Melisander was not surprised as he knew that his mother actually preferred living in the small city of Amendolara and only chose to live in the noisy city of Thurii to take care of Philesius. So after Philesius left for war, she felt lonely and naturally decided to come to Amendolara to live with her daughter-in-law and grandson.
As Melisander walked along the passage, a little girl ran towards him, “Brother! Brother!…”
“Little Doris!” Melisander came forward and picked up Doris, his three-year-old sister born to his mother and Philesius.
“Brother! Brother!…” Then another child staggered towards him.
“Be careful, my baby.” Melisander scrambled to hug him with his other arm. He then corrected him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “I’m not your brother, but your father. I want you to call me dad! Dad!”
The boy was the son of Arsinis and Hepnea, Arsinis the Second. During Hepnea’s pregnancy, Melisander took good care of her, so he treated little Arsinis as if he were his own.
Interestingly enough, Melisander and his sister’s age gap was huge, but she is the same age as his two-year-old stepson, little Arsinis, so they are more like sister and brother. And little Arsinis loves to play with his little aunt.
“No, just call him brother! Brother!” Incited by the naughty Doris.
Little Arsinis looked at Doris and Melisander confusedly. Afterwards, he loudly said, “Brother! Brother!”
Melisander was both amused and angry. He then patted Doris’ butt twice and said while pretending to be angry, “If you continue teaching little Ar again, this brother of yours will spank you!”
Doris immediately burst into tears.
“Melisander, how old are you that you don’t even know how to yield to your sister?!” A female voice that was less like a rebuke and more like a sound of relief sounded from the front.
“Mother!” Melisander stood up and called out affectionately. He then turned to the young, slender figure beside Delia and said in a soft voice, “I am back, Hepnea.”
Hepnea stared at her husband, who had lost his childishness and was more robust. It was only after she looked over his body and making sure there were no scars that her worries were dispelled, and smiled at Melisander.
“Didn’t his majesty Davos give an order allowing you to go home only after we defeat the enemy?! Why are you back now?!” Delia asked in surprise. And the reason why she called Davos with his new title so smoothly was that they were the loyal believers of Hades who pushed Davos to the throne.
“It’s because his majesty allowed us to go home to participate in the donation and return to the camp tomorrow.” Melisander replied.
“Ah, you would go back tomorrow?!” Hepnea blurted out as she didn’t expect their time to get together to be so short.
“Once the war is over, and peace is restored, you can have Melisander stay at home as long as you want. But now, they must expel our enemies that want to destroy our land!” Delia had seen how the Tarantines ravaged her homeland with her own eyes, so she educated her daughter-in-law as she did not want that to happen again.
“You are right, mother.” Hepnea answered with respect.
Melisander gently pushed away his son’s small hands that were scratching at his face and said, “His majesty will soon lead us south to repel the Syracusans. However, the biggest problem now is that we don’t have enough food-”
“I heard that your father’s place(referring to Aprustum) is not in good condition…” Delia was very worried, not only because she heard that the soldiers on the frontline had food shortages but also because of their great defeat. Even here in the centre of Theonia, she could still hear some people blaming her husband, such as his poor commanding ability and so on. So she could only imagine how much pressure Philesius is bearing at the frontline, “You had just come back in time as Hepnea and I have already prepared the money and food to donate. Later, we can go together and bring it to the Nike Square.”
“That’s great!” Melisander said happily as this saved him a lot of effort.
“Melisander, my son. Now that you are going south this time, you must help your father more!” Delia reminded.
‘What can I do for him? My father is the commander in the south, while I am just a platoon leader.’ Melisander thought, but the words escaping from his mouth was full of promises.
Hepnea took little Arsinis from his arms while Delia held Doris as they entered the main residence.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“What did you say?! Lord…his majesty can’t go home yet?!” Azune asked anxiously, “But I heard that the soldiers in the camp have already been disbanded and gone home!”
Aristias calmly said, “His majesty has important matters to attend to and will be back later. That’s why he told me to come first and tell it to you, madam.”
“I see. Then we’ll wait for him to come back.” Cheiristoya responded with a smile.
Aristias then said his goodbye and left.
