On the other hand, the Romans stopped twenty tres away.
Davos and Camillus, both on horseback, finally t.
Eventually, Camillus broke the silence first, “King of Theonia, I am Camillus, the dictator of Ro!”
“I know you,” Davos nodded and continued, “You are the hero of Ro that had defeated Ro’s mortal enemy – Veii, expelled the Celts who occupied the city of Ro and defeated the surrounding hostile forces multiple tis.”
Camillus wasn’t surprised at how Davos knew him since a good commander must study his opponent carefully. Suddenly, he shouted his question, “Ro, situated in central Italia, and Theonia, located in southern Italia, have remained separate without any conflicts between them. So why have you decided to lead your army to invade our land, destroy our hos and slaughter our people without any regard for the distance, consumption of resources, and even ignoring the lives of your citizens?!”
Although Camillus’ question was pointless, Davos knew the soldier would keep wondering whether the war was necessary if he didn’t answer well and would affect their morale. So after pondering for a mont, he answered loudly, “Instead of restoring your hos after repelling the Celts to give your people a stable life, you Romans went around fighting and invading the surrounding races! You had even invaded the territories of our allies, the Volscians and the Hernicans, and killed their people to the point of nearly wiping them out! And even after we sent envoys to Ro to ask for a truce, you had instead rudely rejected them!
Since Theonia’s founding, we have always kept our promises, which is why we have gained the trust of our allies and made our kingdom as strong as today. Therefore, we cannot ignore our allies’ tragic experiences and must respond to their demands and fulfil our treaty. That is why we are here! Just as the Celts invaded the city of Ro ten years ago, your gods sent us to punish you for your indiscriminate killings!”
“Ludicrous!” Camillus could not stop himself from shouting angrily after listening to the translation.
One of the words that Camillus didn’t like is Divine punishnt. There were two significant reasons for this: Firstly, during his forced exile from Ro, one of the accusations against him was the false claim that he had enraged the gods by taking the temple’s riches after conquering the city of Veii. Secondly, he had once declared to his family that those who had wronged him would inevitably face punishnt in a fit of anger, resulting in so people attributing the invasion of the Celts as the gods avenging him and thus bringing divine punishnt on the city of Ro. These events weighed heavily on Camillus, and he would never allow Davos to employ the notion of Divine Punishnt to justify their invasion of Ro or undermine the Roman citizens’ morale.
“Your Majesty, he said your words…is ludicrous,” Emilius translated tactfully.
But instead of getting angry, Davos just smiled.
anwhile, realising he couldn’t keep his cool, Camillus changed the topic and said straightforwardly, “Despite capturing Ro, it didn’t bring you much benefit. Look around you: To the north are our Etruscan allies, and to the east and south are our Latin allies and colonial cities…we have already surrounded you! And with my return and the seventy thousand Roman soldiers, we had trapped your army in Ro and could not move!
And I heard that our ally in the south of the kingdom of Theonia, Carthage, is at war with you on Sicily; Furthermore, the Samnites are currently invading your eastern region… Yet you, the king of Theonia, had led the main force of Theonia to get trapped in Ro, which was far away from your kingdom. Even if you don’t worry about your kingdom, do you think your soldiers won’t worry about their holand getting invaded by the Carthaginians and the Samnites?!”
Davos remained undeterred as he smiled and said, “No, no, there’s nothing for us to worry about. Moreover, my soldiers and I enjoy staying here because of your abundant supplies provided by you Romans, allowing us to stay here for much longer. My only worry is that since those kind Romans have offered us all their food, they would run out of food to eat before long. However, we aren’t kind enough to give them back again. Furthermore, I am worried about the soldiers under you. With such a huge number of soldiers, how many days of rations have you left?!”
‘Threat! This is a naked threat and warning!’ After listening to the translation, Lucius and the other soldiers accompanying Camillus, angrily widened their eyes and raised their shields and spears.
Despite frowning, Camillus
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