“Are you sure what the guards had done is illegal?” Antonios asked again.
“That’s for certain! Although Theonia has a lot of laws, I have read all of them these past few years, and I can even recite many of them by heart. To tell you the truth, I might even be qualified for the supreme judge position.” Said Ladician boastfully.
“Alright, I’ll discuss it with Tritodemos.” Antonios nodded and agreed in the end. And with that reason, he would speak to the one serving as a supreme judge for over a decade.
“Antonios, there’s one more thing.” Ladician added, “It’s already September, so Stromboli’s term should end soon, and we should now elect a successor of the praetor of Naxos! I heard that Asistes and his family had just left here; how was your negotiation with him?!”
Hearing this, Doreen looked at her husband worriedly.
When Antonios looked at the impatient Ladician, he felt inexplicable anger when he remembered what Asistes had previously said. Thus he said unhappily, “Phragres has caused such a huge problem that it is still a question where we can solve it or not. Yet, father-in-law, you are still worried about the selection of the praetor of Naxos?! Is the choice of the Praetor of Naxos something that we can just say and decide?!”
“If the praetor of Naxos is someone we are familiar with, the other statesmen and I can feel at ease. Look at what Stromboli has done in Naxos during his years; it is completely incomparable to when you were in charge. What’s more, we are more worried about Naxos getting messed up, so we only want to choose a statesman we are familiar with that won’t make a mess in Naxos… Although the praetor’s election has always been the most important matter for us statesmen, the other statesmen understood that we know the most about Sicily, so they shouldn’t compete with us!” Ladician retorted with confidence.
“You are a fool!” Although he had quarrelled with Asistes earlier, Antonios wasn’t unaware of those things. Thus when he saw the complacent expression of Ladician, Antonios could no longer hold himself, “Who do you think you are? The king of Theonia?! All the candidates for the city’s praetor can only be appointed with his majesty Davos’ permission. Even though he didn’t say anything during the elections back then, I fear it was because he felt it was unnecessary. But this time…you must know that he hates citizens who mistreat the slaves the most! What do you think his majesty Davos would do if you still jump out this time to get benefits?!”
These words caused Ladician to freeze on the spot.
“What…what should we do then?!” Doreen asked worriedly.
“We could only pray that his majesty hasn’t noticed about Phragres’ matter…” Sighed Antonios.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
“…the whole family of Asistes went to Antonios’ house for a dinner…” Davos read the new information that Aristias reported and smiled slightly, “Aristias, isn’t your subordinates have too much time on their hand? They even paid attention to such trivial matter like a family gathering?”
“Your majesty, I decided to show you this report because I thought it deserved attention.” Said Aristias calmly.
“Why do you think so…” Davos looked at him with a relatively calm expression, but the majesty he emanated forced Aristias to bow his head slightly, “Then tell me what they talked about at the banquet that made you think something was wrong!”
“This…I do not know.” Aristias replied bluntly, “However, I know that when Asistes hasn’t yet returned to Thurii, Antonios, Ladician…and the other statesmen of Sicily have been trying to elect Asistes as the praetor of Naxos. In addition, I have just received a confidential report from Naxos about a shucking murder case, and that Ladician’s son, Phragres, is a prime suspect and has been taken into custody by the guards of Naxos.”
“Phragres? Isn’t he the same young man who made a scandal at the graduation banquet at Adoris’ school…” This familiar name reminded Davos of a farce in Thurii two years ago. Although everyone was shocked at what happened, Davos remained unperturbed as it was a common occurrence in his previous life when energetic young people drank too much and started to grope around. In the end, no substantial harm happened.
“It’s indeed him, your majesty.”
“How was he involved with the murder?” asked Davos.
Davos then listened as Aristias hurriedly recounted the whole case in detail. But his expression gradually turned grim, and he said, “It seems that Ladician’s son is too daring that he is bent on leaving his name in the legal history of the kingdom by unprecedently killing six people in a row! What’s the point of Theonia having a court if he could get away with this?!”
