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Davos rushed to meet the soldiers after the army stayed for the night in Roscianum.
In the early morning of the next day, the whole army, who were dressed in a new attire, marched forward and lined-up in accordance with the predetermined order for the triumphant return.
After crossing the bridge, there were already thousands of freemen who had participated in the battle and the Greek mercenaries that Xanticles led were waiting to join the parade. Davos also changed his ride into a quadriga*, while Kapus, Drakos, Hieronymus and the archon of Laos, Avinoges had rode a chariot drawn by two horses, followed by the army marching toward the city of Thurii that is not far away. (T/N: A chariot drawn by four horses.)
When the freemen and some of the family members of the preparatory citizens, who had been waiting for a long time outside the city, saw the soldiers from a distance, it immediately caused a burst of tsunami like cheering.
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Arsinis could never have imagined of becoming the flag bearer of the triumphant return. At that time, all the legions had nominated numerous candidates, but Davos, was the one who personally named him. As one of the squad leaders of the legion, Arsinis had led a team of recruits and fought in the frontline while facing the fierce attack of the enemy. He had not only taken the lead, but also commanded the recruits so well and dealt with the situation calmly in the battle that decided the victory and direction of the second war with Crotone. And even in the case of having more than half of his squad being wounded, as the representative of the whole army, Arsinis still fought back bravely!
When Arsinis, who admired Davos, heard his praise, he became even more grateful to the union’s archon!
At this moment, Arsinis held the flag that represents the whole army. Faced with the cheering of the crowd and seeing the thousands of waving arms, he straightened his chest with pride….
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In the face of such a marvelous sight, even Tolmides who had gone through numerous brutal battles, could not keep his calm and excitedly said to Xanticles who was beside him, “After so many years of fighting, this is the first time I have realized the pride of being a soldier. Davos is really amazing!”
Xanticles continued to look straight ahead while saying, “Stop looking around! March seriously, don’t disgrace our mercenaries!”
Tolmides quickly straightened his chest and raised his head, but he teased Xanticles, “Old man, you are more serious than me!”
“Taking a part in the triumphant return is nothing. In the future, we will also sit on the chariot like Hieronymus and accept the cheers of the people!” Xanticles’ face flushed with excitement.
“That is right!” Tolmides’ pride soared, “I heard from Davos that because of this battle, our citizenship evaluation period will be greatly shortened. And if there are a few more such battles, we will soon be able to become an official citizen of Theonia! By then…he he!”
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“Kleigenes! That’s Kleigenes!!….”
“Stop shouting! He can’t hear you, he is now a hero of the union!”
“Hero?! With that thin body of his, I can beat him down even with one of my hands tied! If it wasn’t for his archery being better than me, I would be the one receiving the cheering now!”
“Yea, this guy was just favored by the goddess of luck! It seems that we all need to practice archery in our spare time and get selected the next time the conscription officers come to recruit!”
“Yea!!”
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When the ranks of the freemen entered the sight of the public, they had cheered even more intensely. After all, among the people outside the city that are welcoming them, a lot of them are freemen. Seeing that their former companions who worked together with them becoming heroes of Theonia had made them envious, but this had also encouraged their yearning for a battle and killing the enemy.
There are more than 20,000 soldiers that participated in the triumphant return, and the column that was formed was 3 kilometers long. When the rank of freemen who were at the end had just entered the welcoming area outside the city, the flag bearers at the head of the parade had just passed the Arc de Triomphe in the city.
Solikos looked at the carvings on the Arc De Triomphe, then he emotionally said to Ledes, “Last time, I was just a spectator watching the triumphant return, and now, I am a soldier participating in it!”
Ledes laughed and said, “So how do you feel?”
“Great!”
“Our cavalry used to be so weak that it couldn’t even be used in combat. But from now on, our Theonian cavalry must become the heroes of the triumphal every time!” Ledes ambitiously said, his eyes staring at the other flags besides the cavalry flag in front of him. Although the contents of the flag could not be seen from the rear, he knew that there was a text on it that was written by Davos, the words were “defeating the cavalry of Crotone with lesser number of cavalry and deciding the victory of the battle” because of this achievement, Davos put the cavalry behind the flag bearers.
Because there were too many soldiers participating in the triumphant return, the Nike Square could not accommodate them at all, and made it prone to accidents and so after arriving at the square, the marching troops were not allowed to stay. So after walking around the square for a while, they will then go out of the city from another street to the east gate.
