Chapter 47: Three Old Men
Blackstone, Conference Tent – Later That Afternoon
Clank Clank Clank
A pile of oversized weapons crashed onto the conference table.
Broadswords, great axes, oversized clubs. Most of them chipped, all of them bloody.
Tara stood beside the table with folded arms, staring at the barbarian weapons in silence.
“…So the neighbors finally paid us a visit, huh.”
After the fight at the ravine earlier this morning, David’s men had gathered whatever remained from the barbarians, which was mostly just their equipment.
Inside the tent, an emergency meeting was already underway. Around the table sat Theo, Solon, Archie, David, and Tara.
“Yep,” David said casually with a grin. “They truly lived up to the name too. Even with four hounds, those bastards still managed to drag the fight for almost five minutes.”
“Any casualties on our side?” Tara asked immediately.
“Three wounded. None dead,” David replied. “Mostly bruises. One broken arm.”
“What about the barbarian bodies?” Solon asked.
“The hounds ate them.”
Theo still wasn’t fully used to hearing sentences like that delivered so casually.
“I also sent recon teams to sweep the area,” David continued. “If there’s more of ’em nearby, I wanna know now. Told the scouts to wipe every trace those fellas were ever there too.”
“Good,” Solon muttered. “No reason to let the neighboring tribes know we exist earlier than necessary.”
Then he turned toward Tara.
“These are the same tribes you mentioned before?” Solon asked. “The ones becoming more aggressive near winter?”
Tara nodded.
“The Agros winter festival is close,” she said. “Every tribe is desperate for tribute right now. Food, slaves, loot… anything.”
Solon leaned back slightly, thinking. Meanwhile, David tapped a finger against the table.
“I’m increasing the guard rotation at the fortress construction,” he said. “If another group comes sniffin’ around, I’d rather greet ’em with enough spears already waitin’.”
“Very good. We leave the matter to military judgement,” Solon replied calmly.
Archie immediately frowned.
“So vhat does zis mean for my fortress project?” he asked. “I hope nobody expects me to stop construction because some oversized cave-men decided to become annoying.”
He pointed toward the eastern ravine.
“I still need to finish ze earthworks and foundation before vinter freezes ze ground. After that, everything becomes a pain.”
“No, on the contrary,” Solon muttered while rubbing his chin, “I’m thinking of diverting more laborers to speed up the fortress construction. Maybe slow down the wall projects on the other villages for now.”
“I agree,” David added. “Once winter starts, we’ll need to focus on military stockpiling and defensive training anyhow.”
The three men then continued discussing preparations for winter naturally between themselves.
Because they all already knew what would happen on spring. The Agros would come.
For the first time in generations, the scavenger tribes—or rather, the Grassland Alliance—had no intention of paying tribute to Agropolis this winter.
After careful calculations, Solon concluded that the tribute demands were simply too much to sustain, even with the alliance slowly beginning to produce food surplus. If they wanted to meet the tribute quota while still feeding themselves through winter, then more manpower would need to be diverted into food production.
Which meant construction would halt, mining would halt, and military preparation would halt. That was unacceptable.
Sure, slaves were also accepted as tribute. But right now, manpower itself was the alliance’s most valuable resource. Giving people away was out of the question.
So the alliance had quietly reached a conclusion. Confrontation it was.
“We also need proper scouting reports on the Agros,” David muttered. “Those scavengers that visited Agropolis before only gave rough descriptions. I want updated information before spring rolls around.”
The three men flowed naturally with each other now. Military, engineering, governance. Every discussion moved smoothly between them without effort.
Meanwhile Theo could only sit there quietly listening. He wasn’t even asked for input anymore.
“…Sigh.”
He quietly looked away.
---
Solon’s Tent – Later On The Night
SMACK
“Ouch!”
Theo grabbed the top of his head as Solon struck him with a twig again.
“You were sitting in the very same meeting as the rest of us,” Solon said with visible disappointment. “How is it that you still fail to understand?”
It had been like this ever since Solon decided that Theo apparently needed to learn practically everything about governance from the ground up. Every night, after work was done, Theo would come here for what Solon called “education” and Theo called “elder abuse toward younger generation.”
“Yes, but I mean, you guys were all busy discussing among yourselves,” Theo complained while rubbing his head, “so I thought I wasn’t needed.”
“Yes, you are not needed there to discuss,” Solon replied immediately, “you are needed there to listen and learn.”
Then he gave Theo a tired look.
“Do I need to explain every little thing for you? When to talk, when to stay quiet, when to observe?”
Theo could already feel it. Here we go again.
