CHAPTER 349: CHAPTER 228: INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT

Ekbarnus did not respond.

"Don’t worry. Now that we know his employer is Fesaros, it will be easy to find him." Valles said confidently.

When Karsipengpas saw his son Rochemnix, he was just stepping out of the courtyard gate, cheerfully talking with other children.

Karsipengpas shouted, and the sharp-eared Rochemnix immediately looked up, then smiled even more happily. He said goodbye to his friends and went straight to Karsipengpas, asking with surprise, "Dad, why are you here?"

"I came to see Leader Maximus for something, and also to check on you." Karsipengpas put on a serious face: "You’ve been here for more than half a year and haven’t kept in touch with the tribe—what have you been doing?!"

"Dad, I haven’t been lazy!" Rochemnix loudly protested: "It’s just Leader Maximus hasn’t given me any tasks, and he asked me to keep studying at their school. I really haven’t been playing around!"

"How are you doing in your studies?" Karsipengpas’s expression remained serious.

This question hit Rochemnix’s sweet spot, and he confidently replied: "I’m doing great! The teachers often praise me. I’ve memorized the twenty-one letters of the Latin language, remembered over a hundred words, and can write simple sentences. I can do addition and subtraction within a hundred and even some basic multiplication and division... After passing today’s exam, I can participate in higher-level learning!"

"Can you pass?"

"Of course I can!"

At this, Karsipengpas finally smiled a bit. He extended his right hand, pressed it on his son’s head, and gave it a light pat, "Well done!"

When Rochemnix was in his own tribe, Karsipengpas would venture out as a pirate, only returning home a few times a year. With no one to discipline him at home, Rochemnix would catch monkeys in the mountains and fish in the river, being quite mischievous. Every time Karsipengpas returned, he would reprimand him, rarely showing a good face. Hearing praise today was so rare that Rochemnix was flushed with excitement, rendered speechless for a moment, just giggling foolishly.

Then Karsipengpas asked with some puzzlement, "When you were in the mountains, you were only about playing. Why have you suddenly become so sensible here?"

Rochemnix protested: "I’ve always been sensible, but the adults in our village, having nothing to do, just played every day. I was naturally influenced by them. But here, everyone in the Nix Tribe, whether men, women, adults, or elders, are busy every day. Even children a few years younger than me study hard here. I can’t bring shame to our tribe by just playing around and doing nothing all day here!"

Hearing this, Karsipengpas fell silent: what his son said was indeed a major problem of their own tribe. Because the land in the mountains was barren and couldn’t yield much grain, he had resolutely become a pirate in the past, using the loot to support the tribe. However, once the survival of the tribe was somewhat guaranteed, it led to a portion of the tribe’s people doing nothing all day...

"Dad, you’re working so hard, and the pirate raids on the sea are very dangerous too!"

His son’s warm-hearted words almost broke through Karsipengpas’s defenses, but the subsequent words made his face fall: "I think you might as well disband your fleet and take our tribesmen to join the Nix Tribe—"

"Who told you to say this?!" Karsipengpas asked in a harsh whisper, instinctively glancing at Valles, only to see the latter had fallen far behind.

Summoning his courage, Rochemnix continued: "Who else needs to say it! Even though you work so hard outside, life in the mountains is still tough, with not enough to eat, poor sleep, and no medicine when sick...

In the past two years, you’ve tried hard to buy food for our other Aldean tribes, but when our tribe faced difficulties, which of those tribes living in the plains ever reached out to help!

Dad, although Nix is a new tribe, they are really great! I believe you’ve seen the endless fields of wheat along the roads when you came; each Nix tribesman owns a lot of land, and they have no worries about food and clothing!

They can build large bridges and huge water wheels, things we never even dared to imagine, in a very short time. They can even make pottery jars and iron implements... they’ll only get richer! Right now they can easily defeat the Pannonians we fear, and their strength will only grow, becoming the strongest tribe in this region!

Since you have such a good relationship with Leader Maximus, you should bring us to join this tribe. The sooner we join, the more benefits we’ll gain: enough land, more comfortable houses, and flocks of cattle and sheep...

