A week passed.
Senator Scipio Nasica and the wife of the Admiral of Campania, Lady Cornelia Minor, were reclining in luxurious carriages, guarded by soldiers and slaves, as they entered the city of Capua.
Inside one of the elegant carriages, a beautiful eighteen-year-old young woman with delicate features gazed out the window at the streets of Capua, frowning.
The young woman's full name was Cornelia Fausta Scipionis. She was the niece of the Admiral of Campania's wife, and her father was a senator of the Scipio family with little influence.
Fausta disliked the idea of marrying a young man of lower social status than her own, considering this forced marriage a tragedy for her way of life. As a noblewoman raised in Rome, she despised cities outside the great capital and could not tolerate the idea of living far from it.
The nobles of Capua's council, who governed the city, warmly received this distinguished delegation with an extravagant banquet filled with delicacies. The tense situation in Capua, caused by Septimus, eased with the arrival of the retinue of such an important figure.
The banquet in Capua was lavish, and the entire upper class of the city was present, offering gifts and greetings, drawing the attention of the entire population.
Naturally, Septimus also learned of the arrival of the Scipio family's delegation in the city.
Septimus had not wasted time in recent days. He kept his clones reinforcing the villa's defenses and also sent clones disguised as vagrants to various locations in Rome, with the purpose of maintaining an intelligence network throughout the city.
Septimus's preparations for an all-out war against Rome were already complete. The only thing that confused him was Rome's lack of urgency in sending legions to suppress him. Septimus had a vague hunch that the reason was the letter the Admiral of Campania had written and sent to his wife.
The situation was uncertain, but Septimus preferred to prepare for war rather than be caught off guard.
During that week, Septimus replicated only a small number of clones. There was not enough space to accommodate too many people, and daily tasks within the villa already had excess manpower. Having too many people without proper accommodation would only consume grain without being useful.
Although Septimus was preparing for war, he still harbored a faint hope of reaching an agreement with Rome. Conquering Rome too quickly, without savoring the unfolding of historical events, would be rather boring.
Septimus's whimsical ambition was to create a feared and legendary family, one that would remain glorious for decades in human history.
Meanwhile, in the city of Capua, after two days of enjoying an extravagant banquet with the city's upper class,
the Scipio family delegation boarded their luxurious, guarded carriages and set out toward Septimus's villa.
Septimus's villa was two days from Capua on foot. Traveling by horse-drawn carriages shortened the journey, and they reached the outskirts of the villa as the sun was beginning to set.
Young Fausta grew even more displeased by how far Septimus's villa was from Capua.
The wife of the Admiral of Campania accompanied her in the same carriage, intending to offer advice on seducing a man and winning his heart. She noticed the look of displeasure on Fausta's face.
"Niece, do not be in a bad mood. Your future young husband has money and talent. Once you are his wife, you can buy a house in Rome," Lady Cornelia Minor said, noticing her expression and understanding her thoughts.
"Aunt, you explained the reasons for the marriage, but I still believe it is not worth it," Fausta said with a melancholic expression, gazing at the scenery outside the carriage.
Fausta was a young noblewoman from a distinguished family who regarded Rome as the center of power. She valued her social status and despised Septimus for his humble origins.
"Niece, you must know that everything I do is for your own good," Lady Cornelia Minor replied with a soft, helpless sigh.
Lady Cornelia Minor could only sigh gently over this niece who had been pampered since childhood.
At that moment, the guards escorting the delegation became alarmed when they spotted thirty riders in the distance, approaching rapidly.
The Scipio family delegation had a total of twenty guards, whose purpose was to protect them.
Senator Scipio Nasica was also alarmed by the commotion among the guards, and a slave acting as a messenger informed him of the situation.
As the entire delegation came to a halt, tense and alert because of the unknown riders,
the riders swiftly approached and stopped twenty paces from the delegation, their spears pointed at the Scipio guards. The situation became tense instantly.
From the window of his carriage, Senator Scipio Nasica observed that the riders wore Roman-style black armor, marked with a strange symbol of severed heads on their chests and backs.
Lady Cornelia Minor and her niece were also alarmed and, in panic, remained inside the luxurious carriage, not daring to make a sound. They were terrified at the thought of encountering bandits.
"You are entering the property of Septimus, the Impaler of Heads," one of the riders shouted loudly at the delegation, causing the guards to tighten their grip on their weapons.
Upon hearing this declaration, Scipio Nasica was slightly surprised but also sighed in relief. At least they were not pirates or bandits. If he had encountered ignorant men who did not recognize his identity, his life might have been in danger.
"I am Senator Scipio Nasica, representative of Rome. I have come to speak with your young lord," Scipio Nasica shouted calmly to the riders as he stepped down from his carriage.
Septimus was inside his villa residence, receiving massages from two beautiful slave women, when he also learned of the arrival of the delegation from Rome.
Surprised and curious about the arrival of a Roman senator, Septimus decided to meet this prominent figure of the Scipio family.
The clone riders raised the tips of their spears toward the sky, easing the tension felt by Scipio Nasica and his guards.
"We will guide you," one of the clone riders replied.
The clone riders began to escort the Scipio family delegation.
Septimus had not had time to acquire many horses to form a proper cavalry force. The nearly five hundred horses he possessed had been obtained through various means and were used for multiple tasks, including patrolling the surroundings of the villa.
There were four groups of twenty to thirty riders assigned to patrol the area around the villa, watching for lurking enemies.
The Scipio family delegation quickly reached the villa gate under the watchful escort of the clone riders.
Senator Scipio Nasica frowned upon seeing heads coated in lime, impaled on wooden spears along the wooden wall. Those heads belonged to the soldiers of the Admiral of Campania who had died in battle.
Along the wooden wall stood groups of soldiers wearing the same black armor as the riders who escorted them.
By Scipio Nasica's estimation, the number of black-armored soldiers he could see ranged between five hundred and eight hundred men, a considerable force for a newly risen young elite.
The two noblewomen of the Scipio family turned pale with fear upon seeing the lime-covered heads mounted on the wooden wall. The most terrified was Fausta, who imagined herself marrying a madman capable of impaling the heads of Roman citizens on wooden spears.
The wooden gates slowly opened, allowing the delegation to enter.
The first thing the Scipio delegation noticed upon entering was gray smoke rising in the distance, likely from a smithy. The villa was divided into two areas. To the left stood a simple five-meter-high wooden wall that blocked the view, while to the right stretched a vast agricultural zone where two hundred to three hundred slaves worked diligently in the fields.
In the center stood a modest residence by Scipio family standards, with clear signs of ongoing construction on its sides.
Septimus had built in sections, maintaining simple walls to conceal the facilities housing slaves or potential visitors. Wood for such simple walls was easy to obtain, and the clones could perform the work efficiently.
The villa's residence was also being expanded, though more slowly, due to the lack of materials and the greater complexity of the design. Septimus wanted to build a residence with the comforts of the modern era, including modern bathrooms.