Davos

**Davos** is the protagonist of **Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece (古希腊之地中海霸主)**.

## Appearance

He is a tall man with a muscular physique and an average appearance, much like thousands of other young men across the Mediterranean.

## Personality

He a calm and collected, but his youth. He radiate an unusual temperament by simply being present.

## History

Davos was most likely born in 420 BC. In 403 BC, at the age of 17, he was forced to leave his home to work as a mercenary to earn money. A year later, he returned to find that Macedonian cavalry had attacked his hometown; his parents were killed and his relatives were captured. Left with no hometown, Davos followed a Thessalian mercenary leader named Meno to fight for Prince Cyrus the Younger of Persia.

## Plot

### Book 1 - Persia

The original Davos died during the Battle of Cunaxa. The new Davos reincarnated into his body and assumed his identity. His comrades came to mistakenly believe that he was favored by Hades. The next day, he suggested that the hoplites carry javelins to fend off the Persian cavalry, which was quickly accepted by the officers. Later, Davos cooked smoked sausage and spread it amongst the soldiers, earning the goodwill of the hungry soldiers.

Later that night, Davos helped Mersis, Meno's supply officer, and became friends with him. During the night march back to Greece, Davos recited the story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (with Greek modifications) to calm the soldiers. The next morning, Meno arrived and heard about Davos from everyone he met. Initially, he didn't care but soon his expression became grim when he noticed that the Greek soldiers seemed to hold Davos in a much higher regard than himself. He called Davos into his office to put him down, but didn't manage to do anything to him due to the latter's eloquence. Instead, it allowed Davos to understand Meno's true personality.

A few days later, Davos was taken by Hielos to treat Asistes, the nephew of Antonios. Through the use of his modern knowledge, Davos was able to treat Asistes, whose leg had been infected. There, he gained a follower named Herpus, a student of Hippocrates. While leaving, he ran into Matonis who had brought Xenophon from Proxenus' camp. After they exchanged a few words, Xenophon quickly became impressed by the mysterious Davos and the two became fast friends.

Next morning, Asistes woke up, healed, and Davos's name spread throughout Meno's camp and to surrounding camps as a "Miracle Physician." Many soldiers approached him and requested him to heal their friends or subordinates. In addition, Antonios became his full-fledged supporter as later when Meno attempted to force Davos to become his guard in order to restrict his movement, Antonios, along with other captains under Meno such as Kapus and Amintas, appeared and saved him.

Afterwards, the mercenary leaders reached an agreement with the Persians wherein the Persians would guide the Greeks out of their lands as long as the Greeks promised not to pillage the villages on the way. Around 20 days later, Tissaphernes and Orontes, the satrap of Armenia, appeared with their armies to escort the Greeks out.

A few days later, the Greeks crossed the Median Wall before reaching the lands previously governed by Cyrus the Younger. There, Tissaphernes allowed the Greeks to pillage the villages as a punishment for the subjects of Cyrus. There, Davos witnessed the dormant homicidal nature of his fellow Greeks who didn't hesitate to rob, rape or murder the innocent Persian peasants.

After managing to clear his from the stress of the pillage he witnessed, Davos captured a Persian merchant from whom he learned that the Persians were escorting the 10,000 Greeks northwest instead of west, which would lead them to the rough Armenian mountains instead of the flatter lands of Lydia. He also learned that the Persians most likely planned to ambush them after they crossed Nineveh and left the royal lands.

Over the next few days, the Greeks continued marching, but tensions heightened between them and the Persians which led to many small-scale conflicts and even one large-scale conflict which resulted in over 10 deaths.

One morning, Davos was awakened by Antonios who informed him that Clearchus, Proxenus, Meno, Socrates, Agis and over a dozen captains were going to the Persian camp to negotiate. Anxious, Davos rushed to their camp to stop them. He told them to reconsider their decision as it was too dangerous, but Clearchus, a typical stubborn Spartan, ignored his words. Unable to stop them, Davos ran off to prepare for what was to come.