Everyone’s lives will get better, and you wouldn’t have to risk going to sea anymore. You could live well with my brother and me. You might even become an official in the Nix Tribe, leading valiant soldiers to teach those Pannonians a lesson!"

Karsipengpas stared blankly at the passionate young man in front of him, so different from the usual image of himself covered in dust and tattered clothes, overwhelmed with emotions.

Until his son urged: "Dad, say something. Is it doable or not?!"

He then heaved a long sigh, reached out a large hand as if to touch his son’s head, but stopped halfway, instead placing it heavily on his son’s thin shoulder, "Child, you don’t understand, many things aren’t that simple!"

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

At dusk, Valles returned to the main house in Svetya, not going directly back to his dormitory but to a wooden house not far behind the tribal hall.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Come in." Cassius’s voice came from inside.

Valles pushed the door open. Cassius, seated behind a wooden table, stood up and with concern said, "I guessed it was you who returned. You’ve accompanied Leader Karsipengpas all day, you must be hungry. I’ve already picked up supper for you, so fill your belly before telling me everything in detail."

Valles didn’t stand on ceremony, pulled up a chair, sat by the wooden table, grabbed the bread on the table with one hand, and picked up a wooden spoon with the other, ladling oatmeal from the still slightly steaming pottery jar, and started devouring it.

Once he finished the bread, drank the oatmeal, and rubbed his now full belly, he burped and began speaking: "On the way to Westeni with Leader Karsipengpas, he kept looking at the wheat fields alongside the road, occasionally muttering ’The wheat seedlings are growing so well, the ears are so big,’ or something like that. Later, he asked me how many acres of land our tribespeople own. When I told him some have over a hundred acres, he was quite surprised, even saying ’So much...’"

Cassius listened intently while recording with an ink pen in a thick book.

"...Later, while we waited outside the school, he ran into an acquaintance named Ekbarnus, who followed Karsipengpas as a pirate. After injuring his left leg, he returned to the tribe, and his left leg still limps now..."

Cassius suddenly interrupted Valles’s narration, asking, "Valles, when you suggested to this Aldean named Ekbarnus to ’join our tribe,’ he refused. What was his demeanor at that time?"

Recalling the scene, Valles revealed a slight smile: "He seemed a bit flustered... and eager to leave, not daring to speak much with us... I suspect he might be slightly interested."

Cassius circled Ekbarnus’s name with the ink pen, thinking: Nowadays, plenty of Aldeans are employed in the tribe. Though the tribe has officially announced ’inviting Aldeans to join Nix,’ no Aldean has yet made the request so far. Perhaps Ekbarnus is a breakthrough point...

He was invigorated, "Valles, keep going!"

Valles then talked about the meeting between Karsipengpas and his son, and their conversation. Yes, although he intentionally stayed a bit away, he was eavesdropping with his ears open the entire time.

"So, you’re telling me Rochemnix voluntarily urged his father to lead the tribe to join us Nix?!" Cassius was a bit surprised.

"Indeed, I didn’t expect him to say such things either. It seems our influence on him is beginning to show."

Valles said with a hint of concern: "It’s just... I feel he was too rash speaking these words now, given Karsipengpas’s status is quite different from Ekbarnus. Could it lead him to have an opinion of our tribe?"

"This wasn’t even your fault. It’s the impulsive Rochemnix who suddenly decided to do so, we had no hand in it. Besides, Karsipengpas didn’t get angry or upset because of it, right! Perhaps these words might even have a positive effect on him..."

Cassius comforted him: "In any case, I will report this whole incident accurately to the leader, and let the leader consider the matter. We shouldn’t worry ourselves pointlessly here. By the way, the leader previously told me to send you over once you returned."

"What for?"

"I don’t know either." Cassius shrugged.

Valles walked out the door, turned back to glance at the wooden house, feeling somewhat complicated: Among the batch of children entering the Department of Clerical Affairs, most have now taken up positions—in the Military Affairs Department, Akegu serves as a subordinate; Magus manages the treasury in the Finance Department; Manas serves in the Commerce Department; Gaurus is a subordinate in the Public Works Department; Cassius is responsible for intelligence work in the Clerical Affairs Department... even Naisuya handles edicts and documents in the Clerical Affairs Department. Yet, he remains doing odd jobs in the Clerical Affairs Department.