Rome Must Perish

Though it was said like this, Siris was still a bit uneasy at heart. After all, the tribal traditions were deeply rooted, and during times of war, the power of the leaders and clan chiefs was immense. Any order beneficial to the tribe and the clan must be obeyed by the tribe members, or else severe punishment would follow.

Therefore, after Siris had a falling out with the Clan Leader, tribe members frequently visited him to persuade him to apologize to Icarus, but he refused to comply.

By dusk, suddenly no one came anymore because the Nix people had entered the village.

More than a hundred fully armed Nix Soldiers, with a dozen Carriages, had just entered the village. All the Segestica citizens who were still moving about the village ran back to their homes as quickly as possible, shutting doors and windows tight.

Of course, Siris was no exception.

No one knew how much time had passed. "Dong! Dong! Dong!" His courtyard gate was knocked.

Although Siris had reasonable and well-founded arguments when persuading the tribe members, when the Nix Soldiers came knocking, he felt equally uneasy. Trying to appear calm, he comforted his trembling wife and children with a few words, then went to the courtyard and carefully unbolted the gate.

Outside stood a dozen Nix Soldiers and a Scodisqi slave, whom he recognized as belonging to the Icarus family.

The leading Nix Soldier stared at him sharply and asked in fluent Pannoni Language, "How many Scodisqi slaves are there in your home?!"

Siris was taken aback. He had been guessing why the Nix people were seeking him out at this time, but he never expected them to open with such a question.

"Answer me, how many Scodisqi slaves?!" The Nix Soldier sternly reiterated the question, raising his voice.

Siris snapped back to his senses and shook his head: "None, there are no Scodisqi slaves in my house."

As he answered, he noticed that the Nix Soldier questioning him was actually a Skodisqi, which bewildered him a bit.

His expression led the soldier to misunderstand, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Damn Segestica person, daring to lie. Do you have a death wish—"

A slightly older soldier behind him pressed his shoulder, whispering, "Alright, Taripasi, calm down! Do your task properly, don't carry too many personal feelings!"

The soldier hastily defended himself, "Boss, but he's lying on purpose. We've checked so many houses; every house had slaves!"

"Whether there are slaves or not, we'll know after checking." The man referred to as "Boss" was actually a centurion. He stepped forward and said in broken Pannoni Language, "We… are ordered to rescue all… Scodisqi slaves. Regardless of what you say, we have to check ourselves. But I promise you! As long as you cooperate, we won't harm anyone or destroy anything in your house!"

Siris glanced at the Nix Captain striving to appear amiable, then looked at the Skodisqi Soldier behind him filled with hatred, and finally took another glance at the dozen fully armed Nix Soldiers. He quickly made his decision: "Then come in and check. My wife and children are inside, please don't startle them."

He stepped aside to make way.

Siris's courtyard was relatively simple, with just a single large house, a pigsty, and an animal pen within the wooden fence enclosure.

Three soldiers went inside for a round, without any unnecessary actions, quickly completed the inspection, and exited the courtyard.

Siris breathed a sigh of relief and released his tightly held wife and children.

"Indeed, there aren't any," reported the soldier in charge of inspection truthfully.

The Nix centurion immediately spoke earnestly to the Skodisqi Soldier beside him, "Did you hear that? There's none in his house! Your recently rescued compatriot already said, 'This man doesn't have Scodisqi slaves in his house.' We can come to check, but you doubt your own compatriots and harbor even stronger hostility towards the people here. That's inappropriate!

Taripasi, our leader, Legion Commander, Great Captain, Centurion have repeatedly said that for us Nix to gain a firm foothold here, we must unite all possible forces as much as possible… If you can't understand this, I suggest you apply to leave our First Legion and return to Snowdonia or Westeni, where at least you don't have to face as many Segestica citizens, to avoid making a big mistake later, not only punishing yourself but also making us suffer with you."

"Boss, I will never leave the Third Legion! I'll never leave you! I'll… I'll change… can't I change?" The soldier called Taripasi was a bit flustered, repeatedly pleading.

"That depends on your future performance." The centurion replied sternly, then looked at Siris, switching to Pannoni Language and spoke gently, "We've completed the inspection and won't disturb you any longer. Rest well."

