Agasias was surprised for a moment and said in embarrassment, “Your majesty, if you add the prisoners together, they numbered no less than 10,000! In contrast, there are only more than 2,000 soldiers in Aprustum. Besides that, I have to leave some soldiers to defend the city, so I fear I can't escort that many prisoners…”
“Don’t worry. I will leave a thousand soldiers from the sarissa brigade under your command and would return to Thurii with you.” Davos already made a plan. After all, the Syracusan army now had far fewer troops than the army he led after suffering a disastrous defeat. In addition, with the next battle being a siege battle, the sarissa brigade has no place to play.
“Understood.” Agasias could only nod his head in acceptance while looking at the line of captives and said with concern, “But I fear that the addition of 10,000 prisoners would make Theonia’s food situation even more intense.”
“Ansitanos already went to Carthage by boat a few days, and I believe we can sign some agreements with them this time.” Davos said confidently.
“Carthage?” Agasias frowned, “Didn't they already reject our request for an alliance before?!”
“The current situation is different from before the war started-” Davos was about to explain to him in detail when a loud cry came from a distance, “Lord Davos!”
After taking a closer look, Davos saw Siprus and another man surrounded by a team as they approached them.
Davos went to meet them while his guard followed him closely.
“Thanks to you, Theonians, we finally won this important battle! We have defeated the vicious Syracusans! Magna Graecia is now saved!” Siprus then excitedly gave Davos a firm hug.
Davos patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, “If you hadn't resisted Syracuse's full attack on the left-wing, it would be difficult to say the result of this battle. Thus it is safe to say that we, the South Italian Alliance, worked together to win this battle that would decide our survival!”
“That's fair enough. Our citizens didn't die in vain!” A cold voice came from beside Siprus.
Davos turned his head to look at the one who had just spoken: He was a burly middle-aged man with a bearded face. He looked at Davos with a somewhat complicated expression.
“Strategos Milo?” Davos had already guessed his identity.
“I am Milo, who you defeated a few years ago. Finally, Crotone forced me to leave.” Milo said with a somewhat unpleasant expression.
Davos did not mind as he deeply said, “There is a saying in the east, ‘You won't know each other if you don't fight’! We, Theonians, were really frightened when you marched towards Thurii with great speed. Since then, I have always wanted to meet you, but I didn't expect that I would only meet you after a few years passed. Still, it's fortunate that Theonia and Crotone are now allies who have fought for our life and death together, and I am honoured to fight side by side with you in such a battle related to the survival of Magna Graecia and to defeat a powerful enemy! I think recalling you back is the wisest choice that the council of Crotone made in this war, which allowed Crotone to persist until today and gained time for our South Italian Alliance to gather our strength and fight back against the Syracusans, leading to today's victory! On behalf of Theonia, I thank you and the citizens of Crotone who fought to the death!”
After finishing his speech, Davos solemnly saluted Milo. But the truth is, Davos didn't know what Milo had done after he returned to Crotone, so his praise of Milo was more to compensate for Theonia's delay in rescuing Crotone.
So as soon as he finished speaking, The Crotonian soldiers behind Milo straightened their chests as pride filled their hearts, ‘This is the praise of the famous and invincible strategos of Magna Graecia – Davos!’
Even Milo became slightly excited as he hurriedly saluted back, “It's my honour to fight with you, Lord Davos!”
“It's all the arrangement of fate! As now that we in the South Italian Alliance are like one family, we must not allow the Syracusans to just enter and leave!” Siprus took the chance to agree.
“Lord Davos.” Milo hesitated and said, “I am afraid that we would not be able to send another army to fight against the Syracusans. Furthermore, now that the Syracusans have burned even our Acropolis, the citizens urgently need to rebuild their homes!…”
“I understand.” Davos said sincerely, “Crotone has sacrificed a lot in this war! So if you have any difficulties, feel free to tell us, and we, Theonians, will do our best to assist! In addition, feel free to leave your wounded to us for treatment as we will do our best to save them!”
These promises made by the new king of Theonia – Davos, were what the Crotonians needed to hear the most at this moment! For this reason, Milo sincerely thanked Davos once again and then returned to Crotone's Acropolis with his men.
