“Hey, old Pollus!” Arctus shouted, while he and Petraeus dragging the exhausted noxii towards a middle-age man. They were in a camp. The man was wrapping the wounds of another hoplite. They dump her in front of him, and his patient was terrified, frantically he stood up and kept a distance from them. Some blood and bruises on her head and she was still in concussion.

“You’ll settle this mad dog! He’ll be all yours!” Said Arctus.

“Wait a minute! Those wounds, he need a medic and I’m not!” The man replied.

“He just bite off a medic’s nose! Non dare to deal with this crazy monster!” Arctus replied.

“Hey, I’m Pollus the coward! Don’t give me difficult tasks! I can’t handle it!” The man retaliated.

“It’s Madam Arete’s order!” Arctus argued.

“Well, she won’t be able to join the frontline, she don’t have armour! Better let her stay with you.” Petraeus added.

And they left them. Other men were resting in the same camp. They had told him about this difficult noxii who was accused of stealing. They found her carrying a pouch with a medallion of an important person, Seneca of Rome.

Although Apollodorus tried to get medics to help her, she was not happy being treated as a criminal and attacked whoever getting close to her.

Seeing her messy dark hair, there might be lice and she was bleeding on her head. He need to clean her wound and prevent infection. Pulling out a dagger, he was about to cut her hair, she grabbed his arm and bit him.

“Argh!” The man yanked her away.

“I’m just trying to fix your head!”

“Liars!” She shouted.

The man stunned by that voice, he then realised that this noxii was a woman.

“Okay, okay, I won’t cut your hair. But can I at least wash your wounds?”

Breathing heavily, she did felt dizzy and in pain. The man tied up her hair, washed the wound on her head and applied some wine which had been infused with mountain tea leaves.

“Name Paullus. But they call me Pollus the coward. What’s your name?” The man asked.

“Matea.” She replied.

"Where are you from?"

She did not reply. She doesn't know the name of places.

"I'm from the outskirt of Eretria. It's a far away city-state…" He continued.

"I joined the Roman legion 20 years ago. Oh Zues, let me tell ya, if you wanna stay safe, get yourself a sword. Spearmen are normally on the frontlines."

He paused a while, thinking of giving her some opportunity to speak, but she did not respond.

"This place is called Syracuse, an Roman ally. Few years ago I was transferred here, and oh boy, Lord Amiran is such a great person." He touched a pouch tied to his waist, it was full of coins.

"I still have 8 years of service, so I requested an early retirement. And he just granted that!" He said excitedly.

"Hey, I'll give you an offer, 10 coins for my full set of armour and sword."

Matea kept quiet, she did not have a single coin.

“It’s the best deal ever! I bought this set by taking a 3 months loan when I first join.”

“A…haha… What a coward.” Another group of men sitting nearby intruded.

“Hahaha… He gave all his travel money to his wife in order to keep his daughter. Haha… what an idiot!” Another man said. They were drinking wine from their bottles and were all drunk.

“That’s why we call you Pollus the coward… buh buh buh bwek!” He started to flap both of his arms, making a gesture to indicate a chicken.

“Shut up! You all are just jealous of me! I got a beautiful wife and an adorable daughter!”

“Hahaha, soft man couldn’t produce a son! Hahaha!”

“Damn you! I’ll report both of you to Lord Amiran!”

Those rude men stopped laughing, they grabbed their bottle and continued their drink. They knew they had said something that could have brought them trouble. Lord Amiran never had a son.

Matea relaxed herself, their words reminded her of the day she was taken to the slave trader. That memory had never been clear in her mind, as her days were always in hunger, in fear and in pain.

"Hey, Paullus! Ma brother!" A soldier came to him, he seemed a little frustrated. Grabbing Paullus's shoulder, he forced a smile.

"Whadaya want!" Paullus yanked away his hands and shouted.

"Bro, I'm on winning streak! But I need some coins for tonight's kuboi…"

"Go away! You're dicing away your own life! You piece of shit" Paullus pushed him away, grabbing his sword from the ground with the scabbard, he threatened the man to leave.

"C'mon bro! Just lend me a few coins! I'll payback twice…"

"Son of a bitch!" Paullus drew out the sword and the man retreated.

"Pollus the scrooge! You'll regret it after tonight!" The man shouted and waved his Cynic's finger to Paullus.

"Damn! That useless idiot! I'm telling you, Matea! Don't ever touch the kuboi! It'll suck you in and enslave you for eternity."

That dice game, it was a form of gamble.

Matea was still laying on the ground. After all the struggle, she was tired, but could not take a nap, as her memory all came back to her.

That man, he owe money after he loses a dice game. So he sold me to the slave trader…

“Hey, so whadaya think? You pay me your 3 days wages, in exchange for my sword and armour. I’ll head back to Eretria after our next siege.” Paullus continued his conversation with Matea.

“There’s no use for me to keep those stuffs. I don’t have a son. But I can always request my future son in law to make me a metal cuirass! Hehehe. I let my wife decide and from her previous letter, she prefers the son of a blacksmith. I mean why not? Our daughter had reach the right age to find a suitor. And we are moving upward to the middle class.”

Those two drunkards giggled, trying to suppressed themselves.

“Psk, he let his wife decide… hu hu hu…”

Paullus heard their giggles and he grabbed a nearby wooden pillow block and threw it at the drunk man.

“That’s not funny! Of course the best is to let my own daughter to decide who she wanna be with!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” All men in the camp laughed.

“Hey Pollus! Don’t be ridiculous, let your daughter decide her own suitor? You think you’re Lord Amiran?”

“So what! I love kissing his ass! And that’s why I got extra wages, early retirement and I don’t have to be on frontline!”

“Huh… Ass kissing chicken coward!” They all stopped laughing and get back to their rest.

Paullus sat down and relaxed himself, taking a sip on the mountain tea he had prepared. His gaze fixed on the sunset. Looking forward to the day he soon reunited with his family again.

“I’m going to buy some cattle and livestock. I’ll work on the farm, and we will have the peaceful simple days for the rest of our lives, ”

Let all the glory of the empire goes to the crows.

Paullus sang.

“We should only fight to protect our home. A war for the glory of an empire is pointless. A peaceful world! That’s the dream of little Paullus. Coward it may be, but that’s as grand as any dream of a man.”

Bla bla bla bla bla, he is annoyingly talkative… Please, all I ever want now… is to sleep.