CHAPTER 450: CHAPTER 328: BREAKING THE ILLUSION

Siris nodded and said, "There are more than 20,000 Foreign Auxiliaries. It’s indeed a bit cramped to have them all living in the West Village."

"There are only over 10,000 Foreign Auxiliaries here," Nanix corrected. "The others are across the Kupa River. After the wooden bridge was completed, most of the leaders moved to the East Village, turning the entire West Village into a place specifically for the Foreign Auxiliaries. The West Village not only accommodates all of them but also has plenty of empty houses. Once the registrațion of all the villages on the east bank is finished, if a few thousand more Foreign Auxiliaries come, they can be arranged here as well. Originally, the Administration Department planned to have these Foreign Auxiliaries build camps outside the West Village for accommodation, but that’s no longer needed."

"Oh, I see," Siris thought for a moment and then asked, "How often can these Foreign Auxiliaries see their family once they are separated?"

"Usually once every three days," Nanix looked back at him and said, "According to Chief Officer Cseni, this period shouldn’t be too long to avoid grievances among the Foreign Auxiliaries, but if it’s too short, the subordinates and guards of the Administration Department would be too tired. Three days is just right."

"That makes sense," Siris agreed and then asked, "With so many Foreign Auxiliaries, it must be challenging to provide food for them, right?"

Young Nanix had been busy in the Administration Department these days, and it was rare for an adult to listen carefully to him, making him eager to express himself fully: "It’s not that difficult. The Administration Department has a team dedicated to food supply. They organize some of the women among the Foreign Auxiliaries to cook, and another group of women deliver the prepared food to each residence...

The Administration Department collects the grain from the Finance Department every five days based on the number of Foreign Auxiliaries and daily grain consumption. If we collect too much, it’s wasteful and would be criticized by the Finance Department; if we collect too little, some Foreign Auxiliaries won’t have enough to eat. That’s why we subordinates need to sit there every day to record and calculate!"

Nanix proudly straightened his chest: "As for the wood used in cooking, every few days the Administration Department organizes some guards along with some Foreign Auxiliaries to gather it from the nearby hills... So you don’t need to worry that they won’t have enough to eat. The tribe used a similar method over at the Kupa River to manage the Reserve Tribe Members, and the Administration Department has plenty of experience..."

Nanix kept talking, and Siris listened attentively, and before they realized it, they arrived at residence No. 53.

Nanix showed a waist tag to the guard at the gate and told him that Siris would henceforth be responsible for managing the Foreign Auxiliaries in No. 53 residence.

The guard looked Siris up and down, checked the waist tag in his hand, and then, following the young man’s orders, gathered the Foreign Auxiliaries in the yard.

Soon, a commotion was heard from the yard.

The guard came out and said, "The Foreign Auxiliaries are all assembled."

Siris was about to step through the gate when Nanix pulled him back: "I should warn you, these Foreign Auxiliaries see you as a Segestica person working for the tribe; they might curse you or even attack you. Although there are guards to protect you, be careful!"

"Don’t worry, I’ll be fine," Siris confidently walked in.

In the yard were thirty-three Segestica men, about two-thirds were elderly, and about one-third were young and strong. They stood casually, talking amongst themselves as if no one else was around.

When Siris entered, many did not even glance at him, continuing their low conversations, but someone, after a quick look, suddenly widened his eyes: "Siris, you came in too?!"

This shout immediately drew the attention of other Foreign Auxiliaries.

"It really is Siris!!"

"Is he famous? You all seem to know him," a young man asked, and it’s no wonder he was curious. The Foreign Auxiliaries in this residence came from various Segestica tribes, but most of the elders knew this newcomer and were quite excited, inevitably piquing his curiosity.

"Siris was a renowned warrior in our Segestica tribe. During the battles with the Skodisqi people, he always led the charge and killed many Skodisqi Warriors. The Great Chief even praised his bravery in front of all the warriors!"

"Yes, I remember the Great Chief also awarded a suit of armor taken from the Segestica Chief to Siris."

"I think our Segestica tribe’s top warrior is Andres Chief, and Siris should be in second place!"

...

A group of elders excitedly spoke, while some young men listened in amazement...

Suddenly, a voice interjected: "Siris is no longer a warrior of our Segestica; he’s a traitor. He betrayed the tribe and joined the Nix!"

The speaker was a tribesman from No. 21 Village, and his words exploded like thunder, leaving everyone in disbelief.

"Siris, is what he says true?!" a gray-haired, elderly yet strong man questioned.

