"I am confident we will be doing the Battle of Mycale, but we will discuss that at the Military Meeting in two days." Dom explained to Gan Ning, whilst Ling Tong and Himilco the Shipbuilder listened on, "So if we are, we may want to keep that ship here."
"Are we taking the Galatea or the Enyo?" Himilco asked, the Galatea was a standard Trireme built to an exceptional level, whilst the Enyo had a longer ram for attacking ships with a higher hull.
"I'll let our Naval Generals make that decision!" Dom laughed in response.
"That's probably a good choice." Himilco agreed, whilst Gan Ning seemed to be thinking about that himself.
"Is there anything else you need Lord Lazarus, or are you planning to help us with construction?" Ling Tong asked teasingly, excited to get back in to the shipyard.
"I have something that normally brings me an elite unit, but I have been told I need to use it here." Dom replied, Ling Tong didn't have much understanding, but both Gan Ning and Himilco did.
"Marines or a ship?" Gan Ning asked in excitement.
"Shall we find out?" Dom replied with a grin, "System, use the Blue Cube on the shipyard."
A Portal suddenly appeared in the Calm River, pushing the docked Transport ships that were still in the water outside to the side as a large wave appeared. The docked Trireme also rocked and Dom could hear some shouting from the Docks from a familiar voice and could see Himilco gritting his teeth as he knew what was going to come afterwards. Through the portal a towering ship appeared, an inflated Trireme that was both higher and longer.
"A Quinquereme!" Himilco exclaimed at the sight of the ship that was an improved version of the Trireme.
After arriving, the portal disappeared, leaving the large ship in the middle of the Calm River. Two ships approached it and Dom headed towards the Docks where it was being led to, with those who were regulars in Riverside now used to the constant strange things that happened. Himilco, Gan Ning and Ling Tong all followed him in excitement. When he arrived, Dom could see that a small boat had already been tied to it and was directing it to the docks. A very wet Helena approached them, a smile through gritted teeth on her face.
"Good Afternoon Lord Lazarus, Generals Gan Ning and Ling Tong!" She replied, before seeing Himilco and smiling.
"Sorry about that Helena, I didn't expect a ship to arrive!" Dom apologised in advance as she squeezed water from the bottom of her toga.
"You never do." She replied sternly, before turning to face the approaching giant ship. "We will need a bigger docks if more ships keep arriving."
"Sostratus is dealing with it." Dom replied to her honestly, which she nodded her head in response. Whilst they watched, a group of Warriors appeared behind them, led by Xun Yan. He brought along three Centuries of Legionaries and some Forbidden Guard, whilst in the distance Dom could see that Pullo and Huang Zhong had paused training.
The Quinquereme had soon been tied to the Dock and a ramp provided, where a Roman Centurion disembarked, followed by a small detachment of Legionaries. He held his helmet by his side as he confidently marched towards Dom, before patting his fist on his chest.
"Centurion Cato at your service Lord!" He exclaimed with a salute. "I bring you the Bellona, our goddess of war. She is a Quinquereme with a crew of four hundred. Two hundred and eighty sailors and one hundred and twenty marines!"
"She is impressive." Dom agreed, his eyes now seeing the flagship of his Sea Fleet. He also thought the name had fallen at an opportune time as they had just agreed to place one of the temples to the goddess Bellona.
"Lord Lazarus, if we take her to the shipyard, I may be able to map her and potentially draw a new schematic!" Himilco whispered in his ear, as Dom asked the system to show him the grade of a Quinquereme.
[Quinquereme - Grade S]
"System, what schematics do we currently have?" Dom asked, hoping that the Quinquereme would be added to the list.
[Trireme - A
Early Merchant Sailing Ship - C
Bireme - C
Mengchong C]
"We should also map the Doujian and the Louchuan when we get chance, if we keep expanding, variety will be key." Gan Ning added from the side, which Dom agreed with. Small fast ships such as the Doujian may not be helpful in a battle between Triremes, but could be useful ships for policing the Rivers as the Kingdom grew, whilst the Louchuan was a monster in the River and if protected well could demolish cities from afar.
