“Why?!” Theokases hurriedly said, “Milord, if we don't make a surprise inspection, we would just give Phragres enough time to prepare and make it difficult to catch him!”
“Why?! It is because he is Ladician's son, and his brother-in-law is Antonios! It's not like you don't know Ladician's influence here in Naxos during his stay, and you only have mere speculation without any evidence. Once your search comes empty, do you know how much damage it would cause to Ladician and his son's reputation?! At that time, you and I will face Ladician's wrath and revenge!” Said Stromboli with seriousness.
“As a veteran statesman and since I am about to leave Naxos, Ladician wouldn't dare to do anything to me. However, you and Galademus will stay here for two-three more years. Last year, you should know how they suppressed and excluded Galademus because of the taxation. So if you were to anger Ladician this time, you would suffer hardship in your future life here! But as your elder, I'd rather you stay out of this case than suffer any harm!” (Due to the rapid expansion of the kingdom of Theonia, the frequent change of officials in the city is not beneficial to the region's stability. Thus the senate passed a revised law where the city's Praetor would serve for three years while the civil servants of middle and lower ranks would generally be five years.)
Although Stromboli said those words with sincerity, Theokases didn't appreciate them. Instead, he shouted defiantly, “Naxos is a part of the kingdom of Theonia, and it is his majesty that has the final say, so how could Ladician be allowed to act recklessly! I don't believe he would dare to do anything to me!”
“Do you really want to investigate?”
“Yes, milord. Whether this matter has anything to do with Ladician's family or not, I must get to the bottom of this!” Said Theokases with a determined expression.
The hesitant Stromboli then looked to the other side, “Galademus, what's your opinion?”
“Milord, I support Theokases!” Galademus paused for a moment and said, “I will also do my best in assisting him. After all, I am very familiar with that village.”
“Youth is nice!” Stromboli looked at them and sighed.
“Milord, you were famous for being strict and benevolent back when you were a justice. But I didn't expect that now…” Theokases guilt tripped him with words.
“Speaking about strictness, I can not compare with Scambras. Unfortunately, he has already gone to Elysium…” Said Stromboli with lament, “Unlike Magna Graecia, Sicily doesn't have many Theonian citizens of freemen origin here; most of them were Exiles from the old city-states of Sicily, so it is easy for them to group together. After the South Italian War, his majesty placed most of his energy on the governance and unification of the land of South Italia. Hence the senate could only absorb a lot of Sicily's Exile leaders to ensure Sicily's stability…”
Stromboli swirled the wine mug as his eyes glowed with a faint light, “…unless his majesty makes up his mind in rectifying the territory of Sicily. Although I would no longer stop you from investigating this matter, I hope you will act covertly, collect conclusive evidence and don't be caught by Ladician's men so that I can report this matter directly to his majesty.”
Theokases' eyes brightened up and said, “Understood, milord!”
“It doesn't matter even if you fail.” Stromboli then encouraged them, “You are citizens from Amendolara, you have the ‘Amendolara Founder Silver Badge’, and you have the support of many statesmen from Amendolara and the military*, so no one would dare to mess with you.” (Since most of the mercenaries under Davos had married women from Amendolara, the statesmen in the Ministry of Military had deep relationships with the original citizens of Amendolara.)
“Milord, I will find out the truth, so set your mind at ease!” Said Theokases confidently.
“Milord, are you going to step down?!” Galademus took the opportunity to ask.
“Yes, my three-year term will end in September. And at my age, I am afraid I won't have the chance to serve again!” Stromboli stroked his white beard and exclaimed, “From the information I got, it would either be Lord Asistes or Lord Lasiperatus* that would succeed me.”
“According to the law issued a few years ago, isn't it stipulated that a statesman can't be the praetor of the city where he was born?” Asked Galademus with suspicion.
“Yes, but Lord Lasiperatus is from Catania, and the Sicilians love to gather up in a group… In addition, Asistes' uncle is Antonios. Hence whoever takes the post of the Praetor of Naxos would definitely take care of Ladician's family. Thus I didn't want you to make this matter bigger as it would be detrimental to your future development!” Warned Stromboli.
Galademus and Theokases then looked at each other.
