hill, and quickly led his men toward the hill.
"Captain, look!" said a Galatian cavalryman while pointing in a direction.
In the distance, a huge cloud of dust rose; it was dust that could only be caused by the passage of a large army.
In ancient times, some experienced veteran soldiers could approximately calculate the number of enemies by observing smoke and dust, and this Galatian cavalryman possessed that ability.
"Take ten men and inform the general that around ten thousand enemy soldiers are approaching the camp, and that there is a high probability that a large number of them are cavalry. I will take another group to scout the area," the clone captain calmly said to the Galatian horseman.
Reporting was meaningless with the clones' ability, but the clone captain had to put on an act in front of his subordinates.
"Yes, captain."
After saying a few words, the Galatian horseman left accompanied by ten horsemen.
On the other hand, Septimus learned of the arrival of an enemy army.
In fact, Septimus was perplexed. He had almost led his men to the enemy capital, so why had the enemy sent so few people?
Wasn't that sending 10,000 people to certain death?
Was it a trap?
As a precaution, Septimus summoned his entire army and mobilized the allied troops in a great deployment.
In this way, even if there was an ambush, he could attack or defend himself.
As Miser Mazanis led his army forward, he suddenly felt a sense of uneasiness.
It was a battle instinct developed over extensive combat, and that instinct had saved his life on many occasions.
"Stop advancing," Miser said with a serious expression.
Upon receiving the order, the entire army slowly halted its advance.