Last year, the people of Vergae had tasted the bitterness of defeat, yet clearly, Sedorum had not shared their painful lesson with the other Bruttians.

“Trap ahead!…”

The momentum of the charging Bruttians slammed to a halt. Just as they froze in confusion, Drakos, standing atop the wooden wall, was already barking orders. “Archers, nock arrows!”

“General, please hold your fire!” Bagilipi, standing beside him, shouted urgently. “They are warriors of Besidiae. Let me try to persuade them to surrender!”

The Second Legion had been reinforced by troops from Thurii, bringing their strength to nine thousand men. However, a third of the soldiers remained in Besidiae to prevent unrest. Drakos had invited Bagilipi to the fortress under construction, ostensibly to help the soldiers familiarize themselves with the terrain and provide intelligence on the attacking enemy. In reality, it was a precaution to remove the most influential leader from Besidiae ensuring the security of the newly occupied city.

Drakos hadn’t expected this chieftain to play a role beyond being a hostage. He looked at Bagilipi’s anxious face, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Bagilipi gripped the battlements with both hands. Summoning every ounce of strength in his lungs, he roared into the distance, “People of Besidiae! I am Bagilipi! Though Besidiae has changed masters, your families are safe! Your parents, your wives, your children—they are all waiting for your safe return! Come home, men of Besidiae! The Theonians will not harm you; they will accept you as citizens! Come home, your kin are waiting for you!…”

Fifty meters beyond the wall, the Bruttian warriors, who had been cautiously advancing while supporting their wounded comrades, heard the deep, emotional cry in their native tongue clearly.

“It is the voice of Chief Bagilipi!…”

To the people of Besidiae, that voice was unmistakable. Bagilipi had always commanded immense respect among them. Gradually, the cries of the wounded softened, and the warriors supporting them stopped their advance. They strained their ears to listen, whispers spreading through the ranks like wildfire.

In the rear, Nycou realized what was happening and flew into a thunderous rage. “Bagilipi! That damned old wretch! Why didn’t I see how vicious he was before?! It was him! He must have betrayed us! That’s how the Theonians took my city! I will peel off his skin! I will eat his flesh!! I will slaughter his whole family!!!…”

But Nycou could only curse. No matter how violent his temper, he knew that in their current state, his warriors could not fight. He had no choice but to order a temporary retreat.

Yet, even as the retreat bugle sounded, a small number of warriors lingered, reluctant to leave.

Anxious and furious, Nycou dispatched warriors from other tribes to drive them back with spears. It took considerable effort to clear the battlefield, nearly sparking an internal conflict in the process. Daring not to stay a moment longer, Nycou hurriedly withdrew several miles.

The warriors supported one another, sighing and groaning the entire way. Morale had hit rock bottom.

From the wooden wall, Drakos saw the retreat but did not seize the opportunity to pursue. Bagilipi had offered him a far better idea.

***

The Theonians had turned the fifty-meter zone outside the wooden wall into a death trap, and Bagilipi’s words had left the Besidiae warriors distracted and restless. Nycou found himself at his wit’s end.

While ordering camp to be set up, he sent scouts to Consentia to report on the enemy. After much deliberation, Nycou gathered the squadron leaders of the Besidiae warriors. He commanded them to emphasize a single message to their men: Do not believe the traitor’s lies. Your families have already become slaves to the Greeks. Only by fighting to the death to retake Besidiae can you win back their freedom!

But just as he was screaming himself hoarse, trying to rally his subordinates to boost morale, a guard rushed in to report: A group of Besidiae women had arrived at the camp.

It was Bagilipi’s doing. He had gathered the wives of the warriors serving under Nycou—specifically those with elderly parents and young children, the men who couldn’t simply abandon their families—and told them: “Your husbands are just outside. If you don’t want them to die in battle, you must go and call them back!”

Guided by Theonian soldiers, these women walked safely through the trap-laden zone, trekked several miles, and arrived together at Nycou’s camp. The sentries, recognizing their own kin, did not stop them. Instead, they opened the gates and welcomed them in.

Soon, the camp was filled with moving scenes of tearful reunions between husbands and wives. The women told their husbands the truth: “After occupying the city, the Theonian soldiers truly didn’t harm a single person. They sent doctors to treat the wounded, put out the fires, and repaired the damaged houses… Order in the city is already returning.”

A smaller number of warriors learned from the women that their families had perished during the battle. Wails of grief began to echo through the camp.

The camp became a chaotic mix of joy and sorrow, lively yet absurd. But for Nycou, who only just learned of this invasion, it was terrifying.

