Herald of Steel

Leosydas would go on to describe in great detail what he had seen in Adhnia.

The roads, the ongoing construction works, the novel, never before seen goods, and to him the most lucrative thing, the amount of money the people there had to spend, which meant there was a great amount to loot and plunder.

And at the end of his recount, Leosydas would say this,

“Perseus, Zanzan city has more potential than the entirety of Tibias. We must capture it as soon as possible,” while the two men met in the latter’s bed chamber.

It seemed that the greedy flies Alexander was expecting were nearer than he had ever guessed.

And hearing the rich riches that Zanzan had to offer, the King of Tibias- Perseus had no problem in ordering his army to mobilize.

So, the peasant levies were instructed to harvest their fall crops as soon as possible before joining the army, the military officers were told to collect and husband resources for the campaign, and the nobles were told to oversee the planning of the logistics.

While Leosydas oversaw the smooth implementation of the entire process.

And Perseus spent his time getting his scouts to recount the geography around Zanzan, and for his spies to reveal the relationship between Alexander and the surrounding nobles.

And in this endeavor, the king freely spent the 125 million ropals the Kaiser family had donated to him, by promising rich rewards to the peasants for joining the army, adequate injury compensation and bereavement payments in the case of death or mutilation, hiring mercenaries, buying logistical supplies and many more.

Furthermore, as Alexander had so graciously also given a large lump of money to him, Perseus did not shy away from using it and also used that to fund his campaign.

And this diplomatic folly of Alexander that would remain as a black stain on his record for the rest of his life, and he would indeed lose some sleep after knowing instead of achieving peace, he had paid his enemy to attack him.

But before all that could happen, he would first need to survive the ordeal. ．𝚌ｏ𝚖

And it was shaping up to be in no way a small ordeal.

As with the preparations taken care of, in late September, the king was given the following report by Leosydas regarding their assembled army:

“My lord, we have managed to in total to gather around 40,000 men.”

“Among them, there are 25,000 of our own heavy phalangites.”

“3,000 elite phalangites composed of men from various noble houses and many nobles themselves.”

“3,000 mercenaries that the Kaiser Family introduced us to.”

“5,000 elite slinger, archers, and javelin men.”

“4,000 cavalry composed of scouts and light skirmishers.”

“And lastly 20 war elephants donated by the Kaiser family.”

So to summarize, it was:

Infantry- 31,000.

Missile Units- 5,000.

Cavalry- 4,000.

Elephants- 20.

This was in no way a small force.

And though it was nowhere near the number 80,000, which was the number of troops Tibias had used to defend against Amenheraft, Perseus was quite glad by the number of gathered soldiers.

Because that 80,000 was an anomaly, and the difference was to be expected given the nature of the two fights.

One was a defensive war where it was Adhnaia attacking them, and where Tibias’s supply lines were right next to them, along with potential reinforcements and recruitment opportunities around every city and village.

While the other was an offensive war right in the middle of the winter, attacking a city some hundred kilometers away from their border, and hundreds of kilometers from their capital, and in the middle of the winter at that.

They were two entirely different beasts.

“Good!” Perseus gave a happy nod at the said numbers, and added this last instruction, “Make sure there is plenty of warm clothing for the men. Winter is not an easy time to fight in.”

This was true and so typically armies avoided fighting in winter due to the cold and the lack of foraging available as most plants would die or wither, while most animals would hibernate or bury themselves inside their nests.

So armies much preferred to fight in the warmer months, i.e.- from late spring to late fall, or just after planting their spring crops until the time came for reaping their harvests.

Of course, that did not mean winter campaigns did not happen.

Winter had its advantages as well.

Such as during this time of the year, many rivers and swamps froze, meaning it made marching easier.

And also, since winter was generally a time of rest when none of the peasants had anything to do, it made recruiting men much easier.

So one could build a bigger army.

And lastly, there was the element of surprise when attacking in winter, as the other side would usually be rolled up comfortably inside their cities, head down and relaxing with a nice hot cup of milk, mostly oblivious to the threat.

And it was these secondary and tertiary considerations that made Perseus choose this time of the attack.

Hence, once everything was arranged, and all the men were properly equipped, the king gave the time of their departure.

“We will set out in early October. And will hopefully be at the gates of Zanzan by the start of November.”

And with this time determined, came around round of tribulation for Alexander.

And for the young lord, this 40,000 army had the potential to pose a far greater challenge than the almost 60,000 men he had faced just six months ago.

Because currently, Alexander was not in Zanzan!

He was in Adhan.

Meaning it would be entirely up to Menes to tackle this threat.

And to know why Alexander was not in Zanzan, but in Ptolomy’s place, one had to travel back to the start of August, when one shining day, the Queen Mother requested an audience with Alexander in her private chambers around noon.

The topic- She wanted to request Alexander to come to visit Adhan with her.

So, at the behest of the queen, Alexander made his way to her private chamber, which was located on the third floor of the manor, and faced the sea.

“*Knock*, *knock*, *knock*,”

At the end of the third knock, the door was quickly opened by Seelima’s maid, a beautiful caucasian with an oval face and a tightly bound bun, and after a solemn, flawless bow by her, he was invited in and then escorted to the person he was there to see.

And on his way, Alexander took note of the chamber, as this was the first time he had entered this particular room, and found it to be as lavishly decorated as one would expect the highest member of the royal family to reside in- with expensive furniture, beautiful chandeliers, and intricately embroidered and jeweled carpets and carpets.

As for the person in question, he found her lazily lounging on a huge devan on the veranda, dressed in a lavish red gown and sipping cool wine, as she gazed at the picturesque sight of the sandy shore lapping against the crystalline blue waves, while a gentle, cool, refreshing air cooled her.

The view of the beach from this third-floor veranda was nothing short of god’s masterwork, while the woman observing it was also one of his best handiwork.

And for a moment, Alexander had his breath taken away both because of the scenery and the beautiful woman enjoying it.

He once again found why Seelima was the previous king’s favorite mistress and he could help but imagine how this gorgeous woman would look in a swimsuit or a bikini.

In fact, he was so distracted in imagining that sexy view that he even failed to notice that there the Queen Mother had company, as another woman lounged beside her.

“Ah, Lord Alexander! Welcome! Glad you here.” This sweet greeting was said by a voice very familiar to him, for it was Lady Inayah, who was similarly relaxing like the Queen Mother and was wearing a long blue gown.

Alexander had heard them chattering when he first entered the room and it seemed they had been gossiping.

The ebony lady’s mellifluous voice helped Alexander break out of his trance of staring at the Queen Mother and he quickly and lightly bowed and greeted,

“Greetings Your Royal Highness.”

“Greetings Lady Inayah,”

“It is a pleasure to see both of you.”

At which point Seelima turned her head to lightly smile, and say in a pleasant voice,

“Ahh, Alexander, the pleasure is all ours! We were just talking about you”

Before she quickly got up and gestured with her hands, “Come, come, sit. It’s good that you are here!”

She said this leading Alxx to a large round table that had been laid down right next to the veranda railing, from which one could simply sell the salty sea breeze.

And as Alexander sat down, he was intrigued by why two of the most powerful women in Adhania wanted to talk to him.

The Queen Mother had not told him anything beyond the fact that she wanted to talk to him about some things regarding Zanzan and Adhan.

So with much curiosity, Alexander occupied one of the chairs, while the other two women cushioned their flanks on the soft pillowy chairs next to him, as the maid served them fruits, snacks, and most importantly wine, before excusing herself.

And once alone, Alexander began, “So, how may I be of service, Your Highness?”