“Lord Davos, we would like to join you in fighting the Syracusans!” Watching the Crotonian leave, Siprus then loudly said.
“You are very welcome!” As he knew what Siprus wanted, Davos happily said, “I think it would be easier to recapture Terina after attacking Scylletium tomorrow.”
“May Apollo bless you!” Siprus had the same idea as he didn't think that after the defeat of the Syracusan army, the thousands of enemies in Terina would dare to stay there and wait for the tens of thousands of Theonian troops’ attack.
“Your majesty! Your majesty Davos!…” Just as they began discussing, Davos could hear a familiar voice from a distance.
Davos opened his eyes in surprise at seeing the young figure appear in front of him, “Why are you here?!”
Henipolis shrugged his should and said, “I'm here to keep my promise – to be your clerk, your majesty.”
“Heni, there is no need to be in a rush just to be my clerk at this time! You are the archon of Laos, and you had just taken back Laos from your rebellious uncle! Instead, you should have stayed with the people of Laos to restore the order as soon as possible!” Davos looked at his relaxed appearance and couldn't help but remind him.
“Your majesty, there is no need for you to worry. Ariandos is there to maintain the city's order, and Bagul also helps manage the city matters. Besides, Praetor Hemon of Nerulum could give his assistance at any time, so my presence or absence there won't affect Laos' governance.”
Henipolis' words astonished Davos, “You asked Bagul to handle Laos' matters for you?!”
“Can't I? Those things I am going to implement are originally from Thurii, and Bagul, the Praetor of Grumentum, should be very familiar with it and fully capable of dealing with the various difficulties brought about by reforming Laos. On the contrary, my presence there would hinder him from using his authority…” Henipolis glibly.
Davos didn't know how to respond for a moment, but his expression was still one of rebuke, ‘The highest authority of a city-state hadn't shared the difficulties with the people of the city but slipped away? What would the people of Laos think once they found out about this?!’
But Davos couldn't say those words out loud in such a public place. Just when he was thinking of lecturing Henipolis in private, Henipolis saw through his thoughts and stepped forward and whispered, “Your majesty, I have something important to discuss with you; that’s why I came here with Hielos' army!”
When Davos saw he spoke so seriously, he asked subconsciously, “What's the matter?”
Henipolis glanced at Siprus beside Davos, but instead of whispering what he wanted to say, he intentionally made his voice a little louder, “After this incident, I realised that I am not interested in managing a city-state, and Laos couldn't continue developing safely and prosperously without Theonia. Thus I decided to merge Laos into Theonia!”
Davos was shocked at hearing those words because Henipolis was really serious; it was evident that he had long thought much about it.
At this moment, countless thoughts flashed rapidly in Davos' mind, but he forcibly suppressed them and said only a sentence, “We will discuss this later in my tent.”
Then he turned around and said, “This is Lord Siprus, the polemarchos of Terina!”
Henipolis hurriedly greeted him, “Lord Siprus, I had met you several times before at his majesty's residence.”
“Oh, right.” Siprus smiled reluctantly. After all, even though he goes to Davos' residence every time he goes to Thurii, how could he bother to remember a teenager he met by chance in the courtyard? Still, he was shocked about the news he had just heard and then looked at the spirited young man in front of him. He didn't know what kind of impact Laos taking the initiative to merge into Theonia would have on the Theonia Union and the other city-states of the South Italian Alliance? And what would Terina, which had also suffered the flames of war, do?
Siprus sighed in his heart and said, “Lord Henipolis, congratulations on taking back Laos!”
Henipolis smiled inwardly after noticing the anxiety on Siprus' expression. Still, he thanked him and said, “I had just separated from strategos Phromelas, and he should now be with Lord Hielos in escorting the prisoners. In this battle, Terina's soldiers played a huge role in blocking the fleeing Syracusans!”
Siprus hurriedly asked Phromelas' location and then led the soldiers away.
“It was thanks to Hielos leading the army in time. Otherwise, the result of the battle wouldn't be so great!” Said Davos with a sigh as he watched the departing back of Siprus.
