Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 129: The Sorrow of Kunogelata

The center of both sides tried their best to push each other. At last, a soldier of Antonios got the ball and passed it back to Olivos under his crotch, and Olivos immediately threw it hard to Tagetinos, the big man on the left.

Tagetinos received the ball and made a spin, dodges, jumped forward to grab his opponent, and rushes forward while holding the ball.

Another opponent leaped from the side.

Xenotemas manage to stop the opponent in time.

Tagetinos is a strong man, and once he manage to speed up, he is unstoppable. Even though he was grabbed by the opponents twice, he was able throw them away with his powerful momentum.

Seeing that Tagetinos had already rush through between the second mark on their own field, had made Epiphanes unable to maintain his composure and shouted anxiously outside the field.

At this time, a team member from the rear flank manage to quickly caught up with him, and did his all to pounce at him, he opened his arms in the air and held the feet of Tagetinos firmly and accurately.

Tagetinos fell down on the grass. Fortunately, he manage to hold the ball in his arms and didn't lose it.

The members of Epiphanes' team rushed up and patted the body of the player excitedly. He was a Lucanian, and although he could not understand what the Greeks were shouting about, he could still feel the joy and kindness in their words, and so he opened his mouth and laughed as well.

The Lucanians on Antonios' team suddenly exclaimed.

“What did they say?” Antonios ask Bagul.

“They are shouting the man's name. His name is Litom.” Bagul pointed to the Lucanian player on the field, “He is a famous warrior in our tribe and is also a very powerful hunter!”

Antonios nodded thoughtfully.

Drakos ran over and asked with concern, “How are you? Is there something wrong?!”

Tagetinos struggled to stand up, he then took two steps to show that he was okay. Because it is easy to be injured due to confrontation in rugby, and it is currently impossible to make protective gear for every soldier under the current conditions of Amendolara, and so Davos had strictly stipulates that, an offense can only be disrupted by catching, grasping, pulling and blocking. It is not allowed to hurt the players with dangerous actions such as collision, punching and kicking. Otherwise, they will be prohibited to participate in the competition. Therefore, the soldiers were afraid of getting banned and so they were very cautious. At the same time, Davos arranged a doctor nearby to be ready.

“Great! Great! Great job! We have progress so much. Now let's work harder to score this point!” Olivos clapped his hands hard to encourage his teammates and arrange a new tactics.

The game resume again, Olivos gets the ball and threw it to Tagetinos.

Tagetinos with the ball, ran two steps then he saw two opponents rushing to him, and he immediately threw the ball back to Olivos.

Olivos, under the protection of his teammates, thew the ball back to Tagetinos again.

The big guy quickly threw the ball back to Olivos again.

For the third time, Olivos was going to throw it to Tagetinos, when he caught the attention of the other side, so he jerked to one side of his body, shook his wrist, and tried to throw the ball to the front at the right side, when suddenly, he was knocked down by the opponent.

In the screams of the players on the field, the ball flew a distance of 20 meters in the air, and was about to fly out of the baseline. Then a player of Antonios' team rushed over, jumped up and held out his hand to block the ball, but he failed in catching it because it was too fast. So after landing, he quickly jumped up again, but still did not grasp it firmly, and the opponent was already rushing over to catch it.

In the regret of the soldiers watching the game, the team of Antonios lost their offensive chance.

While the slaves in the field were also shouting loudly.

“What are they shouting about?” Asked Antonios curiously.

“They said that ‘if it's them, then they will be able to catch the ball!’” Explained Bagul, “We Lucanians have been walking and hunting in the mountains and forests since we were a child, and we often climb high places and the other races may not be able to match us!”

Antonios nodded and said, “Now it is time for us to defend. You five will play together.”

Bagul was taken aback, and then became excited. After watching the game off the court for a while, he thought that the game was very interesting and exciting, and so he was eager to try it.

“In addition, I suggest that after you go back, you'd better urge your people to learn Greek, otherwise you won't be able to communicate during the game!” Antonios reminded him with profound meaning.

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

As it was already getting late, the more than 800 Lucanian slaves were anxiously waiting on the construction site. Some of them even became restless and began to quarrel with the soldiers who were supervising them.

At this moment, the forty slaves came back talking and laughing.

“Hey, are you all okay?!!” The people of their tribe came forward one after another and asked with concern.

“Don't worry, we are fine!” Bagul comforted them, and his face was filled with excitement.

“Hey, the Greeks invented this interesting game called rugby! You didn't see it, but in the final round of the game, Bagul jumped up and caught the ball in the air, then he evaded the defense of two people in a row, and scored directly with a charge and help his team to win the championship!” One of the returning slaves said excitedly.

