Burkes hesitated for a while whether to tell the truth. After all, this is an open secret, and he doesn’t want this to affect the trust that was built between them, “When Thurii built the city, Athens had an agreement with Crotone, ‘Crotone will keep the peace with Thurii, while Thurii shall not build a city on the location of Sybarys, and will retain Sybarys as it is.’”
“Those tyrant Crotone! Did they really plan to use a ruined wasteland to show Crotone’s power to those who passed by it?” Asked Davos curiously.
“Maybe, but it is also a reminder to Thurii that they will never make the same mistake as Sybarys!” Said Burkes with firm expression.
“Thurii sure can endure.” Said Davos jokingly, and saw that Burkes expression turned grim, but some stuff had to be asked, “We are now camping here, is this not a violation of the agreement?”
Burkes pretended to be relaxed and said, “Now that the situation is urgent, I believe Crotone would be able to understand it.”
“I hope that is also what Crotone thinks.” Replied Davos.
Burkes didn’t speak anymore, he had learned the shrewdness of Davos and believed that Davos had seen the link.
As the group continued to move forward, there were fewer and fewer broken walls and stones, and the ground became more leveled…
Philesius, who was at the front, stopped and turned around and said, “Leader, I think we should build the camp here and use it as the center.”
Davos stood on a big rock and looked around, about 200 meters away north from the mercenary camp that they had arrived at earlier, the river Crati in the south, the sea in the east, and the west are farmlands. 𝚍ｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕.𝚝
He came down and poked his right toe into the soil. Under the thin layer of soil, there were basically hard stuffs, and should be the bricks that was laid in the city of Sybarys. This area should be the center of Sybarys.
Davos agreed in his mind, and nodded and said, “Yes.”
Philesius turned and went back to inform the soldiers who were still disembarking at the wharf.
At this time, dozens of people came out of opposite mercenary camp and rushed to their side.
“Hey, where did you lot come from?” One of them shouted.
Burkes recognized the man, and said, “Drakos, This is their leader, Davos of Thessaly, they have been invited by Thurii. And just like you, they will fight against the Lucanians.”
“Oh?…” When Drakos saw that Davos was too young, he could not help but felt it odd and looked down on him. When he saw that Asistes leading a convoy to mark and measure the groud, his expression changes slightly, “What are they doing?”
“We are going to camp here, and our two armies will be neighbors!” Said Davos with a smile.
“You will camp here?!” Drakos’ eyes opened wide and said it aloud.
“It’s convenient to camp here, and we can cooperate together.” Davos saw the change in his expression, but he did not care.
“Who will cooperate with you! Don’t drag us down! You aren’t allowed to camp here, you have to withdraw at least 300 meters south of here!” Drakos ordered with a fierce shout.
“300 meters to the south means that our camp will be by the river!” Davos reminded him.
“I don’t care! You have to leave here at once!” Drakos made a threatening stance.
“Drakos, this is the land of Thurii. You have no right to make such decisions!” Burkes yelled at him.
“But you, Thurii, had made this ruins of Sybarys as the camp for us mercenaries, then I have the right since we are the first to arrive here!” Said Drakos proudly.
Burkes wanted to talk again, but Davos pulled him.
“I see. It seems that who is in charge here must depend on his strength.” Davos sneered.
“Oh, lad, you are an understanding fellow. What’s wrong, you want to fight?!” Drakos said with a condenscing smile.
Davos called Asistes and whispered, “Go get the troops and tell them that there’s a good opportunity to move around.”
“Understood!” Asistes ran back excitedly.
“Martius, what are you waiting for? Follow me!” Said Davos and rushed past him.
At the start, Martius was also a warrior with the same reputation as Matonis in Hielos team. He became the captain of the guard team, and had to manage them on a regular basis. He had a lot of courage and ruthlessness, and he rarely met a good opportunity. He led the 30 guards like wolves as they rushed forward.
When Drakos saw Davos rushing, he threw a punch aiming at Davos’ head.
Davos had already been on guard. He went low, but at the same time, his speed was not reduced, and he was close to the right side of Drakos.
Drakos was late in recovering his right fist, just as he was about to turn.
Davos’ left fist struck his waist rib like lightning, which made him bend down subconsciously. Then Davos’ right hook hit him hard on the chin, which made his strong body jump up and fall.
Burkes who was at the back was so scared that his spine was sweating cold as he saw that within a flash, Drakos wasn’t able to stand. At normal times, Davos had a gentle appearance as they had good conversation, which made Burkes think that the young man had conquered the mercenary soldiers with his wisdom. Unexpectedly, his fierceness was also astounding. Under the leadership of Martius, he can see that the other guards are as fierce and precise like the tigers. They cooperated with each other to defend and attack, although there are 10 more people on the other side, they are like a group of loose sand, and they are always trapped between 2 – 3 people. Soon they are all beaten down and the side of Martius had basically no loss. (T/N: More like lions)
Burkes wanted to say something, but he heard footsteps rumbling behind him.
“Davos, here we are!” At the lead was Matonis.
Davos saw a lot of people rushing out of the opposite camp, but their speed was obviously not as fast as the one on his side. So he said, “How many people they have is how many people we will send, and everyone can take turns beating them all down, but they must not die!”
“Roar!” The soldiers howled excitedly and couldn’t wait for the other camp to arrive.
A huge scuffle between hundreds of people started, and the victor was soon decided. The result was obvious, the soldiers of the other camp saw their teammates falling down to the ground from afar, moaning incessantly, and were too afraid to rush.
Seeing this situation, Burkes was glad that he had made the correct decision in hiring Davos’ camp, and at the same time, he said worriedly, “Haven’t you gone too far? How will you be able to cooperate with each other in the future?
Davos rubbed his knuckles, and comforted him, “You don’t know anything about us mercenaries. After this fight, I believe that there will be no friction, and they will understand who has the right in making decisions in here!”
These words gave Burkes another understanding about Davos…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Matonis, if it wasn’t for the 2 daric gold coins a month, I wouldn’t have joined your camp!…” Xetippus, a mercenary who joined the camp of Davos in Byzantium, complained to the squad leader, Matonis, while digging trenches. “After more than 10 days in the ship, and we finally arrived in Thurii, but Davos didn’t let us have a rest, and had instead made us immediately dig trenches and build camps…”
Matonis glared and said, “If you don’t want to do it, then don’t do it!”
“I don’t want to be spanked!” Xetippus thought of something, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he was, “No wonder some people used to say that your camp was manage strictly, they really weren’t joking! If you don’t move you get spanked, I can’t stand this anymore! We are mercenaries, not Spartans…”
Matonis missed the soldiers he had led previously. After all, after a half a year of polishing they are already familiar with the things stipulated in the military law issued by Davos, when and what to do. Even without his urging, his brothers could finish it with their own initiative. But after half of the veterans were pulled out and got stuffed with the new soldiers that was recruited in Byzantium, there were a lot of small incidents occurring along the way, which made Matonis anxious and angry, such as this guy in front him that complained a lot. Matonis didn’t want to talk to him, but he had to remind him, “Boy, your digging is too shallow! The leader’s request is a “U” type ditch with a width of 3 meters and a depth of 3 meters. As you can see, you haven’t dug deep enough and this won’t passed the requirement!”