The Day After the Victory

The people of the Great Steppe are unlike some other civilizations that likes to keep it to themselves.

The people of the Great Steppe itself mostly come from other places and stay on the Great Steppe.

There is a civilization that is just like them in far south, a group of people who sails the sea with their ships just like the people of the Great Steppe rides on the ground with their horses

And they both share the same traits.

They like to trade.

When the people of the Great Steppe, encounter civilizations on their south and on their north, they traded their livestock and hides for the food and goods they could not produce on their own.

They traded woods that they are sorely lacking and with that they created their tents. They trade food, resources, goods

But when they encounter these civilizations, they also notice something

They noticed that their superior skills at warfare and horsemanship gave them an advantage over these settled people.

If need be, they could simply take what they wanted by force.

The history of warring among themselves made it that much easier to extend their philosophy to conquering other lands.

It is for this reason that there is raids on the Yan empire border. And there is raid toward the other northern side of the Great Steppe toward another empire

Greed may have motivated them to raid, to attack and plunder neighbouring societies, but they were far more interested in making their own lives better than changing the way they lived.

The people of the Great Steppe still measured their wealth based on the number of animals in their herds and the size of their grazing lands.

And so, the destruction of two tribes, the resources plundered is a lot of resources for a small tribe.

And the Brolgadhr tribe, led by the young chief, Aeryon the Son of Rakarys is now suddenly thrust into a medium sized tribe level

Captured men and women were brought and those who surrendered and obey were given status, were allowed to join the warriors of the Brolgadhr tribe

Others are given another task.

Everyone who could be put to work is put to work. Everyone is given their role and the Brolgadhr tribe treat those who surrendered with mercy and benevolent attitude.

Of course, some of the people of the Brolgadhr tribe also hated the people of the Xewa and Ghar tribe.

Not all are welcoming.

But even the most dissatisfied among them did not do nothing more than giving their former enemy a threating gaze.

The hatred of tribes are very prevalent. A grudge could last generations when it is about the honour of the tribe.

But, the tribe also respected their leader.

And their leader, their chief had instructed them to treat these former enemies with mercy and benevolent attitude.

And if they could not, then at the very least do not attack them, do not harass them.

There is sadness and there is sorrows intertwined with each other. But for the Brolgahdr tribe, there is a feast like never before in their tribe

Never in the time of Rakarys himself that such a feast was held.

To the young men of the tribe, they see that under Aeryon, they suddenly become strong and they become brave and there is more meat to eat, more land to graze and more horses, sheep and cattle

To them this is a sign of a great future. Nobody hated being among the strong. Even when they weak, they follow the words of their chief

Now that they are strong, that obeisance turns into loyalty

To the old, Aeryon growth made them feel proud and they feel secure that the tribe falls onto the hand of the capable.

Many tents were put up and around the camp, sheep was slaughtered and meat was given.

The people of the Xewa tribe and the Ghar tribe did not feel that they were persecuted.

Their leaders was killed and the descendant of their leaders was hunted down, but for the young, the old, the woman, the slaves and the people, they were allowed to live

As long as they obey the words of the Elders of the Brolgadhr they would not be treated harshly.

The traders came to Xewa tribe and heard what happen and it shocked him greatly. Then he went to the area of the Brolgadhr tribe and he saw maybe a thousand people and more.

The entire tribe has swelled

Three days passes and the victory of the Brolgadhr tribe began to spread all over the Great Steppe.

One trader heard the news, the other tells another traders, that one tells another and not long after, many more heard what had happened.

The Brolgadhr tribe defeated six tribes. And the Brolgadhr tribe is now allied with the Utgard tribe.

The story sounds like a folktale story.

And many people could not believe it. It alarmed some other tribes but the news is not yet authenticated and so the other waited until this is confirmed

The news reached the nearby tribes but the Great Steppe is large and vast. And there is large tribe in the north that would not hear this news until the end of the year.

This is not an era of fast communication where something happens today and you hear it almost in an instant on the other side of the world

Sometimes, even a big event happening a town not far away from you would take time to reach the closest town

It is even worse for places where there is not point of contact that is easily accessible.

The nearby tribes and the nearby powers heard it and send people to confirm but for those further away on the northern side, even if they hear it, they would not care.

This is not the first time; such a person appears.

Even Xeqani if he had manage to destroy the Ghar tribe he would probably also did the same thing Aeryon did and those great tribes would probably not bat an eye

The situation of the Great Steppe is not easily broken and to them medium sized tribe is not a threat.

Aeryon is in his tent now.

There are many changes to the Brolgadhr tribe in only three days. The tent of the chief of the Brolgadhr is the largest one of all

But that is not the only thing that made it distinct from the other tents. It is also guarded by fifty men.

All of these men are the young warriors of the Brolgadhr.

Some of the people of the defeated tribesmen look at that tent with awe and some with fear. But there is something they do not understand

They have seen how Aeryon fight.

There is no need at all for people to guard him as he alone could tear through hundreds of men.

Some people think this is just to emphasize his status.

Others thought that he might have been injured, that he might overexerted himself and now he is recuperating and that is why there is so many guards

Whatever the truth is, this is the matter of those chiefs and not the concern of the lowly people.

And it is the largest one.

Aeryon opens his eyes at dawn. All of his needs have been met. He had eaten, he had bathed and then he returns to his tent.

Most of the warriors look at him with admiration. Anyone will feel like this if they follow Aeryon during his three days non stop raiding.

Subjugated six tribes and almost two thousand men were taken. Unlike the Xewa tribe and Ghar tribe, Aeryon did not annihilate the other four tribes. People make it more legendary than it was and Aeryon did not stop such story.

Because the more legendary he become, the easier it would be next time to gain the surrender of the people.

The real truth was that when Aeryon came to this tribe with two hundred men, all with weapons and good horses, most of them already have low morale.

Aeryon himself advocated a peaceful surrender would be more beneficial.

However, each tribe could not simply just laid down and let their tribe fall without a fight, so at each tree eh geos, he would send a warrior of his to challenge their strongest warriors.

He would usually sent Belarion to fight and every champion that they put forward could not defeat Belarion.

Aeryon of course stop the battle before Belarion could kill the enemy warrior.

To Belarion and to his men, they did not understand such thing but Aeryon did not have the same thinking as these people

They find joy in killing strong warrior as these are the testament of their strength and the more powerful people, they killed the more famous they would become

But to Aeryon this is a waste of resources.

He looks at these warriors of these four tribes all have the potential to become a general of his army.

They might not possess any great strategy or intelligence like Mayeux or the instinctive reaction to command men like Belarion, but they have bravery and they have strength

And in this era, that is all you need. As for the skill, after a few tempering, Aeryon would see whether they would rise to the occasion or falter

After they are defeated, the tribes surrender and Aeryon accepted them to his tribes.

As for the leader of these tribes, Aeryon put them in high positions. Aeryon could tell that the Great Steppe tribes all have different way of governing their tribes.

And different structure.

He decided that he would run a tight ship on his tribe. At least for now, that is how he is going to do it

In three days, he had subjugated these tribes and when he returns back to his home, to his people, victorious, he feasted with them and drink with them

And then he thoughts about the memory and he spoke to the Elders and the Ashana and he spoke to Mayeux and he understand more and more about the Great Steppe.

The original Aeryon knowledge was limited to his tribe and the tribe surrounding him.

He never took the time to understand the structure of the Great Steppe. And Aeryon doesn't blame the original Aeryon.

This is the way of his life and they fight for it and they do not think about things that does not give them food or does not ensure their survival

Aeryon understood something about the Marynku people the more that he learns about them

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