“Master should've at least co and look at our little Eunice, right?” Azune bent down and whispered to the baby in the small wooden wagon.
But when Eunice, who had remained quiet, saw soone she knew approach her, she imdiately gave a cry as she waved her arms and legs around, kicking away the thick woollen blanket covering her body.
“Mada, even little Eunice is protesting!” Azune jokingly said as she tucked her in. She only dared to speak in this way because it is in Davos' residence, where it treats its servants with kindness, and because Azune was Cheiristoya's trusted follower.
Cheiristoya looked at her daughter with her gentle eyes, seemingly rembering sothing. Then she said with a soft sigh, “Little Cro also didn't see his father when he was born either. Who told Theonia to be always on war…”
As the three lants, a cry ca from the front courtyard.
‘It's little Cro!’ Agnes and Azune had their expression changed, with Azune hurriedly saying, “I'll go and take a look.”
“There is no need. Heni and Cynthia are here, so there is nothing to be worried about.” As the mother, Cheiristoya is much calr than Agnes and Azune.
As the war expanded, Theonia had to continuously send young and strong n to the frontline, causing a lot of institutions in the whole Thurii to stop running because of the lack of manpower. It even included the schools, where the guards and instructors joined the new army's legion, beca sailors or joined the transport team. Although a specific Theonian law does not require the teachers to participate in a war in order to protect highly qualified personnel, they still went to the city hall where they were needed to contribute to the war, like doing statistics in the Ministry of Military or a clerk of the logistics…
As a result, the school's lesson ca to a halt. Moreover, without the protection of the guards and instructors, they could not guarantee the student's safety, resulting in Ansitanos declaring that the school was temporarily closed.
And for safety reasons, Cynthia, Adoris and little Cro were ordered not to go out, so when these little guys at ho saw that their big brother Henipolis, who they did not see for a long ti, had returned, they excitedly pestered him to play with them.
Thus the teenage Henipolis had to take them on the sports ground in the front courtyard and play catch. (because the children were already older and energetic, Davos simply removed the pool in the front yard and turned it into a small sports ground so that the children could play happily and exercise simultaneously.)
Naturally, little Cro, who was just over four, was excited to run around after his brother and sister, causing him to trip and fall to the ground and start to cry.
Adoris, who was in the middle of the ga, impatiently said, “It didn’t even bleed, so why are you crying?!”
This caused Cynthia to glare at him, which imdiately stopped Adoris from talking as he was always afraid of his own sister, who was only two years older than him.
Cynthia rushed over, picked up the crying little Cro, gently patted the dust off him and said softly, “Little Cro, aren't you a brave soldier? Soldiers do not cry.”
Little Cro, who often learned from Adoris to beco a brave soldier, heard this; he imdiately wiped his face with his small hands and said, “I didn't cry!”
“Alright, let's take a break,” Henipolis gasped as he took a seat. Unlike the citizens of Theonia, who often undertook military training, Henipolis spent most of his ti in the Academia reading books and practising writing. Thus he, who already lack exercise, quickly run out of energy after running back and forth after these energetic kids, “Instead, I'll tell you a story.”
“What story?” Adoris asked with imdiate interest. Henipolis was a good storyteller, and he often told it to the children.
“The story of Hades' wife, the goddess Persephone and the sea monster, which I collected on my last trip to Sicily, so you certainly have not heard of it.”
“I want to hear it!” Adoris imdiately shouted.
“ too!” Little Cro shouted much louder.
Cynthia didn’t even say a word as she sat down next to Henipolis.
When Aristias entered Davos' residence, he was just in ti to see three children sitting around Henipolis, listening attentively to his vivid storytelling.
Seeing this heartwarming sight, Aristias sighed as he rembered the news of “Alobamus' Rebellion”…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The early morning of the 6th of December was bright and clear, with cloudless skies and a light breeze.
After Davos assembled all the soldiers of the first and second legions at the camp, he led them to the bottom of the hill of the Temple of Hades, where a considerable number of the crowd had already gathered, and the statesn of the Senate.
As Davos took the lead up the hill, the Senate and the two legatus followed him.
Plesinas, the grand priest, and a group of n had long waited in front of the temple. They then solemnly entered the ‘underworld' hall of the Temple of Hades at Davos’ lead.
