Chapter 618: The Opening Ceremony of Theonias Rugby Champions League (IV)

What Polet said made Vespa sigh and Hemon admire Sedrum as they didn’t expect how complicated the situation Sedrum faced when he went to Samnite, ‘Davos made a wise decision making the Senate release the Abellinum captives!’

“Even though Garni became the chieftain of Abellinum, this matter is still not finished.” Polet sneered and said, “The Hirpini had to sign an agreement in the face of our might, but Garni violated a taboo by inviting outsiders to interfere in Hirpini’s internal affairs. Yet since he is under our wings, Lesguk didn’t dare to do anything to Garni. However, he still could make the other tribes reduce their trade contacts, exchanges and gatherings with Abellinum. Moreover, they even ordered those tribes that immigrated to Abellinum to withdraw, trying to force Abellinum, who became less populated and weaker after the war, to take the initiative to banish Garni to have a better survival chance in the mountains.”

“Foolish Hirpinians!” Hemon interjected.

“Yes, the Hirpinians still punish tribal chieftains who violate their rules according to the old method. But what they don’t know is that they are just pushing Abellinum to our Theonia.” With Polet saying our Theonia’, he already sees himself as part of the kingdom of Theonia, even though Potentia is only a free city under Theonia, “Thus Abellinum had to strengthen their dealings with Compsa, Potentia and Irna. In the past two years, where we have had frigid winters, most of Hirpini’s livestock froze to death, and it was only due to our assistance that Abellinum survived. Hence they became more dependent on us that they even allowed the construction of the Temple of Hades on Abellinum’s border.

But the people of Beventum and several other Samnite tribes have a problem with Abellinum’s approach. Hence even though the Samnite region is now calm, the two sides are, in fact, in constant conflict. Especially this year, I heard rumours that the high priests of the four major Samnite tribes held an all-Samnite assembly after the Savoni celebration to discuss the heresy of Abellinum’s chieftain, Garni…”

“Heresy?” Vespa was surprised.

“It is because Garni allowed the people to accept the faith of Hades and the priests of Hades to operate within Samnites’ territory…” Polet said in a slightly mixed mood. In today’s Potentia, the belief of Hades began to be equally popular with Asinu.

“Is this what you discuss when you meet with his majesty?” Hemon asked.

“Do I still need to say it?” Polet pointed to Abellinum’s team in the field, “I heard that Garni is here in Thurii too, and I don’t think he just came here to watch the game!”

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

Stromboli, who has returned to Thurii, sat at the platform, drinking wine mixed with water from time to time while watching the various teams enter the arena.

And once he saw Naxos’ team getting close to the platform, he began applauding and cheering vigorously. Although he had resigned as the praetor of Naxos, his several years of stay there made him affectionate of Naxos. But while watching the Naxos players waving around happily on the court, he suddenly remembered something and fell into thinking.

Suddenly, he saw Raphias changing seats with another person out of the corner of his years. Then a voice sounded in his ear, “Lord Stromboli.”

Stromboli turned his head and nodded, “Lord Torilaus.”

“Er…thank you, milord, for taking care of the people of Naxos throughout the past years!” Torilaus complimented somewhat unnaturally as he wasn’t good at talking with people. Moreover, Stromboli and the Sicilian statesmen rarely converse, so even though the two are part of the Senate, the two sides are unfamiliar. But if he doesn’t do this, he can’t shorten the distance between them to advance the following discussions.

“That’s my duty.” Stromboli, however, didn’t smile at his complimentary words, “To tell you the truth, it wasn’t easy managing Naxos.”

Torilaus was startled but smiled ambiguously, “Sicily is, after all, not the same as Magna Graecia…”

“What’s different about them?!” Stromboli interrupted him and asked nonchalantly, “Doesn’t Naxos belong to the kingdom of Theonia?! Don’t the people living in Naxos, citizens of Theonia?!”

