Rome Must Perish

The Stags remembered her because she had previously exposed the crimes of this Clan Leader: A few years ago, her youngest son was playing in the mountains and accidentally disturbed a beehive. The bees swarmed out and mistakenly stung the clan leader's sheep grazing nearby. The relative of the clan leader, who was responsible for herding the sheep, was so angry that he kicked the child a few times. The child fell to the ground, unconscious, and was trampled to death by the frenzied sheep.

After the incident, the clan leader made a ruling: his relative was innocent, and it was the child's own mischief that led to his death. Moreover, his family lost a few sheep in the process, so he refused to offer any compensation.

The woman's husband was not convinced and brought the case to the tribal meeting. However, the leader and all the Clan Leaders upheld the original judgment. Her husband even intended to go to the Main Camp to appeal to the Great Chief, but he was threatened by the Clan Leader: If he continued to cause trouble, he would have to pay more grain each year, and the hard work and taxing tasks in the tribe and the tribe would fall on him...

Her family eventually succumbed, but the hatred buried deep in her heart. Even though, over the years, due to the war, the clan leader's relative had died in battle, and her husband had gone missing, she blamed all these misfortunes on the Clan Leader.

When she took the short sword, she was filled with fear and hesitation, but ultimately steeled herself, closed her eyes, and thrust it forward with both hands, piercing the clan leader's belly.

Watching the man struggle in the pool of blood, she covered her face and wept.

Two Clan Leaders of the tribe were publicly executed by their fellow tribesmen... This was a huge shock to the Segestica citizens who witnessed the incident.

Once, they thought the Clan Leaders were untouchable, but just now they had been trampled under their feet. They used to think that they had to swallow their anger in the face of certain matters, but now they realized they could hold sharp blades and address the injustices within their hearts...

Most of the citizens felt a sense of unprecedented relief. While leaving the assembly, they could hardly contain their surging emotions and engaged in enthusiastic conversations. Some even quietly expressed such regret: "What a pity the leader and other Clan Leaders aren't here!"

After the Segestica citizens dispersed, Nikocus approached the Stags, "Captain, how did I do just now?"

"Not bad! But you still have to keep working hard. If many citizens voluntarily join the tribe in three days, I will report to the Great Captain and ask for merit on your behalf!" Stags encouraged him.

"Thank you, Captain. I will continue to work hard!" Nikocus replied excitedly, beginning to calculate that he would probably have to visit each household to convince those still hesitating to make up their minds.

At this point, Starks gathered all the soldiers deployed around the square and said to them, "Brothers, we'll be staying here for a while. Do you all still remember the several temporary military orders issued by the legion?"

"Yes!"

"What's the first one? You, tell me." Stags pointed to one of the soldiers.

"Don't act alone in the village, not even one or two people. You must act with at least a team after getting approval from the Centurion, even if it's just for relieving yourself."

"Good." Stags pointed to another soldier, a Scodisqi New Soldier: "The second one, you say it."

"In the village, unless the residents take hostile actions, do not initiate provocation, insult, or even harm them. Instead, try to show goodwill to these residents as much as possible."

Stags looked at him, and asked in a deep voice, "Well said, can you do it?"

The soldier hesitated for a moment: "... Yes."

Stags's gaze swept over the faces of all the Scodisqi New Soldiers in the team, and he spoke earnestly, "Brothers from the Skodisqi, I know you have suffered a lot at the hands of the Segestica people, but now you are Nixes Tribesmen, and you are about to acquire much fertile land. You will have a very good life!

I know you harbor hatred for the Segestica people, but as your captain, I don't want you to make mistakes at this time and let all your previous efforts be in vain. Do you understand?!"

"Understood..."

"Too soft, I can't hear you!"

"Understood!!" the Scodisqi New Soldiers responded in unison.

"I hope you all mean what you say!" Stags vigorously nodded, then continued, "Next, the main house here will be our camp. I just checked, and the main house is quite large. There are several other houses. If we tidy them up, there should be enough space for us to live in. If there really isn't enough space, we could allocate some people to that courtyard next door. However, for safety, we should try to live together."

"Captain, although the tribal leader isn't here, his family is still living in the main house." the centurion Proconsus reminded.