Unlike Archie, Solon rarely shouted. He also didn’t throw tools or start screaming in German whenever someone annoys him.
Instead, Solon specialized in something far more exhausting.
Disappointed sarcasm.
“Do you also need someone to tell you when to eat?” Solon continued.
Such as that.
“How about when to breathe?”
That too.
“Oh dear gods, don’t tell me people in the future also need instructions before taking a dump.”
And that one.
“Actually no,” Solon muttered while rubbing his chin thoughtfully, “judging by you, perhaps they really do.”
Even after weeks of this treatment, Theo still found it surreal. Getting roasted by an ancient Greek lawmaker every night was somehow not something he expected when he got isekai’ed.
SMACK
“Ow!” Theo yelped as Solon smacked his head again with the twig.
And there was also that.
Apparently ancient education systems really loved hitting people with sticks. Theo understood the physical punishment part historically.
But the verbal attacks? Why did those feel so unnecessarily personal?
“Now then,” Solon continued calmly, “have you figured out why your version of equality created resentment instead of reducing it?”
Theo rubbed his head while thinking.
“…Because these people don’t actually want equality,” Theo answered slowly. “They want security, status, and full stomachs.”
Solon stared at him for a moment.
“…It seems you finally learned something.”
Theo looked a little hopeful hearing that.
“Quite right,” Solon continued. “A starving man does not care about philosophy. He cares about surviving winter.”
Theo slowly nodded.
“Sigh… yeah. I guess equality was wrong.”
SMACK
“Ow! What was that for?!”
“And here I thought that so called modern brain of yours had finally started functioning,” Solon scoffed.
“I wasn’t even disagreeing with you,” Theo complained while rubbing his head again.
“Listen carefully, kid,” Solon said firmly, “equality only works when people already believe the system itself is fair.”
He pointed the twig toward Theo.
“And you introduced it when there was barely a system at all.”
Theo paused.
“No idea is ever completely wrong or completely right,” Solon explained calmly. “What matters is timing. Circumstances. Purpose.”
He leaned back slightly.
“Your mistake was introducing it merely to imitate how your homeland functioned.”
Theo went quiet after hearing that. Equality, liberty, justice. He heard those words all the time back on Earth. Politicians said it. Movies said it. Schools repeated it constantly.
But honestly? He never really stopped to think why those ideas existed in the first place except those are good things.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The village bell echoed outside nine times through the night air.
“That will do for today,” Solon muttered. “Tomorrow we shall discuss why your version of a justice system would collapse this alliance within months.”
Theo immediately looked exhausted just hearing tomorrow’s topic.
“…Yes, sir,” he replied weakly. “Thank you for today.”
He slowly raised himself from the rug and dragged his feet toward the tent exit like an exhausted student.
Once Theo left, Solon simply began preparing three mugs casually near the small hearth. And not long after, David and Archie entered the tent.
David was carrying a leather pouch filled with milk liquor while Archie brought his usual permanently-annoyed expression.
“How was today?” David asked casually as he stepped onto the rug and sat down.
“He was less stubborn today,” Solon replied. “Did you say something to him?”
“Yeah, kinda,” David admitted. “This mornin’, before all that barbarian shenanigans.”
“I do hope you didn’t fill his head with unnecessary rubbish,” Solon muttered
“No need to worry,” David said while pouring milk liquor into the three mugs Solon had already prepared. “I just gave the boss a little nudge, that’s all.”
The three men raised their mugs before drinking. What used to be David and Archie’s casual nightly drinking had naturally become a regular gathering of three.
“I still don’t understand vhy you refuse to simply tell ze boy how to act as a leader,” Archie commented after a sip.
“The kid needs to discover his own purpose first,” Solon replied calmly. “If I simply tell him what he ought to become…”
For a brief moment, Solon’s eyes looked distant.
“…then I shall merely repeat the same mistake.”
David glanced at him knowingly.
“Still thinking about Pisistratus?” he asked quietly.
“Well, it is rather difficult not to,” Solon scoffed. “Frankly, I’m more surprised you fail to see that boy has the potential to become another Absalom, King David.”
“Oh, trust me, I see it alright,” David replied with a small smile. “Difference is, I prefer a different approach to keep him from turnin’ into a damn disaster.”
“Sigh… this is precisely vhy I despise philosophers and artists,” Archie muttered while drinking again. “Far too many riddles and emotions shoved into every equation.”
That earned a chuckle from both Solon and David.
And so, like many other nights, three ancient men from Earth sat together inside a tent, sharing drinks and each other’s company after a long day of work.