Son of Julius Caesar: Rebuilding Rome [Business/Republic building] Chapter 62 : Declaration

"Are you alright, Felix? You look even worse than before you went on vacation."

"I’m fine."

Felix staggered over, carrying the papyrus sheets.

The table in the eting room was already covered with the blueprints Vitruvius had brought.

"You’re not sick or anything, are you?"

"I’d rather not talk about it. It’s nothing important. I’m fine."

Felix flopped down into a chair.

"Now then, let’s begin."

I shrugged.

Well, if he says he’s fine, he must be fine.

Did he go on so exhausting trip with his wife during his vacation or sothing?

Felix let out a yawn and began to speak.

"Didn’t you say the three aediles approved the plan already? Then all that’s left is to build the towers."

"You could say we’ve crossed the first hurdle. But there’s sothing we need to do before we build the towers."

I looked at the blueprints laid out on the table.

Vitruvius had thrown himself into the semaphore tower designs as if possessed.

I heard he practically lives in his office at the technical school now.

As expected, passionate engineers were a force to be reckoned with.

"Sothing we need to do before construction?"

"The tellus family was completely humiliated in this election. They’ll definitely try to interfere with the tower project."

I recalled the conversation I had with Pompeia not long ago.

As she said, it was highly likely the tellus family would try to hinder my achievents sohow.

"They’ll use every ans possible to stop the towers from being built. They might even argue that these towers should belong to the Senate."

"That would certainly be a headache."

"We do have the lottery precedent, after all."

I had bundled the lottery with aid for the veterans and handed it over to the Senate.

Thanks to that, I took the credit while the Senate bore the moral backlash.

And I managed to reform the way the Republic worked while I was at it.

"But I can’t just hand these towers over to the Senate."

The Senate would simply see them as a slightly improved kind of beacon.

The semaphore towers had potential far beyond that.

"Then what do you intend to do? How about using flyers like you did in the last election? We strike first before tellus can attack."

Felix said.

"If we spread word in advance that they’re going to attack you, Young Master, wouldn’t tellus be forced to lie low? Retaliating over a lost election would be far too obvious."

"I didn’t know you were this politically sharp, Felix."

I replied with a laugh.

Felix has certainly changed a lot compared to when we first started the insurance business.

What Felix proposed wasn’t a bad idea either.

If we spread rumors all over town first, tellus would naturally be reluctant to attack.

"It’s because I have an evil employer."

Felix sighed.

"I feel like I’ve only learned how to do bad things."

"You learned how to survive in Ro."

I leaned forward.

Felix’s proposal wasn’t bad, but its limits were clear.

"If things play out that way, tellus will probably just wait until the rumors die down. If tellus doesn’t take any action, we’ll end up looking like the ones spreading false rumors."

"Then do you have a better way?"

"There is one thing I have in mind."

Just as I told Pompeia, I intended to make tellus take their revenge on .

Of course, the revenge they imagined was very different from the one I had in mind.

"How about a play?"

***

After the fierce magisterial and vigintisexviri elections were over, Ro returned to its daily routine.

Senators argued heatedly in the Senaculum, as usual, and magistrates went about their duties.

The consuls attended the Senate as usual, flanked by lictors bearing fasces.

Everything appeared normal.

At least to most people.

"That bastard Lucius made our entire tellus family a laughingstock!"

Quintus tellus said, tugging at his toga in agitation.

A cluster of senators stood around him, a visible display of his standing in the Senate.

"To distribute flyers containing such filthy lies in Ro and Ostia! What could be more despicable than that?"

The support of the Roman citizens he had gained through the bread subsidies vanished in an instant as the flyers slandering him spread.

The tribal leaders who had promised their support grew hesitant, and as supporters of Lucius kept arriving from Ostia, the tellus family ultimately had no choice but to change their plans.

His son and nephew ran for and won posts overseeing the prisons, one rank below the offices responsible for the streets.

They chose to secure victory in a lower position rather than suffer the humiliation of losing the election.

But the fact that the tellus family had been pushed aside by Lucius remained unchanged.

"Lucius Julius Caesar is certainly no ordinary young man. There is even a rumor that he entered the vigintisexviri race for the sake of building towers between Ostia and Ro."

Hortensius replied.

He was the man called Ro’s greatest lawyer before being defeated by Cicero, and along with tellus, he was one of the pillars leading the Optimates faction.

"Wasn’t it only a campaign promise ant to win Ostian votes?"

Quintus tellus said, breathing out sharply.

"Even Pompey and Crassus have stepped up to support Lucius. If we stop Lucius, we can stop those two as well."

"..."

Hortensius nodded instead of answering.

Pompey was a general who had amassed nurous military achievents, and Crassus had countless publicani as his clientes.

But the Senate had kept those two in check at every turn, and that was still true now.

"If Pompey and Crassus are trying to extend their influence into the Senate through the Caesars, we need to block them in advance."

Hortensius said.

There was, however, one point that seed odd.

