Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 118: The Siege of Crotone (Part 1)

“Ah... sorry!” Asuna apologized, but her face was still overflowing with joy that couldn’t be contained.

Cheiristoya, lying back against the headboard, watched her and couldn’t help catching her excitement, showing a faint smile: “I could hear your laughter from far off. Come on, what good news?”

“My lady, Lady Agnes... oh no, Your Highnesses both! Congratulations! The Senate just announced that Lord Davos has been proclaimed King of Daonia!” Asuna poured out her delight in one breath.

Cheiristoya’s pretty face also lit up with joy, completely masking the weakness after childbirth. At that moment, she suddenly remembered: once after a lovemaking session, Davos had said with bold confidence, ‘Cyrus the Younger is nothing special. In the near future, I’ll make you a queen too!’... Davos, he really did it!

Agnes was not as excited as Cheiristoya and Asuna—after all, Magna Graecia had been far removed from monarchy for centuries, so she didn’t feel much about it. She was simply happy for her husband.

“Your Highnesses, when Cynthia and Adoris come back from school, how about we hold a banquet to celebrate this good news?!” Asuna suggested. Cheiristoya thought for a moment, then shook her head: “Right now, the alliance’s people are all worried about the war and anxious for their loved ones. If we hold a banquet to celebrate, it will cause resentment and harm Davos’s reputation!”

“Your Highness is right,” Asuna quickly said.

“And don’t use the word ‘Queen’ either. Nothing is fully decided yet. We mustn’t get too carried away!” Cheiristoya reminded her again.

“Yes, I think the old address was better—it felt more intimate,” Agnes interjected. “How about tonight we hold a domestic sacrifice to the gods? Thank them for their blessings and pray that they protect Davos and bring him home safely!”

“That’s an excellent suggestion, sister! We should indeed offer sacrifice to Hades, thank him for protecting our husband! And also—” Cheiristoya smiled at Agnes—“we should sacrifice to Hera, thank her for helping me deliver healthy little Eunice smoothly, and pray that she will also help you deliver your child safely!”

“Mm!” Agnes gently stroked her slightly swollen belly, wearing a motherly smile.

“Wah! Wah! Wah!...” At that moment, Eunice in the cradle woke up.

“Oh dear, my little princess!” Asuna hurried over, lifted the diaper to check: “She’s pooped, and quite a lot too!” With that, she deftly changed the diaper...

---

At dawn, the citizens of Croton were awakened by the continuous long blasts of bugles from outside the city.

“What’s happening?”

“Probably the Syracusans are about to attack!”

The people looked anxiously toward the city walls crowded with soldiers.

Suddenly, a black dot flew over the city wall.

“Take cover!” they warned each other, gauging the direction the stone projectile came from and scattering in all directions. They had become quite familiar with Syracuse’s terrifying weapon—it hadn’t stopped hitting inside Croton for the past few days.

But today was clearly different from the previous two days. Stone after stone flew over the wall, smashing into the blocks near the wall, quickly turning houses to rubble and littering the streets with debris. People helped their wounded relatives and fled in panic...

The stones hammered the wall repeatedly, causing chunks of stone skin to fall off one after another...

Watching all this from the wall, Lysias grew anxious: “Why isn’t the Daonian ballista unit counterattacking? Why let the enemy launch stones so recklessly?”

“Lysias, the Daonians have no choice,” explained Ascamas, who had communicated with the ballista unit many times. “The towers on our wall are too narrow to hold a ballista. They can only place them below the wall. But the wall is too high, so they have to raise the elevation angle, which shortens the range...”

“So they can’t hit the enemy’s ballistae!” Lysias understood.

“Yes. So the Daonians suggested we not reveal we have ballistae yet, and when the enemy attacks confidently, we hit them hard,” said Astamas. Though he had no liking for Daonians before, with the great enemy before him, he knew the importance of unity, so he spoke frankly: “I think this approach works.”

Lysias thought for a moment and reluctantly accepted the Daonian ballista unit’s advice: “But what do we do now? The enemy is using significantly more ballistae today than the previous two days. I’m afraid the wall might collapse!”

“Don’t worry, that won’t happen for now,” Ascamas comforted him. “We just have to wait for the enemy to attack and then give them a beating! I believe the Syracusans will make their move soon!”