He rushed back to Clearchus' camp and informed everyone that their leaders had been captured or killed by the Persians while Antonios rushed to gather the officers in Meno's camp. Davos watched as Xenophon ran to inform Agasias, Proxenus' adjutant, after being told by Timaison, Clearchus' head captain. After all the adjutants were gathered, they met the Persian envoys outside their camp. Upon a breakdown of negotiations, it became evident that war was imminent, so the Greeks decided to convene a general assembly and elect new leaders.

Davos also met Cheirisophus, a Spartan general who was also one of the five Ephors. Despite not being a leader within the mercenary army, Cheirisophus was highly respected as he was one of the most distinguished Spartans and a true general, unlike them.

After Davos returned to his camp, he was unanimously elected as the new leader. He then re-appointed Philesius, a well-respected officer and the former adjutant of Meno, as his adjutant while appointing Herpus as the Medical Officer, Mersis as the Supply Officer and Asistes as the Herald. Timaison, the head captain under Clearchus, became the new leader of Clearchus' camp; Xanthicles, Socrates' adjutant, became the new leader of Socrates' camp; Cleanor, Agis' adjutant, became the new leader of Socrates' camp; and, surprisingly, Agasias, Proxenus' adjutant, who was the favorite to succeed Proxenus, was defeated by Hieronymus, a captain under Proxenus.

That afternoon, Davos gave an epic speech in front of all 10,000 Greeks. The soldiers all came to praise Davos and even the mercenary leaders reluctantly accepted Davos as a worthy leader. Later, when he returned back to his camp, he was surprised to find that Cheiristoya, who had previously taken asylum under Clearchus, was inside his tent. Cheiristoya informed him that she had left Timaison's camp because she believed that he lacked prestige to be able to protect her from his lustful soldiers. Davos sent Asistes to inform Timaison and Cheirisophus about the situation. Soon, Tolmides, the army's herald, appeared and informed him that Timaison and Cheirisophus had consented to Cheiristoya living in Davos' camp.

The next morning, the mercenary army began to assemble to continue their march. The army was reorganized as the smaller phalanxes had joined the six largest phalanxes with most joining Cheirisophus' phalanx due to his fame as a Spartan Strategos. The army took a formation wherein Cheirosphus and Xanthicles became the vanguard, Timaison and Cleanor became the rearguard while Davos and Hieronymus became the left and right flanks, respectively. While marching, Mithridates, a general who formerly worked for Cyrus the Younger, appeared with 30 cavalry and offered to spare the soldiers who surrendered. 20 soldiers under Hieronymus surrendered, 10 soldiers under Cleanor surrendered while three soldiers under Timaison surrendered. Finally, Mithridates approached the left flank where Davos' phalanx was located. Davos devised a scheme wherein he disguised himself as a common solider and pretended to surrender, along with Hielos and his squad. Once they reached a distance of 30 meters, they threw the javelins that they had secretly equipped on their backs. Through this maneuver, they were able to kill close to a dozen Persian cavalry and capture Mithridates whom Davos subsequently killed.

In order to avenge his friend, Artaozus, another general formerly under Cyrus the Younger, appeared with 200 mounted archers and another 200 foot archers. Rather than engaging the Greeks in close-combat, the archers began harassing Cleanor's phalanx, knowing that the heavy-armored hoplites wouldn't be able to reach them. Even the 200 Cretan archers dispatched by Timaison were unable to match up to their Persian counterparts. Cheirosphus devised a plan to pincer Artaozus and his men from behind, but it failed. By sunset, the mercenary army reached a village and the leaders gathered to discuss countermeasures. They finally decided to arm 300 Rhodesians with slings and form a cavalry unit. Ledes, a Thessalian from Davos' camp, was chosen as the captain of the cavalry since most of the cavalry were Thessalians. Further, Davos proposed that they needed to deal a lethal blow to the Persians, or else, they would continue to harass them, forever. And so, they decided to ambush the Persians in a valley outside a narrow mountain road. Davos added that his phalanx would volunteer to hide behind and pincer the escaping the Persians.

