Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Davos was frightened as he walk along the already crowded camp corridor and nearly tripped several times. When he lifted the curtain and got into the tent, he was greeted by four pairs of eyes with an odd expression.

Compared to the noise outside, the tent is quiet.

“Davos, Cyrus the Younger…is dead!” Olivos said in a strange tone: “You manage to guessed it, he is really dead!”

“I already heard what the others said.” Davos sat back on his “bed” and his mood has somewhat calmed down.

Hielos looked at this calm comrade of his, as a fellow villager living in the same village, they are both familiar with each other, but at this moment he gave him a strange feeling: “Antonios just came over and said, Ariaeus, the adjustant of Cyrus the Young, sent someone to inform us that Cyrus the Younger has died in battle. He is currently gathering the scattered soldiers to join us.”

“Davos, I wanna beat you up for making me unable to sleep well last night. I didn’t expect you were right!” Matonis scratched his head embarrassingly.

“Next, what should we do?” Giogris’ words made everyone look at Davos with strange eyes again.

Davos was wondering what was going on, Olivos then impatiently said: “Speak up! What oracle did Hades gave you?”

Davos looked at them with surprise. Only then did he understand why they had behaved strangely, they thought that he had received the favor of Hades.

When the news of Cyrus the Younger’s death spread to the ears of Hielos, they were surprised that Davos words is true, and they began to discuss about Davos. After summing up everyone’s views, they were surprised to find that almost everyone thought that their youngest companion who they had been taking care, woke up from a coma and behaved and spoke differently from his original behavior, like a different person(Despite the fact that Davos didn’t speak much last night, but the temperament of a modern man is naturally quite different from that of the ancients.)

So they thought that Davos must have been lucky enough to meet Hades and he was able to return to the world of the living with the help of Hades. And the way he woke up is a bit scary, when they found him on the battlefield, no matter how they call him, he remained unconscious, then suddenly his eyes opened wide.

When everybody was feeling helpless, this comrade of theirs who had received “God’s help” obviously became their only way to save their lives.

Davos found it amusing getting such opportunity. In this age of ignorance, even though the Greeks were not as superstitious as the Persians about supreme-ruler, but the Greek supreme-rulers were very closely related to every aspects of life. But Davos did not dare to admit it, because he only knew that there was such a historical event and he doesn’t know the explicit process.

“What oracle! I just like thinking about the worst that could happen, only in this way I can be prepared in case of danger.”

To like thinking for the worst! Don’t you think we know what kind of person were you before? A fool who knows nothing besides fighting, the kid actually now knows how to think! Otherwise, how can his way of speaking change! It seems that Hades had told him to keep it a secret?! The four people understandingly looked at each other, they were influenced by the stories about supreme-rulers everyday by their parents since an early age. They let them know that the supreme-rulers are often changing and there are many complicated taboos. For the sake of their safety, they stopped asking questions and expectantly looked at him.

The way their eyes see Davos is similar to that of the impoverished mountain people who hoped that the college student could change the prospect of the village when Davos first became a village official. But like them, he doesn’t know what to do. Davos sighed in his heart, then suddenly his mind jolted and asked: “Do any of you know Xenophon?1”

The four shook their heads.

“You mean Xenophon could help us?” Olivos couldn’t help but ask.

Davos smiled and said nothing. He felt it strange, since on the internet, Xenophon had led the retreat and wrote a book, how come nobody has heard of him? So he ought to be a mercenary leader!

“Where is Xenophon from? Is he part of our troops?” Hielos asked.

“He…probably. He…should be an Athenian.” Davos still knows Xenophon’s birthplace. After all, Xenophon was an ancient western writer, a military strategist, and a disciple of Socrates.2

“When I have time, I’ll go ask people from the other camps.” Hielos earnestly said.

This chapter is scrapped from readlightnovel.org

“Hopefully he isn’t under Clearchus! Otherwise, we can’t look for him!” said Giorgris. The relationship between the two leaders, Clearchus and Meno, was so bad that even the mercenaries under them also hated each other.

“It’s just a fight? Just beat them! We Thessalians are not afraid of those bastards!” Matonis said excitedly.

“Who are you going to fight?” The tent was opened and a man got inside, it’s Antonios.

Through the memory of this body, Davos knew that he was their squadron leader. The people in the tent were still sitting and lying down, and none of them stood up to salute. After all, they are mercenaries, he had no authority at all except during the battle.

“We are telling jokes.” said Hielos.

“There’s a lot of noise outside, and you can still joke around, good! good!” Antonios said half-jokingly and half-serious.

He looked at the people in the tent and said to Hielos: “Meno asked me to inform you squad leaders and to console our brothers. Cyrus the Younger had an unforeseen death, his troops are still there, so we still have the upper hand, while the Persian are at disadvantage and it still haven’t changed. Tomorrow after meeting up with Cyrus the Younger’s adjutant, Ariaeus, we’ll have at least 30,000 men! At that time, we will defeat the Persian king once more! Ha Ha, the upcoming benefits will be much more! Maybe we will…we will support a new persian king!!”

Antonios was satisfied with their surprised expression and was ready to turn around, but got grabbed by Hielos: “Consoling the brothers can be, but you must let them eat their fill! From last night till now, everyone ate some raw horse meat and now everyone is still hungry! and there is no news from Melsis. If they can’t eat, I can’t guarantee what’s gonna happen!”

“Yes! That’s right! If we can’t eat, we will quit!” everyone shouted.

Antonios patted his stomach and embarrassingly said: “I’m also hungry and my stomach is growling. Now the whole military camp have a shortage of food. Meno is urging Melsis to think of a solution and Meno himself went to Proxenus3, I heard that his camp have suffered fewer loss yesterday. Even if the food is coming, it won’t be much for everyone, so let’s put up with it for a day!” Antonios finished and rushed out of the tent.

Hielos sighed and said to everyone: “I’ll take a look at the other tent.” He also went outside. He is a squad leader in charge of 9 men, and the 5 other men lived in the adjacent tent.

Previously, Davos had been entangled with his past and present life, that he hadn’t realized that he hadn’t eaten anything. After listening to everyone’s trouble, Davos’ stomach began to growl.

He had to imitate the others, wrapped himself in a sheep blanket, lying on the “bed” in order to reduce physical consumption.

1. Xenophon was a student of Socrates who later joined the “Ten Thousand” to work under Cyrus the Younger.
2. Socrates was a classical Greek (Athenian) philosopher credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, and as being the first moral philosopher of the Western ethical tradition of thought.
3. Proxenus of Boeotia was a friend of Xenophon.