The moment Aristocrates posed the question, the witness cooperated fully, detailing his interactions with Polyexis under the orders of Dionysius.

Polyexis naturally denied everything, striving to deflect the accusations, but the already restless crowd erupted like a dormant volcano awakening.

“Traitor!”

“Sellout!”

“Hang him! Send his soul to the underworld for eternal torment!”

It was not merely Polyexis’s treason that ignited the public’s fury, but the contempt for common citizens and the disparagement of foreign-born residents dripping from his correspondence. The plaza, once a calm sea, transformed into a tempest; a monstrous wave of rage surged forward, threatening to capsize the makeshift wooden tribunal.

Under such a terrifying momentum, Polyexis and his cohorts trembled. Even the Chief Judge, Tritodemus, felt his nerves fraying. According to Theonian Law, Polyexis’s transgressions did not warrant the death penalty; Syracuse was not currently an enemy of Theonia, nor were they at war. Furthermore, as a member of the Senate, Polyexis possessed the legal right to propose a “Citizens’ Assembly.”

Yet, even after the jury declared him “Guilty,” combined with the weight of yesterday’s trial, Tritodemus hesitated. Facing the inferno of public anger below, he dared not pronounce the final sentence. Instead, he engaged in frequent, hushed conferrals with his assistant judges and the prosecutor, Aristocrates.

Suddenly, a clear, piercing military trumpet sounded.

The crowd turned toward the noise. The great bronze doors of the Senate House swung open, and the Senators filed out of the Grand Hall, led by Davos himself.

Encircled by his personal guard, Davos descended the stone steps and mounted the wooden tribunal platform erected beside them.

Tritodemus hurried forward to bow, but Davos checked him with a raised hand. “This is a court of law. You are the master here; I have only come to resolve a small trouble for you.”

Understanding immediately, Tritodemus exhaled, his voice thick with gratitude. “Thank you, Milord.”

Davos turned, catching sight of Aristocrates bowing respectfully. He clapped the man on the shoulder with familial warmth. “Aristocrates, I never expected you to perform so brilliantly!”

He then offered a formal bow to the members of the jury, thanking them for their arduous service.

Finally, his gaze swept over the accused. Unlike Orpheus and Mathisacus, whose eyes held a pathetic mixture of fear and pleading, Polyexis had abandoned all hope. With the ferocity of a cornered beast, he pointed a trembling finger at the Archon.

“Davos! You framed me with false evidence because you fear I will win more rights for the citizens!” Polyexis screamed, his eyes burning with a desperate, vicious light. ” The people will see your true face one day! You cannot escape the righteous judgment of Hades!”

Davos ignored his existence entirely.

Walking to the front of the platform, he extended both hands and pressed them downward against the air. A miracle unfolded: the “sea” below, moments ago a churning storm of roaring winds and crashing waves, gradually stilled into silence.

“Citizens of Theonia! Families of our citizens!” Davos began, his voice projecting clearly. “I am overjoyed to see so many of you attending this public trial! It proves your love for the Theonian League and your dedication to our rule of law. On behalf of the Senate, I express my deepest gratitude to you for standing guard before this court for the past two days!”

He bowed deeply to the people.

The crowd responded to Davos’s encouragement and empathy with thunderous applause.

“The law is sacred, and nowhere is this truer than in the Theonian League, for Hades watches our every action from below!” Davos pointed toward the ground, his expression solemn. “We know that the citizens of Theonia hail from every corner of the Mediterranean, from every race and tribe. With different customs and cultures, conflict is inevitable. But it is the Law that brings order to Theonia; it is the Law that unites us. Therefore, do not protest the verdicts reached under the League’s Code. If a judgment is altered today because of your anger, then tomorrow, that same injustice may fall upon you or your loved ones…”

Davos’s earnest words plunged the crowd into deep contemplation. Some had assumed Davos took the stage to pressure Tritodemus into a harsher sentence for his political rival, Polyexis. Now, it appeared they were mistaken.

Seizing the moment of calm, Tritodemus pronounced the sentence.

“For multiple crimes, Polyexis is hereby stripped of Theonian citizenship, his illegal assets confiscated, and he is sentenced to thirty years of imprisonment. Senators Orpheus and Mathisacus, though they accepted bribes, showed no clear evidence of further collusion with Syracuse. Combined with yesterday’s verdict, they are stripped of citizenship, their illegal assets confiscated, and sentenced to twenty years. Enanilous, Eurykpes, and their associates… stripped of citizenship, illegal assets confiscated, sentenced to ten years…”

Davos’s prior admonition held fast. Upon hearing the sentences, the crowd let out a collective hiss of regret that the traitors would live, but there were no violent outbursts.

