Rome Must Perish

"You mean that Westeni is lacking a person who can take charge." Maximus candidly articulated Quintus’s concern. He glanced around the hall at everyone present. Most showed concern, but their eyes were somewhat evasive. Clearly, they all realized the issue but were hesitant to raise it due to his authority.

Maximus smiled slightly and said calmly, "Originally, I intended to leave this issue for discussion at the end of the meeting, but since Quintus has already mentioned it, I’ll address it now.

I’ve previously stated that our Nix is different from other forces in the Mediterranean, and power needs to be highly centralized in the Political Affairs Hall. Naturally, Westley requires a City Lord to manage its affairs, but this City Lord is not like the chief of a small tribe under the great tribe of Alde who decides everything within the tribe, nor is he like the City Lord appointed by Rome to various towns in Italy, where power is largely held by local councils and nobles making him basically a figurehead.

The City Lord of our Nix is appointed by the Political Affairs Hall. He has his own subordinates, and each department must send subordinates to the town to jointly handle municipal affairs with the City Lord—"

"Like a small Political Affairs Hall," Pigeris blurted out.

Quintus then keenly identified another issue: "With both a City Lord and departmental subordinates, whose instructions should be followed in managing town affairs?"

"Indeed, the administrative institutions of subordinate towns are somewhat similar to but different from the Political Affairs Hall," Maximus patiently explained. "Our Nix Tribe Officials, like the military, are sorted by ranks from top to bottom, starting with me as the tribal leader, followed by you all present here—the chief officers of the nine departments, next are the city lords of other towns, then the deputies of various departments, and finally the subordinates of various departments..."

Looking at everyone listening attentively, Maximus said, "Currently, the tribe is newly established with small territory and population, and few officials, so the tribal officials are simply divided into 5 levels initially. In the future, as the territory expands, population increases, and officials grow in number, further subdivisions will be made. I imagine ultimately there might be a dozen levels of tribal officials."

Someone in the hall gasped, followed by Acronis asking: "Leader, may I ask what level I, as Chief of Internal Affairs, am?"

Maximus seriously answered: "The Chief of Internal Affairs is responsible for the internal affairs of my residence, differing from tribal officials and having a separate set of ratings. Currently, you don’t have many subordinates, so there’s no distinction between sizes; when more personnel are involved, detailed ratings will be established. But no matter what, the level of the Chief of Internal Affairs is the highest."