Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

As soon as the dazed Aviya heard that, she immediately took several bites of the meat buns, which made Agnes say, “No need to rush; eat slowly!”

Cynthia laughed and criticised, “Little Bri, how could you try to swindle your sister's breakfast?!”

Brillantes didn't refute Cynthia. Instead, he bowed his head and didn't speak.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos, on the other hand, just watch everything with a smile. After all, breakfast and dinner was his most relaxed time.

“Cynthia, follow me to the bank in the port after breakfast and listen to the financial report for the first half of the year.” Cheiristoya interrupted. Although Azune left, Cynthia has grown up, and as her daughter became Cheiristoya's assistant, and with Cheiristoya’s training in recent years, she became more knowledgeable.

“Understood, mother.” Cynthia replied.

“Ah…” As soon as Aviya heard this, she hurriedly said, “I want to go with sister Cynthia.” Among the children, Aviya wasn't old enough to go to school, so she usually stayed home. But since Cheiristoya and Agnes have things to do, Cynthia would take care of her more, so she is very close to Cynthia. In addition, Morina was too aggressive in waking her up today, so she didn't want to stay at home alone.

Cynthia understood a bit about her mentality, so she said to Cheiristoya, “Mother, can I take Aviya with me?”

Cheiristoya then looked at Aviya while Aviya blinked her big eyes as she looked back at her other mother pitifully.

“You have to behave when you get there, and you are not allowed to talk loudly.” Cheiristoya was quite relieved of Aviya because the child would stay still wherever she went.

“Yes!” Aviya nodded hard while Agnes thanked Cheiristoya.

Eunice then said, “Aviya, you stick too much to elder sister; what will you do once elder sister gets married?”

Upon hearing this, Aviya's eyes suddenly turned red.

“At that time, Aviya could just go see her sister, and her sister could also often come back here…” Said Agnes as she hurriedly comforted her daughter.

At the same time, Crotokatax repeatedly coughed and spurted the milk he was drinking.

“The milk just got down on the wrong pipe.” Crotokatax hurriedly explained.

While Cheiristoya immediately glanced at Davos.

Davos, on the other hand, felt relieved. After observing the boy since he entered the dining room, Davos had basically not noticed the boy acting any differently apart from his earlier coughing, which made Davos proud as it shows that his son has a lot of self-control.

“Cro, you'll be sixteen soon. Since you will go through formal military training, I will have a customised set of heavy infantry equipment made for you. Do you have any requirements?” Asked Davos.

“Doesn't Theonia's military law state that the legion's weapon and equipment owned by citizens must conform to requirements and must not be altered in size, colour or pattern at their own discretion?” Asked Crotokatax in confusion.

“It is only the appearance, size and colour of the weapons and equipment as it must be consistent with that of other legion soldiers. However, you can add or modify some things that couldn't be seen, like enhancing their performance and increasing the comfort of use, such as adding a pad in the helmet that could quickly absorb sweat and dampen the impact of external forces on the head. Another would be to reduce the amount of linen glued to the linen armour while sewing Hippopotamus skin to the lining, which ensures a consistent thickness while greatly increasing its protection…” Davos detailedly explained some tricks in customising weapons and equipment to his son.

After carefully listening for a moment, Crotokatax said without hesitation, “Father, there is no need for such trouble and just make it as usual so that my armour, shield and weapons are the same as those of other citizens.”

“Kro, you should-” Cheiristoya, who was listening on the side, hurriedly tried to persuade.

But Davos said in relief, “Son, you've made the correct choice! Only when you don't make any special arrangements can you mingle with your comrades and for your squad to form quickly as a whole. And once it comes to battle, your comrades wouldn't hesitate to fend off the enemy's weapon for you in times of danger…”

Crotokatax continued to listen to his father's teachings attentively.

Seeing this, Cheiristoya could no longer persuade him any more.

“Dad, I want a set of personalised shields and spear just like brother!” Cried Brillantes.

“Dad already made a set for you.”

“But it's wood-”

“Because you are still young and can't hold a real iron shield and spear. Can you lift the pair of big hammers dad placed in the courtyard?”

Brillantes shook his head.

“Once you reach your brother Cro's age, you would then have enough strength to lift it. Dad will then customise a shield and spear for you, okay?” Davos patiently persuade the boy.

“Okay!”