“Sister, will Davos not come back today?!” Disappointment and worry mixed on Agnes’ pretty face, looking a bit pitiful. Although she was already 24 years old, her father always adored her before she got married. And Davos treasured her after they got married, and she moved to Thurii that she was either at home or in the temple, not suffering any big storm or setbacks. As this was her first time being pregnant, she inevitably felt anxious and desperate for someone to accompany and comfort her. However, Davos went on an expedition for more than a month and was not around, so when she finally heard that he was coming back but got postponed in the blink of an eye, her mood naturally suffered from uncertainty.
Although Cheiristoya was also saddened, as the matriarch managing Davos’ residence, she cheered herself up and tried her best to comfort her by saying, “Sister, relax. It’s not like you don’t know our husband. If he said he would come back today, he would come back today! So you shouldn’t be anxious. Instead, go to bed first and take a rest so that you won’t feel sleepy when he comes home.”
“Okay…sister, but don’t forget to wake me up later.” Agnes said softly while the female slave supported her into her room.
Cheiristoya sighed softly and felt bitter for a while, ‘Agnes has me to comfort her, but who would comfort me!’
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Davos was looking carefully at a weapon placed on the table: A spear. Its shape and style are similar to those used by the heavy infantry. The only difference was that the length is four metres, which is two metres longer than the spear used by the heavy infantry, and the diameter of the shaft is thicker.
As soon as Davos picked it up, Tios – the arms merchant, shouted, “Your majesty, watch out!”
Davos’ height and the spear’s length almost pierced the ceiling, so he had to lift it obliquely. After flicking the spear and making a few more thrusts, he then asked with satisfaction, “This is a well-made spear. Are the other spears like this?”
Tios frankly replied, “Your majesty, you asked me to make 6000 of such spears in such a short time, but I couldn’t make each spear like the one in your hand. However, I can assure you that they have no problem killing the enemy! Furthermore, in terms of quality, these spears are stronger and more durable because, with your majesty’s approval, we cut down the cedar in the Amendolaran mountains and used the wood used to build ships to create these spears. Hence even if we attach the spearheads to such a long shaft, it wouldn’t tremble much and not be easily broken when thrusting…”
Davos nodded, “Are all of them finished?”
“Only 1400 shafts were completed and sent here first because Lord Kapus was in a hurry to use them.”
Davos frowned and said, “You have to hurry up as we would only stay in Thurii for a few days before we have to go to battle again. Hence we need to make all these spears and distribute them to every soldier as soon as possible because we also need to leave them time for training. Time is very tight!”
“Your majesty, we are doing our best! But just the matter of chopping down trees, transportation, cutting and planing the wood…” Tios began to complain.
Davos interrupted him and said, “I’ll have Kapus sent some men from the logistics to assist you with some of the less important processes, such as cutting down trees, transporting them and so on, while your men finish the production of the spearheads and spear shaft. Will that work?!”
“If that’s the case…” Tios calculated it carefully and said loudly, “I should…be able to guarantee that I can deliver all the spears to you in three…no, the day after tomorrow!”
“Work hard! As for the cost of these weapons, the State Treasury is currently short of money, so we could only pay it to you after the war is over. But don’t worry as I will ask Mersis to add 10% interest.”
As soon as Davos said this, Tios hurriedly replied, “Your majesty, I am willing to donate all of these spears to Theonia, and I have also already donated three talents, which I asked my family to bring to the Nike Square. Your majesty, you have taken the lead in setting an example for us. Hence as a citizen of Theonia, I am willing to dedicate myself for Theonia to gain victory in this war, even though I cannot participate in the battle!”
“Well said!” Davos then praised loudly, “Your contributions will naturally be recorded, so once we won this war, the Senate will reward you for it!”
At Davos’ vague hint, Tios was encouraged, and he immediately pulled out a few sheets of papyrus and handed them to Davos.
After he took and looked at it, Davos stared at Tios with some doubt.
“Your majesty, these are the foreign merchants in Amendolara’s Economic Development Zone. When they heard that Theonia called on the citizens to donate, they all said, ‘I hope to participate in the donation and help Theonia overcome this crisis.’ and these are the list of things they gathered and donated.” Tios explained.
