Three years passed.
Since the incident of the extermination of the entire Licinius family, Septimus's reputation throughout the city of Capua was completely destroyed. The upper class of Capua labeled Septimus as a deranged murderer.
The political situation in Rome was turbulent, and in recent years a large number of massacres against prominent families had desensitized the upper class in Rome. They paid no attention to the extermination of a small noble family in Capua.
Only in the city of Capua did the atrocious acts against a noble family give Septimus a reputation as a ruthless and deranged killer.
Adding to this the banner of decapitated heads that Septimus displayed as a distinction caused many nobles to avoid having contact with Septimus. Although the upper class of Capua envied his enormous fortune, they avoided any contact with a person they considered unreasonable and capable of sending armed men to kill on a whim.
For Septimus, the lack of friendship with the noble class in Capua was not very important, and throughout the three years he devoted all his energy to building his power and enjoying various pleasures with his slaves.
Septimus now had three children, and five of his slaves were pregnant. During the three long years he had realized that he had the ability to procreate offspring in a normal way. Originally, he had thought that perhaps his ability would prevent him from having children.
For Septimus, the arrival of children added a bit of novelty to his home. In total, he had two girls and one small boy, who were treated as little treasures by their mothers.
Now Septimus had seven women who had previously been slaves, all of whom were either pregnant or had borne his children.
Septimus's territory also had a large number of women, totaling nearly ten thousand slave women that Septimus had purchased from the city of Naples in recent years. A large number of women were distributed among the clones to serve as wives or lovers.
For Septimus, the desire to possess a woman diminished each year; the cloning ability provided a connection of human senses difficult to explain among all the clones. Consequently, it can be said that Septimus every night had the experience of having sexual relations with thousands of women.
Septimus considered sex as an optional habit that he exercised for pleasure within the daily routine.
On the other hand, the construction of the villa advanced notably during the three years; a large number of clones worked with great efficiency in building walls, barracks, and various facilities within the walls.
Septimus's villa was now a very imposing fortified city, with thick walls and large towers that astonished all visitors.
Septimus currently had four well-equipped legions and three thousand soldiers of light and heavy cavalry.
At present, for Septimus only the lack of military equipment limited the number of troops he could deploy. The new military equipment he created three years earlier, plus the customization of the armor with the banner and insignia of his emblem, made it more laborious to equip a new legion.
However, if Septimus used the classic Roman military equipment, he would be capable of equipping double the number of legions, but considering the disparity in combat skill and military discipline between a clone and an ordinary Roman soldier, Septimus decided to keep a low profile for the moment.
Subsequent to the massacre of the Licinius family came the death by old age of Gaius Marius, as was destined in history.
The Roman senator Gnaeus Papirius Carbo replaced Marius and became the new consul of Rome.
Cinna in Rome, in order to maintain relations with the plebeians, had specifically promised his daughter to the young Julius Caesar.
Not only because Marius was Caesar's uncle, but also because one of Caesar's uncles had proposed the famous Julian Citizenship Law, which granted citizenship rights to all free people of Italy, from the Rubicon River in the north to the Strait of Messina in the south. Therefore, the Caesar family was highly respected among the Roman plebs.
Although it was a political marriage, Cinna's daughter was in love with Julius Caesar, and the young couple was considered a happy marriage. Cinna did not know that, in terms of infidelity alone, there would not be many men more despicable than Caesar in the future.
It is said that Caesar had illicit relations with the wives of 13 senators. He was a compulsive womanizer, fond of married women; he even cheated on Pompey and on his creditor Crassus.
After having sexual relations with married women throughout his life, Caesar himself ended up being deceived, turning the First Triumvirate of Rome into the "Triumvirate of the Cuckolded."
It is described in Roman history that on a night dedicated to the goddess Pompeia, according to custom, only women could attend. All men, including slaves and masters, had to leave their homes and visit other places. Publius Clodius Pulcher, descendant of a wealthy Roman family, disguised himself as a woman and slipped into Caesar's house to meet with his wife.
However, he was discovered by a slave and reported to Aurelia, Caesar's mother. The astute Aurelia did not capture him, but simply drove him away, thus preventing Caesar and the family of Publius Clodius Pulcher from becoming mortal enemies.
Upon learning of the situation, Caesar immediately divorced his wife, declaring that his wife was absolutely unfaithful. In fact, Clodius's actions constituted a blasphemy, and the Roman nobility, tired of Caesar's infidelities, expected to see the drama.
An annoyed Caesar planned to sue Clodius, but Aurelia and her slave refused, alleging darkness and inability to see clearly at night. Caesar, to avoid humiliation, simply declared: "I was not at home, I know nothing of the matter," completely removing himself from all responsibility.
Subsequently, Caesar not only did not become enemies with Clodius, but later they became political allies.
Caesar cheated on Pompey and Crassus, but Pompey did not become his sworn enemy; instead, he married his daughter. Crassus also did not hate Caesar; later he lent him money and even supported his candidacy as governor of Hispania.
Roman men treated their wives as if they were clothing.
Septimus disliked the Roman custom of infidelity within the circle of the upper class. One of the reasons why he avoided socializing.
The women who had not been slaves with whom Septimus maintained a relationship were now only Fausta, Atilia, Cornelia, and Fulvia. If Septimus had the intention, he could have half of the women of Capua as lovers. But for Septimus, sex was now only an action that he engaged in solely for pleasure and lack of entertainment.
On the other hand, the position of prefect of Capua was won by Marcus thanks to the substantial support of Septimus and the effort of Cornelia and Atilia. One of the reasons why the upper class of Capua avoided offending Septimus was also because he had a friendship with the current prefect of the city of Capua.
Septimus could easily direct his clone soldiers to massacre entire noble families in the middle of the night, and the prefect of Capua would simply say that it was bandits or pirates who attacked.
Secondly, Septimus also had the support of the admiral of Campania; half of the soldiers serving under the command of the admiral of Campania were clones that Cinna had assigned with the intention of separating Septimus from his soldiers.
Cinna did not know that for Septimus the clones were consumables that could be generated every week, and that he maintained four legions fully prepared for combat within his fortress city.
Septimus's territory encompassed a large amount of land outside the walls, with the sale of white sugar and the incorporation of a paper workshop to trade throughout Rome, which generated a large amount of money that easily flowed into Septimus's warehouses.
Septimus earned a large amount of money monthly, which he used to buy land and build estates and villas with the purpose of giving his clones the identity of vassals of his family.
Septimus's reputation in Capua was terrible, and the upper class only knew that he was mysterious. To avoid further inquiries, Septimus assigned Fabius the task of negotiating with the nobles of Capua for the purchase of land near his fortress city.
The number of clones that Septimus currently had reached thirty thousand, plus nearly ten thousand slave women, for a total of forty thousand people.
Septimus needed to accommodate and give a clear identity to all those people.
On the other hand, Fabius faithfully fulfilled the assigned task; since Septimus ordered him to investigate the nobles who planned to attack his caravans and he failed in the mission, Fabius had been nervous for a long time.
Now that Fabius had the opportunity to prove his worth to Septimus, he would not waste it.
In the following three years, with Fabius's effort, Septimus's fortress city was surrounded by estates managed by clones with various identities who raised the distinctive banner of decapitated heads of Septimus.
For the people of the entire Campania region, Septimus's fortress city was known by the name of "The Decapitating City" (Latin = Urbs Decollatrix).