“Bri, do you want to be a soldier or a strategos in charge of soldiers in the future?” Davos continued to ask.

“It is, of course, to become a strategos. How amazing that would be!”

“Then you must first study well at school: Learn to read and write so that you can read and understand the orders given to you by your commander; Learn to count well so that you can know how to arrange your troops; Learn how to debate well so that you can persuade your soldiers to follow your orders. That's why you must study hard and not play around when you go to school. Only then could you become a strategos in the future, understood?” Davos took this opportunity to patiently persuade Brillantes as he was too energetic and daring even though he was still young. After going to school for half a year, he had disturbed his class so often that they had to call Cheiristoya several times.

Brillantes nodded his head even though he didn't fully understand it.

“Apox, don't just smirk there; you must help your brother more. If he doesn't do well in his test, I will settle this matter with you!” Davos said seriously.

“Ah?!” Apox showed a dumbfounded expression on his oil-stained face that made him look somewhat comical, causing his brothers and sisters to laugh.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

After breakfast, Cheiristoya boarded a carriage to the port with Cynthia and Aviya. Agnes, on the other hand, rode in another carriage heading to the Temple of Hera in the east of Thurii.

At the same time, the guards and slaves escorted Crotokatax, along with Apox, Eunice and Brillantes, towards the river's delta of Thurii. After they arrived, the younger siblings headed to Thurii's school while Crotokatax was to take a separate route to Theonia's Akademia.

After sending off his wife and children, Davos headed to the Grand Senate Hall under the protection of the palace guards.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The Grand Senate Hall was the highest authority of Theonia when it was built more than a decade ago. Now, it has become the place representing the authority of the most powerful kingdom among the Greek force in the entire western Mediterranean, which the people looked up to. But when Theonia's palace was constructed afterwards, it had naturally taken away some of its glory.

After the construction of the Grand Senate Hall, the outsiders laughed at its magnificent appearance, ‘A newly established union of less than two to three cities has built a massive assembly hall that is not appropriate with its strength!’

But now, no one would dare to say such words anymore. Rather, they whined at king Davos' foresight.

Still, even with the territory’s expansion, the number of Theonian statesmen didn't always increase as the Pollux case and the losses of the South Italian War resulted in the number of statesmen had dropped sharply. And Since everyone was either on the battlefield or busy with important tasks to stabilise the kingdom, there were only a few people in such a large hall when they held meetings… Although it was a difficult time for Theonia, it was also when the statesmen played an important role. And when Theonia survived, they saw the kingdom grow once again:

At Laos’ lead, Theonia's allied city-states such as Terina, Roscianum, Crotone, Caulonia, Heraclea and Metapontum successively took the initiative to merge into the kingdom. On the other hand, the kingdom forcefully annexed Locri, Medma, and Hipponion. Finally, Naxos, Catania, Sikuri and Tauromenium became part of the kingdom.

In the following ten years, while the kingdom was restoring the population, agriculture and trade of the newly acquired lands, they also declared war on two regions on the grounds that the Messapi and Peuceti had torn up their agreement by attacking Taranto, a free-city of Theonia. At the Battle of Brindisi, Davos led five legions and two cavalry brigades to defeat the Messapi-Peuceti alliance. Then the kingdom of Theonia took advantage of the heavy losses these two fierce races suffered and began carrying out a planned and systematic encroachment every year.

Until the beginning of the previous year, there were no longer any independent towns that existed within the two regions of Messapi and Peuceti. And that also made the Grand Senate Hall of Theonia less empty as the number of statesmen had exceeded two hundred, occupying 1/5th of all the seats in the hall. Hence, maintaining order in the Senate during meetings became an important task for the Grand Inspector and his men.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

“The king has arrived!” Shouted the Order Officer, causing the originally noisy hall to immediately turned quiet.

After Theonia became a kingdom from a union, the biggest difference between the current Grand Senate Hall and the past is the cowhide armchair in the centre of the Senate Hall. It was the seat of the king of Theonia and was surrounded by the semicircular seats of the senate. At the back of the chair is a large door, which is reserved for the king's entrance and exit.

Four fully armed palace guards entered the venue with neat steps and stood on both sides of the leather chair.

Then Davos, dressed in a white, black-embroidered chiton, wearing a crown made of gold in the shape of a poplar branch and leaves (the poplar tree is Hades’ symbol) and holding a sceptre as tall as half a man, walked calmly into the venue.