"But there are only three of them (Originally, the main house accommodated more people, but due to the massive attack by the Panoni Alliance Army on Nixes with a high chance of victory, the leader took many relatives into the army to enable them to gain merit, and yesterday, soldiers from the Third Legion took away all the slaves from the main house, leaving only this few people behind), The place is too large for them. Make them move to another courtyard, and I see many courtyards around here that are quite empty. Leave this task to your small team."

"Oh, okay." Proconsus replied reluctantly.

"Casaridaoa, your small team is responsible for cooking."

"Captain, why not assign other teams?" Casaridaoa was clearly unwilling.

"Because your team has the most new soldiers, they should be able to prepare meals that satisfy everyone." Starks responded confidently.

This was also true because several Scodisqi New Soldiers were in Casaridaoa's team, who had worked as slaves for the Segestica people before, not only farming and herding but also doing a lot of housework. Among them, two even worked part-time as cooks for their former masters.

Stags was quite familiar with the situation in his team, and of course, there was another reason he hadn't mentioned: Keeping the team with the most Scodisqi New Soldiers busy with cooking in the house minimized their wandering in the village, significantly reducing the likelihood of conflicts.

"Okay... okay." Casaridaoa reluctantly complied with the order.

"The rest of the team, come with me to familiarize ourselves with the village and the surrounding roads and terrain for better patrolling and intercepting any villagers trying to escape."

"Yes!!"

............

In the square, Siris acted as an observer, neither protesting nor cooperating with the Nik Soldiers in exposing any crimes of his clan leader.

But when he returned home, he embraced his son and spun around like a windmill.

"Dad, Dad, put me down!" the child protested loudly.

Siris didn't listen, laughing heartily instead.

His wife stood by the door, watching without stepping forward to stop him. After marriage, she had never seen her husband so happy; she somewhat understood the reason: Their clan leader Icarus was dead!

Years ago, when Siris fled back to the tribe from Savatoir, Clan Leader Icarus refused to accept him, claiming that Siris helped the Skodisqi people suppress his fellow tribesmen, thus marking him a traitor to the tribe, even threatening to arrest and try him!

Siris had no choice but to join the rebellion led by the Great Chief directly. To prove himself, he fought bravely in every battle. After the war, the Great Chief initially intended to have him join his tribe, but Siris insisted on returning. Therefore, the Great Chief personally summoned the leader of his tribe and earnestly instructed him, "Siris is a hero of the Segestica people and should be treated well!"

This time, upon returning to the tribe, Siris was welcomed by his tribesmen, who respected him and frequently came to listen to him recount thrilling war stories whenever they had the chance.

This aroused Icarus's jealousy, leading him to suppress Siris in various ways. For instance, when the tribe was allocating land, the leader specifically suggested, "Siris should get more land as he made a significant contribution in the war."

But Icarus sophistically argued, "Siris is a hero, but as a single man, if he gets more land, it will cause dissatisfaction among the tribesmen and harm his reputation..."

His argument surprisingly won the support of many Clan Leaders, resulting in Siris receiving less land than even ordinary tribe members (During the Skodisqi rule, more than half of the land around the Segestica Tribes belonged to the Skodisqi and was farmed by the Segestica people, with the larger portion of the harvest handed over. After Segestica's independence, these lands were reclaimed, and the tribes redistributed them to their tribesmen)...

For instance, Siris refused to have Scodisqi slaves, which led to rumors in the tribe: "Siris is still leaning towards the Skodisqi people; no wonder he followed them to massacre our fellow tribesmen…" causing the tribesmen to gradually distance themselves from him…

Living in such an environment, Siris felt very uncomfortable. He had thought of "leaving the tribe to seek refuge with the Great Chief," but his strong self-esteem kept him from doing so. Therefore, he gradually became silent, became passive, no longer the brave warrior who dared to be first in everything, but rather a lazy tribesman who hid away from trouble.

Today, the shackle that had weighed on him for over ten years was finally gone. Although he remained silent in the square due to his long-standing habits, he unleashed his emotions completely upon returning home...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The door was knocked on.

"Someone's here, I'll get the door." his wife said.

"I'll go." Siris put down his son and strode into the courtyard door.

"Mom, Dad's bullying me! You have to teach him a lesson!" The six-year-old son pouted, almost crying.