Herald of Steel

Chapter 755 Zanzan, Adhan and Amenheraft

Alexander’s letters of victory were received by his allies with a mix of elation and disbelief.

Back in Zanzan, which was the first to receive his news, Cambyses had let out an ear piercing scream of joy when the rider had first delivered it and then actually broke down crying.

She was that overwhelmed by it.

“Mistress! What’s wrong? What happened?”

And her reaction was so extreme that Mean who was in the next room came dashing out, her face white as paper, fearing that the messenger had come to deliver the worst news- Alexander’s death.

“Alex, …*hic*… Alex won! We won!”

And it took considerable effort on Cambyses’s part to calm herself down and relay the actual message to Mean, which then subsequently got an almost equal cheer from the girl.

Though Mean did not understand the exact significance of the capture as Thesalie as much as Cambyses did, the girl was always happy to hear her man had won.

“Haha, you are daddy’s little star! He will be so happy when he sees you, hehe!”

She was in fact so happy that even told her infant son of his father’s success, twirling him around and giggling with a grin as she did.

In response, the few months old boy too let out heavy giggles, though it was more likely due to the fun ride he was being given.

The other two girls, Gelene and Ophenia too felt being over the moon at hearing this, with the latter immediately going to offer a prayer at the Gaia shrine placed at the back courtyard of the house.

That night, in celebration of Alexander’s victory, the ladies feasted like they had not done so in the last few months.

Like Alexander’s family, many of the council members too got the messages of their great victory.

And though the formal celebrations would be done once Alexander returned, in the following days, many of them held small informal parties among themselves, toasting and drinking to themselves.

“That Alexander, he really is something. To think he actually did it, haha.”

“Yes! He really is a monster. All those new things he invented. And now this!”

“It’s good to follow a winner, hahaha,”

Alexander’s victory here really affected the Adhanians in his ranks, with many of them feeling their loyalties becoming solidified.

While Zanzan received the message of victory almost the same day as Alexander’s troops entered the Thesalie, the city being only 90 to 100 km away and a distance a skilled rider could easily cover in a day, it took far longer for the information to reach the capital, Adhan.

And even then the first news was sent by a messenger bird, so due to weight restrictions, it lacked much detail, only claiming that Alexander had broken through Thesalie and was getting ready to invade Tibias’s heartlands.

But that was enough to set the court at the capital abuzz and for the next few days that was really the only thing anyone talked about, as every nobleman tried their best to gather more information about it, with some even cursing that Alexander did not write more details in his note.

For that they would have to wait, as the riders with Alexander’s much bigger, several pages worth of letter would take at least fifteen to twenty days to cover the nearly 900 kilometer journey.

Ptolomy felt his heart surge with joy at having this god of war as his retainer or at least he liked to think Alexander was his subordinate.

“Hahaha, brat! That brat really did it. Celebrations! This calls for celebration!”

While one of the most estactic men there was of course Pasha Farzah, who really could not believe what he was reading.

When he had heard of Alexander’s plans to invade Tibias and given him those mercenaries, he certainly had been expecting anything much.

His only real hope had been that Alexander did not lose too badly.

Thus when his men got him the small, rolled up note, he had to scan it a whole four times to make sure he was not reading it wrong.

Following which the big bear like man had let out such a huge roar of cheer that it had made the guards standing outside almost jump to their feet in shock.

And then in celebration, the prime minister declared the next day to be a holiday in the city.

As for Lady Inayah and the Queen Mother, well under the latter’s order, the former set out for Zanzan at once, hoping to see and then report back on the situation as soon as possible.

And accompanying her was also Kayvan, Pasha Farzah’s fifth son.

The man had only returned to the capital for less than a month, hoping to attend his year’s Jtaama, but under his father’s direction, he was made to return almost as soon as he got off the ship.

And if not for the pilgrimage, the suddenness of the victory, and the relatively dangerous water during this time, perhaps they would have been accompanied by the king himself.

After all, to take Thesalie was a dream every Adhanian king had for generations.

‘Once spring comes!’ So Ptolomy decided he would visit Zanzan and Thesalie once winter passed.

As for Alexander’s enemies, like Amenheraft, they of course received it with shocked trepidation.

For Amenheraft, it was initially one of disbelief.

Having personally fought the Tibians and even Perseus himself, he knew just how resourceful and great fighters those people were.

And though he hated to admit it, he did not think those people were so easy to defeat.

Never mind Alexander was claiming to have taken the fortress of fortress head on.

Hence when the initial reports started to come in, Amenheraft’s allies simply threw them into the rubbish bin as being the howls of a lunatic.

“Heh! Has that Jakqum finally lost his mind? Even if he wanted to lie, he could have at least made it a bit more believable!” One of the nobles cursed Alexander.

“Thesalie cannot be taken. A million men can march on it and a million of them will be repelled.” Another sagaciously prophesied.

“This might not be actually from Ptolomy, Perhaps our men have heard it wrong” While one of the over smart nobles even posed this.

But all of them eventually woke up to the facts that their scouts delivered and had to accept reality.

Thesalie was indeed in Alexander’s, and by extension Ptolomy’s hand.

And once Amenheraft did get confirmation, the man reportedly had closed himself in his room for the rest of the day, refusing to see anyone.

He simply could not believe it was actually true.

And perhaps more than even jealously, Amenheraft wanted to know how, how had Alexander done it.

How he was able to accomplish in a few months what his ancestors had failed to do for centuries?

The three years that Amenheraft had spent campaigning Tibias had taught him just how tough a bunch those men were.

And just how cunning their king was.

And how well their cities were defended.

Even moderately sized cities were quite well defended with large walls, never mind Thesalie.

So what happened?

How could this happen?

It would take years for Amenheraft to learn of the tactics and the new siege weapons Alexander used, ones which managed to snatch such of the effectiveness of those walls and make them vulnerable.

Although it would also be wrong not to credit any contribution of Alexander’s success to Amenheraft.

For if the king had not attacked Tibias and ravaged it for three years, Alexander would have certainly faced far greater numbers and stiffer resistance.

But Tibias by now was exhausted, its manpower depleted and his treasury gone.

Finding spare young men in that country had become as rare as spotting a golden deer by now and the populace was nearing their breaking point over taxation.

All of this was largely due to Amenheraft.

So when Alexander attacked Tibias, it was kind of akin to stealing Amenheraft’s kill, letting him do all the hard work, and then sniping the last shot.

When Amenheraft’s archpriest Manuk heard of the win, aside from Alexander’s prowess, he also came to recognize just how big a propaganda boost taking that city was.

He knew after this many of the neutral and even allied nobles might choose to switch sides.

He had to stop that!

But before that, he had to stop that Alexander.

So as the brains of Amenheraft’s faction, he got to scheming.

Through secret channels, he had found out that Ptolomy had promised Alexander Tibias in exchange for his loyalty.

But now, Manuk decided to use a few in the court to try and poison Ptolomy’s mind.

“Capturing Thesalie has been always our ancestors’ dream. How can we let an outsider, a Thesian have it?”

Manuk knew Ptolomy very well.

And believed this would be enough to rouse the vain men.

Then a lift was surely to follow.

And as for the last notable person on Amenheraft’s side, Pasha Muazz, the rotund man had broken every single vase in his house and brutally stabbed four maids, killing three of them once he learned of his most hated man’s accomplishments.

Not only had he killed his son, taken his city and now he had snatched even his most precious dream.

And it was said that the howls he made and the curse he let out shouting to the heavens were enough to make even his wives and children escape from part of the mansion, retreating to a more remote corner.