Gdemus'' ve then reminded him about the Praetor of Naxos, Stromboli''s, invitation to a dinner tonight.


    After remembering it, he hurriedly called a wagon and rushed to Naxos as fast as possible.


    Using the road between Megalos and Naxos, Gdemus took only 20 minutes to arrive at the praetor''s residence.


    Gdemus then followed the ve and entered the living room, where a kline, wooden chairs and dining tables were set, and candles illuminated the living room very brightly.


    “Milord, I apologise for myteness!” Gdemus bowed and apologised at the approaching Stromboli.


    “You''re rather early; Theokases wouldeter.” Stromboli weed him. He then said to relieve him, “I didn''t call outsiders tonight, so there is no need to restrain yourself. Just treat this ce as your home as it''s just a gathering of us three Amendrans.”


    “Alright.” Answered Gdemus.


    “You can choose if you prefer sitting on the kline or the chair.” Said Stromboli as he sat down in the middle of the kline.


    Seeing Gdemus choose a chair to sit down on, Stromboli patted the cushion beside him and said, “It has been more than ten years since his majesty and Herpus promoted that eating while sitting on a chair is beneficial to one''s health. However, I still preferying on a kline.”


    Gdemus hurriedly said, “Our people in Amendra often say that it is only you, milord, that still upholds Amendra''s tradition.”


    “Don''t they often talk behind my back for being too conservative?” Stromboli responded.


    Gdemus scrambled to exin, but Stromboli waved his hand and smiled, “Unlike what they say about my head as rigid as a stone, I would ept it as long as it is something good. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be able to manage a city that is hundreds of kilometres away from Amendra today. With tremendous changes in Magna Graecia over the past ten years, it would be impossible if people couldn’t adapt…” Said Stromboli while reflecting on the past.


    Seeing Gdemus just listening attentively, Stromboli was satisfied with his behaviour. Then he gestured to the ve standing by the door and said, “Start serving.”


    Gdemus became surprised, “Milord, aren''t we going to wait for Theokases?”


    “Unlike you, he oftenes here and treats this ce like his own, so there is no need for you to worry about him.”


    Theokases hade to Naxos with Stromboli a year before Gdemus. And as a constable*, Theokases was under Stromboli''s directmand as an important arm of the praetor in governing the city. Thus it is only natural for their rtionship to be much closer than Gdemus. (Constable is a new position after the establishment of the kingdom of Theonia, and its predecessor is the patrol captain. Davos had raised the level of this originally low-level position so that it could y a greater role in maintaining order in the city.)


    Then the ves began bringing the prepared dishes: There were dried fruits, such as almonds, figs, pistachios, dates…fresh fruits, such as pomegranates, peaches, plums…meat, such as steamed pork soup, roastedmb, chicken tender…there was also seafood, such as baked cod, steamed oysters…and of course wine, beer, and squeezed watermelon juice. After a while, food had filled the table.


    Gdemus could only stare in a daze and couldn''t help but say, “Isn''t this too extravagant?!”


    “Tonight, we will eat and drink to our heart''s content. I even invited a chef from Cheiristoya''s Restaurant to cook for us, so I am sure you will be satisfied!” Stromboliid on his side on the kline with a pleased expression, “I believe some of the food on this table would rarely even appear in his majesty''s pce. And since Naxos is closer to Africa…” Stromboliughed and made another gesture to the ve standing at the door.


    Then a slender female ve with a pretty face and slightly dark skin tone came in and sat next to Gdemus under the order of Stromboli.


    Gdemus became nervous that he subconsciously moved to the side.


    Seeing this, Stromboliughed and said, “Gdemus, I remember that you haven''t gotten married, right?”


    “Yes, milord.”


    “It''s time for you to find a wife! Expand your family''s lineage as soon as possible so that your parents could set their minds at ease in Elysium!” Stromboli''s words moved Gdemus.


    “But don''t search here in Naxos because your root is in Amendra. It would be more helpful to your future to try finding an Amendran or a daughter of an official in Thurii! When I get back to Thurii, I''ll find someone for you…” Stromboli advised earnestly.


    “Thank you for your advice and help! I…” Gdemus was a bit moved and honestly thought that Stromboli was really thinking of him.


