Herald of Steel

When Alexander had first heard Cambyses say how the Tibians had ignored the workshops in favor of the manor, he was actually impressed.

Impressed by the fact that upon entering the workshops and seeing all the blingy things, the soldiers did not immediately lose cohesion and started looting.

This was the standard practice of most armies after all.

But now that he learned of their subsequent atrocities, his mood began to turn.

‘After the attack, who knows how many skilled artisans and workers I have lost? According to Melodias, a lot of the killed were men,’ Alexander dreaded in his mind after hearing Cambyses’s report.

He had after all paid a pretty penny to get those expert men to migrate from Adhan to Zanzna and work for him.

Furthermore, they had a year to learn the basics of how to make all the new products.

‘Btu now if all that skill and experience were to be lost…’ Alexander could only shake his head in dismay at that thought, unwilling to complete the rest of the thought, but ultimately forced himself to.

‘Then I will have to ask Pasha Farzah or Lady Inayah to give some of their artisans. And that would mean giving away a lot of my secrets…. *sigh*. ”

The losses projected by Cambyses really made Alexander the scale of his wounds, not enough to grievously wound him to death, but certainly, enough to force him to stagger and rest and recuperate.

And while Alexander had these thoughts, the other council members simply sat still, unwilling to make a peep in order to avoid attracting Alexander’s attention.

“Are all the head artists of the workshops okay?” Finally, Alexander asked this, trying to sound as objective as possible and not show his fear.

He at least hoped those four were okay.

That would make the rebuilding process much easier.

“……” But this only produced a small silence at first, which was never a good sign.

“…..” And Alexander could only placidly sway his head looking for a response.

Until it was Cambyses who decided to finally speak up.

“The crossbow maker Faziz, and Haquim who make the soaps are alive. I met them.” She started with the good news.

“But the papermaker Azizak was found dead. Killed at the doorstep of the crossbow workshop’s warehouse.”

“According to other survivors, he was overseeing the distribution of the weapons there and was one of the first to take a few men to fight off the Tibians.”

“*Sigh*, alas!”

Cambyses did not need to say much more as Alexander could guess he was likely easily overwhelmed.

And hearing the man’s demise, he could not help but feel a bit remorseful, saying “*Sigh* that is indeed a shame. I liked that man too. He was sharp,’

Alexander still remembered how the man had proposed to use a kind of tree sap to prevent the newly made wet paper sheets from sticking to each other which Alexander certainly appreciated.

But even though Alexander was certainly saddened by this loss, in his mind, neither of these three was the one he was most interested in.

Because for all their technical expertise, all of them could be relatively easily replaced.

But one could not.

“And Gajopk? What about him?” Alexander was unable to hide the slight alarm laced in his inquiry as he asked.

Yes, it was this glassmaker he was most worried about, as glassmaking was perhaps the most skill-intensive industry he had.

And losing someone like Gajopk would be quite a hard hit for him.

Hence he really hoped Cambyses was saving the best for the last and nothing had happened to him.

While Cambyses, knowing her husband, long ago had guessed this might happen, and hence saved the complicated answer for last.

“Mister Mister Gajopk is alive…for now. But not conscious.” She quickly revealed without much suspense with some suspense and as Alexander’s inquisitive eyes seemed to ask her to delineate, she added,

“We found him around the basement of the manor. He was unconscious and his entire body was covered in soot.”

“The rescuers quickly took him to the clinic, and after seeing him, all the doctors could say was that he was still breathing and hence alive.”

“That’s it.”

“I told them to let me know if he wakes, but it seems he has shown no signs of waking any time soon.”

Cambyses succinctly retold the events.

But the details of it made Alexander a bit confused.

“Why was his body inside the manor? What was he doing around the basement?” He asked, unable to think of a good reason.

“Mmm, I too thought that.” And Cambyses quickly replied, continuing, “So I asked the other manor survivors about it.”

