Historie - Story

Story

The story begins with Hermias, one of Aristotle's disciples, being tortured and interrogated in Assus, a town on the western edge of the Persian empire. He is confronted by a Persian commander, Memnon, who questions him if his teacher is really worth dying for. The story then skips ahead a few day to the ruins of Troy, where Aristotle, one of his disciples, and a slave find Eumenes in a boat attempting to make oars. They spend the night there, talking about various subjects such as philosophy and slavery and leave the next morning. Eumenes is then visited by a Persian named Barsine, who questions him about his visitors the previous night. He claims that he hasn't seen the people she's asking him about and she goes back to her escort of horsemen and leaves. Soon after, Aristotle and his student come running towards Eumenes chased by the horsemen who visited shortly before this and they immediately take off, narrowly escaping capture. Barsine is then met by Memnon and states "the next person to come over this channel probably isn't going to be a philosopher." Eumenes and his company are met by a horse drawn cart on the other side that was waiting for Aristotle. Eumenes find that they are both heading towards Cardia, but the people in the cart refuse to take Eumenes there, stating that a slave can walk. When Eumenes reaches Cardia, he finds the town surrounded by a Macedonian army, consisting of two columns of Hoplites circling the city. He notices the commander of the army right away, and ponders about the peculiarity of the situation, and then proceeds to greet an old lady waiting outside of the town. Eumenes develops a plan to carry the old lady across the column of Hoplites on his shoulders, claiming that this would show the old lady's status. Afterward they find that town guards won't open the gate to let them in the city. Another group of people consisting of a man named Antigonus and two other men come running through the columns. Eumenes eventually develops a plan to repeatedly shout out that, "his master's remains had to be returned into the city" in front of the Macedonian army. His plan works and the group is allowed in the city shortly afterward. Inside the city, Antigonus asks Eumenes to meet him in three days. He then goes to the ruins of his old house and the story goes into a flashback, showing his childhood, how he left Cardia, his early adventures, and his first war in Paphlagonia. The narrative then moves on to show how Eumenes came to Macedonia and elaborates on the geo-political context of the Mediterranean area at the time. The story is a classic shonen development plot with a large focus on historical elements and intrigue.