"What did I just say, didn’t you understand? Cough! Cough!" Acoupaigos coughed angrily again, "...One Segestica almost wiped us out, and now you’re preparing to provoke Brochi! Do you think the suffering our tribe has endured is not enough?"
"This can’t be done! That can’t be done! Our tribe is the way it is now because of your cowardice! Hmph!" Aristakas stormed off in frustration.
Acoupaigos watched his departing son, shook his head helplessly, and in his eyes were both disappointment and worry. He said softly, "Alas, look, this is the future Great Chief of Alde... Brotas, if I’m not here tomorrow, you’ll have to support the tribe!"
Cleobrotas quickly comforted him, "Great Chief, what are you saying! You’re in good health, you can at least lead us for another ten years!"
Acoupaigos shook his head and calmly said, "I know my body, living another year would already be good. Aristakas is still acting recklessly right now. When he sits in my position, he will realize the hardships of being the Great Chief. By then, you, as his uncle, must help him more!"
Facing Acoupaigos’s expectant gaze, Cleobrotas replied without hesitation, "Great Chief, rest assured, I watched Takas grow up from a young age, I will do my utmost to help him!"
"Ah, Brotas, you didn’t see it wrong. Judging by the recent performance of those outsiders, that Maximus is indeed an extraordinary figure. The Nix Tribe he established may very well become a fierce beast on this Great River Plain. It’s a pity I won’t be able to see that day..."
Acoupaigos squinted his eyes, gazing at the sun in the sky, and said wistfully, "But it’s good that Alde and they have already formed an alliance, and you’re quite friendly with Maximus. I believe, with you around, both sides will maintain a very good relationship. If one day Nix indeed becomes powerful, Alde following behind it wouldn’t be bad either..."
Maximus received reports from spies: the Panoni Alliance Army is retreating east without stopping, even the garrisons of the two camps to the east have left with them, taking all food and other supplies with them...
The leaders of the Nix Tribe could finally confirm: the Panoni Alliance Army had truly retreated.
Although they missed the last chance to counterattack, Maximus did not regret too much, after all, the Pannonians attacked the camp twice fiercely, causing over 1,000 casualties to the troops. The multiple battles exhausted the Pannonian warriors, and it was no different for the Nix Soldiers. Even if they won, a risky attack would increase casualties greatly, and winning without increasing casualties is indeed a good thing for the current manpower-short Nix Tribe.
The Nix people emerged from the inner camp, and the first thing to do was to clean the battlefield: eliminating remaining traps and avoiding accidental injury to their own people were secondary; the most important task was to clear away the corpses. The Pannonians took away their companions’ bodies, and the battlefield was left with the fallen soldiers of Nix. A few were Pannonian warriors who fell off the wooden walls and died in the ditch during the first attack because the corpses were outside the camp and couldn’t be retrieved. By now, the bodies had started to rot, crawling with maggots...
Maximus ordered the soldiers to cover their noses and mouths with clean linen to prevent insect bites. They carried the bodies to burn on wood piles, then scattered lime powder from the Aldeans throughout the camp.
Cleaning the battlefield, re-erecting tents, and repairing damaged wooden walls... By dusk, the troops led by Camillus and Oros returned to the camp, and that night, all the Nix people in the camp slept soundly.
In the following days, the Nix people were actively rebuilding the camp, as Maximus and others were unsure whether the eager Segestica Great Leader would soon lead his troops back.
It wasn’t until news from Segestica came: Andres was injured and unconscious, and the tribe was temporarily under the charge of Cabdes, who had once been captured by the Nix people.
This news delighted Maximus: While Andres was not a tactically brilliant general, his never-give-up personality, combined with the Pannonian tribe’s formidable strength, was a difficult opponent, causing the Nix leaders considerable headache. They dared not rashly move the troops to the vacant camps in the east. Now that he was bedridden, Segestica couldn’t possibly launch another attack on Nix shortly.
Thus, Maximus immediately sent someone to find Budocaribas to reclaim the several thousand Segestica families previously entrusted to the Aldeans for safekeeping. As for the nearly ten thousand Pannonian warrior captives, they were generously given to the Alde Tribe, becoming labor and a target for venting anger.
But whether to abandon the temporary camp immediately and relocate the entire troop to the camps by the Kupa River sparked intense debates within the Political Affairs Hall, yet no consensus was reached.
Many Chief Officers had such concerns: although because of Andres’s injury, the Segestica people likely wouldn’t invade in the short term, but if one day he recovers, learns from this failed attack, and seeks help from the Pannonian Tribe Alliance, bringing even more armies than this time. And if Nix had already moved to the eastern camps, distanced from the Alde Tribe, they would be fighting alone, surrounded by the Panoni Alliance Army, the situation would undoubtedly be even more difficult than this time.