Garni said while feeling shocked, “I am a Samnite from Abellinum, just north of Potentia.”
The Sicilian guests who were secretly listening to their conversation noted down the Samnite and Abellinum in their minds. Then they quietly pondered the significance of this Italian native’s appearance on Hades’ Day, which had hardly appeared in Thurii before.
As the two continued to converse, people began entering the arena one after another, soon filling up the arena and making the place noisy and lively.
At the back of the platform, the statesmen began entering.
“That’s Lysias, the praetor of Thurii! I heard that he also served as the praetor of Crotone many times before…”
“That is Lord Cornelius. Although he is the most senior statesman in the Senate, he is quite friendly to the people! See, he is even greeting the audience around him!”
“Listening to the warm cheers of the audience, you don’t even need to see to know that the one entering was the grand priest, Lord Plesinas!”
“Look at the man with a cold face; that is the grand inspector, Sesta. Although the statesmen and officials were afraid of him, the people of Theonia respect him!”
“Who is that? He is as fat as a pig!”
“Shush, don’t talk nonsense! Don’t underestimate him as even King Davos trusted him; He is Mersis, the Chief of Finance of Theonia and holds the kingdom’s treasury.”
“What about that man? He doesn’t look like a Greek.”
“He is indeed not a Greek as he is a Persian. He is Marigi, the Chief Commercial Officer of Theonia. You could hear the audience cheering him because he had greatly contributed to Thurii’s prosperity, and the Thurians are grateful to him.”
“Who is that?”
The statesman who just came out neither waved to the audience nor talked with the other statesman and just sat down. However, the people still cheered a lot. Furthermore, Garni could feel from his every move and temperament that this man must have led the army.
And sure enough, Cecrops said, “That is the hero of the South Italian War, statesman Hielos. He once led the army to conquer Locri and its allies, and he had now just become the Chief of Ministry of Military…and the statesman walking behind him, even though he looks ordinary, each of us has benefited from him!”
“Oh? Who is he?”
“He is the Aedile, Heracleides the Younger. He was responsible for the constructions of the roads and stone bridges we use in Theonia’s territory.”
“What about those two? They don’t look like Greeks either.”
“They are Vespa and Hemon and are naturally not Greeks but Lucanians. However, they are also prominent statesmen in the Senate. If you think about the size of the Lucanian region in Theonia’s territory, you will understand it… That one, even though he is also not a Greek, he is also a prominent statesman; he is statesman Sedrum from Bruttii and the only one to serve as a provincial governor of Theonia. Then those following him were Saru and Kreru…all statesmen from Bruttii…”
Hearing Cecrops’ introduction, Ganni suddenly became interested when he looked at the faces that differed from the Greeks.
But Cecrops, who was introducing the Theonians attending the opening ceremony, gradually became puzzled as even though many Theonian statesmen had appeared, apart from King Davos, the most familiar Sicilian statesmen hadn’t yet appeared.
Antonios – the hero that conquered the eastern coast of Sicily and was the praetor of Naxos for many years; And those people Cecrops dealt with the most, Ladician and Lasiperatus…these statesmen from Sicily would usually treat the envoys from Sicily with great hospitality every year. But for some reason, this year, they neither hosted a banquet nor showed up so far.
From Cecrops’ understanding, Ladician was the one who liked festive occasions and liked to show off the most, so what happened? Thus Cecrops began to ponder deeply.
Suddenly, a huge cheer sounded, like a gale blowing across the arena.
“His majesty KING DAVOS!!! ”
“His majesty the king is here!!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . .
The cheering in the arena continued for some time.
Then the king of Theonia, Davos, wearing a black golden chiton and a crown made of gold, smiled and waved to everyone around. Beside him were the two beautiful queens, Cheiristoya and Agnes.
Garni’s eyes suddenly widened as he pointed to a young man beside Davos. He then hurriedly asked, “Who is he?!”
“Hey, put down your hands! That’s disrespectful to King Davos and would just anger the audiences!” Cecrops hastily pulled down Garni’s hand and then added, “You are asking about King Davos’ eldest son, Crotokatax, right? Don’t judge him at how tall he is; he’s actually not even eighteen years old and is still just a teenager.”
“Are you sure he’s King Davos’ eldest son?!” Garni asked again in disbelief.
