Chapter 342

“She… she kicked again!” Crystoia shouted, a happy smile on her face.

Asuna hurriedly ran out of the garden, wiped the dirt from her hands onto her clothes, and together with Cynthia, helped Crystoia sit down.

After the three women played around for a while, Crystoia felt a little hungry. “Cynthia, your younger brother is back. He’s upstairs playing with Little Croto. Go up and call them down; we’re ready to eat.”

The “younger brother” Crystoia referred to was Cynthia’s biological brother, Adonis. He was already eight years old and also studying at the Thurii School.

Cynthia said “Oh” and got up to go upstairs, but saw a plate of something black on the wooden table nearby. She asked curiously, “What is this?”

“This is dried meat smoked with beef and salt by your Aunt Andrea, following your father’s suggestion. She sent it specially from Grumentum for us to taste first,” Crystoia said.

Cynthia grabbed a small piece and took a bite. “It’s a bit hard.”

She chewed vigorously for a while, swallowed it, and said, “After chewing for a long time, the taste isn’t bad, just a bit salty. Suitable for a snack.”

“Your father intends to use this dried meat as one of the soldiers’ rations.” Cynthia’s unintentional words made Crystoia’s eyes light up. She only cared about the taste; as for using too much salt, she didn’t mind. Ever since Davos had people from the Theonian Academy come up with a way to improve the salt drying method, the production of sea salt had increased greatly, and the price was extremely cheap.

Cynthia stuffed the whole piece of dried meat into her mouth and walked around the garden.

On the other side of the garden was a small altar with a stone statue of Artemis smiling while holding a bow. The statue was exactly human height and carved lifelike. Agnes, the Pearl of Rhegium, could not forget her years as a priestess of Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunt, after marrying Davos, even though Davos had her switch to become the High Priestess of the Temple of Hera. With her husband’s consent, she built a small altar to Artemis in the rear courtyard. Unexpectedly, Cynthia became a believer of this goddess. Perhaps because Greeks regarded Artemis as the Moon Goddess, and the night was her domain, while the name “Cynthia” meant moon, creating a natural affinity. So Cynthia prayed devoutly to Artemis before entering the main building.

Seeing Cynthia enter the building, Asuna hesitated and said to Crystoia, “Mistress, aren’t we waiting… waiting for Mistress Agnes to return and dine together?”

Crystoia was stunned, then smiled. “She has to prepare for tomorrow’s Marriage Festival celebration. I estimate she will be busy in the temple until late at night. We don’t need to wait for her. With her temperament, she won’t mind.”

“What about the Master?”

“Don’t wait. The Senate has been meeting and discussing for the past two days; I don’t know when it will end. It’s all because of those nobles and merchants causing trouble in the square… and that damned Polyexis!” Mentioning this, Crystoia became somewhat irritable.

***

“Respected Senators, not only in Thurii, but also in Crimisa, Pyxus, Amendolara, and other cities, many people have gone to the squares to protest. Please open the doors and listen to their cries—listen, they are shouting, ‘Convene the Citizen Assembly!’“

Polyexis’s impassioned speech was immediately interrupted by Antonios. “As far as I know, in Thurii and Crimisa, there are actually only a few people protesting, not the ‘majority’ as you claim! Moreover, such things simply haven’t happened in Amendolara or Pyxus!”

“That’s right. As an Amendolarian, I can confirm Antonios’s words are true!” Scombras said.

Polyexis had expected someone to say this and sneered immediately. “Silence does not mean no one objects. Citizens just hide this dissatisfaction in their hearts, daring not to vent it. Thinking about it is truly laughable; their request is very simple and not excessive. Do we need to be so nervous? You must know, any city-state established by Greeks will definitely have a Citizen Assembly! Even going back hundreds of years to the Age of Kings, the Citizen Assembly still existed alongside the King! Only city-states ruled by tyrants, fearing and suppressing the people, dare not have a Citizen Assembly, such as Syracuse.”

As Polyexis spoke, he turned to face Davos seated at the front and summoned his courage to ask, “May I ask the Lord Archon, is our… is our League ruled by a tyrant?!”

As soon as these words came out, the whole hall was shocked.

Davos, however, looked calm, as if he didn’t know Polyexis’s words were directed straight at him. “Of course not. The Theonian League is under the joint management of the senators of the Senate.” Davos’s faint words carried no trace of anger.

“Then is there a clause in Theonian law prohibiting the convening of a Citizen Assembly?!” Polyexis grew bolder and continued to press.

