Rome must fall.

Chapter 296: Search by Knicks Soldiers
Having said that, Selysis still felt a little uneasy. After all, the tribe's traditions were deeply rooted, and the chief and patriarch had great power during the war. As long as the order was beneficial to the tribe and the ethnic group, the tribesmen must obey it, otherwise they would be severely punished.

Therefore, after Selysis had a falling out with the patriarch, tribesmen kept coming to his house to persuade him to apologize to Egalos, but he refused to respond.

At dusk, suddenly no one came to the door anymore because the Nixes had entered the village.

As hundreds of fully armed Nix soldiers entered the village with a dozen pack carts, all the Segestica people who were still walking around in the village ran back to their homes as fast as possible and closed their doors and windows.

Selysis is no exception.

I don’t know how long it was after, “Knock! Knock! Knock!” there was a knock on the gate of his house.

Although Selisis had reasons and evidence when persuading his tribesmen, he was still uneasy when the Nyx soldiers really came to their door. He pretended to be calm and comforted his frightened wife and children. He walked into the yard and carefully opened the bolt.

There were a dozen Nyx soldiers standing outside the door, as well as a Skodis slave, and he knew this slave, as he belonged to the Egalos family.

The leading Nix soldier stared at him with sharp eyes and asked in fluent Pannonian: "How many Scodischi slaves do you have in your family?!"

Celisis was stunned. He had been wondering why the Knicks came to him at this time, but he didn't expect the other party to ask such a question as soon as they opened their mouths.

"Answer me, how many Scodischi slaves are there?!" the Nix soldier asked loudly again with a serious expression.

Selisis came back to his senses and shook his head: "Not even one, I don't have any Scodischi slaves in my house."

As he answered, he noticed that the Nix soldier who asked him the question was actually a Scodischi, which surprised him a little.

His expression made the soldier misunderstand. He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Damned Segestica, you dare to lie, don't you want to live--"

An older soldier behind him held his shoulder and whispered, "Okay, Talipasi, calm down! Just do your job and don't take it personally!"

The soldier hurriedly defended himself, "Boss, he is lying on purpose. We have checked so many families, and there is no family without slaves!"

"We'll know if there are any slaves after we check." The soldier called "chief" was actually a centurion. He stepped forward and said in stiff Pannonian: "We... have been ordered to rescue all... Skodischi slaves. Whether you say there are any or not, we will check it ourselves. But I promise you! As long as you cooperate, we will not hurt anyone, nor will we destroy anything in your house!"

Celis looked at Captain Nix who was trying his best to be kind, then looked at the hateful Skodischi soldier behind him, and then glanced at the dozen or so fully armed Nix soldiers. He quickly made a decision: "Then come in and check. My wife and children are in the house. I hope I don't scare them."

As he said this, he made way.

Seris's house was rather simple, with only a large house, a pigsty and an animal pen in the yard surrounded by wooden fences.

The three soldiers went in and took a look around. Without any unnecessary actions, they quickly finished the check and walked out of the yard.

Selysis let out a long breath and loosened his arms that were tightly around his wife and children.

"There really isn't any." The soldier in charge of the inspection reported truthfully.

The Nix centurion immediately said to the Scodischi soldier beside him in a serious tone: "Did you hear clearly? There is no Scodischi slave in his family! Your compatriot who was just rescued has already said before, 'There is no Scodischi slave in this person's family.' We can come to check, but not only do you doubt your compatriots, you also have a stronger hostility towards the people here. This is not right!
Talipasi, our leader, legion commander, captain, and centurion have repeatedly said that if we, the Nix, want to gain a foothold here, we must unite all the forces that can be united as much as possible... If you still can't figure it out, I suggest you apply to leave our First Legion and return to Snotia or Westney. At least there you don't have to face so many Segestica people, lest you make a big mistake next time, not only will you be punished, but you will also cause us to suffer with you."

"Boss, I will never leave the Third Legion! I will never leave you! I... I will change... I will change, isn't it okay?" The soldier named Talipasi panicked and begged repeatedly.

"That depends on your performance in the future." The centurion responded in a serious tone, then looked at Selysis and said in a gentle tone in Pannonian: "We have finished the inspection and will not disturb you anymore. Have a good rest."

