Herald of Steel

Theocles read and re-read the piece of paper, holding it so gently that it was like it was his newborn son in his hand.

“Is…is this the goddess’s revelation?” Theocles asked in a hoarse, shaky voice, excitement dripping out of his voice.

“…..” Alexander only lightly smiled, sending a profound gaze at the man.

“I want you to start writing a bible regarding a new religion. It will be the faith of Gaia and these topics must be the centerpiece of the book.” He instructed Theocles.

“Yes….yes, my lord. I will see it done immediately,” Theocles literally jumped up from his chair and stood up, shaking his clenched fist in elation.

He looked as if he was going to start writing it right now.

“Wait, wait, calm down,” Alexander gestured for the man to sit down.

“Ah,,,yes. My apologies, I got a bit distracted,” Theocles quickly plopped down, a bit flushed.

“Haha, never mind. It is natural for a true believer to act like this when presented with a god’s words. One of little faith could never have that reaction,” Alexander genuinely praised the man for his alacrity, because this showed that Theocles was truly serious about his belief.

Alexander’s unreserved praise also greatly pleased Theocles, evidenced by his wide-grinning mouth.

Alexander then told Theocles, “The nobles can use the temple and the priests to foment the people against us. But simply kicking out the priests will antagonize both the people and spur the nobles to unite against their theological foes.”

Alexander then waved his hands, “The nobles are not our concern. They are destined to be our foes and conflict is inevitable.”

“But we need the people. And it will be your job to convert as many people as possible as soon as possible.” Alexander gave Theocles his task.

“Yes, pasha.” Theocles zealously nodded.

And then cleverly asked, “Do you have any advice on how to do it?”

Theocles had picked up on Alexander’s tendency to give detailed instructions on how to accomplish the task he would assign his retinue and in this way, Theocles made the conversation appear more natural.

Alexander certainly understood this little tactful play and nodded appreciatively, “I will allocate some food and money to you. For the first few weeks. distribute it normally, while preaching the gospel of the new faith.”

“Then increase the food rations to three times a day for those who regularly come to the temple to pray.”

“And remember to give a small amount of money to the really needy who convert to our religion.”

Alexander intended to buy and bribe the faith of others, particularly those at the lowest strata of society.

“My lord, I don’t think this giving free money away is a good idea. These people will simply swindle it out of you,” Theocels pointed out a very obvious flaw in the relatively crude plan.

“That’s your problem to solve, to find the appropriate people to give the money to, people who are needy and faithful,” Alexander would not spoon-feed the solution to every tiny problem.

“I will try my best,” Theocles heavily nodded.

“Also, I intend to force the priests to follow Ptolomy’s branch of the faith. Once the cement production ramps up, I will order the creation of the goddess’s statue which will be placed all over the city,” Alexander declared.

“That’s an excellent idea, Pasha,” Theocles joyously cried, relieved that a problem that had kept him awake at night was solved.

‘Without a form, how can the people pray,’ Theocles had asked himself regarding the absence of the goddess’s statue.

“Umm, it will be soon and is sure to stir up some trouble. We need to be ready,” Alexander repeatedly emphasized.

“I will start writing the bible immediately,” Theocles showed his willingness to work hard.

“Umm, I’m giving you two weeks to write the basics. Use the ten commandments I gave you as a guideline. And I will assign you Taiyin to help you. The temple needs a priestess after all,” Alexander additionally informed Theocles.

“Taiyin?” Naturally, Theocles was not acquainted with Ophenia, their paths never crossing and so was confused by this new mention.

“You will meet her tomorrow,” Alexander waved his palm, thinking that showing would be better than telling.

With all this done, and feeling that he had given Theocles enough homework for one day, he decided to excuse the man, “Well, that’s it for today. Let us meet again tomorrow.”

“I await our next meeting with bated breath, Divine son,” Theocles reverentially prostrated and then saw himself out.

The reason why Alexander talked to Theocles separately was because theological conversations were a bit of a sensitive topic as Alexander’s and Ptolomy’s goals fundamentally clashed with one another here.

So Alexander felt the less the people knew, the lower the chance of anyone blathering anything out, either intentionally or by a silly slip of tongue

It was already midday by the time Alexander had finished with his meetings, and he was feeling hungry by now.

But he still had two other very important people to still meet.

‘Argh, they can wait. I want lunch,’ Alexander was feeling a bit heavy-headed with the endless talking and decided to take a recess.

He then exited the hall room and spoke to Hemicus who stood outside as guard, “Tell Camius and Cambyses to meet me for lunch in my study. And ask Taiyin to join me there too.”

“Yes, commander,” Hemicus had yet to throw out the outdated address, not that Alexander really minded.

As Hemicus began to instruct people to go and deliver Alexander’s message to their intended recipients, the pasha himself was strolling through the hallway and down the enormous spiraling staircase, surveying the renovations that were taking place.

Yes, as the new owner of this place, it was only natural for Alexander to renovate the huge place.

Slaves could be seen taking down all portraits of Pasha Muazz and his ancestors, leaving only the ones with beautiful landscapes or still art, and safely storing them inside wooden boxes.

“I wonder if I can sell them to Pasha Muazz?” Alexander seriously considered swindling some money off that rotten man. 𝐞𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

Much to his chagrin, he had found the manor treasury to be mostly empty, the handiwork of the pasha’s goons no doubt, and so Alexander was very much eager to ‘take back what was his’.

He had also decided that he didn’t need a literal thousand-roomed house and vast parts of the house were ordered to be closed off and locked.

This was done to save costs on repair and maintenance as Alexander calculated he would need an army of a few hundred servants just to keep rooms operational, with having to regularly clean and dust them and keep away any bugs.

It was said that owning a castle in the medieval ages was almost as expensive as building it and Alexander was experiencing that saying firsthand.

‘It’s far too wasteful to have his massive palace as a house. Once I build a suitable house, I will turn it into an administrative building or a university,’ Alexander decided as he made his way into the central hall.

Even here the renovations were taking place, for more extensive renovations in fact.

In addition to the various paintings being taken down, the one particular act that stood out was how the huge Ramuh statue that gallantly stood in the center of the portico was being smashed.

Yes, smashed.

Not being taken down or removed, but being smashed into pieces by large hammers.

This was because Alexander would certainly not tolerate a statue of another god in his home, especially not one with whom he was directly competing for faith.

But even then he would not have destroyed a holy symbol if he could have helped it, much preferring to sell the beautiful sculpture to the temple for a pretty penny.

The problem with that though was that the statue was much larger than the doors, them being built after the construction of the statue had finished.

And so, Alexander was left without much choice.

The slaves that were destroying the statue naturally produced thunderous booms each time the iron hit the granite and Alexander understood that it would be impossible to be in the study while this ‘deconstruction’ work was going on.

‘Darn, I forgot they were doing it today,’ Alexander lampooned.

Then he turned to go back when suddenly a thought hit him.

‘Do I send servants again to tell of them the new location, or do I wait for them here?’ Alexander asked himself.

And after a bit of rumination, he decides on the latter, while also lamenting, ‘Oh, how I wish there were a cellphone.’

These types of thoughts were frequent for Alexander, as it was only after coming here did he begin to truly appreciate the privileged life and lifestyle he had.

Even basic things like tissue paper and wet wipes produced fond feelings of nostalgia inside Alexander.

While Alexander was immersed in his bubble of comfort, Alexander’s first guest quickly made himself available -Camius, soon followed by Cambyses and a bit later Ophenia.

“Let’s have an outdoor lunch,” With everyone present, Alexander decided to have a lunch party in the backyard garden, while also intending to discuss the future of this city.