“Regarding the supervision of the city-state of Elis in executing the peace treaty, ceding territory, and settling immigrants—matters that were temporarily shelved due to Agis’s passing—I recommended to the Gerousia that you take charge of this. Are you willing to go?” Agesilaus said seriously.

“I am!” Phoebidas blurted out. Recently, aside from military training and attending the King’s funeral, he had nothing else to do. Watching others being dispatched overseas one by one to carry out important missions, he inevitably felt a sense of loss. Now, with Agesilaus placing such a lucrative assignment before him, how could he not be moved and grateful!

“Thank you very much for your trust, King Agesilaus! Your becoming our King is Zeus’s gift to Sparta!!”

Hearing the flattery from Phoebidas, a capable member of Sparta’s younger generation, Agesilaus beamed with a smile.

***

After Agesilaus and Phoebidas left, only a scant dozen people remained in the dining hall. A young man with a linen cloth draped over his head sneakily emerged from behind a pillar, looking at Agesilaus’s retreating figure with hatred.

He hurried to collect his share of the public meal. The cook distributing the food actually joked, “Leotychides, why are you dressed like a woman?”

Even a Perioeci dared to mock him. In the past, Leotychides would have surely beaten him in anger, perhaps even broken his limbs. But now, the son of the former king had no desire to argue. He found a corner, sat down, and chewed on the bread in large bites. For some reason, tears welled up uncontrollably in his eyes. Losing the election for the kingship had made him the laughingstock of Sparta. Meanwhile, his usurping uncle had donated half of the family property left by his father to those kinsmen in financial difficulty, thereby gaining the support of the royal family. While those people praised Agesilaus for his benevolence and righteousness, some proposed expelling him and his mother from Sparta on the grounds that ‘he and his mother were not Spartans, yet had become Sparta’s shame.’ Although the Gerousia refuted this absurd proposal, the Spartans’ gazes upon Leotychides grew increasingly contemptuous.

“What wrong did I commit?! Why does the Goddess of Fate punish me so?! To prove myself, I participated in the Agoge (the brutal military training Spartan boys undergo from a young age), which royal sons are exempt from. In every training session, I always excelled. In every battle, I always fought desperately at the front. My debates always left my peers speechless, and my writing was better than theirs. But why?! Why?! They don’t see these things, yet always use these rumors to humiliate me and my mother!! Damn Agesilaus! Damn Gerousia! Damn… Agis! If you hadn’t treated Mother poorly, how could… so many rumors have arisen!…” In the end, Leotychides even began to blame his dead father. “I can no longer endure such humiliation! I will take Mother and leave this disgusting place! I will leave Sparta!!…”

Leotychides finally made up his mind, and his steps became vigorous and powerful again. As he neared his destination, he saw quite a few people gathered at his doorstep, all shaking their heads and sighing with solemn expressions. A sense of unease rose in his heart.

“Leotychides!” A kinsman with whom he usually had a decent relationship saw him and said sorrowfully, “Your mother… committed suicide…”

***

Diophantos’s troops ravaged the territory of Scylletium. The Scylletium garrison was forced to leave the city to engage the enemy, but the Locrians retreated early.

The next day, the Locrians appeared again.

When the Scylletium garrison pursued them to the coast as they had the day before, they found nearly two thousand Locrian soldiers waiting in battle array.

The Scylletium garrison, having pursued all the way and lost formation, quickly routed. Under the pursuit of Locrian cavalry, the Scylletians suffered several hundred casualties. They retreated into the city, defended strictly without venturing out, and sent people to the Crotoniate army in Caulonia for help.

As the leader of the alliance, the Crotoniates had to send 3,000 men to aid Scylletium. However, the Locrians retreated by sea once again.

Just as the Crotoniate reinforcements hesitated whether to stay in Scylletium or return to Caulonia, a coalition of 3,000 soldiers from Locri, Medma, and Hipponion marched along the west coast, crossed the Lamato River, and entered Terina’s territory.

The Terinans, having learned from Scylletium’s lesson, dared not venture out rashly but instead asked Croton for help.

Shortly after the Crotoniate reinforcements left Scylletium and entered Terina, the Locrians landed on the coast of Scylletium again.

The Crotoniate army was moved back and forth but couldn’t touch a hair on the Locrians’ heads, holding back a belly full of anger with nowhere to vent.