“Anyway, enough about that. Tonight was supposed to be the farewell banquet I held in advance for us, but you almost ruined it, Theokases.” after saying that, Stromboli raised the mug in his hand and said loudly, “Come children, let's toast to tonight's banquet!”
. . . . . . . . . . . .
That night, Theokases and Galademus thanked Stromboli for his care over the past few years by raising their mug to toast and finally returned home drunk.
Near noon the next day, Theokases arrived at the city hall with a hangover, only to receive the news that the freeman had cancelled the report. The freeman explained that he and his wife were so busy working that they forgot their daughter had been taken to Catania by their relatives to play yesterday afternoon.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
At dusk, the number of customers in Cheiristoya Restaurant in Naxos gradually increased.
Then a middle-aged man with a scar on his face came in and went straight to the waiter at the counter, “Excuse me, I have an appointment with Theokases-”
“Please follow me.” The waiter then took him up to the second floor and pushed open a room in which Theokases sat alone.
As soon as Theokases saw who it was, he said with discontent, “Strategos Ceryces, how can you control your men if you yourself are late.”
Without even bothering to respond, Ceryces sat across from him and said, “What did you invite me to dinner for?”
Theokases didn't immediately answer. Instead, he turned to the waiter and said, “Hurry up and serve all the dishes I ordered; I am already starving. Ceryces, what do you wanna drink?”
“Beer, of course.”
“Give two more jars of beers and close the door when you leave.”
“Alright. Sir, we will deliver your beer and dishes right away.” The waiter then left and closed the door.
Ceryces glanced at Theokases and asked again, “Why did you call me in such a hurry?”
Theokases placed his right elbow on the table and asked, “Lord tribunal, do you know what happened to Purosdemos two days ago?”
Ceryces was a tribunal officer elected by the citizens of Purosdemos. Per the Law of Theonia, each demos would elect a tribunal officer every two years so that a city would have a maximum of ten tribunals. But in large cities such as Thurii and Crotone, where the number of demos is far more than ten and could even go as high as twenty or thirty, they would elect ten tribunal officers from the twenty randomly selected citizens from each demos. Naxos, on the other hand, only has seven demos since it isn't a large city and was only established less than ten years.
Ten years ago, Ceryces was part of the Exiles that fought alongside the first legion and was instrumental in the battle against the Syracusan allied troops. Later, after the complete integration of the Catanian plain to the kingdom of Theonia, Davos ordered the Ministry of Military to establish the eighth legion in Sicily. And Ceryces, who had combat experience and meritorious achievements, smoothly became a low-lever officer of the eighth legion.
Ten years later, he finally became a senior centurion. However, he never wanted to develop in local government affairs, so he directly signed up to become a tribunal officer, completely cutting off his future in politics. Due to his prestige in Purosdemos and achievements*, he was elected twice in a row as tribunal officer of Purosdemos. (A hero of Naxos, as evidenced by the scars on his face, a senior centurion of the eighth legion, a tax-paying man, and a clean record.)
Currently, he was thinking about what Theokases said: Theokases was the city's constable, and his job was to maintain the public order, arrest the murderers and Apprehend the thieves. With Theokases anxiously coming to find him, it is most likely for those matters; after all, they have cooperated many times before. And what happened in the past two days in Purosdemos…
He then said with uncertainty, “Do you mean about the freeman whose daughter went missing?”
“It seems you are still a competent tribunal officer.” Theokases jokingly said.
“I heard the freeman found his daughter.” Ceryces added.
Theokases slammed his fist on the table and said, “Bullshit! He said that his daughter went to Catania with her uncle, but when I asked their neighbours, they told me that no one saw any guests at his house, let alone his daughter going to the port. On the contrary, I went to the Bank of Cheiristoya and found that he deposited a thousand drachmae this morning…”
The Bank of Cheiristoya has a ‘no disclosure of customer information to anyone’ regulation, and since it has a powerful background, no one can make the employees of this bank bow their heads. But at Davos' suggestion, Cheiristoya later added a provision that ‘if it is related to the safety of the kingdom and the people, they may cooperate as long as there is a warrant from the local praetor’. Thus Theokases invited Stromboli to check it.
