Herald of Steel

Alexander was well aware that he would never be able to protect all his secrets.

One or two might have been manageable.

But Alexander was not making one or two new things.

He was making a myriad of new things employing not thousands, but hundreds of thousands of people.

Paper, soap, iron, cement, cheap salt, lingerie, weapons, sugar, and clear glass were the names of only a few inventions that were birthed in Zanzan, and they were merely the start.

The printing press, ships made of cement, gas lighting, beautiful mirror, cheap linen, and the compass were some of the new things scheduled for future unveiling.

And many more would come later.

This sheer amount of new and extremely valuable things being produced in Zanzan meant that not only his enemies, but even his allies would also lay their covetous eyes on this city.

And Alexander was not strong enough to fight the eleven provinces of Adhania by himself.

In fact, it was actually twelve provinces, as he controlled only one city in Zanzan province.

And this was not even taking into account any foreign intervention.

So, when Alexander's one city produced goods of enough value to rival that of a few provinces, he was like a half-nude, defenseless girl strutting through the most dangerous part of town alone in the middle of the night.

And if she did not want to get violated in every possible way, that girl would have been wise to get some bodyguards for her.

In the same way, if Alexander did not want to get conquered and annexed by the greedy pigs all around him, he knew he needed to learn to share and play nice.

'Welp, I guess I will have to share some of the easier and less valuable inventions.' Alexander lampooned as reality made it so that he would never be able to monopolize the fruits of his labor and hence decided to address Seelima positively on her inquiry.

"Oh, master, I almost forgot. I finished all the little details about the underwear designs and can start selling soon," Just as Alexander was about to give a definitive answer, Gelene decided to cleverly intervene, steering the conversation towards her as she voiced out her claim in a very excited manner.

"Ahhh, so the bras and panties are officially ready? I can't wait to try them!" Cambyses too exaggeratedly exclaimed at Gelene's words, catching onto her plan and playing along.

The girls certainly did not want to let one morsel of this exotic know how to escape Zanzan.

"Oh really? That's good!" Alexander momentarily got distracted by good news, as he was very much looking forward to seeing his women in naughty lingerie.

'Seeing this, Queen mother darkly said to herself, 'So that's how it is,' thinking this was Alexander's way of implicitly denying her request.

Then her eyes shone green, as she drooled, 'The new things being created here are fabulous. I will have to inform Ptolomy about it in my next letter.'

The Queen mother's reasoning was simple, if these things could not be had by negotiations, she planned to use the royal authority to fleece it out of Alexander.

'After all, he is a retainer of the crown. Hence it is his duty to serve the kings in its best interest,' She rationalized the theft.

Alexander was not aware of this misunderstanding and because he planned to sell the knowledge anyway, nothing much would come from Seelima's scheme.

But if he were to become aware of the Queen mother's thought process, he would seriously rethink the viability of keeping this black widow alive.

"Haha, Lady Gelene has also shown us these new pieces of cloth. And they were lovely!" The Queen mother externally put on a jovial facade as she praised the inception of modern underwear.

Though calling it a facade might not be accurate as she was not faking it when she applauded the invention of this new type of cloth.

Being the lecherous late king's favorite concubine, the Queen mother certainly had the looks and body to go along with what that title entitled, having all the right curves and bulges in all the right places.

Her frontal assets were particularly impressive, and could even rival Gelene, reaching, even by Alexander's conservative estimate E cup, possibly a bit more.

This was a racial trait of hers and was one of the reasons she was sold to the king's harem.

But one drawback of possessing such magnificent globules of flesh was that they tended to put a strain on her neck muscles, necessitating the use of the corset at all times.

Which came with its own set of problems, from being stiff and uncomfortable to wear to the coarse linen rubbing against her sensitive bud.

And when she had been pregnant with Hellma, she used to leak in her later months, making the use of a corset especially uncomfortable.

All problems that the bra seemed to solve in one go.

The fabric was soft, very intuitive to use, and very comfortable, with ample room for the breasts to expand and breathe.

"Yes, if we did not know any better, we might have mistaken the gifting of such personal clothing as Lord Alexander courting us, hehe" Mikaya joined the conversation with a giggle, not forgetting to make a pass at Alexander at the same time.

She too had suffered similar problems as Seelima and thus when Gelene had gifted all of them with free samples, the princess had instantly fallen in love with the clothing.

And then to show her appreciation for the product, like the Queen mother had placed the order for a few dozen more then and there.

Yes, not a few bras, or even a dozen.

But a few dozen.

Because that was how the rich lived their lives, similar to how in Alexander's previous life the king of England, Henry VIII had reportedly 800 pairs of shoes.

"Oh, my, to think the young, handsome Pasha would be interested in an old woman like me!" Playing along with Mikaya, the Queen mother very dramatically spoke up, putting her hand over her mouth as if to hide her aging face while she shot a teasing look at Alexander.

No one at the dining table was unaware of the sheer charm the 32-year-old had oozing out of her every pore, and if not for Ptolomy's craze and the inherent danger of getting close to this woman, even Alexander would have certainly nibbled at her.

Alexander ignored such playful jokes, and instead smiled at Gelene and succinctly said, "That is very good. I will visit the workshops tomorrow morning."

Discussing business details over the dining table in front of guests was neither safe nor polite and so Alexander made a scheduled appointment with Gelene later.

And then he quickly turned to the twins and asked, "Have your Highnesses received the reply for this month's letter?"

The three main noble ladies had written their letters by the end of November, which were sent to Adhan, some 800 kilometers away, by homing pigeons.

Capable of covering almost 100 kilometers an hour, these beasts of flight could carry more than two ounces of weight and reach Adhan in less than a day.

And since the letters were sent on the third day of November, and because Alexander did not know what was written on them, he was curious about the reply from the capital.

"It was normal. Grandpa only said he was busy and misses us very much," Azira seemed tight-lipped about the contents of her letter.

"Mmm, he also congratulated us on being reinstated as priestesses and urged us to help the poor and faithless," Azura complimented her sister.

'Hmmm, pretty standard stuff I guess,' Alexander only saw Farzah's letter like what doting grandfather would send his granddaughters.

Though the mention of the word 'priestess' reminded Alexander of how he had gotten a very angry letter from the prime minister after he wrote to Ptolomy about the temple attack.

The shrewd pasha was not fooled by Alexander's charade and had properly lambasted the latter for his reckless move, and even threatened to cancel the deal with him if Alexander ever did such dangerous things without the former's prior knowledge.

A warning that Alexander had put through one ear and let go by the other, as he planned to do something even more daring, which was the imminent new year offensive.

"I wonder how his Majesty is doing?" Alexander posed this question to the Queen mother, who only smiled and curtly said, "Fine."

She was still peeved with Alexander for not accenting to the technology transfers.

Sensing a solid wall of reluctance, Alexander did not push further, mostly because he had a rough idea of the situation in Adhan, both of the court and the city through both official and unofficial channels.

Officially he, Pasha Farzah, and Ptolomy usually exchanged letters once a fortnight as a way to keep up to date

Unofficially, the various gangs in Adhan, headed by Goruk kept Alexander in the know about the changes in the city.

And according to the latter, the city was slowly getting its vitality back after Pasha Farzah's generous distribution of food.

"Oh, my middle brother will be coming near the end of January with all your goods," Mikaya decided to let Alexander know this on her own initiative, which had the side effect of making Azira and Azura cheer with excitement at getting to see their uncle.

"Mmmn, then please thank Pasha Farzah for me. Such rapid delivery will really help us," Alexander politely replied at the good news, and through more of such idle chatter, the games night came to an end.

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