Chapter 21: The Nile’s Secret

The scent of salt and papyrus hung thick over Alexandria's harbor as Lucius's ship docked beneath the shadow of the great Lighthouse. The city hummed with a different energy than Rome—less brutal, more calculating. Here, even the seagulls seemed to be taking notes.

The system's environmental scan flickered:

[Alexandria Status:

- Greek Fire Production: Confirmed (eastern docks)

- Library Influence: 89% match-fixing accuracy

- Local Football Culture:

- Aquatic variants (played in flooded courtyards)

- Slave teams branded with club insignia

Threat Level: High (intellectual brutality)]

Nikias gagged as a vendor passed with a tray of roasted pigeon. "I miss Roman sausages."

Vulso adjusted his disguise—a philosopher's robe that made him look like a bear in a toga. "Where do we start?"

Lucius nodded toward a nearby wall plastered with playbills. "There."

The notice was a masterpiece of bureaucratic menace:

"NILE LEAGUE – SEMIFINALS

Slave Team 'Delta' vs. Scholar's Select

Special Rules: Inverted Goals (score in own net to win)

WARNING: Losing team relegated to quarry labor"

The system translated the madness:

[Alexandrian Football Logic:

- Inverted Matches:

- Encourages "artistic own-goals"

- Higher betting complexity

- 40% increased mortality rate

Key Figure:

- Head Scholar Ptolemaios (statistical genius, 98% prediction rate)]

A hand tugged Lucius's sleeve. Claudia, her lion's mane streak now gold as the Lighthouse beacon, hissed, "They're using Greek fire to keep the underwater pitches lit. The slaves call it 'the burning Nile.'"

The Vestal acolyte, disguised as a musician, plucked a dissonant chord on her lyre. "We need to see a match."

The stadium was a flooded marble courtyard beneath the Library's annex. Spectators perched on dry ledges as players floundered in chest-deep water, their limbs sheened with phosphorescent algae.

The ball?

A waterlogged leather sphere that sank.

"By Hermes' crooked staff," Nikias whispered. "They're playing sinking ball."

The match defied all logic:

- Delta Team (slaves) deliberately scored on themselves to avoid quarry labor.

- Scholar's Select (patricians) prevented goals to humiliate them further.

- The "winning" own-goal sparked zero cheers—just scholars noting odds on wax tablets.

The system's analysis was furious:

[Corruption Index:

- Moral Bankruptcy: 100%

- Profit Margin: 78%

- Lucius's Rising Fury: Detected]

Then—the reveal.

Ptolemaios himself descended to the pitch, his silver-threaded robe trailing in the water. "Observe the predictive model!" He pointed to a massive abacus manned by slaves. "We've calculated Delta's failure to the tenth decimal!"

The abacus clicked. The crowd murmured bets.

A Delta player—a Numidian with scarred shoulders—locked eyes with Lucius. His silent scream was clear: Help us.

They found the bear in the Library's zoological wing.

It had:

- Eaten three rare parrot species

- Toppled a statue of Athena

- Built a "nest" from stolen scrolls

The system's behavioral update was perplexed:

[Subject: Ursus Footballus

Status:

- Located Greek fire stores (barrel marks on muzzle)

- Befriended a mongoose

- Currently reading? (unconfirmed)]

Claudia approached cautiously. The bear huffed, dropping a half-chewed scroll at her feet.

The text was damning: Ptolemaios's Treatise on Match Rigging, complete with slave-branding diagrams.

"Proof," Claudia breathed.

Ptolemaios received them in a chamber of whirring automata and ticking water clocks.

"Ah! The Roman football man." His smile was a scalpel's gleam. "Come to learn real tactics?"

Lucius tossed the bear's scroll onto his desk. "We've come to end your league."

The scholar laughed, adjusting a brass astrolabe. "You can't. The numbers favor us." He tapped a complex equation. "This predicts every pass, every feint—"

"Except one."

The Vestal acolyte stepped forward, singing a single, piercing note.

The automata sputtered. The water clocks reversed.

Ptolemaios paled. "You can't—"

"Music breaks math," she said sweetly.

The system crowed:

[Vestal Hack:

- Predictive models: Disrupted

- Scholar's confidence: Shattered

- Slave teams: Suddenly unpredictable]

Lucius challenged Ptolemaios to one final game:

- Location: The burning Nile pitch

- Teams:FC Roma vs. Scholar's Select

- Stakes: If Roma wins, the slaves go free

The scholar smirked. "And if we win?"

"You get him." Lucius pointed to the bear, now napping atop a bookcase.

Ptolemaios, underestimating the threat, agreed.

The Match:

- First Half: The scholars' predictions failed utterly—their players kept passing to phantom formations. (Score: 3-0 Roma)

- Halftime: Ptolemaios ordered the pitch set ablaze with Greek fire.

- Second Half:FC Roma played through waist-high flames, Vulso scoring the decider by heading a burning ball.

Final score: 5-4.

As the scholar raged, the Delta Team's Numidian captain snapped his own chains on the victory podium.

Ptolemaios tried to flee—straight into the bear's embrace.

The beast didn't maul him.

It hugged him.

Then sat on him.

The system approved:

[Punishment Method:

- Crushed dignity: 100%

- Physical harm: 0%

- Psychological trauma: Eternal]

Alexandria burned—but not how anyone expected.

- Slave Teams:Freed and invited to join a new Nile Football League.

- Greek Fire: Seized by Claudia's lions (who liked chasing the glow).

- The Bear: Appointed honorary Librarian for "scroll reorganization."

As Lucius's ship departed, the Numidian ex-slave tossed him a parting gift—a tiny glass vial of Library ink.

"For your tactics," he said, grinning.

The system identified it:

[Substance:

- Permanent

- Waterproof

- Possible hallucinogenic properties

Suggested Use:

- Write new rules

- Or confuse Decimus]

Somewhere ahead, Rome waited.