Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1096: Observations in the Senate of the Kingdom (Continued)

Not far diagonally in front of it sat the hall's only black wooden desk, with a slightly smaller ivory chair tucked behind it. From what Haca understood, this had to be the seat of the Rotating Chairman presiding over the day's session.

Around the open central floor, the ground rose in terraced steps like an arena. There were a full twenty tiers, each tightly and neatly packed with countless wooden chairs. The layered rings of seats were almost dizzying for Haca to look at, encircling the central throne like a myriad stars surrounding the moon.

Several people were already seated in the hall. A few noticed Haca walking in behind the protocol officer, and soon, a handful of men stood up from the center of the front row to approach him. Leading the group were five Rotating Chairmen: Lysias, Cyprolus, Sedorum, Antaoris, and Hermon.

"Lord Haca, welcome! We heard you fell ill a few days ago and didn't want to intrude by visiting. Have you recovered?" Lysias asked with genuine concern.

"I am sorry to have worried you. I am fully recovered now," Haca replied apologetically. "Today is my first time attending a session. I thought I had arrived early, but looking around, it seems I am quite late."

"You aren't late," Cyprolus explained. "It's just that the few of us are accustomed to arriving early. We need to confer in advance about the topics slated for discussion today, just to prevent any surprises..."

"Then I will also try my best to arrive early for future sessions," Haca said, catching his drift.

"Let's not block the aisle and hold up the people coming in behind us. Let us head to our seats before we talk further," Antaoris reminded them.

The group led Haca down to the front row. He immediately noticed six conspicuously white chairs standing out in the center of the otherwise uniformly black seats.

Haca went over and sat down, suddenly realizing that this seat truly belonged to him—engraved into the floor right where his feet rested was the name "Haca." A quick glance revealed that names were carved beneath all the surrounding seats as well.

Cyprolus saw where he was looking and quickly explained, "You cannot sit wherever you please in this hall. Every seat belongs exclusively to a single Senator, and the Senator's name is engraved beneath it. If a Senator sits in the wrong place during a session, the protocol officer will issue a warning. If they ignore repeated warnings, they will be expelled from the hall."

Haca nodded, silently taking the warning to heart.

"Actually, a decade ago, aside from a few special seats, the rest were completely unassigned," Antaoris chimed in, leaning forward. "Because of that, familiar Senators would cluster together during meetings—a group over here, a group over there. Everyone was scattered, and they constantly gathered to chatter. It was chaotic, which led to highly inefficient sessions... Later, Lord Sesta proposed a reform to address this. It passed, and that brought about the current arrangement."

Haca nodded again. He had thoroughly researched the political landscape of Daionia recently and knew that Sesta was the kingdom's Minister of Inspection, a position he had held for nearly twenty years. It was said he was a cold man who had punished numerous officials and even Senators. Many officials feared him, but the vast majority of the common citizens revered him, calling him the "Aeacus of the Kingdom" (one of the three judges of the Underworld).

Following Antaoris's discreet gesture, Haca spotted an old man sitting in their very row not too far away. From the side, his posture was rigidly straight. He had thick, long eyebrows, a very prominent nasal bridge, wide nostrils, thick lips, and small eyes.

'So this is Sesta?' Haca wondered. Just then, the old man turned his head. Their eyes met, and Haca instantly felt a piercing gleam shoot from those small eyes, stabbing into his own like a sharp blade.

But an instant later, the old man reined in that intense glare. A trace of mildness crept onto his severe face as he gave Haca a polite nod. He then stood up, walked over to a protocol officer in the hall, and exchanged a few words. The officer immediately sprinted out of the venue.

"It seems Sesta feels the Senators are filing in too slowly, so he ordered the protocol officer to go hurry them up," Antaoris noted with a sigh. "Lord Haca, the first to arrive at every Senate meeting is never us—it's that old man. Though it falls under his duties, he has maintained this consistency for twenty years. You can't help but admire him for it... I honestly don't know if the next Minister of Inspection will be able to match his standard!"

Haca gazed at Sesta's back as the man stood at the front of the hall, as immovable as a solid stone pillar. "Lord Cyprolus," he suddenly asked, "you mentioned earlier that each seat exclusively belongs to one Senator. But if that Senator is no longer with us, what happens to the name..."

"The name is covered with cement. Once it sets, the name of the newly promoted Senator is carved into it..." Cyprolus said, sounding a bit emotional as he lightly rubbed the floor with one foot.

Haca only just noticed that the patch of floor bearing Cyprolus's name was a slightly different shade from the surrounding stone. He then heard Cyprolus say softly, "This seat used to belong to Lord Cornelius..."