In front of the senate hall on the west side of the square, is a platform, in which the statesmen solemnly paid great attention to the soldiers that were passing.
Amikles, who was invited to watch the ceremony, saw the valiant and high spirited army that was passing by the platform in neat steps. And involuntary exclaimed, “I didn’t expect that we would manage to win against the overbearing and arrogant Crotonians! This is really a great victory!” He was glad that he had made the right choice of standing firmly on the side of Theonia before the war had started.
His words were approved by most of the statesmen, but Scambras disagreed, “With Davos, victory is guaranteed! With him as the grand legatus, I had never doubted that the victor of this war would belong to our union! It’s just that I think we should have taken advantage of the weakness of Crotone to completely defeat them!”
A small number of Thurian statesmen agreed, and even Pollux said, “Davos did not consider the feelings of us people of Thurii on this issue and had let the Crotonians go!”
As soon as he said this, Scambras looked at him threateningly.
“Lord Davos did the right thing!” Kunogelata sternly added, “A great commander is the one that can lead the soldiers to victory! However, those who can use victory to win enough benefits for the union are the real leader! If the war had continued, Theonia would have suffered great losses! It is fortunate that we have such a great archon as Davos!”
“Lord Kunogelata is right!” Said Cornelius, “In this war, Lord Davos had not only won a lot of fertile land for Theonia, but had also made the influence of Theonia reach the southern end of Magna Graecia!”
“Next is how we will manage and allocate these new lands, which will cause us to spend a lot of time discussing and solving….” Tridodemos laughed, “This is really a sweet but troubling matter!”
Everyone understood it and smiled. The statesmen of the senate have a noble status and handled many matters, but they have no salary. Therefore, in order to improve their enthusiasm, while gaining their favor and stimulate their interest in expanding, the 《War Act》 that Davos had proposed and passed, stipulates that the land they won in each war, except for the land that will be allocated to the new citizens and the “allocated land” that will be rewarded to the citizen soldiers for their meritorious service, each of the hard working members of the senate will also receive a land as reward, but it will not exceed the average land area that the soldiers, who are participating in the war, will get. Even though it seems that the rewarded land is not too much, with the current expansion rate of Theonia, it will definitely add up to a large sum.
Pollux began thinking of something, while Amikles became envious.
“Look, here comes our hero!” The shout of Plesinas had grabbed the attention of everyone back to the square.
Davos, who was dressed in his military attire and was standing on the chariot, had appeared in the Nike Square. He then waved to the people around him with a smile, which pushed the triumphant return to the climax.
The crowd screamed and danced with excitement as they waved their arms wildly and shouted the name of Davos. They even ignored the blockade of guards on the roadside and violated the regulations and rushed into the parade. They crowded Davos and stretched out their arms wanting to touch this man who had saved Thurii and defeated Crotone twice and brought glory to the people of Theonia.
The guards became nervous and were afraid of having any accidents.
Davos, however, had a calm expression and had even stepped out of the chariot and greeted the people. He then asked them whether they had suffered any losses in the war and whether they needed the help of the union…and so on.
Due to this, the people ardently love their archon even more. They gathered around him and escorted him to the platform, and left with reluctance.
The statesmen then came forward.
Kunogelata first criticized him, “Lord Davos, the situation just now was too dangerous! You should have stayed in the chariot and wait for the guards to escort you!”
“What danger!” Davos smiled, “The statesmen and the people are just like fathers and children. As fathers, it is natural for them to love their children, and the children naturally love their fathers. So how can they hurt their family? Am I wrong?!”
‘Father and child?!’ The statesmen that are currently present repeatedly savour this sentence, and they were more or less shocked. Later, these words were spread to the public, which had greatly moved the people, and so, the statesmen of the senate had also gotten a new title – Father.
However, the worries of Kunogelata are not entirely superfluous. Among the people on the square, was someone who hates the senate of Theonia and the archon, Davos – The envoy of Locri, Metelophes, even though he is still suffering from his cold, after learning about the shocking news regarding “Theonia Union signing an armistice agreement with Crotone and formed an alliance”, had made him anxious and angry. He hated himself for falling ill at such a critical moment, and at the same time, he was angry at the senate of Theonia.