Herald of Steel

Alexander’s reasoning behind the declaration of the new customs of marriage according to the religion of Gaia placated the bubbling crowd for the time being.

Though many questions still remained.

The main one being who would possess the money and if it was the woman, then how would she protect it?

And Alexander, anticipating such questions answered on his own, “I will soon set up a marriage registry department with the city hall, where couples will be able to register their marriage and declare the amount of money given to the bride.”

“This amount of money will be stored in the registry department and only the bride will be able to access it. With no one, not her father, not her husband, and not even her sons being able to spend it without her permission.” Alexander declared.

And then finished by saying, “But her husband and father will be able to know how much money is left anytime he wishes by visiting the marriage registry to ensure that the woman is not misspending the money.”

Alexander had intentionally added the last part because he feared that the men would not like having their wives’ financial independence and that the men would fear the women spending their money on various frivolous things.

Hence the last part helped to mitigate such fears.

Though what they did not know was that Alexander planned to repel the last part along the line of his rule in the name of ‘privacy’ thus giving the women of this time some limited financial independence, and hoping that they would not be like sheep to the slaughter under their fathers and husbands whims.

And as for Theocles’s concern about female infanticide, Alexander planned to make social, economic, and legal reforms to curb such practices.

Alexander believed that Theocles’s assumption that the only reason fathers did not kill their daughters was because of the potential money to be too simplified, as it was not like all the fathers in the world were busy sharpening their knives in case their daughter turns out bad.

And so Alexander was confident with the right policies, he would be able to get the best of both worlds.

Alexander’s detailed account cleared many of the doubts in the crowd, while many unmarried women in a hushed voice said to themselves, ‘Oh, I like this,’ and thinking of how to change their faith as they then witnessed a group of soldiers again approach the altar, this time carrying a closed chest.

The jingle and clinking sound coming from inside the chest as the wooden box swayed with the footsteps made everyone know of its contents, and when the soldiers placed the chest at the feet of Alexander, the loud thud made everyone certain of the large amount of gold coins stuffed inside of it.

Once the chest was placed, Alexander took out an iron key from his breast pocket and loudly declared, “I, Alexander, the Pasha of Zanzan, here gift my wife, Lady Zanzan 100,000 ropals as her wedding gift.” before handing the key to Cambyses, thus signifying the transfer.

The huge amount of money drew gasps of shock and awe from the crowd, as this amount was a Talukder’s (Viscount) annual income, while Cambyses received the key with a large grin on her face.

And with this finally done, the ceremony bit of the wedding ceremony finally came to an end.

“And now it is time for the feast to start,” Alexander declared with a loud clap of the hand as the guests all slowly got up to move to the back garden dotted with dining tables.

“My lords and ladies, please let me escort you,” And Alexander personally addressed this to Mikaya and Seelima and co. as he led the group to the large main table.

This table was special, not only due to its shape and size but also because unlike the other tables in which anyone would sit in any order, this table had individual, particular chairs dedicated to a specific person as indicated by a name tag placed on the table in front of it.

Each of the names was handwritten by Mikaya on a paper card using beautiful and complex calligraphy and using various colors of ink.

The twins Azira and Azura and the Queen mother and Hellma’s names were written in royal Gold.

Theocle, Mikaya, and her maids’ names were written in Silver.

Alexander’s girls’ names were written in Red.

The barons’ and council members’ names were written in Blue.

And finally, the workshop chief’s and Takfiz’s names were written in Black.

Such use of the color scheme was self-explanation, to show off the rank of the person named.

And to get Mikaya to produce this beautiful piece, Alexander had to ‘sacrifice’ quite a few young men to the white succubus.

It seemed that the only currency she was interested in.

Alexander and Cambyses sat at the very head of the table as was the convention in any wedding, those two seats being reserved for the bride and groom.

And this seat was also special in another way as though there were two chairs, a sheepskin was placed over them, to symbolize that though they were a couple, they were now one.

It appeared many aspects of Adhania were heavy on symbolism.

Right in front of Alexander was placed a salt cellar, a very important part of Adhanian culture as the closer one sat to this almost sacred object, the more important he was.

And today Alexnder and Cambyses were certainly the most important ones.

This salt cellar was also shaped like no ordinary salt container, its appearance befitting its status of being served in front of a pasha.

In fact, it was so heavily designed that one would find it difficult to describe it as a salt cellar at a first glance.

Because unlike the shape one might conjure up when the word salt cellar or salt shaker came up, that of a conical or cylindrical tube with holes on top, the salt cellar in front of Alexander was shaped like a ship, with the body made of expensive oak, with a deck made of gold and with silver masts.

Yes, a simple salt container was shaped like a miniature ship that was about 30 centimeters wide!

And one would access the salt by opening the deck of the ship using a small handle and find that its belly was full of the white, good stuff.

Alexander did not know exactly from whom he had looted this ornate piece of absolute extravagance, whether it be from the Cantagenan when he raided Agapois’s possessions, from Adhan and Ptolomy, or from Muazz, but whoever it was, it seemed somehow it had ended up in his wedding table.

And today, left of this beautiful art piece sat Azira and Azura, while to the right sat the mother-daughter duo of Seelima and Hellma.

Alexander had been unsure whether to put the two princesses right next to him as royalty or to treat them as Pasha Farzah’s granddaughter.

This was because Amenhearaft had basically abandoned them and hence, practically placing them further back would be more appropriate.

But since Amenheraft had not yet explicitly made that claim, and more importantly as Alexander found these, as he liked to call, ‘Twin dark elves’ cute, he made them sit next to him and was rewarded by a blossoming smile from the two women.

They were very happy to be seen treated as royals.

Across the table, the atmosphere was almost the opposite, with Seelima and Hellma putting on somber and dignified faces, as Adhanian etiquette required royals to be, and even making Cambyses, who sat to their left feel slightly cold.

Next to the twins were their aunt and her maid, courtesy of them being related to a Pasha, while the next two sits to Seelima and Hellma were occupied by Theocles and Ophenia as they were the highest bodies of authority of a religion and had status similar to a Pasha.

Then were seated Gelene and Mean, followed by the council member who had been declared barons by Alexander, and lastly the commoners such as the artisans. ．

In all, the huge able hosted around 30 to 35 men and women.

And while this strict hierarchy of seating arrangement might seem pedantic to modern people, it was extremely important in this time period where peerage and status was sometimes more important than life or death.

There were alliances that had broken due to improper sitting arrangements and to avoid such a fiasco, Alexander had even asked both Mikaya and Seelima for their input.

After the guests seated themselves, they then turned their focus to the plate and cutlery.

Over on the ‘commoner’ tables, this consisted of beautiful golden and silver wares, with plates made from alloys of silver and lead, golden spoons and silver goblets.

While on the ‘noble’ tables, it was very different.

The dinner plates were made from clear glass and decorated with designs of flora and fauna, a linen napkin dressed like a lotus flower atop it.

Next of that, each of them was given a wine goblet, but it was not made of pure glass.

It had a slight tinge of blue to it as it was made from bristol glass, making it translucent and subtly foggy, yet also dazzling.

No one had seen glass like that and even Seelima would not hold and marvel at the goblet.

And these two marvelous wares were embellished with the usual compliment of solid golden and silver cutlery such as spoons, forks, and knives.