Herald of Steel

Alexander thought about the two generals’ suggestions and reconsidered his actions.

Melodias uttering the word ‘land’ made Alexander remember that he had no detailed maps of the surrounding area, as Pasha Muazz had cleaned his study before Alexander could take over the city.

And so if he wanted to make his own maps, the only way would be for him to send surveyors into the other lands and ask the locals about the land features.

And even then that map would likely be grossly inaccurate because without having a bird’s eye view, one needed to stay in one place more a long time to get the scale and positions of the various features correct.

Not to mention, if this was on another noble’s land, this type of action would be slightly short of declaring war according to them, as surveying another’s land was usually followed up by an invasion mostly using the secret routes discovered during this process.

Thus maps were highly prized and guarded, and something that Alexander could definitely use.

This fact made Alexander reconsider his order and was further tempted by the thoughts of what he could make the nobles write and confess.

“Okay, tell the soldiers to not kill anyone claiming to be a noble, his children, or his wife.” Alexander thus made the decision, and even added, “Anyone who finds a noble or his next of kin and brings them to the military camp unharmed will be rewarded 150 ropals for each of them.”

Alexander knew the soldiers were more likely to heed his command if a monetary reward was involved, and even repeated, “Remember they must be unharmed.”

This was because he feared the women might be humiliated if a smart soldier decided to think, ‘Well enjoying these beautiful fleshes before bringing them to the camp would be alright. After all, I’m not killing them.’

Alexander’s decision to meet with the nobles pleased both Menes and Melodias who quickly had their officers relay the message down the chain of command, while cleverly adding the following addendum to the soldiers,

‘Remember those people must be able to show proof of their identity.’

In this way, not every Tom, Dick, and Harry will be able to claim being related to the nobles, and also the soldiers will not be able to farm the system.

While the soldier lit the dry, winter houses of Jabel and went around killing almost anything that moved, chaos and carnage, inside the large, central house that dwarfed any of its contemporary buildings and looked over the city from the center, there was a very heated debate was taking place.

“Who is attacking us? Is it that Jakqum? Has our plans been leaked?” A very fat man slammed his fleshy fist against the wooden ash table, his face flushed with anger, while his fists were visibly pale with fear.

Jakqum was the equivalent of ‘nobody’ in Azhak and it was the name Alexander was addressed by among some in Amenheraft’s ranks.

And if Alexander could see the obese man, he would have certainly noticed the remarkable resemblance he had with Pasha Muazz, appearing like a younger version of the degenerate, disgraced noble.

“No…no Your Grace Maizdy, that’s impossible. We…we never told anyone!” A lean noble with gaunt cheeks quickly stammered the reply.

It was unknown if he was afraid of the soldiers razing the city, or of the man standing in front of him, huffing and puffing in rage.

Perhaps it was both. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.

Though for him the more immediate concern was placating the Pasha’s eldest son, as he then reassured, “Please…please let us be calm. I’m sure whatever is happening outside is just a little accident. Everything is under control.”

But the low tone, stammer, and the gulping sounds he made while saying this not only managed to inspire confidence among the group of nobles present but instead conversely managed to reaffirm their suspicions.

‘A lot of enemy soldiers are in the city,’ All their hearts shivered.

“Accident! You call the city burning a small accident? Tell the truth you mongrel!” Lambasted Muazz’s firstborn, making that noble shiver and go mute, as he heard the threat, “Or I will go see it for myself. And if I see that it is not a little accident, I will personally break every bone in your body.”

Kyamin’s heart beat fast and erratically.

Some time ago, his steward had come to him saying, ‘There was some disturbance in the city but the soldiers had been deployed,’ but after that, he had not heard anything from the man

Kyamin could not even call the guards too conspicuously for fear of spreading panic.

And while he was raking his mind on how to respond to this hot-tempered spoiled manchild, fortunately for him, another noble quickly stepped up to defend him.

Strong, tall, and with a large beard, he had a stellar reputation among Muazz and Amenheraft’s retainers and his intimidating physical features made Maizdy rein down his anger.

Maizdy listened the man say, “My lord, I believe Talukerdar (Viscount) Kyamin is right. The treaty has been only signed for two months and that Jakqum will not risk breaking it soon. It must be some sort of accident or a few rebels causing problems. Let us be calm. We have enough men to take care of any situation.”

This large man had a surprisingly soft, soothing voice and the gentle but firm tone calmed many down.

The group of nobles was gathered in the first-floor study of the manor, and as such could not see the full extent of the destruction going on outside.

This, coupled with the fact that they really wanted to believe Jamidar (Earl) Niibar resulted in such a passive action.

But did not any of the soldiers come to tell them the bad news?

Well no.

Firstly because none of them had the guts to burst into the room unannounced and uninvited and then report the real situation.

Because think about it.

Would you want to be the one giving your boss the bad news that there were soldiers inside the city and they were razing it to the ground and that there was nothing that you could do to stop them?

Naturally no.

Because in such a case, the best case scenario was the bosses believing you and asking you to escort them out of the city.

While the worst case scenario was they accuse you of lying and executes you because they find the information too uncomfortable while using the excuse that you are spreading misinformation.

So, why take the chance, when you can take the best scenario all by yourself?

And this was the second reason why the nobles were still in the dark about the true scale of the disaster.

Because many of the soldiers were abandoning their posts to save their own hides.

While a few staunch ones were engaging Alexander’s invading forces before being swiftly cut down by the outnumbering enemy.

This problem was expounded by the fact it was dead of night, and many of the veterans who would have usually taken command and led an organized defense were either still asleep or separated from their men.

In fact, the nobles being still up so late was an anomaly, the reason for which was discussing the ‘plan’ eluded to my Maizdy.

And speaking of Maizdy, he was still among the few still rational, as even after many others bought the absurd claim, he said in a suppressed low growl, “Are you telling me the screams and howls I’m hearing are small accidents?”

As then swung his thick arms before a reply could come and declared, “Fine, let them be accidents. But I want to leave Jabel right now. Call me after you have dealt with this…whatever!”

“…” A dead silence ensued, and as the obese man glared intensified with each passing second, finally, Kyamin, the timid noble, broke out a mumble, “I’m afraid my lord, we do not know of any secret way out of the city. We only got here two months ago, and never expected to be attacked.”

“Attacked!” Maizdy roared at the word, his eyes bulging out.

Kyamin deduced his steward might not be coming back, ever, as the loyal man should have reported whatever he found out by now, and so, in this fear let out this kernel of truth.

And then realizing his mistake, the thin noble visibly shivered even more.

“Get out! Escape! We need to escape!” No doubt remained in Maizdy’s mind about the situation around Jabel.

And though he wanted to tear apart Kyamin and eat him raw, now was not the time for that.

Now was the time for getting out of the city.

Nothing mattered more.

And Maizdy’s hysterical shout managed to spread fear and panic among the entire group, as many of the men attempted to dart towards the door, some even elbowing others to reach the wooden exit faster and unobstructed.

“Calm!!! Down!!!!” But just as the situation was about to devolve into a brawl or stampede, Jamider (Earl) Niibar’s loud roar, like a lion opening his throat blasted the eardrums of the nobles, snapping them out of their confusion.

The bear-like man then loudly and forcibly roared, “As Talukder (Viscount) Kyamin said, the only real escape out of the city is through the main gates. And if you feel you can fight your way through the city, then go ahead.”

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