Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 462: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (I)

“Master should've at least come 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 someone she knew approach her, she immediately gave a cry as she waved her arms and legs around, kicking away the thick woollen blanket covering her body.

“Madame, 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 remembering something. 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 laments, a cry came 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 calmer than Agnes and Azune.

As the war expanded, Theonia had to continuously send young and strong men 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, became 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 came 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 home saw that their big brother Henipolis, who they did not see for a long time, 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 game, impatiently said, “It didn’t even bleed, so why are you crying?!”

This caused Cynthia to glare at him, which immediately 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 become a brave soldier, heard this; he immediately 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 time 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 immediate 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 immediately shouted.

“Me 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 time to see three children sitting around Henipolis, listening attentively to his vivid storytelling.

Seeing this heartwarming sight, Aristias sighed as he remembered 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 statesmen 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 men 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 formed 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 seemed 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 abdomen 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 exclaimed, “An auspicious omen! It is an auspicious omen!!!”

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 became excited.

“It's an auspicious omen! It's an auspicious omen!!…” By the time Davos and his party came down the hill, it had become 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 me 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 formed and is inexperienced, so it is not a match for the Syracusans.’ I argued, but they reprimanded me instead by saying that ‘Our navy has no merit and has no qualification to speak to them…’”

When everyone became 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 freemen)! 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 informed 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 immediately 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 merchants’ 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 some river banks outside the market, where docks of varying sizes densely lined a section of the Crati River.