Facing the goodwill extended by the Nix people, Siris remained expressionless and did not reply.

The centurion curiously asked, "By the way, why don't you have any Scodisqi slaves in your home? I see others here have more or less."

Siris originally did not want to answer, but seeing the other side's persistent demeanor demanding an answer, he reluctantly replied, "I have limbs, I can manage. I don't need them."

The centurion gave a sly smile: "But I heard from the Scodisqi slaves here that because you grew up in a Scodisqi household, your attitude towards Scodisqi is different from your tribe members, so you repeatedly refused the slaves that your leader wanted to allocate to you, am I right?"

"Nonsense!" Siris finally couldn't suppress his emotions and cursed.

The centurion laughed heartily, "Siris, you're a peculiar Segestica person. I remember your name now. I hope we can meet again."

After speaking, he waved to the other soldiers, "Brothers, let's go, on to the next house."

"Please wait a moment." Siris gathered his courage and asked loudly, "Today you came to our tribe only to free the Scodisqi slaves in the tribe?"

"Of course not just that." Perhaps finding Siris agreeable, the centurion stopped and responded, "We are also here to collect food, but this has nothing to do with you ordinary tribe members."

"Collect food…" Siris's heart tensed, and he quickly asked again, "If it has nothing to do with us, then who does it concern?"

"You will find out soon enough." The centurion clearly didn't want to disclose more, leading the soldiers forward.

Siris hurried a few steps and urgently asked, "Can you tell me, what exactly do you Nix intend to do with us?!"

The centurion turned back to him and said, "No need to rush. You should find out by tomorrow."

Tomorrow?… Siris wanted to ask more, but the centurion no longer paid him any attention and made his way to the next household.

By early evening, when the Nix people left the village, their ranks were significantly larger, not only adding over 100 Scodisqi slaves but also nine more Carriages, each one fully loaded with food.

It had been quite a while since the Nix team left. Some Segestica citizens only then tentatively emerged to scout around, and they soon heard wailing from the homes of the various leaders and clan chiefs.

When they went to inquire, they learned: The Nix had almost emptied the food stores of the tribal leaders and clan chiefs, leaving only a small portion, and had seized their Carriages usually used for transporting food and goods. The family members of the leaders and several clan chiefs had tried to stop the Nix from looting but were knocked down, and some were even injured…

Had the Nix finally revealed their ferocity, beginning to plunder and slaughter?... The Segestica citizens, who had lost the Scodisqi slaves, felt terrorized.

Accordingly, that night, some people again ran to Siris for advice on "what should they do?".

In encountering the events that happened in the tribe today, Siris himself felt a bit puzzled. He spoke honestly to everyone who asked him about his thoughts: "I also don't know what to do, but when those Nix came to my house, I did ask them what they would do to us. The leader told me, 'By tomorrow, we will know,' so let's wait until tomorrow to see the situation before deciding."

"Siris, these Nix not only stole our slaves but also took the food of our leaders and clan chiefs, and injured their family members… I think their leader's words in the Main Camp were all lies, don't forget that among those Nicos who stormed into the village today, there were Skodisqi! The Skodisqi hate us, they will surely incite the Nix to kill us. We can't just wait for death here!"

"Hey, calm down. If the Nix wanted to kill us, they wouldn't have let you come back yesterday after surrounding you in the Main Camp. I still say, even if you want to escape now, where would you go? Can you bear to abandon the homeland you've lived in for decades? If tomorrow the Nix really intend to kill us, I won't let them have it easy, either. I'll die on the land of my homeland if necessary!"

Siris's persuasion and resolute spirit calmed many people down. Aside from a very small number of family members of leaders and clan chiefs who fled the village that night, other tribe members chose to stay and observe.

The next morning, a Centurion of the First Legion of the Nix Tribe arrived at the village, and the centurion was Stags.

His team went straight to the village center, where the tribal leader's main house was located. There was a large open space in front used for gathering tribe members to discuss or to form teams for going out to war.

Stags carefully inspected the surroundings, then said to the centurions, "I will announce the leader's order to the Segestica people of this village here. You each lead your men to bring everyone in this village to me!"