Leading 30 cavalrymen with crossbows, Septimus left the city of Rome.
Near the city of Rome, the nobles used to practice hunting in nearby natural areas such as the Alban Hills, the Sabine Hills, and sectors of the Apennine Mountains.
Private hunts became an activity that demonstrated status, discipline, and social power within Roman high society.
Septimus rode his horse, leading his guards toward the Alban Hills.
At 200 meters from the group, suddenly a young man appeared riding a horse at full speed.
Behind the young man there was a dozen Roman legionaries chasing him.
Septimus's guards stopped, four clone soldiers aimed their crossbows at the young man's horse.
The young man, upon observing the group of men in front of him, resigned himself and slowly stopped his horse, halting in front of the group.
The dozen Roman legionaries also stopped, but their expressions upon seeing Septimus's group showed caution and nervousness.
The centurion who led the group of Roman legionaries gathered his courage and slowly approached Septimus's group.
"We are soldiers of Sulla and we are pursuing an enemy of the state," shouted the centurion with a strong voice to Septimus's group.
Septimus raised his arm, making a gesture with his hand, and a clone soldier wearing centurion armor stepped forward slowly.
"Leave," shouted the clone centurion with a serious expression.
The Roman centurion and the legionaries he led looked at each other, seeing the hesitation on their companions' faces.
During the conquest of the city of Rome, Septimus's legionaries and Sulla's legionaries had small clashes over loot, causing losses to Sulla's Roman legions.
The Roman centurion did not trust in being able to defeat the legionaries in black armor in front of him.
The numerical advantage was on the side of the black-armored legionaries, and the Roman centurion knew the individual military skill of the soldiers of the clone army.
The group of Roman legionaries did not know what to do; capturing an enemy of the state could be exchanged for a generous reward from Sulla, but facing the clone army while outnumbered was almost suicide.
Septimus, upon observing the wavering of the Roman legionaries, decided to help them make a decision.
A crossbow bolt was suddenly fired and pierced the neck of the Roman centurion mounted on horseback.
The Roman centurion opened his eyes in surprise as he felt his throat pierced by the bolt and blood gush out.
With a dull sound, the corpse of the Roman centurion fell from the horse's back.
The Roman legionaries were shocked by the sudden change and quickly turned around, fleeing in panic without hesitation.
It was suicide to face the black-armored legionaries while outnumbered, and money was worth nothing if your life was taken; the Roman legionaries no longer hesitated and fled, riding their horses at full speed.
Septimus and the clone soldiers watched coldly from their horses as the legionaries fled and the Roman centurion bled out with an expression of pain on his face.
The young man who was at the front of the group wanted to try to escape by taking advantage of the Roman legionaries' flight, but four soldiers in black armor were aiming at him with their crossbows.
Septimus observed the young man mounted on horseback.
The clone spies had confirmed the identity of the young man.
Caesar looked somewhat disheveled, but even so he tried to maintain the composure of a noble.
His short, slightly curly hair, and his bright and intelligent eyes gave him an air of wisdom.
Upon observing this lifelong dictator who would become famous in later generations, Septimus nodded to himself. He had a handsome appearance, but he was probably a bit worse than him.
Septimus had planned a chance encounter with Caesar to satisfy his curiosity about meeting Julius Caesar, the most legendary figure in Roman history.
The young Julius Caesar was 18 years old, and because he could not accept Sulla's demands and divorce his wife Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna, he was declared on the list of enemies of the state.
On the other hand, Julius Caesar looked with fear at Septimus and his soldiers, but slowly gathered courage and got off his horse while humbly making a gesture of greeting to Septimus.
"Hail."
"I deeply thank you for helping me and saving my life; my family is a family of great merchants and they will pay you a generous reward," said the young Julius Caesar with a humble expression.
The young Julius Caesar hoped to use money to save his life, taking advantage of the greed of the captain of the soldiers in black armor.
Septimus watched with amusement the young man who was trying to deceive him.
"A simple merchant is not worth my effort, soldiers, cut off his head," replied Septimus with a mocking expression to the young Julius Caesar.
Two clone soldiers got off their horses and slowly approached the young Julius Caesar.
The young Julius Caesar was terrified upon hearing Septimus's words, and all the ideas he had thought of to deceive Septimus were forgotten.
The two clone soldiers grabbed the young Julius Caesar by both arms while they slowly took him into the forest to behead him.
Upon realizing the terrible situation, the young Julius Caesar began to struggle, and his expression became nervous.
"My name is Gaius Julius Caesar of the Julia family, I beg you to spare my life and my family will reward you," said the young Julius Caesar with a nervous expression while struggling with the two clone soldiers.
Septimus stopped the two clone soldiers with a gesture of his hand and pretended to think while observing the young man.
The young Julius Caesar did not dare to make a sound out of fear of being suddenly killed.
The reputation of the black-armored army was very well known throughout Rome, and many nobles were tortured for no reason at all; the young Julius Caesar did not wish to die, but he also did not want to be cruelly tortured.
"You are Cinna's son-in-law," said Septimus with an expressionless face.
The expression of the young Julius Caesar quickly turned pale; he truly feared being tortured without any possibility of being saved by his family, and being Cinna's son-in-law meant giving a perfect excuse to be tortured by the black-armored army.
"I heard that Sulla asked you to divorce your wife and you refused," said Septimus suddenly with a calm expression.
The young Julius Caesar let go of his unnecessary thoughts and nodded quickly upon hearing Septimus's words and feeling that his life did not seem to be in danger for the moment.
"I am Septimus Novius, the impaler of heads," said Septimus, maintaining his calm expression while observing the various changes of mood on the young Julius Caesar's face.
The name of Septimus was notorious and at the same time famous among the Roman high class.
The expression of the young Julius Caesar changed upon hearing the name of Septimus.
"Get on your horse, he will escort you to your residence," said Septimus while making a gesture to the young Julius Caesar.
Every movement and expression of the young Julius Caesar were observed by Septimus.
The first instinct of the young Julius Caesar when he found himself cornered was to assign a great monetary value to his life.
And being willing to pay a considerable sum for his life was, in fact, typical of Caesar's style.
Historical records recount that once, while Julius Caesar was traveling to Rhodes, he was captured by a group of pirates. The pirates demanded a ransom of 20 talents (one talent = 6000 denarii).
Caesar burst out laughing, thinking that the pirates underestimated him, and he proactively offered to increase the ransom to 50 talents.
Later, his followers gathered sufficient funds, and Caesar's first act after his release was to recruit men and then eliminate the pirates.