Ceryces kicked it away and warned, “Pherovares, shut your mouth! Do you want to summon all the slaves of Ladicians behind the mountain?!” For Ceryces to avoid the other side's attention, they had to take a massive detour and climb several mountains to get here from the rear.
But after uttering those words, “Caw! Caw! Caw!…” a shrill cawing resounded through the mountain range, which startled Ceryces.
A flock of crows then perched on the branches.
Pherovares couldn't stop laughing when he looked at the embarrassed Ceryces, so he hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand.
“Damn crows!” Ceryces couldn't help but swear.
“That's Hades' messenger who came to help us!” Aphethys, who was at the front, turned around and bowed at the crow devoutly. He then said to Ceryces, “If Phragres had buried something recently, it's probably here.”
“There?!” Pherovares looked at where Aphethys was standing, but the trees and grasses seemed no different from the other areas.
Ceryces was tall and could see that the weeds in the area where Aphethys stood were significantly shorter than the surrounding area as if this small area was sunken as a whole.
“Let's dig!” Ceryces' eyes brimmed with eagerness. During this period, he had gone through various channels to inquire about some information, but none saw the missing girl in Phragres' residence. On the contrary, a few confirmed that Phragres' slaves had wandered in the forest many times, with the most accurate information coming from the famous hunter Aphethys of Purosdemos, who he had to go many times just to ask for his help. And now, his final hope is the land in front of him!
He raised his pickaxe high and smashed it hard.
After taking a deep breath, Pherovares followed and began digging. This mountain forest belonged to the kingdom of Theonia and wasn’t allocated to individuals, but since Ladician’s field is in the front part of the mountain, there had been conflicts with the people of Purosdemos, who wanted to go to the mountain range to hunt and gather wood. Over time, they just detour the place. So if not for Ceryces being kind to him, Aphethys wouldn't have ventured here.
It was quiet in the mountain that even the crows stopped cawing; the only thing they could hear was the sound of panting and pickaxes hitting the ground…
Soon, they managed to dig a small hole due to the wet and soft soil…
“Wait!” Aphethys, who was standing on the side watching, immediately shouted and stopped the two from swinging their pickaxes. He then got down to the ground and stretched out his hand to pull a small ‘branch’ protruding from the water at the bottom of the pit. However, he failed to pull it, so he instead wiped the mud from the ‘branch’…
Then the two men beside widened their eyes as they saw that it was a swollen and rotting finger!
“Aphethys, do you know where constable Theokases and his men are hiding now?”
“I know, just when we came…”
“Go and bring them here now!”
“Understood.”
. . . . . . . . . . . .
By the time Theokases arrived, it was already getting dark. Yet he was still in an excited mood that as soon as he saw Ceryces, he excitedly said, “Ceryces, you finally brought me good news!”
The sweating Ceryces stood by the pit with his pickaxes and looked tired. He then said in a heavy tone, “We found a decomposing female body, presumably the missing girl. We also found two other skeletons… I just wonder if there are more in this land?”
Theokases was startled. He then looked at the dark pit in front of him and said angrily, “Damn Phragres, he should go to hell and be tortured forever!”
He then turned around and shouted, “Brothers, light the torch and continue digging this land!”
“Yes, sir!” Many guard members responded.
“You would alarm Phragres!” Ceryces hurriedly said.
“Now that we got conclusive evidence, Phragres should be more afraid that I would add a few more charges against him if he dares to stop me!” Theokases then waved his hand confidently, “Start digging!”
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The following day, a piece of explosive news quickly spread throughout the city: Six skeletons were dug up in the mountains west of Naxos, and from the investigation, all six were female and had died of strangling…
This horrific news shocked the people of Naxos as there had never been such a vicious case happening since the foundation of Theonia. But who was the murderer?
Just as the people panicked, Theokases led the guard to surround Ladician's residence.
Anteros, the housekeeper, tried to argue that the skeletons behind the mountain had nothing to do with them and even loudly protested against the illegal act of the guard team breaking into private properties. But it wasn't long before a slave, under pressure, admitted that Phragres had five young female slaves serving him during these years that had unknowingly disappeared.
Then they also found a slave identification on a skeleton with a missing finger in the left hand that might be one of the female slaves.
Afterwards, they brought the wife of the freeman, who then recognised the clothes worn by the decomposing corpse were those worn by her daughter when she disappeared.
