The Chronicles Of The Shark Empire

Some Things Never Change

And as had already been proven, the Cretan military republic was having continuing problems over the non-acceptance of a certain tanned man with golden hair known as the bastard son of Zeus (Trumpetius Olympikos) or his rival a decrepit old man (Bidenidus Nikos ) who could barely walk without support but who loved children in a somewhat different way and loved to lash out at his rivals as if he could fight them one-on-one.

Both sides of the dispute over the command of Crete had wild ideas that would benefit them and their images more than the people directly.

These were the first general elections to decide the leaders for the next 5 and 15 years respectively.

And in the third part were the neutrals, who neither agreed with the pacifists nor with the expansionist troublemakers, but believed in the return of Crete ruled by a king and nobles, a party led by Count Demaclios and protected by the war forces of the city of Polymartius, including the naftikois under the command of the greek world-renowned Sarpi the shark of Hades.

Speaking of him, he was enjoying his short breaks, lying in a hammock made of silk, given to him by the king of the Zhou dynasty.

He was there, enjoying the sun and the breeze off the beach, when a messenger came to let him know that his position had been decided, that he should go to the Count's castle before leaving for the capital.

Sarpi, ever alert as he was, activated his forces, taking from his 4000 naftikois, 200 to be his escort, arming them with Chinese armor and bronze spears, giving them 50 heavy bows bought from a Thracian merchant.

Speaking of business, Polymartius was the largest fishing town in the Mediterranean Sea, thanks to the school of sharks that placed themselves under Sarpi's command.

In all of Crete, Polymartius was the richest city-state, with its total wealth reaching 25 million drachma, equivalent to the accumulated wealth of Sparta in 15 years.

This had attracted some pirates looking for easy money, and what they found was a light navy veteran of many combats, who made them slaves in no time.