The next day, Artaozus returned with 4,500 archers and 1,500 mounted archers. His scouts reported that the Greeks had crossed a narrow mountain road and had entered a valley. His army quickly chased after them and when they entered the valley, he realized that they had walked into a Greek ambush. Before he could order the archers to fire, Greeks slingers quickly threw two rounds of fist-sized stones, which led to complete chaos amongst the Persians. Without missing that opportunity, the Greek hoplites charged at the confused enemy.

Artaozus, located near the entrance of the narrow road, quickly ordered a retreat and rushed back to the other side of the mountain. However, right as he turned the corner of the S-shaped road, he was surprised to find that the road was blocked with a small mountain of stacked stones and wood. Unable to stop his horse in time, he and the surrounding cavalry slammed into the wall. Soon, the escaping Persians archers appeared and they, similarly, slammed into the wall, squashing him between them. Behind the wall, Davos ordered the peltasts to target the Persians that attempted to climb the wall while he ordered the hoplites to form a tight shield-wall with their spears like a giant porcupine. Ultimately, close to 3000 Persians died while the rest were injured. Artaozus' corpse was never found but it was surely amongst the pile of hundreds of corpses. Following this battle, Davos earned the respect of even Cheirisophus.

The Greeks continued their march and a few days later they reached Nineveh, capital of the once-great Median Empire. The following two days passed without suspense until Tissaphernes finally appeared on the third day. The Persian army numbered close to 50,000 divided into three wings led by Tissaphernes, Orontes and Ostanes. Despite being outnumbered 5-1, the Greeks landed significant casualties to the Persians due to them being lightly armed, low in morale and in a thick formation. Ultimately, the Persians retreated after they suffered more than 4,000 casualties. Still, the Greeks also suffered close to 1,000 casualties. Davos stressed the importance of effective treatment for the wounded, words that resonated with the soldiers. Most of the uninjured soldiers were made part of the medical camp. Soon, word of the medical camp in Davos' phalanx spread throughout the army and other leaders such as Cleanor, Timaison and Cheirisophus also approached Davos to treat their soldiers. Davos readily agreed which earned him a lot of goodwill from the leaders.

After appointing Hielos to take charge of the management of the medical camp, Davos returned to his quarters to find Olivos standing guard. Davos was surprised since Olivos had been shot in the leg by an arrow during the day's battle. Olivos assured him that he had treated and discharged by Herpus. Then, Olivos informed him that Cheiristoya was waiting for him inside his room. Cheiristoya had come to ask for permission to work as a nurse in the medical camp since she wished to contribute to the army and felt envious of the respect obtained by the nurses in the medical camp. She had been worried that Davos would deny her requests since traditional Greeks didn't allow women to work outside their home, especially women from wealthy or noble families. Davos, as a modern man, had no such prejudice and agreed to appoint her as a nurse. Overjoyed, Cheiristoya embraced him in the heat of the moment, and, as if magic, the two developed feelings for each other and spent the night together, filling the quiet room with passionate panting and moaning.

Next morning, while marching, Davos resolved himself to become a man worthy of Cheiristoya, a beautiful woman of noble birth, because he was aware that the passion she felt for him would not last forever. Of course, his main concern was to get back to Greece alive. After a few days of quiet, Tissaphernes returned. This time, instead of a frontal assault, he switched to harassment tactics with the use of his archers. The mercenaries spent five grueling days of march under harassment from the Persians before they reached the Corduene mountains south of Armenia. After climbing the first mountain, the mercenaries settled down for a rest when Persian archers from a nearby mountain shot at them. The experienced mercenaries quickly got back into formation, but the supply camp suffered significant damage. The damage would've been worse if not for Cheiristoya's quick thinking in hiding the non-combatants under the carriages.