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Siprus continued, “Now that Nerulum and Grumentum that once belonged to the Lucanians are now part of the Theonia Union, hence why many Lucanians have become Theonian citizens. So how could the Lucanians from other tribes truly hate Theonia?! On the contrary, with the help of Elea, Theonia can take advantage of the weakness of the Lucanian tribes to occupy the whole Lucania region, which would greatly strengthen Theonia, so how could Theonia not ally with Elea?”

Kanos fell silent, as he thought about all the things that Siprus said for some time, and then said, “With Theonia becoming more powerful, won’t the other city-states belonging to the South Italia Alliance feel afraid?”

Siprus was still excited, he took a big gulp of beer and said without hesitation, “No matter what other city-states think, I think that the strength of Theonia will only be a good thing for Elea. We are already tired of the frequent wars between city-states and the stronger Theonia becomes the more they can bring peace to this land. After all, from the way Theonia has done things in the past, it has always been friendly to its allies, unless you are the one to take the initiative to invade Theonia, and they are far less brutal than the Syracusans in the south!”

Kanos understood what Siprus meant by “brutal”. Dionysius, after capturing the Greek city-states of Sicily, would sometimes go too far as to slaughter the inhabitants and turn all the remaining captives into slaves, something that had never been done before in the history of the western Mediterranean, which had greatly shocked the Greeks in Sicily and Magna Graecia, that had made Kanos to even hear about it even from as far away as Elea. He looked at Siprus across the table and thought maliciously, ‘Could it be that the cruelty of Dionysius was one of the main reasons why these city-states are willing to ally with Theonia?’

He asked curiously, “The Theonian government is so special that I suppose the city-states in southern Magna Graecia, including Terina, have noticed. Have any city-states tried to implement these Theonian bills that are beneficial to the expansion of the city-state?”

Siprus was taken aback and then laughed bitterly, “At today’s celebration ceremony, I had also talked about this topic with several members of the council of Crotone that I know, and we think that it is impossible. Think about it, first of all, would all the citizens of the city-state agree?”

Once he was reminded, it dawned on Kanos. How could the conservative and xenophobic citizens of Greek city-states allow outsiders to share the wealth and rights of their city-state?! And the highest authority of a city-state is the ecclesia, which is composed of most of the citizens of the city-state, which would undoubtedly not let these unfavourable bills and laws to be passed!

“Why can Theonia do it?” Kanos raised his question.

“This….” Siprus gently patted the table and pondered about it, “I don’t know the detailed reasons, but the great power and prestige of the archon Davos is undoubtedly the most important reason.”

Kanos agrees with this, but it is impossible for an archon like Davos to appear in Elea.

“But….” Siprus looked at Kanos and hesitated, “There are still some problems in an emerging city-state union like Theonia….”

“Like?” Asked Kanos urgently.

Siprus suddenly turned around, at some point without him knowing, the waiter stood behind his back and he could only shake his head and did not continue to speak.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning, the celebration of the completion of the Temple of Hades continued.

This time, it was in front of the temple and was presided over by the head priest, Davos, it was to grant freedom to the slaves of the union in the name of Hades.

Since this was the first time that this was held, not many slaves were released and most of them were union members who had made outstanding achievements in this past year, while most of the private slaves have come from Davos’ household.

With the expansion of the territory of Theonia Union, the banks and restaurants opened by Cheiristoya had also increased rapidly. At the same time, she is constantly exploring new commercial channels, such as Cheiristoya’s shop, which mainly sells school supplies of the new Akademia of Theonia, as well as rugby and football equipment. For this reason, she had bought a large number of slaves to ensure sufficient labour and at the same time, she had given freedom to those slaves who were outstanding. On the one hand, he wanted to use them as an example to give hope to the other slaves and motivate them to work harder; on the other hand, Davos set an example as an archon and guided the people to treat their slaves well, to ease the conflict between the slaves and their masters and society as a whole within the whole Theonia Union.

Among the slaves released by Davos and Cheiristoya was their servant, Azune, who had already told Cheiristoya that even if she gets her freedom, she is still willing to serve Cheiristoya as her employee, and of course, Cheiristoya greatly welcomes her. As a matter of fact, apart from the change of status, Azune’s way of life was not much different from before, including receiving a salary, since Cheiristoya had already been paying her, a close female slave, since back then.