“And they said that apparently, the Tibian king attempted to use some of them to get the gold in our treasury.”

“But failed to do so because no one was to get near it due to the smoke and heat.”

“And it seems Gajopk was one of the unfortunate ones who inhaled too much smoke and simply fainted there.”

Cambyses finished informing how the glassmaker got there, which made Alexander almost mourn.

‘And in the smoke, no one bothered to look after him,’ He ruefully added in his mind.

And then he wondered if the man would be able to pull through after lying on the floor and taking in the harmful smoke for so long, and even if he could, whether he would ever be fit to work.

“I see. Let us pray for his recovery then,” But by this point Alexander could do nothing to aid him but only hope the man to have a miraculous encounter.

And just as he said so,

“*Knock*, *Knock*, Excuse me, my lords,” A respectful knock and a deferential voice emanated from outside the room.

“Come in,” And once he was given permission to enter, soon came a man carrying a large candlestand with many lit candles.

“Ahhh, yes, it is indeed getting dark. Please bring some more.” And seeing this, while also noticing the deep, dark shadows being cast all around as sunlight coming from the windows had already faded, Menes quickly ordered the room be properly lit up.

And thus for a while, the clanking sound of candlestand being fixed along the walls, and the low, wheezing sound of the wick being lit permeated through the room.

All the while Alexander quietly felt the soft glow of the candles slowly drive out the darkness, as his unfocused eyes noticed the change in the ambiance of the room.

‘It’s already dusk,’ He commented pointlessly to him, suddenly feeling his mood match the dimness of the lightning in the room, as he came to more intimately know about the losses.

It seemed that without the bright sunlight to illuminate his surrounding, his thoughts had begun to turn more pessimistic.

And sensing such, and also feeling quite tired, decided the end of the day as a signal to end the meeting.

So in a type of concluding tone, Alexander began his ending speech.

“Okay, I think here is a good place to end it for today.”

“I have mostly understood the kind of losses we took. And they are certainly substantial.”

“We lost a lot of men and materials. And we came very close to being destroyed.”

“But by the grace of the gods, we didn’t!”Alexander raised his octaves here,

“And all our struggles were not for naught. We have also learned a lot of things”

“We learned about our weaknesses, our oversights, and even how dangerous fire can be. By the way, we really should try to build as many houses as possible with concrete.”

Alexander added the last point with a tangent, after which he lifted his head to look at all the council members, and producing a little smile encouragingly said,

“But none of the losses we suffered are irrecoverable.”

“Because I still remember how the city was when we found it just a year ago. Dirty, plague-ridden, and almost deserted.”

“And look at it now.”

“We have roads, a sewage system in the making, and a population of around 150,000.”

“Even after the battering it took this time, this still is far better than it was a year from now.”

“And once given a bit of time and effort, we can make it flourish like it we could have never imagined.”

“So don’t be disheartened by what has occurred this time. Mistakes happen.”

“We are all new to this after all. Hell a bit more than a year ago, I was a slave and you were all peasants, haha,” Alexander generalized with a loud laugh, which helped to lift a lot of the gloomy mood.

And ended the speech by saying, “So the important thing is to report from this time’s mistake and never repeat it.”

“Work even more diligently!”

And hearing Alexander’s arousing speech, the council members were quick to chime in, feeling Alexander had decided to overlook their blunders.

“You are right, my lord.”

“Mmm, right. We must all strive to do better.”

“The cement plants are intact, my lord. We can start rebuilding as soon as you give the order.”

All such enthusiastic replies flooded Alexander’s ears. 𝘦.𝘰𝘳𝑔

And it was with this optimistic feeling that the council members returned home, while in their carriage on the way to their temporary home, Cambyses pointedly asked,

“You are not gonna seriously let them go scot-free, are you?”

If Alexander really did not punish any of the council members in any way, the girl would be indeed very disappointed.

“Haha,” While hearing the question Alexander only mysteriously chuckled.