Faced with the goodwill shown by the Knicks, Celisses looked indifferent and did not respond.

The centurion asked curiously, "By the way, why don't you have any Scodischi slaves? I see that other families here have more or less." Selisis didn't want to answer, but seeing that the other party was determined to get an answer, in order to let the other party leave him quickly, he reluctantly responded, "I have my own hands and feet, I can handle it, no need."

The centurion smiled slyly: "But I heard from the Skodishchi slaves here that you grew up in a Skodishchi family and your attitude towards the Skodishchi people is different from that of your tribesmen, so you have repeatedly rejected the slaves that your leader wanted to give you, right?"

"Nonsense!" Celis finally couldn't hold back his emotions and cursed.

The centurion laughed and said, "Selysis, you are a very special Segestica. I remember your name. I hope we can meet again."

After saying that, he waved to the other soldiers and said, "Brothers, let's go to the next one."

"Please wait a moment." Selisis bravely asked loudly, "Did you come to our tribe today just to free the slaves in the tribe, Skodischi?"

"Of course not only that." Perhaps because he liked Serisis, the centurion stopped and responded: "We still need to collect food, but this has nothing to do with you ordinary people."

"Gathering food..." Celis' heart tightened, and he quickly asked, "This has nothing to do with us, so who does it have to do with?"

"You will know soon." The centurion was obviously unwilling to say more and led the soldiers forward.

Celisis hurried over and asked urgently, "Can you tell me, what exactly do you Knicks want to do to us?!"

The centurion turned around and said to him, "Don't worry, you will know tomorrow."

Tomorrow? ... Serisis wanted to ask again, but the centurion ignored him and walked along the road to the next house.

In the evening, when the Nixes left the village, the team suddenly swelled a lot. Not only did it add more than 100 Skodish slaves, but it also had nine more carts, each loaded with food.

It was a long time after Nix's team left that some people of Segestica quietly went out to spy, and then they heard the wailing coming from the houses of various leaders and patriarchs.

The tribesmen went to inquire and learned that the Nixes had almost emptied the granaries of the tribe leaders and clan leaders, leaving only a small portion, and also robbed the carts they usually used to transport food and goods. The leaders and the families of several clan leaders wanted to stop the Nixes from looting, but they were knocked down by the Nixes, and some were injured...

The Nixes finally revealed their brutality. Are they going to start looting and killing? ... The people of Segestica, who had lost their Skodischi slaves, were panicking.

So, that night some people went to ask Celisses "What should they do?"

After what happened in the tribe today, Selysis was a little confused. He told everyone who asked him what he thought: "I don't know what to do, but when those Nix people came to my house, I asked them how they would treat us. The leader told me, 'We will know tomorrow.' So let's wait until tomorrow and see the situation before making a decision."

“Selisis, these Nixes have taken away our slaves, and also the food of the leader and the chieftain, and injured their families… I think what their leader said in the main village was a lie. Don’t forget that among the Nikos who broke into the village today, there were actually Scodischi people! The Scodischi people hate us, and they will definitely instigate the Nixes to kill us. We can’t just wait to die here!”

"Hey, calm down. If the Knicks wanted to kill us, we wouldn't have let you go when we surrounded you in the main village yesterday. I still say that, where can you escape to now? Are you willing to abandon the home where you have lived for decades? If the Knicks really want to kill us tomorrow, I will never let them have it easy. I would rather die on the land of my hometown!"

Selysis's persuasion and resolute spirit calmed many people's hearts. That night, except for a very small number of leaders and clan leaders' families who escaped from the village, the rest of the tribesmen chose to stay and watch.

The next morning, a team of 100 men from the First Legion of the Nix Tribe arrived at the village, and the centurion was Staggs.

The team he led went straight to the center of the village, where the main house of the tribal leader was located. There was a large open space in front of the main house, which was used to gather the tribesmen to discuss important matters or to form teams to go out to fight.

Staggs carefully surveyed the surroundings, then said to the centurions, "I am here to announce the leader's order to the Segestica people in this village. Each of you should lead your men to bring everyone in this village here!"

(End of this chapter)