Reborn In 3rd Century Rome with Future Industry

Lucius frowned. "I instructed him to hire the most capable men he could find."

"He hired two hundred of them!" Cassius shouted, slamming his fist onto a stack of ledgers. "Two hundred massive, starving brutes from the slums! And that Germanic giant you put in charge of their training is running them into the ground! They are burning energy at a terrifying rate. The cooks are slaughtering livestock just to keep them standing. At this rate of consumption, the estate’s food reserves will be entirely depleted in less than two months!"

Lucius sighed. "The new plows are turning the earth as we speak, Father. But until the harvest comes, tap into the Massilia holding accounts. Buy bulk grain from the southern merchants if you must. We will weather the cost."

"Grain is the least of our problems," Valerius growled, stepping away from the window. The legionary’s knuckles were white as he gripped the hilt of his sword.

Lucius shifted his attention to the Security Chief. "Report."

"There was an attack in Civitas Aurelia this morning," Valerius stated. "We sent a caravan of the agricultural tools to the Forum Mercatorum, delivering our weekly wholesale order to Sextus. But our carts never made it to his warehouse."

Lucius’s eyes narrowed. "Were they bandits?"

"Worse," Valerius spat. "It was the local Blacksmith Guilds. Over the past few weeks, they have watched their profits evaporate because the local farmers refuse to buy their brittle iron when our tools are on the market. They tracked our carts. A mob of nearly fifty men ambushed our caravan right in the middle of the commercial district."

"They smashed three crates of our plows to pieces," Valerius continued, his jaw clenching. "And they cornered Marcus and the transit guards in an alley. They beat them to a bloody pulp with iron rods."

A lethal fury ignited in Lucius’s chest. "Are my men dead?"

"Battered, but breathing. The healers are tending to them in the barracks," Valerius answered.

"And where were the rest of your guards, Valerius?" Lucius demanded, his voice dropping to a quiet whisper. "Why didn’t your men draw their spathas and gut those guild thugs in the streets?"

"Because we were in broad daylight, surrounded by hundreds of Roman citizens!" Valerius roared back. "Do you think I didn’t want to slaughter them? If my men drew military-grade steel and massacred a guild-sanctioned mob in the center of the provincial capital, the Magistrates would have declared war on us! The Governor would dispatch a true legion cohort to burn this estate to the ground by nightfall. The guilds know this. They paid off the city watch to look the other way while they cracked our men’s skulls!"

Lucius fell silent.

This was not a simple robbery. The established Roman elite were pushing back against his disruption.

They were using the complex web of Roman law and corrupt city guards to attack his legitimate business, knowing he couldn’t use his superior military assets without exposing his treasonous shadow empire.

"They sent a message," Cassius whispered. "If we continue to sell in the city, they will kill our merchants. They are trying to starve our legal income."

Lucius looked up at his Security Chief. "Valerius. I need a show of absolute force," Lucius ordered. "At what time will the Custodes be fully functional? Can you march a cohort of your new recruits into the city tomorrow to guard the next shipment? A wall of shields to make the guilds think twice?"

Valerius let out a bitter laugh. "March them? Dominus, half of those recruits threw up their morning porridge just carrying logs to the river. The other half don’t know the difference between a shield-wall and a tavern brawl. Wulfric is breaking them down, but it will take at least three months to forge them into a unit capable of fighting without breaking formation."

"What about your veterans?" Lucius pressed. "The core men?"

"Tied up," Valerius replied grimly. "We are walking a razor’s edge. My veterans are stationed at the secret river landings, guarding the illicit steel shipments for the Germanic tribes, or they are watching the shadow forge at night. If I pull them to guard plows in the city, the border trade is entirely exposed to barbarian treachery."

Lucius rubbed his temples.

They were trapped in the vulnerable gap between their agricultural front and their hidden military might, and the local guilds had just brought a hammer down right on the weak point...

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