Torilaus was startled again. Previously, he had heard from the other Sicilian statesmen that Stromboli of Amendolara was a stone in a horse’s dung that smelled hard and difficult to get along with, and today’s contact just confirmed that. But Torilaus’ nature simply doesn’t beat around the bush as he straightforwardly asked, “Lord Stromboli, there are rumours in these past two days that after Lord Milo arrived in Naxos, he sent the guards to search Lord Ladician’s residence, took away some servants, and then searched the residence of several lords such as Ikadas…I also heard that Lord Siprus, the praetor of Catania, also searched Lord Lasiperatus’ residence in Catania right after that, and…what the hell is going on there?! Without the approval of the Senate, how can someone just barged into a statesman’s residence, search and arrest people at will?!!”

Stromboli looked at him with an odd expression, “There is no such as you cannot search a statesman’s residence or arrest a slave in Theonia’s Law; It is only when arresting a statesman that you must first get the approval of the Senate. So as a statesman of the kingdom, have you not carefully studied the kingdom’s law all these years?!”

Torilaus became embarrassed. With Theonia having so many legal terms, he couldn’t remember all of them. Thus he just coughed and said, “Lord Stromboli, I want to ask what crime Ladician and the others had committed?”

Stromboli shrugged and said, “Milo didn’t send a letter to the Senate explaining the situation. So just like you, I don’t know anything about it. However, you can ask Lord Tritodemos as he might know something.”

Torilaus then said, “Lord Tritodemos is in Sicily!”

“Oh…right! Right! I forgot about that. It seems my memory is bad; I now remember that I invited them to have dinner at Naxos’ city hall.” Stromboli smiled and patted his head. Then he said, “Since Tritodemos went to Sicily personally, what Ladician and the others have committed would never be insignificant!”

Torilaus couldn’t say anything as that was what he was worried about the most.

“Lord Torilaus, has your residence in Naxos been searched?” Stromboli suddenly asked.

Torilaus shook his head.

“Then what is there for you to worry about?” Stromboli continued vaguely, “I heard that you and Ladician were at odds, that you even scolded him several times in public about him eating and drinking merrily every day and that he has no ability. Moreover, the statesmen of Naxos that Ladician led do not like associating with you, but now it seems that you have made the right choice…”

Stromboli’s words lit up Torilaus’ eyes.

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

The last team to enter is Amendolara’s team. Thurii is the centre of the kingdom of Theonia, while Amendolara is the beginning of the kingdom. That was Davos’ intention when having these two teams enter first and last.

The Amendolarans were also present in the arena. And since most of the former mercenaries settled in Amendolara, Amendolara was the primary source of troops for the first legion. Years later, the citizens of Amendolara occupied nearly half of the senior officers in Theonia’s legions, making the small city of Amendolara a unique city in the kingdom and commonly known as the ‘City of Officers’. And since the citizens of other parts of the kingdom experience serving under the Amendolaran officers, the audience applauded and cheered for Amendolara’s team sincerely. Its popularity was even higher than that of Thurii’s team.

Once the more than fifty teams stood in the centre of the field, the eight priests carrying the statues at the forefront sang the hymn of Hades simultaneously, and then the players and audiences piously joined the singing. And even the players from foreign cities like Abellinum and Pompeii, who didn’t believe in Hades, were moved and followed the singing.

After the solemn and majestic singing ended, Davos stepped to the front of the platform and loudly said in a passionate tone, “Players from every part of the kingdom and those from friendly neighbouring cities who have accepted our invitation, we welcome you to Thurii for the kingdom of Theonia’s Seventh Rugby Champions League!”

After the more than a dozen heralds echoed king Davos’ words to the whole audience, loud cheering broke out on the field and in the stands.

“The fact that you passed the test of numerous matches and are still standing in Hades Arena today means that you are all the best rugby players in your city this year! And from today onwards, in Thurii, under the watchful eyes of Hades, you will continue using your great skills, bravery and intelligence to work together with your teammates through every fierce match to compete for the title of the best rugby team and the best rugby player in the Kingdom of Theonia this year! I wish you all excellent results!…”

After hearing that, the players became so excited that they wished they could immediately play.

Then the drums and salpinx sounded, announcing the official start of the Champions League.

Followed by the audience’s thunderous cheering as they could no longer wait to watch the match.

After that, all the teams began to withdraw, with only two remaining on the field as the match between Thurii and Compsa officially began.

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

With the rugby champions league in full swing, unexpected results and outstanding performances showed up in the following days, making the fans enjoy watching them. In contrast, the people who bought ‘Tyche’s Blessing’ cried bitterly.

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