Scylletium and Terina suffered unspeakably as well. Newly sown farmlands were destroyed, and anti-war sentiment among the populace began to rise.

At this time, the Crotoniates finally figured out: the 20-plus warships that suddenly appeared during the naval battle were not secretly built by Locri over the past year, but were aid from the Syracusans.

This news caused great panic among the Crotoniate envoys…

***

During this time, Davos, having returned to Thurii, spent his days handling League affairs or staying home to accompany his wife, look after his newborn child, and educate his adopted son and daughter. Life was quite fulfilling and happy. Even when the Crotoniate envoy had previously rushed to Thurii to ask Theonia for help, it didn’t cause him any anxiety because Hylos and Axistes quickly forced the Locrians invading Croton’s territory to retreat.

For this, the senators of the Senate praised Davos for choosing the right Chief Executive for Asprostum.

In his letter to Hylos and Axistes, Davos highly praised them for decisively taking the correct measures in such a complex situation and encouraged them to act boldly in critical situations without delaying due to excessive concern for his feelings or waiting for orders from the Senate.

The excellent performance of Hylos and the others allowed Davos to completely relax and devote more energy to the settlement of immigrants in Asprostum and Crimisa.

But just then, he received news from Aristelas that “envoys from Croton, Scylletium, Terina, and Caulonia are traveling north together.” Linking this to the reports Aristelas had given him over the past few days about the war between Croton and Locri, the purpose of these city-state envoys coming to Thurii was obvious.

Davos’s first thought: This is a rare and excellent opportunity to expand Theonia’s strength and influence. Comparatively speaking, going to war with Locri is not unacceptable.

But immediately, he began to hesitate: thanks to the “extra attention” Aristelas from Catana paid to Syracuse, he also knew the truth behind Croton’s naval defeat. Syracuse was Locri’s true ally and had even dispatched reinforcements in this war. If Davos were to go to war with Locri, he would inevitably offend Syracuse. Is it worth it?

Davos had to consider this carefully.

In his previous life, he didn’t know much about the history of Syracuse, only knowing about Archimedes and that Syracuse was one of the culprits triggering the First Punic War, and that the Romans crushed Syracuse easily. It seemed Syracuse’s strength wasn’t worth mentioning, but one must remember that was the Romans using the power of all Italy to strike a Syracuse in decline.

When Davos traveled to this era of the Mediterranean world, only in Magna Graecia did he feel the awe the Italian Greek city-states held for this great Sicilian state, Syracuse. Decades ago, Syracuse repelled Carthage and dominated Sicily and Magna Graecia. Now, it seemed to be restoring its former glory and showing a trend of unifying the Sicilian Greek city-states. Although Sicily is just an island, its land is fertile and is a famous wheat-producing area in the Western Mediterranean (mainly due to volcanic ash). Moreover, Greeks colonized here extensively and developed Sicily very early. Plus, Sicily is located near the center of the Mediterranean, becoming an important hub for trade flow between the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, so Sicily’s commerce and agriculture are relatively developed. Just seeing that Syracuse, occupying only southeastern Sicily, could organize such a massive army, one could imagine its immense war potential. How could Theonia, still in its infancy, compare?

However, Davos was not a frog in a well, ignorantly unable to see potential dangers. On the contrary, countless examples from history in his previous life, as well as theories of political economy and geopolitics, told him that no matter how Theonia evaded, once Syracuse truly defeated Carthage and unified the Sicilian Greek city-states, Theonia, rising rapidly beside it, would inevitably attract its attention and become an obstacle to its expansion, or even the next target of attack. It would be better to seize the time while Syracuse was bogged down in the war with Carthage to strengthen Theonia, so as to have the strength to confront Syracuse in the future.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Davos finally made a decision and persuaded the Senate.

Thesprotes was the envoy of Croton. Because he accompanied Lysias to successfully reach a truce and sign an alliance treaty with Theonia, and subsequently independently “persuaded” the Theonian garrison in Asprostum to send troops to help Croton, forcing the Locrians to retreat, almost everyone in the Croton Council (except Lysias) unanimously elected him to go to Theonia as an envoy. Being valued so highly by the Crotoniate councilors for the first time, and with the envoys of the other three city-states following his lead along the way, Thesprotes inevitably felt somewhat lightheaded.

Entering the city of Thurii, the envoys felt that this newly built city lacked the prosperity and vastness of Croton’s urban area, but it also lacked the congestion and noise.