BXBX NOVEL Chapter 819: King to King (II)
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