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On the other hand, the Romans stopped twenty metres away.

Davos and Camillus, both on horseback, finally met.

Eventually, Camillus broke the silence first, “King of Theonia, I am Camillus, the dictator of Rome!”

“I know you,” Davos nodded and continued, “You are the hero of Rome that had defeated Rome’s mortal enemy – Veii, expelled the Celts who occupied the city of Rome and defeated the surrounding hostile forces multiple times.”

Camillus wasn’t surprised at how Davos knew him since a good commander must study his opponent carefully. Suddenly, he shouted his question, “Rome, situated in central Italia, and Theonia, located in southern Italia, have remained separate without any conflicts between them. So why have you decided to lead your army to invade our land, destroy our homes and slaughter our people without any regard for the distance, consumption of resources, and even ignoring the lives of your citizens?!”

Although Camillus’ question was pointless, Davos knew the soldier would keep wondering whether the war was necessary if he didn’t answer well and would affect their morale. So after pondering for a moment, he answered loudly, “Instead of restoring your homes after repelling the Celts to give your people a stable life, you Romans went around fighting and invading the surrounding races! You had even invaded the territories of our allies, the Volscians and the Hernicans, and killed their people to the point of nearly wiping them out! And even after we sent envoys to Rome to ask for a truce, you had instead rudely rejected them!

Since Theonia’s founding, we have always kept our promises, which is why we have gained the trust of our allies and made our kingdom as strong as today. Therefore, we cannot ignore our allies’ tragic experiences and must respond to their demands and fulfil our treaty. That is why we are here! Just as the Celts invaded the city of Rome ten years ago, your gods sent us to punish you for your indiscriminate killings!”

“Ludicrous!” Camillus could not stop himself from shouting angrily after listening to the translation.

One of the words that Camillus didn’t like is Divine punishment. There were two significant reasons for this: Firstly, during his forced exile from Rome, one of the accusations against him was the false claim that he had enraged the gods by taking the temple’s riches after conquering the city of Veii. Secondly, he had once declared to his family that those who had wronged him would inevitably face punishment in a fit of anger, resulting in some people attributing the invasion of the Celts as the gods avenging him and thus bringing divine punishment on the city of Rome. These events weighed heavily on Camillus, and he would never allow Davos to employ the notion of Divine Punishment to justify their invasion of Rome or undermine the Roman citizens’ morale.

“Your Majesty, he said your words…is ludicrous,” Emilius translated tactfully.

But instead of getting angry, Davos just smiled.

Meanwhile, realising he couldn’t keep his cool, Camillus changed the topic and said straightforwardly, “Despite capturing Rome, it didn’t bring you much benefit. Look around you: To the north are our Etruscan allies, and to the east and south are our Latin allies and colonial cities…we have already surrounded you! And with my return and the seventy thousand Roman soldiers, we had trapped your army in Rome and could not move!

And I heard that our ally in the south of the kingdom of Theonia, Carthage, is at war with you on Sicily; Furthermore, the Samnites are currently invading your eastern region… Yet you, the king of Theonia, had led the main force of Theonia to get trapped in Rome, which was far away from your kingdom. Even if you don’t worry about your kingdom, do you think your soldiers won’t worry about their homeland getting invaded by the Carthaginians and the Samnites?!”

Davos remained undeterred as he smiled and said, “No, no, there’s nothing for us to worry about. Moreover, my soldiers and I enjoy staying here because of your abundant supplies provided by you Romans, allowing us to stay here for much longer. My only worry is that since those kind Romans have offered us all their food, they would run out of food to eat before long. However, we aren’t kind enough to give them back again. Furthermore, I am worried about the soldiers under you. With such a huge number of soldiers, how many days of rations have you left?!”

‘Threat! This is a naked threat and warning!’ After listening to the translation, Lucius and the other soldiers accompanying Camillus, angrily widened their eyes and raised their shields and spears.

Despite frowning, Camillus remained calm and uttered, “The citizens of Rome are brave and fearless, which is why we could exist so far in this harsh environment surrounded by enemies! You can starve the people in the city to death, but we Romans, even if we eat grass and starve, will not stop fighting with you to avenge our loved ones until we die in battle!

