Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1038: The Daunian Royal Family Celebrates the New Year

Officers from the Ministry of Military Affairs actually made up the majority of the officials criticized for poor performance (since the military judges enforcing Military Law within the army were appointed by the Ministry of Inspection). After all, managing, planning, allocating, and transporting the massive influx of supplies and funds pooling into the Ministry was a daunting task, and one they were experiencing for the first time. The officials in the Military Supply Department in particular lacked experience and were severely understaffed, leading to quite a few oversights. Sesta emphasized this point, hoping the Ministry of Military Affairs would learn from the lesson and improve their efficiency.

Hylos, Philesius, and the other officials from the Ministry of Military Affairs remained calm. In reality, they had already recognized this issue around October of the previous year. By taking the initiative to cooperate with Mersis, they had arranged for the Ministry of Finance to dispatch personnel to help them manage and allocate supplies, which had significantly improved the situation.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ansitanos, Education Minister Montoticles, Medical Minister Herpus... they took the stage one by one to deliver their summaries. The last person to step up was not a minister, but Praxinas, the Scepter Priest of the Kingdom of Daunia's Temple of Hades.

In fact, when the Kingdom Assembly was first established, Davos had hesitated over whether to allow Praxinas to participate. Once the idea that "Davos is a descendant of Hades" became deeply ingrained in the people's minds, Hades effectively became the exclusive deity of the Daunian Royal Family, as well as the most important god worshipped by the populace. Since the Kingdom Assembly primarily discussed administrative affairs, subjecting the mortal servant of the kingdom's patron deity to supervision and criticism from the representatives would be both an offense to the god and a sign of disrespect toward the royal family.

But Davos took another factor into consideration: in any era, religion was a double-edged sword. Without checks and balances, it was highly likely to eventually override secular authority and threaten royal power. Furthermore, the priests of the Temple of Hades did not merely worship the kingdom's patron god. They were also responsible for supervising and regulating the sacrifices at other temples within the kingdom, along with the conduct of their priests. This naturally involved a substantial amount of administrative work.

After mulling it over repeatedly, Davos finally decided to have Praxinas participate in the Kingdom Assembly at the start of each year, serving as the key kingdom official to deliver the final concluding remarks on opening day.

In truth, ever since Praxinas started speaking at the assembly, there had never been a shortage of questions directed at him. Naturally, these questions weren't aimed at the Temple of Hades itself, but rather concerned the other temples.

Since its inception, the Kingdom of Daunia had been a polytheistic nation. It wasn't just the Greek gods being worshipped by the masses, but also the deities revered by other races, and balancing their various interests was no easy feat. Still, the representatives' input helped the kingdom gradually perfect its religious administration, allowing them to nip any negative trends in the bud.

Following Praxinas's speech this time around, the questioners were just as numerous. Even Publius raised his second question of the assembly, naturally asking whether the temples of the Roman gods would receive fair treatment and be allowed to continue their sacrifices within the kingdom.

Though not entirely satisfied, Publius felt a good deal of relief.

By the time the meeting reached this point, the day's schedule would normally have concluded according to past convention. However, this Kingdom Assembly was different. Due to the ongoing war, the overall schedule had to be shortened as much as possible to avoid any unexpected incidents. To avoid disrupting the war effort and to maintain the kingdom's stability amidst heavy administrative burdens, the chief administrators of several key frontline towns hadn't even been able to break away to attend. They had only sent representatives—Rome, Catana, and Lusenia among them.

But it was already afternoon, and the attending representatives had been sitting rigidly for the better part of the day. Cornelius therefore announced a temporary thirty-minute recess. After eating a simple dinner provided by the Senate, they would resume the meeting. The upcoming agenda would cover the governance of the newly occupied territories.

It was finally going to be Tibullus and his group's turn! What a lengthy meeting this truly was! Publius breathed a soft sigh of amazement. This style of assembly had genuinely broadened his horizons. Just from the preceding series of summaries by the Kingdom of Daunia's ministers, one could clearly see how meticulous and rigorous the Theonians were in governing their nation. Perhaps this was exactly what was required to properly rule such a vast kingdom.

As Publius pondered this, his stomach let out a growl. He had been listening so intently that he hadn't even realized he was already completely famished.