“I attend Hades’ Day every year and saw Prince Crotokatax appearing many times, so how can I be wrong?!” Cecrops became slightly angry hearing his questioning. But he still explained to show off his knowledge of Theonia’s royal family, “King Davos also had an adopted son named Adoris, who I heard joined the army to fight the Daunians, but Crotokatax was indeed Davos’ biological son. While the beautiful young girl beside him is the king’s adopted daughter, Cynthia. I heard that she hasn’t yet married even though she is already twenty years old because she has too many suitors, so much so that King Davos doesn’t know how to choose. Hence he is delaying it until now…”
Cecrops quietly told Garni about this gossip to show off that he was well-informed, “The little girl holding Cynthia’s hand is King Davos’ biological eldest daughter Eunice, the little boy talking to her is the king’s second son, Apox, and the little boy looking around is the king’s third son, Brillantes. Oh! It seems that his youngest daughter is here too, the little girl Aviya, who Queen Agnes is holding, and this would be her first appearance at the champions league opening ceremony! You are quite lucky as this would be the first time King Davos’ family has all appeared at a rugby match. It’s no wonder the Theonians were so excited!”
Garni became dumbfounded listening to the Tyndarian. He then stared at the platform with his shocked eyes as he still couldn’t believe that the gentle, handsome and helpful young man from Thurii that made them grateful two days ago was a noble prince of Theonia. ‘Could it be that King Davos placed great importance on Abellinum?!’ Thinking of that, Garni became excited as he thought he could complete his purpose in coming to Thurii this time.
In fact, he was just overthinking. Crotokatax just happened to be tasked to meet the guests from the north on that day.
And when he returned home, Cheiristoya was shocked after learning that her son had gone alone to have long-term contact with those ferocious Samnites.
But when Davos learned about it, he praised his son for what he had done and said, ‘As a descendant of Hades and a prince of Theonia, it is only natural for him to have such courage and magnanimity!’ He then encouraged his son to continue treating the Samnites well.
And for that reason, Davos and his wife had a rare quarrel.
Currently, Davos’ family is enjoying themselves. And after they all sat down, Davos nodded to Lysias, who was at the forefront on the platform.
Then the praetor of Thurii, Lysias, said, “Begin!”
The trumpeters on both sides of the platform immediately raised their long brass horns obliquely, and the high-pitched trumpet sound spread throughout the arena.
Afterwards, the teams from various towns and cities of Theonia began entering.
From the east’ gate, eight priests in white robes, carrying a wooden statue of Hades holding a hand egg, came in first. The statue’s image was similar to that of the statue outside the arena but was smaller in size and had a golden coating covering the surface, making it glitter under the sunlight.
Immediately following the eight priests were Thurii’s team, led by a guide holding a wooden sign inscribed with the word ‘Thurii’, which caused the crowd to cheer loudly as soon as they stepped onto the track outside of the field. Since Thurii is the centre of the kingdom of Theonia and the venue of the champions league, it is only natural for the largest audience watching the opening ceremony to be from Thurii. Hence Thurii’s team was at the forefront every year.
Thurii’s rugby player waved to the audience, causing the audience to cheer louder. With the interaction inside and outside the field, the atmosphere inside the arena reached its climax.
But the following team coming out was unfamiliar, which made the audience dumbfounded.
“Abellinum?!” The audience sitting closest to the field had their eyes widen as they read the city’s name on the guide’s wooden plate. Yet they were still at a loss, ‘Where is this?’
There is a rule on the entry order of the teams at the opening ceremony of the Rugby Champions League. Apart from the first and last teams being Thurii and another specific place, all other teams participating in the competition, including the invited non-Theonian teams, enter in alphabetical order of their city’s names. Thus it would show the principle of fairness and justice of Theonia without distinguishing between relatives and friends, which also reduces contradictions and arguments.
Hence the team starting with the letter ‘A’ would naturally be at the forefront. However, except for a few audiences from northern Lucania who knew something about them, the others knew nothing about Abellinum. Still, those who had watched the Champions League every year gave this unfamiliar team courtesy applause and cheers.
Once this team reached the distinguished guest area, Garni suddenly stood up, pointed at the team walking down the track and excitedly shouted, “ABELLINUM! This is Abellinum’s team from Samnite! They are all warriors of the mountains!” He also shouted out the names of the Samnite players.
