Brundisium (Solus)

“Medieval towns are messy” You comment as you look out over the city of Brundisium. The city proper was relatively small, mostly built around dockside markets, with blocks of townhouses and Roman style apartments stretching out alongside the roads that lead to the docks. It was all tightly clustered together in such a fashion that made the city seem much smaller than it actually was.

Beyond that were clusters of estates and houses around various fields, with farmers hard at work tending their fields as spring came to it’s height.

“Medieval?” Ishtar asked, turning to face you while sticking a hand on her hip. She was wearing a deep royal blue dress with a V-neck that hung just low enough to expose her creamy cleavage, but not enough to actually be lewd.

“It’s the term that was given to the era we’re technically in” you reply “It lasted for one thousand and fourteen years” you add. “I was only five hundred years into the era after it, so I guess we’ll see what they call it when we eventually get past it” you comment, giving Ishtar’s appearance a once over. The fact that you desperately wanted to peel that dress off of her and fuck her into the grassy hill upon which you were stood atop, was only a faucet of her being the goddess of lust.

“That look you are giving me right now says that if we don’t go now, we won’t be going till tomorrow” Ishtar told you with a grin before sashaying up to you and putting a hand on your chest. The smouldering look she was giving you was telling you she found it just as hard to stay focused.

****

The next day, you finally entered through the gates of Brundisium. Thankfully, the governor in charge of Brundisium was expecting you sometime that week, and not on a specific day. It was at this governor’s palace that you found him, seemingly having already been informed of your arrival.

“Welcome to Brundisium” Greeted a middle aged man in a richly decorated tunic. “Solus Augustus, I presume?” he asked and you nod in response. “You’ve come . . . less escorted than I’d have expected,” he noted, his eyes going up and down Ishtar’s body.

“I left my retinue of soldiers outside the walls and entered alone but for my more diplomatically wise companion” You reply, gesturing to Ishtar. “She is my diplomat and ambassador” you introduce and Ishtar gave a courtesy. “She’s quite the adept hand at it, if the rather favourable trade deals I’ve gotten from foreign lands are anything to go by” you comment.

“Hah! Perhaps I should emulate you then!” the governor replied “I am Tullus, and now come, let us wash away the wear of the road with wine and food!” Tullus bade before turning around and heading inside the palace.

“Want me to seduce him?” Ishtar asked with a mischievous gleam in her eye.

“No, I want you to seduce his wife” You reply “For my own amusement you understand” you add and receive a giggle from the sex goddess.

****

“So what exactly did you have in mind?” Tullus asked. He had taken you to what looked like some kind of almost-modern dining room, with a long wooden table surrounded by chairs in a room lit only by the sunlight streaming in through several open windows.

“I was hoping I could secure the allegiance of your city when I declare independence from Odoacer” you replied smiling in appreciation as a servant poured you some wine.

“That . . . is a bit much,” Tullus commented heavily. “Surely you can’t possibly expect the king to just sit back and . . . let you?” Tullus asked, giving you a look like he’d just eaten something foul tasting.

“You are correct, I don’t” you reply, leaning back in your chair and casually sipping at your wine. “Things are different now, kings only bring their retinues into battle in this age” you say “We aren’t fighting the Byzantines, we aren’t fighting the Sassanids” you add. “We are fighting a barbarian king and whomever has chosen to follow him” you explain. “I have my own troops, and I’ll put one of mine to a hundred of his any day” you say confidently.

“Not only this, but as Solus said before, we do have exclusive trade deals with foreign powers” Ishtar piped up in a very soft and enticing voice that just begged you to listen to her every word. “This includes a personal relationship with the Shah himself” she added and Tullus’ eyes went wide. “It would be a simple thing to ensure” she paused for dramatic effect “that No merchant from the Sassanids ever passes Brundisium . . .” she suggested with a smirk.

Tullus sat there in thought for a good long while. Long enough that you had to call for another cup of wine.

“Why do you let a woman speak at a man’s table!” growled a gruff warrior from behind Tullus.

“This is Captain Bard,” Tullus introduced with a sigh. The captain was a thickset warrior in a simple linen tunic that revealed thick, muscular arms. This, combined with the axe at his belt, and the thick black beard to match his hair, left you with someone that looked violent and unrefined.

“Captain” You nod.

“A woman’s place is in her husband’s home, tending children if she has birthed them, or birthing them if she has not!” Bard growled. You sigh in response to the blatant sexism.

“Who told you that?” you ask.

“It is common knowledge! Everyone knows it!” the captain replied and you sigh again. You then summon a coin from Emperor Nero’s reign and pull it out of a pouch on your belt before flicking it at him.

“Take a good look at that coin, and not the heads on it” You instruct and Bard did so, albeit confusedly. “One of the heads on that coin belongs to a woman” you explain “A woman, who ruled the empire alongside the man on the other side of the coin” you say “She was not his wife” you add. “In fact, she wasn’t married at all by that point” you add “And this was during the height of the Roman Empire” You say.

“So! This means nothing! The Empire fell!” Bard countered.

“Yes, four hundred years after that woman’s demise” You reply casually and Bard blinked. “Be gentle with that gold” you say as you sip your wine. “It’s four centuries old” you add and smirk into your goblet as Bard almost dropped the coin as the sudden weight of it’s value hit him.

“That’s, that’s, that’s,” Bard stammered.

“Probably the most value your family will have at once in the next five generations” Tullus cut in, staring at the coin glumly.

“But do keep it” you say as Bard made to put the coin down. “I’m giving that to you” you add. “Just remember, a woman commissioned that coin” you comment and Bard clenched his teeth as he nodded. You then summoned a different ancient coin. “This is a coin from far, far, far, to the east” You say as you pull out the Chinese coin with a square hole in the middle. “It was in use at roughly the same time as the coin I just gave to your captain” you explain, flicking the coin to Tullus.

“Between our legions, and the cumulative wealth Tarantium and Brundisium can conjure . . .” Ishtar purred as she leaned forward. Tullus took his eyes off the coin and met Ishtar’s, swallowing heavily.

“I-I need time to think,” Tullus said shakily.

“Take what time you want, I’m in no rush” You reply. “I shall leave Ishtar here, I trust her enough that any decision she makes I will honour” you say and Tullus nodded.

“We will afford her quarters fit for any dignitary” Tullus told you.

“As if she were a man” Bard muttered distractedly, staring at the coin in his own hand.