Since this was his and Tibullus's first time attending, they hadn't eaten a hearty breakfast like many of the more experienced representatives. Just as he was debating whether to follow the other delegates out of the venue, Antaoris, sitting beside him, suddenly asked, "Lord Publius, after listening to all these summaries, what are your thoughts?"

Publius replied without hesitation, "I feel that being a good Senator or official in Daunia is not easy at all! The pressure is tremendous!"

It was a genuine sentiment spoken straight from the heart.

...

That evening, the Grand Council Hall in Thurii remained brightly lit with candles as they continued to power through the agenda. Across the territory of Thurii, many households also lit candles, sweeping away their usual quietude as bursts of playful laughter broke the stillness of the night.

The first day of the new year wasn't an official festival for the Theonians. However, out of a habit from his past life, Davos always held a family banquet on this day to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new. As a result, this custom had spread throughout Thurii, prompting the public to eagerly imitate it.

Naturally, it was even livelier at the Davos Residence on King's Hill. Not only was it brilliantly illuminated, but the open grounds in the courtyard were filled with dining tables. The royal guards on duty for the Daunian Royal Family, along with the servants, sat separated between the front and back courtyards.

Inside the hall sat a large table where Davos's two wives, his four children, the chief official of the royal palace Ribaso, and the general manager of the courtyard slaves Molina were all gathered.

With Davos away from home and Agnes disliking social interactions, a banquet like this was naturally hosted by Christoya. Normally, when managing household affairs, this queen was strict, decisive, and as cold as frost, rarely displaying any feminine softness. Today, however, she wore a smile. She went to both the front and back courtyards to offer toasts to the guards and servants, thanking them for their contributions to the royal family over the past year and wishing them good luck in the year to come.

Amid a chorus of gratitude and blessings, Christoya returned to the hall and took the seat of honor. Before she could even speak, Brillantes piped up, "Mother, when is Father coming back? I miss him!"

"I really miss Papa too!" Avia added softly right after.

Though Eunice and Apox didn't speak, their longing was evident on their faces.

Because Davos, Crotokatax, and Adoris were still fighting in a distant war, and Cynthia was recovering at home after recently giving birth, this New Year's family banquet had the fewest attendees in years. Inevitably, it felt a little quiet.

Even though Davos hadn't spent much time with the children in recent years due to his heavy administrative duties, Christoya was strict with them, and while Agnes was gentle, she lacked warmth. Only Davos, whenever he could find the time to be with them, always managed to connect with the children and ensure they played to their hearts' content. Now that he had been away from them for a year, how could they not miss him?

Hearing their words brought a surge of sorrow to Christoya. She remained silent for a moment before comforting them in a gentle tone. "Children, didn't you all read your father's letter yesterday? He and your two older brothers are safe and sound. They even won a great victory on the Island of Sicily, and the war will be over soon! So let's raise our wine cups now and pray together that your father and brothers return safely and soon, all right?"

"All right!" the four children replied in unison.

Thus, led by Christoya, everyone prayed silently to Hades for his blessing.

"All right, let's toast to celebrate the arrival of the new year!"

As soon as Christoya finished speaking, the children excitedly raised their watered-down wine, with Brillantes holding his wooden cup particularly high.

Just as they set down their cups, they heard Agnes murmur faintly, "I wonder how Clotho is doing in Rome? He has never lived away from home by himself for this long!"

Christoya froze, then shot her a displeased glare. she thought.

...

While the family worried about Crotokatax, the man himself, far away in Rome, was in no mood to miss his parents or younger siblings on this special night. Just as he was getting ready to eat dinner, his direct superior—the Roman aedile, Pasion—arrived at his door to beg for his help.

"Lord Pasion, are you saying there's a problem with the stone bridge we built?!" Crotokatax jumped in fright after hearing Pasion out.

"Because it's due for inspection tomorrow, I had the engineers conduct another thorough check today. They discovered that the second bridge pier is slanting, so they rushed to notify me. According to their analysis, it might be because the riverbed there is too soft and the foundation we laid for the pier wasn't solid enough. I blame City Hall for pushing us so hard back then. We didn't survey the riverbed carefully enough or prepare better construction plans. We were only focused on finishing as quickly as possible, and that's what caused this result!" Pasion said, thoroughly regretting his actions.