As Ascamas spoke, his eyes remained fixed on the broad earth rampart built by the Syracusans over the past few days, dozens of meters directly ahead outside the city—it was taller than the wall. He considered this a greater threat to the wall’s defense than the ballistae. The day before, he had sent soldiers out on a risky sortie to destroy it, but the Syracusans, having prepared, repelled them. He had also thought about digging a tunnel, but with the moat around the city, the tunnel started seeping water once it went below the moat level, scaring the soldiers into retreating—otherwise they might have drowned. Finally, the Daonians told him, ‘We have a way to destroy that earth rampart,’ which set his mind at ease for now.

Ascamas knew that although the rampart was empty now, once the assault began, it would be packed with Syracusan archers shooting arrows at the soldiers on the wall...

“I’m going to check on the Trina people. I’ll leave everything here to you!” Lysias said solemnly. The continuous roar kept his nerves on edge, as if the wall might collapse any moment, so he wanted to get away from here quickly.

It happened that today Sipros was leading the Trina soldiers to defend the northern wall. As Croton’s chief general, it was certainly necessary to go and show concern. He also needed to visit the several thousand Scylletium soldiers defending the southern wall—another force to rely on. Because Syracuse had massacred Scylletium, these soldiers’ relatives and friends had either been killed or sold into slavery and shipped to distant lands. The rage of the Scylletium soldiers could only be quenched with Syracusan blood—they most wanted the Syracusans to attack.

Just as Lysias was about to leave, a guard brought urgent news: countless Syracusan warships had appeared outside the harbor and were about to enter the bay.

Croton was somewhat similar to Tarentum—its harbor and city were integrated, but the harbor was built in a bay. Since the bay was large, the Crotonians couldn’t possibly block it. So if the enemy fleet broke in, they might land on the city’s side or rear (that is, the southeast), where walls also existed. But while defending the city wall, they also had to guard against enemies breaking into the harbor and landing at the docks—a high demand on the commanding general’s judgment and decision-making, especially when Croton had limited troops.

“We need an experienced general to command the few soldiers in the harbor district and prevent the enemy from sneaking an attack on our rear!” Ascamas said gravely.

Lysias understood his meaning and didn’t hesitate: “I’ll send Myron.”

Myron, Croton’s former chief general, had been driven out by the Crotonian citizens after his disastrous defeat against Daonia. He had fled to the Peloponnese not far from Croton, living in seclusion in Korien, a small coastal town in Elis.

It wasn’t until the Syracusan army invaded Magna Graecia that Croton decided to recall all previously exiled citizens to unite and fight the Syracusans. As soon as Myron received the news, he immediately returned to Croton. But by then, the Crotonian army had already set out for Scylletium, so he stayed in the city as an ordinary citizen until today, when he was called to service.

Hearing Lysias’s words, Ascamas showed a faint smile, but it quickly faded as the enemy began their assault...

Several hundred meters away, the vast, loose, seemingly endless Syracusan battle formation slowly advanced toward the wall. At the front were oddly shaped siege machines pushed by the Syracusans—battering rams, and many covered carts similar to battering rams, with roofs, housing men inside, five or six meters long on wooden wheels...

What worried Ascamas most were the three huge, movable wooden towers, taller than the wall itself. Though Ascamas was seeing them in war for the first time, the word ‘siege tower’ flashed through his mind. He had heard that the Syracusans had used siege towers to capture many Carthaginian cities on Sicily. Now seeing the real thing, it was terrifying.

The soldiers, seeing the massive siege towers slowly advancing toward them, were equally stunned and at a loss.

“Pull yourselves together!” Ascamas shouted, encouraging the soldiers and himself. “Look at how big they are, but they can’t cross the moat!”

Yes, the moat would stop that monster! The soldiers momentarily relaxed. Then they saw the enemy’s siege column halt. From it emerged a thousand completely naked men, each carrying a cloth bag on his back, stumbling toward the wall. Behind them came fully armed Syracusan light infantry, pushing mantlets and following closely...

Could these be Syracusan slaves coming to fill our moat?! Kolebus and his comrades all shared the same thought, gripping their javelins and bows tightly.

But Ascamas felt a twinge of unease.