Herald of Steel

Alexander watched with muted awe as Azira and Azura steered the crowd like a skilled oarsman steers a boat.

He had always assumed that the twins had gotten the job by relying on their father, but it seems he was wrong, the girls did have some substance to them.

They might be totally inept in day-to-day life, but when it came to matters of religion and the temple, they were surprisingly very skilled, as evidenced by how they had managed to sugarcoat the matter regarding the addition of Gaia to the temple of Ramuh on their own.

Perhaps that’s why they missed working at the temple so much, because they were good at it.

The roar of the crowd by the twins caused a few other thoughts to form in Alexander’s head.

He could have written it in blood that if he had said the same thing, if he, as an outsider had proposed that the natives worship a Thesian god along with Ramuh, there would not have been an insignificant chance of rebellion among these people of the city who were ardent believers of Ramuh.

And though it might seem that Alexander had managed to get away with killing the priests and looting the temple scot-free, it was in fact really an intricate dance that required exquisite placement of the pieces.

If he had failed to take rapid, decisive action, if he had not managed to capture a large number of suspects, if those suspects had not been known criminals, and if Alexander did not have a very popular, almost singular entity of Ramuh’s faith on hand to bolster his claim, if he had not managed to gain any one of these things, or if something unforeseen had happened in the meantime, things could have gotten very ugly.

And if this was a real case, where Alexander certainly could not have responded so quickly, it also would have been very troublesome to handle.

Thus Alexander believed that he had managed to hoodwink the public only with the help of Azira and Azura’s fame and by presenting the people with the culprits within twenty-four hours of the crime, hence managing to assail the perilous waters of potential revolt.

Finished with their speech, Azira and Azura stepped back, letting Alexander once again take the help.

“Citizens,” Alexander again addressed the crowd.

“We are aware that though it was the evil powers that caused this tragedy, some responsibility cannot escape the people that were appointed to ensure the peace and order of the city.”

Then with a bit of a pause, Alexander said. “I am of course referring to the city guard. It was due to the negligence of a few errant guards that evil could spread so quickly.”

This produced a hubbub of muttering and buzzing as many talked among themselves to evaluate the pasha’s words but was soon drowned out by Alexander’s announcement.

“And hence I decided to replace the leader of the city guards with my wife, Cambyses.” Alexander swing his arm behind, gesturing to the chestnut-haired armored lady.

As Cambyses heroically strode to Alexander’s side, a few loud voices echoed out of the crowd,

“Oh! That’s Lady Cambyses.”

“Yeah! I saw Lady Cambyses leading the guards yesterday.”

“That’s right, that’s right, I saw her too. She was the one who bought the guards to the temple.”

“She also promised us that the culprits would be caught by today.”

“I personally saw her capture Quaff, the head devil.”

“I heard she single-handedly killed ten of the smaller devils yesterday. I saw the Jaynim street colored red under her blade.”

“Good then! Very good,”

Some of these came from people on Alexander’s payroll, while most of the outlandish claims were from the real public.

“Most of you should know my lady by now, but for those who do not, she is Cambyses and she was the one who led the capture of the criminals.”

“And she personally found the letter Muazz had written to Quaff, hidden under a false floor in his house.”

As Alexander introduced the girl to the public, under the direction of the few moles in the crowds, all the people joined in the chant, “Glory to the new head guard. Glory to her and Pasha Alexander.”

Alexander was glad to see that Cambyses’s appointment had gone without much trouble, though he suspected it was likely due to the perceived notion that she had shown hyper-competency in catching the criminals and also because she was being endorsed by Alexander, a man.

After the crowd had some time to calm down, Alexander said his penultimate piece, “And as compensation for the killings, all affected families of the priests and priestesses will get a lump sum of fifteen hundred (1,500) ropals.”

“Glory to the pasha.”

“All hail the magnanimous lord.”

“Alexander the Great.”

This time, Alexander’s mole found themselves to be redundant.

Because the people had spontaneously burst into this cheer.

And such was quite natural for the time, as anything related to money would get the public pretty riled up and happy.

‘Haha, what are you so happy about? That money will come from your pocket,’ Alexander ominously chuckled at the jubilant faces.

This was so as Alexander intended to use the money he looted from the temple to fuel this expense.

And then, at last, Alexander finished his speech, “As your lord, I am also aware of your need for guidance in divine matters. And we are aware of the perilous road ahead of you.”

“Hence from today onward, the two saintesses of Adhan will lead the Temple of Zanzan!”

As soon as he finished, Alexander’s proposal got a huge cheer from the crowd, much bigger than the few previous ones, as they talked among themselves,

“Haha, to think we get to be led by the saintesses themselves.”

“Providence! This is Ramuh’s providence.”

“Ramuh looks after us after all.”

And with this, Alexander dismissed the crowd, with the words, “Now, that the criminals have been dealt with and your priestesses’ chosen, please return to work.”

“Word hard to make Zanzan great again.” Alexander then said the catchphrase he had shamelessly reaped off.

“Yes, my lord,” The crowd replied with a synchronized bow, and soon the temple premises were vacated, save for the soldiers and Alexander’s guests.

While the soldiers got to work quickly dismantling the makeshift pyre and burying the leftover human bits, Alexander invited the royal guests inside the temple for some light refreshments.

“Pasha Alexander’s oratory skills are truly divine,” The Queen mother Seelima opened the dialogue as she made herself comfortable in one of the private rooms upstairs.

The fact that this room had been the location of a grizzly murder just yesterday seemed not to even enter the royal’s consideration. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

Though it was very normal as the palace she lived in was perhaps the single greatest murder house in Adhania, racking up kills in the thousands, if not tens of thousands.

And it had to be also remembered that Seelima herself was a proficient murderer, with the blood of even a king and queen in her hands, not to mention who knows how many maids and various concubines.

So in fact, for the Queen mother, she felt right at home.

“And you said it all in Azhak. Very impressive,” Mikaya chimed in.

She was truly impressed by how Alexander had played the crowd and his particular attention to detail.

For example, given how naturally resistant to outsiders the people of Adhania were, she was sure the speech would have been taken much differently if Alexander had said it in Thesian.

“Haha, where, where!” Alexander politely replied, and then quickly diverted, “I think the most impressive people today were the twin princesses. I was truly impressed by Your Highnesses eloquence, marvelous!”

This frank admiration produced a touch of embarrassment from the girls who quickly

countered, “Hmmp, of course. Don’t underestimate this princess.”

“That’s right. That’s right. We are saintesses after all.”

The two ladies puffed up their chests in pride.

“Haha, of course, of course. This lord was foolish, very foolish.” Alexander gladly played along, finding their natural reaction cute.

Alexander had always indulged the twins and such an action had been noticed by Mikaya multiple times.

‘Could he be interested in my nieces?’ Mikaya postulated.

‘Interesting!’, she then licked her lips at the potential fun thought,

But for now, she decided to just wait and see how things developed, hoping that an interesting would opportunity presented itself in the process.

Instead, she focused on what Alexander was saying, which was, “Your Twin Highnesses, as you know that our temple of Gaia is due to open soon. And I was hoping you would lend your vast experience in helping us get off the feet.”

Alexander said this because he wanted to avoid any immediate clash between the two faiths.

“Hmmmm,” Under normal, Azira would have thrown back the words Alexander said to his face.

But after yesterday, she began to understand that an absolute ‘no’ was not possible.

And so, learning from Alexander, chose a diplomatic approach.