Rome must fall.

Chapter 321: Aldei Tribe Meeting
Who would have thought that the meeting had just begun, and before Aristakas had time to bring up the main topic of today's meeting, Cicelyteses had already made an incredible request, causing an uproar among the crowd.

"Elder Cicelitses, do you know what you are talking about? You want to take the people of your tribe away from the land where our ancestors have lived for generations and settle on the banks of the Sava River where our enemies, the Segestica people, live? Are you still dreaming?"

Angry that Cicelytes had ruined his plans, Aristakas ignored Cleobrotus' repeated reminders that he should be careful with his words as a great leader, and could not help but mock him, causing some of the southern elders to laugh.

"I'm not dreaming, but you're just staring at everything in front of you, not knowing that the world outside has changed!" Cicelytes glanced at Aristakas and the laughing elders with disdain, and said loudly: "Captain Maximus has invaded the territory of the Segestica people, seized their main camp, and occupied a large area of ​​their territory. Now the Segestica people have completely collapsed--"

Before Cicelitses finished speaking, the whole hall was in an uproar: "The Nixes captured the main stronghold of Segestica?! This is impossible!"

"It is possible for the Nixes to defeat the army of the Pannonian Tribal Alliance, defeat the Segestica people, and occupy their main camp. However, they just repelled the army of the Pannonian Alliance a few days ago. How could they invade the Segestica people's territory so quickly?!"

"If the Nixes really completely defeat Segestica, it will be a great joy! From now on we don't have to worry about the threat of Segestica anymore!"

……

"Quiet! Quiet!..." Alistarcas shouted several times, but the elders were still discussing heatedly.

Arista Caston was furious. He grabbed the water jug ​​beside him and threw it to the ground with great force. With a loud "bang", the water jug ​​was smashed and fragments flew everywhere.

The elders looked at Aristakas in astonishment.

Alistarcus shouted, "Look at what you are doing! This is the sacred hall for tribal meetings, not the threshing ground for villagers to chat. Did you also make such a noise when my father was here?"

Aristakas's words were a bit harsh, and an elder wanted to refute immediately. Seeing this, Cleobrotus stood up and shouted, "Everyone, please keep quiet so that the meeting can proceed smoothly! Cicelitses, you just said that the Nixes occupied the main camp of Segestica. Is this true?!"

As soon as Cleobrotus opened his mouth, the hall became much quieter. In addition, his question was exactly what everyone was concerned about, so almost everyone shut their mouths and focused their eyes on Cicelytes.

"This is true!" Before Cicelytses could respond, Budokaribas, who was sitting next to him, gave the answer. He had originally discussed with Cicelytses and others and wanted to wait until the meeting reached a suitable time to make this request, but he did not expect that Cicelytses would take action on his own shortly after the meeting began. This forced him to express his attitude as soon as possible and stand with the reckless Cicelytses.

"After Maximus led the Nic army to defeat the Panronian coalition and eliminated the threat to our Ardei, Cicelytes and I went to thank Maximus, but we heard that because the armies of Segestica and Deisitiatae attacked the Nic territory from the north, Maximus led his army to resist -"

When Aristakas heard this, his face twitched unnaturally. He remembered his anger because he didn't see Maximus that day.

"Because I was worried that Maximus' army would fail and Segestica's army would become a threat to our Aldei again, I went to Nix's territory with Cicelitses and others to learn about the battle situation as soon as possible...

When we arrived at the battlefield, we learned that Maximus had won another great victory, and on the morning of the second day after his victory, he led his army to attack the territory of Segestica—"

Budokaribas sighed and said, "It has always been the Segestica people who attacked us, and we have never taken the initiative to attack the Segestica people! Out of curiosity and excitement, we continued to advance along the marching route of the Nix army..."

At this time, the hall had become completely quiet, and the elders were listening carefully to what Budokaribas said.

"As a result, when we arrived at the territory of the Segestica people, we heard that the Nix army had captured the western fortress of the main fortress of Segestica. When we entered the western fortress of Segestica the next day, the Nix army had captured the eastern fortress of Segestica on the other side of the Sava River—"

At this time, suppressed exclamations rang out in the hall. They were the elders' involuntary amazement at the powerful and rapid attack power displayed by the Nyx army in Budokaribas's narration. "We didn't see how the Nyx army defeated the Segestica people and captured their entire main camp, but we walked into the main camp of Segestica, saw the Nyx soldiers patrolling the streets, saw the flags of the Nyx tribe flying on the main house, and saw a large number of Segestica people captured by the Nyx army...