"Please tell me more about your ship." Dom asked Centurion Cato, a man quite tall for a Roman, with balding hair and a scar on his chin.
"She is fast, powerful and quick to manoeuvre. An improvement on the Trireme's that I can see around here that have all been built to an exceptional standard." Centurion Cato replied, "Her crew are all freemen, we have no slaves on a ship like the Bellona. My Marines are elite's and are used for ship to ship combat, we can use bows and throw javelins, but we much prefer being up close with our swords. We primarily fight against pirates, but we have also fought against the many traitors of our old empire. We are excited for the opportunity to fight for our new home."
"We are seriously lacking in experienced crews, so we may need to borrow some to train our Trireme crews." Gan Ning said to Centurion Cato in a friendly tone, "But I can clearly see that the Bellona could be the new heart of our Sea Fleet."
"That is what she is made for, as well as the rowers and my marines, we also have grappling hooks on ropes that we tie to enemy ships. Some of the Quinquereme and Trireme of the past had powerful hooked ramps on them that we could use to board enemy ships called a Corvus, however the added weight made them less manoeuvrable." Centurion Cato explained. "If we do ever fight against enemies who use them, we have our techniques."
"I will speak with Ou Yezi, but we could probably improve your ram so it is more deadly at cutting through enemy ships." Himilco commented as he walked around the front of the ship.
"That has been an issue for many years, the construction of ships is more defensively orientated now and it's harder to sink enemies." Centurion Cato agreed, whilst walking away with Himilco to talk about other parts of the ship.
"We have our ship for the Battle of Mycale." Gan Ning commented as he looked up at the Bellona again, Ling Tong beside him with his mouth agape, "We should replace half of the rowers with Hoplite's and make space for two Titanaconda's."
"We need to send her to Artemisia and have her train with our fleet, we will be fighting alongside Trireme and Bireme at Mycale." Dom agreed, seeing the excitement on Gan Ning's face.
"I will go and work on a list now of potential people to take, we have to do Mycale now!" He laughed as he dragged Ling Tong away with him towards the Town Centre, leaving Dom alone.
Dom watched Himilco and Centurion Cato talk in the distance, before deciding to head towards the Training Grounds at the Ninth Legion Warriors Hall. Pullo and Huang Zhong had taken nearly three thousand warriors out for a run towards Tranquillity, and Dom decided it would be a good opportunity to train with the Zhan Lu for a while with some of his guards.
...
The sun was soon setting and Dom's body ached from the hours of training, he headed to the bathhouse and bathed, having his skin cleaned by one of the members of staff that worked there. He then headed back to the Palace to have his meal with Meritamen and Sun Shangxiang.
They were both sat talking in the large hall when Dom arrived, both sat on the seats to the left and right of Dom's empty raised seat in the middle. Beside them were Ban Jieyu and Chandra, two key members of Meritamen's retinue. The four seemed to be having a good time as Sun Shangxiang was laughing at something that Chandra had just said.
"Good Evening Lord Lazarus!" Ban Jieyu welcomed as she noticed Dom's arrival, whilst his two brides went quiet.
"We shall leave you with your wives Lord!" Chandra stated as she stood and bowed in his direction. The two of them left, with Ban Jieyu giving Dom a welcoming smile. Chandra departed the Palace, whilst Ban Jieyu disappeared towards the Kitchens beyond.
"They could have stayed." Dom said to Meritamen and Sun Shangxiang as he sat down.
"They probably wanted to give us some time together, you haven't been here much recently and Sun Shangxiang is also new." Meritamen explained with a smile, however Dom felt something was up with the two of them.
"How has your day been?" Sun Shangxiang asked, moving the conversation on.
