Herald of Steel



Once Alexander woke up the next morning, he gave himself a bit of time to think over some of the things he had discussed with Lady Inayah.

And as he thought, reminisced, and analyzed them, he found that he had missed another critical possibility.

'Wait! If the nobles did know about the attack, why hasn't any of them say anything to me?'

'They should have found out about it weeks ago!'

Alexander soon had that doubt.

And so he continued to think more about it, trying to find an answer.

But ultimately, no matter how much he thought about it, he could not guess as to the reason why.

It just did not make any sense to it.

'Fuck it. I will ask them directly.' So Alexander at last decided that and then pushing all other thoughts to the back of his mind, he eagerly went to attend the meeting with the nobles.

Where he very frankly informed them of the situation of his city.

"So that is the situation. I hope my lords will lend me the strength to defeat the invading Tibias." Alexander formally requested.

And as he frankly admitted his predicament, the following was immediately said by Jamider (Earl) Yuusiq, which inadvertently helped answer his previous doubts

"Hmmm, we had indeed gotten reports from home that Tibias had crossed the border. But we were also reassured that my lord's army was shadowing them."

"*Sigh*, to think even they lost."

This lord's territory was 80 km west of Zanzan or right at the mouth of the Cisran Hill's gateway into Tibias, and so it was little wonder he knew of the invasion.

But he had not rung any alarm bells and returned home immediately because those very reports also reassured him of Alexander's army being sighted in the vicinity.

Whereas now that that force had been defeated, and the enemy was free to pillage the land, this man quickly started to get restless.

"*Sigh*, yes, that is unfortunate." As Lord Yuusiq said this, Alexander was quick to join in, confessing,

"We thought that we would be able to defeat Tibias with no problem and hence did not tell others, thinking that would distract them from the holy ritual."

"But now that the situation has come to this…." Alexander could only shake his head, trying to show that the situation was critical and they needed to act now.

"But didn't you my lord say that a peace treaty with Tibias had been signed? That we would have peace?" While from across the room, another room pointed posed this.

To which Alexander heavily nodded and said, "Yes, I did."

"Because Tibias had indeed promised as such."

"*Bang*, But who knew they would such treacherous knaves?" He heavily pounded on the thick table as he said so, his anger both genuine and fake, as he attempted to show he shared the same kind of hatred the people of Adhania had towards Tibias.

"Hmmm, to think they would attack so soon! And in the winter too! I can't judge if they are dumb or brilliant!" At Alexander's outburst, another shordar (baron) from the side made this comment in a cool, analytical way, as he struggled to determine if the challenges of trying to supply an army in winter were made up for by catching the enemy off guard, with many of the lords away at the moment attending the pilgrimage.

"Yes! Given the weather, if not for Lord Alexander or Lord Yuusiq, we would not have even known our territory was in danger for months!" Another noble interjected in a relieved tone.

Now, this particular comment might sound strange to some as messenger birds should have been able to reach them in the capital at some point.

So hearing the man say this, one would think the reason he said this was because his territory was much more inland and his scouts would not simply detect them on time.

But that was not actually the act, as that particular man's territory really neighbored Jamider (Earl) Yuusiq.

And the actual reason why this man was totally in the dark about Tibias's attack was because not every noble could afford to maintain messenger birds with a large number of places.

For instance, this particular noble was not important enough and had not the financial backing to be given a messenger bird from the capital, which he could then take home and afterward use to relay messages back.

And this was the case for most shordars (barons) and talukdars (viscounts), and even many Jamiders (Earls).

So for most nobles, the only real way to get a message delivered was with a guy on a horse.

And as this discussion continued, one noble seemingly gave some startling details.

"Hmm, attacking in the winter…is certainly unorthodox."

"But it is certainly not unheard of."

"I remember that when I took part in the war with Tibias, they did attack us during such times, catching us off guard and wreaking havoc on our supply lines."

"Their king Perseus especially likes to use that technique."

"And it is very much possible he is leading his army his time too."

"The man loves to lead from the front."

As the noble said this, Alexander felt he had learned more about the enemy in a few seconds, than he had done in the last few weeks.

While another man next to that noble very helpfully also added,

"Yes, that is likely."

"I also consider him a renowned military leader. Having fought against him, I even think he might be one the best in the world,"

"So it's not very unjustified that Lord Alexander lost."

It seemed that some of the nobles appeared to think that there might be a method to the madness for Tibias attacking in the winter.

But hearing this, another noble, one who had recently joined Alexander's retinue only joked, "Haha, well if all it took was beating Amenheraft to become the world's best tactician, then well all would be."

"As my lord here said in that party, the former king is no military strategist."

"Or else how could he not take Tibais even with such a large army?"

This man seemed to be of the opinion that Amenheraft was a pushover and flaunted that in front of Alexander to show his new allegiance.

But Alexander was not impressed.

He felt that was not likely the case, as though the former king might have had his deficiencies, but still, Alexander thought he was at least half competent with his military command.

And even if he was not, the people under him certainly were.

So Alexander had no doubt Tibias was put under heavy pressure by his attack, for three continuous years at that.

And given that Tibias had still managed to come out of it with relatively intact territory, even after being outmanned and outsized, Alexander made sure to take a serious mental note of the man who had managed to achieve this, their king- Perseus.

And as Alexander contemplated this, suddenly this snarky remark rang out from an inconspicuous corner of the room,

"But isn't Tibias and you usurpers be supposed to be allies? So why are they attacking you?

Trouble in paradise?"

As soon as Alexander heard this he instantly turned his head to see the owner of that remark and his eyes narrowed as he recognized it to be Manuk's.

The man had been unable to keep himself quiet when he heard his liege being insulted.

While for Alexander, seeing this unpleasant sight, curved his lips up and taunted, "Well, well, I already knew your side lacked manners given your leader's greeting."

"But to come to another noble's meeting unannounced."

"You guys are finding new lows every day."

He could not believe that this guy had managed to get a whiff of the meeting so quickly and then even slip in unnoticed.

Though Alexander could guess it happened probably because he had called not only the fifteen nobles serving under him but other neutral and even hostile ones.

For just Alexander's retainers were not powerful enough to fight a 40,000 large army by themselves.

While Manuk, hearing Alexander's taunt simply smirked, as if that remark had just slid across his skin, and chuckled, "Haha, well one can't be too careful about foreign spies like you."

The insinuation here was clear and hearing this irritating man spew such divisive things in his time of need obviously irritated Alexander.

And so he decided to shut that topic once and said to Manuk in a concluding tone,

"Whatever deal Tibias had with His Majesty was before I came along."

"Now all those agreements are null and void."

"Now I have been made the Pasha of Zanzan. And I intend to keep it."

After saying this Alexander quickly turned to gaze across the long table where many of the noblemen sat, and flashing his palms declared,

I will not give a grand speech to convince you to join me."

"I'm sure many of you are very eager to sit back and watch the two foreigners tear each other apart."

"But let me remind you of the kind of history you have with Tibias."

"And the kind of history you have with me." Alexander stubbed his index finger on the table as he said this.

"So you can choose to live in a Zanzan ruled by Tibias and get the kind of treatment you would expect from them."

"Or you can choose to defend your lands."

"And in exchange, I will give you the same trading benefits I gave my retainers till the armistice ends!"