CHAPTER 46: CHAPTER 45 SOLDIER CONFERENCE

Cross’s angry appearance was like a ferocious wolf, sending a shiver through Maximus’s heart, but with the dozens of eyes from the Medical Team watching him, as the captain, he couldn’t back down! So after swiftly dodging the fist from the opponent, he threw a punch back towards him.

This traitor dared to fight back! ... Cross’s fury grew even stronger, he turned his body to the side, pressed his right foot to the ground, and charged his entire body forward.

Maximus couldn’t evade in time and was knocked to the ground by the opponent, the two began scuffling on the ground...

Soon, a pair of strong hands pulled Cross, who was throwing punches, away, and Hamilcar helped Maximus, who had taken two punches, up.

Spartacus released Cross, sternly rebuking both of them loudly: "You two, as leaders of your respective teams, what can’t be discussed properly? Why must you brawl here like riffraff, is this how you set an example for the other brothers!"

"This traitor dared to detain my men from the battalion, why shouldn’t I beat him!" Cross remained furious, but did not strike again. He glared at Hamilcar and Antonix: "And you two, are helping him bully our Second Battalion!"

Hamilcar righteously replied, "The Guard detained a few soldiers from the Second Battalion because they intruded into the Medical Team’s camp, harassing women tending the wounded, causing chaos within the Medical Team. Detaining them was the Guard fulfilling its duty to safeguard the entire Supply Team!

Moreover, these soldiers not only attacked sisters within their own team causing chaos in the Medical Team, but one escaped the Guard’s pursuit, returned to the Second Battalion spreading rumors, and incited them to brawl with the Guard. If not for the timely intervention of the Third Battalion, it would’ve nearly triggered an internal conflict, so I request severe punishment for these soldiers!"

Cross was stunned for a moment, not expecting such a situation, but quickly retorted dissatisfiedly: "Hamilcar, you’re exaggerating, aren’t you? These brothers just wanted to relax with the Supply Team after intense military training, didn’t they always do that? Not just them, hasn’t anyone from your battalion done the same?"

Cross sneered at Antonix, then at Spartacus, and finally his gaze shot directly at Maximus: "This is just a way for brothers to relax under the constant threat of a Roman Army attack, wasn’t it always fine before? But today, you Maximus specifically targeted us of the Second Battalion, taking them into custody, that’s what fueled the anger of the brothers in the Second Battalion, so the ones truly at fault should be Maximus and the Guard!"

Maximus laughed in anger, not even glancing at Cross, and turned to Spartacus, solemnly saying: "We built this force to resist the Romans, to free all those suffering. Our brothers and sisters in the Supply Team joined us because they believed in us, working tirelessly day and night to prepare delicious food for the brothers, feeling heartache seeing so many wounded brothers, and proactively requesting to care for them. The brothers and sisters of the Supply Team truly see everyone in the team as family!

But some soldiers of different battalions, and even some leaders, overlook the efforts of the Supply Team, not even regarding the sisters of the Supply Team as family. They’ve just escaped from the estates of nobles, to then turn around and wantonly humiliate sisters of the Supply Team who have also suffered. How does their behavior differ from those nobles, those farm managers we despised! We risked our lives to revolt, is it to become those we hated?!"

Maximus’s righteous questions pierced deeply into everyone’s hearts.

His voice was loud and clear, every Soldier watching could hear him; originally whispering among themselves, they suddenly fell silent, some even unconsciously bowing their heads.

"The harassment from certain soldiers towards the sisters of the Supply Team should have been stopped a long time ago, otherwise it will only chill the hearts of those who truly love and fight wholeheartedly for our goal! This time we must severely punish the soldiers who broke the rules and restore our military discipline!" Finally, Maximus declared powerfully.

"Absolutely not!" Cross instinctively opposed.

Spartacus was not very concerned about the soldiers harassing the women of the Supply Team, but Maximus’s words deeply moved him, and he noticed the strange demeanor of those soldiers listening outside the Medical Team camp. So he thought for a while and seriously asked, "What punishment do you propose?"

"Public caning!"

"Absolutely not!" Cross once again strongly objected: "That’s an enormous humiliation for the brothers!"

"So their harassment of the Supply Team’s members isn’t an enormous humiliation!" Maximus loudly refuted, pointing to the camp’s wooden fence: "There’s a wooden sign here, clearly stating ’Anyone who intrudes into the Medical Team without permission shall be punished.’ Your soldiers knowingly acted against this rule, and should be severely punished!"

"Who can understand the things you’ve written!" Cross shouted: "Besides, who gave you the authority to set rules arbitrarily without our consent! —"

"Alright, everyone stop arguing!" Spartacus said in a deep voice, "Let’s do this, we’ll hold a Soldier Conference, let the brothers decide whether or not to punish these men."

Maximus feigned hesitation.

Cross said without hesitation: "Alright, I agree!" Because he felt that with the Second Battalion comprising a quarter of the entire army, the soldiers would undoubtedly side with their comrades, and soldiers from other battalions had also done the same thing with the Supply Team before, they surely wouldn’t agree to Maximus’s proposal, making it improbable for him to win majority support from the soldiers.

"Alright then." Maximus appeared somewhat helpless.

Soon, the soldiers were all gathered together with the people from the Supply Team and sat encircling the camp, Spartacus standing in the middle of the camp neutrally narrated the events leading to today’s conflict.

Then, it was Cross, who strongly requested to speak first, who walked to the center of the camp, bringing along the four soldiers who caused the disturbance earlier. These men were no longer as tense as when they were detained, and hearing the soldiers of the Second Battalion shout their names, they arrogantly waved back in response.

Next, Cross briefly introduced these men to the army, detailing their heroic actions in the two battles against the Roman Army, how many enemies they killed, how many comrades they rescued, etc., but completely avoided mentioning them intruding into the Medical Team camp.

Hearing words of admiration from the surrounding soldiers, the four became even more proud and defiant.

"Brothers, you are all warriors for confronting the mighty Romans! As warriors, we should, of course, be respected and taken care of, right?!"

"Yes!!!..." The soldiers shouted in unison.

Seeing the soldiers’ enthusiastic response, Cross eagerly called out again: "Brothers, I believe you wouldn’t want to see comrades who fought alongside you be disgustingly humiliated over such a trivial matter, right?!"

"Yes!!..." The response was slightly smaller, but still far more than a majority, leaving Cross satisfied and looking at Maximus with scorn as he left the field.

"What shall we do? Looks like these bastards might not get punished!" Acronis felt nervous.

"The captain hasn’t spoken yet, he should have a solution, right?" Nexia felt nervous too.

"If these soldiers dare let these bastards off without punishment, then our Supply Team might as well stop cooking for them!" Acronis angrily said.

"If you do that, it will only make Maximus unable to be our captain anymore!" Pigeris warned.

"You—Pigeris, which side are you on?!" Acronis cursed angrily.