When Tini Bazus and his wife arrived at Samoras’s house, the Samoras couple had already tidied up their house and yard perfectly, much better than their own home.
In contrast, Sistos, as one of the many blacksmiths in the Supply Camp, also participated in the matchmaking event that day. Although the women in the rebel army were well aware of his disgraceful history of defection and looked down on him, he was a blacksmith, a respected profession in any tribe in the region. Moreover, he was tall and strong, so Skodisqi women and Segestica women, unaware of his past, naturally favored him.
After being single for forty years with high standards, Sistos finally got his wish by choosing a fair-skinned and beautiful young woman from Segestica.
When the tribe subsequently assigned him a house, his dissatisfaction with the rebel army completely dissipated.
But now he somewhat regretted it; it was true what they said: delicate women are not suited for work.
In fact, the woman he chose was the daughter of a deceased clan leader of the Wallis Tribe, and the household chores were always done by slaves. So the moment she entered the room, she sat on the polished bed plank, shaking her head at everything Sistos gestured for her to do.
No choice, the decision made by a man must be carried through, even with tears... So Sistos tirelessly cleaned the entire house alone.
Of course, among the blacksmiths, not many were as unlucky as him. The happiest ones were Pessianaxis and his son.
His son, Pasipidas, joined the rebel army because he received excellent treatment at the Medical Camp after being seriously injured, during which he fell in love with the nurse Luxina who took good care of him. Eventually, they successfully became a couple.
His father, Pessianaxis, although older, also had several women choose him due to his status as a blacksmith. Considering his son, he eventually married a middle-aged woman from the Skodisqi.
The tribe, considering their father-son relationship, assigned their houses near each other, and Pessianaxis, with his wife, first went to his son’s home to help arrange the house.
The four of them worked while chatting and laughing, lively and harmonious.
After all the tribesmen moved into the village, they were all busy like Tini Bazus and his family, cleaning and organizing their houses or dwellings. Even those reserve tribe members and Segestica prisoners who hadn’t been assigned houses and had to live collectively were busy making beds, patching leaks, or pitching tents under the supervision and direction of tribal officials...
By dusk, all the tribe members queued up to receive food outside the main house according to their residential area.
Meanwhile, the chief officers leading the tribe members in the preliminary completion of the relocation gathered in the main hall of the main house to attend the Political Affairs Hall meeting convened by Leader Maximus.
"Snowdonia Village has allocated 2815 sets of houses to those newlywed couples, and Westeni has allocated 2070 sets..." First, Agricultural Officer Volenus reported on the situation of the tribesmen settling in the two villages.
After listening, Maximus said, "This means our accommodation situation here is very tight, and many reserve tribe members and prisoners need to pitch tents to have a place to stay. The housing situation in Westeni is relatively better; whether personal or collective, everyone can live in a house..."
"Yes, Leader. Fortunately, the Segestica people built a fairly large lumber storage yard on the west side of the village, which was originally intended for building docks and ships. Later, the lumber was used for attacking our camps, so we could set up many tents in that vacant area, otherwise, some people might have had to live outside the village," Volenus added.
"Given the current limited conditions, let the tribespeople temporarily squeeze together a bit, at least it’s better than sleeping in the open," Maximus smiled and said, "You’ve done well with this tribe relocation, Agricultural Department. No major problems occurred throughout the process, and everyone moved into the village... Next, you need to concentrate on measuring the land and then dividing it among the tribesmen. This is the top priority, everyone is eagerly waiting. Can you complete it in five days?"
Volenus shook his head like a rattle drum: "Leader, there’s so much land that it can’t be measured in just five days. Land allocation is a major tribal event, and not even the slightest error is allowed. It must be done with extreme seriousness and precision!
Moreover, not many in our tribe know how to measure land; most of them are in the engineering team. If Spukala could bring people to help us scrutinize, we could not only speed up the land measurement but also ensure its accuracy."
Maximus thought for a moment and said, "Land measurement and allocation is the foremost priority for our tribe, and the Agricultural Department is primarily responsible for this major task. Volenus, I give you this authority; you can select suitable people throughout the tribe to assist you in completing this work, and anyone selected must fully cooperate! If anyone is unwilling to contribute or even evade responsibility—
Karina, you and the Civil Affairs Department must manage this, it must be noted down during their advancement assessment. Of course, those with outstanding performance should also be noted."
"Yes, Leader, I will assign subordinates to supervise and record the performance of all tribesmen measuring the land," Karina replied.