Because private slaves usually spend a long time together with their masters, they would often develop a familial-like bond, therefore, it is not uncommon for the master to release the slaves before his death or for the slave to continue serving their masters after they had been freed. However, for the slaves who had just gotten their freedom, there is one more thing they must do as soon as possible, that is, they should immediately apply to the union’s census office to become preparatory citizens.

After the liberation ceremony, the celebration began.

The drama paid by the union will be performed continuously for three days in the new theatre in Thurii for free. If it was in Athens, there will be countless people lining up for the number plate to enjoy it. But in Theonia, especially in Thurii, the people are more interested in Theonia’s Rugby Games. Last year, the Rugby Games had only included four cities, namely Amendolara, Thurii, Nerulum and Laos, which have attracted countless people’s attention. This year, Krimisa, Roscianum, Aprustum and even the newly merged Grumentum, have even formed a team to participate(it is mainly composed of soldiers from the third legion who moved to Grumentum). The expansion of the team had made the competition to become even more intense, and the opening ceremony to be even more formal.

The distinguished guests of Theonia Union and the South Italia Alliance had all received invitations. After the whole arena was filled, a loud bronze salpinx resounded throughout the arena and the players of each city marched into the arena in turn and walked around.

The people cheered enthusiastically and were especially excited when they saw the players of their city.

Amikles applauded hard as he watched the Roscianum players march past the grandstand and said loudly to those around him, “Look, that is our, Roscianum’, players! At the front of the line is Gorkes, they are as strong as a herd of Lucanian bulls!”

Then came a burst of warm laughter from those around him.

Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas, the three new members of Theonia’s Senate, couldn’t understand why the polemarchos of Roscianum was so excited, while Kunogelata could only smile and whispered an explanation to them, “Last year, when we held the Rugby Games, we had invited Roscianum and Laos. As a result, Laos had joined, while Roscianum didn’t, hence why a lot of people made fun of them and said that ‘The people of Roscianum are timid in nature and they do not dare to take part in this kind of fierce game for men.’ and it seems that this remark had stimulated them, and so this year, they had specially organized a team to prove themselves, and even their strategos, Gorkes, have personally joined.”

For the three people who have never seen a rugby game, they still couldn’t understand the enthusiasm and craziness shown by the Theonians. However, the surrounding craziness had still infected them, and like the guests from other city-states, they applauded the players that were marching.

Then they saw the team representing Krimisa, with the player at the front of the group holding a wooden sign with “Krimisa” in bright red letters, however, most of the 50 men were unfamiliar faces.

Androlis knew that in recent months, there have been citizens and preparatory citizens of Theonia who have moved to Krimisa due to the land allocation. Therefore, even if they have just joined Theonia Union, their team’s skills won’t be too bad.

Androlis also saw a few familiar faces in the team, and they were just as excited as the rest of the team, as they talked cordially with their teammates while waving to the crowd. These former citizens of Krimisa are now citizens of Theonia, and even though it was only just a few months, they had already integrated naturally with the team. Which made Androlis feel complicated for a while.

“Lord Androlis, I am looking forward to seeing the performance of the players of Krimisa.” Kunogelata’s meaningful words brought Androlis back to his senses.

“Don’t worry, they will definitely perform better than Roscianum.” Androlis feigned calmness, which caused several people to laugh.

Eight teams finally stood in the middle of the field.

At this time, Davos stood up from the spectator stand and the boiling arena gradually quieted down.

The distinguished guests from the South Italia Alliance were shocked and envied the great prestige of Davos among the Theonians which was evident.

Davos’ voice sounded in the arena, “Hundreds of years ago, the great god Zeus created the Olympic Games. From then on, the fierce competition replaced the bloodshed, and there has been less war and more peace between the Greek city-states! And a year ago, the great Hades brought us rugby, which has since flourished in Theonia Union, a fierce sports game in which people gained health, happiness, unity and friendship! Today, the best players of Theonia Union and the Alliance had gathered here to thank Hades for his gift, and to compete in the most exciting and fierce rugby competition and fight for the only championship! Players, fight on! Hades will bless you!”

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