"Tenecas." Siris recognized the old speaker and, having been comrades-in-arms in their youth, seriously said, "He’s not wrong; I have joined the Nix Tribe. I’m now a Reserve Tribe Member of the Nix Tribe!"

The crowd was in an uproar, Tenecas’ expression changed, and he angrily said, "Siris, to think you—"

Siris shouted loudly, overpowering all other noises: "Stop dreaming, all of you! Segestica is over, it can never rise again! The Pannonian Alliance reinforcements won’t be coming anytime soon, so stop holding on to hope!—"

"Shut up, you traitor!"

"You’re lying, our Segestica Tribe can’t be destroyed!"

"You’re lying, the Alliance’s military might be assembling right now!"

...

Siris’ words had the effect of throwing a stone into a cesspit, stirring up a buzz of opposition against him.

He again spoke in a loud voice: "Stop deceiving yourselves! Although you live in the West Village, you’ve been outside, you’ve interacted with people from outside, you should be able to sense the changes outside.

Aren’t there more Nix people living in the surrounding villages?! Because these Nix Soldiers have settled in all the villages, and the tribesmen left in these villages have joined the Nix, Segestica’s territory has become part of the Nix, and the Pannonia’s reinforcements have not come to stop the Nix’s annexation, which is why these Nix Soldiers are comfortably living in the villages that once belonged to you, starting to farm the lands that once belonged to you!

You also saw the construction of the big bridge over the Sava River, and you must have heard from others about the completion of the Danu Temple in the western hills and all the villagers going to worship there. Think carefully, if the Nix people were met with resistance on our land and if there was a coming attack from the Panoni Alliance Army, would they have the energy and manpower to build bridges and temples here? And organize large groups to worship?

Of course not! So the Nix Tribe has successfully occupied all our land, safely incorporated all our tribesmen, and the resistance and rescue you imagined have never come into being!"

"That’s because it’s still a short amount of time, the Alliance reinforcements haven’t been assembled yet!" The elder named Tenecas loudly refuted.

"Last year Andres Chief asked the Alliance for help, and within less than a month he led the Alliance reinforcement to the Kupa River. But now, it’s been nearly a month since the Nix people took over our Main Camp, and there’s not even a shadow of Alliance reinforcements. Brochi is the closest to us, but they haven’t even sent troops to support those of our people who fled to Gonami Lake—simple actions like that haven’t been taken—"

"How do you know they haven’t? Have you checked Gonami Lake?" someone stubbornly questioned.

"Nix Soldiers have settled in our village; I’ve developed a good relationship with them and learned from them. Think about it, if Brochi were sending troops north to the Gonami Lake Region, the Nix Soldiers would definitely gather in the northern part of Gonami Lake, preparing for the Brochi people. How could they allow them to return to each village?!—"

"The reason the Alliance reinforcements haven’t come yet is because they recently suffered a defeat. They’ll come in a while!" loudly refuted Siris’s tribesman from the same village.

"You know the Alliance Army was defeated before, but do you know just how badly they lost?! I asked a Nick Army officer (referring to Starks) residing in our village, and he told me...

The warriors sent by Brochi suffered the most losses, with only Great Chief Bricks and his Guard escaping the battlefield; next was the Mazi army, which was surrounded, and only about a third managed to escape... The crux is that the battle took place on the banks of the Kolana River, and after the Alliance Army’s defeat, all their military grain was seized by the Nick Army. From the Kolana River to the Brochi Territory takes several days’ journey—you should be somewhat aware of this—could these routed compatriots return smoothly without food?!

After this major battle, nearly ten thousand warriors of the Alliance were taken prisoner by the Nix, and thousands of our compatriots were buried. If you were to go to the Kupa River, you would see another Foreign Auxiliary management area like this one, with over ten thousand Foreign Auxiliaries, most of whom are also captives from the Alliance!"

Siris reminded them loudly with a grave expression: "This defeat is no less severe than the catastrophic defeat our warriors led by Andres suffered in the Validosi Swamp last year! Think about it: after that battle, we no longer had the capability to initiate another war against the Nix, which is why Andres sought aid from the Tribal Alliance. And now the Tribal Alliance has suffered a disastrous defeat; do they still have the capability to wage war against the Nix? They’ve lost their ability to continue the battle, so whom would they ask for help? Moreover, even if the Great Chiefs have this idea, would those tribal leaders and Clan Leaders, who lost much of their tribesmen, agree? Would the Great Tribal Council agree?..."