"We have some new Archers and a new ship!" Dom explained, whilst a member of the staff suddenly appeared with a plate of food for him and a cup of wine. Dom hadn't asked for anything but it seemed that when Ban Jieyu had left, she had gone to order this.
"Where they also from my family?" Sun Shangxiang asked, but in a tone that hinted that she hoped they weren't. She also understood the fine line that currently existed with the large number of her people arriving.
"They were from the same era, but from southern tribes." Dom explained, "They seem very skilled, but Centurion Pullo and General Huang Zhong had taken them to training rather quickly."
"The new General is going to definitely improve the fitness and discipline in the ranks!" Meritamen laughed, "What about the ship?"
"Larger than the Trireme's, she's called the Bellona and arrived with a group of Roman Marines. Himilco has already started to map her, whilst Gan Ning and Ling Tong are wondering what they can do with her." Dom continued, taking a sip of the wine that seemed rather strong. "I heard you were both at the Clinic, is everything ok?"
"The healthcare is fantastic!" Sun Shangxiang exclaimed, "Those that were still in recovery seemed to be progressing well, whilst even Huang Zhong's son seemed to have more colour in his face since his arrival!"
"We have a great team!" Dom beamed, "It is an important part of our Kingdom."
"Those that had returned with injuries are also recovering well, Zhao Yun's riders who were injured should be able to return to duty soon as well." Meritamen commented.
"That's great news, they are recording all the medical issues of everyone that arrives." Dom explained to Sun Shangxiang. "So they can be monitored and treated as the Kingdom grows.
"I know! I had to also register, Xun Yu said it was important that everyone did it." She laughed, "I wasn't aware of any medical issues, but I had to explain my age, skills, any medical history. It was impressive."
"I'm happy you are both getting along." Dom laughed after they finished discussing the clinic more.
"There is a lot to like about each other." Sun Shangxiang explained, before turning to Meritamen who smiled at her knowingly.
"We do have some news for you though." Meritamen stated, as Dom put a large chunk of bread in his mouth, his cheeks puffed out causing both of them to laugh at him. He chewed quickly and swallowed, before laughing back at them.
"Should I be worried?" Dom asked her, raising his eyebrow.
"Probably." Meritamen replied, a single word but enough for Dom to stop joking. "It is not confirmed yet, but the symptoms do align."
"Are you unwell?" Dom asked her, worried as they had brought a lot of new people together and diseases could spread.
"I could be pregnant." She replied. Dom thought back to the player ItsyBitsyPolkaDot and thought that if that situation arose, he would also have been given a choice. However, it seemed this may be a female gamer only benefit.
"How?" Dom asked, thinking that they had only had a few opportunities for this to have happened.
"When a man and a woman love each other." Meritamen began to explain, whilst Sun Shangxiang laughed loudly from the side whilst Dom's face paled. At least it was a game, he reminded himself, but it definitely added a different level to the Kingdom building part. In some games he played, when the main character died you could take over as the heir, or you could marry heirs to create alliances. In his mind he was way to young to be thinking about children, but in the game it was a different thing.
"What about you?" Dom asked, turning to Sun Shangxiang, his face already pale.
"I hope not!" She laughed, with Meritamen laughing as well, "But it is clear that you are strong in certain parts, so maybe I should prepare myself for it."
Dom just shook his head, not knowing how to respond, whilst the two women laughed. He decided to empty his wine glass down his throat, before another suddenly appeared in front of him from another member of staff. Dom could see at the entrance to the room that Ban Jieyu was stood with a smile, watching the proceedings.
"When will we know for sure?" Dom asked, wondering if this would impact on any of his other plans, but decided that it wouldn't.
"In the next couple of months, I should start showing by then." She replied seriously, before explaining that Agnodice the Midwife was keeping an eye on her and had given her some strict instructions on diet and other things.
The two women continued talking, however Dom didn't hear much of it as he thought through the impacts. Eventually the evening came to an end and Dom headed to bed, joined by Meritamen.