Just as Theokases tried to arrest Phragres forcefully, a male slave took the initiative to admit that he was the one who killed these people and was willing to be judged by the law!
Although it took Theokases by surprise, he still took him back to the station next to the city hall, along with the ‘murderer’ on the grounds that ‘Phragres was still a major suspect’.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
Stromboli immediately summoned the young constable to the city hall and asked, “Theokases, is there any progress in the case now?”
“Phragres doesn't admit that he killed them. Instead, he said he was willing to be punished for his negligence in disciplining his slaves. The other slaves had identified the slave who confessed to the murder as one of the two direct subordinates of Phragres, but the other had committed suicide the night we found the bodies. I reckon it was them who had buried the bodies all along; otherwise, they wouldn't have been so clear about the bodies’ locations… Unfortunately, no matter how hard we torture him, he always says that he was the one that killed them…” Said Theokases with some frustration.
“Those council members kept coming to mediate for Phragres, which is giving me a hard time. If you still can't find conclusive evidence of his murder, I am afraid…” Stromboli stroked his beard and said, “What is the punishment for murdering slaves?”
“According to the court, ten years in prison and large sums of money for the most serious cases. However, all the dead were slaves, and only one was a daughter of a registered freeman who wasn't a citizen. Therefore, even if he really murdered them, he would likely not be sentenced to death! Judge Ardalus even urged me today to hand over the slave and Phragres to the court as soon as possible to conclude the trial and avoid the matter getting bigger and causing panic in the city…I think he got some benefit from Ladician!” Said Theokases angrily.
“Don't spout rubbishes! The courts are independent; neither could I affect them nor interfere! Maybe judge Ardalus thought it was nothing as it was just a few slaves that died.” Stromboli calmed him down. However, concern still showed on his face, “But in that case, Phragres would be fine, and the Senate won’t be able to punish Ladician because he wouldn’t be involved in the case. Instead, you will completely offend him…”
“I am not afraid of them!” Said Theokases firmly.
Stromboli sighed and said, “With our support, you naturally don't need to be afraid. But it is still trouble after all…it seems that I need to write to his majesty again…”
“Why write to his majesty?” Theokases asked suspiciously.
“Because his majesty hates citizens who abused their slaves the most. A few years ago, a member of the local council of Crotone had severely injured his slave for no reason, but the local judge just gave him a fine. After his majesty Davos learned about it, he asked the court to impose additional punishment. Thus he wasn't only fined a large amount but also sentenced to one-year imprisonment… This time, if he knew that so many female slaves had died, you can only imagine how angry he would be. By then, could Phragres still keep his life?!” A cold smile appeared on Stromboli's face.
Theokases nodded.
At this time, Stromboli patted his forehead as he suddenly remembered something, “By the way, immediately invite the priest of the Temple of Hades and see if they can make the slave confess…”
. . . . . . . . . . . .
For the Greek city-states in this era, there were three most common punishments for criminals: Imposing fines for the less severe cases; Physical punishment, such as getting accountable, flogging, and torture for the more severe cases; But in strict city-states such as Locri, a much more cruel means would be imposed such as having their hands cut off and their eyes gouged, and execution for extreme cases; And of course, there is the standard punishment where they would get deprived of their citizenship and get deported.
However, Greek city-states had no imprisonment because the criminal wouldn’t be able to work. Yet, they would still have to provide food for him, which was unacceptable for a city-state government with fewer people and less money. Thus these Greek city-states had no fixed jails.
But the kingdom of Theonia differed from other Greek city-states. The Theonia Law has no dismemberment as punishment, but it has provisions according to the severity of the crime and the length of imprisonment. Therefore, every city in the kingdom has jails, most of which are in the guard stations.
At this moment, Theokases welcomed Corinthus, a priest of the Temple of Hades in Naxos, with respect and entered the jail in the guard house.
Corinthus was originally a priest at the Temple of Athena in Thurii. However, after the establishment of the Temple of Hades and Hades’ faith quickly spread throughout the union and won widespread support, fewer and fewer people came to the Temple of Athena to pray. At the same time, Corinthus himself became attracted by the teachings of Hades and finally began serving the king of the underworld. After a few years, Corinthus won the trust of the chief priest Plesinas with his ability and was appointed to be the priest in charge of the newly completed Temple of Hades in Naxos.