"I hear Lucius Caesar is coming to the Senate today to appear in person to make a report."

"What reason does that boy have to co here himself?"

Quintus asked, stepping closer to Hortensius.

"Is it related to the towers?"

"It certainly seems so. Perhaps the bond between the three of them is not yet as strong as we thought."

Hortensius replied.

It was soon ti for the Senate eting to begin.

The senators, still talking among themselves, entered the Curia Hostilia one by one.

At that mont, one man drew everyone’s attention.

Lucius Julius Caesar.

He was entering the chamber alone.

As the senators murmured at the sight of the young man, the ti for the eting arrived.

***

Cicero sighed as he looked at the scene in the chamber.

Since taking charge of the newly established Lottery Commission, he had scarcely had a mont’s rest.

A lottery that collects money from countless people to give prize money to a few winners.

The Senate directly operating a business that was practically gambling would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

But the one who made that possible was Lucius Julius Caesar.

The son of the Governor of Hispania, and the young man who had succeeded in nurous businesses, including Palmolive.

He had stood before the Senate, acknowledged his mistake, and given up the lottery business.

Since the damage had already been done, he asked the Senate to take charge of it directly and support the veterans.

Cicero had taken the lead in agreeing with that argunt more than anyone else.

Now that the concept of a lottery had erged, there was no way to completely stop it.

If so, what better choice was there than for the Senate and him to use that power for beneficial purposes through reason, restraint, and order?

But the Senate was far too selfish a place.

"Using the towers I have proposed, we can ensure the safety of Ostia. If Ostia is made safe from pirates, Ro’s grain supply will beco secure as well, and ultimately, all Roman citizens will benefit."

Lucius Caesar said from the center of the chamber.

It was practically unprecedented for so junior a magistrate—a mber of the vigintisexviri—to be granted the right to speak in the Senate.

What provoked the senators’ anger was not the young Caesar’s right to speak, but the content of his speech.

"It was none other than you, young Caesar, who put forward those towers as a campaign promise in this election! Yet now you co asking the Senate for money!"

"I am not asking for money. I ask only that you take the proper asures for Ro’s security."

Faced with a torrent of criticism, Lucius Caesar appeared to flare with anger.

It was a marked departure from his usual calm.

"Isn’t the Senate already securing enough funds through the lottery? if only a portion of that were allocated to the towers..."

"You did not bring this proposal before the Senate first. You put them forward as your own personal campaign promise."

One senator rose to his feet.

Cicero noticed that he belonged to the tellus faction.

It was clear the telli were taking revenge for the defeat in this election.

"Yet now you say you need the funds of the Republic. You made grand promises to win the election, and now you would have the Senate pay the price?"

"Hear, hear!"

Quite a few senators echoed him.

"The aediles spend their personal funds every year to hold festivals and banquets for the Roman citizens. If we grant Lucius Caesar’s request, shouldn’t we support the other aediles as well?"

"So he keeps the profitable ventures for himself and foists the unprofitable ones onto the Senate?"

Amid the torrent of criticism, Cicero kept his mouth shut and observed the situation.

What was surprising right now wasn’t just Lucius Caesar’s proposal.

One of the n known to have allied himself with Lucius—Crassus—was also sitting in the chamber.

"If he got help from Crassus, he could easily build a few towers."

"Didn’t Crassus help Lucius in this election as well? Has a problem arisen between the two of them?"

Most Senators naturally assud Crassus would support Lucius.

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, Crassus rely remained silent.

"If Crassus had helped him in the first place, he wouldn’t have co to the Senate today to make such a request."

"I do not understand what ga is being played here."

Cicero opened and closed his mouth several tis.

The towers the young Caesar proposed would be of imnse value to the security of Ostia and Ro.

But if he stepped forward here, he could face a concentrated attack from the tellus faction.

Cicero was already in a situation where he had taken charge of commanding the lottery business.

If he stepped up this ti as well, rumors could spread that there was so sort of relationship between him and the young Caesar.

"I’m sorry, Caesar. I wish I could help you too, but... I am simply not in a position to step forward."

Cicero muttered in a low voice.

Lucius countered the Senators’ criticisms one by one.

But ultimately unable to withstand the storm of shouting, he all but fled the chamber.

"It feels refreshing to see that brat fleeing like that."

"I know, right. He’s been walking around with his head held high lately as if he were so king."

"He definitely learned his lesson this ti. To make such a proposal to the Senate just because he was elected to the vigintisexviri."

The Senators of the tellus faction conversed with triumphant expressions.

"To think he’d flee without even being able to properly refute us. This is surprising."

"Even a fine horse can stumble over a rock."

Cicero could only tilt his head in confusion.

"I swear I saw Caesar smile as he was leaving the chamber."

Cicero narrowed his eyes.

"Must be my imagination."

The Senate decided not to support Lucius Caesar’s tower plan.

And that decision was, at the sa ti, a declaration that they would not lay a finger on that business.