“Bang!” Davos slammed his right hand on the desk, causing Aristias’ heart to tighten. Then Aristias head Davos say, “What do you mean when you said that the guard station of Naxos is now detaining the slave that already confessed and the criminal, instead of resolving the case as soon as possible?!”
“Your majesty, I also do not know. It’s just that Lord Stromboli made several appointments with judge Ardalus of Naxos and repeatedly refused to meet the housekeeper of Ladician. In addition, the priest of the Temple of Hades in Naxos had even gone to the jail in Naxos once…” said Aristias with caution.
“It seems Stromboli’s letter would arrive soon… I want to see what they’re up to!” Davos tapped his fingers and fell into deep thought.
In fact, a statesman’s son murdering someone wasn’t a big deal as they just needed to issue a warrant for a thorough investigation, which simply wouldn’t cause a significant disturbance. But what Davos saw through this murder case was a deeper problem: Why did the officials of the Census Registry office of Naxos didn’t discover the slaves’ problems of Ladician in time, which led to the killing of one slave girl after another*? (The Law of Theonia stipulates that citizens must register the slaves they purchase in the city’s registry. And every year, they must check the number of slaves and their health simultaneously as they check the city’s population.) Why did the people of Naxos not dare go to the mountain where Ladician’s field is located, which was common to the kingdom? Otherwise, someone would have already found the burial place! Why did the members of the local council of Naxos mediate for Ladician’s son once something happened to him that even Stromboli had to decline seeing visitors?! And why can’t the judge of Naxos work together with the constable to sentence the actual murderer as soon as possible, instead of stalling it like this?…
‘It seems there is a huge problem in Naxos! And I fear that it isn’t only in Naxos…’ Davos tapped the back of the chair’s armrest: After the Magna Graecian War, Theonia occupied almost all the lands in Magna Graecia. However, the population sharply decreased due to the war, and vacant lands littered the kingdom. Apart from that, they needed to readjust many systems due to the kingdom’s establishment… Thus with work overwhelming Davos and the Senate, it was only natural for them to focus their efforts on the land of Magna Graecia, which was the foundation of the kingdom of Theonia. Hence they governed the Sicilian territory relatively loose without any stringent requirements as long as it remained stable and didn’t cause significant trouble. Thus the so-called ‘Conqueror of Catania’, Antonios, could continue to be the praetor of Naxos for six years, and Antrapolis, a new statesman who never had administrative experience, could become the praetor of Catania because of the trust of the exiles of Catania…
Now that the overall situation of Magna Graecia was right on track, Davos, who originally wanted to wait for the end of the Daunian War before focusing his attention on purging Sicily, had to bring his plan forward earlier.
“Ladician…Antonios…” Davos muttered their names in his mind. Then he suddenly remembered something and looked at Aristias, “Isn’t Antrapolis still working as the vice praetor of Scylletium, right?”
“Yes.”
It could be said that Antrapolis’ administrative path was high then became low: First, he served as the praetor of Catania. However, since Catania was a big city with a vast territory and a large and complex population, he soon felt powerless due to his lack of administrative experience which nearly triggered an uprising. In the end, he volunteered to step down in his second year of working.
Davos then sent Androlis to replace him, while the reluctant Antrapolis took the initiative to ask Davos for a local position to increase his administrative experience. Davos couldn’t refuse him after seeing the young statesman’s motivation, so he assigned him to Scylletium, which was currently under reconstruction. There, he works as the city’s constable for two years, the city’s commercial officer for a year and now the vice praetor of Scylletium, mainly responsible for trade… It took Antrapolis eight years to finally hold a major mid-level position in a city in Theonia.
Currently, the ravaged city of Scylletium, which has experienced a decline after the war, has gradually become a new pearl in the south of Theonia. And Antrapolis, who had made significant contributions, had benefited from it a lot, and now no one in the Senate would make fun of him as a statesman who didn’t have administrative experience. On the contrary, he held much more administrative positions than some older statesmen.