“It's not a charge, but a touchdown” Corrected Bagul.

“If it wasn't for my team's bad cooperation, we would have beaten you and entered the final match!” Said Litom unconvinced.

“Brother, you should know that the reason for your poor cooperation is due to language barrier! If you want to defeat me next time, then you must learn Greek well!” Bagul warned him.

Litom thought about it and nodded seriously.

The slaves that were waiting were confused: What game…match…championship?

Then, the returning slaves begun to excitedly tell them about their experience in the training camp of Amendolara. From the initial curiosity of the slaves that were waiting to a lot of people becoming interested in the game, and they made a secret decision that next time, they would work harder on the construction site, and strive to be selected, and participate in this interesting game!

From this day on, the progress of various projects in Amendolara has been greatly improved…

For the native citizen of Amendolara*, they are destined to spend a sleepless night. Arsinis, for example, cannot forget the fact that his parents died due to the Lucanian. But when he carried the ball forward, the Lucanians on the same team with him, have repeatedly blocked his opponents and made him score. When he hugged his Lucanian teammate due to excitement, he threw away his hatred out of the air. When he returned to his home and thought about it, his heart became contradicting. This is the charm of modern group sports in Davos' previous life, when individuals integrate into the group and win by unity, any previous hatred and conflicts will be eliminated by the joy of victory. This is the intention of Davos on why he had force each team to have five Lucanian slaves join them. (T/N: Author use ???? which is Lucania, but with the context it should be Amendolara)

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

The next morning, after breakfast, when Davos was about to go out to inspect the carpenters' production of the elevated waterwheel, he then saw Asistes rushing in.

“What happened?!” Asked Davos immediately.

“Kunogelata….Kunogelata has been expelled from Thurii, and is now leading his family…and also his clansman to the direction of Amendolara!” Said Asistes, panting.

What?!! Davos was taken aback.

It turned out that after the signing of the alliance agreement, Kunogelata had sent people to investigate the financial situation of Thurii's treasury on the ground that “they need to develop a new business plan to enrich the empty treasury.”

While the investigation was in progress, rumors began to spread in the city of Thurii, “The hasty battle against the Lucanians was the doing of Kunogelata. At that time, Friis and the mercenary leader were strongly opposed to it, and even the hero who saves Thurii, Davos, had submitted another more feasible plan, but all of them were rejected by Kunogelata and under his urging and tyranny, the old strategos, Friis, was forced to fight. In the battle, it was the early escape of Kunogelata that led to the collapse of the center's phalanx formation, while Friis died bravely…”

With the help of some person with intention, the rumor spread quickly throughout the city. Because some of the rumors were facts, the doubtful people went to find witnesses, and some selectively believed the facts, because they were the families of those that died in the war. Even though their grief was suppressed by the victory of Davos, now they need to vent it to someone, and Kunogelata is the best candidate. So anger broke out among the people and they gathered and shouted, “Kunogelata, step down!…punish Kunogelata severely!…” This shouting surrounded the city hall.

Seeing that something bad might happen to him, so Kunogelata slipped back to his home from the back door of the city hall. Unexpectedly, the people who heard about it went to surround his house as well.

Kunogelata urgently ordered his family and slaves to step up their guard to prevent the people from rushing into his house. He stood in the courtyard wall and yelled at the angry people.

When the two sides were in a stalemate, someone suddenly shouted, “Everyone, don't forget that it was Kunogelata who forced the city gate to be close after he manage to escape back to the city! As a result, the fleeing citizens were unable to enter the city, and more than half of them were killed by the Lucanians! HE IS A MURDERER!!”

This reminded many people of Kunogelata's shouting, “Close the city gate!” In fact, this measure under state of emergency at that time have saved the people of the city. But at this moment, the angry people would not think about it at all, and they only remember how they watched their relatives being slaughtered like lambs under the city wall. They hated their own powerlessness and, of course, hated the “culprit” even more?

And so, a more intense conflict occurred. The people forcefully rush into the house of Kunogelata, and the people in the courtyard tried to stop them, but the angry people even carried a log, and finally opened the gate and countless crazy people poured into the courtyard. If Kunogelata had not pretended to be dead and the slaves had not been loyal to their master, then he would have been killed on the spot.

On this day, the people had looted the home of Kunogelata like a mob. One of his sons was killed, and his daughter was raped and had committed suicide, many of his clansmen and slaves were injured, and most of the family's wealth was looted.