    “s, there aren''t many of us true Amendrans in the first ce! And there are only the two of you serving in Naxos…I still remember when the Lucanians imprisoned us in the Temple of Zeus; at that time, I was beside your father Aesacus when he eventually copsed from hunger and disease…” Murmured Stromboli while recalling the past.


    Gdemus'' eyes, on the other hand, became slightly red.


    “How could I not care about you guys?!” Said Stromboli emotionally, but the atmosphere was unfortunately spoiled by a sudden loud voice from the outside, “You already started eating and drinking without waiting for me!”


    With this shout, a burly young man walked into the living room.


    “Theokases, quickly sit down. We''ve been waiting for you.” Stromboli didn''t care about the young man''s tone of voice and just waved to the ves to serve him quickly.


    “Hey, G.” Theokases waved to Gdemus and sat down opposite him.


    Gdemus nodded at him. The two were only rtively familiar with each other even though they were not too far apart in age and were ssmates at the school in Thurii. Gdemus was an excellent student, while Theokases was unruly, so the twomunicated very little; it was only after they became adults that they interacted more, especially aftering to serve in Naxos.


    But unlike Gdemus, Theokases still had a mother when Davos upied Amendra. In the end, his mother remarried like the other widowed Amendrans. Theokases'' adoptive father is Drakos, but they don''t have a good rtionship as Theokases doesn''t recognise his adoptive father. Drakos, on the other hand, was always busy training the soldiers and going to battle, so he hardly cared about him.


    At the end of the War in South Italia, Drakos died bravely and became a hero of Theonia. Besides having a statue of him built in the Hall of Valor, King Davos and the statesmen that were former mercenaries began taking care of Drakos'' family members, which was hard for Theokases to ept. In the end, Theokases looked for an opportunity to serve in Naxos just to stay away from Drakos''rades. (The Syracusans called the war ten years ago the ‘War in Magna Graecia’, but the Theonians called it the ‘War in South Italia’ as they fought not only Syracuse but also against Samnites and Taranto.)


    As soon as Theokases sat down, he loudly said to Stromboli, “Milord, you must not be partial; I remember someone giving you two Numidian ves!”


    Stromboliughed and said, “Boy, I knew you would say that. Rest assured, I didn''t forget about you.”


    Then another female ve entered the room and sat next to Theokases.


    Theokases immediately ced his arm around the female ve''s wait and asked her name.


    Stromboli coughed lightly and asked, “What happened in the city that you came sote?”


    “The constable of Purosdemos came in the afternoon asking for instructions. He reported that a registered freeman hade saying his 13-year-old daughter went missing, so he hoped that I could aid him. After learning about the situation, I hurriedly came back to send someone to start the investigation tomorrow.”


    Stromboli just nodded as he didn''t care about it too much because there were often fights, homicides, disappearances and other cases happening when the new city of Naxos was just established as the ce was filled with exiles, freemen, alien races and even the remnants of the Campanian mercenaries. It was only recently that they managed to settle down the situation. Moreover, Stromboli believed Theokases could handle the case with his ability.


    Theokases nced at Gdemus and said, “Milord, this matter isn''t simple as it has something to do with Ladician''s household.”


    It startled Stromboli that he put down the wine mug he was about to raise. After making the two female ves withdraw, Stromboli asked with seriousness, “What evidence did you find?!”


    Gdemus'' mind jolted as he pricked his ears up.


    “Ladician had recently hired the freeman to guard the wheat field. And ording to the freeman''s wife, her daughter went to deliver his food yesterday, but she never returned. While the freeman said that he didn''t even see his daughter at all…” Theokases grabbed a plum and continued after taking a bite, “Milord, you should know that Phragres was sent back to Naxos by his father because of his unruly behaviour in Thurii. Moreover, there are numerous rumours about him ‘mistreating the female ves’ in Naxos, so I suspect this matter has something to do with him!”


    As Stromboli ponders, Gdemus couldn''t help but associate the girl''s disappearance with the suspicious thing he encountered in the afternoon, so he immediately interjected, “Milord, I went to Ladician''s field to check…”


    Theokases immediately shouted after listening to Gdemus'' recount, “See, even G found it suspicious! Milord, give me your order, and I will immediately take someone to search Phragres'' house tomorrow!”


    Stromboli then said with utmost seriousness while staring at him, “Theokases, you need to correct your impatience. Without conclusive evidence, I won''t let you search Ladician''s residence just based on mere spections!”