I Rule Rome with a God-Tier AI-Chapter 140: The Political Vultures

The air in the Curia Hostilia, the ancient heart of the Roman Senate, was a thick, cloying mixture of fear and opportunity. The news from the north had been carefully managed by the palace, but rumor, that most potent of Roman currencies, had filled in the blanks with blood and fire. The official gazette spoke of a victory, but the senators, men who had spent their lives navigating the treacherous currents of power, could smell chaos. They could smell weakness. And where there was weakness, there were vultures waiting to descend.

Lucilla, sister of the Emperor, stood before them, a master of the moment. She was a vision of somber strength, her dark purple stola marking her as a woman in mourning for the fallen state of the Republic. Her face was a mask of grave concern, but her eyes held a sharp, predatory glint. She held a copy of the official report from the palace, the one Alex had been forced to release—a vague, sanitized announcement of a "successful action against hostile barbarian raiders" in Noricum.

She used it not as a shield for her brother, but as a weapon against him.

"Fathers of the Senate," she began, her voice resonating with a perfect pitch of sorrow and strength. "We must all praise the valor of the brave soldiers of the Devota. In the face of a savage enemy, they stood firm. They fought. And they were victorious!"

She paused, allowing a murmur of patriotic agreement to swell and then recede.

"But," she continued, the single word cutting through the self-congratulatory mood, "we must also ask the hard questions. We must ask why. Why was such a small force, a single cohort on a supposed peacekeeping mission, forced to engage in such a desperate, pitched battle deep in hostile territory? It speaks to a flawed strategy, Fathers! A failure of intelligence that put our brave men in unnecessary peril!"

She was a masterful politician. She praised the soldiers while damning the commander. She celebrated the tactical victory while exposing the strategic blunder. She didn't have to invent a conspiracy; she simply pointed out the inconsistencies in Alex's own narrative, letting the senators' inherent suspicion do the rest.

As if on cue, an allied senator, the elderly but respected Lucius Piso, a man whose family's crippling debts Lucilla had quietly erased, rose to his feet. He leaned heavily on a carved ivory cane, his expression one of profound civic worry. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"The words of the noble Lucilla ring with truth!" he declared, his voice quavering with practiced outrage. "The situation in the north is clearly more volatile, more dangerous, than the Emperor, in his distant palace, has been led to believe! The provincial militias are slaughtered, the Emperor's own commission is now engaged in brutal warfare... this is not stability! This is chaos!"

He pointed a trembling finger towards the high, vaulted ceiling. "We cannot govern a crisis of this magnitude through couriers and decrees! We cannot command a war from a study! We need a strong, on-site authority to stabilize the entire region before this fire spreads to Pannonia and beyond!"

He then invoked a name, a power so ancient and revered it sent a hush through the chamber. "In times of great peril, when the very health of the Republic is at stake, our ancestors gave us a tool. A final resort. I move that we pass a Senatus Consultum Ultimum—a Final Decree of the Senate—charging a trusted, capable individual with the full authority of this body to see that the Republic comes to no harm!"

Before the debate could begin, the doors to the Curia swung open, and Senator Servius Rufus entered, his face grim, his toga stained with the dust of the road. He had returned to Rome only that morning with the battered survivors of the Urban Cohort, and had come straight to the Senate House.

"Fathers!" Rufus's voice was firm, cutting through the rising tide of alarmism. "I urge caution. I was there. I saw the aftermath of the first massacre. The enemy we face in those mountains is... unusual. Their methods are not those of common raiders. We need patience. We need intelligence. A blunt application of force will only worsen the situation."

But his words were lost. The senators saw him not as a source of wisdom, but as the face of failure. He was the man who had been in command when the crisis began. His call for caution sounded like an excuse for his own inability to act decisively. The mood in the room was for blood, for action, for a strong hand to restore order. The political vultures were circling, and they had found their prey.

The vote was called. It was not even close. The decree was passed by an overwhelming majority. The Senate had seized the initiative, wrestling control of a frontier province away from the Emperor. Now, only one question remained: who would wield this immense power?

It was Lucius Piso who rose again. "Who among us has the strength, the popular support, and the proven administrative skill to handle such a task? Who has shown unwavering dedication to the people and traditions of Rome, even as new, strange forces rise? I say there is only one choice. The one who first warned us of this danger. The one who commands the loyalty of the Legio I Urbana, the very defenders of our city. I nominate the Emperor's own sister, the noble Lucilla!"

The acclamation was immediate and thunderous. Lucilla had played her game perfectly. She had manufactured the crisis, fanned the flames of fear, and positioned herself as the only possible solution.

She accepted the honor with a display of feigned humility that was breathtaking in its audacity. She lowered her head, a hand to her heart, as if the weight of this new responsibility was a terrible, unwanted burden.

"I am but a woman," she said softly, her voice carrying to every corner of the silent hall. "But I am a Roman woman. And I will not shirk my duty. I accept this charge. I will not fail you."

She straightened up, her expression shifting from humble servant to resolute commander-in-chief. She gave her first order as proconsul, her voice ringing with cold, hard authority.

"The Legio I Urbana will march north at once, at full strength. We will not be a commission. We will be an army."

Her stated goal was to reinforce the province, secure the borders, and fight the so-called barbarians. But every senator in that room, and none more so than Lucilla herself, knew her unstated, far more dangerous purpose. She was marching her legion directly into the Devota's area of operations. She was going to investigate their actions, re-establish "proper" Roman military discipline, and bring the Emperor's fanatical private army to heel.

She was intentionally setting two Roman legions on a collision course, far from the eyes of the Senate, far from the control of her brother. She had created a legitimate, alternative power base within the Empire, and her first act was to challenge the legitimacy of his. The civil war Maximus feared was no longer a distant possibility. Lucilla was marching to make it a reality.