This is a Theonian conspiracy!

In a panic, Nycou dispatched his personal guard, intending to forcibly separate the women from the warriors. He wanted to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, but his actions only poured oil on the fire.

Seeing their weeping wives being dragged away—some women falling to the ground as they resisted, only to be ruthlessly hauled off by the guards—the Besidiae warriors snapped. Rage overtook them. They surrounded the guard unit, which was composed of Nycou’s most trusted tribesmen.

These guards, who usually relied on Nycou’s power to bully others, saw the tide turn and immediately fell to their knees, begging for mercy. But the furious warriors ignored their pleas. They swarmed forward, beating them savagely.

Gradually, under the rain of fists and kicks from countless men, the guards stopped breathing. When the warriors realized they had killed them, fear suddenly gripped them. The shadow of Nycou’s years of tyranny and brutality loomed over their hearts.

“We killed Nycou’s clansmen; he won’t spare us! Why don’t we take advantage of our numbers now, capture him, and then go home!”

A young Besidiae warrior shouted this suggestion, and it instantly gave direction to the confused and frightened mob.

In for a penny, in for a pound. They rallied together and charged toward Nycou’s command tent.

Nycou had already received the terrible news. There was no time for regret. He hurriedly mounted his horse and fled to the sector where the warriors of other tribes were quartered, demanding they mobilize immediately to quell the rebellion.

They refused.

Ask one thousand warriors to fight against two thousand enraged Besidiae soldiers? And on the orders of a man who wasn’t even their own chief? Why would they listen to Nycou, a mere Alliance Elder who was now all alone?

As the Besidiae warriors closed in on the camp, Nycou sensed the encroaching danger and fled again on horseback, abandoning his army entirely.

Facing the battle-ready warriors of the other tribes, the Besidiae men, having cooled down slightly, feared Nycou might return with reinforcements for revenge. They decided to withdraw on their own terms.

“Do as Chief Bagilipi said! Back to Besidiae!” The same young warrior shouted again when the group hesitated on where to go.

In truth, it was the only road left open to them.

Outside the newly built Theonian fortress, Bagilipi, accompanied by several respected elders of Besidiae, welcomed the returning, apprehensive warriors.

Drakos had not expected Bagilipi’s suggestion to be so wildly successful. He felt a mix of excitement and headache; processing the surrender of over two thousand Besidiae warriors was a logistical nightmare. Simply releasing them all back into the city would make him uneasy.

Fortunately, this bloodless victory had disintegrated the enemy’s offensive and bought him precious time. Now, he urgently hoped for Davos and the main army to arrive soon.

***

Meanwhile, Cincinnag decided to lead 6,000 Pyxus warriors alongside his son, Gnaenat, marching toward Grumentum. Just as he had predicted, as soon as the grand army arrived, the tribes in the northern region of Grumentum defected one after another. Among them were the Rude and Brina, the two tribes that had ambushed Bagulos.

Having learned from past mistakes, Cincinnag treated every defecting tribe with warmth and enthusiasm. He quickly won over the hearts of these anxious minor chieftains, causing his army to swell rapidly to over ten thousand men as they marched majestically southward.

The news reached the Town Hall of Grumentum.

Bagulos, whom rumors claimed was “critically wounded,” was currently sitting safe and sound on a wooden chair. His expression, however, was tinged with worry. “Although we spread the rumors of ‘Theonia failing against Bruttium’ and ‘me being heavily injured’ to confuse the enemy, I didn’t expect these northern tribes to defect to Pyxus so quickly. Sigh! All the effort we put in before has gone to waste!”

Axistes sneered. “Just as Lord Davos said: ‘Only in the face of disaster can you see which tribes are truly loyal to Theonia and which are traitors.’ For the past six months, we spent most of our energy mediating land and property disputes for these tribes. They are nothing but insatiable wolves! Now is the perfect opportunity. Aside from the few tribes we arranged beforehand, we can catch all the traitors in one net and finally bring the territory of Grumentum completely under our control!”

“But they are all Lucanians!” Bagulos knew Axistes was right, but he couldn’t help sighing again.

Axistes paused, then offered a word of comfort. “Brother, have there been few civil wars among Lucanians in the past? Which one didn’t end with rivers of blood? If not for that, your tribe wouldn’t have been forced to take the risk of migrating to Amendolara. Now, once we unify Lucania, the Lucanians will be citizens of Theonia. They will never slaughter each other again, and their lives will only get better! Don’t you agree?!”