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Androlis nodded at him and then looked around at everyone while they looked at him back with vigilance and scrutiny, which lowered his expectations for the success of this mission a bit more.

Androlis secretly encouraged himself, rallying his emotions as quickly as possible to make his words more powerful, “Great chieftains of Bruttii, Theonia, as the leader of the alliance of Greek city-states(here, he obviously exaggerated the position of Theonia.) has the responsibility to maintain the peace among the Greek city-states in South Italia and protect the lives and properties of the Greeks, and Theonia has been doing this for more than half a year already. A few months ago, Theonia had presided over the mediation of the war between Crotone and Locri, and a few days ago, at the request of our allies, we had sent troops to aid Taranto against the invasion of the Messapi and Peuceti…”

When Androlis said this, he saw the expression of the crowd becoming grave.

“Siro, a tribe, made up of Greeks, has been living peacefully in this mountain and has always been friendly with the surrounding tribes, but now you threatened their survival. Your newly formed tribal union had threatened this weak tribe that has never harmed any Bruttians by making them leave their homes where they have lived for decades and accept your, Consentia’s, integration, so they have no choice but to seek help from Theonia. In order to protect the life and property of the Greeks in South Italia, the Senate of Theonia reached an agreement and sent me here, hoping that the Bruttii Tribal Union would stop threatening the Siro tribe and restore their peaceful life!”

After Androlis finished his speech, the people present looked at each other, but they did not appear surprised. Yesterday, when they discussed the reasons for Theonia sending an envoy to Bruttii, some people have guessed that Theonia had come for Siro.

And the one who had guessed it is the great chieftain of Clampetia – Pangam, due to the settlement of the Siro tribe being not far from the north of Clampetia. At this moment, he stood up angrily, “Arrogant Theonians, Siro lived in the land of Bruttii. Their food and clothing are produced in this land, so they are Bruttians. And this is Bruttii’s internal matters and has nothing to do with you Greeks! If you have come here just for this, then you can go back! Bruttii does not welcome you, and we do not like a force outside the mountain interfering in Bruttii’s matters!”

Androlis sneered, “The only reason why this region is called Bruttii is simply because of the large number of Bruttii tribes have gathered here, so the people are accustomed to calling this mountain as the Bruttii region. In fact, this mountain region is neither under the jurisdiction of a country nor a city-state, so there is no unified territory or border! And everyone knows that Siro is a tribe that was formed by Greeks and have been living in this land since a hundred years ago, so they have the right to continue living here independently!”

Likumu, the Great Chieftain of Besidiae, was as quick-tempered as his son Kanaru, so he immediately yelled at Androlis, “What right do the Theonians have to dictate what we should do on our lands! We have intended to deal with the Siro tribe in a few days, but now that you have said that, I have decided to send a large army to destroy it this afternoon!”

“If Theonia can make Krimisa, Aprustum, and Nerulum independent, then it won’t be a big problem for us to spare Siro.” Bodiam, the Great Chieftain of Anbania, said mockingly.

Androlis stood silently as if he had not heard their cursing.

At this point, Sedrum asked aloud, “What if we refuse your, Theonia’s, request?”

The sound of cursing in the assembly hall abruptly stopped.

“I have only been asked to deliver the message of the Senate. If you do not accept, the Senate of Theonia will need to discuss before making its next decision.” Androlis remained calm, but his tone became heavier, “However, Theonia has always kept its promise, and no matter how much price we paid, we would not allow our allies to be oppressed, as one example after another has already proven everything. As I have said just now, in order to fulfil our promise with Taranto, our archon, lord Davos has led 15,000 soldiers to fight against Messapi, who invaded the land of our ally, Taranto. A battle report had come when I was just about to leave for Consentia, ‘Lord Davos led an army and defeated the 30,000 Messapi-Peuceti troops in the mountain and caused the Messapi-Peuceti alliance to suffer numerous casualties, which forced them to sign a peace agreement with Taranto.’ Soon, lord Davos will lead the victorious army back to Thurii for a Triumphant Return!”

‘Threat! This is a naked threat!’ Everyone at the assembly hall looked at each other, and the Great Chieftain Likumu jumped to his feet and cursed and threatened that they are not afraid to go to war with Theonia.

“Be quiet! Be quiet!” Phitara, the high priest of Brutii, stood up to maintain the order.

“Theonians, we Bruttians are not afraid of war!” Pian, who was sitting in the middle, spoke up and added, “However, Bruttii and Theonia are neighbours, and once a conflict occurs, there will be lasting damage to the relationship between the two races and will lead to constant war. In order to avoid the possible sacrifice of countless lives just because of the Siro tribe, we Bruttians are willing to make a concession that we will not punish the Siro for violating our order, but we will have them safely leave Bruttii.”