Haca fell silent. As someone tormented year-round by chronic illness, those words struck a deep chord within him as well.

"Lord Haca, there are currently 615 Senators in the Senate. Memorizing them all in a short span of time is quite difficult," Antaoris advised. "However, you can start by learning the most prominent Senators. For example, the ministers of the kingdom's various departments sit right next to us on either side. The founding Senators of the Kingdom of Daunia have the most seniority and occupy the first two rows. Then there are the Senators who have served as Town Magistrates for years or who have recently been promoted to Legion Commander; they sit in the third through sixth rows..."

Haca listened intently before asking, "In that case, will my brother, Hasdrubal, be seated at the very back?"

"Of course not," Lysias chimed in. "Because Lord Hasdrubal's situation is unique, His Majesty spoke with us specifically after the banquet last night. In the end, a special seat was arranged for him. I believe he will find it to his satisfaction."

"Where is his seat?" Haca asked, his curiosity piqued.

...

When Hasdrubal entered the hall, it was already packed with people and remarkably lively. Had there not been a protocol officer to guide him, he wouldn't have known where to go at all.

"Lord Hasdrubal, this is your designated seat. From now on, whenever you attend a Senate session, you will sit here," the protocol officer said before turning and walking away.

It was the furthest seat to the left in the third row. As Hasdrubal stood before it, he felt the oppressive weight of the surrounding gazes—which had hounded him while walking down the aisle—noticeably diminish. He breathed a little easier.

The moment he sat down, the man in front of him turned around. "Lord Hasdrubal, we meet again!"

Hasdrubal looked closely and realized it was Amyntas, the man he had conversed with so happily the night before.

"Lord Hasdrubal, after trying to match you drink for drink yesterday, my head is still spinning." The man beside Amyntas also turned around. It was Matonis, another Daionia general Hasdrubal had met at the banquet last night.

"Aren't you embarrassed to admit that out loud? Your tolerance is so pathetic you can't even outdrink me!" Amyntas sneered in jest.

"As long as I can beat you in wrestling, that's enough," Matonis retorted, unwilling to show weakness.

Just as the two were about to start bickering, the Senator sitting right next to Hasdrubal turned toward him with a smile. "Greetings, Lord Hasdrubal. I am Tegetilus, Commander of the Daunian 7th Legion."

Taking Hasdrubal's temperament into consideration, Davos had specifically summoned Amyntas and Matonis to keep him company at the banquet the previous night.

Amyntas had clashed with Hasdrubal at Selinunte. Although Daionia had ultimately emerged victorious, the struggle had been incredibly fierce. As the saying went, no fighting, no acquaintance. Amyntas actually felt a bit of mutual respect for Hasdrubal. Furthermore, the year before last, due to his advancing age and an accumulation of old injuries, Amyntas had found his mobility somewhat compromised and had been forced to resign from his post as Commander of the First Legion. In the end, however, Davos had appointed Leotychides as his successor—a man who was not part of the original expeditionary forces and whose seniority was far inferior to theirs. This left Amyntas feeling somewhat slighted. Hasdrubal, meanwhile, was the only person who had ever defeated Leotychides head-on during that war, and his personality was perfectly to Amyntas's liking. Combined with his unique background, Amyntas had intentionally curried favor with him. As a result, he, Matonis, and Hasdrubal had thoroughly enjoyed drinking together the night before.

As for Hasdrubal, who had spent over a decade waging war in the Iberian region, he was equally willing to socialize with Daionia generals like Amyntas and Matonis. Not only did they share common interests and plenty of talking points, but Davos had also spoken to him privately after the banquet and given him an assignment. This finally reinvigorated the former Carthaginian general who had been languishing in despair for several years. It also made him realize that building good relations with Daionia's military brass would benefit the execution of his mission.

Since both sides were eager to build a rapport, the atmosphere quickly grew warm, making Hasdrubal forget that he was sitting in a completely unfamiliar environment.

"His Majesty arrives!" Accompanied by a booming shout, the closed wooden doors at the rear of the hall's center—directly opposite Haca—swung open.

The once noisy hall abruptly fell utterly silent.

Four royal guards clad in full armor emerged from the doorway, escorting King Davos, who wore a crown atop his head, into the hall.

Every Senator in the hall promptly rose to their feet. Tugged upward by Tegetilus, Hasdrubal also stood up, albeit reluctantly.

Only when Davos took his seat upon the throne did the Senators follow suit and sit down.

By then, the royal guards had positioned themselves around the throne, and the protocol officers under the Ministry of Inspection had returned to their respective posts. Three scribes, armed with pen and paper, sat at the edge of the central floor. Rotating Chairman Antaoris stood up and walked toward the presiding rostrum... Everything was ready to begin.