Herald of Steel

First and foremost, the Queen Mother worked to alleviate the tense Alexander was in, as she made her promise in a hard, steely voice.

And credit where credit is due, it did reassure him.

The man had been so preoccupied with the news of the loss that he had subconsciously skipped the fact where Cambyses notified him of the large number of defenders and the reasonable amount of food she had.

And recalling that, Alexander felt that if he was on the opposite side of the wall, he would not be confident of his chances of taking the city quickly.

“That’s right. I have personally seen the walls of Zanzan. and they are likely even more formidable than Adhan’s.” And from the side, Pasha Farzah added this.

But for Alexander, though this was all up and good, and his city did not seem to be in imminent danger of falling, but still he wished to rescue it using an army, rather than just hoping that the Tibians will bash their heads against the walls repeatedly and finally give up.

“So how can you help me, Your Highness?” Thus trying to hold the Queen Mother to her word, Alexander made his question directly, wishing to extract as much benefit as possible.

But the cunning woman did not bite so easily.

And ended that meeting for the time there, saying, “I will need to talk to His Majesty regarding the specifics. But rest reassured we will give an answer as soon as possible.”

“In the meantime please be patient my lord.”

This ending would appear quite abrupt, but it was true that Alexander had just informed them of the situation.

So naturally it would take some time to assess and evaluate the situation and then respond accordingly.

And so over the course of the few days, Alexander sat on multiple meetings regarding this.

But in much contrast to the Queen Mother’s promised aid, the king was willing to offer very little.

“Seelima tells me that you have 50,000 men, enough food, and walls as good as Adhan.”

“So against just 40,000 men what are you afraid of?”

Ptolomy here did not actually try and plot against Alexander, but genuinely felt it was not a big deal.

And when he laid out those facts like that, it did seem somewhat like that.

So coupled with the fact that Adhan itself was quite weak, raising an army and marching 800 km on during the winter to rescue a city that was so well-defended did not make any sense to most people.

After all, Zanzan was built as a fortress to handle threats just like that.

And so many felt that this was just Alexander’s nerves acting up as he never experienced how hard it was to take a city before.

And it some respect this was true, with perhaps one of the best pieces of evidence being the first Punic Wars, where the Romans tried to take the island of Sicily from the Carthageans, a landmass which was in their backyard and had to spend more than two decades to get it.

For a landmass of just 25,000 sq km.

Because the Carthaginians engaged in bloody sieges and after bloody sieges.

And even when Rome did get Sicily, they did not actually do it by conquering all the cities on the island, but by forcing Carthage to relinquish control over them, as the latter was exhausted after the bloody 23 years of war.

So it was actually reasonable for Ptolomy to ask Alexander to be patient and have trust in his retainers in defending the strong city.

But for Alexander, being patient was not an option.

So when he heard this, he actually wanted to shout, ‘All of you have had your balls cut off, or never had a pair to begin with.’

He was fully incensed that after all he had done to put the darm monkey on the throne, Ptolomy was too cowardly to risk himself even that little when Alexander was in so much trouble.

And so ditching the man and that snake of a woman as Alexander currently felt, he went to find Lady Inayah, wanting to ask her to help him charter a ship so that he could at least return to Zanzan and head the defense of his city by himself.

No matter what others said.

But upon the request in her room, the ebony lady simply pointed to the window, drawing attention to the raging blizzard outside, and said, “Do you not see the weather my lord? How do you expect any ship to leave port during this?” as she added, “I would even say that you should count of your luck as it is quite fortunate that your messager even bird managed to get here when it did.”

“Just a day later and it would have already been eaten up by the storm and you might have not even known anything.”

Lady Inayah was right about the bad weather, as Alexander had not been able to yet send a return message to Cambyses due to the on-and-off hailstorms and blizzards that were going on around Adhan the entire past week.

‘Of all the time this could have happened,’ And as he gazed into what simply looked like a white sheet, Alexander could only curse this.

As for hearing Lady Inayah say that he might have even missed the news if it got delayed a bit, Alexander was not sure if that might have been actually better.

As currently every second he spent in Adhan knowing his city and its people were in danger felt like he was being prickled by a needle.

So given he could not leave now, he tried to figure out when he could.

“My lady, your sailors should be expert navigators. Surely they can somewhat predict the weather? Perhaps they can say when this blizzard will die down?” Alexander had a very hopeful tone to his voice.

But Lady Inayah was quick to shut off that avenue of travel for him for quite some time, saying, “Well, dear Alex, I’m afraid I do not actually need to ask my sailors when they can sail their ships.”

“Because every year from November to January and some years even February, we generally do not travel south.”

“Nevermind to Zanzan which is at the very southern point.”

“As to why?” Lady Inayah turned to Alexander to give a few trivial knowledge,

“Do you know why that part of the Central Ocean is called the Mad Sea?”

“Well, it is because of the waves during the winter.”

“Travelling by sea to Zanzan during this time of the year is impossible.”

“At least by our ships.”

Lady Inayah added the last bit because she felt that Alexander’s new ships might be able to do it in the future.

But such ‘potential mights’ was of little consolation to Alexander right now.

And so he could only put on a sour face.

While Lady Inayah guessing what Alexander was thinking next asked,

“Are you thinking of going by road then?”

To which Alexander frankly nodded.

There was nothing to hide there, as he added, “I was told the road from here to Zanzan was one of the best in the country. So I hope to get there in a month.”

Putting his five hundred bodyguards on horseback, Alexander felt a month might even be too long.

If he pushed himself, he was confident in covering that distance in two to three weeks. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

But Lady Inayah was there no rain on his parade agina here, shaking her head and saying, “I’m afraid given the amount of snow we are having here, you will not be even able to make it in two.”

“And that is not even considering the wild beasts roaming all around, the possibility of the weather turning worse, or even some hostile nobles seizing the opportunity to make you disappear.”

And as Lady Inayah listed these hidden dangers, Alexander only felt more restless.

“So what should I do?” He gripped his teeth as he posed in a frustrated tone.

“Oh Alex, you poor boy,” And seeing this, the older, mature lady stepped forward to caress his cheeks, truly feeling sorry for the young man, as she slowly whispered in a sultry tone, “You are too tired.”

“Rest!”

“And leave everything to your aunt. She will soon make you feel better.”

And as she said this, Alexander felt the pair of hands gently push him onto the bed, and though Alexander knew this was not the time, but as he felt the comfortable sensation of him sinking into the soft mattress, as his nose took on the familiar comforting scent, as he heard the rustling of clothes around him, as his eyes were soon presented with that beautiful scenery of Lady Inayah’s bare body, he decided to let himself go for the moment.

He had been too tired the previous few days, unable to properly eat or sleep due to all the worry, and so decided to enjoy the comforting warmth of his motherly woman to take his mind off everything.

And Lady Inayah as usual did not disappoint, where she used all her skills to tire Alexander out and lull himself to sleep.

And once he woke up, refreshed and energized, she gave him this piece of advice, “If you really want to raise an army, why don’t you ask your retainers that are here?”

“That’s why most nobles fight wars you know.”

And Alexander had thought about that before but skipped on it due to concerns about loyalty.

But now….