Also, in every Segestica village we passed through on our way to the main camp through Segestica territory, we could see Segestica people hiding in their houses in fear... The Nix army really defeated the Segestica people!"

Budokaribas felt that the elders were more awed by the Nix tribe after hearing his story. He did not want to disturb the atmosphere by causing more noise, so he continued to speak faster: "We met Chief Maximus and wanted to congratulate him, but he proposed to give a large piece of fertile land in the Sava River territory of Segestica to the tribe of Cicelitses, my tribe, and other Ardei tribes that lost their land in the war with Segestica for settlement!"

As soon as Budokaribas said this, the hall suddenly became unusually quiet.

He glanced at everyone and said solemnly, "I, Cicelyteses, and the other Ardei tribe leaders with me all agree!"

Cicelytes swallowed his saliva. He had to admit that Budokaribas was better at speaking than him. He described his group's action of asking for land as a generous gift from Maximus for their tireless efforts to congratulate the Nyx for their glorious victory.

"I don't agree!" Aristakas broke the silence in the hall and said angrily: "I said before that you are Aldi people, but now you want to leave the land where you have lived for generations and run to Segestica. This is betrayal! -"

"Aristakas, don't accuse me of anything. How can this be called betrayal?" Cicelytes immediately retorted: "After we move there, although we are a little farther away, we will continue to uphold the traditions of Aldei, continue to attend any meetings held by the tribe, continue to respond to the tribe's requests, and send troops to join the tribe in fighting the enemy. We will always be Aldei people!"

"Even if you think so, many things are beyond your control." Ambracinus said with a serious expression: "Just like the Pannoni, they were once Illyrians, but after they left their homes and settled in the north, they gradually became like barbarians, and finally turned around to invade us who were once their compatriots!

If you choose to leave your homeland, can you guarantee that your descendants will still uphold our Ardei traditions like you did! Can you guarantee that your descendants will not wave swords and spears at us like Pannoni one day! ..."

Ambrasinos' question made it difficult for Budokaribas to answer for a moment. He wanted to say, "Even if there is, it will be many years later. Time has passed, and of course many things will change..."

But such an answer would be emotionally difficult for the elders to accept.

At this time, an elder from a tribe along the Mrežnica River also questioned: "I don't understand why the Nixes are Nixes and you, Budokaribas, are Ardi people. Why would Chief Maximus give you the land they worked so hard to obtain?! Have you abandoned your Ardi identity and joined the Nixes?!"

This question was tantamount to accusing Budokaribas of betraying the tribe long ago. Budokaribas was not angry, but secretly glad to answer quickly: "The reason why Chief Maximus did this is because last year the Nix tribe and the leaders of the Ardi tribe who lost their homes signed an agreement. In the agreement, Chief Maximus promised that 'the Nix tribe will try its best to provide us with suitable land for settlement'.

The reason why we signed this agreement with the Nix tribe is that last year after the Nix people seized part of the land along the Kupa River from the Segestica people, we went to find Chief Acoupagos, hoping that he could negotiate with the Nix people and let the Nix give up some of the land to us, because the land along the Kupa River originally belonged to us.

But the chief felt very embarrassed. He told us that "in the covenant signed between Aldei and the Nyx, it was clearly stated that the land seized by the Nyx from Pannoni belonged to the Nyx tribe." He could not violate this covenant.

We were unwilling to give up, and we went to the chief many times to make our demands. The chief was annoyed by us and suggested that we go to Chief Maximus to negotiate ourselves. We gritted our teeth and asked Chief Maximus of the Nix tribe for the land, but unexpectedly he did not refuse, but made a promise to us!

The agreement between us and Nicholas was known to the chieftain and was agreed to by him, with Cleobrotus and Ambracinus present at the time.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were shifted to him, Cleobrotus had to nod and say, "The chief does know about the agreement signed between Budokaribas and the Nixes."

(End of this chapter)