“Of course not.” Davos still answered unhurriedly.

“In that case, the people’s request to convene a Citizen Assembly is reasonable and legitimate. I hope the Senate will carefully consider this matter and not disappoint the citizens!” Seeing Davos fall into the verbal trap he had set, Polyexis took the opportunity to speak loudly.

“Lord Polyexis, convening a Citizen Assembly is not an easy task,” Kunogelata stood up and said. “The situation of the Theonian League is very different from other Greek city-states. Our citizens are not concentrated in one city-state but spread across all cities within the League. Just gathering them is a huge problem consuming both time and energy! In addition, Theonian citizens are not only Greeks; Lucanians and Bruttians make up a considerable number. They don’t yet understand what a Citizen Assembly is and have never participated in one. Rashly holding a Citizen Assembly will not only leave them at a loss but also likely plunge the assembly’s order into chaos, becoming a laughingstock for neighboring states…”

Kunogelata listed the difficulties of convening a Citizen Assembly in Theonia. Actually, he had a private thought in his heart: As a powerful figure in the Theonian Senate, he didn’t want the Citizen Assembly to convene. He was tired of having to curry favor with citizens and attack political enemies to be elected as a general in Thurii back then… doing things against his will. And after being elected, doing anything required extreme caution, or political enemies might incite the citizens to force him out of office. It was far inferior to being able to work steadily now, responsible only to the League and to… Davos.

Quite a few shared similar thoughts, such as Cornelius, Scombras… and other senators who consistently held important League positions.

“Lord Kunogelata is right! We Bruttians don’t care about any Citizen Assembly. As long as there’s food to eat, women to sleep with, and wine to drink, that’s enough!” Sedorum shouted loudly, feigning roughness. “We Bruttians only believe in whoever is capable and has the biggest fist; we submit to them!”

“We Lucanians are the same. Citizen Assemblies are too troublesome; we are not interested!” Hermon immediately echoed.

The explicit opposition from the other two major powers in the Senate, the Lucanians and Bruttians, made Polyexis’s face look a bit ugly. But he didn’t intend to give up and continued, “Convening a Citizen Assembly has difficulties, but should we give up because of difficulties? Is this the style of us Theonians?! Building the Thurii-Laos Highway required crossing high mountains and steep ridges, full of difficulties. Didn’t we finally build it after years of effort?!

“Citizens have been looking forward to the convening of the Citizen Assembly for a long time. If we say that at the beginning of Theonia’s establishment, facing threats to survival, we had to unify people’s thoughts and concentrate all efforts on defeating strong enemies, thus temporarily suspending the time-consuming and energy-consuming Citizen Assembly, that is completely understandable. But now Theonia is stable and prosperous, and the people are wealthy and leisurely. As Greeks who have always had a strong tradition of participating in city-state politics, the demand of Theonian citizens to convene a Citizen Assembly will only grow stronger year by year! As the most noble representatives of Theonian citizens, Senators, I hope you can deeply realize this and make the correct choice in time. Do not wait until citizen dissatisfaction accumulates to a dangerous level before rushing to make a decision. That would be unfavorable to both the Senate and the Theonian League!”

Polyexis’s emotional yet implicitly threatening words made many present change their expressions slightly.

Davos looked at Polyexis thoughtfully.

“Now, everyone vote to decide whether to pass this proposal to convene a Citizen Assembly!” Rotating Chairman Cornelius announced loudly.

As usual, the military faction senators expressed opposition, as did the Lucanian faction senators. Most powerful senators also disagreed. Those supporting Polyexis were mostly senators who hadn’t been given important roles, predominantly from the Thurii faction. But among those in favor, Davos saw Burkos, Petaru, and even Theonia’s naval commander Enanilous…

Davos narrowed his eyes, a cold glint faintly flashing through the slit.

***

Coming out of the Senate, it was getting late. The spring night was still cool, but the chiton Polyexis wore was basically soaked through—the result of a cold sweat from fear when questioning Davos.

Although his proposal was rejected again, Polyexis now had confidence because he saw the number of people supporting him increasing.

Davos is nothing more than this. Next time… He thought excitedly, his steps becoming more vigorous, and his voice louder when speaking to fellow senators.

“I don’t know the reason, but this timid guy is getting more and more rampant now!” Marigi stood on the steps outside the Senate, looking resentfully at Polyexis talking and laughing in the distance. Then he said to Davos with some worry, “Lord, we can’t let him be so arrogant anymore!”