Step. Step. Step.
Soldiers clad in black armor marched in neat ranks along the increasingly desolate streets. Wherever they passed, silence followed. The residents on either side of the street stood motionless, their faces pale with fear, watching these soldiers with bated breath.
Long after the soldiers had passed, the street remained quiet. Slowly, hesitant voices began to rise, but no one dared speak too loudly, as though afraid their words might disturb or anger some unseen force.
They were now citizens of a fallen nation, and the soldiers who had just passed were the conquerors who had annihilated their country's ruling class.
"Gai Kingdom's wolves and tigers!" someone whispered bitterly, staring in the direction the soldiers had disappeared. His eyes burned with hatred.
War brings death. The arrival of Gai Kingdom's army in this city meant that the forces that had resisted them had already been shattered.
"Quiet! Your brother is already dead. Do you want to drag the rest of us down with you?"
A stout woman slapped the boy who had spoken. The impact left a bright red handprint on his face. Clenching his fists, the boy gritted his teeth and tugged at his ill-fitting robes but said nothing further.
"Go on, take your nephews to the school. Stop standing here in the way," the woman ordered.
"We're Niel Kingdom people! We shouldn't learn Gai Kingdom's language," the boy protested, his voice filled with resentment.
"The Niel Kingdom is gone! Now we're Gai Kingdom people," the woman snapped, grabbing a sturdy wooden stick nearby. She silently vowed that if her brother-in-law dared say anything else that could bring disaster upon their family, she would not hesitate to discipline him again.
"We're Niel Kingdom people!" the boy muttered defiantly, though he shrank back slightly at the sight of the stick in her hand.
The woman said nothing. She raised the stick and struck him repeatedly. Though the blows seemed random, she deliberately aimed for the boy's fleshy areas to avoid causing serious harm. While the boy yelped in pain, he ultimately suffered only superficial injuries that would heal in a few days.
"Now, tell me, what country do you belong to?" The woman, still holding the stick, glared at the boy with a fierce expression.
"G-Gai Kingdom," the boy stammered reluctantly, bowing his head under her piercing gaze.
"That's better." Satisfied with his answer, the woman nodded.
"Sister-in-law, why do you keep forcing me to do these things? When those officials made us wear their country's clothes, you did the same," the boy grumbled, his resentment showing.
"If I didn't make you wear them, do you think you'd still be alive now? Look at what happened to the people who refused to wear Gai Kingdom's clothes. They were all taken away to dig ditches. Do you want to end up like them?"
"No." The boy shook his head instinctively, recalling the scene when Gai Kingdom's army entered the city. Everyone who resisted, along with their families, was captured and forced into hard labor.
He had heard that these people were turned into slaves. The strongest among them were given to Gai Kingdom soldiers as servants, rewards for their military achievements.
"If you don't want that, then hurry up and take your nephews to the school. They need to learn Gai Kingdom's language before they turn ten. And you should learn it too."
The woman's tone softened slightly as she gave her instructions. She felt no loyalty to her former country. Her only grievance against Gai Kingdom was that its soldiers had killed her husband. But now, as a mother of two, she buried her hatred deep. Her children had to survive as Gai Kingdom citizens.
"I don't want to learn. Gai Kingdom's language and script are too hard," the boy complained, his face full of reluctance.
"I want to learn, but at my age, it's not appropriate for me to attend school. You go learn it first, and then come back and teach me," the woman retorted.
"Fine." The boy stood reluctantly, rubbing his sore backside as he headed home to prepare his two nephews for school.
...
"The history books of Niel Kingdom, biographies, all of these were declared contraband and ordered to be surrendered and destroyed when our army entered the city. Yet so many were found in your home. How do you think this should be handled?"
In an elegantly decorated room, a Gai Kingdom officer in black armor gestured to a half-man-high stack of books as he questioned an elderly man who appeared to be in excellent health.
"I am a Niel Kingdom citizen! What's wrong with me keeping the history books and biographies of my country?" the old man shouted angrily in response.
"Sir," the officer said with a smile, "let me remind you: this is Gai Kingdom territory now. If you live here, you are a Gai Kingdom citizen. Understand?"
"I am a Niel Kingdom citizen," the old man repeated firmly, his voice unwavering.
"Sir, before you say anything else, you'd better think about your family." The officer gestured toward a group of trembling women, children, and elderly men huddled together. They were the old man's family, held at swordpoint by soldiers.
"So this is Gai Kingdom's way—threatening an old man with his family?"
"No, no, no. This isn't a threat. Just a friendly reminder," the officer said with a mocking smile. "Given your actions, I could easily enslave your entire family under our laws."
"What do you want?" The old man's face darkened.
"I've heard you're a scholar, fluent in multiple languages from the surrounding nations. I'd like to hire you as a teacher at our school to instruct the local children in Gai Kingdom's language."
The officer's words were polite, but his intentions were clear. The old man was a respected figure in the area. Convincing him to teach at the school would help solidify Gai Kingdom's rule.
"Impossible." The old man rejected the proposal without hesitation.
"Perhaps you didn't hear our orders properly due to your age," the officer said nonchalantly. "We can overlook the contraband books found in your home. But if you refuse to cooperate, don't blame us for enforcing Gai Kingdom's laws."
"You've destroyed my country, and now you want to erase our language and customs? You're trying to sever our roots! I will never cooperate with you," the old man declared, trembling with rage.
"The Niel Kingdom is gone. Its customs and traditions will vanish with it. That is the inevitable tide of history," the officer replied, his smile fading. "If you cooperate, we can resolve this peacefully. But if you persist in this attitude, I'll be forced to act. Surely you don't want your family to end up as slaves or worse?"
"You—" The old man's body shook with fury. He glanced at his family, then closed his eyes. "No matter what you do, I will not cooperate."
"What a rare, stubborn old man," the officer said with a cold chuckle.
"That's right. You'll get nothing from me," the old man snapped.
"Stubbornness won't save you," the officer said, his voice dripping with disdain. "Do you think I have no means of dealing with you?"
The officer turned to the old man's family. "If any of you wish to avoid becoming slaves, step forward."
No one moved. Fear filled their eyes as they stared at the officer.
"You want to keep your current lives, don't you? Then convince the old man to cooperate," the officer said, his smile returning.
"My grandfather is too stubborn. Once he decides something, none of us can change his mind," a boy with faint peach fuzz on his upper lip said timidly.
"Then I have no choice," the officer said, feigning regret as he gestured for soldiers to drag the old man away.
"What are you planning to do?" the old man roared, struggling against the soldiers. His voice was cut off as a rag was stuffed into his mouth.
"You're going to help us bring peace to this city, one way or another," the officer said calmly, his mind already formulating the next steps in Gai Kingdom's strategy for assimilation.
After all, conquering a nation was one thing—keeping it was another.
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