But what good will it do if you and I fight to the death in this way? On the contrary, if we make a truce and you withdraw from the city of Rome and leave Latium, we will not only be willing to provide you large sums of wealth, but we are also willing to return the lands of the Volscians and Hernicans and sign a peace agreement with them, and even more so with Theonia, which we will never break.

While you can confidently lead your elite troops to deal with other enemies, ensuring that your land and people are not harmed. What do you think?!”

‘The Romans want to make peace?!’ Davos looked at the pleading Camillus while he patted his horse’s neck. For a moment, the corner of Davos’ mouth rose into a smirk, “I remembered that a decade ago, you had also proposed to the Celtics who occupied Rome to pay them just for them to leave. But just as they relaxed their vigilance, you had led your army to launch an attack on them, dealing significant damage to them… So even though I really want to agree with your proposal, I fear we would suffer the same tragic outcome as the Celts!”

Camillus’ face twitched a few times, and the crisscrossing wrinkles on his face covered his surprised expression, ‘The king of Theonia knew so much about us!’

He quickly calmed down and said, “Since you know the situation at that time, you should know that the senators trapped on Mons Capitolinus were the ones to decide to exchange wealth for the Celtics to retreat while the soldiers and I were unaware of this as we were far away from Rome. But now, I, the dictator of Rome, am the one offering this to you after consulting the will of the soldiers and all Romans must obey it!”

‘Would the Romans really give in for the safety of the city of Rome even after they remain uncompromising towards invading enemies?’ After listening, Davos, who knew the general history of Rome from his previous life, looked at Camillus for a few moments and said with a mixture of curiosity and caution, “Since this is a matter of great importance, I will need to return to the city and discuss it with my generals before I can give you an answer.”

“I hope you won’t answer late. With my soldiers eager to go home, I fear they couldn’t wait too long!” Camillus said threateningly.

Davos smiled, “No matter whether we can reach a truce agreement with you or not, I am honoured to meet you, General Camillus! So I have decided to give you a gift later, and I am sure you will like it.”

After saying that, Davos turned his horse around and let his men back to the city.

Camillus also turned around and returned to the camp without hesitation.

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

On the way back, Lucius couldn’t help but ask with some anticipation, “Father, since the king of Theonia wants to give you a gift, could there be a possibility of a peace negotiation?”

“The king of Theonia isn’t such a simple man, so don’t get your hopes up.” After recalling his discussion with Davos, Camillus said, “You should have observed the traps and fortifications the Theonians have laid. It shows they are not like the Celts! So even if we really want to negotiate peace, we must retake Ostia so that we have more initiative in the negotiations!”

Lucius nodded.

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

Meanwhile, Henipolis had also asked Davos, “Your Majesty, are we going to negotiate peace with the Romans?”

“Peace?” Davos sneered, “If I had such intentions, would I still have called the statesmen and officials such as Asistes, Antrapolis, Nicomachus, and Theris to Rome?! Whether the Romans intend to negotiate peace or numb us, I believe we will soon find out what Camillus plans to do. If he just tries to stall for time, he will discover it was a foolish decision!”

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

Although going upstream to Rome is time-consuming and laborious for warships, going down the Tiber is much more convenient.

Yet Mithridates, with the warships anchored in Rome, arrived in Ostia by dusk because Davos, on account of the assassination at the temple of Diana, had ordered the praetor of Rome, Asistes, to immediately count the male nobles and their followers at the aged of fifty-five and fourteen and be escorted by the Third Fleet to Thurii to ensure the stability in the city and make the army focus on the battle due to the arrival of the Roman army. And since there were too many people(approximately four thousand and five hundred), they had to rent some merchant ships.

Mithridates then entered the port using a fast-sailing boat.

In just over two days, significant changes occurred in the port of Ostia. The number of merchant ships from Theonia had increased, yet rather than descending into chaos, the management of the port became more organised. They had even dismantled the wooden fences that the various chamber of commerce in Theonia had used to enclose some lands. Finally, as Mithridates passed, he witnessed a conspicuous absence of conflicts or disputes.

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