“Pian, what are you spouting about! Bruttii will never give concession to Theonia!” Likumu immediately expressed his displeasure.

“What about the land? You will just take away the land where the Siro has lived for generations?” Androlis reacted quickly, so he promptly asked.

Pian glanced at Likumu. Even though he was still angry, he didn’t say anymore.

The high priest, Phitara, admonished Androlis, “Theonians, do not be too greedy. It’s already our, Bruttii Tribal Union’s, greatest kindness of not turning the Siro people into slaves!”

Androlis shook his head and said in a strong stone, “But the order the Senate has given me was that ‘The Siro’s right to live independently in Bruttii must be guaranteed!’”

The light in Pian’s eye dimmed away, and his tone became indifferent, “In that case, we will decide after we discuss it.”

“Besides, we do not know the current situation of the Siro tribe, so we need to send some people to understand it before we can make a judgment.” Sedrum quickly interjected.

After the guards sent Androlis out, the discussion in the assembly hall became more intense.

“Theonia is oppressing us too much, even though they are saying something about defending the Greeks in South Italia, I think that they just don’t want to see us Bruttians unite, so they are deliberately creating trouble for us!” Said Pangam angrily.

The high priest Phitara nodded and encourage everyone, “Therefore, we Bruttians need to unite more closely in order not to be afraid of the Greeks and Lucanians!”

“Why don’t we give these nasty Theonians-” Likumu waved his hand and made a beheading gesture.

“That must not be done!” Sedrum said quickly, “Both the Greeks and the Lucanians have rules for treating envoys well, even in times of war. We, Bruttii, are becoming a powerful union, and it is all the more reason to abide by these generally agreed rules of all races. Not to mention that killing the envoys will only infuriate the Theonians, and war will be inevitable.”

“Theonia is nothing! My people and I are not afraid of them!” Likumu said without showing weakness.

“We are naturally not afraid of Theonia! But once war erupts, our great cause of unifying Bruttii will be seriously affected!” Said Pian solemnly.

“I think that it is better to imprison them for a few days and only let them out once we settled the Siro. At that time, even if they want to defend Siro, the Siro tribe will no longer exist, and so they can only accept this fact.” Bodiam suggested.

Inspired by it, Sedrum had a bright idea and said, “Everyone, I think that is a good idea, and we can change it a bit more…”

After Sedrum finished expressing his idea, the others thought it was a good method, and only Likumu disdained it and said impatiently, “Why the need to make it so complicated? it is as if we Bruttians are afraid of the Theonians!”

Pian ignored him and cautiously reminded them, “It is feasible to implement the suggestion of elder Sedrum. However, we should also be prepared for a possible war, in case the Theonians do not accept our approach!”

After a brief silence, Likumu first said, “I admit that Theonia is better than us, but as long as they enter the Bruttii mountains, I can guarantee that they will never be able to leave! Because no one is more familiar with the mountains and plateaus here than us, Amara(goddess of snow, mountains, and plateaus that the Bruttians worshipped) has sheltered us Bruttians, who have been living here quietly for hundreds of years, and will continue to protect our people!”

Likumu’s words gave everyone encouragement.

The high priest, Phitara, said, “In addition, we need to find allies on our fight against Theonia, so as to reduce the pressure of facing Theonia alone.

‘Ally?’ The Bruttii region has been surrounded by Theonia and its allies, so where can they find allies? As they pondered it, Sedrum suddenly exclaimed excitedly, “Lucanians! We can ask the Lucanians! Theonia’s capture of Grumentum has already threatened the safety of Pyxous and Potentia, so if they don’t want to be the next Grumentum, then they should be willing to ally with us.”

Pian’s eye brightened. The reason why he did not think of the Lucanians is that two years ago, the Lucanians were still the most feared enemies of the Bruttians. When Vergae surrendered to the Lucanian Coalition, it had made the situation in the Bruttii region to be critical that it had even made Pian make up his mind to lead his tribe to move southward, and it is why he had led the army of Consentia to unite with Clampetia to attack Terina and fight a fierce war with Crotone and its allies. But just two years later, the former powerful Lucanians have been reduced to this point, which can not help but cause Pian’s vigilance.

“Elder Sedrum is a good friend of the Lucanians, so it is no wonder that only you can think of them. Therefore, it’s better for you to be the one to talk about the alliance with the Lucanians.” Likumu sneered loudly, ignoring that Sedrum and he were elders of the Bruttian Union.

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