Davos felt a sense of affinity as he looked at the statue of Hades, who was holding a bident with his black hair and furious gaze. From his rebirth to now, he had ford an inseparable bond with Hades that they shared sorrow and joy. After all, as long as Theonia existed, the Davos royal family would be bound to him as his descendant, making offerings to get his blessings…
With this in mind, Davos knelt with reverence and bowed as he loudly said, “O the just and selfless Hades, your kingdom on earth – Theonia, is surrounded by war and danger. And this descendant of yours would lead your army into a decisive battle against the Syracusans, hoping to repay your blessing with a great victory!”
With that, Davos stood up, lit the oil lamp and placed it on the altar directly under the statue.
Then Plesinas took a small black calf that was specially selected from the many Lucanian cattle. It seed to know its fate as it did not even cry or jump when Davos held it down with his left hand.
Davos drew out his dagger, and after stroking the calf's back and neck, he ruthlessly stabbed it with the dagger, causing the calf to wail and fall to the ground.
The priests quickly lifted it onto the altar, cut open its abdon and removed its entrail to inspect it. As it is a young and healthy calf, how could its entrail have any diseases? Therefore, after looking at it over carefully, the priest doing the divining exclaid, “An auspicious on! It is an auspicious on!!!”
Everyone looked relieved and joyful as they sang the ode of Hades and watched Plesinas solemnly offer the fresh blood in front of the statue…
Besides the Prison of the Wicked, Davos and the two legatus paid homage to the Hall of Valor…
“Clang!…Clang!…” as nine long and grand bell sounds rang throughout the hill, the people and the soldiers under the mountain beca excited.
“It's an auspicious on! It's an auspicious on!!…” By the ti Davos and his party ca down the hill, it had beco a sea of joy as if they were victorious.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
While Davos led the first and second legions towards the military port, Seclian was doing pre-war mobilisation to the nearly 30,000 sailors, “Brothers, you have trained so hard for so long, and today you will finally go to war with the enemy. Yesterday, Lord Da…His Majesty invited to discuss the naval battle with the military officers. However, they went so far as to dissuade His Majesty from engaging the Syracusans at sea, saying that ‘our navy has only just been ford and is inexperienced, so it is not a match for the Syracusans.’ I argued, but they reprimanded instead by saying that ‘Our navy has no rit and has no qualification to speak to them…’”
When everyone beca infuriated, Seclian took the opportunity to shout, “Fortunately, the wise king Davos said, ‘I trust the sailors of Theonia to fight as valiantly as the soldiers and bring victory to Theonia!’ That's why we should not fail his majesty. Brothers, let's show those proud soldiers that we are equally heroes in the hearts of the people with a glorious victory! And with this victory, we will be able to obtain our citizenship faster, just like the legionaries(a large part of the sailors are freen)! And get our allotted land sooner! Brothers, for the sake of our future, let's do our best and defeat the Syracusan Navy!!!”
“Defeat the Syracusan Navy!!!”
“Victory to the Theonian Navy!!!”
“Victory for His Majesty, KING DAVOS!!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The sailors, whose blood was boiling at Seclian's speech, raised their arms and roared, causing the doors of the people who had been inford and were making their way to the shore to look at them. And even Davos, who was on his way, heard their shouts, causing him to smile, “The morale of the navy is sky-high!”
Although he and Seclian quarrelled yesterday, Amintas had put down those minor disputes before the battle started, so he happily said, “That's good as this would increase our chance of winning.”
“Now I command you all to-” Seclian looked around at all the sailors, took a deep breath and shouted, “Push the ships into the water!!!”
The sailors imdiately ran back to the dock where they stored the warships.
They would store the warships that were not used regularly in the dry docks in order to regularly expose them to the sun, making it impossible for the maggots, which were damaging to the ships, to survive. Furthermore, they would replace the decaying planks to ensure their longevity. And unlike the rchants’ ports, Thurii's military port did not have any piers, but instead, the sailors would tow the ships along the slope of the causeway into the dry docks for storage after the ships entered the port.
Since they hastily built the military port in Thurii without careful planning in advance, not only each dock was built simply but also occupied a small area. It stretched from the Temple of Hera to so river banks outside the market, where docks of varying sizes densely lined a section of the Crati River.
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