However, Polyexis suddenly broke free from the soldiers’ grip. He lunged toward the edge of the platform, screaming at the masses. “I did this for you! For the freedom of the citizens! One day you will regret today’s judgment! You will—”

His outburst was like pouring a jar of oil into a dying furnace. The people’s rage ignited instantly, roaring back to life. Curses stormed the platform, and spittle flew through the air.

The guards hastily dragged Polyexis and the other convicts away. As they passed Davos, Enanilous dared not even look in his direction. Only when he stood at the foot of the Senate steps, looking back at his former colleagues, did infinite regret drown his heart. Because of a moment’s greed, he had fallen from a noble Senator, one above ten thousand, to a prisoner spat upon by all.

The public trial concluded. Tritodemus, Aristocrates, and the jury withdrew from the platform. Yet, the crowd below did not disperse. Davos remained on the stage. They knew the Archon had more to say. Compared to the previous chaos, a hush of anticipation fell over the square.

Facing thousands of expectant eyes, Davos knew exactly what the Theonian people wanted to vent, and what they needed to hear.

“Just now, Polyexis claimed everything he did was for the Theonian citizens,” Davos started, approaching the topic from an unexpected angle. “If he had not committed the crimes of illegally occupying land and restricting civil liberties, I would have been delighted to hear such words. After all, that is the duty of a qualified Theonian Senator.”

A ripple of sneering laughter moved through the crowd, expressing their utter contempt for Polyexis’s hypocrisy—saying one thing while doing another. The tension caused by the traitor’s final outburst dissolved.

“I must also thank Lord Dionysius of Syracuse,” Davos continued, his tone dripping with sarcasm. “Even while fighting a desperate war against the Carthaginians, he managed to find time to care about the political life of Theonians. I hear the people of Syracuse are not living in abundance. There was no need for him to waste such large sums of gold here; had he spent it on his own people, perhaps their lives would be a little better!”

Davos let out a cold laugh, his voice rising to a roar. “Most importantly—Dionysius, that tyrant of Syracuse, hasn’t even wiped the shit off his own ass! What right does he have to point fingers at our Theonian League and disrupt our order?!”

The coarse, biting mockery drew a roar of laughter from the people.

“The Senate will dispatch envoys to Syracuse to lodge a formal protest with Dionysius, demanding an explanation and an apology! Perhaps you worry: will this provoke Syracuse’s hostility?”

Davos paused, his posture radiating confidence. “I can tell you clearly: Syracuse is indeed strong. But we, Theonia, are equally strong! Since the founding of our League five years ago, we have never known defeat in foreign wars! Dionysius is already straining to cope with the mighty enemy, Carthage, to his south. Does he dare risk a two-front war by provoking us? Citizens! The Theonian Legions formed by you are our true walls of iron and steel; you are an incomparably sharp sword. When you arm yourselves, it is enough to shatter the ambition of any city-state that dares look upon Theonia!”

Davos’s words struck a resonant chord, igniting their courage and sense of honor.

“Lord Davos is right! Our First Legion is invincible! We fear no enemy!”

“The Second Legion is no slouch either! If the Syracusans dare step onto the soil of Southern Italy, we’ll drive them into the sea to feed the fish and shrimp!”

“In the mountains, no one can defeat the Third Legion! We are the strongest there!”

“Don’t forget, among the Theonian Legions, only the Fourth Legion has stormed and taken enemy cities by force! In siege warfare, we have no equal!”

“We have not only powerful legions but an invincible Commander! Under the protection of Hades, if the Syracusans dare to be our enemy, their heads must be broken!”

“Victory to the Theonian Legions!”

“Victory to the Commander!”

The initial bickering between units transformed into a tsunami of cheering. The shadow cast by the revelation of Syracuse’s meddling was swept away in a surge of martial pride.

Davos pressed his hands down once more. When the cheers subsided, his voice dropped to a somber gravity.

“This time, Senators like Polyexis and Enanilous committed grave crimes, embezzling vast amounts of public property. A significant number of League officials were also implicated. This has shocked me, shocked the Senate, shocked all of you here, and indeed, the entire Theonian League! This is my dereliction of duty! The Senate’s dereliction of duty! You have every right to be angry, to blame the Senate! But after the anger, what we must consider is this: How do we prevent such atrocious events from happening again?”