Herald of Steel

As Alexander observed the scars, he had a hard time believing that someone could bear such pain without so much flinching outwardly. 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

Very few would have even noticed Nanazin was hurt from interacting with her during the day.

Alexander could only imagine the herculean effort it must have taken.

“Why didn’t you ask for any medicine?” Alexander asked as he then spent some time calming down the wounded woman, and afterward helped her apply some of the salves, particularly in the back where it was hard for her to reach.

Following this he left her to sleep.

The next few days for Alexander were a hectic one.

First and foremost because he busied himself with taking inventory of all of the goods that Pasha Farzah had brought.

The unloading had finally finished after taking that long, but it was worth the wait.

Because after all the cargo was collected and stored, Alexander suddenly found himself much much richer.

It appeared 300 million ropals were able to buy oneself an astronomical amount of goods.

So he found that he had gained an additional 25,000 slaves, which was 5,000 more than he had ordered, a few thousand draft animals which would prove invaluable for his industries and agriculture, and most importantly 40,000 tons of food, with 30,000 tons of it being grains, and 10,000 tons being dried fruits, salted meat, and fish, many kinds of exotic wine, and different types of nuts to name the notable ones.

This finally meant Alexander’s food troubles were over for the time being.

While there were many other things in smaller quantities too, such as various types of stone and timber, metal ores such as iron, copper, gold, and silver, furs of various animals, linen clothes, and other miscellaneous products such as various machinery and farm tools.

And as Alexander read the comprehensive report Hemicus, who was in charge of this gave him, overall he found that the pasha had bought 25% more of what Alexander had ordered, which was surely a way to compensate him.

Following the unloading of the large amount of goods, they were quickly stored in the warehouses near by the harbor, or inside the locked treasuries of his mansion for the time being, from where they would be allocated for their required usage later on, or be directly sold to the open market for a profit.

Or not for profit for some goods such as the grains, which Alexander bought for 3 ropals per kg, but sold wholesale at 1.5 and retailed at 2, all to keep living costs down for the people.

Anyway, while the storage operation proceeded, Alexander concentrated on the second important thing he was concerned with- meeting the nobles he had asked to come and subjugating them.

To this effect he sought the advice of Pf, wanting to know how best to proceed with annexation, and as the two men brainstormed ideas, the middle of May arrived and the nobles in question started to announce their arrival.

‘My lord, it is great to see you again,” Shordar (Baron) Prantik was the first to arrive in Zanzan, coming to greet Alexander as soon as he entered the city.

And over the coming days, he was followed by several others, both familiar and unfamiliar faces.

Until finally all four of the familiar nobles, and the twelve new nobles that had been called up had arrived, taking residence in the many various villas around Alexander’s manor, many of which they themselves had once owned.

And with the guests all having arrived, a grand feast was soon held to welcome them, though the party was more formal than warm, as the 12 new nobles were rather wary of Alexander.

Which was understandable given they were basically intimidated into being here rather than out of their own volition.

So the party was rather lackluster, without any real life to it, as the group was rather focused on what would happen the next day when they were scheduled to hold the talks to determine the twelve’s future.

That meeting began right after breakfast in the outer hall of the second floor, with the 16 nobles meeting with Alexander’s delegation consisting of his council member, but more importantly, four additional honored guests, who were Pasha Farzah, Lady Inayah, and surprisingly Nanazin and the Queen mother, both of whom Alexander had invited to act as witnesses from the royal family.

The setting revolved around a huge ornate oak table with Alexander’s side of ten sitting on one side, and the nobles sitting on the other.

Though whereas Alexander’s side sat in a uniformly spaced line, the nobles had a very distinct gap between the 4 nobles sitting on the right and the 12 remaining ones.

Clearly, the group who had already sworn loyalty to Alexander was being ostracised.

“My lords, thank you for coming to Zanzan to attend this conference. We are honored,” Alexander. sitting at the center, began the pleasantries with a bright smile.

As he then gestured with his hand to the left, and introduced, “I’m sure you have already met, but this is Her Highness, the Queen mother-Seelima, the mother of the His Majesty, King Ptolomy.”

“Nest to her is Lady Inayah. She controls much of the trade around Adhan, and her father, is Lord Izayid, the current treasury Master.”

Moving his hand then to the right, Alexander then said, “Then to my right is the current prime minister- Lord Pasha, ruler of Matrak.”

“And lastly, next to him is the current Queen, Her Highness Nanazin.”

“We are all very honored that you could take the time to come here.”

Alexander had a very cordial smile as he introduced, or more accurately re-introduced these people as all of the nobles had already met and greeted all of the guests at the party the night before, something Alexander of course perfectly knew very well.

But he did so anyway, as a way to exert pressure on them using the four’s names and titles, and his warm smile did not detract the nobles from realizing that.

It was a stacked lineup these low-level nobles would have likely never even dreamed of meeting, much less interacting with.

But since such big shots were there, that fact made Alexander’s counterpart who was in a much grouchy mood at least put on a curtain of civility they would have certainly not otherwise.

Because while Alexander was not a real noble in their eyes, these people were.

And this was also why Alexander had requested their presence in the first place.

After Alexander’s introduction, the opposite side softened their hard facial features a bit and did the same in a cold, but flawlessly formal manner, beginning from the left and ending at the right.

With the two main introductions being of the two Jamiders (Earls) there.

“The honor is all mine, my lords. I’m Jamider (Earl) Yuusiq, and we are all pleased to meet lordships of such high caliber as you.” A large man with scars multiple scars on his hands and a full beard greeted them, though the greeting seemed to exclude Alexander.

Alexander for his part knew this man from before even before he came to Zanzan.

At least just by the name.

This was because he had checked the records listing all the nobles in Adhan’s royal study before and found there that this man ruled the city of Harki, about 70km northwest of Zanzan.

Furthermore, Camius had also mentioned the man before in his report.

As he did the name of the next name who was also similarly introducing himself.

“My name is Jamider (Earl) Tikba. And it is a great honor to meet Your Highnesses.” The thin, almost cadaverous man with gaunt eyes and sunken cheeks then sent a slight bow toward Alexander’s left, where the Queen Mother and Nanazin were sitting.

He ruled the city of Kquem, which was slightly northeast of Zanzan, about 80km from Alexander’s capital.

And as the two Jamiders (Earls) sat at the center of the table, side by side, Alexander, who was sitting directly opposite to them, noticed a weird dichotomy, where the huge burly figure of Jamider (Earl) Yuusiq seemed to completely overshadow the thin, flaky figure of Jamider (Earl) Tikba, almost like how a mountain would shade those on its side.

It was a funny sight for Alexander.

After the introductions, it was Lord Tikba, who started the negotiations, first addressing the four ‘real nobles’, “Esteemed lords, we are all very grateful to have had the chance to meet with all of you.”

And then got to the real issue.

“But you also must be aware of why we are here. And thus it should be clear to you this is a blatant violation of the armistice drawn up by the two parties Lord Ptolomy and His Majesty Amenheraft.”

The noble even turned to Pasha Farzah and pleaded to him directly,

“Lord Prime Minister, you were there when they sighed it. You even wrote the treaty yourself! Can you sit by and simply watch as it is violated so openly?”

It appeared that the nobles knowing they did not have nearly the muscle to resist Alexander had instead chosen to appeal to the opposing sides’ ethical side.

And Alexander could certainly respect that.

But that did not he would acquiesce to their demands.

While Pasha Farzah, who was being addressed to only brushed his hand and snarked,

“Bah! If you think the treaty has been broken, then why haven’t you asked that brat to come and save you? Heh! If he can that is!”